HLA B27 information ~autoimmunity issues & how I got here~ (research compilation with reference links)

 HLA B27

In the human immune system, the HLA (human leucocyte antigen) family of genes plays an important role in defending against foreign invaders such as viruses.

The authors say that the origins of some HLA class 1 genes are proof that our ancient relatives interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans for a period.

“Getting these genes by mating would have given an advantage to populations that acquired them.”

At least one variety of HLA gene occurs frequently in present day populations from West Asia, but is rare in Africans.


“The HLA genes that the Neanderthals and Denisovans had, had been adapted to life in Europe and Asia for several hundred thousand years, whereas the recent migrants from Africa wouldn't have had these genes,”said study leader Peter Parham from Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

“So getting these genes by mating would have given an advantage to populations that acquired them.”

Dr. Pinna says:

The HLA gene which provides our white cells in our immune system with the ability to recognize viruses and perhaps cancers was a gift from our Neanderthal ancestors.

Neanderthals interbred with Europeans and Chinese but not with Africans. This is very important from a medical point of view.

Since the HLA (HUMAN LEUKOCYTE (WHITE CELL) ANTIGEN) protects against viruses, we find the most deadly viruses in Africa. For example, the famous EBOLA virus.Why? Because Africans do not have the ability to defend against and eradicate this virus. The viruses found in Europe and China are rather mild, such as mumps, measles and German measles.Also, Africans have less defenses against cancers caused by viruses. Here is a report from the Guardian, U.K:

“The difference is that a disproportionate number of cancers in Africa are caused by infections, such as the hepatitis viruses (B and C), which cause liver cancer, or the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes 98% of cervical cancers. The worldwide average for infection-related cancers is about 22%; in Africa, the figures are much higher: 40% of cases in women and 30% in men.”

European and Chinese interbreeding with Neanderthals was a gift from God. Not only did it give us red hair and big brains, but also a way to fight viral infection.


http://drpinna.com/neanderthal-genes-boosts-our-immune-system-23305


HLA B27 & Arthritis

Arthritis is a term for any of more than one hundred diseases that produce swelling in a joint, accompanied by pain and stiffness. The most common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis (the degeneration of a joint) and rheumatoid arthritis ("the great crippler," inflammation of a joint that erodes bone and cartilage). Other forms include ankylosing spondylitis (inflammation of spinal joints, mainly affecting young men), infectious arthritis (caused by invading microorganisms), and chronic Lyme arthritis (which appears in some people who contract Lyme disease). Lupus, an autoimmune disease, also has elements of arthritis, with painful and often swollen joints.

Neanderthal skeletons show signs of arthritis, as do Egyptian mummies. Ancient Greek and Roman physicians wrote detailed descriptions of arthritic conditions and methods of treatment. In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Europe, gout became common among members of the upper classes, and an outbreak of rheumatoid arthritis swept through the masses of Europe during the Industrial Revolution. By the early nineteenth century, rheumatoid arthritis had been recognized as a distinct condition, separate from gout. Augustin Landre-Beauvais gave rheumatoid arthritis its first complete clinical description in 1800; in 1859 Alfred Garrod (1819-1907) distinguished gout by the presence of uric acid.

While the disease had been known for centuries, its cause remained unknown. Some thought arthritis was the result of an infectious disease, such as gonorrhea or tuberculosis. In 1900 twophysicians, Frederick J. Poynton (1869-1943) and A. Paine, discovered a bacteria in a group of children afflicted with rheumatism. They speculated that rheumatic arthritis could be the result of an immune reaction to an invading microorganism. In 1940 researchers found an rheumatoid factor, an antibody-like substance, in the blood of arthritis patients. Further study showed that rheumatic infections were caused by a group A streptococcus, so the rheumatoid factor was indeed an immune system response to that bacteria. Current research focuses on the relationship between specific genetically coded HLA molecules (an element of the immune system) and the occurrence of various types of arthritis. For example, the HLA-B27 molecule is common in people with ankylosing spondylitis.[14]


HLA B27 & CCR5-Δ32


According to Randall Johnson at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, "Only 7% of the US population tests positive for the HLA-B27 gene; this gene, found only in persons with Rh-Negative blood, can trigger the immune system to operate overtime at WARP SPEED in times of medical emergency."


Note: HLA-B27 is also sometimes found in those who are Rh negative recessive.


The HLA-B27 Genetic Marker is said to have protective properties that guard against the progression of HIV. It is said, that people with this gene do not have the right proteins for the HIV virus to bind with. The HLA-B27 Marker is most often found in people with O- Blood.


CCR5-Δ32 is a deletion mutation of a gene that has a specific impact on the function of T cells. At least one copy of CCR5-Δ32 is found in about (5-14%) of people of Northern European and in those of Northern European descent. There also is a small minority (1%) with the same mutation amongst Southern Europeans or Balkan Peninsula. It has been hypothesized that this allele was favored by natural selection during the Black Death for Northern Europeans.


The allele has a negative effect upon T cell function, but appears to protect against smallpox and HIV. Yersinia pestis (the bubonic plague bacterium) was demonstrated in the laboratory not to associate with CCR5. Individuals with the Δ32 allele of CCR5 are healthy, suggesting that CCR5 is largely dispensable. However, CCR5 apparently plays a role in mediating resistance to West Nile virus infection in humans, as CCR5-Δ32 individuals have shown to be disproportionately at higher risk of West Nile virus in studies, indicating that not all of the functions of CCR5 may be compensated by other receptors.

While CCR5 has multiple variants in its coding region, the deletion of a 32-bp segment results in a nonfunctional receptor, thus preventing HIV R5 entry; two copies of this allele provide strong protection against HIV infection. This allele is found in 5–14% of Europeans but is rare in Africans and Asians.


HLA-B27 is an inherited gene marker that is associated with a number of related rheumatic diseases. They share in common, certain features like spinal and peripheral arthritis, skin and GI disorders, anterior chamber eye disease, psoriasis like skin lesions, as well as inflammation and joint pain. This gene is found with highest prevalence in patients with ankylosing spondylosis, reactive arthritis, and patients with the combination of peripheral arthritis and either psoriasis or inflammatory bowel disease.


Neanderthals have been found with skeletal deformities known to be caused be ankylosing spondylitis and Arthritis.[13]


CONCLUSION


Neanderthals carried HLA-B27 which offers protection from certain diseases, however it also causes autoimmune diseases. CCR5-Δ32 deletion is also linked in with O negative blood. They originate in Neanderthals and are not often found in Africa. If you have Rh negative blood, you are blessed with some of the genes from our most ancient families.

Research by Tia Douglass & Andre Heyrman of NADA.

REFERENCE:
Matt McGrath
http://rhnegativebloodsecrets.blogspot.com/2013/01/are-you-related-to-neanderthals.html?m=1

Emotional Pain ~ Physical Manifestations

With a proprensity for coloring outside the lines & forging my own path (even if it's wrong sometimes) is how I've led my life.. A duality of untameable yet still very accommodating. I can see now with clarity in full HD hindsight how I've created allot of my own struggles in this life.  

But, I believe through these sometimes difficult, challenging, heart breaking life experiences I have been gifted with the ability to finally trust in myself & have real conviction .. (a blessing in the curse).

There's an adage that says:

 'if I only knew then, what I know now" ...  

Well, we can't relive time but I can apply the lessons learned from the past, now - to present choices & hopefully avoid future pains.

When I first felt the defining impacts of some really poor choices I scrambled to do better but doubted myself so much so that I longed for someone to redefine my life for me, take the reigns & let me follow because clearly I wasn't demonstrating myself as capable.  

And when even that ultimately failed me (miserably) I had to take some long hard looks into myself & a pattern emerged

~besides all of my failed relationships whether romantic, family, or friends having had me as the common denominator ... and as much as I might complain over how controlling the relationships I reminisce actually became ~

I had invited it! I created it! I encouraged! I promoted! and I was reaping what I had sown.

Furthermore, you teach people how to treat you & I began to realize my pursuit of happiness was always tainted by seeking approval of others in some way shape or form.

As I struckout on my own, I can say now that I lived life frivolously when left to my own devices.

Then, when I finally saw myself & the mess I had managed to create I decided I was better off reverting & relenting to someone else's choices again, as in childhood, as though I couldn't trust myself.

For a long while I made myself content with allowing others the control of my beliefs & decisions from mundane to monumental. I was fully committed to my mistake & did everything in my power to keep appearances & keep everyone around me as happy as possible but ALWAYS (as it turns out) to my own detriment. 

Unfortunately, not only I paid a price but I basically attached ransoms to my children as well.

Some may say this epiphany is maybe too little, too late but I say Nay! Nay! Because I am a zebra marked by the stripes of longevity. 

And because dementia and Alzheimer's is one genetic feature I don't seem predisposed to... I will bare the burdens of what I create through my choices throughout my years without respite.

Another blessing I have found through the curse of my illnesses;

 Introspection & self-analysis have led to allot of internal healing & salve for much emotional pain, self inflicted or otherwise.

Slowly but surely I am better able to manage the demons that try to weigh me down, especially when my body revolts and I have no other choice but to just be still. 

 It's important to be able to drown out the inner-taunting or you run the risk of being kept down & depressed - less you revert back to poor decision making based on the pain & your past patterns, or again allow someone else to take your reigns....

            ~ Lesson learned!!

If you allow yourself to wallow in the pain it will make you weak, when you're weak you feel undeserving, and then will accept anything offered you...  

You Deserve better! 

You were intended for More!

Calling All Angels

A random thought popped into my head the other day: You ever hear about or watch the criminalist shows & see them search internet history to explore interests, motivations, etc. in order to solve the case & exact justice?
(Note • Unfortunately, someone's already dead @this point)

My mind went to a place where there was some sort of superhero that (prior to death) could search through the diagnosis, computer contents with clues to signs & symptoms, etc. to exact healing.

But the thought was fleeting & back to reality I spiraled ...  my days of searching for diagnosis and medical solace has long since passed me now. Not a distant memory, I vividly recall the long road of desperation and exacerbation.

I felt if I had a name, if not reason, attached to my ailments then some sort of normalcy could return to life. With diagnosis would certainly bring resolution? Unfortunately, it's brought anything But!

Beginning with Dercum's I found having a label did not necessarily equal a cure or even treatment.  And many years later as the diagnoses' compiled a sickening list of comorbities I relented my thoughts of cure(s) or even a sense of being understood.

Traditional medicine has failed or worse has been counterproductive toward healing, in my case. The myriad of medicines to "manage symptoms" have never served well or have actually compounded the preexisting hurdles with new obstacles/set backs.

If ever I were to entertain seeing another doctor, the only one I can imagine is Dr. Herbst. She specializes in  (the first of my rare diagnosis) Adipose Tissue disorders & their treatment. -emphasis on the word "treatment"-  Outside of a visit to her TREAT program in Arizona, or a geneticist, I don't foresee a scenario that will take me to another MDiety.

That is not to say I have given up, anything But!  I simply have chosen to adapt to my own understanding & abilities.

That being said, I don't recommend anyone take my path but be diligent in finding your own!

Though for awhile I longed to be validated in my search for answers my path has led me to a bit of isolation, down to a meager handful of support. I found overtime that the medically delivered definitions really didn't amount to a hill of beans to any one else but me and while ultimately my family tree & genetic lineage would connect the dots ... My elation in discovery was a further bitter sweet divide.

And still the only answers the (so called: western) medical community can provide (outside of treating individual symptoms with a myriad of pharmaceuticals each with their own consequences) equates to turning off or killing off the God given parts of me, that I refuse to change to accommodate the rest of society, family, friends, or otherwise.

This life experience has made me grow as person, like I would have never imagined possible.. Again, with every curse there is a blessing & I refuse to lay in bed simply awaiting sweet death and the time when I can shed this mortal flesh.

A dear friend for nearly 35yrs recently came to visit & while discussing my grandmothers 90th birthday she made the comment "longevity won't be your problem" ... Truly that's the bitch of it!

So taking sage advice & being my own best advocate, each day I must accentuate the positive & eliminate the negative in every aspect from diet, attitude, stressors, etc...

Find the blessing in the curse on a consistent basis.

None of my days will be rainbows & butterflies ever again... It's so easy to see negativities or find stress but for each I look for a way to find a different perspective.
[Case in point:
I can bitch & moan about the last couple of years being lost (so to speak) or I can elate in the fact that I had someone who gently cared & provided for me to do so (find medically supported answers, gather knowledge to better myself, & become more physically able over time) rather than being abusive or degrading through the process.]

I must force myself to move. Longevity is my curse so I need to make my time here as tolerable as possible & immobile agonizing is counterproductive to that end.

I cannot judge myself by others abilities or accomplishments. Some days a load of laundry is my exercise & I'm OK with that... It wasn't that long ago that just brushing my hair was an accomplishment.

And one lesson in particular that proves to apply consistently important..
Trying not to hold others accountable for my expectations!

But, it's also OK to let toxic relationships go. So, while I may mourn for lost relations, I will not adopt a woe with me attitude ~

I worked very hard to adopt these attitudes, especially of late & they have served me well.

I wasn't able to do the 7 states in 7 days with Monica, nor coordinate the family gathering for another 5 generation pic for Meemaw's birthday however, I did make a trip to Minnesota (1300miles away) to visit my two eldest children & granddaughter followed by a whirlwind visit from my BFF.

Having goals helps motivate, gives a feeling of accomplishment, & it's important to hold myself accountable.

Even though I'm not taking over industries or changing the world...
The rewards from the events as described above have been immeasurable...
And given a choice between the two ~ I choose the latter!

https://youtu.be/KRUErh47sao