Word: b6
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...299th try they got a mold that would not grow unless it was fed vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine). The normal mold makes vitamin B-6 for itself. They traced this deficiency to an X-ray-damaged gene that failed to produce the necessary enzyme (organic catalyst) for producing B6. This provided a means of studying genetic changes by corresponding changes in the organism's ability or failure to produce specific chemicals-thus giving genetics a new exactness and turning it into a predominantly chemical science...
...Isoniazid, wonder drug of 1952 against TB, may set off inflammation of the peripheral nerves, causing phantom sensations, numbness, burning pain and weakness. Unless caught early and treated with vitamin B6, this neuritis becomes permanent...
...B6...
...British Medical Journal, Dr. Victor P. Wordsworth reported that B-6 can also cure a much more common complaint: an overdose of alcohol. "A typical case," wrote Wordsworth, "was a woman of 45, brought in singing, swearing and staggering." She was given a 100-mg. hypodermic shot of B6. "The results were far more dramatic than I anticipated . . . Three minutes [later] she became quiet, apologized for the trouble she had caused us, and asserted she felt quite sober. She was able to walk across the room perfectly steadily...