Word: protoporphyria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Protoporphyria victims suffer from a defectiveenzyme, which causes the protoporphyrin moleculeto seep into the subject's skin rather thanincoporating itself into the oxygen-carryinghemoglobin in the bloodstream, where it belongs.At the body's surface, the errant molecule reactswith oxygen in the air, causing severe itching andburning...
Mathews-Roth found that huge doses of betacarotene--up to 180 milligrams a day--can preventthe protoporphyria molecule from reacting withoxygen, and thus cures protoporphyria in all butthe most severe cases...
...Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an uncommon condition; in the entire U.S. there are no more than a thousand known victims. But those who have this metabolic abnormality must lead highly sheltered lives; sunlight causes their skin to swell or break out in blisters. Some victims develop gallstones. In the past, victims of EPP have had to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible, covering up or staying indoors entirely during the summer months. Now they have an alternative. A team of researchers headed by Dr. Micheline M. Mathews-Roth of Harvard Medical School has found that betacarotene, a substance that...
| 1 |