Monday, March 30, 2020

The Key Evolutionary Biomarker is Mitochondrial DNA


The Key Evolutionary Biomarker is Mitochondrial DNA

I always believed what I was taught in physics and biology as a kid that continued in the university was bull shit and it is true in America at this moment of Trump’s antics on education.

Trump fears true education will come to America and destroys capitalism and the puritan religious dogma.

This entry probably summarizes the key points in evolution on this planet.

The global picture is more important than the specific events or specific informational facts.

It is the Mitochondia that determines the big events in the evolution.

Symbiosis was the key element (prokaryotes became symbiotic and much later became mitochondria) in early evolution of life and natural selection and adaptation of Darwin Theory was much later event.

Mitochnrial DNA is truly maternal and need for paternal mitochondria was not (sex was not a necessary ingredient) worth its mettle.

The mitochndria are remarkably resistant to frequent mutations and they occur in 3 to 5 million cycles.

When the last occurred, the homosapiens started appearing on this planet well after the last major meteorite fall.

The next meteorite fall is due in 16 million years from now and there could be 3 to 5 chances of major mitochondrial events with possible mutations before the NEXT meteorite devastation would change biological events.

What these changes would bring to human evolution is only a conjecture but humans as we see now will be well gone by then by his inability to sustain or control his/her craving and selfish desires.

Man will destroy himself and viral contribution to his demise is not a natural event but artificially created event in a genetic laboratory more likely in the East (China) than in the West.

His desire to develop biological weapons and create a super elite civilization by eliminating the vast masses by viral technology which started in America has slipped to the Asian region inadvertently.

Remember Sadam Hussein and he worked in such a facility in America and was eliminated (he never did develop biological weapon) by design.

Even U.K was/is doing similar experiments blaming only Russia for using Plutonium for espionage is only the tip of the iceberg.

I am told Russia has a robust biological program well in advance.

This is why I am against the Genomic Project by Craig Ventor and many others in the world currently.

Natural events should happen naturally and not in a genetic laboratory!

Origin of Life on Planet Earth

Origin of Life on Planet Earth

Events in Evolution

Comets and Planet Nine

Beginning around 250 to 500 Million years
 

In this context, evolution of the frogs/toads is very important.
 

They have gone through all the comet impacts but survived for 300 million years.

Assuming comet impacts were local in nature and the toads did survive in not affected areas, is a simple logic.

But there are a few unexplained facts.

Amoeba dubia
670,000,000,000


Amoeba proteus 290,000,000,000

Bufo bufo (Frog)
6,900,000,000



Homo sapiens (Man)
2,900,000,000


One of the largest genomes belongs to a very small creature, Amoeba dubia.
This protozoan genome has 670 billion units of DNA, or base pairs.
The genome of a cousin, Amoeba proteus, has a mere 290 billion base pairs, making it 100 times larger than the human genome.


Frogs have much larger DNA.

They accumulated all the genomic features to overcome the adversity is one of my hypothesis.
The second is the ability to hibernate.

Third is the ability to live both in water and land.
The ability to metamorphosis is probably made them survive with mutations.
After tuna fish they stand alone in the evolutionary history of this planet.
There is a little toad in us; at least the five fingers in humans (including writers) have an evolutionary link.
Additionally if they disappear in our nature it is a sure sign of pollution and our soil and water is not healthy for drinking and cultivation.


They are our main bio-indicators.

I suppose Victor Ivan read this at leisure.
 

When I hear frogs croaking in my neighborhood, I know they are coming to roost and breed on my FREE water tanks.
 

It is rare to see a tree frog now.
 

They are the cleanest (compared to rats) to dissect and we used to do without gloves.

Don’t tell the Chinese and Koreans who come here to visit that we have frogs.
 

In a decade we will exterminate the frog population.
 

Dogs (Victor is worried about stray dogs) flesh and toads are their delicacies.

Every Kilo of beef we spend 8 to16 kilos of grain which is enough to supplement protein deficiency in our children.

During Sirima's time we designed the Thriposha.
 

I know one company in this country has taken the lead and produce healthy and nutritious snacks from grains.

We don’t need to kill or for that mater rear goose or chicken.


Chicken is the most unhealthy meat of all stuffed with hormones that cause breast cancer in young females.



Latest

11 Million Years ago

38 Million years

66 Million years

 

Next
In 16 million years


In my book Ceylon and its Origin, I have used the above information to formulate, the formation of two or three plateaus (peneplains) and the hill country, as a hypothesis.
 

But I am more interested in our prehistory which our ancient Buddhist monks have deliberately erased (probably by the instruction of the Kings and Queens) by vandalizing and turning the caves into ashen remains or temples.

We have few remains of our prehistoric man.


I believe they were decimated by design  by natural disasters (small pox or even measles brought in by the invaders).
 

I believe the former since the lack of remains explains the erasing of the ancient history by design.

The ancient man never evolved here (not enough time) but have come by sea.
 

There was no link to Indian subcontinent then.
 

From where did they come from?
 

That is my question to the anthropologists.

In this period we did not have comets to explain extinction.


Comets
 

Whitmire already showed back in 1985 — when he first started looking into the possibility of Planet Nine-related comet barrages — that the pattern held for at least the last 250 million years. 
Newer research suggests that these barrages may actually have been happening for as much as 500 million years, and quite possibly longer.

The latest comet shower is thought to have occurred around 11 or so million years ago, around the time of the Middle Miocene mass extinction.
 

Before that, similar events were thought to have occurred around 38 and 66 million years ago, the latter thought to be the comets that killed off the dinosaurs.

Don’t ring the alarm bells though for the next bombardment. 

Humankind will likely be dramatically evolved (if hopefully not long gone) by the time Planet Nine passes through the Kuiper Belt again. 

“Modern man doesn’t have to worry about the next comet shower for 16 million years,” Whitman quipped.


Sunday, March 29, 2020

Unsolved Scientific Questions


Unsolved Scientific Questions
Forced incarceration at home made me to delve into some of my ten or more longstanding scientific (biological) inquiries, to which I have not found answers.

Global Warming and Coronavirus do not fall into them.

Dark Matter and Dark Forces elude me but it gives me some comfort that the Universe is Expanding (at a rate difficult to fathom by our imagination) and not contracting to a zero without a time dimension to place me in a relative position in the contracting system.

I do not believe at all, that the Universe came into being some 13 to 14 billion years ago by an unforeseen “Big Bang” but by a strange physical extortion/s of some sort that even started making Multi-Universes of unimaginable proportions which will limit our understanding (by the speed and the distance the light can travel in our sphere within the visible range) of the totality (if there is something called totality).

Of course, expansion gives the time concept that makes our limited lifespan some significance within our solar system but if the Universe was contracting our tiny lifespan will become tinier by the second and become non-existent in reality.

Introduction is compounding but my biological question will make you much more.

I believe that the beginning of life was an accident by design.

What we call binary devision happened at a point of time unknown.

I think it was RNA and not DNA that started life.

It was a single strand to begin with but became double stranded in the tail or the head end.

It acquired the polymerase activity (in that sense Coronavirus is no fluke in evolution).

The helical arrangement was conducive for DNA to come into existence and one could say virus like particles existed at some point of time in this physical world with no host to get attached to or become parasitic.

I have no clue how lipid membranes formed.

My guess work is at the seashore due to constant beating of the primordial soup with few chemicals to begin with.

I do not believe that life came from space through meteorites.

But meteorites would have contributed to the primordial soup.

What the primordial soup would have look liked, I have no clues.

How the lipids came int existence, I have no idea.

Primitive peptides and protein formation was possible by chance.

Membrane bound particles were important in the beginning.

Now I would leapfrog to a relative new time zone, leaving you wondering a big evolutionary (chunk) gap to assimilate by yourself.

Prokaryotes came first.

Eukaryotes came second.

Symbiosis was normal and early life was complimentary and prokaryotes became endosymbiotic and formed the energy factory the mitochondria.

There was no turning back from that point.

Even ectosymbiotic existence was complementary.

There was no need for sex differentiation in these symbiotic time era.

Evolving of Parasitic behaviour was an abnormally.

There was no need for life to “begin at all”, in a totally physical matter world.

What for?

To consume the matter laid before?
I wonder.

So looking for life elsewhere in the Universe is more circumspect.

Where to look for?

Complete binary division rarely happens in the physical world (it is not like crystals).

Life is a mystery of all in this Universe.

So protecting life from parasites including Coronavirus is mandatory.

By the way all the types of flu started from Hongkong, Singapore or China, except the Spanish flu in 1918-1919.

All started from animals.

Swine,birds and horses.

The current one is from bats.

The Chinese eat every living being on this planet.

To save life of this planet we have to become vegetarian sooner than late.
I think Americans also contribute to this saga by animal farming!

Friday, March 27, 2020

Garlic and Medical Research


There was a BBC guy who laughed at garlic and it has antiplatelet activity and together with low dose aspirin lowers cardiovascular episodes.

Lowering of lipids by American drugs is a CIA conspiracy (aided by scientific community) and with long term simavastin treatment old guys / girls get Dementia.

Antilipid drugs do not lower cardio-vascular episodes.

Reproduction from Wikipedia

Garlic and Medical Research

Cardiovascular

As of 2015, clinical research to determine the possible effects of consuming garlic on hypertension has found no clear effect.
A 2016 meta-analysis indicated there was no effect of garlic consumption on blood levels of lipoprotein(a), a biomarker of atherosclerosis.
Because garlic might reduce platelet aggregation, people taking anticoagulant medication are cautioned about consuming garlic.

Cancer

A 2016 meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies found a moderate inverse association between garlic intake and some cancers of the upper digestive tract.
Another meta-analysis found decreased rates of stomach cancer associated with garlic intake, but cited confounding factors as limitations for interpreting these studies.
Further meta-analyses found similar results on the incidence of stomach cancer by consuming allium vegetables including garlic.
A 2014 meta-analysis of observational epidemiological studies found that garlic consumption was associated with a lower risk of stomach cancer in Korean people.
A 2016 meta-analysis found no effect of garlic on colorectal cancer.
A 2014 meta-analysis found garlic supplements or allium vegetables to have no effect on colorectal cancers.
A 2013 meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies found limited evidence for an association between higher garlic consumption and reduced risk of prostate cancer, but the studies were suspected as having publication bias.
A 2013 meta-analysis of epidemiological studies found garlic intake to be associated with decreased risk of prostate cancer.

Common cold

A 2014 Cochrane review found insufficient evidence to determine the effects of garlic in preventing or treating the common cold.
Other reviews concluded a similar absence of high-quality evidence for garlic having a significant effect on the common cold.




Thursday, March 26, 2020

Hold On for a Minute


Hold On for a Minute

I am going to be blunt in expressing my views here some based on empirical, some scientific and some gut feelings.

There is a lot we do not know about this pandemic and the herd immunity is well below the potential for containment and my guess work is that once it enters, India and Africa, just like AIDS it becomes a global phenomenon which the W.H.O. won’t be able to predict its final outcome (in developing countries in particular) in the near future.

What we Know
1. Its size is 120 nanometers.

2. Its a RNA dependent RNA polymerase.

3. It behaves like an enteric virus (that is why the delay of 10 days as opposed to 3 to 5 days of Flu virus).

4. It is a large protein with a protective coat hijacked from the host cells.

5. The primary host cell is unknown and my guess is the hepatocyte or perhaps macrophage (provided the macrophage has a receptor protein to engulf it).
6. It hijacks the ribosomal protein factory of the host cell (most likely the hepatocyte where most of body proteins are manufactured).

7. It can mutate on its own will.
Why?
It does not need DNA mechanism of the host cell.
8. It can mimic (mimicry) the host cell’s proteins for its own survival and may bypass the host immune reaction to its own advantage and perhaps may even cause autoimmunity problem in some individuals.
9. It has its own protease enzyme to dissect the host protein and may even use the host cell protease for its own advantage.
10. Viral pneumonia is a process when antigen excess over antibody may cause an excess of inflammatory response (macrophage pushed to second place -leukocte response is enhanced- to clear the debries) and an alarming exudate into the lung alveoli.
This is where the ventilators come handy to push the negative pressure created (usually higher pressure created by the surfactant in the alveoli lining mitigates the exudation of fluids) in the alveoli back to manageable proportion by artificial means and allow macrophages to clean up the mess in the lung.
The premature babies lacks the surfactant and adults with chronic cardio-pulmonary disease have more devastating outcome.


What can be done?
1. Treat it like an enerovirus with vigorous hand washing and no touch technique (do not touch possible contaminated surfaces in public places).
2. Self discipline and home isolation over long period of time and physical distancing.
3. Social interaction with a land phone.
4. Cellphone (do not share) is a carrier and there are now UV light disinfectant cases already in the market.
5. Stop all contact sports (close gymnasiums) and use not towels but disposable paper towels.
6. Avoid all unnecessary travel especially by airlines.
7. Wearing a mask is optional (to hand washing) for normal uninfected but mandatory for sick individuals and health care personnel (save the masks for them).
8. Home gardening including vegetables is an option we have neglected (why visit the market for ginger and turmeric).
9. Coriander, Perumkayam and Khohoma are vital local remedies.
10. Hang a Khohomba (an old tradition) leave branch on the front and the back door if someone incubating the disease is domesticated.


Reproduction from New England Journal of Medicine

At the beginning of the epidemic, the estimated basic reproductive number (R0) was 2.38 and the percentage of undocumented infections was 86.0%. Undocumented infections were estimated to cause 86.2% of all infections. Later in the epidemic and with augmented testing, the proportion of undocumented infections fell to 35%, and the R0 dropped to 1.36 and then to 0.99 as restrictions on geographic movement tightened.

Comment

To end an epidemic, R0 must be kept below 1.0 in a sustained fashion. Mathematical modeling of epidemics is fraught with uncertainty given its reliance on numerous assumptions that sometimes turn out to be faulty. However, this study's rigorous modeling data underscore that drastic, prolonged geographic mobility restrictions are needed to contain the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Many countries are currently paying this high societal cost while awaiting the advent of an effective vaccine.

Flip Side of Coronovirus Pandemic


Flip Side of Coronovirus Pandemic

There are lot of positive signs for Ceylonese barring the difficulties for the people who are on hand to mouth existence.
They call the private and public transport, the Eda-Wela Tours.

This applies to Three Wheeler drivers who resist using a meter for the miles traveled before charging.
Most of these three wheeler drivers are government’s spoke-persons on wheels.

They haven’t got anything substantial for ages but do work as slaves to the government machinery in faith but not in conviction.

1. Number one point is no election round the corner.

What a saving?

2. There are currently no parliamentary members or provincial council members causing huge sum to be saved by the treasury.

What a saving?
3. Health ministry can perform admirably to take a lead without ministers and state ministers looking over their shoulders.

If a elected government was in power with so many meetings in every street corner of the country the virus that is in the coastal belt now would have come to the center of the country.

We are relatively free in the center of the country including Kandy since the railways are not running.

Railways would have carried the virus to the Estate Sector where our vital Tea Economy rests.

4. We do not have to listen to the warped politics of Vasu, Dinesh, Bandula and Werawansa for a considerable length of time.

5. I think five ministers in total including Prime Minister is enough to run the country in peace time and war time (Coronavirus).

6. The Coronovirus has shown that though, it is small in nanometers but very powerful in impact.

7. A small government could be more efficient (does not mean a military dictatorship is the alternative. Our military is huge and expensive to run in peace time and using them to packet dry ration is damning. I have no grouse they are helping -directing rather than slaves- the police for proper distribution without pilfering).

8. I think total shutdown of the parliament until the virus spread is under full control is mandatory (saving made by shutdown should be delivered to the health care sector).
The parliamentary members may become a vehicle of spread in no time.

It has happened in Senate and Congress (members) in USA.

9. Of course The election Commissioner and his panel can go into sleep gear for some time.

10. Shutting down TV (they have only Coronavirus news) and leaving the Radio Stations to function is more meaningful (in all three languages).

11. Last but not least canceling the New Year Celebrations would damp down the spread of the virus.
It is the Chinese New Year craze that made it become a pandemic from a tiny epidemic.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Health Must Be a Centralized Service


Health Must Be a Centralized Service

How America is failing to come to term with coronavirus spread is the focal point in this little brief but how Ceylon is taking giant steps on its own accord with little help from W.H.O. is the result of the Ministry of Health's capacity to rise up to the challenge.

I have worked both in public and private sector and the private sector can never take a lead in public health (private sector thrives on failure of the Ministry of Health) sphere at all.

I see President Trump who comes from private sector tries to overcome the bureaucratic system and take a lead by stopping the flights from China, Italy and Europe and stopping the spread in flight by airlines including Singapore airline was a bold step; while the European commission (IMF included) with its bureaucratic leading from Brussels become a laughing stock of the world (Italy becoming the melting pot of coronavirus with its own mishandling) and make its sphere of activity in Europe the epicenter of coronavirus.

This is not how things should have been managed.

I am not sure of our doctors’ union who was bum sucking a government of late could take any credit but they should take a lead to protect its own force including nurses and health care workers by providing protective gear including masks and gowns.
A raw monk leading a nurses union is the other side of the coin, who are hell bent on striking with a drop of a hat.

Having said that help ministry established by the British was well organized with Malaria Campaign our first success of eradicating Malaria in 1968 (still a threat from imported cases from India) and later controlling cholera, infectious hepatitis, amoebic dysentery and shigella and salmonella (typhoid) epidemics are our success stories of the Ministry of Health.

Small pox vaccine and polio were a success story when I was a kid.

Having said that AIDS and venereal diseases are not a success story at all!

Our immunization strategy is not bad at all but there is room for improvement.

I have seen even diphtheria and tetanus in this country and was a vocal advocate of immunization scheme and introduced Mumps, Measles and Rubella (M.M.R) in the private sector and then the late Ranasinghe Premadasa was annoyed that all foreign guys/girls were coming to Kandy to get their children vaccinated by me.

To his credit he introduced M.M.R in public sector before his demise.

I was failure as regard to chicken pox and I got chicken pox in my second working year and herpes zoster when 55 years old.

However, I was able to successfully introduce Acyclovir for chickenpox meningitis in UK. 
Failing to stop bleeding in thrombocytopenic haemorrhage I tried using hyperimmune serum successfully in few cases.
I give credit to British system (NHS) and their free training of medical graduates and I am against guys (in Ceylon) in the private sector opening medical schools for their kith and kin with money.

Coming back to coronavirus America not having enough ventilators for their patients is shocking.

America was a pioneer in ventilators.

How come they become defunct?

U.K. did not have ventilators in 1980s and imported Bell Ventilators from America.

I was one who was lucky then to use a Baby Belling ventilator in U.K. (mastered its use starting first with CPAP) and big ventilators in New Zealand.

Now this field is taken up by the fully qualified anaesthetists.

In passing I must tell that I applied for a job where a semi-government hospital who acquired a ventilator (late professor Carlo Fonseka was in the interview board and a guy much junior to me representing Health Ministry) wanted to select a candidate and offered the job to a female candidate with no experience.

I took my turn to blast the interview board for wasting my valuable time (I was working in private sector, then).

The bottom line is that Health Ministry should be centralized.

I do not believe in Provincial Councils and decentralized health sector with no coordination.

This applies to Police Force, too and they are doing a wonderful job at a trying time as a centralized force.

For me Army should always be in barracks except when war is declared!

Using them to beautify the city demean their uniform their discipline and status and politicizes them indirectly in the process.

Finance should be centralized and we haven’t had a civil servant in this post over 50 years after late Ronnie De Mel.

Chandika, Mahinda, even D.B. Wijetunge and Ranil and Ravi were failures of big time.

Less I talk about NM Pereara is better.

We are in a debt TRAP now!

Education both secondary and university should be centralized but our education system is in ruins without direction with so many ministers and state ministers.

Current Coronovirus Control and our Malaria Success give us time to reflect on our Centralized Health Ministry which is doing a salutary job.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Update on Coronavirus


Update on Coronavirus

This is in response to a few of my friends.
In other words if one takes a vegetarian diet at least in old age without beef is actually the best way of healthy living.
1. This virus originated in China and those incubating the disease landed in Singapore and entered Europe most likely by Singapore Airline or its subsidiary Airline.
2. Airline pilots and cabin crews, incubating this disease had been traveling all over world before the travel restriction, including USA.
3. It is very difficult to quarantine a patient in a plane in pressurized atmosphere and it is very common to catch a flu on a long haul flight.
4. Few airlines going bust due to credit crisis is welcome and most of the charter flights, the quality of service plummeted but the their income went up exponentially.
5. My last flight by Singapore airline was hopeless and I could not get a extra glass of water from the cabin crew.
It was the young passenger who was seated next to me who came to my rescue and offered me a glass of water.
6. China for its own part tried to suppress the information and one of its doctors who tried to exposed the secrecy succumbed to the virus.
7. Now 7 doctors in USA had died and another 20 infected due to poor coordination of public health information of and its potential danger.
8. Now even Africa is affected (most likely India, too) due to lack of testing agents.
9. In Ceylon they allowed the Chinese travelers free entry and they are allowed (not Ceylonese passport officers) to process their own passports- (nowhere in the world, there is a scheme like this) and only quarantines plane load of our students.
10, Our health officers are not divulging the true facts (bungling by the present governments) about “how late in handling’ the quarantine issue.
11.Closing the schools and universities came too late and I bet our election commissioner will hold elections in spite of the risks involved to the voter and public who would not bother voting.
12. Most of our sports facilities (schools,too) do not have proper washrooms and toilets and the sharing the towel and water bottle, habit of J.V.P. camaraderie is a high risk in this country.
13. In my opinion a face mask is a big risk both of collecting a viral load and disposing (burning) after use DUE to relatively big size of the virus which is 120 nm. 
A high quality face masks are not available even in our surgical theaters, not allowing 15 to 20 nm (that is the size of the small branches of the bronchial tree) particles that penetrate the virtual lung barrier.
14. Most optimistic preventive measure is by washing of hands up to the elbow with soap and water. (The mounting and standing bars of buses and staircase elevators are never cleaned)
14. Not to share cutlery and utensils even at home (how many can afford).
15. Stay at home with early signs of any infection (it is too late in most infections, disease is spread during the incubation period which is six weeks in infective hepatitis).
16. Take Vitamin C (cheaper than fruits) as a habit.
17. No western medicine available but there are lot of Aurvedic remedies.
18. Coriander seeds as a drink and coriander leaves as a curry.
19. Garlic, Ginger, Lime, Lemon, Tumeric (not Wada Kaha) and Vinegar.
20. If you can find Perumkayam!

21. In other words if one takes a vegetarian diet at least in old age without beef is actually the best way of healthy living.

22. Egg is allowed as a default vitamin store.

Below is a reproduction from Wikipedia and I want to make few comments even though, I am not a virologist.

There are roughly three types of viruses, DNA, RNA and Retrovirus (AIDS is an example).

Coronavirus is a RNA virus that hijacks the cell protein production factory the Ribosomes with its own RNA dependent RNA polymerase.

1. It hijacks cell protein factory the ribosome
2. Its receptor is cells own protein component.
3. CD (Cell Definition) classification is yet not well defined.
4. What cells have this CD specificity is unknown.
5. It uses a poly-protein of its own creation and a protease to dissect its own protein components. That leads to relative protein deficiency for cells that are affected.
6.We do not know the homology of the viral protein with the normal cell proteins.
7. If the homology is great the body won’t mount an active antibody production to avoid autoimmunity.
8. Whether it causes protein deficiency and autoimmunity needs to be worked out.
9. My belief is that it is an animal virus that causes no problem for in the animal kingdom but once it enters the humans population it can create havoc.
10. If it originated from a bird avoid eating chicken (starve the virus of its base protein hijacking ability) similarly if it originated from pigs (bigger animal) avoid eating pork and beef (to starve the virus of is base protein hijacking ability).
11. If it originated from bats (most likely), I do not have any worthwhile suggestion to contribute.
12. It is better to revert to vegetable protein like ToFu (amino acid composition is different to animal protein) instead of animal proteins.
13. My prediction is because this virus has a RNA dependent RNA polymerase which can mutate at its own will the epidemic will last at least a decade until the herd immunity takes its toll but by then another virus more potent than this will emerge from a viral laboratory that do do not have rigid protocols and closely not monitored by a regulatory authority.
14. I believe all developed countries and China may be developing biological weapons secretly and science (biological) may be killed by its own science initiative.
Regulation is mandatory!

Coronavirus Morphology

Coronaviruses are large pleomorphic spherical particles with bulbous surface projections.
The diameter of the virus particles is around 120 nm.
The envelope of the virus in electron micrographs appears as a distinct pair of electron dense shells.
The viral envelope consists of a lipid bilayer where the membrane (M), envelope (E) and spike (S) structural proteins are anchored.
A subset of coronaviruses (specifically the members of Betacoronavirus subgroup A) also have a shorter spike-like surface protein called hemagglutinin esterase (HE).
Inside the envelope, there is the nucleocapsid, which is formed from multiple copies of the nucleocapsid (N) protein, which are bound to the positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome in a continuous beads-on-a-string type conformation.The genome size for coronaviruses ranges from approximately 27 to 34 kilobases.
The lipid bilayer envelope, membrane proteins, and nucleocapsid protect the virus when it is outside the host cell.

Coronavirus Replication

Infection begins when the virus enters the host organism and the spike protein attaches to its complementary host cell receptor. After attachment, a protease of the host cell cleaves and activates the receptor-attached spike protein. Depending on the host cell protease available, cleavage and activation allows cell entry through endocytosis or direct fusion of the viral envelop with the host membrane.
On entry into the host cell, the virus particle is uncoated, and its genome enters the cell cytoplasm.[
The coronavirus RNA genome has a 5′ methylated cap and a 3′ polyadenylated tail, which allows the RNA to attach to the host cell's ribosome for translation.
The host ribosome translates the initial overlapping open reading frame of the virus genome and forms a long polyprotein.
The polyprotein has its own proteases which cleave the polyprotein into multiple nonstructural proteins.
A number of the nonstructural proteins coalesce to form a multi-protein replicase-transcriptase complex (RTC).
The main replicase-transcriptase protein is the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp).
It is directly involved in the replication and transcription of RNA from an RNA strand. The other nonstructural proteins in the complex assist in the replication and transcription process. The exoribonuclease non-structural protein for instance provides extra fidelity to replication by providing a proofreading function which the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase lacks.
One of the main functions of the complex is to replicate the viral genome. RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense genomic RNA from the positive-sense genomic RNA. This is followed by the replication of positive-sense genomic RNA from the negative-sense genomic RNA.
The other important function of the complex is to transcribe the viral genome. RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules from the positive-sense genomic RNA. This is followed by the transcription of these negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules to their corresponding positive-sense mRNAs.
The replicated positive-sense genomic RNA becomes the genome of the progeny viruses.
The mRNAs are gene transcripts of the last third of the virus genome after the initial overlapping reading frame. These mRNAs are translated by the host's ribosomes into the structural proteins and a number of accessory proteins.
RNA translation occurs inside the endoplasmic reticulum. The viral structural proteins S, E, and M move along the secretory pathway into the Golgi intermediate compartment. There, the M proteins direct most protein-protein interactions required for assembly of viruses following its binding to the nucleocapsid.
Progeny viruses are then released from the host cell by exocytosis through secretory vesicles.


Sunday, March 15, 2020

Coronavirus


Below is a reproduction from Wikipedia and I want to make few comments even though, I am not a virologist.

There are roughly three types of viruses, DNA, RNA and Retrovirus (AIDS is an example).

Coronavirus is a RNA virus that hijacks the cell protein production factory the Ribosomes with its own RNA dependent RNA polymerase.

1. It hijacks cell protein factory the ribosome
2. Its receptor is cells own protein component.
3. CD (Cell Definition) classification is yet not well defined.
4. What cells have this CD specificity is unknown.
5. It uses a poly-protein of its own creation and a protease to dissect its own protein components. That leads to relative protein deficiency for cells that are affected.
6.We do not know the homology of the viral protein with the normal cell proteins.
7. If the homology is great the body won’t mount an active antibody production to avoid autoimmunity.
8. Whether it causes protein deficiency and autoimmunity needs to be worked out.
9. My belief is that it is an animal virus that causes no problem for in the animal kingdom but once it enters the humans population it can create havoc.
10. If it originated from a bird avoid eating chicken (starve the virus of its base protein hijacking ability) similarly if it originated from pigs (bigger animal) avoid eating pork and beef (to starve the virus of is base protein hijacking ability).
11. If it originated from bats (most likely), I do not have any worthwhile suggestion to contribute.
12. It is better to revert to vegetable protein like ToFu (amino acid composition is different to animal protein) instead of animal proteins.
13. My prediction is because this virus has a RNA dependent RNA polymerase which can mutate at its own will the epidemic will last at least a decade until the herd immunity takes its toll but by then another virus more potent than this will emerge from a viral laboratory that do do not have rigid protocols and closely not monitored by a regulatory authority.
14. I believe all developed countries and China may be developing biological weapons secretly and science (biological) may be killed by its own science initiative.
Regulation is mandatory!

Coronavirus Morphology

Coronaviruses are large pleomorphic spherical particles with bulbous surface projections.
The diameter of the virus particles is around 120 nm.
The envelope of the virus in electron micrographs appears as a distinct pair of electron dense shells.
The viral envelope consists of a lipid bilayer where the membrane (M), envelope (E) and spike (S) structural proteins are anchored.
A subset of coronaviruses (specifically the members of Betacoronavirus subgroup A) also have a shorter spike-like surface protein called hemagglutinin esterase (HE).
Inside the envelope, there is the nucleocapsid, which is formed from multiple copies of the nucleocapsid (N) protein, which are bound to the positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome in a continuous beads-on-a-string type conformation.The genome size for coronaviruses ranges from approximately 27 to 34 kilobases.
The lipid bilayer envelope, membrane proteins, and nucleocapsid protect the virus when it is outside the host cell.

Coronavirus Replication

Infection begins when the virus enters the host organism and the spike protein attaches to its complementary host cell receptor. After attachment, a protease of the host cell cleaves and activates the receptor-attached spike protein. Depending on the host cell protease available, cleavage and activation allows cell entry through endocytosis or direct fusion of the viral envelop with the host membrane.
On entry into the host cell, the virus particle is uncoated, and its genome enters the cell cytoplasm.[
The coronavirus RNA genome has a 5′ methylated cap and a 3′ polyadenylated tail, which allows the RNA to attach to the host cell's ribosome for translation.
The host ribosome translates the initial overlapping open reading frame of the virus genome and forms a long polyprotein.
The polyprotein has its own proteases which cleave the polyprotein into multiple nonstructural proteins.
A number of the nonstructural proteins coalesce to form a multi-protein replicase-transcriptase complex (RTC).
The main replicase-transcriptase protein is the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp).
It is directly involved in the replication and transcription of RNA from an RNA strand. The other nonstructural proteins in the complex assist in the replication and transcription process. The exoribonuclease non-structural protein for instance provides extra fidelity to replication by providing a proofreading function which the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase lacks.
One of the main functions of the complex is to replicate the viral genome. RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense genomic RNA from the positive-sense genomic RNA. This is followed by the replication of positive-sense genomic RNA from the negative-sense genomic RNA.
The other important function of the complex is to transcribe the viral genome. RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules from the positive-sense genomic RNA. This is followed by the transcription of these negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules to their corresponding positive-sense mRNAs.
The replicated positive-sense genomic RNA becomes the genome of the progeny viruses.
The mRNAs are gene transcripts of the last third of the virus genome after the initial overlapping reading frame. These mRNAs are translated by the host's ribosomes into the structural proteins and a number of accessory proteins.
RNA translation occurs inside the endoplasmic reticulum. The viral structural proteins S, E, and M move along the secretory pathway into the Golgi intermediate compartment. There, the M proteins direct most protein-protein interactions required for assembly of viruses following its binding to the nucleocapsid.
Progeny viruses are then released from the host cell by exocytosis through secretory vesicles.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Executioner Parity (Gahalaya Party) of Ceylon-S.L.P.P.


Executioner Parity (Gahalaya Party) of Ceylon-S.L.P.P.

I predict the S.L.P.P will become the grand executioner party (Gahalaya) of its predecessor the S.L.F.P that tried to become the executioner party of the Grand Old U.N.P.
Its (S.L.F.P.) decimations befits its original CRIME of disrupting a party that united all races and religions.
Of course U.N.P. is destroying itself by the son of its predecessor executioner Ranasinghe Premadasa (according to L.T.T.E running without direction-President) who has ambitions but no direction or democracy in mind.
His son epitomizes the his fathers genetic political trade (eliminate rivals).

It is again D.M.O’Crazy if S.L.P.P. comes into power with or without two third majority.
S.L.P.P wants to emulate worse of J.R.J.
History repeats itself, “they say”.
J.R.J. and Ravi J are dead and gone but this ruling family wants to own our democracy by might but not right.
D.M.O’ Crazy and Myanmar type of military government is in the offing.
That is the biggest threat for Ceylon's democratic traditions and it will be reinvigorating militancy (and military by reciprocal gut reaction) both in the North and South.

Are we ready for one party and one religion country?


Five Star Democracy and its grading

First a reminder to our Chief Election Commissioner, that he should ban all public display of posters and overhead hangers littering the country side for over three months from now.
He should advise them to deliver hand bill personally by the candidates (not by stooges).
For his part President of the Country should as the Chief Litter Collector, because he believes in beautifying the country by his own will.
The street painters of the new vogue should stop vandalizing the street walls of the country (wasting valuable learning time (English in particular) of the kids who have artistic talents).
If they want to to do any arts, they should avoid all political colours in their public paintings.
I saw an elephant painted in blue.
They are brown to lighter black are never green or blue.
I had a suggestion that Election Commissioner should ban using animal as political symbols including cocks and cockerels.
Let me begin with the star grading of hospitality trade (hotels) and hospitals.
I can dispense with hospital with one line, “There are no hospitals with any star grade both in private and public arena on empathy and sympathy”.
I sympathize with the few new entrants who start with some stars but become structured in five years and become rigid and frigid, the entire life with money as the only motive.
Now my star system has No Stars as the base line and they go from 1 to 5 with six gradings.
1.Let me start with buses.
Most of the public buses go into no grading with no leg space or room to breath, just like domestic and international airplanes in economy class.
Only five star buses are for the tourists.
2. Come to political parties, most of them hold no stars for over 70 years and they love to display their lack of stars.
Only a few will get one star or two.
No five star parties and we never will.
3. Telecoms industry Lanka Bell (4 stars) and Dialog (3 stars) get few stars and Mobitel none.
4. Water Board and Electricity board gets no stars.
5. Public sector including Education gets no stars.
6. Immigration and Emigration get one star.
7. All candidates from major parties (Not attended schools is a basic qualification) including supposed to be intellectual over 55 who are retired from public service (if they hold stars they should be serving the Universities abroad. There is a dearth of intellectuals in universities) get no stars or one.
8. Most of the politically appointed ambassadors also get no stars.
9. I missed Three Wheeler Drivers (operated by local mafia) spearheaded by S.L.P.P gets NO Stars.
Mind you traveling by a Taxi is much safer and quicker!