By Heather Murphy
She had been told that childbirth was going to be painful. But as the hours wore on, nothing bothered her — even without an epidural.
“I could feel that my body was changing, but it didn’t hurt me,” recalled the woman, Jo Cameron, who is now 71. She likened it to “a tickle.” Later, she would tell prospective mothers, “Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as people say it is.”
It was only recently — more than four decades later — that she learned her friends were not exaggerating.
Rather, there was something different about the way her body experienced pain: For the most part, it didn’t.
Scientists believe they now understand why. In a paper published Thursday in The British Journal of Anaesthesia, researchers attributed Cameron’s virtually pain-free life to a mutation in a previously unidentified gene. The hope, they say, is that the finding could eventually contribute to the development of a novel pain treatment. They believe this mutation may also be connected to why Cameron has felt little anxiety or fear throughout her life and why her body heals quickly.
“We’ve never come across a patient like this,” said John Wood, the head of the Molecular Nociception Group at University College London.
Scientists have been documenting case studies of individuals who experience little or no pain for nearly 100 years. But the genetic mutation that seems to be responsible for Cameron’s virtual painlessness had not been previously identified.
The study emerged amid major developments in the emotionally charged debate over how to responsibly treat pain. On Thursday, New York state filed one of the most sweeping legal cases yet against the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid OxyContin.
And it was yet another reminder that we need less addictive alternatives for chronic pain, said Dr. Stephen G. Waxman, a neurologist at Yale and author of “Chasing Men on Fire: The Story of the Search for a Pain Gene.” Waxman was not involved in the recent paper but he also studies people who have rare mutations that alter their experience of pain.
“Each of these mutations teach us something, and point to a particular gene as a potential target for new and more effective pain medications,” he said.
The sequence of events that led scientists to investigate Cameron’s genes began about five years ago. She was living a happy, ordinary life on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland with her husband, she said. After a hand operation, a doctor seemed perplexed that she was not experiencing any pain and did not want painkillers.
“I guarantee I won’t need anything,” Cameron recalled telling Devjit Srivastava, a consultant in anesthesia and pain medicine at a National Health Service hospital in northern Scotland and one of the authors of the paper.
A few follow-up questions revealed that Cameron was unusual. At 65, she had needed to have her hip replaced. Because it had not caused her pain, she had not noticed anything was amiss until it was severely degenerated. Cuts, burns, fractures — these did not hurt either. In fact, it often took the smell of burning flesh or her husband identifying blood for her to notice something wrong. She also reported that eating Scotch bonnet chili peppers left only a “pleasant glow.”
Srivastava referred her to University College London’s Molecular Nociception Group, a team focused on genetic approaches to understanding the biology of pain and touch They had some clues for her. In recent decades, scientists have identified dozens of other people who process pain in unusual ways. But when Dr. James Cox, a senior lecturer with that group and another author of the new paper, inspected her genetic profile, it did not resemble that of others known to live without pain.
Eventually he found what he was looking for on a gene the scientists call FAAH-OUT. All of us have this gene. But in Cameron’s case, “the patient has a deletion that removes the front of the gene,” he said. Additional blood work confirmed this hypothesis, he said.
Cameron said she had been shocked by the interest in her case. Until her conversation with Srivastava, pain was not something she thought about. Perhaps it helped that even though she burned and cut herself quite often, her injuries rarely left scars — something else that scientists believe is connected to the mutation.
A number of articles have been written about parents of children with similar conditions. Many live in fear that without pain, their children won’t learn how to avoid hurting themselves. Her parents never made it an issue, she said. She suspects this may be because she inherited the mutation from her father.
“I can’t remember him needing any painkillers,” she said. “I think that’s why I didn’t find it odd.”
Unfortunately, because he died before the discovery, it will remain unknown whether he carried the mutation. Her mother does not share it. Neither does her daughter. Her son “has the same microdeletion in FAAH-OUT, but does not have the other mutation that confers reduced FAAH function,” Cox said.
In other words, her son shares some, but not all, of her pain insensitivity.
Scientists are also intrigued by Cameron’s extraordinarily low anxiety level. On an anxiety disorder questionnaire, she scored zero out of 21. She cannot recall ever having felt depressed or scared.
“I am very happy,” she said.
In retrospect, she sees how her genetic disposition may have aided her at work. After years as a primary-school teacher, she retrained to work with people with severe mental disabilities. Erratic, aggressive behavior never riled her, she said.
But though having this mutation may sound like a dream, there are downsides. One is that she is quite forgetful; prone to losing her keys and her train of thought midsentence. The other is that she’s never felt the “adrenaline rush” that other people talk about, she said.
The researchers said they would now focus on trying to better understand how FAAH-OUT works so that they can design a gene therapy or other pain intervention around it. Turning a discovery of this sort into an actual pain or anxiety treatment requires many steps, many years and many millions of dollars. It’s rare for a product to emerge.
But it’s not unprecedented, Waxman said. As a reminder of how an individual with an unusual genetic makeup can shape the future of medicine, he pointed to statin drugs.
“They were developed largely on the basis and discovery of incredibly rare families where everyone was having heart attacks in their 20s,” he said. Whether it will be Cameron’s mutation or another individual’s mutation that directs the future of painkillers, it’s too early to say.
“But I’m reasonably confident that the lessons we are learning from the genes involved in pain will lead to the development of an entirely new class of pain medications,” he said.
The above is from Healthworld of the Economic Times. The original article may be read at https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/at-71-shes-never-felt-pain-or-anxiety-now-scientists-know-why-a-mutation/68640450
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Sitting MPs have declared Criminal Cases against themselves.
Dear Friends,
National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 521 Sitting MPs out of 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha 2014 Elections. This report is based on the information declared by the MPs in their affidavits submitted prior to Lok Sabha 2014 Elections. There 22 constituencies where the seats are vacant. For the complete report, please go to : https://adrindia.org/
Summary and Highlights
Criminal Background
· Sitting MPs with Criminal Cases: Out of the 521 Sitting MPs analysed, 174(33%) Sitting MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves.
· Sitting MPs with Serious Criminal Cases: 106 (20%) Sitting MPs have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
· Sitting MPs with cases related to murder: 10 Sitting MPs have declared cases related to murder. Out of these, 4 Sitting MPs from BJP, 1 MP from INC, NCP, LJP, RJD,Swabhimani Paksha each and one MP is an independent.
· Sitting MPs with cases related to Attempt to Murder: 14 Sitting MPs have declared cases of attempt to murder. Out of these, 8 Sitting MPs from BJP and one MP each from INC, AITC, NCP, RJD, Shiv Sena and Swabhimani Paksha.
· Sitting MPs with cases related to causing Communal Disharmony: 14 Sitting MPs declared cases related to causing communal disharmony. Out of these, 10 Sitting MPs from BJP and 1 MP by TRS, PMK, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen and AIUDF each.
· Party wise Sitting MPs with Criminal Cases: 92 (35%) out of 267 Sitting MPs analysed from BJP, 7 (16%) out of 45 Sitting MPs from INC, 6 (16%) out of 37 Sitting MPs fromAIADMK, 15 (83%) out of 18 Sitting MPs from Shiv Sena and 7 (21%) out of 34 Sitting MPs fielded by AITC Sitting MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
· Party wise Sitting MPs with Serious Criminal Cases: 58 (22%) out of 267 Sitting MPs analysed from BJP, 2 (4%) out of 45 Sitting MPs from INC, 3 (8%) out of 37 Sitting MPs fromAIADMK, 8 (44%) out of 18 Sitting MPs from Shiv Sena and 4 (12%) out of 34 Sitting MPs fielded by AITC Sitting MPs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
· Crorepati Sitting MPs: Out of the 521 Sitting MPs analysed, 430 (83%) are crorepatis.
· Party-wise Crorepati Sitting MPs: 227 (85%) out of 267 Sitting MPs analysed in BJP, 37 (82%) out of 45 Sitting MPs in INC, 29 (78%) out of 37 Sitting MPs in AIADMK and 22 (65%) out of 34 Sitting MPs in AITC have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.
· Average Assets: The average assets per sitting MP for Lok Sabha 2014 elections are Rs. 14.72 crores.
· Party-wise Average Assets: Among major parties, the average assets per MP for 267 BJP Sitting MPs analysed is Rs 11.89 crores, 45 INC Sitting MPs have average assets of Rs.15.47 crores, 37 AIADMK Sitting MPs have average assets worth of Rs.6.47 crores and 34 AITC Sitting MPs have average assets of Rs. 2.56 crores
· High Asset Sitting MPs*: 32 Sitting MPs have declared more than Rs.50 crores worth of assets. The top three Sitting MPs with the highest assets are given below:
S.No.
|
Name
|
State
|
Constituency
|
Party Name
|
Total Assets (Rs)
|
PAN Given
|
1
|
Jayadev Galla
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
Guntur
|
TDP
|
6,83,05,81,361
683 Crore+ |
Y
|
2
|
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy
|
Telangana
|
Chevella
|
TRS
|
5,28,62,30,210
528 Crore+ |
Y
|
3
|
Gokaraju Ganga Raju
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
Narsapuram
|
BJP
|
2,88,35,67,122
288 Crore+ |
Y
|
*Total Assets includes income of self, spouse and dependents.
· Low Asset Sitting MPs: A total of 2 Sitting MPs have declared assets less than Rs. 5 lakhs. The two Sitting MPs with lowest assets are as follows:
S.No.
|
Name
|
State
|
Constituency
|
Party Name
|
Total Assets (Rs)
|
PAN Given
|
1
|
Sumedha Nand Saraswati
|
Rajasthan
|
Sikar
|
BJP
|
34,311
34 Thou+ |
Y
|
2
|
Uma Saren
|
West Bengal
|
Jhargram
|
AITC
|
4,99,646
4 Lacs+ |
Y
|
· Sitting MPs with High Liabilities: A total of 96 Sitting MPs have declared liabilities of Rs. 1 crore and above. Out of these 96 Sitting MPs, 14 have declared liabilities of Rs. 10 crore and above. The Sitting MPs with the top three liabilities are as given below:
S.No.
|
Name
|
State
|
Constituency
|
Party Name
|
Total Assets(Rs)
|
Liabilities (Rs)
|
PAN Given
|
1
|
Srinivas Kesineni
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
Vijayawada
|
TDP
|
1,28,41,22,669
128 Crore+ |
71,54,62,989
71 Crore+ |
Y
|
2
|
Poonam Mahajan Alias Poonam Vajendla Rao
|
Maharashtra
|
Mumbai North Central
|
BJP
|
1,08,08,67,626
108 Crore+ |
41,44,79,088
41 Crore+ |
Y
|
3
|
Harsimrat Kaur Badal
|
Punjab
|
Bathinda
|
SAD
|
1,08,16,64,910
108 Crore+ |
41,26,34,299
41 Crore+ |
Y
|
· Crorepati Sitting MPs with no PAN: 2 Sitting MPs with total assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore have not declared PAN details. These Sitting MPs are as follows:
S.No.
|
Name
|
State
|
Constituency
|
Party Name
|
Total Assets (Rs)
|
1
|
C. L. Ruala
|
Mizoram
|
Mizoram
|
INC
|
2,57,33,421
2 Crore+ |
2
|
Prasanna Kumar Patasani
|
Odisha
|
Bhubaneswar
|
BJD
|
1,35,57,443
1 Crore+ |
· Sitting MPs with High Income as declared in ITR*: 45 Sitting MPs have declared total annual income of more than Rs. 1 crore. The top three Sitting MPs with highest declared annual income are given below:
S.No.
|
Name
|
Party Name
|
Constituency
|
State
|
Total Assets
|
Total income shown by MP in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent)
|
Self-income shown by MP in ITR
|
1
|
Jayadev Galla
|
TDP
|
Guntur
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
6,83,05,81,361
683 Crore+
|
16,85,54,700
16 Crore+
|
16,30,91,770
16 Crore+
|
2
|
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy
|
TRS
|
Chevella
|
Telangana
|
5,28,62,30,210
528 Crore+
|
14,64,24,120
14 Crore+
|
62,66,140
62 Lacs+
|
3
|
Thambidurai.M
|
AIADMK
|
Karur
|
Tamil Nadu
|
13,24,57,262
13 Crore+
|
10,68,54,272
10 Crore+
|
17,05,970
17 Lacs+
|
*Total income includes income of self, spouse and dependents
· Sitting MPs who have not declared Income Tax Details*: 42 (8%) Sitting MPs out of 521 analyzed have not declared income tax details.* Some Sitting MPs may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns
· Sitting MPs with High Assets who have not declared Income Tax Details: 24 Sitting MPs with assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore, have not declared Income Tax Details.
· Education Details of Sitting MPs: 1 MP has declared that he is illiterate. 126 (24%) Sitting MPs have declared that have an education qualification of 12th pass or below while 384 (74%) Sitting MPs have declared having educational qualification of graduate or above.
· Age Details of Sitting MPs: 206 (40%) Sitting MPs have declared their age to be between 25 to 50 years while 281 (54%) Sitting MPs have declared their age to be between 51 to 70 years and 34(6%) Sitting MPs have declared their age to be above 71 years.
· Gender Details of Sitting MPs: Out of 521 sitting MPs analysed, 66 (13%) Sitting MPs are women while 455 (87%) Sitting MPs are men.
Regards,
Media and Journalist Helpline
+91 80103 94248
+91 85868 47977
+91 88021 30143
|
Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd.)
Head – ADR & NEW
011 4165 4200,
+91 88264 79910
|
Prof. Trilochan Sastry
IIM Bangalore
Founder Member- ADR & NEW
+91 94483 53285
|
Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar
IIM Ahmedabad (Retd.)
Founder Member – ADR & NEW
+91 99996 20944
|
Association for Democratic Reforms
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