Australian Bioscience News & Views

Good news on eczema

There are days when I feel so lucky to be literate in science and have well informed friends. In the last week I have received several excellent suggestions for information to hunt down, psychological approaches to it, technological, and commercial views of its value. All this in tandem with pleasant, or at least engaging coversation.

First came the good news that there is a known cause of the less than delightful 'atopic' symptoms I experience (eczema, asthma, hay-fever), a mutation for a skin sealing protein called filaggrin - try saying that ten times really really fast. Anyway, odd name aside, mutations in a gene on chromosome 1 cause the protein not to form and the skin, lining of the nose and lungs are not the effective protective barrier most people take for granted. Skin contact likely cuases sensitisation that then leads on to the asthma that is so commonly found to follow eczema. Luckily I don't experience these symptoms as badly as some I have read about! The good news came from a friend, artist who keeps up with the latest in the push into post-humanity :-)

After hunting down the papers in Nature Genetics, I visited a friend who lives with fibromyalgia who was good enough to remind me that while finding one cause is a good step, there is likely more to it, and treatments won't be coming all that fast.

Bufo beater

The story of the cane toad (Bufo marinus) in Australia, is a sad tale of biological control gone very wrong. One of the most disheartening aspects of the warty invasion is that most native animals find cane toads lethally poisonous. Of course no toad causes warts, but cane toads look like they have a bad case of them!

Today I heard something cheering though, an unassuming waterloving native snake, the Keelback (Tropidonophis mairii) can munch on cane toads like a delicious meaty snack. The Keelback lives from south eastern Queensland to The Top End of the Northern Territory, so I hope this rainbow serpent protects Kakadu. Go Keelbacks!

Snakes in the bushes

Today, some poor guy holidaying up at Wiseman’s Ferry was bitten by a death adder (Acanthophis antarcticus), five bites apparently. Luckily he is not dead, recovering in hospital, but I can’t help wondering whether he did indeed pick it up mistakenly believing it to be a lizard, as newspapers are saying. I’m aware that some adders vary their colour with the seasons, but I don’t believe any of them grow legs …

Luckily there is an antivenom for the neurotoxic agents in the bite, which varies in effectiveness depending on the subspecies of antarcticus death adder that did the deed. I’m no expert on Elapidae, but have stumbled across references to quite a number of subspecies, the Barkly Tableland Acanthophis antarcticus from Victoria, the Southern death adder from New South Wales, and of course the common death adder in South Australia. Think about those last two names, and then try to say Australians have no sense of irony. They’re all close cousins to the rather more famous Pilbara death adder (Acanthophis wellsi), reputed to be the second most venomous snake on earth.

It’s been rumoured that the common death adder antivenom can possibly be used to manage bardick snake (Notechis curtus) bites, though I don’t know how effective it would be. Sadly though, there have been reports of fox and feral cat baits killing death adders and other snakes, so it appears Homo sapiens more than get their own back on the scaly ones.

In my first year at uni I remember reading a paper about anticholinesterase being used to save death addered rats. This is apparently the opposite of the usual situation, where anticholinesterases are the active agents in other bites and stings. On the pro side for anticholinesterases, they are also used to treat pesticide poisoning by organophosphates and carbamates.

So, while there are snakes in the bushes, and people pick them up in the dark, there will always be interesting topics to ponder. Not unlike surfers who like to enjoy sun set from behind the breakers …