Re: References on Deranged Mineral Transport-

[Guest guest]

Dave's explanation below is of the " Deranged Mineral Transport for

Dummies " -type that's really helpful for us non-biochemists and

engineers. Could we keep it in the Files for future reference if

Andy approves?

If I can add anything to this, one resource that can really help in

getting a grasp on this is a basic physiology textbook. I found one

recently at a used bookstore for $6. After a year, I still didn't

understand all of the technical vocabulary used in Andy's books.

The pictures, graphs & tables alone can fill in a lot of

the 'blanks' that keep us from better understanding what's going on.

Thanks,

Joanne

>

> Darren.

>

> This is a valid question, which I've asked him. This is my

> understanding, limited though it is.

>

> There are transport molecules on the surface of cells that allow

various

> molecules to get in or out. There is a great deal of work that

shows

> that mercury is such a systemic toxin that it interferes with

basically

> all of those biochemical transport systems. So, there is a

biochemical

> basis for the notion of " disordered mineral transport " . Now, how

would

> you tell if there is some kind of systemic problem going on?

Well, the

> basic idea is simple. You have a lot of minerals that have to be

taken

> in to the cell and whose levels have to be managed. You would

expect

> that if you look at the levels of these minerals, they should

cluster

> around the mean. If they don't then there is some kind of

overarching

> problem. Here is where the engineering rule of thumb that he

mentions

> in his hair test book comes in. How do you tell if you are faced

with a

> systemic problem? Well, you could have things coming out

systemically

> high or low (so you look at how many are above the mean or below

the

> mean and see if that number is improbably high) or they could come

out

> basically balanced, but highly scattered, eg on average they are

too far

> from the mean (so you look at how many are outside of the green

band;

> you might also check how many are in the red zones and in either

case

> flag it if you are seeing something highly improbable). Highly

> improbably means, in this case, about 2.5% of the population.

>

> A further point that he has made is that you look for congoners.

These

> are elements whose electron structure are similar. If they are at

> similar levels in the cell, then that means that the cells

capacity to

> differentiate between these elements is being lost. This, as I

> understand it, is one of the specific characteristics of

disordered

> mineral transport.

>

> Finally start looking at hair tests. I have downloaded and looked

at a

> couple of hundred of them now. There is an absolutely

unmistakable

> pattern that is recognizable and seems reasonably well

operationalized

> by Andy's counting rules.

>

> I believe that is a fairly good rendition of where we are with

this at

> the moment.

>

> Someone who knows more, please add it!

>

> Dave.

>