Stories abound about the medical abuses that have come to define medicine and the "pseudo"-neurosciences in the Third Reich. Well known are the Nazi program of euthanasia and the neuroscientific publications that arose from it. Nevertheless, during this widespread perversion of medical practice and science, true medical heroics persisted, even in the concentration camps. In December 1942, inmat...

Mammalian neurolathyrism is a progressive and degenerative disease of central nervous system originating from excessive consumption of Lafhyrus seeds, particularly those of L. sativus. Rao et al. [I] have isolated P-N-oxalyl-L-a&diaminopropionic acid (ODAP) from the seeds of L. satiuus and shown this substance to be the neurotoxin [ 1, 21 Characterization of the biochemical effect and cellular ...

Introduction Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) is one of the important food legumes in countries like Bangladesh, India, and Ethiopia. It has desirable agronomic characteristics, notably the ability to resist adverse climatic conditions. Nutritionally it is tasty and protein-rich. However over consumption can cause an upper motor neuron disease known as neurolathyrism, an irreversible paraparesis of...

OBJECTIVES To investigate if sequence alterations of the excitatory amino acid transporter gene EAAT2 (GLT-1) may be a contributory factor to the pathogenesis of motor system degeneration. EAAT2 serves as a candidate gene as its reduced expression was reported in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Furthermore, neurolathyrism, a motor neuron disease clinically related to heredita...

The seeds and one to three years old plants of Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) were analyzed for their free amino acid contents. The neuro-excitatory beta-ODAP (beta-N-oxalyl-L-alpha,beta-diaminopropionic acid), suggested to be the cause of the crippling neurolathyrism, was the major component in the seed extract (70% of the total free amino acids detected) and showed the highest conce...