Claus Jensen to the
Perth Group on Umber
I was wondering if you
have seen the latest from Umber.
Some very specific
claims are made, which I have underlined.
Jean Umber 19 May, 2010
I think it is an easy way to explain the
lack of death in
http://www.retrovirology.com/content/pdf/1742-4690-4-76.pdf
Another study (Kalinowski, 2004), show that the amount of peroxynitrite is
normally greater in the umbilical vein endothelial cells isolated from blacks
than in the same from whites.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/109/21/2511.pdf
Thus the amount of P24 is normally greater in black
and the cut’off of the HIV test should be increased for the blacks.
There are some leaps of logic here
but perhaps the gaps can be successfully filled in?
First, by perusing Umber’s references I can see that p24 ELISA was used
among other things to “assess viral production” in vitro:
Virus production was assessed by p24 ELISA,
western blot, and electron microscopy.
But I don’t know which HIV tests measure
the amount of p24, and only that. If anything, I would have thought that the
presence/amount of antibodies that react with p24 is what a test can tell us.
But can a high concentration of p24-reactive antibodies be directly translated
into high amounts of p24 (= viral activity) or vice versa, even on the
Orthodoxy’s view?
Second, assuming that Umber is right in
her interesting observation that the amount of p24 is dependent on
peroxynitrite, how can we conclude that because the amount of peroxynitrite in
certain cells in black people is high, the amount of p24 is high as well? An
analogy: Fish are dependent on water, but just because there is water in my
kitchen sink it doesn’t mean there are fish in there as well.
And how can we conclude that blacks naturally
have higher levels of peroxynitrite than whites because some test subjects did?
Finally, Umber seems to think that elevated levels of p24 alone is a marker for AIDS. Is that
because
1. p24 is
detrimental to health in and of itself?
2. p24 is a
reliable marker for elevated levels of peroxynitrite, which is detrimental to
health?
3. p24 is
a reliable marker for elevated levels of peroxynitrite, which in turn is a
marker for other conditions (general oxidation), which is detrimental to
health?
This still presupposes that blacks are
naturally more oxidised than whites - with or without it being detrimental to
their health?
Judging from the
reference Umber considers it proven that p24 is a marker of oxidative stress
(my third suggestion above), and that (American) blacks are supposed to be
naturally more highly oxidised than whites.
Claus Jensen to Anthony Brink on Umber
1. Umber says that the
HIV tests cut-off levels for Africans should be higher than for
Caucasians, since they are more highly oxidised. If not, the tests lose
predictive value by catching too many perfectly healthy people.
2.
Umber’s reference for this says that the higher level of oxidation
predisposes black Africans for certain conditions:
Conclusions – Compared
with whites, the steady-state NO/O2/ONOO balance in endothelial cells from
blacks is kept closer to the redox states characteristic for the
endothelium-impaired function disorders. This may explain the differences in
racial predisposition to the endothelium dysfunction during ongoing vascular
disturbances with the hallmark of enhanced NO inactivation within the
endothelium by oxidative stress. (Circulation 2004;109:2511-2517)
3. If higher oxidation
of endothelial cells predisposes the African race(s) to endothelial
dysfunction, is it not logical to assume that the higher
oxidation predisposes for various other things – like “AIDS”?
4. If yes, the
HIV tests at their present cut-off level do retain their overall
predictive value in mixed study populations, since the higher level of
oxidation predisposes blacks to croak easier than whites.