Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's
disease may be caused by prions as well.
"Proteinaceous infectious particles" or "prions" - about one hundred
times smaller than any known virus - were isolated in the early 1980s
by American biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner and others. Prusiner was
awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his
discovery.
Prions are controversial. Some scientists think that the
encephalopathies are caused either by slow acting viruses or by
another class of proteins called chaperones.
http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/3035/prions.html
http://www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/C10/C10.228.228.800.html
Progeria
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, discovered in 1886, causes an
accelerated ageing of the body starting at the age of 18 months. By
the age of 4, most patients are bald, their skin sagging and their
bones brittle. Even ten years later, they weigh as little as 15 kilos
and are no more than a meter tall. The afflicted die of old age - from
a heart attack or a stroke - in their early adolescence. Most of them
have above average intelligence.
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