Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group HLA B27

That's why the Manx celebrate the annual event of the Vikings landing on the beach with their old costumes and horned hats.

The IOM is where my family's AS came down from.

George

Breb Assyl

The Vikings conqured England during the dark ages. Left a lot of genes there also.

Dunno if they celebrate the spreading of HLA-B27!!!

To be quite honest, I am the only Manx female I know with AS, there are some joint probs in my family circle but have diagnosed as OA, lupus, etc, not AS. Can't say I know that many males with AS either, as a student nurse I encountered some patients with AS who had a lot of kyphosis but that isn't the norm for AS these days.

So I can live with the Manx cats being tailess and the Loaghtan having four horns (Loaghtan lambs are sooooo gorgeous) and the people being pretty well laid back, but I don't think the Manxies can be blamed for more AS in the world!

In the past, we have had at least 3 or 4 Manxmen posting at this site.

Oh how I would love to make a trip back there sometime in the next few years . I know so much about the IOM but have never been there. It would be so much fun to go to the Fairy bridge crossing the Santon Burn and linger long enough to talk to "the Little People". At least you can do that in the IOM and not get locked up immediately.

I belong to one of the two remaining Manx Societies still active in Canada in Vancouver BC. I believe that there are still a couple of Manx societies still active in the USA in Cleveland and maybe SanDiego. We even have a couple of members who speak the old Manx Gaelic. And yes, I know all the words to Ellan Vannin.

We even owned a Manx cat a few years ago (completely tail-less). Over here, we call a tailless Manx cat a "rumpy". One with a short tail is called a "stumpy". Don't have a four horned ram, at least, not a live one but we do have a nice little one from Kelly's Souvenirs.

My Grandparents ran a boarding house (Called the Belvedere) on the Promenade in Douglas. I sure would like to visit it and see if it looks anything like the Belvedere I have in my memory from listening to their stories.

Sorry to go on like this but it seems that this little Island has been calling me for years.

Nice meeting you twisks.

George





Breb Assyl

Are you really sure that you are not Scandanavian? Over the years, those Vikings made regular stops in Ireland, England, Scotland and the Isle of Man. And they were pretty virile guys.

George

Breb Assyl

Yes I am Norwegian from my fathers side

Hey George,

I know what you mean about the Island calling to you, I've have heard that so many times. I've recently moved back here after living on the mainland for three years, I was very homesick near the end and just couldn't wait to get back. My partner was actually more homesick than me and he's not Manx. It has been great to do all the 'touristy' things again, I never realised that Niarbyl bay is one of my most favorite places in the world until I left! My journey to work is about 15 miles and every part of it is like therapy! When the sun is shining there really is no place like it.

Hope you get to have your Manx 'fix' soon, George!

Best wishes,

Jan

Evelyn, from another list of links you gave some while back I understand the molecular folding theory has been added to the molecular mimicry and receptor theories as attempts to understand the role of HLA B27. When I find myself in university bookshops I occasionally have a browse in the latest texts which discuss the aetiology of AS and these different suggestions. The molecular mimicry and klebsiella approach, while still discussed critically, does appear to now be established as a leading hypothesis, whereas when it was first suggested in the early '80s it was poorly received. Of course when I refer to it in my posts it should be understood I refer to a scientific idea and not an absolute truth. You only find them in bibles and of course have no place in science.

What is interesting about this thread, the point I would want to make, is that it is the klebs/molecular mimicry approach which leads to starch which leads to agricultural history and the geographical distribution of the gene explained in terms of Darwinism. Good scientific ideas have a way of finding and explaining these links.

Edited by bilko on 04/22/02 08:25 AM (server time).

Hi Jan

Since you like cats so much here is one for you. See attchment.

John

I've been looking through the "starch free forum" for half an hour and can't find any discussion of the reasons for the greater incidence of HLA B27 in the northern parts of the globe.

Can you give me a couple of one-word answers as to why?

George

Breb Assyl