Creationism in Crisis - How The Malevolent Designer Kills Mother & Child During Pregnancy

Human placental tissue sections with immunofluorescence - cis P-tau (green),
trans P-tau (green), and ProteoStat (red).

Jash, S; Banerjee, S; Cheng, S., et al (2023)

Western News - In major breakthrough, Western, Brown researchers close in on preeclampsia cure

In a major breakthrough, scientists have identified the cause of preeclampsia, the leading cause of mortality during pregnancy.

And once again a scientific breakthrough exposes the utter nonsense that is intelligent [sic] design creationism.

Preeclampsia affects up to 8% of women during pregnancy. If left untreated it can lead to eclampsia (an epileptiform fit) in the later stages of pregnancy, which can result in the death of both mother and baby.

What are the signs, symptoms and risks of preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and damage to organs such as the liver and kidneys. It typically occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy and can be life-threatening if left untreated. Here are the signs, symptoms, and risks associated with preeclampsia:

Signs and Symptoms:

1. High Blood Pressure: The hallmark sign of preeclampsia is elevated blood pressure. A blood pressure reading consistently above 140/90 mm Hg is a cause for concern.
2. Proteinuria: Preeclampsia often involves the presence of excess protein in the urine, which can be detected through a urine test. This is a sign that the kidneys may not be functioning properly.
3. Swelling: Some swelling, particularly in the hands and face, is common during pregnancy. However, excessive or sudden swelling, especially in the hands and face, can be a sign of preeclampsia.
4. Headaches: Persistent headaches that are not relieved by over-the-counter pain relievers can be a symptom of preeclampsia.
5. Vision Changes: Blurred vision, light sensitivity, and even temporary vision loss can occur in some cases.
6. Abdominal Pain: Severe pain in the upper right abdomen, just below the ribcage, can be a sign of liver involvement in preeclampsia.
7. Nausea or Vomiting: Persistent nausea or vomiting, particularly in the second half of pregnancy, may be indicative of preeclampsia.
8. Shortness of Breath: Difficulty breathing, especially when lying down, may occur due to fluid retention.

Risks and Complications:

Preeclampsia can lead to serious complications for both the mother and the baby, including:

1. Eclampsia: This is a severe form of preeclampsia that can lead to seizures, coma, and even death.
2. HELLP Syndrome: This is a rare but life-threatening condition associated with preeclampsia. It involves Hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells), Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count.
3. Placental Abruption: Preeclampsia increases the risk of the placenta separating from the uterine wall before delivery, which can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients.
4. Preterm Birth: Preeclampsia may necessitate the delivery of the baby prematurely, which can lead to complications associated with preterm birth.
5. Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR): Preeclampsia can restrict blood flow to the placenta, affecting the baby's growth and development.
6. Organ Damage: Preeclampsia can lead to damage to the mother's organs, including the liver, kidneys, and brain.

Risk Factors:

While the exact cause of preeclampsia is not known, certain factors can increase the risk:

1. First-time pregnancy: Preeclampsia is more common in first pregnancies.
2. History of preeclampsia: Women who had preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy are at higher risk.
3. Multiple pregnancies (twins, triplets, etc.): The risk increases with multiple pregnancies.
4. Age: Women under 20 and over 40 are at higher risk.
5. Obesity: Being overweight before pregnancy increases the risk.
6. High blood pressure: Women with pre-existing hypertension are at greater risk.
7. Diabetes: Women with pre-existing diabetes are at higher risk.

Regular prenatal care is essential for monitoring blood pressure and other potential signs of preeclampsia during pregnancy. If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned, it's important to seek medical attention promptly as early detection and management can significantly reduce the risks associated with preeclampsia.

Our study identifies cis P-tau as a crucial culprit and biomarker for preeclampsia. It can be used for early diagnosis of the complication and is a crucial therapeutic target.

Dr Surendra Sharma, co-corresponding author
Departments of Pediatrics
Women and Infants Hospital
Warren Alpert Medical School
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.

The researchers, led by Drs. Kun Ping Lu and Xiao Zhen Zhou at Western, and Drs. Surendra Sharma and Sukanta Jash at Brown, have identified a toxic protein, cis P-tau, in the blood and placenta of preeclampsia patients. Cis P-tau can be detected in the circulation and in placental tissues and so can be used in early diagnosis of the condition and has become a major target for therapeutics. Cis P-tau is also associated with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury and strokes.

In this study, we found the cis P-tau antibody efficiently depleted the toxic protein in the blood and placenta, and corrected all features associated with preeclampsia in mice. Clinical features of preeclampsia, like elevated blood pressure, excessive protein in urine and fetal growth restriction, among others, were eliminated and pregnancy was normal.

Dr Surendra Sharma

One of the ways to counter the effects of a rogue protein is of course to develop antibodies to it, and this is what Professor Kun Ping Lu, professor of biochemistry and oncology at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Professor of Biotherapeutics at Western University, London, ON, Canada, has done. The antibody, which targets only the rogue protein but leaves the normal version unaffected, is currently undergoing clinical trials and has shown promising results in animal models and human cell cultures in treating the brain conditions.

Although other social factors could be involved there are strong indications that genetics could play a major role in predisposition to preeclampsia, as was brought home recently by the death of the African-American track Olympic gold medalist, Tori Bowie, in the eighth month of her pregnancy, probably from eclampsia.

American track and field athlete, Tori Bowie (centre), took the gold medal in 100 m final at the 2017 London World Championships. She died due to a severe form of preeclampsia in April 2023, while approximately eight months pregnant.

Photo: Erik van Leeuwen/Wikipedia

Research has shown that women of certain races have genes that could possibly lead to higher than average blood pressure levels, eventually creating conditions for preeclampsia during pregnancy. However, it’s also true that in many low socio-economic countries there’s no registry to record PE cases. So, its link to other environmental factors is still unclear.

Dr Surendra Sharma

This link with race is a strong indication of the role of genetics in producing cis P-tau.

The scientists have published their findings, open access, in the journal Nature Communications:

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is the leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality globally and may trigger dementia later in life in mothers and their offspring. However, the etiological drivers remain elusive. Cis P-tau is an early etiological driver and blood biomarker in pre-clinical Alzheimer’s and after vascular or traumatic brain injury, which can be targeted by stereo-specific antibody, with clinical trials ongoing. Here we find significant cis P-tau in the placenta and serum of PE patients, and in primary human trophoblasts exposed to hypoxia or sera from PE patients due to Pin1 inactivation. Depletion of cis P-tau from PE patient sera by the antibody prevents their ability to disrupt trophoblast invasion and endovascular activity and to cause the PE-like pathological and clinical features in pregnant humanized tau mice. Our studies uncover that cis P-tau is a central circulating etiological driver and its stereo-specific antibody is valuable for early PE diagnosis and treatment.

Jash, S., Banerjee, S., Cheng, S. et al. Cis P-tau is a central circulating and placental etiologic driver and therapeutic target of preeclampsia.
Nat Commun 14, 5414 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41144-6

Copyright: © 2023 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

What has this got to do with creationism?

Creationists argue that there is no such thing as human evolution because humans were created as is, without ancestors, just a few thousand years ago, so any predisposition to preeclampsia must have been in the original design or has been deliberately added since. Generally speaking, creationist awareness of the genetic basis for many diseases is non-existent, and where it is appreciated, any explanation is restricted to dismissing it as either due to 'The Fall' or as God's punishment for "sin" (usually the "sin's" of the parents, or mankind in general, or the current state of the laws on marriage, abortion, the teaching of religion in schools, etc., or whatever particular political hobby-horse the evangelicals are currently riding.) Few of them will have fully grasped the fact that their current favourite pseudo-science, intelligent [sic] design, would make their favourite designer culpable for all the nasty stuff as well, if it were true.

One thing they won't accept for some reason is that evolution provides a perfectly good, amoral, mindless explanation, without interference from gods or demons.

It is probably that the production of this rogue protein is either a remnant of an earlier process or arose by chance and is linked to conserved genes which convey an advantage, outweighing any deleterious effects of the gene for cis P-tau or its predisposition. With the human population historically being able to tolerate a massive loss of females due to difficulties associated with pregnancy and childbirth (the problem of which creationists directly attribute to 'The Fall'), another factor affecting 8% of women, and then often with only mild symptoms which never progress to a dangerous level, there would be little additional selection pressure to remove those genes.

One thing we can be certain of is that, any female creationist diagnosed with preeclampsia, should, and probably would, seek the assistance of medical science, including this new antibody treatment if trials are successful, even though the cause was discovered by the same scientists who reject creationism in favour of the scientific explanation for genetic defects and gene-linked illness.

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