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Catalysts of Origin
Excerpt from the experimental novel Continued After Next Page: A Comic Dilemma, a work in progress
R. W. Watkins
Cause. And Effects.
Anabolic-Androgen Steroids (ASS). Replicating the roles of the male sex hormones testosterone and dihydrotestosterone, these drugs have two different, but related, types of effects: anabolic (involving cell growth, or anabolism) and androgenic (involving virilisation as entailed by male hormones, or androgens).
The anabolic effects of such drugs (commonly referred to simply as ‘steroids’) include increased protein synthesis from amino acids, increased appetite, increased growth and restructuring of bone, and increased production of red blood cells as a result of bone marrow stimulation. The drugs' increasing of RNA production triggers an increased rate of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle, resulting in increased muscle size and strength.
The androgenic effects of steroids include acceleration of such processes as pubertal development and sebaceous gland oil production; penile growth (in children and adolescents only); facial, genital and axillar hair growth; deepening of the voice, as a result of increased vocal-cord size; and an increase in libido.
Large doses and/or prolonged usage of ASS can produce results quite contrary to those desired. The more common adverse effects include elevated blood pressure, detrimental changes in cholesterol levels, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, weakened immunity, acne, and both male and female baldness. Taken in larger doses, oral steroids can incur problems at the metabolisation level, and subsequent liver damage is relatively common amongst such users. From a psychological angle, abuse of such drugs can lead to aggression, hypomania, and mood disorders; long-term use can lead to dependence and withdrawal symptoms, as well. Some adverse effects are gender-specific: sexual dysfunction, impaired sperm production, and breast tissue growth (or gynecomastia) in males; increased body hair, clitoral growth, and decreased menstrual cycles in females. In pregnant females, such steroids can also be detrimental to foetal development, causing the foetus to develop the characteristics of the opposite sex. At the adolescent level, steroid usage may result in stunted bone development, as well as premature sexual development, and erectile frequency and prolongation.
These substances also entail certain social issues and ramifications when their usage is adopted (officially or unofficially) by various institutions. In the world of sports and athletics, use of anabolic-androgen steroids is seen in the larger context of so-called ‘doping’—i.e., the utilisation of performance-enhancing drugs in general. AAS were first used by athletes (specifically, Soviet weightlifters) as early as 1954, almost two decades after they were first synthetically produced. In 1967, the International Olympic Council (IOC) banned their use amongst participants; in 1972, the Council introduced a full-scale drug-testing programme. Since that time, such steroids—like most performance-enhancing drugs—have been banned from virtually all amateur and professional sports leagues and athletic events. In spite of such bans, however, reports of illicit use of various performance-enhancing drugs continue to emerge at all levels of competition.
In regards to military contexts, steroids are officially banned in all branches of the US military, which have been testing randomly for such substances subsequent to their being added to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1990. There is some debate, however, as to whether there exists a discrepancy between official policy and its actual execution. Similar official policies and alleged discrepancies exist in the military forces of most other western countries. Historically, AAS were used by the allies to treat malnourished survivors of Nazi concentration camps—the Nazis having already conducted their own dubious steroid experiments on some camp inmates. According to his physician, Adolf Hitler himself was injected with testosterone derivatives to counter various maladies, and demonstrated their adverse effects in his latter years. Also, despite the lack of substantial evidence, rumours have persisted for decades that German soldiers were administered anabolic-androgen steroids during the Second World War, in an attempt to increase their stamina and aggression in battle.
Cosmic Rays. One of five primary sources of naturally occurring or ‘background’ radiation, cosmic ray particles originate within our own solar system in the form of solar energetic particles (SEPs), and beyond it in the form of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). Owing to the nature of the planet's atmosphere and magnetic field (in addition to other factors), cosmic rays are normally harmless to life on Earth. Such particles can, however, affect astronauts by inducing DNA damage that can lead to neurological disorders, anemia, cataracts, cancer, etc.—not unlike the manner in which artificial forms of ionising radiation can affect humans on Earth. Although not officially linked by scientific evidence to space travel, there appears to be a notably higher rate of cancer among those astronauts who flew on the eleven manned flights of the Apollo programme.
Extraterrestrial Visitation / Immigration. Claims of human abduction by intelligent alien beings for the purpose of scientific study or interplanetary breeding have emerged and flourished in recent decades. During the same period, numerous theories purporting extraterrestrial intervention in the workings of the ancient or prehistoric world have also emerged. Such leading proponents as Erich von Däniken assert that extraterrestrials were essential to the development of human cultures, technologies, and religions, and cite the seemingly anachronistic nature of certain artistic images (e.g., the sarcophagus lid of Maya's Pakal the Great), engineering feats (e.g., the Great Pyramid of Giza), and religious narratives (e.g., the biblical Ezekiel's vision of a wheel) as evidence. In spite of their frequency and often convincing character, no such claims or theories have ever been substantiated by evidence from the scientific establishment.
On a much smaller but less sensational scale, a number of meteorites that are believed to have originated on Mars have undergone serious scientific research in recent years to determine whether or not certain biomorphic structures detected in their fissures are ancient fossilised Martian lifeforms. One meteorite in particular has received considerable scrutiny on the part of the scientific community. Found in the Allan Hills of Antarctica in 1984 and classified as ALH 84001, it is believed to have been ejected from Mars approximately 16 million years ago and deposited on Earth some 13,000 years ago. The confirmative results of studies carried out on said meteorite by such notable NASA scientists as Dave McKay and Thomas-Keptra in 1996, 2002 and 2009, however, have been countered by their distinguished peers, and therefore rendered inconclusive.
Ionising Radiation. Unlike the non-ionising variety (e.g., infrared light, microwaves, radio waves), this type of radiation consists of particles or electromagnetic waves energetic enough to detach electrons from atoms and molecules, thereby ionising them. Ionisation involves the production of free radicals—i.e., atoms or molecules which contain unpaired electrons, and are therefore highly reactive, entering easily into chemical-bond formation. Ionising radiation may occur naturally in the form of radioactive elements, and emanations from radioactive minerals; or be produced artificially by such means as nuclear (fission) reactors and weapons, synthetic nuclear fusion, particle accelerators, and medical X-rays.
Ionising radiation can affect human beings both directly and indirectly. The radiation itself can cause cellular damage directly by creating ions which break one or both of the sugar phosphate backbones or the base pairs of the DNA. Indirectly, such radiation causes cellular damage in the form of its byproduct, free radicals, which can create compounds that precipitate chemical reactions detrimental to the cell's structure, function and existence. Exposure to ionising radiation can result in such short-term negative effects as burns, a lowered red-blood-cell count, acute radiation syndrome (ARS), and occasionally death. The long-term negative effects that can result from exposure to such radiation include reproductive and birth defects, blood disorders, premature aging, cataracts, and cancer. Exposure to ionising radiation may be acute—i.e., materialising as one relatively brief occurrence; or it may be chronic—i.e., occurring over an extended period of time. The short-term effects are exclusive to acute exposure at considerable or high levels. Long-term effects may result from acute or chronic exposure at varying levels.
Apart from the application of radiotherapy in suppressing cancerous tumours and treating other, non-malignant conditions, the positive (or, more accurately, not necessarily negative) effects of ionising radiation on the human body are infrequent and largely unestablished. For example, there is radiation hormesis: the unproven theory that chronic low doses of such radiation can actually prove beneficial, protecting against cancer and other diseases by stimulating the body's DNA repair mechanisms. On a stranger note, several inhabitants of the former USSR claim to have developed various degrees of human magnetism in the aftermath of the 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Even more uncannily, some credit the said meltdown with enabling X-ray vision in certain children born subsequent to the event.
Lightning Strike. The scientifically established effects of lightning strikes on humans are almost synonymous with the immediate effects: severe burns; blunt trauma (i.e., upon impact with one's surroundings); hearing damage; perforations in the cell membranes of nerves and muscles (or electroporation); and cardiac or cardiopulmonary arrest. The severity of the effect depends to a great degree upon the type of strike, with nearby ground strikes and ‘side splashes’ usually producing the less acute injuries, and direct hits resulting in the most fatalities. (Up to 30 percent of strikes prove fatal; up to 80 percent result in long-term effects.)
By comparison, the long-term effects—and they can be truly long-term, for they may not even appear until several months after the lightning strike—have not been officially established or formally recognised by the mainstream medical community. Collectively, these long-term effects comprise a mysterious condition known as post-electrocution syndrome. This condition is the focus of keraunopathology, and it is characterised by symptoms such as susceptibility to overheating, chronic pain, chronic irritability, ocular cataracts, lack of equilibrium, tremors, mini-seizures, sleep disorders, loss of short-term memory, and general personality change. Among the more uncanny long-term effects that have been attributed to lightning strikes would be restored hair growth amongst bald or balding men.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). The short-term effects of LSD are largely contingent on the personality, mental health, mood and anticipations of the individual test subject. Setting, as Dr. Timothy Leary often noted, is also of considerable importance. The physical effects include dilated pupils, increased heart rate and blood pressure, higher body temperature and (sometimes profuse) sweating, appetite loss, dry mouth, temporary insomnia, hyperreflexia and tremors. Compared to the physical effects, the emotional and psychological effects are certainly more pronounced and dramatic. They include rapid and extreme mood swings, or sometimes multiple emotions felt simultaneously. In larger doses, the user's sense of time and perception of self are altered and/or diminished in varying degrees. Hallucinations involving bright colours and exotic imagery are commonplace, and synaesthesia (i.e., the perceived ability to hear colours, see sounds, etc.) is often reported. Such acute affects may overwhelm and induce panic, and test subjects often report feeling as if they were dying. Other partakers interpret the episode as some sort of religious experience. Some studies (e.g., Puharich, 1962) suggest an increase in the test subjects' telepathy, psychometry and extra sensory perception (ESP).
The long-term effects of the drug are still somewhat debatable and unestablished, but they most definitely include the experience of ‘flashbacks’—i.e., sudden recurrences of effects undergone during an LSD episode without the inducement of further administered dosages. Theoretically, flashbacks may occur at any point in time after the initial episode, but the vast majority of cases transpire within a few days of a (typical) dosage. There is also a recognised syndrome known as Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), which is characterised by a persistence of the visual effects of LSD and associated distress. Interestingly, neither physical nor psychological dependence is an earmark of LSD.
Manifestation of the Divine in the Mortal. Incarnations of the Divine in human form are peculiar to two world religions: Vaishnava Hinduism and Christianity.
In the case of the Hindu variation, the god Vishnu is said to have taken on various earthly incarnations (or avatars). Although the quantity of manifestations varies from one classic Hindu text to another, the number universally settled upon is ten (including one still to come), which is in keeping with the Bhagavata Purana. Specifically, these avatars of Vishnu have been Matsya (the fish), which saved Saint Manu and his family from disaster following a flood sent to drown a demon who had stolen the Vedas from Brahma; Kurma (the tortoise), which served as a pivot for the mountain used as a churning stick in the restoration of the ocean of milk, or amrita; Varaha (the boar), which recovered the stolen Vedas and released the land from the underwater dwelling of a demon after slaying said entity; Narasinha (the man-lion), which outwitted and ripped to pieces a demon who demanded exclusive worship, and whose vulnerability lay in the hours between daylight and darkness and the doorway between the interior and exterior of his palace; Vamana (the dwarf), who subdued the gods-undermining King Bali by securing a gift of three paces of his land, then growing to such a tremendous size that he covered all of Earth and the heavens, forcing Bali into hell; Parashurama (the axe-wielding Rama), who slaughtered the warrior caste kshatriya which threatened the continued existence of the Brahmins; Ramachandra (Prince Rama), who, with the help of an army of monkeys and bears, rescued his wife Sita by slaying the demon Ravana, who was immune from divine intervention but not human intervention; Krishna, who resisted and eventually slew the despotic demon-king Kamsa, who had slaughtered children and prohibited worship of Vishnu; Buddha, who propagated false ideas, and thereby inspired the ascetically empowered demons to become Buddhists and renounce the Vedas, incurring the deadly wrath of the gods; and Kalki, who will destroy the decadent Earth and the evil upon it, creating the conditions under which re-creation can take place in the form of the next cycle, or Mahayuga.
In the case of the Christian variation, God the Son is said to have willingly taken on the earthly incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is maintained that He abandoned His divinity and descended into our world via the virgin birth by Mary. Once on Earth, He grew to be a charismatic preacher and leader of a large Jewish sect that generally embraced outsiders (or ‘Gentiles’), and which would evolve into the Christian faith. He ultimately allowed himself to be crucified on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire, dying as atonement for the sins of humankind in the process.
Mutation. Changes in a cell's DNA sequence or a virus's DNA or (more frequently) RNA sequence are themselves the effects of reaction with such catalysts as radiation and mutagenic chemicals, and errors that transpire during meiosis and DNA replication. Such mutations can be classified according to several criteria, most of them revolving around cause (e.g., spontaneous or induced) and effect (on structure, function, fitness, protein sequence, etc.). In the field of applied genetics, however, it is customary to more broadly classify mutations as either harmful or beneficial.
Beneficial mutations are exemplified by changes in human DNA not unlike those associated with harmful mutations, with the notable exception that the changes prove favourable in resisting certain environmental factors and promoting sound health and longevity. Examples of such mutations include the single copy of the sickle-cell allele present in one third of all people indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa, providing said people with resistance to malaria; the CCR5 Delta 32 mutation in Europeans and European descendents, providing HIV resistance in homozygotes and delaying AIDS onset in heterozygotes; and the mutant HDL protein ApoaA1 Milano found in inhabitants of Limone sul Gardo in northern Italy, providing this small, long-isolated population with resistance to atherosclerosis.
From an evolutionary viewpoint, mutations of this nature may tend to become more common through the process of natural selection, owing to their enabling a mutant organism to withstand environmental pressures and/or reproduce more quickly.
Psychological Trauma. Failure to cope with traumatic experiences may result in trauma being re-experienced mentally and physically if the sufferer is exposed to reminders, or ‘triggers’. Over time, recurring trauma and anticipation of its cues may result in anxiety. In order to cope with the recurring trauma and anxiety, the victim may turn to alcohol and/or other psychoactive substances. Exposure to said triggers may incur psychosomatic symptoms such as panic attacks. Incongruous anger is also common; as are disturbing memories of the experience(s), nightmares, and sleep disorders such as insomnia. Sometimes memories of a traumatic event are repressed, resulting in emotions associated with the event being re-experienced without a clear understanding of their origin. The traumatic event will therefore be constantly experienced as if in the present, leading to mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. Distraction, dissociation, memory difficulties, and depression may follow from such exhaustion. The more extreme effects of psychological trauma take the form of acute stress reaction or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Acute stress reaction is characterised by an initial state of stupor, consisting in a constricted field of consciousness, narrowed attention span, incomprehension of external stimuli, and general disorientation. This stuporous state may either develop into an even more dissociative one, or be succeeded by agitation, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Such symptoms usually last two to three days, and partial or complete amnesia may coincide with the episode. When symptoms of acute stress reaction persist for up to four weeks, it is more appropriately referred to as acute stress disorder (ASD). If symptoms persist in excess of four weeks, then a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder is likely to materialise, provided that said symptoms are resulting in “clinically significant distress or impairment” of major areas of daily life, such as familial relations, social interactions, occupational duties, or other “important areas of functioning” (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, quick reference; Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994; p. 211).
Harmful mutations are exemplified by changes in human DNA resulting in errors in protein sequence, thereby creating dysfunctional or non-functional proteins, and possibly incurring the traits or symptoms associated with a medical condition. Such conditions are known as genetic disorders, of which there are four major types. Single-gene (or ‘monogenic’) disorders are inherited in a number of identifiable patterns; these patterns include: autosomal dominant (Huntington's disease, Marfan syndrome, hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer), autosomal recessive (cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell disease, spinal muscular atrophy), X-linked dominant (Rett syndrome, incontinentia pigmenti type 2, X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets), X-linked recessive (Hemophilia A, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, male pattern baldness, red-green colour blindness), and Y-linked (male infertility, hypertrichosis pinnae). Polygenic (or ‘multifactorial’) disorders involve mutations in multiple genes in conjunction with various environmental factors; these disorders include asthma, cancers, cleft palate, diabetes, heart disease, mental retardation, multiple sclerosis, and obesity. Chromosomal disorders result from absent or extra copies of chromosomes, or breaks and rearrangements (i.e., translocations) in their structure; examples of this type of disorder include autism and intellectual disability (reciprocal translocations), and Down syndrome and leukemia (Robertsonian translocations). Mitochondrial disorders involve mutations in non-chromosomal DNA in mitochondria; disorders of this kind include diabetes mellitus and deafness (DAD), Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and Leigh syndrome.
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