Period 5 element dimethyl telluride, (CH)Te, a gas with a garlic-like odor which is exhaled in the breath of victims of tellurium toxicity or exposure. Iodine is the heaviest essential element utilized widely by life in biological functions (only tungsten, employed in enzymes by a few species of bacteria, is heavier). Iodine's rarity in many soils, due to initial low abundance as a crust-element, and also leaching of soluble iodide by rainwater, has led to many deficiency problems in land animals and inland human populations. Iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual disabilities. Iodine is
Mitochondrial trifunctional protein deficiency mitochondrial trifunctional protein deficiency that may begin "after" infancy include hypotonia, muscle pain, a breakdown of muscle tissue, and a loss of sensation in the extremities called peripheral neuropathy. Some who have MTP deficiency show a progressive course associated with myopathy, and recurrent rhabdomyolysis. The genetics of mitochondrial trifunctional protein deficiency is based on mutations in the HADHA and HADHB genes which cause this disorder. These genes each provide instructions for making part of an enzyme complex called mitochondrial trifunctional protein. This enzyme complex functions in mitochondria, the energy-producing centers within cells: mitochondrial trifunctional protein contains three enzymes that each