Pertussis toxin Pertussis toxin Pertussis toxin (PT) is a protein-based AB-type exotoxin produced by the bacterium "Bordetella pertussis", which causes whooping cough. PT is involved in the colonization of the respiratory tract and the establishment of infection. Research suggests PT may have a therapeutic role in treating a number of common human ailments, including hypertension, viral inhibition, and autoimmune inhibition. PT clearly plays a central role in the pathogenesis of pertussis although this was discovered only in the early 1980s. The appearance of pertussis is quite recent, compared with other epidemic infectious diseases. The earliest mention of pertussis, or whooping cough, is
Machado–Joseph disease Machado–Joseph disease Machado–Joseph disease (MJD), also known as Machado–Joseph Azorean disease, Machado's disease, Joseph's disease or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive cerebellar ataxia, which results in a lack of muscle control and coordination of the upper and lower extremities. The symptoms are caused by a genetic mutation that results in an expansion of abnormal "CAG" trinucleotide repeats in the ATXN3 gene that results in an abnormal form of the protein ataxin which causes degeneration of cells in the hindbrain. Some symptoms, such as clumsiness and rigidity, make MJD commonly