Dysox and climatic chaos: the primacy of oxygen issues over carbon issues part two.

Times are desperate for most forms of life on the planet Earth. Butterflies, bees, and bats are disappearing with acelerating rates. (1-3) Before the fall of these flyers, we witnessed large-scale extinction of amphibian species, (4), (5) The world's best scientific sleuths used their best diagnostic technologies to uncover the underlying causes in fungi, viruses, pesticides, industrial pollutants, habitat destruction, and climatic changes. No specific cause was identified in any case. None of the investigators recognized the obvious: disruption of oxygen signaling and blockade of oxygen-driver bioenergetics caused by the cumulative effects of multiple oxygen disruptors--as is the case in all human deaths, regardless of the initiating and complicating factors.

In considering current climatic changes and extinction of species, there is an inexplicable silence among biologists and geoscientists about the effects of oxygen deficit during major geological upheavals of past eras. Carbon is accepted as the culprit in species extinction of those eras, completely ignoring the fact that the production of carbon dioxide ([CO.sub.2]) means the consumption of oxygen. Specifically, during the past geologic upheavals, whether the production of massive quantities of [CO.sub.2] was triggered by ignition of methane or by disintegration of vast carbon deposits due to a gigantic asteroid collision, oxygen was consumed even at a larger scale. Needless to point out, two atoms of oxygen are required to make one molecule of [CO.sub.2]. For instance, we learn that the levels of [CO.sub.2] rose from 350-500 ppm by volume to as high as 2,300 ppm by volume within 10,000 years during the Late Cretaceous/Early Tertiary period (about 55 million years ago). (6-9) It is estimated that as many as 95% of all species vanished during this period, including most species weighing more than 77 pounds. (6) However, there is little, if any, recognition of cataclysmic drops in the levels of atmospheric oxygen that must have preceded the rise in [CO.sub.2] levels. It is noteworthy that oxygen accounted for nearly 38% of the ambient air in those eras compared with the current value of 21%. (10) Before offering further comments on the current mass deaths, below I address the matter of the "non-toxicity" of elemental carbon to humans.

Elemental carbon is essentially non-toxic to humans and animals. The pathology literature does not contain information concerning carbon toxicity. No adverse biologic effects of the increase in atmospheric [CO.sub.2] concentration--65 parts per million by volume since 195811--have been recognized. Pathologists commonly observe large deposits of carbon in mediastinal and peribronchial lymph nodes, as well as in the lung parenchyma. Such carbon does not evoke inflammatory or sclerotic responses, and evidence of tissue damage is not encountered. Nor is there a recognized risk of carcinogenesis from such carbon deposits. There is no evidence of carbon toxicity by secondary exposure. For instance, there are no reports of increased morbidity or mortality among the family members of coal miners. The tissue injury seen in coal miners' lungs is attributed to related deposits of silicon and other elements in coal.

As for rising concentratios of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, there are no reports of acute or chronic carbon-related illness and death associated with higher concentrations of the gas in human habitats. All putative carbon-related dangers to life on planet Earth are predictive in nature--albeit potentially of grave significance--and remain essentially theoretical concerns at this time. No data directly challenging any of these assertions has been published.

The overall effects of carbon excess on the growth of trees. plants, and other forms of vegetation are positive. (12) The plant kingdom harnesses solar energy to drive its photosynthetic chemistry to capture carbon from the photosynthetic chemistry to capture carbon from the ambient air to build carbon bonds, and so initiate and perpetuate its energy economy. In general, more carbon in the atmosphere means more plant growth. As I explained in Part 1, the eutrophication-related damage to planetary life appears to be largely related to nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.

Geoscientists are not interested in oxygen issues, probably because they are far removed from the oxygen-related problems of humans and animals. The lack of interest of doctors in oxygen issues in the context of climate chaos is puzzling. Oxygen is so crucial that even minor deficits cause clinical problems. The general scientific community is intensely interested in two carbon issues--ever-increasing carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel and the inability to capture such carbon. It is not clear why geochemists, paleobotanists, ecologists, and environmental scientists continue to neglect oxygen issues. My puzzlement deepens when I consider the lack of interest of physicians in the oxygen issues in the context of climatic changes. Disease and death has been linked to oxygen deficit in every contest investigated to-date (citations included in Part 1 of this column. Townsend Letter. June 2008).

Clean Energy, Dirty Energy--of Butterflies, Bees, and Bats

The fundamental bioenergetics of butterflies, bets, and bats involve coupling of respiration with oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial adenosine-5' triphosphate (ATP) generation. Except during hibernation, the mitochondrial dynamics in these species are essentially identical to those of humans, In health, the products of metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins enter the Krebs cycle and, under optimal conditions, are broken down completely into water and carbon dioxide to generate "clean" energy. When the Krebs cycle is unimpeded, all of its intermediates (organic acids) are broken down to produce ATP. Carbon dioxide produced in the cycle is either expired or eliminated through the kidney as carbon salts. The water is recycled for other metabolic processes. A number of compounds are known to uncouple respiration from oxidative phosphorylation and impede or arrest the Krebs cycle with devastating consequences of cellular energetics. (13), (14) In 1998, I introduced the term dysoxygenosis for a state of disrupted oxygen signaling and impaired mitochondrial ATP generation, which leads to cellular accumulation of acids ("dirty energy") and results in cell member and matrix dysfunctions. (15-18) In past columns, I presented extensive clinical and laboratory data to support my view. It is safe to predict that dysoxygenosis, caused by a multitude of factors, will prove to the underlying cause of mass deaths of butterflies, bees, and bats.

In The Canary and Chronic Fatigue (1994), (19) I began to examine the spreading epidemics of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and environmentally induced chronic illness, with a focus on the pathogenetic roles of mold allergy and mycotoxins:

Human canaries the telling us something important about the shape of things to come. None of us is really immune to the oxidative stressors that fatigue them--given progressive oxidative burden, most people can be expected to eventually succumb to them and develop chronic fatigue and related disorders. Chronic fatigue sufferers are human canaries--unique people who tolerate poorly the biologic oxidative stressors of the late 20th century. They are genetically predisposed to injury to their energy and detoxification enzymes by agents in their internal and external environments. Their molecular defenses are damaged by undiagnosed and unmanaged allergies, chemical sensitivities, environmental pollutants, microbes, sugar-insulin-adrenaline roller coasters, stress and hostility of sped-up lives. Under their skin, they carry oxidative storms--the Fourth-of-July chemistry.

Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder 

In 2006, the phenomenon of an abrupt disappearance of honey bee colonies, designated Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was described in North America. (20) Within months, reports of occurrence of CCD in many European countries and Taiwan appeared. In one survey. one-fourth of bee colonies collapsed, according to one of the two specific diagnostic criteria: (1) 50% or more of dead colonies found without bees; and (2) very few dead bees in the hive or apiary. Suspected causes of the colony collapse phenomenon include the following: (1) habitat changes; (2) bee pathogens, such as viruses, mites, and fungi; (3) pesticides, such as neonicotinoids and imidacloprid; (4) radiation; and (5) genetically modified crops with pest control characteristics such as transgenic maize.

Interestingly, the honey bee pathology literature is essentially silent on the subject of the possible contribution of functional nutritional deficit in the cause of CCD. That is not surprising, since the possibility of nutritional deficiencies that compromise host defenses of animals have not been considered in the investigation of mass deaths among other animals species. Needless to point out, that is not done by doctors in the treatment of human disease either, except by a small number of physicians practicing integrative medicine. My three crucial points in examining the case of collapsing bee colonies are as follows: (1) all factors suspected in the pathogenesis of CCD exert their adverse effect by disrupting oxygen homeostasis; (2) each of the above factors fans the simmering coals generated by all other factors; and (3) in real life, it is generally not possible to precisely delineate the pathogenetic roles of individual factors.

The following quotes from the testimony of professor Diana Cox-Foster of the Pennsylvania state University before the US House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture (March 29, 2007) (21) are relevant to my discussion: In colonies experiencing CCD, we have found that individual bees are infected with an extremely high number of different disease organisms. However, we have found little evidence of parasitization by varroa or tracheal mites. Many of these known bee diseases are commonly associated with stress in bees. Of particular note, we have found all adult bees in CCD colonies are infected with fungal infections. These findings may indicate that the bees are being immuno-suppressed, but none of the organisms found in these bees can be attributed as the primary culprits in CCD.

Of special concern, we have found species like Aspergillus and Mucor among the fungi in CCD colonies. These fungi were previously reported to be bee pathogens in the 1930s and are associated with toxin production; however, since that time, these fungi have been rarely of concern in bee colonies. Determining the role of these fungi in CCD is important not only in terms of solving the mystery CCD but also in determining how these fungi are related to fungal species that infect vertebrates, including humans.

So. the culprits are fungi. The role of Aspergillus and Mucor fungi in the cause of CCD is of special interest to me. These two fungi are included in my panel of nine fungi (molds), which I routinely use in the laboratory evaluation of all my patients with chronic mold allergy and systemic mycotoxicosis. It is noteworthy in this context that fungal metabolism is fermentative in nature, and fungi grow profusely in hypoxic and anoxic environments. So, the two of the common fungal species that sicken people also are implicated in the cause of CCD.

For decades, I (and others) have documented the role of mycotoxicosis in the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and related energy deficit states. (22) Most patients with these disorders respond well to antifungal therapies. By contrast, maintstream physicians vigorously suppress such clinical observations of integrative physicians (23)--without performing the necessary microscopic, biochemical, clinical studies.

Brain-Fogged Bats

Bats are secretive creatures. They don't fly in daylight. They stay in their caves in the winter. What do we make of bats who fly out of their caves in broad daylight in winter season and drop dead on the snow? I suggest those bats were brain-fogged.

In the winter of 2007, in what was deemed as one of the worst calamities to hit bat populations in the United States, on average 90% of the hibernating bats in four caves and mines in New York died. (24) Many bats flew out in daylight and dropped dead on snow. That news was followed by reports of significant die-off in many caves and mines in Massachusetts and Vermont Merlin Tuttle, the president of Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas was quoted by The New York Times (March 25, 2008) as saying: "So far as we can tell at this point, this may be the most serious threat to North American bats we've experienced in recorded history. It definitely warrants immediate and careful attention." Many dead bats were dotted with a white fungus. A bat biologist dubbed it the "White Nose Syndrome." Back to fungus! Back to oxygen deficit and fermentative cellular energetics! A case of metabolic syndrome of bats?

Fungi--molds and yeast are used here synonymously--are fermentative metabolizers and thrive in oxygen-deficient environments. What might be the consequences of bats' mass mortality? Bats are efficient insectivores and exert dramatic ecological effects on arthropod/plant dynamics by consuming many herbivores insects. The top-down control of arthropod abundance and herbivory has been investigated with exclosure studies that measured combined effects of birds and bats. The exclusion of birds and bats each directly increases arthropod abundance on plants. In one recent study, bat-exclosed plants showed 153% more arthropods than controls, while bird-exclosed plants contained 65% more. (25) As for herbivory, bat-exclosed plants showed 209% more herbivory than controls, the corresponding number was 67% for bird-exclosed plants. The authors concluded that bats have dramatic ecological effects that were previously overlooked.

Virtual Disappearance of Butterflies

The Small Tortoiseshell butterfly once heavily populated English gardens, but is now seen infrequently. In southeast England, the butterfly population is down by over 80% since 1990. (26) That "southern connection" led to the suspicion that the decline might be linked to climate change. It is highly likely that climatic changes will be found to have played only a weak role, as was the case with the suspected link between global warming and the disappearance of frogs (discussed in Part 3 of this column). Again, it is safe to predict that a causative role of fungi--facilitated by respiratory-to-fermentative shift in the butterfly mitochondria caused by the cumulative effects of many factors--will prove to be the real cause of disappearance of butterflies.

Notes

(1.) Mallet IL, Longino JT, Murawski D, et al. Handling effects in Heliconius: Where do all She butterflies go?;. Anim. Ecol. 1987;56, 377:386.

(2.) Watanabe M. Pollination worries rise as honey bees decline. Science. 1994; 265: 1170.

(3.) Turtle MD. How North America's bats survive the winter. Available at: http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v9n3-2.html.

(4.) Bickler PE, Buck LT. Hypoxia tolerance in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes: life with variable oxygen availability. Annual Review of Physiology. 2007; 69:145-170.

(5.) Becker. Habitat split and the global decline of amphibians. Science. 2007;318: 1775-1777.

(6.) Zachos JC. Dickens GR. Zeebe RE. An early Cenozoic perspective on greenhouse warming and carbon-cycle dynamics. Nature. 2008;451: 279-83.

(7.) Dickens GR, Castillo MM, Walker JCG. A blast; of gas in the latest Paleocone; simulating first-order efforts of massive dissociation of oceanic methane hydrate, Goology, 1997; 25: 259-262.

(8.) Malthe-Sorensen A, et al. Release of methane from a volcanic basin as a mechanism for initial Eocene global warming. Nature. 2004;429:542-51 3.

(9.) Dickens GR, Huber, M, Reichart GJ, et al. Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum. Nature. 2006;441: 610-613.

(10.) Beerling DJ, Lomax BH, Royer DL, et al. An atmospheric [pCO.sub.2] reconstruction across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary from leaf megafossils. Proc. Nat Acad Sci. 2002;997836-7840.

(11.) Keeling CD, Whorf TP. Atmospheric CO, from Continuous Air Samples at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, U.S.A. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Confer, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. October 2004.

(12.) Frumhoff PC, McCarthy JJ, Melillo JM. Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast. Union of Concerned Scientists: Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications; 2007.

(13.) Ali M. Oxidative regression to primordial cellular ecology. J Integrative Medicine. 1998; 2:4-55.

(14.) Enerback S,. et al. Mice lacking mitochondrial uncoupling protein are cold-.sensitive but not obese. Nature. 1997;387:90-94.

(15.) Ali M. Darwin, oxidosis, dysoxygenative, and integration. J Integrative Medicine. 1999;3:11-16.

(16.) Ali M. Fibromyalgia: an oxidative-dysoxygenative disorder (ODD). J integrative Medicine. 1999;3:17-37.

(17.) Ali M. Recent advances in integrative allergy care. Currant Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery. 2000;8:260-266.

(18.) Ali M. Oxidative coagulopathy in environmental illness. Environmental Management and Health. 2000;11:175-191.

(19.) Ali M. The Canary and Chronic Fatigue. 1st ed. Denville. New Jersey: Life Span Books; 1994.

(20.) Hayes J. Colony Collapse Disorder Preliminary Report, Mid-Atlantic: Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC)-CCD Working Croup, 2006-01-05; 22. And: Discussion of Phenomenon of Colony Disorder Collapse. Canadian Honey Council. Jan. 27, 2007.

(21.) Prepared Testimony of Diana Cox-Foster, Professor Department of Entomology. The Pennsylvania State University before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture am: Organic Agriculture on Colony Collapse Disorder in Honey Bee Colonies in the United States. March 29, 2007.

(22.) Ali M. Oxygen, inflammation, and castor-cise liver detox. Hormones. Townsend Letter. 2007. www.townsendletter.com

(23.) Kahn E, Letz G, Clinical ecology: Environmental medicine or Med. 1989;111:104-6. And: Cullen MR. The worker with multiple overview. State Art Rev Occup Med. 1987;2:655-661.

(24.) Neuweiler C. Biology of bats. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; 2000

(25.) Kalka MB, Smith AR, Kalko EKV. Bats limit arthropods and herbivory in Science. 2008;320:71.

(26.) Disappearance batiks scientists. Available at: http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/article/9/34/Disappearance_of_popular_butterfly_baffles_scientists_html.

by Majid Ali, MD www.majidali.com