Diablo2 Skill-Article Comparison

[Darker_TRC]

Ill go first Post a random article and guess what skill it looks like from d2 and why Here it goes:

Chronic Wasting Disease, a disease affecting free-ranging and captive deer and elk. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is one of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which are also known as prion diseases. Other TSEs include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease; scrapie, a disease of sheep; and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a disease affecting humans.
CWD has been reported in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States and in western provinces of Canada. The disease has also been found in captive animals in South Korea. This unusual and always fatal disease was first discovered in a captive herd of mule deer in 1967 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. In 1978 a young veterinary pathologist at Colorado State, Elizabeth Williams, and her mentor, Stuart Young, showed that CWD is a TSE.
The prion responsible for CWD and all other TSEs is a rogue protein; an abnormally folded form (PrPSC) of a normal cellular protein (PrP). The abnormal protein promotes in an as yet unknown way the conversion of more and more normal proteins to the abnormal form. This conversion progresses until large amounts of the abnormal protein affect brain functions. As with other prions, the CWD prion is remarkably resistant to enzymes and chemicals that normally break down proteins. It also resists heat and most disinfectants.
II CLINICAL SIGNS
The period between infection with the CWD prion and the onset of clinical signs of the disease may be many years. As a result, most cases of CWD occur in adult animals. Infected animals lose weight and become listless, depressed, and emaciated. Other signs of CWD include tremors, lack of coordination, blank facial expression, excessive salivation, abnormal head posture, and drooping ears. The animals die of secondary complications such as pneumonia within two weeks to eight months after the onset of clinical signs. The disease is always fatal.
Definitive diagnosis of CWD is based on postmortem (after death) microscopic examination of the animal’s brain tissue. CWD-infected brain tissue exhibits changes resembling those of other TSEs—nerve cell degeneration and widespread microscopic holes in the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord. Under the microscope areas of the brain look like a sponge (hence the term spongiform). To help with the microscopic examination, a labeled antibody may be added to locate the masses of abnormal prion protein.
III TRANSMISSION
The origin and mode of transmission of CWD are unknown. Animals born in captivity, as well as those born in the wild, have contracted the disease. Unlike BSE, CWD spreads efficiently from infected animals to uninfected animals of the same species, as well as to related species. For example, CWD can spread from mule deer to white-tailed deer. The disease apparently can be transmitted either directly by close contact or indirectly within fields or pastures occupied or formerly occupied by infected animals. Transmission from mother to offspring may occur, but this does not explain many cases. High concentrations of animals in captivity may facilitate transmission. However, CWD is also transmitted within populations of deer even at moderate to low population densities.
CWD appears to be spreading rapidly, although the increasing numbers and wider geographic distribution of cases may also reflect more active surveillance. Such surveillance has enabled scientists to identify places where CWD has existed in the wild and on game farms for decades. Most of these areas appear to be independent of each other, although they may have common origins that date back several decades and so are impossible to trace.
The CWD prion seems to be more infectious than the other animal prions, such as the BSE prion and the scrapie prion of sheep. In an experimental herd of deer in Colorado, some 90 percent of the animals died of the disease within four years, regardless of whether their parents were infected. In contrast, during the BSE epidemic in cattle in the United Kingdom, most herds had only a few affected animals. Infection in captive deer pens is thought to spread via urine, saliva, and/or feces through routes such as shared scratching posts or contaminated soil in paddocks. Cattle and sheep appear to be resistant to the CWD prion.
IV MONITORING THE SPREAD OF CWD
Surveillance for CWD in free-ranging deer and elk in Colorado and Wyoming has been ongoing since 1983 and has helped define the core areas where the disease began in those states. Other areas where the disease is found are now also being monitored. This monitoring is based on (1) hunter surveys wherein hunters submit brain specimens of deer or elk for testing, and (2) sick animal testing wherein all deer and elk exhibiting clinical signs suggestive of CWD are killed and tested. Many thousands of animals have been tested through such surveillance programs in the United States and Canada. The testing has led to a much better understanding of the geographic distribution of the disease and the direction and rate of its spread.
In each state where CWD has been detected, state wildlife agencies have enacted management and control programs. Control programs for deer and elk farms entail depopulation and leaving the farm free of animals for several years before restocking with animals from known CWD-free areas. Control programs for free-ranging deer and elk areas are centered on attempts to restrict long-range animal movement, a very difficult matter. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) monitors international and interstate movements of farmed animals. Working with various state agencies, the USDA has developed a program to eliminate CWD from farmed deer and elk. The U.S. Congress instituted a National CWD Program in 2002. Under this program the USDA and the Department of the Interior assist state wildlife management and agriculture agencies with CWD surveillance, diagnostics, management, communication, information dissemination, and research.
The presence of CWD in free-ranging and captive deer and elk causes significant economic losses. The hunting and farming of deer and elk represent large enterprises, often in economically depressed areas. In 2001 hunting generated more than $380 million across the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The price of elk and deer meat has been severely affected by fear of CWD, but as of 2004 no significant decline in hunting license fees in the various affected states and provinces has been reported. Nevertheless, the future seems uncertain should the disease continue to spread and involve more animals. For example, in 2004 it was estimated that up to 10 percent of Colorado’s 500,000 mule deer had been infected with the CWD prion.
V CAN CWD SPREAD TO HUMANS?
There is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, there is no proof that such transmission could not occur. Scientists are conducting studies to further assess the possibility that the CWD prion might cause disease in humans. In the meantime, the CDC advises that it is generally prudent to avoid consuming food derived from any animal with evidence of a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

I think this reminds me of poison explosion from a zombie person because its the same ordeal, but it could spread to humans or it cant...

[jedimaster86]

this should prob go in "small talk", as it is not directly related to diablo II, rather a look at how our world can be compared to the pixelated world, but cool comparison.

[Karant]

Yeah, this is a pretty cool topic/comparison, tho it requires for ppl to do alot of reading, but i agree, it reminds me of poison explosion.