Leo Kinlen

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Leo Kinlen is a British cancer researcher. His hypothesis, explaining the higher rate of leukemia in the areas around the British Sellafield nuclear complex, than in other parts of the country, is that the mixing of the population, which occurred when people started moving into the area to work at the facility, resulted in the spreading of a virus that could cause leukemia. The theory was first developed in 1988 by Kinlen, and has achieved very little international recognition. No specific virus has been implicated.

Cancer disease of uncontrolled, unregulated and abnormal cell growth

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss and a change in bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they can also have other causes. Over 100 types of cancers affect humans.

Leukemia group of cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow

Leukemia, also spelled leukaemia, is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called blasts or leukemia cells. Symptoms may include bleeding and bruising problems, feeling tired, fever, and an increased risk of infections. These symptoms occur due to a lack of normal blood cells. Diagnosis is typically made by blood tests or bone marrow biopsy.

Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria, England

Sellafield is a nuclear fuel reprocessing and nuclear decommissioning site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station.


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Retrovirus family of viruses

A retrovirus is a type of RNA virus that inserts a copy of its genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. Such viruses are either single stranded RNA or double stranded DNA viruses.

<i>Feline leukemia virus</i> species of virus

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that infects cats. FeLV can be transmitted from infected cats when the transfer of saliva or nasal secretions is involved. If not defeated by the animal's immune system, the virus can cause diseases which can be lethal.

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma Human disease

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma is a rare cancer of the immune system's own T-cells.

Kinlen is an Irish surname, a variant of Ó Caoindealbháin, Ó Caoinleáin, Ó Conalláin, Conlon, Connellan, Quinlan and Quinlivan.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. It came into existence during late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005. Its purpose is to deliver the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy in a safe and cost-effective manner, and where possible to accelerate programmes of work that reduce hazard. The NDA does not directly manage the UK's nuclear sites. It oversees the work through contracts with specially designed companies known as Site Licence Companies. The NDA determines the overall strategy and priorities for managing decommissioning.

Barrow-in-Furness railway station station code BIF

Barrow-in-Furness railway station is the largest railway station serving Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England. It is the western terminus of the Furness Line to Lancaster and the southern terminus of the Cumbrian Coast Line to Carlisle, both of which connect to the West Coast Mainline. It is operated by Northern.

Sellafield Ltd is a nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) controlled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. Until 2016, it was operated under licence from the NDA by a third party Parent Body Organisation called Nuclear Management Partners.

Gammaretrovirus is a genus in the retroviridae family. Example species are the murine leukemia virus and the feline leukemia virus. They cause various sarcomas, leukemias and immune deficiencies in mammals, reptiles and birds.

The Abelson murine leukemia virus is a retrovirus used to induce transformation of murine lymphoid cells. As a retrovirus, it has a single-stranded, positive sense RNA genome which replicates via a DNA intermediate mediated by a reverse transcriptase. The Abelson murine leukemia virus is named for the American pediatrician Herbert T. Abelson, who together with Louise S Rabstein, first described and isolated it.

The murine leukemia viruses are retroviruses named for their ability to cause cancer in murine (mouse) hosts. Some MLVs may infect other vertebrates. MLVs include both exogenous and endogenous viruses. Replicating MLVs have a positive sense, single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome that replicates through a DNA intermediate via the process of reverse transcription.

Fallout is a RTÉ two-part fictional, doom laden, docudrama. It deals with the nuclear fallout following a hypothetical disaster in the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Cumbria on the British coast of the Irish Sea. The docu-drama suggests that, due to a changing wind direction, Ireland would bear the brunt of the British accident. The docu-drama was based on the false premise, that such an accident as depicted in the drama could happen and that parts of Ireland would need to be evacuated following a serious accident at Sellafield. Dr Ann McGarry, chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, said: "The scenario envisaged in the programme is not realistic and grossly exaggerates the amount of radioactivity that could reach Ireland. The RPII cannot envisage any realistic scenario that would cause the radiation levels in Ireland to reach the concentrations as what was depicted in the drama"</ref> Following the dramatized accident, the docu-drama depicts Irish evacuation riots, societal collapse and widespread health impacts.

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a retrovirus which was first described in 2006 as an apparently novel human pathogen found in tissue samples from men with prostate cancer. Initial reports erroneously linked the virus to prostate cancer and later to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), leading to considerable interest in the scientific and patient communities, investigation of XMRV as a potential cause of multiple medical conditions, and public-health concerns about the safety of the donated blood supply.

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus which causes enzootic bovine leukosis in cattle. It is closely related to the human T‑lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-I). BLV may integrate into the genomic DNA of B‑lymphocytes as a DNA intermediate, or exist as unintegrated circular or linear forms. Besides structural and enzymatic genes required for virion production, BLV contains an oncogene coding for a protein called Tax and expresses microRNAs of unknown function. In cattle, most infected animals are asymptomatic; leukemia is rare, but lymphoproliferation is more frequent (30%).

SLC20A1 protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Sodium-dependent phosphate transporter 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC20A1 gene.

Robert Gallo American biomedical researcher

Robert Charles Gallo is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in the development of the HIV blood test, and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.

The human T-lymphotropic virus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus, or human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus (HTLV) family of viruses are a group of human retroviruses that are known to cause a type of cancer called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and a demyelinating disease called HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The HTLVs belong to a larger group of primate T-lymphotropic viruses (PTLVs). Members of this family that infect humans are called HTLVs, and the ones that infect Old World monkeys are called Simian T-lymphotropic viruses (STLVs). To date, four types of HTLVs and four types of STLVs have been identified. HTLV types HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 viruses are the first retroviruses which were discovered. Both belong to the oncovirus subfamily of retroviruses and can transform human lymphocytes so that they are self-sustaining in vitro. The HTLVs are believed to originate from intraspecies transmission of STLVs. The HTLV-1 genome is diploid, composed of two copies of a single-stranded RNA virus whose genome is copied into a double-stranded DNA form that integrates into the host cell genome, at which point the virus is referred to as a provirus. A closely related virus is bovine leukemia virus BLV. The original name for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was HTLV-3. Confusingly, however, since reassignment, the virus now called HTLV-3 is not HIV.

Human T-lymphotropic virus 2

A virus closely related to HTLV-I, human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-II) shares approximately 70% genomic homology with HTLV-I.

Ian Fairlie, Ph.D., is a U.K. based Canadian consultant on radiation in the environment and former member of the 3 person secretariat to Britain’s Committee Examining the Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters (CERRIE). He is a radiation biologist who has focused on the radiological hazards of nuclear fuel and he has studied radioactive releases at nuclear facilities since before the Chernobyl accident in 1986.