After a stint living in Lux's hometown of Akron, Ohio, the two landed in New York in 1975 and put their musical plan into action. As partners in crime, they delved even further into rock 'n' roll, developing a major record-collecting habit - their passion for obscure singles even drove them to trek to Sun Records' Memphis warehouse, where they bought them by the boxload. The two like-minded spirits bonded over shared interests in music and pop culture, fell in love and began to cultivate the seeds of The Cramps. Erick Lee Purkhiser (now better known as Lux) and a friend stopped to give her a ride. Fate took a turn one day when she was hitchhiking during her freshman year at Sacramento State University. The mad scientists behind it were a guitarist by the name of Poison Ivy Rorschach and the band she co-founded and led with her husband, vocalist Lux Interior, called The Cramps.īorn Kristy Marlana Wallace, Ivy developed a passion for music - especially early rock 'n' roll, R&B, country and blues a defiant, "bad girl" aesthetic and a natural, total aversion to conformity while growing up in California. Though they fell below the radar during the British Invasion and the psychedelic "flower child" period that followed, the wild sounds that once scared millions of parents and was dubbed "the devil's music" by many a preacher were resurrected like Frankenstein's monster in the 1970s.
This essay is one in a series celebrating deserving artists or albums not included on NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums By Women.ĭespite the pioneering work of women guitarists such as Beverly "Guitar" Watkins and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, 1950s and early 1960s rock 'n' roll has been largely associated with men. If they do, better treatments could be around the corner-and people who want to get outside without fearing weeks-long itch attacks could have happier days ahead.Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, founding members of The Cramps, whose music reignited the sound of 1950s and early 1960s rock 'n' roll. To prove a similar benefit for humans, researchers must first detect the protein in humans with the rash. Animal research often reveals information that can be translated into clinical solutions for humans-but it doesn’t always work. Though the study suggests that the source is in fact IL-33, that might not be the case. That’s because “it arises from a different source,” says Sven-Eric Jordt, a Duke University anesthesiologist who was the paper’s senior author, in a release. Although antihistamines and steroids are often prescribed to those with the rash, they don’t really do much for the most severe itching.
Eighty to ninety percent of adults are allergic to urushiol chemicals, which are found in poison ivy and its relatives, poison sumac and poison oak, and develop a rash when their skin comes into contact with the substance. The breakthrough could one day help humans better fight the uncomfortable symptoms of an allergy to urushiol. Now, according to a release, they’re conducting Phase 1 clinical trials with the antibody on humans to figure out if it’s safe.
When they did so, the mice showed less inflammation and didn’t scratch themselves as much. They developed an antibody against the protein and and its receptor, then gave it to poison ivy-exposed mice. To track down the culprit, the team went in search of genes that were transcribed, or copied, at higher levels by mice that had been exposed to poison ivy. The cause appears to be interleukin-33 (IL-33), a protein that regulates inflammation and immune response inside cells and that is associated in humans with itchy skin conditions like psoriasis. In a new study published in the journal PNAS, researchers describe how they identified the molecular pathway that causes the brain to interpret nerve signals from poison ivy rashes as itchy.
As Ryan Cross reports for Scientific American, a new study in mice has pinpointed a way to stop the itch from within the tiny creature's molecular pathways, a development that could lead to better treatments against the rash. But when it comes to stopping the itch, there’s no real foolproof remedy-yet. New animal research could one day mean that a scene like this doesn't freak out hikers.Įight out of ten people who brush against poison ivy in their yard or on a hike will pay the price with a painful, itchy rash.