RoguePundit

Random Nature #139

Type 3 Diabetes:  In Type 1--the former juvenile--diabetes, the body doesn't produce insulin.  In most people, this is caused by an auto-immune disorder where the body attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.  The more common Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes involves reduced insulin sensitivity and/or insufficient insulin production.  Over half of the people that develop Type 2 diabetes are obese.

There are other types of the syndrome which are sometimes lumped under the term "Type 3" diabetes, the best-known being gestational diabetes.  In about 4 percent of pregnant women, hormones from the placenta cause insulin resistance late in the pregnancy.  If untreated, it can cause health problems for both the mother and baby.  Eventually, 20-50 percent of those women will develop Type 2 diabetes.  There are also some rarer forms of diabetes, generally related to problems with the beta cells and insulin production.

The following is an interesting line of research into another possible form of Type 3 diabetes--Alzheimer's disease.

...scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling--crucial for memory formation--would stop working in Alzheimer’s disease. They have shown that a toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin resistant. (The protein, known to attack memory-forming synapses, is called an ADDL for “amyloid ß-derived diffusible ligand.”)

With other research showing that levels of brain insulin and its related receptors are lower in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, the Northwestern study sheds light on the emerging idea of Alzheimer’s being a “type 3” diabetes.

...

In the brain, insulin and insulin receptors are vital to learning and memory. When insulin binds to a receptor at a synapse, it turns on a mechanism necessary for nerve cells to survive and memories to form. That Alzheimer’s disease may in part be caused by insulin resistance in the brain has scientists asking how that process gets initiated.

“We found the binding of ADDLs to synapses somehow prevents insulin receptors from accumulating at the synapses where they are needed,” said William L. Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, who led the research team. “Instead, they are piling up where they are made, in the cell body, near the nucleus. Insulin cannot reach receptors there. This finding is the first molecular evidence as to why nerve cells should become insulin resistant in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Scientists speculate that some types of drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes may also help with Alzheimer's.

Passing It Along:  Huntington's disease is a incurable degenerative disease of the neurological system that from onset usually takes 15-20 years to kill people (though death is usually due to complications).  HD typically strikes adults in the prime of their life (30-45)...Woody Guthrie is probably its best-known victim.  However, it can strike early in childhood, with its victims rarely seeing adulthood.

- Early in the disease, manifestations include subtle changes in coordination, perhaps some involuntary movements, difficult thinking through problems, and often, a depressed or irritable mood. At this stage, medications are often effective in treating depression and other emotional symptoms. It is a good time to begin planning for the future. Financial plans should be made and legal documents drawn up.

- In the middle stage, involuntary movements (chorea) may become more pronounced. A staggering gait can sometimes be mistaken for drunkenness. Speech and swallowing will begin to be affected. It is important to consult a speech therapist who will be able to offer suggestions and strategies for improving communication and swallowing abilities. Likewise, occupational and physical therapists can develop programs to help maintain the highest level of functioning and thereby improve quality of life.

Thinking and reasoning skills will also gradually diminish. At this stage it may become increasingly difficult to hold a job and to carry out household responsibilities. Here again, simple strategies may be employed to help decrease frustration, increase functioning and prolong independence. For example, disorientation and short-term memory loss can be addressed by labeling drawers, maintaining a daily routine and posting a calendar appointments and events.

- People with late stage HD may have severe chorea, but more often have become rigid. Choking on food becomes a major concern, as does weight loss. At this stage people with HD are totally dependent on others for all aspects of care, can no longer walk, and not able to speak.

Although cognitive abilities are severely impaired, it is important to remember that the person is generally still aware of his/her environment, remains able to comprehend language, and remains an awareness of loved ones and others. He/she may continue to enjoy looking at photographs and hearing stories of family and friends.

Scientists know the gene that causes Huntington's disease and can test for it, including in the womb.  That gene can be passed along to half of one's offspring, which is why HD has become part of the abortion debate.  Children are not tested for the disease...at least until they've turned 18.  Meanwhile, doctors have long known that people with Huntington's disease have more children than average.  Speaking of that...

The Tufts team analyzed the often-noted fertility gap between people who have Huntington’s and those who do not. Studies comparing family members indicated that individuals with the disease had between 1.14 and 1.34 children for every child born to an unaffected sibling. In explaining this difference, previous researchers have theorized that psychological deterioration and difficulty in discriminating between right and wrong--both symptoms associated with Huntington’s--are reasons for promiscuous behavior in people who had the disease. But Eskenazi, Wilson-Rich and Starks observed that such behavior takes place later in life--not during peak reproductive age. They noted that the onset of Huntington's disease occurs, on average, at 41.5 years of age.

In their alternative hypothesis the Tufts researchers suggested that individuals affected with Huntington’s have better health earlier in life at the time when their fertility is highest. “We’ve raised the possibility that the high birth rates are a result of better health,” explained Starks. “We know that healthy people have more offspring than those who are sick."

Starks and his team suggested that one key factor behind these health benefits may be p53, and pointed to a 1999 study by doctors at the Danish Huntington Disease Registry at the University of Copenhagen that found lower age-adjusted cancer rates for individuals affected by Huntington’s. "Research has shown that individuals with Huntington's produce higher levels of cancer-suppressing p53, and we hypothesize that they may also reap the health benefits associated with a generally more vigilant immune system," said Starks. "These individuals also suffer from the negative impacts of heightened immune function, as they are more likely than those without Huntington's to suffer from autoimmune diseases."

Obviously more research is needed, but it's an interesting hypothesis.

Painkiller Resistance:  Fibromyalgia is a poorly-understood syndrome where pain is amplified due to problems with sensory processing in the central nervous system.  While it comes on gradually in some people, most start suffering fibromyalgia after an illness or injury which evidently triggers the problems.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain illness characterized by widespread musculoskeletal aches, pain and stiffness, soft tissue tenderness, general fatigue, and sleep disturbances. The most common sites of pain include the neck, back, shoulders, pelvic girdle, and hands, but any body part can be affected. Fibromyalgia patients experience a range of symptoms of varying intensities that wax and wane over time.

It is estimated that approximately 3-6% of the U.S. population has FM. Although a higher percentage of women of all ages and races are affected, it does strike men and children. Because of its debilitating nature, fibromyalgia has a serious impact on patients' families, friends, and employers, as well as society at large.

Managing chronic pain is one of the keys to helping patients improve and cope with this sometimes-debilitating syndrome.  But frustratingly, some pain medications don't work well with fibromyalgia.  Scientists are gradually beginning to figure out why.  The following is from a fairly small study, but the results are interesting.

The study included positron emission tomography (PET) scans of the brains of patients with fibromyalgia, and of an equal number of sex- and age-matched people without the often-debilitating condition. Results showed that the fibromyalgia patients had reduced mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability within regions of the brain that normally process and dampen pain signals...

...

Opioid pain killers work by binding to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. In addition to morphine, they include codeine, propoxyphene-containing medications such as Darvocet, hydrocodone-containing medications such as Vicodin, and oxycodone-containing medications such as Oxycontin.

The researchers theorize based on their findings that, with the lower availability of the MORs in three regions of the brains of people with fibromyalgia, such painkillers may not be able to bind as well to the receptors as they can in the brains of people without the condition.

Put more simply: When the painkillers cannot bind to the receptors, they cannot alleviate the patient’s pain as effectively, Harris says. The reduced availability of the receptors could result from a reduced number of opioid receptors, enhanced release of endogenous opioids (opioids, such as endorphins, that are produced naturally by the body), or both, Harris says.

That's certainly useful information from a treatment perspective.

Chewing Through Piping

The whitefringed beetle is a type of snout beetle--essentially a weevil with a stubby nose.  It's native to parts of South America, but unfortunately has established itself elsewhere, including the American Southeast, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.  Curiously, the females do not require fertilization to lay eggs...which partially explains why there are no male white-fringed beetles.   

The beetle/weevil larvae feed upon the roots of all sorts of plants that we grow for food.  The grubs can significantly damage and sometimes kill the plants.

Whitefringed beetles have been associated with over 385 plant species. The most common hosts are cotton, peanuts, okra, velvetbeans, soybeans, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, beans, and peas. Adults seem to prefer plants with large, broad, smooth leaves; larvae feed on agricrop plant roots, newly germinated acorns and nuts, and the roots of woody plants (e.g., peach, pecan, tung, willow) and pines.

Scientists are still discovering things that these grubs like to chew.  In Australia, researchers had been trying to figure out why thin-walled irrigation pipes in alfalfa (lucerne) fields get riddled with tiny holes.  Now they know.

NSW DPI entomologist, Dr Adrian Nicholas, said ants, African black beetle, crickets, mice and physical wearing of the plastic piping have all been blamed, however laboratory experiments have confirmed the culprit is the larvae of the Whitefringed weevil.

Dr Nicholas says experiments using glass observation chambers show that the Whitefringed weevil larvae, which are 13mm (0.51") long and 4mm (0.16") wide, bite or chew through the pipe using two dark brown pincers.

Sub-surface drip irrigation has been an important advance for growers because it improves productivity, ensures efficient use of water and reduces labour costs.

However when lucerne is grown, the thin walled irrigation pipe or tape is frequently damaged, with tiny 1-2mm holes appearing which are surrounded by distinctive perimeter markings.

Still to be determined is why the grubs do this and whether they can actually digest the plastic.

Because the affected pipes are buried underground, growers have to take an educated guess about the location of the holes. They need to seek out the areas where the lucerne plants are especially lush and dig down to make repairs.

Wasting water on the world's driest inhabited continent is not a good thing.

Methane Power in White City

Last month I did a post about how the impact of renewable energy initiatives is often exaggerated.  Our local AP writer struggles with that and more in the following. 

A new power plant is going online in Southern Oregon that produces electricity from methane gas drawn off a landfill.

Rogue Disposal and Recycling planned a ceremony Friday to dedicate the Dry Creek plant in White City, which will produce 1.3 megawatts, enough to power about 3,000 homes.

The plant is the fourth of its kind in Oregon and the first in the state in nine years. The others are in Portland, Corvallis and Eugene. Another is due to go online next year at Finley Buttes in Northeastern Oregon.

Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon monoxide. Getting rid of it is part of the battle to turn back global warming.

Landfills are the biggest single source of it in the U.S., accounting for 1.8 percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other major sources are livestock, natural gas systems and coal mining.

I applaud the initiative, but the rule of thumb applies to this steady source of power.  Since 1 megawatt provides enough power for about 1,000 homes, the methane from the Dry Creek plant will power only about 1,300 homes, not 3,000. 

And another point...landfills are the biggest human source of methane emissions in the U.S.  But note that just 8.6 percent of methane emissions here are anthropogenic--caused by humans.  The remaining 91.4 percent of the nation's methane emissions are natural, the biggest contributor by far being wetlands.  Many environmentalists stay away from that topic because it can be difficult to rally support to protect wetlands.

Boosting Oregon's Ethanol Usage

Does it make sense to import corn from the Midwest so that ethanol can be manufactured here in Oregon?  If you're a corporation benefiting from government subsidies, yes.  But from an energy efficiency perspective?  Never mind that when there are jobs at stake.

"Oregonians are hopefully going to have fuel that will be more homegrown," said Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, the Portland Democrat who headed the House Energy and the Environment Committee.

One of the new laws is House Bill 2210, giving tax credits to farmers who grow corn, canola seed or other crops used for ethanol and biodiesel. It also requires fuel retailers to sell only gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol once ethanol production in Oregon reaches 40 million gallons a year.

Dingfelder said the ethanol benchmark will come within a few months. While ethanol is produced primarily from corn, lawmakers are hoping it will soon be produced in Oregon from other sources such as straw, woody material and agricultural wastes.

"As soon as January 2008, we'll see the ethanol trigger kick in," Dingfelder said.

California's political leadership also became more enthusiastic as ethanol production grew increasingly local (previous blog here).  California has two plants, the bigger of which is owned by Pacific Ethanol...which has another plant scheduled to begin production next year.

Oregon uses about 60 million gallons of ethanol per year for fuel.  Soon, we'll finally have our own ethanol plant.  The following press release explains what Dingfelder was alluding to.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ GM: PEIX), the largest West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol, today announced details of the opening ceremony for its plant in Boardman, Oregon. Details of the event are listed below.

WHAT: Grand Opening of Pacific Ethanol’s 40 Million Gallon/Year Production Facility

WHEN: Friday, October 5, 2007 11:00 AM

WHERE: Port of Morro, 71335 Rail Loop Drive Boardman, Oregon

Neil Koehler, CEO and President of Pacific Ethanol, observed,"We’ve had a very successful start up and now are running at levels above design capacity. We look forward to the opening ceremony with Governor Kulongoski who championed Oregon’s progressive Renewable Fuels Standard and Congressman Greg Walden who has been a tireless advocate for rural economic development and natural resource based industries.”

Pacific Ethanol’s new 40 million gallon per year production facility in Boardman, provides ethanol to meet the current City of Portland’s Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and will help supply fuel for the implementation of Oregon’s upcoming RFS slated to begin January 1, 2008.

One bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds and can produce 2.5-2.7 gallons of ethanol...let's use the bigger number.  At 6.59 pounds per gallon, 2.7 gallons of ethanol weighs about 17.8 pounds.  The corn weighs over three times as much as the resulting ethanol.

Meanwhile with amount water that corn needs, does it truly make sense to grow volumes of corn anywhere in California...or in much of Oregon?  The new Boardman plant can't use the straw, woody materials, and agricultural wastes that Dingfelder mentioned; it needs a sugary feedstock.  And there will be other ethanol plants competing for Northwestern corn, such as the 55 million gallon per year plant being built in Longview WA.

The new Boardman plant will employ about 25 people.  The ethanol will be trucked to its final destinations.

Canada and Its Raw Sewage

That industrialized nation to our north with the third world sewage disposal habits (previous blogs here and here) is claiming that it will soon change its brown ways.  The proposed national standards won't be as stringent as ours, but they're a start...thanks to the Conservative Party.

Billing it as one of the government's "biggest environmental steps forward," Environment Minister John Baird said new binding regulations will be published next year for the country's 4,600 wastewater collection and treatment systems. Those new rules will mandate secondary treatment of all sewage in places like Victoria--currently the region dumps 129 million litres (34 million gallons) of raw waste into the ocean every day.

"I think it would shock most Canadians to learn about the amount of raw sewage going into our rivers, lakes and oceans, and Canada's government is committed to solving it," Baird said yesterday. More than 19 municipalities still dump raw sewage into major waterways.

Baird said Canada has fallen far behind jurisdictions such as the European Union and the United States in terms of setting standards. But he admitted many communities don't have the capacity for secondary treatment, and that it will take at least 20 years to complete the upgrades.

"It's going to require literally billions of dollars of upgrading across the country. Some areas (have) done a very good job... other areas have a lot of work to do."

The major issues are obviously money and siting.  Generally speaking, the more efficient the sewage treatment system, the more it costs and the larger it is.  There are already NIMBY battles in the Victoria area over where the regional sewage treatment plants will be sited.   

Baird said the government is earmarking a portion of a previously announced $33 billion infrastructure fund to underwrite some of the expected upgrade costs over the next seven years, but provinces and municipalities would also have to chip in and co-operate to solve the problem.

Baird said Victoria is "an important priority" for the federal government - the region has recently drawn up plans to create secondary treatment facilities. The project is believed to cost $1.2 billion. As recently as July, municipal politicians received assurances about Ottawa's intention to pay one-third of that cost.

...

However, (Saanich Mayor) Leonard expressed concern that the sewage treatment money will come from the $33-billion fund, which is intended for all sorts of infrastructure projects. "The fund will be allocated mostly by population, so if all of our allocation is used up for sewage treatment, it means there's virtually no other infrastructure funding to our region for some time," he said.

Of course, since the folks in the Victoria region haven't been spending on sewage treatment, they've had more money to spend on other things...at the expense of the water quality in what some folks cynically call the Strait of Juan de Poopa. It looks like the locals are finally going to see a much-needed increase in their utility bills.

Dangerous Trucks and Truckers on the Road

I was reading an article on the results of a Trucker Check inspection last week at Cascade Locks when it occurred to me that I'd never seen the results of a similar inspection on I-5 last month (previous blog here).  I went to the ODOT website and found a nice summary of that and two other inspections this summer in various parts of the state...at least until it tried to put the data into perspective.

The first inspection blitz was a round-the-clock check of drivers on I-84 near Portland. Inspectors working July 10-13 at the eastbound Cascade Locks Port of Entry and the westbound Wyeth weigh station checked 301 truck drivers and placed 93 out-of-service for safety violations (31%).

In the second, larger-scale five-day exercise, inspectors worked July 22-26 at six weigh stations on I-84 and at the Umatilla Port of Entry on I-82. They completed 1,413 inspections and placed 329 drivers out-of-service (23%). The exercise focused on truck drivers, but inspectors also checked 129 vehicles and placed 70 out-of-service for mechanical problems (54%).

In the third exercise, inspectors worked August 13-17 at weigh stations on I-5, OR99, OR58, and US97, including the northbound Ports of Entry at Ashland and Klamath Falls and the southbound Port of Entry at Woodburn. A total of 1,638 inspections were completed and 446 drivers were placed out-of-service for safety violations (27%). Inspectors also checked 134 vehicles and placed 129 out-of-service (96%).

Most driver violations involved logbooks and problems staying within hours-of-service limits. While inspectors interacted with the drivers, they took the opportunity to hand out brochures on driver fatigue, seat belt usage, and other safety issues.

Boy, the results of Oregon's third exercise were particularly abysmal.  So why is Oregon's out-of-service data considerably worse than the national average?  On that, ODOT was not fully forthcoming.

Nationally, safety inspections result in 23% of vehicles placed out-of-service and 7% of drivers. The Oregon exercises yielded much higher out-of-service rates because drivers and vehicles were not randomly selected. Rather, inspectors used several sorting tools to find those most likely to warrant attention. This includes looking to see if the truck has a current Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection decal and looking to see if the driver is inattentive or showing signs of fatigue. Drivers selected undergo an interview process while their logbooks and supporting documents are examined.

I hadn't seen that vehicle selection note in the previous coverage regarding the exercises.  That certainly makes a difference.  However, notice how ODOT omitted mention of Oregon's results in that national safety inspection (previous blog here).  The trucks in that inspection were randomly selected, so a comparison of the results would be helpful.  From this link:   

A total of 93 Oregon safety inspectors, working at 58 sites around the state from June 5 through June 7, inspected 746 trucks and drivers during Roadcheck 2007, a Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance event that spotlights truck safety throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

In Oregon, 746 inspections found 39 percent of trucks and 19 percent of drivers had critical safety violations that put them out of service.  The current national rate of vehicles placed out-of-service is 23% and the current national rate of drivers placed out-of-service is 7%.

In other words, part of the reason that those recent truck inspection exercises produced high out-of-service rates is simply that Oregon has a higher-than-average percentage of unsafe trucks and drivers on its highways.  I'm sure that with this recent burst of inspections, ODOT wants to be seen as fixing a problem, not as having allowed it to happen.

So how did that Trucker Check last week go?  Well, preliminary results from the three-day check at the Cascade Locks Port of Entry on I-84 eastbound show that...

A total of 512 commercial vehicles were inspected of which 55 (11%) were placed out-of-service for critical safety violations.

Ninety-nine (19%) drivers were also placed out-of-service for assorted safety violations including excessive driving hours, log book deficiencies, and driver qualification issues.

Officers and inspectors issued 21 motor carrier-relation citations and 606 warnings.

Two persons were found in possession of methamphetamine and a third was in possession of marijuana.

The article doesn't say whether the trucks were randomly selected.  None of the drivers were found to be under the influence, and there was a voluntary collection of urine samples to (anonymously) determine what the drivers had recently been ingesting.  The article contained the results of such testing from the previous Trucker Check in April (southbound I-5, Woodburn port of entry).

* 8 (1.64%) drivers tested positive for the presence of amphetamines, equal to the number of drivers tested positive in 1998.

* 18 (3.70%) tested positive for the presence of cannabinoid (marijuana), nearly double the number of drivers tested positive in 1998.

* 2 (0.41%) tested positive for the presence of methadone.

* 16 (3.29%) tested positive for opiates (e.g., oxycodone), double the number of drivers tested positive in 1998.

* 3 (0.62%) tested positive for propoxyphene (synthetic opiates).

* 5 (1.03%) were positive for more than one drug category.

* Overall, 41 (9.65%) of the 487 drivers provided urine which tested positive in at least one drug category.

Of course, some of the above could be related to prescriptions.  So long as they're safe and sober while driving...

Carbon Credits and Child Labor

Climate Care is one of the higher-profile companies selling carbon offsets to those who choose to keep polluting but want to buy a stairway to heaven.  This British firm has occasionally earned headlines because some of its offset schemes are of dubious merit (previous blog here).  The following might be another example of that.

Customers of British Airways are among those who have been encouraged to log on to Climate Care’s website and calculate how many tonnes of greenhouse gases their flights will generate, and how much it will cost to neutralise the impact on the atmosphere. A flight to Barbados for a family of four, for example, generates 7.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which will cost them £56.64 to offset.

Climate Care uses the money to help persuade families such as Sarju’s to give up labour-saving diesel pumps and buy human-powered treadles instead. It claims that by using the treadle, a family will save money on diesel and hire charges, earn more from increased crops and cut the carbon emissions that would have been produced by the pump.

...

Pumping furiously on a foot treadle in the afternoon heat, six-year-old Sarju Ram is irrigating her impoverished family’s field, improving the crop and – without knowing it – helping environmentally sensitive holiday-makers assuage their guilt over long-haul flights to dream destinations.

But Sarju and her four brothers and sisters working flat out in a clump of trees that provide scant shelter from the sun illustrate a growing argument over claims that British environmentalists’ efforts to curb greenhouse emissions are inadvertently fuelling an increase in child labour.

So that people in the developed world can fly guilt-free, poor farmers in India give up labor-saving technology?

“The problem is the number of times child labour is involved,” claimed Ashutosh Pandey of Emergent Ventures India, which advises companies on clean technology.

“It’s not being monitored properly. It’s not reducing emissions. People are selling their diesel pumps to others who are using them.”

...

According to Buick (spokesman for Climate Care), critics are mistaken in claiming that diesel pumps are better than human-powered alternatives, because they are costly to run. The treadles meant farmers could rely on increased crops.

Buick said that by “all mucking in” families were able to increase yields and earn more to pay for children to go to school. The extra income also meant fathers could stay with their families rather than leaving them to look for work in the cities.

“If mum is planting and harvesting, the daughters help out. It’s just a different way of life. The phrase ‘child labour’ is emotive. It implies factories, but these are family farms where everyone gets stuck in, watering the crops and taking a turn on the treadle pump,” he said.

People dig holes to a shallow water table (max 25 feet), install perforated pipe, and suck the water up and onto their fields using a treadle (foot) pump.  The following picture of one of the simplest designs is from the manufacturer's website. 

It's not easy work, but it does let farmers produce crops during the dry season (or a spotty monsoon).  One of the things it's easy to forget here in the developed world is that for many people, sweatshop-like jobs can be an improvement. 

Last week in Pairapur village, Sarju and her family took turns on the pump, 30 minutes for each child and an hour for each parent. They are growing more corn, aubergines, and papayas, they said.

They had been paying £1 an hour to hire a diesel pump, said Sarju’s father Hari Ram, and had fallen into debt. They have now repaid a £900 loan and for the first time are saving money. “Our life has improved a lot,” he added.

But Sunita Narain said the rich needed to cut their own emissions by 50% rather than relying on offsets. “An increase in manual labour is an ethical issue,” she said.

Most people wouldn't be providing such help if they're weren't being duped into thinking they were doing something about global warming.

Random Nature #138

General Overview:  The incidence of Lyme disease in the U.S. is on the rise.  The vast majority of the roughly 20,000 cases per year occur in the Northeast and northern Midwest...and the disease is almost certainly underreported.  Lyme disease is also present in parts of the West, mostly on this side of the Cascades and Sierras.  Deer ticks (smaller and darker than dog ticks) are the primary vectors for the bacteria which cause Lyme disease.  It's generally types of rodents that serve as the reservoirs, though some ground-feeding birds can also fulfill that purpose.

Oregon typically has less than twenty cases of Lyme disease per year (in people).  California sometimes tops 100 cases per year.  However, states like New York and Pennsylvania suffer several thousand cases each year.  The following is the American Lyme Disease Foundation's risk map.

The Illness:  Lyme disease is caused by bacteria that infected deer ticks can pass along if they get 36-48 hours to feed upon someone.  Often, it's ticks in the younger nymph stage that transmit the disease to man because they're so small that they can be easily missed.  It's very roughly estimated that only 5-50 percent of the people who are infected with the Lyme disease bacteria ever develop symptoms.  For those that do, the first thing that's generally noticeable is a lesion with an expanding "bull's eye rash."   

Usually (but not always) radiates from the site of the tick bite

Appears either as a solid red expanding rash or blotch, OR a central spot surrounded by clear skin that is in turn ringed by an expanding red rash (looks like a bull's-eye)

Appears an average of 1 to 2 weeks (range = 3 to 30 days) after disease transmission

Has an average diameter of 5 to 6 inches (range = 2 inches to 2 feet)

Persists for about 3 to 5 weeks

May or may not be warm to the touch

Is usually not painful or itchy

The lesion may or may not come with malaise, a fever, headache, stiffness, swollen lymph nodes, and other general symptoms that are often minor and fleeting.  But, 10-20 percent of people never develop a lesion or rash, and some folks show few if any of the other initial symptoms.  A few weeks or months later in 61 percent of people, the early disseminated stage commences.  Continuing the above quote... 

Two or more rashes not at site of bite

Migrating pains in joints/tendons

Headache

Stiff, aching neck

Facial palsy (facial paralysis similar to Bell's palsy)

Tingling or numbness in extremities

Multiple enlarged lymph glands

Abnormal pulse

Sore throat

Changes in vision

Fever of 100 to 102 F

Severe fatigue   

And after months or years, if the Lyme disease is allowed to progress to the late stage...

Arthritis (pain/swelling) of one or two large joints

Disabling neurological disorders (disorientation; confusion; dizziness; short-term memory loss; inability to concentrate, finish sentences or follow conversations; mental "fog")

Numbness in arms/hands or legs/feet

People with the disease are not contagious.  The earlier that people are treated with antibiotics (several are effective), the better the results.  Lyme disease is very rarely fatal.  There is no safe vaccine against the disease.

Complexities:  There are actually twelve species (and many more strains) of bacteria in genus Borrelia which can cause what is collectively referred to as Lyme disease.  It's found in most parts of the world, though human infection is most common here in North America.  To keep things somewhat simpler, most note that the bacterium in the U.S. which causes Lyme disease is Borrelia burgdorferi.  It's often referred to as a spirochete, because bacteria from that order are spiral-shaped and have flagella for swimming.  Syphilis is a famous spirochete, but it's only very distantly related to the Borrelia.   

Many animals can be infected with Lyme disease via deer tick bites.  Noting that Lyme disease was named after the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme in eastern Connecticut... 

In Eastern Connecticut, 50% of gray squirrels, 27% of white-tailed deer, 24% of dogs, 23% of raccoons, 17% of eastern chipmunks and opossums, and 10% of white-footed mice are seropositive.  In some parts of the Northeast, antibodies have been found in approximately 50 percent of adult horses. 

And, other animals--like cats--have been infected in lab tests.  Lyme disease causes few if any obvious symptoms in most animals, though it can make some dogs arthritic and a number of horses get lesions.  Last year in Oregon, there were almost 300 cases of Lyme disease in dogs, the majority here in Southern Oregon. 

The deer ticks aren't born with the bacteria; they acquire it through feeding on reservoir species.  The white-footed mouse mentioned above is the primary reservoir for the disease in the eastern U.S.  Here in the West, it's deer mice and wood rats.   

The Vectors:  As may be obvious from the above, deer ticks will dine upon far more than just deer.  In high risk areas on the other side of the U.S., as many as 50 percent of the local deer ticks carry the bacteria which cause Lyme disease.  Many areas there support a high number of white-footed mice, and the densities of one of the deer tick's preferred prey--the white-tailed deer--are often much higher than here on the West Coast.

The deer tick that's the primary vector for human infections in the West is Ixodes pacificus, which is properly called the western black-legged tick.  Fortunately for us, this small, hard-bodied tick commonly feeds upon western fence lizards.  This common lizard has a protein in its blood that kills Lyme disease bacteria.  In Oregon, about 3.5 percent of deer ticks carry the bacteria which cause Lyme disease. 

Deer ticks are most commonly found in cool, moist areas, and they seem especially fond of leaf litter.  However, they're inactive in weather below about 45 F, meaning when it comes to the threat of catching Lyme disease, cold weather is our friend.

Losing One's Inhibitions with Age

Sometimes it seems like the elderly grow more prone to saying inappropriate things.  With a condition like Alzheimer's, that's not a surprise.  And, there are obviously people that simply lose some of their inhibitions as they age.  But sometimes, there are physical reasons for that.

As we age, our brains slowly shrink in volume and weight. This includes significant atrophy within the frontal lobes, the seat of executive functioning. Executive functions include planning, controlling, and inhibiting thought and behavior. In the aging population, an inability to inhibit unwanted thoughts and behavior causes several social behaviors and cognitions to go awry.

In a study appearing in the October issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, University of Queensland psychologist, Bill von Hippel, reports that decreased inhibitory ability in late adulthood can lead to unintended prejudice, social inappropriateness, depression, and gambling problems.

Regarding prejudice, von Hippel and colleagues found that older white adults showed greater stereotyping toward African Americans than younger white adults did, despite being more motivated to control their prejudices. Von Hippel suggests that “because prejudice toward African Americans conflicts with prevailing egalitarian beliefs, older adults attempt to inhibit their racist feelings, but fail.”

Age-related inhibitory losses have also been implicated in social appropriateness. Von Hippel found that older adults were more likely than younger adults were to inquire about private issues (e.g. weight gain, family problems) in public settings. Furthermore, these age differences emerged even though older and younger adults both agreed that it is inappropriate to inquire about such issues in public settings. The older adults seemed to know the social rules but failed to follow them, which is consistent with diminished frontal lobe functioning.

FYI, von Hipple did his research on the inhibition of prejudices regarding African Americans several years ago when he was a professor at Ohio State.  His research on asking socially inappropriate questions was done when he was at the University of New South Wales.  It's only been more recently that he's started focusing upon changes in the frontal lobe as a cause for these observed behavioral changes.

In late-onset depressed older adults, poor inhibition predicted increased rumination, which in turn predicted increased depression. This finding suggests that people who struggle to control their rumination begin to lose that battle as they age, with the end result being the emergence of depression late in life.

As used here, rumination is a type of negative cyclic thinking--"obsessing about problems, about a loss, about any kind of a setback or ambiguity without moving past thought into the realm of action."

Von Hippel also found that a penchant for gambling can be toxic for older adults, as those with poor executive functioning are particularly likely to have gambling problems. Interestingly, these problems are exacerbated in the afternoon, when older adults are less mentally alert. Older adults were more likely to get into an unnecessary argument and were also more likely to gamble all their money away later rather than earlier in the day. These findings suggest a possible avenue for intervention, by scheduling their important social activities or gambling excursions earlier in the day.

While social changes commonly occur with age, they are widely assumed a function of changes in preferences and values as people get older. Von Hippel argues that there may be more to the story and that some of the changes may be unintended and brought about by losses in executive control.

But, you probably won't know the reason for such changes without some expensive medical testing.

Cargo To & From Oregon's Bay Area (Corrected)

The following will adversely impact businesses dependent upon the rail line between Eugene and Coquille.  FYI, Vaughn OR is a few miles west of Eugene (south of Noti on this RailAmerica map).

The Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (CORP) announced today that it is discontinuing operations between Vaughn, OR and Coquille, OR due to unsafe tunnel conditions. The rail line segment has nine tunnels, each more than 115 years old, several of which are no longer safe to transit. The rail carrier has notified its customers along the line and will issue an embargo notice to the Association of American Railroads notifying all other rail carriers that rail cars will no longer be accepted for delivery. Final deliveries of goods in transit are expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Late in 2006, the carrier began extensive repairs to one of the tunnels. The repair work triggered a tunnel collapse that cost almost $2 million to repair. Since that time, CORP has engaged an internationally known geotechnical and environmental engineering firm with particular expertise in rail tunnel repairs to assess the status of the tunnels on the line. The experts determined that three of the nine tunnels require extensive, immediate repairs to be made safe for rail operations and minimize the risk of collapse.

CORP General Manager Kevin Spradlin said the company would seek to form a public-private partnership to make repairs to the line, but that the amount of money required is significant, totaling nearly $7 million over the next five years for tunnel repairs alone. "We regret any inconvenience that this closure causes our customers, but the line has become unsafe for our employees to use,” said Spradlin. “We tried to keep it open as long as possible." The CORP is making space available for customers that want to truck their goods to the carrier's Eugene to Roseburg line for transfer into rail cars.

CORP also owns the line that runs from Roseburg OR to Weed CA (actually, nearby Black Butte).  That's the route that suffered the lengthy and expensive Tunnel 13 fire in the Siskiyous back in '03-'04 (previous blog here).  Switching articles...

The company declined to say how long the line may be closed. At least four companies locally rely on the railroad.

"It's quite devastating. We ship probably 70 percent of our product out on that line," said Jason Smith, manager of the Southport Forest Products sawmill on Coos Bay's North Spit. Without rail, lumber goes out on semi-trucks to Eugene for reload on rail there. That hikes the shipping costs an estimated 10 percent to 15 percent, Smith said.

Southport's not alone. American Bridge has used the rail line to bring in raw materials and ship out bridge segments. The Georgia-Pacific sawmill loads lumber aboard railcars. And Roseburg Forest Products' Coquille plywood mill does, too.

Back to the first article...

Previous efforts to increase rail rates on the line through a surcharge were unsuccessful. "The Coos Bay line just doesn't have enough business on it today to justify us making the repairs,” said CORP Marketing and Sales Manager Tom Hawksworth. “Even if the money were suddenly available, it's not safe to make the repairs until after the rainy season next Spring." Hawksworth added that the line could be reopened to support a container terminal at Coos Bay should such a terminal be developed.

Makes one wonder how expensive the unsuccessful surcharge was.  At any rate, I'd certainly figure that some of the potential customers of an expanded cargo terminal at Coos Bay would like to have the option of using the rail line.

Correction:  I'd originally said that the section of line that's been closed was part of the same line that extended to Weed CA.  Wrong...fixed that above.  Thanks, Jeff!