A Change in the Wind

Why you don't want to be drinking cyanobacteria: ALS

This story by a writing mentor, Wendee Nicole, just won a best science story of the year award from the Society of Journalists and Authors. It's horrifying (but fascinating too) to think that a bacteria could be paralyzing people, or giving them Alzheimer's, and the revelation of that story; well, it's jaw-dropping.

A small sample:

Although frequently called blue-green algae, cyanos are actually bacteria that photosynthesize, or create food from light, which is why early scientists classified them as algae. Modern genetics shows they share no evolutionary lineage with algae; the classification is as scientifically accurate as calling a dog a plant.

Cyanobacteria produce a host of nasty compounds, including neurotoxins that derail nervous systems, hepatotoxins that damage liver function, and tumor promoters. Their blooms have poisoned wildlife and caused massive fish kills. In humans they can cause rashes, numbness, vomiting, and sometimes long-term liver or nerve damage. While “death by pond scum” has never appeared in an obituary, that could change: not only are blooms increasing worldwide, but scientists predict they will worsen as the climate warms and nutrient levels rise, when, for example, fertilizers from America’s breadbasket run into the Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, burgeoning cyano blooms in the Great Lakes have garnered attention.

Based on the work of this man, Paul Cox, the story developed over many years, and ran into a lot of resistance, but now the tap water/ALS idea is being studied at twenty schools around the country. 

As they say, read the whole thing.

Who needs sleep? Insomnia cookies available now!

From Pacific Standard comes the news that insomnia cookies -- aka, a wonder drug called Modafinil, is available that will make sleep all but unnecessary. An hour or two a night will be plenty, it is said. No problems. 

The past week has seen a flurry ofattention around the latest purported wonder drug, Modafinil, which claims to make sleeping basically optional, with no ill effects. Just pop one, and two hours of sleep is plenty—with no headaches, “sleep debt,” hangover feeling, withdrawal, post-dopamine crash (as with that other common sleep-avoidance drug, speed) and little addiction risk.

On the other hand, a simple googling for side effects brings the fact that it's first compared to amphetamine, and this cheerful list. 

SIDE EFFECTS: The most common side effects of modafinil are headache,upper respiratory tract infection, nausea, nervousness, anxiety, and insomnia. Modafinil also may cause serious skin reactions, multiple organ hypersensitivity reactions, high blood pressure, fainting, psychosis, thoughts of suicide, and abnormal heart beats.

Reference: FDA Prescribing Information

Color me skeptical, more along the lines of Chloie Aridjis, from the on-line journal of Granta, who has had insomnia in her earliest memories, and wonders  in Berlin if she ever will really sleep well. 

Whenever I seek assurance that my insomnia is not something that arrived with adulthood or even with adolescence, but rather much earlier in life, I return to a poem my father once dedicated to me: ‘El insomnio empieza en la cuna’ (‘Insomnia Begins in the Cradle’). My sleepless nights began long before I knew the ailment had a name. My parents would look into my darkened room and see me standing in my crib, gripping the bars and peering over the rim, waiting for something or someone to come and save me from the desolation. Decades later, I experience that same old resistance to laying the day down to rest.

Insomnia: Who in their right mind would want more of that? 

Coffee is good for you: New England Journal of Medicine

Unbelieveably unpuritanical but factual. Here's the first sentence of the conclusion of a study of 617k participants, published in our leading medical journal, and written in (of course) the driest possible prose: 

In this large, prospective U.S. cohort study, we observed a dose-dependent inverse association between coffee drinking and total mortality, after adjusting for potential confounders (smoking status in particular). As compared with men who did not drink coffee, men who drank 6 or more cups of coffee per day had a 10% lower risk of death, whereas women in this category of consumption had a 15% lower risk. 

Coffee drinkers have already built a vast global infrastructure to support their habit, so the study will change nothing -- except maybe the guilt. 

Knowing Americans, that's a big maybe. 

Related articles

Caffeinated coffee may reduce the risk of oral cancers

Coffee is good for you: The Institute for Coffee Studies

The Popular Bad Habit That Adds Years to Your Life

Coffee and Type 2 Diabetes

Why can't we think practically about sleep?

Researchers want to know: 

One finding that might be surprising, given how much time we spend in our beds: Men and women don’t seem to give any consideration to sleep patterns when choosing a mate. 

Random thought: Why do we say "sleep like a baby?" 

 

Sleep like a dog is more like it...

Check Yourself: How to fight (testicular) cancer

My feature on the subject today in the VC Reporter: Check Yourself. 

With excellent pics by Matt Hill. 

Climate change + health in Philippines: Charlotte Kellogg

Last December at the AGU, I heard a presentation of a ground-breaking and troubling study on climate change and public health in the Philippines. Two young researchers charted typhoons and their aftermath, and argued powerfully that our reporting of the damage caused by these powerful but brief storms (one of which landed near Manila in August) is badly flawed, because we fail to consider the "economic deaths" that follow in the year after the storm, and which hit infant girls especially hard.

Jesse Anntilla-Hughes and Solomon Hsiang wrote: 

These findings together suggest that female infant deaths following typhoon events are ‘economic deaths’ resulting from economic losses and the resulting household decisions regarding human capital investments and within-household resource allocation. This conclusion that female infants bear a differentially large share of the burden from income loss is consistent with findings from a variety of other contexts (Rosenzweig and Schultz (1982); Rose (1999); Duflo (2000); Duflo (2005); Bhalotra (2010)). Extrapolating these estimates to the entire non-migrant population suggests that approximately 11,000 fe- male infants suffer ‘economic deaths’ in the Philippines every year due to the previous year’s storm season. In contrast, there was an average of 743 ‘trauma deaths’ per year according to official reports for the same period (OFDA/CRED 2009). This suggests that mortality attributable to Filipino typhoons is roughly 1500% of previous estimates.

That's right, "economic deaths" outnumber storm deaths by a factor of 15-1. That's a big problem, but a researcher named Charlotte Kellogg writes that the Philippines and the WHO are working towards an idea for reducing the number of disaster-caused deaths. She asked to post on this subject, and, impressed by her work, I agreed. Here's Charlotte Kellogg, on "The Relationship Between Climate Change and Global Public Health:"

"Global warming is believed to have numerous negative effects on humanity, perhaps most profoundly when it comes to natural disasters. Rising worldwide temperatures are disrupting weather patterns, experts say, which correlates to an increase number of storms and high pressure systems in the atmosphere. The battery of typhoons and flash floods that have subsumed the Asia-Pacific coastline since the start of the summer are but one example of Mother Nature's climate-induced wrath. Short of reversing the damage done, which many warn may be all but impossible, the next best thing for government officials and community leaders to do is to plan and prepare, ensuring htat life-saving infrastructures are in place when disaster strikes. 

It has been a dangerous wet summer for the Asian coastline. Japan and parts of North Korea were hit with powerful floods in June, which were followed closely by a series of not two but three typhoons slamming the coast of mainland China. Then, in early August, a monsoon hit just south of Manila in the Philippines, affecting millions and killing at least 85. 

"We always say that global warming or climate change does not explain, or cause, specific weather events or disasters. But one of the consequences of climate change, according to climate scientists, is a higher frequency of extreme rainfall events," CNN said in a special reporting examining the Asian storms. "We will likely see more flooding disasters around East Asia over the next couple of months as the tropics heat up and cyclones traverse those hard-hit areas from the Philippines all the way to North Korea."

Aside from the destruction and economic costs of these storms, there are also a number of public health issues. Most of the time, intense flooding leads to widespread power outages, as well as food shortages and loss of freshwater resources. Standing water and disrupted sewage lines are conduits for disease. In the summer, when temperatures are warm, many are vulnerable to heatstroke and dehydration, which can be fatal, particularly in conjuction with other storm-related maladies.

Adaptation -- being ready for disaster and having plans in place to both reduce fatalities and restore fallen infrastructure -- is one of the best ways for communities to prepare. "A few cities -- primarily either those that have recently experienced devastating weather-related events or those located along the coasts -- are preparing climate change adaptation plans, but still fewer of these include actions the public health community should be taking," Catherine Cooney, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental scientist wrote in Environmental Health Perspectives. Much of this has to do with resources and funding. A lot of it may also be perception-based, Cooney surmised. 

"In addition to money woes, a lack of data, and limited research, many local officials are challenged because their constituents don't believe climate change is a real problem," Cooney wrote. As demonstrated by rising death tolls in Asia, this misconception can lead to extensive preventable harm. 

The Philippines is head of many of its peers when it comes to adaptation. After a series of devastating 2009 storms, the national government began implementing a mobile-phone based crisis response system for emergency responders, so tha tnews could travel faster even in regions without power or normal cell coverage. The program was funded in part by the World Health Organization, which sent representatives to several key villages for training.

"The principle is to prevent more deaths and diseases. Disasters do happen, and deaths and injuries at the time of the incident, but through this system we would be able to prevent outbreaks that could lead to more fatalities," Soe Nyunt-U, a WHO representative in the Philippines told a reporter for The Guardian. Despite nearly three years in development, however, the SMS action plan is still in its infancy. More widespread use of hte technology could potentially have saved some of the lives that continue to be lost in the region.

'Extension of the technology to citizens themselves might also be helpful for future disasters. At least in the Philippines, SMS response systems are limited to emergency crews. Leveraging the mobile platform to send updates and warnings to residents in potential danger zones might expedite evacuations, and could minimize property loss. Increased connectivity could also allow those affected to self-report injuries and dangerous conditions, which could expedite response time. Such tools would be particularly valuable in very rural areas. 

International understanding of climate change and its impact on weather systems is improving. Abilities to track and predict dangerous presure systems are helping keep major public health crises at bay, but more must be done at a local level to prevent harm. Investing in technology and looking for new ways to innovate life-saving solutions is one of the best things local and national governments can do when looking ahead to a world that will surely be marked by an uptick in storms and natural disasters." 

Agreed! Here (as an example) is a NASA satellite photo of twin typhoons in the Philippine Sea on August 23. If you look closely, you can see Taiwan and the Philippines outlined on the photo.

EPA appoints chem co rep to regulatory position

From the Chicago Tribune: 

As a lawyer and scientist for one of the world's largest makers of flame retardants, Todd Stedeford vigorously defended chemicals added to scores of household products — often by concluding the substances are far less dangerous than academic and government studies have determined.

Studies, legal newsletters and letters he wrote or co-wrote while at Albemarle Corp. also frequently contradicted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's positions and statements about industrial chemicals.

He argued, for example, that people could be safely exposed to one flame retardant at doses more than 500 times higher than a standard set by the EPA and accused regulators of basing their decisions about toxic chemicals on emotion rather than reason.

Now Stedeford is in charge of an EPA program studying whether dozens of industrial chemicals, including flame retardants, are too dangerous. The risk assessments conducted by his office will determine whether the agency enacts more stringent regulations for certain chemicals, attempts to force some compounds off the market — or chooses to do nothing at all.

Stedeford, who worked as an EPA scientist from 2004 to 2007, rejoined the agency a year ago following a four-year stint at Albermarle, surprising some independent scientists and environmental groups.

"It's hard to imagine going from one job where you are a hired gun to another where you are supposed to be protecting the public," said Julie Herbstman, a Columbia University researcher who led a 2010 study that linked exposure to certain flame retardants with lower IQ scores in children.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has publicly backed an overhaul of the way the EPA screens chemicals and urged Congress to grant the agency authority to require more testing before chemicals are allowed on the market. But the EPA is under intense pressure from the chemical industry and its congressional allies to back off.

The EPA would not make Jackson or Stedeford available for an interview.

Troubling: Especially the strong hint that the EPA may be caving to the chemical companies, and doubly so for the hint that Stedeford supports greatly increasing our exposure to chemical contaminants.

Already flame retardants and water repellant plastics such as PFOA, a toxic substance found in the blood of 98% of Americans, have been shown to have endocrine disrupting and carcinogenic effects in parts per billion concentration. And earlier this year, a huge and definite study of endocrine disruptors from Laura Vandenberg and a dozen other leading researchers, found beyond doubt that endocrine disruptors demand a different method of toxins assessment, because they can be most damaging at low parts-per billion concentrations.  

In Vandenberg's words: 

My colleagues and I have concluded in a new report that there truly are no safe doses for hormone-altering chemicals. Academic, regulatory and industry scientists must work together to identify and replace such chemicals that are ubiquitous in everyday consumer products.

In other endocrine news, a new study of overweight teen found that beginning about age ten, the overweight actually ate less than their thinner peers. From NPR:

A new study published in Pediatrics finds that overweight teenagers eat fewer calories than their healthy weight peers.

That's right — they eat less.

How much less? The study found that among 12- to 14-year-olds, obese girls consumed 110 fewer calories daily than healthy-weight girls. And overweight boys between the ages of 15 and 17 consumed about 375 fewer calories a day than healthy-weight boys.

[snip]

"Once you become overweight, there are changes in your body that make you different from someone who's not [overweight]," explains Sophia Yen of Stanford School of Medicine. "You have extra fat cells, and you have different insulin levels," which can make it feel like you're eating less than you are.

"And once these effects have taken place, the fat deposition or the insulin changes in your body, then it's a lot harder to reverse," Yen tells The Salt.

Take fat cells, for instance. Once the body creates a fat cell, it lasts a lifetime.

"You can slim down that fat cell, but that fat cell will always be sitting there, waiting to be larger if you give it extra calories," she says.

As reported here a couple of months ago, leading experts now strongly suspect that endocrine disruptors contribute perhaps substantially to fat cell multiplication and growth in American young people.

Could global warming give us late, light flu seasons?

In Ventura, the Star's first-rate health and society reporter Tom Kisken documents the lightest flu season in decades. Seriously, for some reason, it's been 29 years since the flu season took until February to get started. Usually it happens by Christmas. That's according to the official Centers for Disease Control.

Why so late?

In California and Ventura County, officials also declared influenza a late bloomer that began to emerge in late January and early February. Activity remains mostly light.

Ask why and they say the same things as the feds: No way to know.

Over at The New York Times, Charles Pierce has an idea. 

Scientists are still studying the complex relationship between flu and climate, and other factors, like an absence of new strains or immunity from past vaccinations, may have contributed to this season's low numbers. But there is reason to believe that the weather is an important factor. For one thing, studies have extablished that the flu virus thrives in low humidity, and therefore low temperature -- there's a reason, after all, that the flu usually hits us in January, not July. Cold weather also dries out the nasal passages, making it easier to get the coughts and sneezes that transmit the flu. And it keeps us cooped up inside, passing illnesses around. 

Ironically, the same La Niña pattern that may have suppressed flu transmission this year in the U.S. among humans could in the Pacific among birds lead to the creation of new and potentially dangerous viruses, according to a study presented in December at the AGU.

"We know that pandemics arise from dramatic changes in the influenza genome. Our hypothesis is that La Niña sets the stage for these changes by reshuffling the mixing patterns of migratory birds, which are a major reservoir for influenza," says Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, Mailman School assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences and co-author of the study.

The climate giveth, and the climate taketh away. 

Multi, Extremely, and Totally Drug-Resistant TB: TDR-TB

Sometimes change is easier to hear in language than it is to contextualize in reality.

My meager understanding of tuberculosis cannot be expected to grade the seriousness of the news that several new strains of the disease have been found in populations in India and Iran.

This sounds alarming, but after all, medical researchers have tricks up there sleeve as well. This may represent less a threat to you and me than simply the fact that this disease, once slated for eradication, seems to have slipped our medical net.

Yet even the experts at Chest magazine used precisely that word -- alarming -- to describe this development. . 

What am I talking about?

Totally Drug-Resistant TB (TDR-TB)

From The Times of India:

MUMBAI: Tuberculosis, which kills around 1,000 people a day in India, has acquired a deadlier edge. A new entity-ominously called Totally Drug-Resistant TB (TDR-TB )-has been isolated in the fluid samples of 12 TB patients in the past three months alone at Hinduja Hospital at Mahim . The hospital's laboratory has been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) to test TB patients for drug resistance.

While Iran first reported TDRTB cases three years ago, India seems to be only the second country to report this deadly form of the disease. TDR-TB is the result of the latest mutation of the bacilli after Multi-Drug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB ) and Extremely Drug-Resistant TB (XDR-TB ) were diagnozed earlier.

This frank twist in our language occured because milder new variants on this old disease had already taken their places in the lexicon, complete with acronyms; such as the strain resistant to multiple drug therapies, (MDR-TB) and the strain extremely resistant (XDR-TB).

This new strain, TDR-TB, even Cipro can't kill. 

According to a WHO study from Iran:

The isolation of TDR strains from MDR-TB patients from different regional countries is alarming and underlines the possible dissemination of such strains in Asian countries. 

30% of those known known to have contracted this new form of TB in the study conducted in Tehran are immigrants from Afghanistan. 

Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria

A New Way to Judge Others: High, Medium, or Low Fitness

A stupendous graph, part of an equally impressive health/lifestyle piece in the WSJ yesterday:

The pitch convinces without pushing a single product:

"No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take," says David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University's Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis, N.C. Dr. Nieman has conducted several randomized controlled studies showing that people who walked briskly for 45 minutes, five days a week over 12 to 15 weeks had fewer and less severe upper respiratory tract infections, such as colds and flu. These subjects reduced their number of sick days 25% to 50% compared with sedentary control subjects, he says.

But this does offer the critically-minded a whole new "scientific" way to judge people.

Are they high, medium, or low fitness? 

Appears from the above that you can tell at a glance...