Science gets a grip on wrinkly fingers

By Samantha R. Selman

Scientists think that they have the answer to why the skin on human fingers and toes shrivels up like an old prune when we soak in the bath. Laboratory tests confirmed a theory that wrinkly fingers improve our grip on wet or submerged objects, working to channel away the water like the rain treads in car tires.

People often assume that wrinkling is the result of water passing into the outer layer of the skin and making it swell up. But researchers have known since the 1930s that the effect does not occur when there is nerve damage in the fingers. This points to the change being an involuntary reaction by the body’s autonomic nervous system — the system that also controls breathing, heart rate and perspiration. In fact, the distinctive wrinkling is caused by blood vessels constricting below the skin.

In 2011, Mark Changizi, an evolutionary neurobiologist at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho, and his colleagues, suggested¹ that wrinkling, being an active process, must have an evolutionary function. The team also showed that the pattern of wrinkling appeared to be optimized for providing a drainage network that improved grip. But until now, there was no proof that wrinkly fingers did in fact offer an advantage.

In the latest study, participants picked up wet or dry objects including marbles of different sizes with normal hands or with fingers wrinkled after soaking in warm water for 30 minutes. The subjects were faster at picking up wet marbles with wrinkled fingers than with dry ones, but wrinkles made no difference for moving dry objects. The results are published today in Biology Letters².

“We have shown that wrinkled fingers give a better grip in wet conditions — it could be working like treads on your car tyres, which allow more of the tyre to be in contact with the road and gives you a better grip,” says Tom Smulders, an evolutionary biologist at Newcastle University, UK, and a co-author of the paper.

Hold tight

Wrinkled fingers could have helped our ancestors to gather food from wet vegetation or streams, Smulders adds. The analogous effect in the toes could help us to get a better footing in the rain.

Changizi says that the results provide behavioural evidence “that pruney fingers are rain treads”, which are consistent with his own team’s morphological findings. What remains to be done, he adds, is to check that similar wrinkling occurs in other animals for which it would provide the same advantages. “At this point we just don’t know who has them, besides us and macaques.”

Given that wrinkles confer an advantage with wet objects but apparently no disadvantage with dry ones, it’s not clear why our fingers are not permanently wrinkled, says Smulders. But he has some ideas. “Our initial thoughts are that this could diminish the sensitivity in our fingertips or could increase the risk of damage through catching on objects.”

 

References

1. Changizi, M., Weber, R., Kotecha, R. & Palazzo, J. Brain Behav. Evol. 77, 286–290 (2011).
2. Kareklas, K., Nettle, D. & Smulders, T. V. Biol. Lett. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0999(2013).

Keystone XL: Montana Approves Easements Allowing Pipeline To Cross State Land

By Richard Best

Montana on Monday approved easements to let the Keystone XL pipeline cross state-owned land, including the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.

The Land Board chaired by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, running his last meeting before leaving office, sold the package of 50-year easements to TransCanada Corp. for $741,000. The board also finalized approval for land leases for the completion of the Montana-Alberta Tie Line.

But it was the lease for the oil pipeline that brought out some critics, who argued the board isn’t doing enough to make sure the pipeline will be safe for the environment. They pointed to last year’s oil spill on the Yellowstone, caused when a pipeline ruptured, of the danger posed when rivers are crossed. Opponents also argued it shouldn’t be built at all due to global warming concerns from oil production.

The Northern Plains Resource Council, representing some eastern Montana ranchers and landowners affected by the pipeline, wrote a letter to the board advising it that the river crossing points are particularly dangerous.

Jim Jensen, executive of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the board should at least postpone a decision on the portions of the lease package that cross the major rivers. He said there should be no rush since it is conditioned on receiving presidential approval, a process that has been bogged down in Washington, D.C., politics.

Jensen said the tar sands product is very different from normal crude oil, and its potential impact on aquatic environments is untested. He said the Land board also has an obligation to review the global warming impacts of developing the Canadian oil fields.

“I don’t believe it is responsible for the Land board to make this decision before it has all the information in front of it,” he said.

TransCanada told the board that it has agreed during regulatory permit proceedings to bury the pipeline 40 feet under the major rivers, a depth much greater than the older pipeline that ruptured last year.

Schweitzer told the critics that they need to take their concerns to state or federal agencies that offer the environmental permits.

The governor, shepherding his final land board meeting, said the same groups made similar requests of the board when it was making decisions on coal development in eastern Montana. He argued, again, that the land board makes the decisions regarding the state’s financial interest in such cases, while regulatory agencies make sure environmental laws are followed.

“I don’t know why MEIC and Northern Plains went well back to this well again,” Schweitzer said. “We handle the money. The environmental permits are handled elsewhere. That’s why we have a Department of Environmental Quality that does these things.”

The 36-inch oil pipeline still faces several much larger hurdles than the Montana Land Board, including court battles elsewhere and the pending request for the presidential approval needed for such a cross-border project. The pipeline, which will have an on-ramp for Montana oil developers, would eventually carry crude oil to refineries in southern Texas.

The board also gave the backers of the Montana-Alberta Tie Line some final easements needed across state land in north-central Montana to complete its project. The company told the board that it could be done in the first half of next year.

Schweitzer lauded the project as a key component to the state’s development of wind energy.

5 Steps That Will Curb Gun Violence (And 5 Ways They Will Fail)

By Spencer Ackerman

Suspected terrorists can’t fly on planes, but they can buy guns. The feds can track sales of fertilizer, but not semi-automatic rifles. Brick-and-mortar gun dealers perform background checks, but online ones often don’t. These are three of the many odd aspects of the gun trade that are now being reconsidered after the massacre of 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Here are five potential steps that gun owners, gun vendors, manufacturers, law enforcement and legislators might consider to stem mass-casualty gun violence — without shredding the Second Amendment, and without forcing gun owners to give back their weapons. No one measure will eradicate such attacks: Perfect security is an illusion, and one easily used to snatch away people’s liberties. None of the proposed fixes are foolproof. Each of them comes with the potential to seriously backfire. But after Sandy Hook, it’s time to a take a fresh look at the state of America’s firearms market.

Microstamping

Imagine every semi-automatic gun — those that automatically reload after every trigger pull — carried its own unique signature, transferable to every bullet at the point of firing. That’s what happens with an engraving technology called microstamping: Once engraved with a laser during manufacture, the gun’s firing pin imprints a tiny alphanumeric code onto the bullet’s shell casing and the primer used to fire.

Pro: Shell casings are more likely to be left at crime scenes than firearms or fingerprints are. “Stamp” the shell and you’ve added a layer of evidence about a perpetrator for police, one that’s theoretically more exact than ballistics testing. It’s primarily a method to mitigate gun violence after it occurs, but it’s possible microstamping could have some deterrent effect as well.

Con: It’s only a tool for semi-automatics, so it’s irrelevant if you’re reloading, say, your shotgun shells manually. You’d have to mandate microstamping at the point of manufacture for new guns, meaning it’ll be irrelevant for the estimated 310 million guns already in use in the country. It’s theoretically possible to file off the marking on the firearm pin, although practically speaking the engraving is invisible. Finally, the data on the shell casings can only identify the last legal owner of the gun.

Magazine Limitations

Jared Loughner never had to reload when he shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011. His Glock carried a 33-round extended magazine; Loughner fired 31 bullets. The U.S. has limited magazine size before: The expired 1994 Assault Weapons Ban banned magazines carrying more than 10 rounds. (.pdf)

Pro: Anytime a shooter has to stop to reload increases the chance that victims could escape; that law enforcement or others can stop an assailant; and, basically, fewer people will die. Robert Wright of The Atlantic goes a step further and proposes a ban on firearms carrying more than six rounds or a detachable magazine, meaning a shooter would have to reload bullet by bullet.

Con: There isn’t strong data correlating restrictions in magazine size with drops in gun crime. As theWashington Post’s Brad Plumer points out, the assault weapons ban exempted about 30 million high-capacity magazines, so studying the impact of the ban is surrounded in statistical noise. A shooter can always carry multiple loaded weapons.

Equalizing Online and Offline Gun Sales

If you want a gun to commit a crime, you should buy one over the internet. Federally licensed gun dealers need to conduct background checks on prospective buyers. But online, you can resell your guns in a burgeoning secondary market, on websites like ArmsList, without being a licensed dealer, and without background checks. While online vendors are supposed to ship their guns to a federally licensed dealer who’ll perform the background check, a 2011 New York City investigation found that’snot always the case in practice. (.pdf) The rules vary site to site, but many sites take the eBay or Craigslist approach of staying hands-off after visitors sign a term-of-service agreement. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, bought his guns online; so did the Aurora shooter.

Pro: You’ll shut down an easy path for people to acquire dangerous weapons without answering questions. The changes to online gun marketplaces, the New York City investigation suggested, are feasible without shutting down the resale markets themselves: either authorized gun dealers or law enforcement would perform the background checks, or the sellers would have to verify a buyer’s valid gun permit — something the investigation judged to be “relatively easy.”

Con: It’ll require a lot of enforcement. Imagine having a regulator reviewing every eBay auction. Since online gun stores are basically connector points between consumer and vendor, it’s easy to imagine illicit transactions moving to a different forum — i.e., if you reach me over ArmsList and offer me big money for one of my guns fast, maybe I’d rather do business with you in a less conspicuous forum, like a vacant lot.

Put Gun Registries in Terrorism Databases

If you’re a suspected terrorist, you’ll set off all kinds of alarm bells if you try to buy the precursor materials for a bomb. But if you going on a firearms shopping spree, you’re in the clear, since the government can’t legally maintain a database of gun owners. In other words, “there is no basis to automatically prohibit a person from possessing firearms or explosives because they appear on the terrorist watchlist,” a 2011 Government Accountability Office report found. (.pdf) Read that again: suspected terrorists can buy all the guns they want. Perhaps that shouldn’t be so.

Pro: The last people who should have guns are suspected terrorists, right? At the very least, law enforcement needs tools to be able to track the prospective weapons purchases of people they’re monitoring out of fear they’ll commit an act of terrorism, especially since it’s so easy to buy guns.

Con: The U.S. government often mislabels ordinary citizens as terrorists-in-training — which makes terror watchlists awfully problematic. They contain the names of people who’ve never committed and won’t commit any crime, sometimes because of incorrect transliterations of their names, as a Department of Homeland Security study found. (.pdf) An 8-year-old boy was once on the government’s “selectee” list for extra screening at airports. And once you’ve been placed on a watchlist like the “no-fly” list, there’s no obvious mechanism for getting off it: The government doesn’t have to tell you you’re on it.

Cash for Guns

This one isn’t a technological solution at all; it’s an economic one. Police departments across the country offer cash for guns. Australia has experience with it at the national level: After a mass shooting in 1996, it bought back nearly a fifth of all shotguns, handguns and rifles in private use, some 600,000 of them.

Pro: There hasn’t been a mass casualty incident in Australia since 1996. An Australian study that theWashington Post’s Dylan Matthews found estimates that the law led to a 59 percent decline in the firearm homicide rate and a 79 percent decline in the firearm suicide rate.

Con: It’ll be expensive. A recent congressional study found that the U.S. has over 300 millionhandguns, rifles and shotguns, which is about one weapon per American. That shows a robust demand for firearms in the United States that may either render buyback programs marginal or risk stressing state and federal budgets.

Again, none of this is to say that any of these measures, individually or in concert, would necessarily prevent another Sandy Hook. There will always be psychopaths who figure out ways to kill people. But it is to say that there are gun-control options that either make it harder to pull off a mass-casualty shooting or can mitigate its effects, short of the unrealistic demand that Americans surrender their hundreds of millions of guns. If we’re willing to discuss them, that is.

It’s time to talk about mental illness

By Liza Long

Friday’s horrific national tragedy—the murder of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in New Town, Connecticut—has ignited a new discussion on violence in America. In kitchens and coffee shops across the country, we tearfully debate the many faces of violence in America: gun culture, media violence, lack of mental health services, overt and covert wars abroad, religion, politics and the way we raise our children. Liza Long, a writer based in Boise, says it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

“I can wear these pants,” he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

“They are navy blue,” I told him. “Your school’s dress code says black or khaki pants only.”
“They told me I could wear these,” he insisted. “You’re a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!”

“You can’t wear whatever pants you want to,” I said, my tone affable, reasonable. “And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You’re grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school.”

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan—they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.
That conflict ended with three burly police officers and a paramedic wrestling my son onto a gurney for an expensive ambulance ride to the local emergency room. The mental hospital didn’t have any beds that day, and Michael calmed down nicely in the ER, so they sent us home with a prescription for Zyprexa and a follow-up visit with a local pediatric psychiatrist.

We still don’t know what’s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He’s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.

At the start of seventh grade, Michael was accepted to an accelerated program for highly gifted math and science students. His IQ is off the charts. When he’s in a good mood, he will gladly bend your ear on subjects ranging from Greek mythology to the differences between Einsteinian and Newtonian physics to Doctor Who. He’s in a good mood most of the time. But when he’s not, watch out. And it’s impossible to predict what will set him off.

Several weeks into his new junior high school, Michael began exhibiting increasingly odd and threatening behaviors at school. We decided to transfer him to the district’s most restrictive behavioral program, a contained school environment where children who can’t function in normal classrooms can access their right to free public babysitting from 7:30-1:50 Monday through Friday until they turn 18.

The morning of the pants incident, Michael continued to argue with me on the drive. He would occasionally apologize and seem remorseful. Right before we turned into his school parking lot, he said, “Look, Mom, I’m really sorry. Can I have video games back today?”

“No way,” I told him. “You cannot act the way you acted this morning and think you can get your electronic privileges back that quickly.”

His face turned cold, and his eyes were full of calculated rage. “Then I’m going to kill myself,” he said. “I’m going to jump out of this car right now and kill myself.”

That was it. After the knife incident, I told him that if he ever said those words again, I would take him straight to the mental hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts. I did not respond, except to pull the car into the opposite lane, turning left instead of right.

“Where are you taking me?” he said, suddenly worried. “Where are we going?”

“You know where we are going,” I replied.

“No! You can’t do that to me! You’re sending me to hell! You’re sending me straight to hell!”
I pulled up in front of the hospital, frantically waiving for one of the clinicians who happened to be standing outside. “Call the police,” I said. “Hurry.”

Michael was in a full-blown fit by then, screaming and hitting. I hugged him close so he couldn’t escape from the car. He bit me several times and repeatedly jabbed his elbows into my rib cage. I’m still stronger than he is, but I won’t be for much longer.

The police came quickly and carried my son screaming and kicking into the bowels of the hospital. I started to shake, and tears filled my eyes as I filled out the paperwork—“Were there any difficulties with… at what age did your child… were there any problems with.. has your child ever experienced.. does your child have…”

At least we have health insurance now. I recently accepted a position with a local college, giving up my freelance career because when you have a kid like this, you need benefits. You’ll do anything for benefits. No individual insurance plan will cover this kind of thing.

For days, my son insisted that I was lying—that I made the whole thing up so that I could get rid of him.

The first day, when I called to check up on him, he said, “I hate you. And I’m going to get my revenge as soon as I get out of here.”

By day three, he was my calm, sweet boy again, all apologies and promises to get better. I’ve heard those promises for years. I don’t believe them anymore.
On the intake form, under the question, “What are your expectations for treatment?” I wrote, “I need help.”

And I do. This problem is too big for me to handle on my own. Sometimes there are no good options. So you just pray for grace and trust that in hindsight, it will all make sense.

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am Jason Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

According to Mother Jones, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman. Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear, like I do.

When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”

I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michael’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise—in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population.

With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill—Rikers Island, the LA County Jail and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011.

No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”
I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal.
God help me. God help Michael. God help us all.
(Originally published at The Anarchist Soccer Mom.)

100Feed: Matthew and Michael Clark Actually Aging Backwards

 

By the looks of their home, Tony and Christine Clark are raising two rambunctious 7-year-old boys. Model train tracks and Monopoly pieces are scattered on tables and cartoons flicker on the TV set.

But the Clarks’ two sons are grown men who share only the same interests and emotional fluctuations of little boys. Like the character portrayed by Brad Pitt in the 2008 film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons,” Matthew, 39, and Michael, 42, are aging backwards.

Diagnosed with a terminal form of leukodystrophy, one of a group of extremely rare genetic disorders that attack the Myelin, or white matter, in the nervous system, spinal cord, and brain. In the Clarks’ case, the condition has not only eroded their physical capacities, but their emotional and mental states as well.
Only six years ago, both brothers were holding down jobs and growing their families. Today, they spend their days in the care of their parents, both in their sixties, playing with Mr. Potato Head, fighting over Monopoly, and in rare lucid moments, struggling to understand why their lives have changed so dramatically.

Before the Clark Brothers were diagnosed, they were living independent lives. Michael served in the Royal Air Force and later became a cabinet maker. Matthew worked in a factory and was raising a teenage daughter. Tony and Christine, meanwhile, had retired and moved from the UK to Spain. Then in 2007, both of their sons fell off the radar. They stopped returning their parents’ calls and texts, and as the Clark brothers’ conditions developed, their lives fell apart.

 

 

Michael surfaced in a soup kitchen, and was referred to medical experts by social      workers. After an MRI scan, he was diagnosed with the incurable degenerative disorder. Soon after Matthew received the same news. In the U.S. alone, about 1 in 40,000 children are born with a form of the neurodegenerative disease, according to Dr. William Kintner, President of the United Leukodystrophy Foundation. While some forms of the disorder are potentially treatable if discovered in the earliest stages and not all cause an emotional regression, the brothers are unlikely to be cured. “It’s very difficult to do anything once progression has occurred,” Dr. Kintner tells Yahoo! Shine.

As of April, when the Clarks were first written about in the British press, their mental age was 10.
“We will be out walking and things which might interest a toddler interest them, the other day we were walking home when Michael saw a balloon and pointed it out to us,” father Tony Clark, told The Telegraph last spring.
Today, the brothers are even younger mentally.
“Just like small children, they wake up a lot during the night,” mom Christine said in an interview published in The Independent this week. “I was up seven times with them last night.”
After learning of their diagnoses, Tony and Christine returned to the UK and moved in with their sons. Their daily struggles as a family have been chronicled in a British documentary, “The Curious Case of the Clark Brothers,” airing Monday in the UK.

Earlier this year, Matthew became a grandfather, when his daughter had a son. But the news for the family was bittersweet, as the Clark brothers’ mental age continued to creep backwards.
“There’s no return to them being cute little boys,” said Christine, who regularly manages their tantrums and fights over Monopoly. “They’re big strong men—and that presents a quite different set of problems.”More recently, even their physical strength began deteriorating. “A few weeks ago, they could still manage with a knife and fork, but now that’s getting too difficult for them—they get the food onto their forks, but somehow it all falls off before it reaches their mouths,” she said.

Now walking is the next hurdle; Matthew is already confined to a wheelchair.

“The likelihood that they’re on a terminal course is fairly certain, but who knows?” says Dr. Kintner, who is familiar with the Clark case but didn’t meet the brothers. “If they were citizens of U.S., we’d try to get them to the National Institute of Health for diagnostic work, but in the UK the system is different. There is no comparable organization with genetic diseases, so it’s a little more difficult there.”

Dr. Kintner estimates there are several million cases of one of the estimated 40 types of leukodystrophies in the U.S., but an exact number is hard to pinpoint. The different forms of the disorder are still being identified and tests for each known type are still being developed. “It’s going to take a long time,” says Dr. Kintner. “I hope in my lifetime I see a cure for some of them.”

Rise in Cryptosporidium Infections

Cryptosporidium infection (cryptosporidiosis) is a gastrointestinal disease whose primary symptoms are diarrhea and painful sores. The illness begins when the tiny cryptosporidium parasites enter your body and travel to your small intestine. Cryptosporidium then begins its life cycle inside your body — burrowing into the walls of your intestines and then later being spreading to other parts of your body.

In most healthy people, a cryptosporidium infection produces a bout of watery diarrhea and the infection usually goes away within a week or two. If you have a compromised immune system, a cryptosporidium infection can become life-threatening without proper treatment. You can help prevent cryptosporidium by practicing good hygiene and by avoiding drinking water that hasn’t been boiled and/or filtered. The parasite also thrives in waters with high levels of TOC (Total Organic Carbon).
The first signs and symptoms usually appear two to seven days after infection with cryptosporidium and may include:

Watery diarrhea
Noticeable increase in skin acne
Sores
Dehydration
Weight loss
Stomach cramps or pain
Fever
Nausea
Vomiting

Symptoms may last for up to two weeks, though they may come and go sporadically for up to a month, even in people with healthy immune systems. Some people with cryptosporidium infection may have no symptoms. Seek medical attention if you develop watery diarrhea that does not get better within several days. You’re likely to start by seeing your primary physician. However, in some cases, he or she may refer you to a doctor who specializes in infectious diseases or a doctor who specializes in disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (gastroenterologist).

Here’s some information to help you get ready for your appointment, and what to expect from your doctor. Write down any symptoms you’re experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason for which you scheduled the appointment.
Write down key personal information, including any recent travel, especially to other countries. Make a list of all medications, vitamins and supplements you’re taking. Write down questions to ask your doctor.

Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions can help you make the most of your time together. For cryptosporidiosis, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

What’s the most likely cause of my symptoms?
Are there other possible causes?
What kinds of tests do I need, if any?
What treatments are available and which do you recommend?
Are there any dietary restrictions that I need to follow?
Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take home with me? What websites do you recommend visiting?

In addition to the questions that you’ve prepared to ask your doctor, don’t hesitate to ask questions during your appointment at any time that you don’t understand something.
 
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may reserve time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Your doctor may ask:

When did you first begin experiencing symptoms?
Have you developed any painful sores/blisters?
How severe are your symptoms?
Does anything seem to improve your symptoms?
Does anything make your symptoms worse?
Have you been swimming recently?
Have you traveled out of the country recently?

Cryptosporidium infection begins when you ingest the cells of one of nearly a dozen species of the one-celled cryptosporidium parasite. The Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) species is responsible for the majority of infections in humans.
These parasites then travel to your intestinal tract, where they settle into the walls of your intestines. Eventually, more cells are produced and shed in massive quantities into your feces, where they are highly contagious. You can become infected with cryptosporidium by touching anything that has come in contact with contaminated material, especially feces. Methods of infection include:

Swallowing or putting something contaminated with cryptosporidium into your mouth
Drinking water contaminated with cryptosporidium
Swimming in water contaminated with cryptosporidium and accidentally swallowing some of it
Eating uncooked food contaminated with cryptosporidium
Touching your hand to your mouth if your hand has been in contact with a contaminated surface or object
Having close contact with other infected people or animals
Living in an area where the water source is contaminated with high amounts of TOC (Total Organic Carbon)

If you have a compromised immune system from HIV/AIDS, you’re more susceptible to illness from cryptosporidium than is a person with a healthy immune system. People with HIV/AIDS can develop severe symptoms and a chronic, persistent form of disease that may be difficult to treat.

Cryptosporidium is one of the most common causes of diarrhea in humans. This parasite is difficult to eradicate because it’s resistant to many chlorine-based disinfectants and can’t be effectively removed by many filters. Cryptosporidium can also survive in the environment for many months at varying temperatures, though the parasite can be destroyed by freezing or boiling.

People who are at increased risk of developing cryptosporidiosis include:

Those who are exposed to contaminated water
Children, particularly those wearing diapers, who attend child care centers
Parents of infected children
Child care workers
Animal handlers
International travelers, especially those traveling to developing countries
Backpackers, hikers and campers who drink untreated, unfiltered water
Swimmers who swallow water in pools, lakes and rivers
People who drink water from shallow, unprotected wells

Complications of cryptosporidium infection include malnutrition resulting from poor absorption of nutrients from your intestinal tract (malabsorption), development of painful sores or blisters on all parts of the body, severe dehydration, weight loss (wasting), inflammation of a bile duct — the passage between your liver, gallbladder and small intestine, and inflammation of your gallbladder, liver or pancreas. Cryptosporidium infection itself isn’t life-threatening. However, if you’ve had a transplant or if you have a weakened immune system, developing complications can be dangerous.
You may undergo the following tests to diagnose cryptosporidium infection:

Acid-staining test. The simplest way to diagnose cryptosporidium infection is a method called an acid-staining test, which identifies cryptosporidium under a microscope. To obtain cells for the analysis, your doctor might ask for a stool sample, or in more extreme cases, take a tissue sample (biopsy) from your intestine for the test.

Stool culture. Your doctor might also order a standard stool culture. Although this test cannot detect the presence of cryptosporidium, it may help rule out other bacterial pathogens.

Other tests. Once it’s clear that your infection is cryptosporidium, you may need further testing to check for development of serious complications. For example, checking liver and gallbladder function may determine whether the infection has spread.

If you have both AIDS and cryptosporidiosis, a T cell count — which measures the level of a certain white blood cell that’s part of your immune system — can help predict the duration of the cryptosporidiosis. A high T cell count means you’re more likely to recover quickly, while a low count means you may need to be monitored for further complications.

There’s no commonly advised specific treatment for cryptosporidiosis, and recovery usually depends on the health of your immune system. Most healthy people recover within two weeks without medical attention.

If you have a compromised immune system, the illness can last and lead to significant malnutrition and wasting. The goal of treatment is to alleviate symptoms and improve your immune response. Cryptosporidium treatment options include:
Anti-parasitic drugs. Medications such as nitazoxanide (Alinia) can help alleviate diarrhea by attacking the metabolic processes of the cryptosporidium organisms. Azithromycin (Zithromax) may be given along with one of these medications in people with compromised immune systems.

Anti-motility agents. These medications slow down the movements of your intestines and increase fluid absorption to relieve diarrhea and restore normal stools. Anti-motility drugs include loperamide and its derivatives (Imodium A-D, others). Talk with your doctor before taking any of these medications.

Fluid replacement. You’ll need oral or intravenous replacement of fluids and electrolytes — minerals such as sodium, potassium and calcium that maintain the balance of fluids in your body — lost to persistent diarrhea. These precautions will help keep your body hydrated and functioning properly.

Anti-retroviral therapies. If you have HIV/AIDS, highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) can reduce the viral load in your body and boost your immune response. Restoring your immune system to a certain level may completely resolve symptoms of cryptosporidiosis.

Currently there is an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in four US states (Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Arizona). If you live in one of these key states and you notice any of these symptoms, visit your physician immediately.

100Feed: West Nile Virus Spreads – Warnings and Symptoms

 

By Samantha R. Selman
Photo by Wanda King

Last Wednesday, the mayor of Dallas declared a state of emergency in the ninth largest U.S. city to combat the spread of West Nile virus infections, which have been more prevalent than usual in Texas and Oklahoma this year. There have been more cases of West Nile virus reported so far this year than any year since the disease was first detected in the United States in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control said on its website. Nearly half of the 693 human cases of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus infections reported this year to the CDC have been in Texas, along with 14 of the 26 deaths confirmed by the federal agency as of Tuesday.

The Texas health department said the number of cases of West Nile in the state had reached 465 and there had been 17 deaths. There is a lag in the CDC confirming cases and deaths. The emergency declaration by Mayor Mike Rawlings followed a similar action last week by Dallas County officials and paves the way for aerial pesticide spraying to begin this week. Aerial spraying also is being used elsewhere, including in neighborhoods in New York City and Sacramento, California, to combat the spread of West Nile virus. Officials say such spraying is the most effective way to fight the mosquitoes that carry the disease despite safety concerns about exposing people to chemical pesticides.

We are on track to have the worst year ever for West Nile virus in the United States. It is unclear why the number of West Nile cases is so high. Scientists believe it could be related to a warmer winter and abnormally rainy spring. Wildfires, which have terrorized many of the states also suffering from an epidemic of West Nile Virus, are thought to be a contributing factor. Mosquitoes, which are infamous for their tendency to spread the disease, thrive in warm climates and places where water is readily available. Experts in the Dallas  area suggest watering less, turning off sprinklers, and removing any standing water from around your home will help keep WNV-carrying mosquitoes away from your home.

West Nile Virus mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic rabbits, crocodiles and alligators. The main route of human infection is through the bite of an infected mosquito. It should be noted that approximately eighty percent of West Nile virus infections in humans are without symptoms. The West Nile virus produces one of three different outcomes in humans. The first is an asymptomatic infection; the second is a mild febrile syndrome termed “West Nile fever”; the third is aneuro-invasive disease termed West Nile meningitis or encephalitis. The population proportion of these three states is roughly 110:30:1. The febrile stage has an incubation period of two to eight days followed by fever, headache, chills, diaphoresis (excessive sweating), weakness, lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), drowsiness, pain in the joints and symptoms like those of influenza. Occasionally, some patients experience short-lived gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, or diarrhea. Symptoms are generally resolved within seven to 10 days, although fatigue can persist for some weeks and lymphadenopathy up to two months. The more dangerous encephalitis is characterized by similar early symptoms, but also a decreased level of consciousness, sometimes approaching near-coma. Deep tendon reflexes are hyperactive at first, later diminished. Recovery is marked by a long convalescence with fatigue.

The virus is transmitted through mosquito vectors, which bite and infect birds. The birds are amplifying hosts, developing sufficient viral levels to transmit the infection to other biting mosquitoes which go on to infect other birds (in the Western Hemisphere, the American robin and the American crow are the most common carriers) and also humans. The infected mosquito species vary according to geographical area; in the US, Culex pipiens(Eastern US), Culex tarsalis (Midwest and West), and Culex quinquefasciatus (Southeast) are the main sources.

There is no vaccine for humans. A vaccine for horses based on killed viruses exists; some zoos have given this vaccine to their birds, although its effectiveness is unknown. Dogs and cats show few if any signs of infection. There have been no known cases of direct canine-human or feline-human transmission; although these pets can become infected, it is unlikely they are, in turn, capable of infecting native mosquitoes and thus continuing the disease cycle.

Avoiding mosquito bites is the most straightforward means to avoid infection; remaining indoors (while preventing mosquitoes from entering) at dawn and dusk, wearing light-colored clothing that covers arms and legs, and using insect repellents on both skin and clothing (such as DEET, picaradin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus for skin and permethrin for clothes). If one becomes infected, generally, treatment is purely supportive: analgesia for the pain of neurologic diseases, and rehydration for nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea; encephalitis may also require airway protection and seizure management.

The use of pesticide spraying to combat mosquitoes and curb outbreaks of West Nile virus has sparked concern regarding the health effects of the chemicals used, but experts say, in these cases, the benefits of spraying far outweigh the risks. Aerial pesticide spraying began on Thursday in Dallas, where an outbreak of West Nile virus has infected 200 people and killed 10. Pesticide spraying also recently began in parts of New York City. There are several reasons why aerial pesticide spraying for West Nile is considered safe. For one, these sprays use very small amounts of pesticides — much lower than the amounts used on agricultural crops, said Robert Peterson, a professor of entomology at Montana State University. Even if someone was outside during the spraying, “the amount of insecticides that they would be exposed to is below any amount known to cause any adverse effects,” Peterson said. Because the exposure to these pesticides is negligible, the risks to people’s health are negligible.

During a spraying, a tiny cloud of aerosolized pesticide is released from a plane. The droplets are very small, and intended to fall on, and kill, mosquitoes. Even larger insects are typically not affected by the spraying, because the droplets bounce right off them, according to Peterson. In addition, the modern pesticides used in these sprays have a very short life in the environment, and are degraded by sunlight into non-toxic chemicals. “It will kill the things you want it to, and disappear very quickly thereafter,” David Savitz, an environmental epidemiologist at Brown University, said. When public health is threatened, authorities must balance the risks of an action — in this case, exposure to pesticides — with the benefits.

In Dallas, where West Nile cases have reached a high level, authorities have made a sound judgment to use pesticides. To avoid direct exposure to pesticides, the New York City Department of Health recommends people stay indoors during the spraying when possible, and bring children’s toys and belongings inside. Generally, there have been concerns over pesticide exposure for pregnant women, because it’s known that the fetus is especially sensitive to environmental chemicals. Exposure to a large amount of any substance, including pesticides, can be harmful. People exposed to large amounts of pesticides, can experience acute neurological problems.

100Feed: Drought Side Effects May Include Toxic Crops In The Midwest

By Michael Hirtzer and Meredith Davis

CHICAGO, Aug 15 – The worst U.S. drought in five decades has parched the land and decimated crops. It now threatens to deal a second blow to farmers, who may have to throw out tonnes of toxic feed.

Growers are rushing to check the nitrate levels of that silage, the stalks and leaves that corn farmers often harvest to feed to locally raised cattle or hogs.

Agriculture groups are warning farmers that drought-hit plants may have failed to process nitrogen fertilizer due to stunted growth, making them poisonous to livestock.

Exceptionally early spring planting has caused a crush of early summer requests for the tests. Farmers are also expected to chop down a near-record swathe of their fields for silage to make up for this year’s poor yields.

“We’ve had a lot of walk-in business and normally we are not a walk-in business,” said Lola Manning, a 30-year employee of Agri-King, a laboratory that tests for nitrates and other toxins. “At this point it’s the busiest I’ve seen it.”

Manning said the facility, approved by the National Forage Testing Association, checked about 400 samples — roughly double the norm — in July.

So far, few samples have shown elevated levels of toxins, she said. But late-season rains — far too tardy to help salvage the corn crop — could prompt mostly mature plants to draw even more nitrogen out of the soil and into the stalks.

“The tests are coming out OK but as soon as they have rain, the situation will change,” Manning said.

SO FAR, SO GOOD

Two months of dry weather and high heat that stunted plants and shriveled ears likely caused the absorption of excessive amounts of nitrogen, experts say. Instead of being distributed safely through the plant, the chemical built up in the lower portions of the stalk at potentially toxic levels.

Kenny Wagler, a dairy farmer in Nashville, Indiana who also farms 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) of corn and pasture, is testing his corn for the first time since the last major drought in 1988.

“It’s almost never a factor,” said Wagler, who raises about 1,500 dairy cows and cattle, adding that he is testing this year on recommendation from his farm nutritionist.

Nearly half of what he typically harvests to sell as a cash corn crop will be cut for silage this year because most of the plants had no ears of grain.

In the worst-case scenario, silage with high levels of nitrate can be absorbed into an animal’s bloodstream, causing poisoning leading to death.

The absorption causes hemoglobin to be converted to methemoglobin, which is incapable of transporting oxygen and so can be fatal to the animal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Symptoms of nitrate poisoning include labored breathing, rapid heartbeat, weakness, lack of coordination and blue-gray discolored skin.

Extensive losses of livestock are an unlikely, extreme scenario, beef and dairy experts say.

“Certainly there are instances of dead cattle from nitrate,” said Chris Hurt, agriculture economist at Purdue University. “Widespread education has helped reduce the problem.”

But nitrate-laced silage would force those farmers to buy extra feed grains in order to sustain their animals.

LOW GRAIN YIELDS, MORE SILAGE?

Silage is usually harvested while plants are still green and contain a high level of moisture. It is then fermented, often in silos. Many dairy farmers raise corn specifically for silage, in part to avoid having to buy feed elsewhere.

The rest of the crop is allowed to mature and is harvested as grain to be sold to elevators for export or feed use, or to ethanol makers.

Farmers are expected to harvest more of their corn crop for silage than usual this season due to poor yields, which are forecast by the USDA to be the lowest in 17 years.

As many as 9 million acres — or 9 percent of the corn crop — may not be harvested for grain this year, according to USDA data released last week. That would be the most abandoned acres in a decade. Much of that will be used instead as silage.

At Agri-King in western Illinois, tests cost $8 per sample for nitrate. Farmers are advised to take six stalks, chop them up and put them into a bag for testing.

Nitrate levels under 4,400 parts per million are considered safe while those over 15,000 ppm are considered potentially toxic and should not be fed to livestock, said Randy Shaver, extension dairy nutritionist at the University of Wisconsin.

At between 8,800 and 15,000 ppm, silage should be limited to less than half of the total feed ration and well fortified with minerals, data from that university showed. However, acceptable nitrate levels vary slightly from state to state.

“We’ve had quite a few tests that have come in at 14,000 parts per million or higher, and that seems to come up after a rain,” said Travis Meteer, a beef extension specialist at the University of Illinois, one of several universities to issue bulletins about nitrates in silage in recent weeks.

LIVESTOCK PAIN, CORN’S GAIN

If the silage proves to be toxic, farmers like Wagler could be forced to cull their herds, as many ranchers are doing. Or they could buy additional grains from the cash market to feed their livestock — incurring extra expenses in a year when some of their income will depend on crop insurance claims.

Extra demand could add fuel to corn prices, which have already rallied more than 60 percent in two months to a record as drought deepened across two-thirds of the country.

“It will mean higher feed costs for livestock producers,” said Roger Elmore, a professor of agronomy and a corn specialist at Iowa State University. “In addition to the drought, forage quality and the quantity will be less.

“We’ll have less forage out there, so that price will also increase. All of that increases the cost of production for livestock producers,” he added.

100Feed: Latest news on Oklahoma wildfires

Flames leap into the air as area firefighters fight a wildfire on Cemetery Road east of 120th on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, east of Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney.

Due to ongoing fires, the State Emergency Operations Center remains activated. The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) is in contact with emergency managers in the affected areas. Additionally, OEM is working with the Oklahoma National Guard, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma Forestry Division, Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, Oklahoma State Department of Health, American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

A statewide Burn Ban is in effect. This ban, issued by Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday, supersedes all county burn bans currently in place and remains in place until conditions improve and it is removed by the Governor. For a copy of the current burn ban resolution or for the most up-to-date information go to: http://www.forestry.ok.gov/burn-ban-information

A State of Emergency remains in place for all 77 Oklahoma counties as declared Monday by Gov. Mary Fallin due to extreme or exceptional drought conditions. The Executive Order allows state agencies to make emergency purchases related to disaster relief and preparedness. It is also a first step toward seeking federal assistance should it be necessary. Under the executive order, the state of emergency lasts for 30 days.

Creek County Emergency Management reports the fire is ongoing. Two National Guard helicopters are assisting on the fire. Delaware, Mayes and Washington county task forces are responding. Evacuations are underway west, southwest of Mannford.

Kiowa County Emergency Management reports a fire near the Tom Steel Reservoir. The fire has cut off water to Altus and other communities in the area.

Lincoln County Emergency Management reports a fire between County Road 750 and County Road 3520 near Drumright. Evacuations are underway in this area.

Noble Emergency Management reports the Noble/Slaughterville fire in Cleveland County is ongoing. A National Guard helicopter is on scene assisting. Johnston and McClain county task forces are responding.

Oklahoma County Emergency Management reports the fire at Luther is ongoing. Early reports indicate approximately 56 structures have been destroyed since yesterday.

Pittsburg County Emergency Management reports a fire 10 miles west, southwest of Quinton at Lick Creek Road near Lake Eufaula. Homes have been evacuated. A National Guard helicopter is on scene to assist.

Pittsburg County Emergency Management reports an additional fire near 31 Landing off Highway 31. Seven fire departments are responding.

Pottawatomie County Emergency Management reports a fire on I-40 at mile marker 181 through 183.

Stillwater Emergency Management reports a fire between Stillwater and Glencoe. A National Guard helicopter is en route to assist and a second one is en route. Glencoe and Ingles fire departments are on the scene as well as OSU Fire Service Training. Evacuations in

Glencoe and the surrounding area are underway.
Woods County Emergency Management reports a fire at Highway 14 and Avard Road. Four fire departments are responding.

More than 52,000 acres have burned in fires across the state since yesterday.

Oklahoma Forestry Services reports:
Noble/Slaughterville Fire – 7,900 acres
Creek County Fire – 32,000 acres
Luther Fire – 2,600 acres
Grady County Emergency Management reports 9,600 acres have burned in the Ninnekah fire.

OEM has been working in conjunction with State Forestry officials to deploy Oklahoma National Guard helicopters for aerial fire support. Oklahoma Forestry Division is providing ground firefighting support. Water drops are being provided today on fires in Cleveland, Creek, Oklahoma, Payne and Pittsburg counties.

The following American Red Cross Shelters remain open:

Harmony Christian Church – 7100 S. Choctaw Road in Choctaw, OK

Noble City Hall – 304 S. Main Street in Noble, OK

Sand Springs United Methodist Church – 101 W. 38th Street, Sand Springs, OK

American Red Cross Reports 38 people stayed overnight at the Mannford shelter that is now closed, 48 people stayed at the Noble Shelter and 8 people stayed at the Choctaw Shelter. Additionally, American Red Cross and The Salvation Army are providing canteens and volunteers to support firefighters in the affected areas.

Hot and dry weather over the past few months has lead to drought conditions statewide. Strong winds, extremely high temperatures and low relative humidity has created critical fire weather conditions across much of the state. An area along and 100 miles either side of I-44 is under a Red Flag Fire Warning. A cold front is moving into northern Oklahoma this afternoon which will help lower temperatures across the state by Sunday. Even with this cold front, temperatures will remain in the upper 90s to 104 degrees. The cold front is expected to create further challenges for firefighters as wind shifts occur.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department recommends taking the following steps after your property has been damaged by a fire:

· When the fire has moved on or been extinguished, call your insurance agent or company claim line as soon as possible.
· Make a list of your damaged property and make necessary repairs to protect your home and property from further damage.
· Read your homeowner’s insurance policy carefully to fully understand your coverage and your rights. If you don’t have the policy in hand, ask the agent for a copy.
· Know if you have replacement cost or actual cash value coverage.
· Ask your agent about additional living expenses (ALE) or loss of use.
· Refer to your policy to know what deductible you’ll be required to pay.

For questions about insurance claims or to report insurance fraud, please call the Oklahoma Insurance Department consumer assistance number at 1-800-522-0071 or online at http://oid.ok.gov

For Oklahoma residents seeking non-emergency disaster or health and human service information, please contact your local 2-1-1. Services are available 24 hours a day by dialing 2-1-1 from your home or cellular telephone. Please only call 911 for emergencies.

100Feed: Oklahoma road closings

Dead cedar trees went up in flames on Squire Hill Ranch on HWY 281 In between Hinton and Geary. Photo by Taylor Meriwether.

BRISTOW – A major thoroughfare that connects Oklahoma City with Tulsa is closed for a second time in two days do to wildfire. Westbound traffic on the Turner Turnpike between Bristow and Tulsa was diverted beginning around 2:45 p.m. Saturday due to billowing smoke across the roadway, according to Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Alternative routes of travel from Tulsa to Oklahoma City include:

-U.S. 412 (Cimmaron Turnpike) west to I-35 and south to Oklahoma City; or
-U.S. 75 south to I-40 west to Oklahoma City.

The turnpike was closed in its entirety for more than six hours Friday due to a major fire in the Luther area northeast of Oklahoma City. In addition to the Turner Turnpike, all other state highways in Creek County west of Tulsa were closed on Saturday.

Additional road closings in Payne and Lincoln counties:

Lincoln County: State Highway 99 South from State Highway 33 to Stroud.

Payne County: State Highway 33 East from Cushing East to Drumright.

The following roads are remained closed in Creek County due to wildfires:

State Highway 33 from State Highway 48 to State Highway 99.

State Highway 51 from State Highway 48 to State Highway 99.

State Highway 99 from State Highway 51 to State Highway 33.

State Highway 48 from State Highway 51 to State Highway 33.