Trichinella Spiralis

Trichinella Spiralis is a roundworm.

Trichinella spiralis is a nematode parasite, occurring in rats, pigs, bears and humans, and is responsible for the disease trichinosis. It is sometimes referred to as the "pork worm" due to it being found commonly in undercooked pork products.

LIFE CYCLE 

Trichinella species are the smallest nematode parasite of humans, have an unusual life cycle and are one of the most widespread and clinically important parasites in the world.^[1] The small adult worms mature in the intestines of an intermediate host such as a pig. Each adult female produces batches of live larvae, which bore through the intestinal wall, enter the blood (to feed on it) and lymphatic system, and are carried to striated muscle. Once in the muscle, they encyst, or become enclosed in a capsule.

Nurse cells containing Trichinella Spiralis

This roundworm causes the disease called Trichinosis or Trichinellosis. The first symptoms a human has are gastrointestinal and occur 1-2 days after the consumption of raw or undercooked meat from the trichinella infected animal. 

Early Symptoms:

-Nausea

-Diarrhea

-Vomiting

Classic symptoms of the disease occur two weeks after the infection and can last up to 8 weeks.

-Muscle pain

-fever

-swelling of face (especially eyes)

-chills 

-headache

-rash

-constipation

Can be treated with prescription drugs as soon as diagnosed. 

Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae

CRE, which stands for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, are a family of germs that are difficult to treat because they have high levels of resistance to antibiotics. Healthy people usually do not get CRE infections. In healthcare settings, CRE infections most commonly occur among patients who are receiving treatment for other conditions. Patients whose care requires devices like ventilators (breathing machines), urinary (bladder) catheters, or intravenous (vein) catheters, and patients who are taking long courses of certain antibiotics are most at risk for CRE infections.

Some CRE bacteria have become resistant to most available antibiotics. Infections with these germs are very difficult to treat, and can be deadly—one report cites they can contribute to death in 40% of patients who become infected.

In the USA Today article (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/29/bacteria-deadly-hospital-infection/1727667/) multiple cases of CRE infections occured in the university of Virginia Medical Center. Doctors stuggled to find an anti-biotic strong enough to battle this constantly changing strain of bacteria. 

The exsistance of a bacteria that is resistant to the strongest anti-biotics is a scary reality. Scientists are referring to CRE as the "Superbug". It has spread to at least 42 states and is often over looked in smaller hospitals and nursing homes that lack the technology to identify. It is predicted that an effective drug that will kill CRE will be developed in the future.

LEAD

Lead is a chemical element in the carbon group with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft and malleable metal, which is regarded as a heavy metal and poor metal. Wikipedia

Symbol: Pb Electron configuration: Xe 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2 Melting point: 621.5°F (327.5°C) Atomic number: 82 Boiling point: 3,182°F (1,750°C) Atomic mass: 207.2 ± 0.1 u

Though lead is found frequently in our environment, it has no known purpose in our bodies. When lead gets inside the body, the body confuses it with calcium and other essential nutrients. This confusion can cause permanent damage to the health of both children and adults.Rules and regulations prohibit lead in common products like most gasoline and paint, so lead poisoning has dramatically declined in the United States. However, it is still a real problem that continues to poison thousands of people in the U.S. each year.

Health problems in Children:

In children, lead is most damaging when they are six years and younger. Children are growing at a very fast rate - growing bones, developing stronger muscles and creating many connections in their brain. When lead instead of essential nutrients is "available" to the body to make bones, muscle, and brain connections, permanent harm to health can occur. Even at low levels, lead can be harmful and be associated with:

Learning disabilities resulting in a decreased intelligence (decreased IQ)
Attention deficit disorder
Behavior issues
Nervous system damage
Speech and language impairment
Decreased muscle growth
Decreased bone growth
Kidney damage

High levels of lead are life threatening and can cause seizures, unconsciousness, and death.

Children often times consume paint that contains lead. Houses that were built before the 1970 often have paint containing lead.

Health Problems in Adults:

Lead exposure is a concern for adults, even though they have finished growing. Since an adult's body is much larger than a child's body, more lead is needed to cause injury but the harm lead can do to an adult is very serious. High levels of lead can cause:

Increased chance of illness during pregnancy
Harm to a fetus, including brain damage or death
Fertility problems in both men and women
High blood pressure
Digestive issues
Nerve disorders
Memory and concentration problems
Muscle and joint pain

The Beauty of Community Gardens

Community Gardens

A community garden is a piece of land that is collectively gardened by a group of people. Community gardens can provide fresh produce and plants as wells as a satisfying labor. Many people find gardening relaxing and rewarding. If a person does not have yard that is conducive for their own garden, a community garden can enhance their quality of life. Community gardens can bring a neighborhood or area a sense of community and openness.

In the newly developed area of Macon, GA called Bealls Hill, the designers choose to install a community garden. In my recent trip to this garden, I found it to be more or less negelected. The layout of the garden was great, but each individual plant bed needed work. Some of the plants were in full bloom and just needed to pruned, while others were dead and needed to be replaced. The best thing for this garden would be to advertise it. I don't think that many people in the area are aware of the garden.

Rachel Carson

    Rachel Louise Carson

     Biologist, writer, ecologist

Born: May 27, 1907

in Springdale, Pennsylvania

Died: April 14, 1964
in Silver Spring, Maryland

After completing her education, Carson joined the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries as the writer of a radio show entitled "Romance Under the Waters," in which she was able to explore life under the seas and bring it to listeners. In 1936, after being the first woman to take and pass the civil service test, the Bureau of Fisheries hired her as a full-time junior biologist, and over the next 15 years, she rose in the ranks until she was the chief editor of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

During the 1940s, Carson began to write books on her observations of life under the sea, a world as yet unknown to the majority of people. She resigned from her government position in 1952 in order to devote all her time to writing. The idea for her most famous book, Silent Spring, emerged, and she began writing it in 1957. It was published in 1962, and influenced President Kennedy, who had read it, to call for testing of the chemicals mentioned in the book. Carson has been called the mother of the modern environmental movement.

It is difficult to determine definitively what events directly resulted from the publication of Silent Spring, because by 1962 there was an awareness of the negative aspects of DDT and many of the "hard" pesticides by part of the scientific community (Hynes, 1987). DDT, which played a lead role in the book, was already under scrutiny for its ability to accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and, presumably, humans. Perhaps the most enduring effect of the book was to change public perception (Shea, 1973) of the role of pesticides from that of innocuous beneficial tools of man, having negligible costs, to a tool whose benefits may be offset by yet unknown costs. This changed perception was not confined to the United States. Carson's name and book were invoked many times before the House of Lords in England in 1963, resulting in controls on the use of aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor (Newsweek, 1964a). The book was published in France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Holland, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Iceland, Portugal, and Israel and stimulated environmental legislation in all of them.
              http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture31/r_31-3.html

Global Warming

Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. But is it really the humans fault??

Our planet has been through multiple ice ages followed by times of increased heat. Could this mean that Global Warming is just part of our environment's temperature cycle? While we struggle to figure it all out, the face of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms, and snowcapped mountains—hangs in the balance.

The massive amount of pollution produced by humans is a huge factor in the depletion of the Ozone layer.

Because of the rising temperatures, ice burgs and glaciers are melting causing the sea level to rise.

The Great Flood of 1931 - China

Ariel view of the flood

The deadliest natural disaster ever recorded occurred through the winter, spring, and summer of 1931 in central China. There are three major rivers draining this area, the Yangtze, the Yellow, and the Huai. All three flooded catastrophically, because the winter snowstorms were particularly heavy in the mountains around the river basins, and when spring began, all this snow melted and flowed into the rivers.

Then the spring brought particularly heavy rains. Then the cyclone season, which usually brings only 2 storms per year, brought 10, 7 of them in July. All this water swelled the three major rivers, especially the Yellow River, and because they drain a very large, very flat area of China, somewhere between 3.7 and 4 million people were drowned or starved.

Map of the flood's disatrous path

Nanjing City, China’s capital at the time, became an island surrounded by over 100,000 square kilometers of water, more area than the state of Indiana, or all of Portugal.

Aftermath of the Great Flood

During the flood, over 140,000 Chinese drowned, 3.7 million were killed in the 9 months that followed and not less than 70,000 square miles flooded, often over 10-15 feet deep for periods of 3 -6 months. Here is a video about the flood and its massive impact on the nation. 

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

The Kilauea is the youngest and southeastern most volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. It has been active since 1983 and labeled the most dangerous volcano in the United States. It has sixty-one historical eruptions not including the continuous lava-lake activity in its crater. In 2010-2011 some of its lava destroyed many houses near the crater causing alarm for the safety of citizens of the Big Island. Also, rising emissions of sulfur dioxide have led to increased levels of volcanic smog and air quality concerns.