No. 210 July 2000
PETS IN NATURAL DISASTERS Through the classroom, television, and publications, most people learn about natural disaster preparedness for people. How much of this disaster preparedness education cover one’s pets? Equally devastating to both people and pets are house fires, extended power outages, car accidents or other similar events that may call for alternative care of one’s pets. Unless the pet(s) go along, what happens when the family goes on vacation? So what about your dog(s), cat(s), fish, bird(s)? Do the pets stay with you in the house? What "necessities" should you make sure your pet(s) have? If you have to leave them, what then? Karen A. Kandra and Mary Cacia Masser, DVM (of the Center for Veterinary Medicine) have written "Protecting Pets in A Disaster" in FDA Veterinarian, v. 15, no. 1, January/February 2000 pages 1-3 (HE 20.4410:15/1) and http://www.fda.gov/cvm/fda/infores/fdavet/2000/january.htm describes alternative care planning/plans for pets. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has prepared "Your Portable Pet Disaster Kit" http://www.fema.gov/kids/Petkit.htm listing what a pet needs during a disaster. This complements the items and paperwork needs specified in Kandra and Masser’s article. The USDA Animal Welfare Information Center Bulletin’s "UDSA developing emergency plan for pets in disasters" v. 10, no. 3-4, Winter 1999/2000, page 25 (A 17.27/2:10/3-4) http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/newsletters/awicnews.htm identifies a third publication to watch for if you want more on this topic.
BORN TO BE SHORT OR TALL: MEASURING UP Genetically speaking, Robert Redford's, children, most likely, will not be professional basketball players, but the children of Dr. J (Julius Irving, the professional basketball star who is tall) should grow to have the height. Eventhough newborn infants are less that 24 inches (tall) each child grows normally to his genetically predetermined height. Watching the child's growth is now easy since "pediatric growth charts have been in use by pediatricians, nurses, and parents to track the physical growth of infants, children, and adolescents in the United States since 1977". The National Center for Health Statistics has a "United States Growth Charts" web site http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts with six informative (linked) pages. The (1) Background gives the history of what was announced in the (2) News Release. The Full Report: CDC Growth Charts: United States (the June 8, 2000 revision) is in a PDF file and is also available in paper (HE 20.6209/3:314) in some depository libraries. There are (4) Individual Growth Charts (3 sets), and (5) Data Files (8 sets of growth curves). Last (6) is Instructions for calculating Body Mass Index. The content of these pages are in both html and pdf files for viewing and/or downloading. You can even do BMI calculations on the BMI web page. "This Body Mass Index-for-Age (Children) is the BMI as used differently with children than it is for adults." These "new pediatric growth charts are the 2000 revised edition of charts used by health professionals in tracking the physical growth of the 82 million infants, children, and adolescents in the United States." Many infants, for a variety of reasons, never grow to the height/size they should and they are identified by the health professional as "not measuring up" to what they should be for their age. Then the question is "why is this child not measuring up"? which is an another question for another time.
AGING THEORIES Insofar as the word theory signifies an idea, a concept, or principle yet to be tested and proven, an aging theory is not a theory, it is a fact we are aging! From the moment of conception in the uterus, it is a fact that "the individual is aging". We age through our human maximum life span of 120 years. Jeanne Calment of Arles, France died at the age of 121 years in 1996. Why do we age to that certain point at which we die (because the body can no longer sustain life)? In Search of the Secrets of Aging, issued by the National Institute on Aging in 1996 (HE20.3852: AG4/13/996) has some possible answers to our question. Beginning with basic"Questions" about the Life Span and Aging Theories, Secrets discusses our genes in the "Genetic Connection." In the next section, "Biochemistry and Aging", we learn about oxygen radicals, cells, DNA, Proteins, and Hormones. "Physiologic Clues"covers the significance of normal aging, immune system breakdown, too many calories, and the importance of exercise. Basically, theories of aging (i.e. why we age) fall into two groups. Programmed (Group) Theories hold that aging follows an internal biological timetable. Aging occurs when either the immune or endocrine systems falter, or the genes switching on and off show age-associated deficits. Error (Group) Theories hold that we age because of "wear and tear", rate of living, crosslinking, free radicals, error catastrophe, and somatic mutation cells, tissues, organs, processes, can wear out, malfunction, change, and we age to the point where the body can not sustain life. These 35 pages provide discussion of the genetic, biochemical, and physiological processes we called aging.
BEHAVIORALLY, ARE YOU A DIAMOND OR LUMP OF COAL When a piece of coal (i.e. pure carbon) is subjected to the proper amount of temperature and pressure, it turns into a diamond. When you are subjected to the proper amount of temperature and pressure (i.e. stress), what happens to you? Not being pure carbon, you will not turn into a diamond, but how do you handle stress? How can a person react? Have a heart attack? Run? Hide? Become a follower, looking for help? What are one’s reactions and attitudes toward the immediate danger? Do one’s leadership and creative qualities surface and shine like a diamond in an attempt at either self-preservation or leading others in overcoming the current crisis? Even though Behavior and Attitudes Under Crisis Conditions: Selected Issues and Findings, issued by the Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA) in February 1984 (FEM 1.2:B39), it merits a review. This FEMA sponsored report focuses on individuals’ behaviors and attitudes under normal and crisis conditions, and Chapter "15 Implications for Emergency Management" (pages 185-18) will explain the how and why, and the importance of this study for FEMA.
ONE DRINK IS (STILL) THE OFFICIAL WORD Up until the year 2000, it was difficult to find an immediately recognized authoritative source which would justify having a (i.e. one) drink. A State issued drivers license manual usually states that anything over one drink (as defined by that manual) qualifies the driver to be DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol). Yet this does not grant permission to have that one drink. Now, the new 2000 USDA dietary guidelines have been issued. The Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 5th edition, 2000 ( http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/Pubs/DG2000/Index.htm ) is now available to anyone with a computer, using Adobe Acrobat to read the Guidelines pdf file. If you go to (the text at http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/DietGd.pdf ) page 36 (which is page 38 of 44 (pages) in a pdf file) you will find "Box 26--What is drinking in moderation?" Men can have two drinks per day and women one. Since moderate drinking is of little value for younger people, this is a drinking guideline for the "older" person. Moderate drinking may lower the risk of coronary heart disease, mainly of men over age 45 and women over age 55. This USDA recommendation of moderate drinking was in the 1995 edition of the Guidelines. But you knew that, right? You just needed to be reminded.
URBAN LEGENDS Do you know about urban legends? Urban legends are false stories, hoaxes, health scares, etc. They can be sent by email over the Internet and can be quite upsetting for the people who believe anything they read. Historically, folklorists collected urban legends in the 1940s and by the 1980s urban legends were a major topic for researchers. Kirk Kicklighter’s Cox News Service (newspaper) article of July 23, 2000 (Kentucky Enquirer page E3) provided this brief history and two of the many web sites that can be found with any Internet Search Engine. "About Urban Legends and Folklore"http://www.urbanlegends.about.com is an Internet archive of urban legends, hoaxes, and rumors. Since so many of the current urban legends involve health scares, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a "Current Health Related Hoaxes and Rumors" web site http://www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm which currently debunks the "Costa Rican banana flesh-eating bacteria scare", a HIV/AIDS hoax, and a needlestick hoax, among others.
DUST BOWLS REVISITED??? Watching the movie The Grapes of Wrath is one opportunity to see an example of the extreme drought conditions of the Oklahoma and the South Central United States during the (1930s) Dust Bowl era. 1988 and 1999 are two recent years having federally recognized droughts. Since drought has become a regular occurrence in the U.S., the National Drought Policy Commission has issued recommendations within its report http://www.fsa.usda.gov/drought/finalreport/accesstoreports.htm . The report says that we must be better prepared, and Federal policy must shift from its current emphasis on relief and remedies to reducing our vulnerability. The federal drought programs should emphasize preparedness and research for reducing drought impact and deliver federal service in collaboration with nonfederal entities. The Commission urges a new federal five-goal drought law to realize these goals, and hopefully, prevent a revisit to the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s or the realization of the dry wastelands of the Mad Max futuristic movies. This 60-page report and its 16 page executive summary can be read on the NDPC web site. The report and summary can also be downloaded as pdf files if one wants copy.
RELIGIOUS "BODIES" INFORMATION AND THE CENSUS Since the Birth of the Constitution, there has been and will be the separation of church and state, but only partially for the Census Bureau. "National statistics for all religious bodies, on an interdenominational basis, have been compiled at intervals since 1850 and until 1936 by the Bureau of the Census…." (Page 389). There is limited amount of Census Data about religious bodies from 1850 to 1957. Though most religious data is in several dicennial Census and in four special "Religious Bodies" Censuses, Religion Reported by Civilian Population of United States, March 1957 issued in 1958 (C3.186:P-20/79) is the only post 1936 Census publication containing religious data. This 1958 report, which was NOT a depository publication, may be difficult to locate. It is not included in the 2-page discussion of the "Religious Bodies" found under "Religious Affiliation (Series H 788-805)", Chapter H of Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition, Part 1, pages 389-390 (C 3.134/2:H62/789-970/Pt.1). Nine Dicennial Census publications include church related statistics: (1) The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850 (1853, I 8.5:1); (2) Compendium. Statistical View of the United States …Seventh Census….[1850] (1854, I 8.2:C73/1); (3) Statistics of the United States...in 1860 (1866, I 9.5:4); (4) [Census Reports] compiled from the Original Returns of the Ninth Census (June 1, 1870), v. 1. The Statistics of the Population of the United States… (1871, I 10.5:1); (5) A Compendium of the Ninth Census (June 1, 1870) (1872, I 10.2:C73); (6) A Report on Statistics of Churches in the United States…[1890] (1894, I 12.5:9); (7) Abstract of the Eleventh Census: 1890, (1st edition 1894, I 12.2:AB8/1 and 2nd enlarged edition 1896, I 12.2:AB8/2); (8) Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part 2, Vital and Social Statistics, Educational and Church Statistics (1894, I 12.2:C73/2); and (9) [13th Census] Statistical Atlas of the United States [1910] (1914, C 3.2:At 6). The primary sources of religious census publications include Religious Bodies: 1906, 2 vols. (1910, C 3.5:R 27/1 and C 3.5:R27/2); Religious Bodies, 1916 (1919, C 3.35:916/Pt. 1 & 2); Religious Bodies: 1926 (1929-1930, C3.35:926/v.1 & 2); and Religious Bodies: 1936 2 vols. in 3 (1941, C 3.35:936/v. 1 & 2/Pt. 1&2). This data was also selectively reissued in other (off shoot) census publications dated from 1910 to 1941. This religious church data are selectively included in the University of Virginia’s "United States Census Historical Data Browser" for 1790 to 1970 at http://fisher.lib.Virginia.EDU/census/ .
August 21, 2000
http://www.nku.edu/~yannarella/news0007.html