No. 262 November 2004
USDA PLANT HARDINESS ZONE MAP In January 1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued as Miscellaneous Publication No. 1475 its USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. This 1990 map has been revised and brought to the internet as an interactive web page for anyone interested in knowing where plants will or will not survive in cold weather. From the northern tip of (1) Canada and Alaska to the southern tip of (11) Mexico and Hawaii, the map divides North America into 11 different temperature zones moving from coldest to warmest, showing the annual minimum temperature for each zone. New to this electronic hardiness map, zone 11 represents land areas whose annual minimum temperatures are above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and does not usually have any frost. Somewhat like people, the more hardy a plant is, the more it can live in cold(er) temperatures of the higher latitudes. With this interactive map you can zoom in on your specific location and learn about its temperatures. The United States National Arboretum’s USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map web page (http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/index.html) includes an Introduction, How to Use the New Map, and Hardiness Zones Details. Also there are twp lists of plants. There is a List by Zone which names of representative plants listed under the coldest zone in which they normally grow. Then Listed Alphabetically are selected woody plants and each is given a cold hardiness rating as to the farthest north it can survive. If you, like many plants, don’t like the cold weather, then check the List by Zones for the southern states and Mexico to see what plants like warmer temperatures. The List by Zones for the northern states and Canada lists the plants that thrive in the colder temperatures. A year round flower garden will survive in a “frost free” climate, i.e. no temperatures below 40 degrees. This map shows what plants you can grow in a “frost free” climate.
COFFIN NAILS UPDATE Currently, cigarettes are still killing people even though only an estimated 415 billion cigarettes were smoked in 2002 versus 425 billion in 2001. There was a 2.4 decrease in consumption in spite of the fact that the six largest cigarette companies spent $12.47 billion on advertising and promotional materials in 2002. Their 2002 expenditures were an 11 percent increase from the $12.22 billion spent in 2001. A recent promotional technique termed the “retail value added” allows the consumer to buy two packs for the price of one, or buy one and get one free. Even though the companies spent $1.06 billion on this sales technique in 2002, they also sold or gave away 387.4 billion cigarettes in the United States which is 14.8 billion fewer than they sold or gave away in 2001. These and other interesting facts about cigarette companies’ expenditures and profits are found in the latest FTC annual cigarette report. Announced Action for October 22, 2004 is the name of the FTC press release (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/10/fyi0461.htm) announcing the October release of the Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2004 (http://www.ftc.gov/reports/cigarette/041022cigaretterpt.pdf). What constitutes such high quality Coffin Nails for the coffins of America’s smokers? American cigarettes contain tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide, hazardous qualities which have been measured by the FTC since its first annual report issued in 1967. The latest Report lists almost 1300 different varieties of cigarettes producing a wide variety of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide inhaled by America’s smoking population. There is also evidence that the smoker’s physical size and frequency of puffing can either reduce or increase his intake of these hazardous substances. Further information and details are found in the FTC Press Release (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/07/t&n2000.htm) which includes links to the latest coffin nail report. Tar, Nicotine, and Carbon Monoxide of the Smoke of 1,294 Varieties of Domestic Cigarettes for the Year 1998, the latest Report, is found in the Federal Register and as an FTC online publication (http://www.ftc.gov/reports/tobacco/1998tar&nicotinereport.pdf ).
WORLD’S LARGEST FLOODS AS OF 20004 The U.S. Geological Survey just issued Circular 1254, which is 13 pages of most fascinating reading. The World’s Largest Floods, Past and Present: Their Causes and Magnitudes was compiled by Jim E. O’Connor and John E. Costa (http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/2004/circ1254/). Most common are the floods that are observed, recorded, and reported in the news. This USGS Circular about flood research describes the causes and magnitudes of the world’s largest floods, which are categorized into two types. First, there are meteorological floods which occurred in modern times, may be observed, analyzed and reported by meteorologists. These floods are assigned a date (e.g. 1870, Yangtze River Flood due to rainfall). Then there are Quaternary (as early as 1.8 million years ago) floods which predate man. Quaternary floods of prehistoric times are dated with the geological era appropriate for the geological facts that floods leave in the land where they occur. The occurrence, causes, and magnitude of quaternary floods are found only through geological research. The authors’ list of the world’s greatest floods includes prehistoric and some modern era floods. “Table 1. - Quaternary floods with discharges greater than 100,000 cubic meters per second” on page 3 lists 27 floods and of those, 11 have (year) dates, and 16 have Geological Era (dates) designations. Flood sites listed include China, Canada, Alaska, Indiana, United States, Russia, Mongolia, Iceland, Brazil, Pakistan and each flood is linked to the name of the geological scientist(s) who has researched and described it. Geologists have determined that during the Early Holocene (a Geological Era), a Proglacial-lake overflow caused Lake Agassiz, Alberta Canada to flood, so this is in the list of the 27 worlds greatest floods. The prehistoric floods are discovered, identified, and described only because geological researchers uncovering and analyzing the geological evidence left by the flood itself. Certain land features, such as Basins (Basin-Breach Floods), Landslide Areas, Ice-Jam, Natural Dams, glacial ice dams, and volcanoes have provided geological scientists with incentives to begin search for the geological evidence of prehistoric floods. There are 37 modern 19th and 20th century measured meteorological floods fully identified in “Table 2. Largest meteorological floods from river basins larger than about 500,000 square kilometers” found on page 10 for those who seek the more popular historical flood information. As anticipated, there wasn’t any information about Noah, the Ark, nor the Great Flood.
SAFE NURSERY Have you ever been out shopping for a gift for a new baby and had some choices to make about two different cribs? How about a high chair? A play pen? A carrier seat? Rattles, teethers, or other similar toys? Which product looks nice? Which is a good choice? Which is the safest product? Many products look nice, but what is the safest design of gates, play pens, highchairs, and strollers if you have to make a decision from two or three different products? What do you look for or what design features should be avoided in a crib’s features? For someone starting out in designing a baby’s nursery, what is needed? What is does the infant need? What are the safety concerns? Getting some answers from a source which is not trying to make a sale is a start. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) not only qualifies, but its answers are very sound, easy to find, and are up to date. All you need is a computer because the 2003 edition of The Safe Nursery, A Booklet to help avoid injuries from furniture and equipment, Publication 202 is free from the CSPC website (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/202.pdf ). The Safe Nursery provides information with illustrations about the unsafe features of some cribs, toys, high chairs, play pens, bassinets, strollers, carriages, and even pacifiers. It also identifies the best designs for about 25 different baby items which would complete any baby nursery. “General Household hints” and a “Safe Nursery Checklist” sections which make up this 20 pages of information are brief but very informative for the new parent(s).
PATHOMICS: 21st CENTURY DISEASE DETECTION Since 2001, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been developing a new method of detecting a disease before there are disease symptoms or a disease outbreak. When put into practice, this disease detection will be part of the Homeland Security’s prevention program anticipating terrorists’ use of anthrax and plague pathogens. “Pathomics is, in effect, the study of the molecular basis of infectious disease. It focuses on the changes in protein levels and other molecules that occur when a body has been exposed to a pathogen.” The idea is that when anthrax symptoms occur, it is because something in the body has changed after being contacted by the anthrax spore. Initially, the researchers are studying the blood of a healthy person identifying the components such as nucleic acids and proteins as to what constitutes normal components. The researchers are studying the changes of these components as to the patterns of changes brought on by contact with and presence of a pathogen. The pattern of changes in the blood’s components, brought on by the presence of a pathogen, can be identified and used as a diagnostic tool to detect the presence of a disease in a person before the appearance of the disease symptoms. Stephen Wampher’s “Diagnosing Disease Before Symptoms,” Newsline V. 29, No. 14, April 9, 2004, pages 1, 7 is found on the Newsline 2004 Archive web page (http://www.llnl.gov/pao/employee/2004index.html ) and Argonne National Laboratory’s DOE Pulse, V. 165, No. 4, August 2004 (http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v165_04.htm) are two informative introductions to Pathomics. Other pathomic bimolecular and pathogenic research is found at “Life at the Nanoscale” Science & Technology May 2004 shows other research at the Livermore BioSecurity and Nanosciences Laboratory (http://www.llnl.gov/str/May04/DeYoreo.html) with more information, details, and pictures.
MEAN MEASUREMENTS OF AMERICANS What is the MEAN American? The dictionary definition is the “halfway point between two extremes.” If we had all living Americans stand side-by-side, from the tallest to the shortest, what would the height of the individual who is at the halfway marker? If they stood in a line from the thinnest to the fattest, what would be the weight of the person at the halfway point? If we applied the Body-Mass Index (BMI) number to each person, and they were in a line from the smallest to the largest number, what would be the mean BMI number of the person at the halfway point? Generally, modern man is taller than the prehistoric caveman, the twentieth century man and woman may be bigger than the nineteenth century pioneer forefathers. Today, Americans are about an inch taller than the relatives who lived in 1960, and they are also much heavier than their relatives of 40 years ago and such comparisons can be scientifically shown. “Americans Slightly Taller, Much Heavier Than 40 Years Ago,” FDA Consumer V. 99, No. 1 January-February 2005, page 8 (HE 20.4010:99/1 and http://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/2005/105_note.html) is the one-page summary of a national survey and examination of the American public as to their height, weight, and Body-Mass Index figure. “This report presents the changes in the mean body weight, height, and BMI for the entire population from 1960 to 2002.” Data collection began in 1960 with the first Survey and was completed with the Third Survey of a nationally represented sample of the U.S. civilian non institutionalized population. The latest Survey included a “home interview followed by a physical examination in a mobile examination center.” Mean Body Weight, Height, and Body Mass Index, United States 1960-2002 was released on October 24, 2004 by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics Publication No. 347. This 18 page report is discussed in the above FDA Consumer Research Note and the full text is found as a PDF file at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf on the NCHS Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistic home page (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/ad/ad.htm).
MISSING CHILDREN: THREE KINDS COUNTED The problem of missing children has long been a part of America’s history but it was not until about 20 years ago that Congress required some research into the social problem of missing children. It was with the 1984 Missing Children Assistance Act (Public Law 98-473) that Congress mandated the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) conduct periodic studies of America’s missing children. OJJDP’s studies are to get a clear picture of how many children are missing and why to begin to solve this social problem. The National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) conducted its first Study (NISMART-1) in 1988 and its second study (NISMART-2) was conducted in 1999. The data collected in each Study “offers national estimates of missing children based on surveys of households, juvenile residential facilities, and law enforcement agencies.” NISMART-2 covers children missing from 1997-1999 in terms of four kinds of data. There are children reported Missing, some were Abducted, some were Runaways, and others were Thrownaway. The latest NISMART-2 data is found in five OJJDP Bulletins issued on October 2002 and December 2004. (1) National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, by Andrea J. Sedlak et al., 11 pages, (J 32.2:N21/MISSING and http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS45545), (2) Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics, by David Finkelhor, et al., 15 pages (J32.2:N21/NONFAM and http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS45546 ), (3) Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics, by Heather Hammer, et al. (11 pages J32.2:N21/FAMILY and http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS45542 ), and (4) Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics, by Heather Hammer et al, 11 pages (J32.2:N21/RUNAWAY and http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS39816 ), and (5) National Estimates of Missing Children: Selected Trends, 1988-1999, by Heather Hammer et al. (December 2004), 7 pages (J 32.2:N21/SELECT and http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/206179.pdf).
March 21, 2005
http://www.nku.edu/~yannarella/news0411.html