Dew Point and Pot: virus spread by respiratory droplets and stopped by cannabis..

Dew Point and Pot:  virus spread by respiratory droplets and stopped by cannabis..

 

We all know influenza is more common in winter. But researchers have not known why. Virologist doctor Peter Palese has been studying the effects of heat and cold on the flu virus. He found that at higher temperatures, the flu virus didn't spread, but at colder temperature it did.

"The virus is probably more stable in cold temperature, so it hangs in the air much longer," Dr. Palese told Ivanhoe.

Allowing it to spread easier. Here's how -- when we cough or sneeze, microscopic droplets of water and the virus enter the air. Dry, cold conditions dry out the droplets, helping the virus linger in the air. The dry air also dries out nasal passages, which helps the virus stick.

"Cold dry air going over your nasal mucosa gets cracks in our airways and that allows virus to get in more easily," Anice Lowen, researcher at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine told Ivanhoe.

Influenza has long been considered a seasonal virus. Factors including indoor crowding during cold weather, seasonal fluctuations in host immune responses, relative humidity, temperature, and UV radiation have all been suggested to account for this phenomenon, but none of these hypotheses had previously been tested directly.

The researchers tested the effects of temperature and relative humidity on infected and naive guinea pigs. The study found that low relative humidities of 20%-30% induced the rapid spread of the virus, with the opposite effect at 80% or above. Also, results showed that the virus spread more easily at 5 °C than at 20 °C, with no transmission at 30 °C.

The data implicates that low relative humidities produced by indoor heating and winter temperatures favor the spread of influenza. This study should serve as the basis for understanding the seasonality of other viral infections.  / Citation: Lowen AC, Mubareka S, Steel J, Palese P (2007) Influenza virus transmission is dependent on relative humidity and temperature. PLoS Pathog 3(10): e151. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030151

Its the Dew Point!  (or open a window!)

(either cumulus cloud height, or calculate from coldwater* / temperature relationship [good ed idea] or use 200 dollar weather tool )

Putting this to use, it's easy to figure out the dew point, and thus the expected comfort level, directly from the relative humidity and the temperature: for instance, if it is 30 °C outside, and the relative humidity is 75%, then the dew point temperature will be about 25 °C. It's also easy to see how much could be gained from evaporative cooling - in this case, at most 5 degrees. "Further, by adjusting the relationship a little to account for the effects of temperature, it is also simple to use the relative humidity to compute the altitude of cumulus cloud bases without a calculator to a good approximation, usually within about 10%", says Lawrence

BUT CONSIDER this from my colleague Bob Melamede

Chief Science Officer for CSI Dr. Melamede believes the potential for cannabinoids that naturally prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses is enormous.

He stated, "Based upon recent discoveries regarding the role that endocannabinoid system plays in maintaining human health, we may have a unique solution to the looming threat posed by deadly influenza strains that we believe, if implemented, could save millions of lives."

World Health Organization has just declared a swine flu pandemic - raising its pandemic warning from phase 5 to 6.

This is the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. There have been outbreaks in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Director and Chief Science Officer for Cannibis Science Inc. reports, "Research into use of whole cannabis extracts and multi-cannabinoid compounds has provided the scientific rationale for medical marijuana's efficacy in treating some of the most troubling diseases mankind now faces, including infectious diseases such as the flu and HIV, autoimmune diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and diabetes, neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's, stroke and brain injury, as well as numerous forms of cancer."

Dr. Melamede went on to say, "The high lethality of some strains of flu can be attributed to the excessive inflammatory response driven by Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF). Endocannabinoids are nature's way of controlling TNF activity. Phytocannabinoids can mimic the natural endocannabinoids to prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses."

Cannabis Science Inc., President & CEO, Steven W. Kubby sent a letter to Homeland Security Administration Secretary Janet Napolitano.   "We have the science and preliminary anecdotal results confirming the anti-inflammatory properties of our new lozenges and indicating they may present an effective and non-toxic treatment for minimizing the symptoms and harm from influenza infections. Our lozenges appear to down-regulate the body's excessive inflammatory response to the influenza virus, which could reduce the deadly consequences of an infection into something that is more like a common cold. Because of my cancer and diminished auto-immune functions, even common influenza is a deadly threat, and I've had incredible symptomatic relief with the lozenge."

Chief Science Officer for CSI Dr. Melamede believes the potential for cannabinoids that naturally prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses is enormous. He stated, "Based upon recent discoveries regarding the role that endocannabinoid system plays in maintaining human health, we may have a unique solution to the looming threat posed by deadly influenza strains that we believe, if implemented, could save millions of lives."

Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Director and Chief Science Officer, stated, "The influenza virus has a unique genetic make up that, in combination with its replicative machinery, has an extraordinary capacity to mutate. As a result, the high lethality of some strains can be attributed to the resulting adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is caused by an excessive immune inflammatory response driven by Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) that leads to the death of respiratory epithelial cells and resulting organ failure. Endocannabinoids are nature's way of controlling TNF activity. Existing peer reviewed publications have shown that phytocannabinoids can prevent this cell death by mimicking the endocannabinoids that nature has selected to prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses."

"This sounds very promising, but, of course the political hurdles are daunting."  / Rose Field, Pittsburgh Gardening Scene Examiner

Arising from both of these concepts, Dew Point and Pot, there is the benefit of internalising the commercial potential of fostering the epidemiological research (under NZ's Class D legal regulation, already in place.) at the same time teaching through schools the health promotion / prevention strategy (and optimal home and commercial heating model for swine flu mitigation) around dew point.

 

Note: Auckland humid, Christchurch dry validated by current infection levels. Worth exploring?

 

 

*Max Planc Society 010405

--
Blair Anderson  ‹(•¿•)›

Social Ecologist 'at large'
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com
http://blairformayor.blogspot.com
http://blair4mayor.com
http://efsdp.org

ph (643) 389 4065   cell 027 265 7219

Is Climate Clean Coal?

or on making carbon disappear using the evidence based Gerry Brownlee Method.

 

consider this insight:  

 

Vaclav Smil, an energy expert at the University of Manitoba, has estimated that capturing and burying just 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted over a year from coal-fire plants at current rates would require moving volumes of compressed carbon dioxide greater than the total annual flow of oil worldwide -- a massive undertaking requiring decades and trillions of dollars. "Beware of the scale," he stressed." 

(and Gerry expects to be able to find a 'sealable' stable rock strata on these, the Shakey Isles.!! I wouldn't bet my beer on it... )

 

Of course the alternatives suggested thus far (ie: Contraction and Convergence) need just a bit more than promise and posturing...

 

(also see http://www.idhayaengineering.com/clean-energy-solution-what-is-plasma-gasification/ )

 

Blair Anderson  ‹(•¿•)›

Sensible Sentencing Goes to the Dogs

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Press Release: School Of The Naked Dog


Sensible Sentencing Goes to the Dogs

"What sort of cowboy outfit are they running?" Christchurch based canine behavourist and trainer Natalie Perzylo comments on Invercargill's canine justice.

Following the media mis-charactersiation and inflammatory language of events surrounding two Neapolitan mastiffs released without authorisation 'by commandos' from the Invercargill Dog Pound, spokesperson for the highly popular website doglinks.co.nz, Ms Perzylo says this is really about the inadequacy of the ICC pound facilities to provide duty of care while due process is exercised.

The very graphic injuries and pitbull stereotyping on TV One's CLOSE UP item [17April] "Dog Vs Human, then What?" amounts to emotional blackmail when in the light of day the owner had no objection to the offending dog being euthanised and, being entitled to her day in court insisted, and rightly so, on civil procedure for its docile companion.

"The media portrayal of the extensive injuries from pitbull bites misdirects the public on this issue" says Blair Anderson of the School of the Naked Dog (nakeddog.co.nz). "NZ research earlier this year suggests it is Fox Terriers, Labradors followed by Chihuahuas that characteristically bite family members inside their own properties."

Anderson points out that we have created rules, regulations and enforcement where recent Massey conducted research suggests as much as four out of five of 400,000 or so registered dogs are not getting the required daily activity. "It shows we are increasingly keeping our dogs behind high fences and on short leads now. This is leading to the very problem we set out to solve". We were sold track and trace microchips and a national database of ownership as a politically expedient solution.

Image by birdtrouble via Flickr

Our policy is fraught with downsides; people with smaller dogs are increasingly fearful of any larger dog on or off lead. This is made worse by ill-informed bred specific prejudice largely media driven.

Socialisation is key to public safety. Yes, some people need some help and guidance, while others only need confidence. Due to recent legislative changes and the increasingly dire consequences (huge fines, serious jail time, crippling veterinary fees, punitive pound fees and medical and legal costs) we now have a shortage of competent qualified and professional trainers and so many dogs, and families, in need.

Doglink's spokesperson Natalie Perzylo agrees with Anderson's streetwise canine knowledge further questioning how CLOSE UP failed to question Bill Watts?

"The ICC Environmental Services Director wants both dogs dead (presumably because he lost them both) yet according to media sources, the bites to the victims arm 'became infected' some time later suggesting they did not warrant prophylactic antibiotics, a precautionary measure taken first in any bite laceration scenario." No one wants to diminish the personal anguish of the victim here but lets enable discovery and ensure the truth of the matter. Courts are good at that. Cowboys aren't."

Image via Wikipedia

"Contrast that with TV One's shocking images of teeth punctures and open wounds. Where is the investigative journalism here? It is an emotive argument feed by moral panic and little substantiating fact. That is why we must leave it to due process. But if we are to learn something from this it may be that 'the policy' may be contributing to the problem and we need a more informed community for our companion animals."

"We know Kiwi's seek out guidance on dog behaviour, its such a popular topic" says Ms Perzylo who keeps a good tab on the SPCA's endorsed website. The traffic statistics prove "hundreds of New Zealander's are learning something canine everyday. Territorial authorities collect some 20 million dollars a year from dog fees alone, I am sure NZ's dog owners agree that education is better than intolerance and injustice."

The School of the Naked Dog commences the next of its eight week 90 minute socialisation [and bite inhibition] classes using the Ian Dunbar endorsed "KinderPuppy" curriculum at its Merivale, Christchurch venue Sunday the 26th. At nakeddog.co.nz/kinderpuppy is the opportunity to register, without obligation, anyone interested, be it Christchurch, Invercargill and Nationally, and we'll look to bringing the program to your district, school, or facility.
ENDS

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Cannabis 'can be used to build homes'

Published Date: 09 April 2009

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A form of cannabis could be used to build carbon-neutral homes of the future, university researchers in Bath said. A consortium, led by the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials at the University of Bath, has embarked on a housing project to develop the use of construction materials made of hemp.
---- snip ----
Professor Pete Walker, director of the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, said: "We will be looking at the feasibility of using hemp-lime in place of traditional materials, so that they can be used widely in the building industry."We will be measuring the properties of lime-hemp materials, such as their strength and durability, as well as the energy efficiency of buildings made of these materials.

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"Using renewable crops to make building materials makes real sense - it only takes an area the size of a rugby pitch four months to grow enough hemp to build a typical three-bedroom house."

Growing crops such as hemp can also provide economic and social benefits to rural economies through new agricultural markets for farmers and associated industries.

We'll there is a turn for the books. While everyone said it couldn't be done, shouldn't be done, and what about the kids! The University of Bath picks up where NZ academia just reject out of hand.... /Blair

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Climate Change : A Christian Perspective

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Rev. Charmaine Braatvedt / New Zealand
June 2008

“Within the world wide Anglican Community Archbishop Rowan Williams has been very outspoken on the matter of climate change. He has called for deep cuts in carbon emissions on the basis of contraction and convergence. By this he means aiming at equal per capita emissions worldwide.

Clearly this would mean huge reductions for the rich countries. Even the evangelical churches of America seem to be voicing concern about this problem. I read recently that Rick Warren and a number of other evangelical leaders have come forward and formed the Evangelical Climate Initiative and signed a statement saying "human induced climate

Rick Warren.
Image via Wikipedia

change is real and calling on the Bush/ US government to urgently pass legislation establishing limits on carbon dioxide emissions which are widely believed to be the primary cause of human induced global warming. "

The statement goes on to say, “Christians must care about climate change because we love God the Creator and Jesus our Lord through whom and for whom the creation was made. This is God’s world and any damage that we do to God’s world is an offence against God himself.”

http://holytrinity.gen.nz/files/familyservicetalk_climate%20change.doc

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Inviting the Vanua to Join the Fight Against Drugs
Monday, 19 January 2009 03:50
Police recognize that the fight against drugs will not make headway unless the community is involved.
The success of the vanua policing concept in Tukavesi, Cakaudrove, where the community joined Police in clearing out marijuana farms and apprehending the growers, has shown that it is possible to stem out this growing problem.
In the hopes of replicating the successes of Tukavesi, a team of senior Police officers led by Commissioner of Police Andrew Hughes will be in Keiyasi, Navosa to launch Vanua: Rai-Ki-Liu for the province on Wednesday, 12 July.
Vanua: Rai-ki-liu is the result of a yearlong nationwide consultation to find a Community Policing model suitable for Fiji. Vanua:Rai-Ki-Liu is the way forward for the Fiji Police in partnership with the community. It is also symbolic of the culturally diverse communities that co-exist within Fiji at the present time.
The Community Policing Review was undertaken in January 2005 in partnership between the Fiji Police and the Australia/Fiji Law and Justice Sector Program in which over 1,000 people from 33 villages, service providers (Government and non-Government) and police personnel across Fiji were consulted.
The key findings of this review formed the basis for the Vanua Rai-Ki-Liu Model and it is focused on three key areas: the Youth of Fiji, the vanua, and squatter settlements (urban and rural).
The model emphasizes a community with a common vision, working in partnership with a community justice approach. It also recognizes the key players in prompting fair and equitable justice for all across Fiji.
The United Nations estimates that 160 million people worldwide use cannabis with a significant number of its users experiencing panic attacks, paranoia and other “psychotic symptoms” while under the influence.
The UN are also concerned that newer, more potent strains of cannabis are equally threatening as heroin and cocaine and that it can no longer be dismissed as soft and harmless as many proponents have previously purported.
The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa warns that countries with inadequate drug policies get the drug problem they deserved.
“With cannabis-related health damage increasing, it is fundamentally wrong for countries to make cannabis control dependent on which party is in government,” he said.
“The cannabis pandemic like other challenges to public health requires consensus, a consistent commitment across the political spectrum and by society at large.”
Mr. Costa maintains that the considerably more potent forms of marijuana available today than a few decades ago, shows that it was a mistake to dismiss it as a “soft drug” earlier on.
“Today the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin,” he said.
In the last two years, drug-related offences reported to Police have fallen steadily from 433 in 2001 to 417 in 2003. For the period 2004 and 2005, this number fell even further to a steady 312 cases for both years - a decrease of 33 percent from 2003. While these numbers represent a significant decline, anecdotal evidence shows that the holdings of marijuana growers remain a concern.
Tied to marijuana use are the realities of violent crimes and mental health problems affecting our young people who have abused the drug on a continuous basis. It is a fact that those who have at some point taken and/or trafficked in marijuana commit the majority of sexual offences and violent robberies.
Force Psychologist Lorraine Meades agrees that marijuana is anything but a “soft” drug.
“An increasing problem in Fiji and other countries is young people presenting at psychiatric hospitals with Drug Induced Psychosis from using marijuana,” she said.
“Marijuana is anything but a ‘soft’ drug. It can have serious health impacts such as lung cancer and chronic bronchitis but it can also have serious psychiatric impacts.”
Ms. Meades said that an acute drug-induced psychosis (irrational thoughts and fear) brought on by marijuana usually lasts a few days. Once stabilized (which usually requires medication) the person must never use marijuana again. This psychotic episode has sensitized the brain and further marijuana use can result in another acute episode or, of more concern, a serious psychotic illness.
“In some people marijuana can precipitate an existing predisposition to a psychotic illness and bring forward an episode of schizophrenia or manic depression. This can become a lifelong illness,” Ms. Meades said.
The shift from leisurely consumption of this hallucinogenic drug to commercial scale farming in the last decade shows that rural Fiji is on the cusp of a major shift in its agro-based economy of traditional roots crops and kava to cannabis.
Under-development and scarcity of basic infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity coupled with limited access to markets for their products, has given rise to the simple economics of supply and demand for the marijuana producers in the highlands.
Keiyasi is known as a major supply area for marijuana. The unforgiving terrain, limited access to many of the villages and settlements in this part of the country and general disenchantment of the people who live here, has created the ideal environment for this odious operation.
The return to an honest day’s work for those to ply this trade needs more than the intervention of Police with the help of the community. Government along with the relevant non-Government and faith-based organizations also need to be actively involved in turning the tide on drugs.

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Review ETS YES!

Image via Wikipedia National Party Emmissions Trading Scheme Review announced.

The MfE led ETS consultation was a sham and an embarrassment to due process. (and if the Nats had half the integrity they profess - arses should be kicked)



When Nick Smith spoke prior to the election at the Canterbury historic "Provincial Chambers" a well known proponent if C&C discreetly asked Nick about National's follow the leader on climate initiatives noting that ^Great Britain and *Australia seemed to be preferred notables.. upon which Nick agreed. (see ^UK Climate Bill and *Garnaut - C&C "adds-up")

So we can look forward to a conservative precautionary "Contraction and Convergence" new deal on climate response getting the a just and equitable evaluation in a fair and considered "select committee" hearing under National. With ACT on board, I can see "property rights" defining the climate solution space, and welcome Rodney's considered input.

United Future's Peter Dunne will no doubt consider the 'constitutional basis' for C&C and see the common revenue neutral merits, (C&C at least provides numerate analysis) and centrist values while Nick has ostensibly, and publicly, agreed "that any framework Australia and Great Britain adopts National should seriously consider...". (see http://www.gci.org.uk)

While I laud this politically inspired reevaluation... questions should be seriously asked as to how we so consistently 'ignored' what Treasury officials described (at the Christchurch ETS consultations)as the "conscience behind the policy". Such overt and exclusionary prejudice to a good idea must be fodder for a good story, as I for one could not support a now former Prime Minister who at the Christchurch launch of ETS still had never heard of C&C.

Consider:Image via Wikipedia

“C&C is supported not only by China, India, and most African nations, but also by the European Commission and the European Parliament, which endorsed it in 1998. I can’t imagine that the developing nations would accept any plan that did not eventually converge on equal per-capita emission rights. Although C&C is the fair solution, it is not “ideological.” It is dictated not only by fairness but also by practicality and realism: The nations of the world will agree on nothing less. ” see American Physical Society – October 2008 http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200810/upload/october08.pdf

The Climate Issue 're-visiting' must be accompanied by a full and unfettered public engagement elsewise any proposed solution will fail to bring onboard those whom it is designed to protect.

/Blair Anderson,Republican Party of New Zealand, Shadow Spokesperson on Environment and Climate Change. cell 027 2657219