Who's Healthy: America's Health Rankings 2008 Issued by United Health Foundation

United Health Foundation has just released its 2008 America's Health Rankings. The report considers a number of components the UHF considers important to public health, analyzes their availability compared to a national mean on a state-by-state basis, and then ranks each state according to its overall score.

The overall result is shown in the following chart, listing the states from healthiest to least healthy according to the study's metrics:


I won't get into the minutia of everything that went into these calculations. If you're interested in them, all the information you could possibly need is available via the UHF.

It's also interesting to check out the Nation at a Glance clickable map. There, you can click a state to get a brief list of strengths and challenges as well as a snapshot that gives considerably more detail of trends in the state.

A few particulars leap right out, though. With the exception of Nevada (#42), the bottom 10 states in terms of overall health are all southern states. Five of the top ten (Vermont #1, New Hampshire #3, Massachusetts #6, Connecticut #7 and Maine #9) are in New England. In fact, the only New England state not in the top 10 is Rhode Island, which comes in at #11. No southern state made the top 10; the highest ranked among those is Virginia at #20. In fact, it's the only state in the southeast that comes in above the national average, to which Arizona comes closest.

According to the report, Massachusett's biggest overall public health challenge is binge drinking. Louisiana, at the bottom of the list, has low binge drinking as one of its strengths. This reveals a personal bias of mine; because of Mardi Gras, I always connect Louisiana with drinking, so it's a surprise to learn that its more of a problem here than there.

I also can't help thinking back to the Pew Religious Landscape Survey (I blogged about it here). It's interesting to note that the most religious states are also the ones that come in at the bottom of the UHF's health ranking and the least religious come out near the top. Mississippi, for instance, was the most religious state of all according to Pew's metrics and according to UHF ranks #49 out of 50 in terms of public health (it ranked dead last in 2007, but Louisiana has now surpassed it). This is correlation and doesn't demonstrate that poor public health increases religious sentiments, nor vice versa, but the correlation is unmistakable overall (Utah in particular bucks the trend, however). I suspect that there may well be a factor common to both religious fervor (e.g. fundamentalist tendencies) and poor health when it comes to the bigger public health picture. Perhaps poverty, for instance, and/or lack of access to good education might be a contributing factor in the correlated results of both studies.

In any case, the Health Rankings report is interesting to poke about in. Enjoy.

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Mushroom Season Makes the News

The proliferation of fungal fruiting bodies in Massachusetts this summer is making the news here. While that in itself is a good thing, the press always has to come up with an interesting angle that makes a story one of human interest. In the case of mushrooms, that usually winds up as warnings about mushroom poisonings. In fact, it's often about children being poisoned, even when it hasn't actually happened.

Still, I'm glad when my favorite kingdom gets some press, and in this case that press includes a television interview by WBZ with my PhD advisor:


The story is a bit alarmist, of course, because that makes it interesting to people who normally don't care about mushrooms. The "won't somebody think of the children!" angle always sells. What the story also doesn't mention is that even most poisonous mushrooms aren't lethal mushrooms. They'll make you sick, but you won't die — although you might feel like you're going to. Of all the mushroom species found in North America, only a small fraction ever prove lethal, although I can certainly understand why the parent of some kid who eats a bit of an unidentified mushroom would be concerned. A good rule of thumb for reducing the risk if you happen to be a Massachusetts parent worried about your kid eating something nasty in your garden is to keep an eye out for any mushroom that has what looks like warts on its cap, a ring on its stem and a cup or collar at the base. Those are likely to be members of genus Amanita, and thus the most likely to be lethally poisonous. Go through the yard and remove them. They're generally among the more conspicuous fungi you'll see. You can remove every mushroom you see, but you're likely to spend a lot of time at it. Of course, you can also just keep a close watch on the kids, but it only takes a second of one's back being turned for a toddler to pop a bad fungus into his or her mouth. If you would like to see some of the various forms that Amanita can take, click here. Judging from what I've seen around town, the most common species right now is Amanita brunnescens, which has a cap colored various shades of brown and white to very light brown warts. It can get quite large and, while toxic, probably isn't going to cause death.

The Boston Globe is also running a story today on the prolific mushroom fruitings being seen in the area. It talks a bit more about amateur mycologists and not quite so much about the poisonings that haven't happened:

Everything's coming up mushrooms
Summer of rain has silver lining - a rare bonanza of fungi
By Tom Haines

No one loves the rewards of a rainy summer quite like a mycologist does.

"It's just, I'm telling you, cloud nine," said Elinoar Shavit of Concord.

Even on short walks, Shavit has easily spotted Boletus edulis (porcini), Craterellus fallax (black trumpet), Laetiporus sulphureus (chicken mushroom), and "chanterelles galore!"

After July brought twice the average rainfall to the region, prompting mycelium to fruit in abundance, mushroom maniacs - whether serious scientists or curious cooks - are reveling in a bounty seldom seen...

There are thousands of species of mushrooms that burst forth when conditions are right with bulbs and caps in craggy shelves and huddled clusters, and more. The mushrooms survive for a few hours or weeks, depending on species; some prefer spring, others summer or fall...

Shapes, colors, and composition also fascinate scientists and others who want to know exactly how things work. Experimenters of another sort favor certain mushrooms, which grow in New England only very occasionally but can cause hallucinations.

This year, though, even the usually disinterested among us are captivated by more kinds of mushrooms, in larger quantity - whether clumps of black trumpets or giant puffballs - popping up in the yard more or less overnight...

Local hospitals have seen a spike in calls, mostly from parents of toddlers who had popped mushrooms in their mouths. Most tastings have turned out to be harmless, and there have been no fatalities this year, according to Alfred Aleguas, clinical manager with the Regional Center for Poison Control and Prevention Serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island...

One close call came before a neighbor contacted Shavit, a contributing editor to Fungi magazine known for her ability to identify different species. The neighbor told Shavit she had picked 30 pounds of chanterelles, an elegant, edible specimen that is tasty when sauteed in oil with shallots and salt. On closer inspection, Shavit determined the suspected chanterelles were Omphalotus illudens, or Jack O' Lantern mushrooms, known to spur vomiting and diarrhea.

Norman "Dugie" Russell, who helps Children's Hospital Boston and Beverly Hospital with emergency mushroom identifications, warns casual pickers to study guidebooks and seek expert advice...

Again, the moral of the story here is pretty simple, aside from the fact that we mycologists and enthusiasts are having a wonderful year. If you don't know the difference between an Omphalotus and a Cantharellus on site, don't eat any mushrooms without having them identified by someone who has a grasp of diversity, because, frankly, it's very easy to tell those two genera apart. Omphalotus always grows on wood and has blade-like gills; Cantharellus grows on the ground and has vein-like "gills." If you think you've found some chanterelles (Cantharellus) and want to know for certain, please let me know. I'll be happy to take a look and tell you whether you've got the right mushrooms... for a small cut of your find, of course, if they do turn out to be chanterelles. I love the things. In fact, LL and I had some Craterellus cornucopioides for dinner just last night. They're my favorite.

It truly is an amazing year for mushrooms, whether they're edible or just beautiful. If you live in New England and have been curious to learn about fungi, this is the time to do it. Contact your local mycological society and get out on a few forays. A better year for sheer numbers and diversity is unlikely to come your way for another decade or two. You can find contact information for amateur mycological societies throughout the United States courtesy of the North American Mycological Association. Here are the ones in New England:

• Connecticut:
  Berkshire Mycological Society
  c/o Jim Berlstein
  PO Box 247
  Norfolk, CT 06058-0247
  web: www.bms.iwarp.com
  email: berkshiremycology [at] lycos.com
  
  Connecticut Valley Mycological Society
  129 Stockburger Rd
  Moodus, CT 06469-1042
  email: janblanchard [at] comcast.net
  
  
• Maine:
  Maine Mycological Society
  216 Huff's Mill Rd.
  Bowdoin, ME 04287-7138
  web: www.mushroomthejournal.com/mma/index.html
  email: mjpmm955i [at] gwi.net
  
  
• Massachusetts:
  Boston Mycological Club
  20 Shirley St
  Ayer, MA 01432-1208
  web: www.bostonmycologicalclub.org
  email: georgeriner [at] mycogeo.com
  
  
• New Hampshire:
  Monadnock Mushroomers Unlimited
  PO Box 1796
  Keene, NH 03431-1796
  email: beewing [at] cheshire.net
  
  
• Northeastern US:
  Northeast Mycological Federation
  web: www.nemf.org
  email: ursula.hoffmann [at] lehman.cuny.edu

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Tobacco Tax Hike in Massachusetts: Ouch, But...

I don't have many bad habits. In fact, I think I have only one really bad one. I don't drink, I don't gamble, I don't cheat on my partner, I eat a relatively healthy diet. Arguably, my one bad habit is one of the worst, though, for my health. I'm a smoker. There, I've said it. I am a member of one of the most reviled groups in America. I'm a smoking non-theist social liberal. It might be wise to invest heavily in Kevlar now that the word is out.

Let me add two more adjectives to this description. First, I am a conscientious smoker. I make it a point to avoid inflicting my bad habit on bystanders. If I'm walking with a group of people, for example, I'll position myself so that my smoke blows away from them. If I'm waiting at a bus stop or otherwise near others I'll move far enough away in a direction so that I don't pass second-hand smoke toward them. Second, I am a poor smoker. I'm a graduate student. The two previous statements are redundant.

I knew that Massachusetts was about to hike the taxes on cigarettes but I hadn't realized it was going into effect yesterday. In the early morning I stopped off at the Mobil station at Main and Park — one of perhaps five places in town that carry my brand — and bought a pack for the same price I've been paying every day for the year since I've been living here, $5.96. That was already expensive; apparently I smoke really, really good cigarettes. On the way home from the lab just after 6:00 PM, I decided to save myself the early morning stop. Traffic is bad in the morning and it can be hard to turn out of the parking lot in the direction I want to go, so I figured I'd save myself one small hassle since this morning will be a busy one. The clerks at the Mobil station know what I want without my asking for it since all I ever buy there are cigarettes. They all know my brand and so the guy at the counter retrieved a pack for me without my asking. Then he rang it up.

The price had jumped to $7.32! My pain was made audible with a heartfelt "ouch." It isn't often that the price of anything I buy goes up by 23% in less than 24 hours.

Massachusetts is doing this to generate tax revenue. It's part of a larger package to boost the budget, and according to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette the hike will generate $680,000 per day for the state. Whether or not one agrees with this sort of approach for purely political reasons, it's worthwhile to ask whether the measure will do what lawmakers expect it to do.

Massachusetts is a small state, geographically speaking. I live nearly dead-center on the map but I'm less than an hour's drive from both the Connecticut and New Hampshire borders. No matter where in the state people are, they're not far from a neighboring state. With the new tax hike, all of those states will have lower prices per pack than does Massachusetts. An average pack here now costs $6.41; that same pack costs $4.19 in New Hampshire, $5.50 in Vermont and $5.63 in Connecticut. More smokers will simply cross a state line to purchase their tobacco to avoid the substantial increase in price than did before. I have no idea whether lawmakers took this into account when they decided that the increase was a good idea, but some of the effect of this increase is bound to be a windfall for neighboring states, not for Massachusetts.

Those who don't feel like crossing a border and plan ahead might also be expected to start using, or to increase their current use, of online sources. Just like the high cost of prescription drugs helps to feed a black market online, so will the increase in the cost of tobacco. A quick search yield a number of online discounters yields tens of thousands of hits on sites with names like Mailordercigarettes.biz, Ourcigarettes.net and Cheap-cig.com. Is it legal? I don't know, and I'm not endorsing buying cigarettes online. The point is that it's possible and if there are laws against utilizing such websites they would be extremely difficult to enforce. Stepping up any current enforcement would require more tax dollars to pay for the effort, defeating the whole purpose of the tax hike in the first place. Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking; hiking prices won't stop them from smoking. It will simply provide an impetus for more people than ever to circumvent laws and become more creative about it.

A year from now, we'll hear about statistics that show the the amount of tobacco being purchased in Massachusetts has decreased. The emphasis will be placed largely on the "decreased," but in reality a lot of it should be placed on the "in Massachusetts" bit. In the end, more money will simply flow out of the state and the tax increase won't generate the revenues or prompt as many people to quit the habit as the state government thinks it will.

In purely practical terms, if the aim of this tax hike is to generate revenues then it was a bad idea. You'd have to increase taxes on something that can't be easily purchased elsewhere for that to work. A gasoline, income or sales tax increase would have been far more useful. If the aim is to get people to quit smoking it won't be very effective, either, for the reasons I've noted above. In that regard, it will impact mainly those who aren't old enough to drive out of state or to hold a credit card in their own name — mostly underage smokers. That's a fine thing, but Massachusetts already enjoys a low proportion of teen smokers. Overall, that impact will be negligible.

When all is said and done, this particular tax hike isn't going to accomplish much of anything at all.

While the tobacco tax was pushed by Tobacco Free Mass and other anti-smoking groups, the Legislature did not direct any of the new cigarette tax revenue to programs to help people quit smoking...

— Source

...Joe said lately he had taken to buying loose tobacco and rolling his own cigarettes because the manufactured ones had already become so expensive.

"I'm looking for anything to make it cheaper, even if I have to grow my own," he said...

Chantelle Flagg, an employee at Mike's Mini-Mart, a convenience store a few miles from the New Hampshire border in Winchendon, said customers have been stocking up on butts recently in anticipation of the tax hike. Others say they'll cross the border for cheaper deals.

"I've had a lot of customers tell me they're going to New Hampshire," Ms. Flagg said.

— Source

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Religion in America: Massachusetts Among Least Religious States

The latest survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life was released yesterday and it's got some interesting bits. Every newspaper is reporting on it, but so far the best summary I've seen has been in the Boston Globe. Some excerpts from that article:

Americans see truth in a range of faiths, massive study finds
State among nation's least religious
By Michael Paulson

The United States is a nation of believers: most Americans say they believe in God, they pray, and they attend worship services regularly; they also believe in angels and demons, in heaven and hell, and in miracles.

But they also say, contradicting the teachings of many faiths, that truth comes in many forms. Large majorities of Americans say that many religions - not just their own - can lead to eternal life, and that there is more than one way to interpret religious teachings...

New Englanders are among the least likely to say they are religious, according to the study. Massachusetts lags behind the nation - often near the bottom of all states - in the percentage of its residents who say they are certain that God exists...

The study confirms a fact known widely by scholars of religion in public life: the more often people attend worship, the more likely they are to be politically conservative. Mormons and evangelical Protestants are the most likely to be doctrinally orthodox and politically conservative, while Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists are more liberal in both their theology and their politics, the study finds.

But there is tremendous diversity within each faith - among evangelical Protestants, for example, only 52 percent describe themselves as conservative, and 30 percent say they follow government and public affairs only some of the time. Although evangelicals have traditionally been viewed as Republican voters, the poll suggests a significant minority do not view themselves as conservative...

...The study found that 70 percent of Americans - and even 57 percent of evangelical Protestants - believe that many religions can lead to eternal life...

"While one applauds what could be thought of as an openness to other religions, one has to wonder if this is essentially bland secularism," said Todd M. Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary...

The poll, like many others, finds Americans claiming to be deeply faithful - 92 percent say they believe in God. But conceptions of God vary - 60 percent, including most Christians, say they believe God is a person, while 25 percent, including pluralities of Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, believe God is an impersonal force...

On gay rights, Buddhists, Jews, Catholics and mainline Protestants are the most likely to say homosexuality should be accepted, while Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims and evangelical Protestants are the most likely to say homosexuality should be discouraged. Overall, 50 percent of Americans said homosexuality should be accepted by society, while 40 percent said it should be discouraged...

One of the implications I see in this survey is that Americans make a lot of stuff up, picking and choosing to create their own religions that support what they already believe. That's better than strict dogmatism, but it also demonstrates a certain refractory essence when it comes to examining empirical reality. While the survey never asks a question that would reveal the source of the religious melange held to by large numbers of Americans, I suspect that much of it has its origins in various self-help type books and talk shows. Oprah Winfrey probably exerts a good deal of influence on the religious landscape, for example. Whatever the sources, though, one might well ask why it is necessary to look outside of the natural world to the supernatural and posit things like eternity to begin with. That's where the refractory nature of belief comes into play; people believe in things like heaven and demons despite there being no evidence that they exist, but they'll reject empirical knowledge that conflicts with their beliefs.

Looking at the massive amount of data comprised by the US Religious Landscape Survey itself reveals a number of items worth consideration. For example, the single largest religious group in the US is identified as the Evangelical Protestant Tradition (26%). On a state-by-state basis, that tradition is most prevalent in Oklahoma (about 53%), Arkansas (~53%) and Tennessee (~51%) and least prevalent in Utah (~7%). New England has comparatively few; Connecticut/Rhode Island combined, for example, stand at about 10% Evangelical, and Massachusetts is at 11% as are New Hampshire and Vermont.

Catholicism is the next largest religious tradition, about 24% of the entire US population. It's most prevalent in the Northeast on a state by state basis. 43% of those surveyed in Massachusetts identify themselves as Catholic, as do 43% of those in Connecticut/Rhode Island and 42% in New Jersey. On the other hand, it's a long way between Catholics in Alabama (6%), Tennessee (7%) and West Virginia (7%).

16% of Americans consider themselves unaffiliated with any particular religion. That includes 26% of New Hampshire/Vermont residents, 25% of those from Maine, and 27% of respondents in Oregon. Missionaries looking for converts would have their work cut out for them in Kentucky (12%), Texas (12%), and North Dakota (12%), the states with lowest numbers of unaffiliated respondents.

The most religious state in the country — or at least the one where the most people said they have absolute certainty in the existence of God, demons, hell, what have you — is Mississippi (91%), but theists in other southern states shouldn't despair too much. The southeastern US is a hotbed of absolute faith; Alabama (86%) and South Carolina (86%) are hot on Mississippi's tail. At the other end of the spectrum are Vermont and New Hampshire (54%), Maine (59%) and Connecticut/Rhode Island (57%), the only states where fewer than 60% of respondents were True Believers. Massachusetts came in at 60% on this question, which isn't too shabby, all things considered. Makes me proud to be a New Englander. This is all very much in keeping with the question of how important religion is/should be in one's own life. 82% of Mississippians think it's "very important," but only 36% of New Hampshire and Vermont residents agree.

24% of Americans surveyed said that their own religion was right and everybody else was wrong. That view is most prevalent in Utah, where 50% of respondents hold it. When it comes to religious tolerance, you can't beat Maine; only 13% of those respondents took the "my way or the highway to hell" position. Maine isn't much more tolerant than Massachusetts (15%) or New York (18%), though.

Fully 33% of Americans said that they believe in absolutely literal interpretation of their religious scripture (also known as fundamentalism). If you want to find concentrated fundies, Mississippi is definitely the place to be. It leads the nation in fundamentalist presence; 64% of respondents there are religious literalists. Alabama is far behind (54%) and West Virginia a distant third (53%). New Hampshire/Vermont (16%), Massachusetts (18%) and Connecticut/Rhode Island (18%) residents are the least likely to be fundamentalist in their views of scripture.

But how effective is prayer, you ask? Well, so did the Pew people. It turns out that praying in Mississippi is most likely to make your wish come true; 46% there say their prayers are answered at least once a month. Alabama is a close second to the divinely-poofed paradise of answered prayers at 44% and Tennessee and North Carolina tie for third at 42%. If you're in New Hampshire/Vermont (19%), Massachusetts (21%) or Maine (21%), God's ignoring you. The survey never does ask what people are praying for, though. It could be that people in Mississippi are praying more often for a steaming bucket of crawdads and Vermonters for world peace. Crawdads are a lot easier to come by, after all. The survey doesn't say.

There's a lot more information to be had in this survey and it's all rather interesting. Go click around.

On a personal note, I'm very glad to be in Massachusetts and not, say, Mississippi, Alabama or Tennessee. Fundamentalism just isn't my thing (surprise!) and I like living in a place where religious belief doesn't play a major role in shaping the culture. I saw enough of that in North Florida, thanks.

On a somewhat critical note, though, I wonder about the utility of lumping some states together. I'm not sure that lumping Vermont and New Hampshire makes for an accurate read. Vermont is an extremely liberal state, whereas New Hampshire tends to be fiscally conservative and socially libertarian. Likewise, my experience in both Florida and California lead me to believe that those states should really be split into regions for a survey like this. The extreme southern part of Florida is very different from the north in its social, religious and political make-up as are the coastal and inland parts of California. New York, for that matter, is an exceptionally heterogeneous state. Binghamton and Elmira have very different outlooks on religion than does New York City.

Meanwhile, another day is beginning here in largely secular, non-fundamentalist, gay-accepting, stem cell research embracing Massachusetts. No crawdads here, but the clam chowdah is pretty damned good. Maybe if I pray hard enough I'll get a free bowl for lunch today. My odds appear to be about 1 in 5 that it'll materialize sometime over the course of the next month, anyhow.

Mmmmm... specially-created Chowdah.

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What is Killing the Bats of the American Northeast?

In yet another one of the apparent ecological catastrophes that are becoming more and more prevalent of late, a disease of some sort is causing massive die-offs among populations of several bat species in the northeastern US. The disease, labeled "white-nose syndrome," is symptomized by the proliferation of a Fusarium fungus around the animals' noses. Bats with the disease are waking up too early from hibernation, are emaciated, and are leaving their winter shelters in a desperate search for food. The end result is that they freeze to death. Nobody knows yet what actually causes this syndrome. Fusarium can be a pathogen, of course, but in this case it appears to be a secondary infection and a symptom rather than a cause. The Hartford Courant is reporting today that the disease, already known in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, has now appeared in Connecticut as well.

The presence of the fungal infection may be a dead giveaway as to the mechanism that's causing the bats to become emaciated, though. I have a hypothesis that I admit is based in part on my ignorance of what specific investigations have already ruled out. As I don't know, though, I'll advance a possible cause. First, though, a little bit of today's Hartford Courant article.

Epidemic Strikes Bats
White-Nose Syndrome Spreads To Connecticut

A mysterious condition that is already decimating bat populations in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont has spread to Connecticut, with vast implications not only for bats but for the vital role they play in controlling mosquito populations.

Jenny Dickson, a wildlife biologist with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection who entered a major bat hibernaculum (or bat cave) in Litchfield County on Thursday, has confirmed the presence of the usually fatal "white-nose syndrome" on numerous hibernating bats.

The syndrome, first detected in New York state caves in the winter of 2006-07, is so named for the white fungus that coats the noses, legs and wings of afflicted bats. The condition generally causes death before the bats emerge from their winter hibernation. In New York state, more than 80 percent of the bats in affected caves have died over the past two winters...

"Bats are our single largest predator of night-flying insects and provide an important form of natural insect control. Any significant depletion in their numbers will also result in a significant effect in other parts of our ecosystem," she said...

The bat plague was first noticed about a year ago, when hikers and cave enthusiasts in New York state observed bats that were still supposed to be hibernating congregating near cave entrances. Some were even flying out in frigid daytime temperatures to die on the snow. Responding to these reports, wildlife biologists entered known bat caves — as many as 250,000 bats can hibernate in a single large cave — and began documenting the telltale white-nose fungus on the sleeping bats, many of whom also showed signs of emaciation.

An impromptu network of federal and state agencies, and teams of veterinary pathologists — from the University of Connecticut, Cornell and the University of Wisconsin — have been meeting all winter via teleconferences to share information and the results of necropsies of affected bats. But so far they have not been able to determine the cause of the syndrome. The scientists mostly agree, however, that the fungus found on the bodies of infected bats is probably a symptom and not a cause of the condition.

"We just don't know yet what the cause of [white-nose syndrome] is — whether a virus, a bacteria or a toxin," said Dr. Randall Nelson, Connecticut's public health veterinarian...

Experts also agree that the affected bats have extremely low fat levels in their bodies...

Dr. Richard A. French, a veterinary pathologist at UConn who has supervised the necropsies of bats with the fungus, points to another difficulty that is likely to delay a rapid solution to discovering the cause of the syndrome.

"We've never done a comprehensive study on hibernating bats, so we don't have a lot of norms to start with," said French.

"We have found on the bats we've examined so far, for instance, significant amounts of parasites. But we don't even know if that's normal or not. It's possible this could take years of study to understand..."

I don't know if investigators have already examined the gut bacterial flora in these bats, but from the little bit I've been reading about white-nose syndrome it would seem a crucial possibility that there may be a change there.

As readers may know, one of the things I've been researching myself is the role of chitinases in nature. In my research, I ran across a paper a few months back in which it was demonstrated that bats harbor several chitinase-producing bacteria in their intestines:

Whitaker JO, Dannelly HK and Prentice DA. 2004. Chitinase in Insectivorous Bats. Journal of Mammalogy 85:15–18. DOI: 10.1644/1545-1542(2004)085<0015:CIIB>2.0.CO;2

In the study, nine bat species were found to harbor a diversity of at least ten different chitinase-producing bacteria. It was also shown that as bats feed during the warm season, they build up residual insect chitin in their gut. During hibernation, the chitinase-producing bacteria proliferate and break the chitin down into carbohydrates. Mammals can't normally digest chitin; it requires the presence of symbionts that manufacture chitinase for them to use the normally indigestible material as a source of carbohydrates. Mammals do produce lysozymes, another group of enzymes that possess a binding domain much like the active sites in chitinases, but these are not nearly as efficient at slicing up chitin polymers. They just break them into chunks and are involved with preventing fungal infection by preventing cell wall coherency in a potential pathogen. If you're going to derive nutritional benefit from leftover chitin, you've got to have chitinases in your intestine. It's the same principle we see in symbioses such as that in the gut flora of termites; remove the lignase-producing microflora from termite guts and you wind up with termites that can no longer digest wood. They starve to death no matter how much they eat.

If insectivorous bats somehow lost their intestinal symbionts, a similar thing would happen. During their active season, the bats might be just fine because they don't rely on the digestion of chitin for nutrients. However, when they stopped actively feeding and went into hibernation, some other bacterium might proliferate in the gut. The chitin "store" that provides energy during the winter would no longer be accessible. The bats would starve in their sleep, essentially. That's exactly what is being observed in white-nose syndrome.

I find the presence of the Fusarium interesting in light of this. It may be that the bats' immune system is being compromised by lack of nutrition, but it could also be the case that the loss of the chitinase-producers means that the organisms that are responsible for keeping fungi from infecting the bats aren't around to digest the pathogen. Bacteria the dwell in the digestive tract could easily have a role in this. Chitin is chitin for the most part; the same organism that produces chitinase responsible for breaking down insect chitin is very likely to be producing chitinase that breaks down fungal chitin. It's very typical that a given organism that digests chitin produces multiple chitinases, each of which is a variant on the basic theme of family 18 glucosyl hydrolase.

As I've admitted, I don't have a clue as to what white-nose investigators have examined, and for all I know the loss or replacement of bacterial flora may have already been discarded as the cause of the bat die-off. If it hasn't been, however, I hope it will be. I doubt that we have the luxury of years in figuring out how to stop this die-off. Without bats to control insect populations, there could be serious human health consequences due to the proliferation of mosquitoes carrying diseases such as West Nile and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Besides, bats are amazingly cool creatures and it would be a pity to lose them. I hate to think of the suffering; these are social, relatively intelligent animals. For that reason alone, investigators must find a way to stop this disease.

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Wally Rogers, the Preaching Teacher of Irasburg, Vermont

I've written on a number of occasions about the difference between how religion is looked upon in the southeast and northeast. In North Florida, religion is a constant presence and it's expected that everyone agrees that Christianity is The Best Thing in the World. In New England, the general attitude is that religion is a personal matter and not something to be imposed upon others. I've yet to have someone presume to wish me a "blessed day" in the months since my return to the Northeast.

That isn't to say that the Screamin' Jesus types are entirely absent. One has turned up in a seventh grade classroom in Irasburg, Vermont, as reported in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.

Teacher crosses line between church, state, say Irasburg parents

Mel Downs doesn't object to academic discussions over the relative merits of varying religious philosophies.

But when his daughter came home from her public school with a handout titled "Why Jesus Is Better Than Santa Claus," the Irasburg father took offense.

"It isn't about my religion or me being biased in some way," Downs said. "It's about the separation of church and state that is supposed to exist in my daughter's classroom."

Downs' daughter attends seventh grade at Irasburg Village School. She received the "Jesus" handout just before Christmas vacation, and Downs says it reflects a pattern of religious-themed material being taught by Wally Rogers, his daughter's language arts teacher.

When Downs' daughter began the school year in September, he said, the Ten Commandments were mounted to the classroom wall, Christian books filled the classroom bookshelf, and a school-funded Web page, used by the teacher, included links to Christian Web sites.

Complaints to school officials, including a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, have prompted administrators to remove some of the books and Web links in question. But Downs and at least one other Irasburg parent have lingering concerns over an apparent constitutional breach of the separation of church and state.

"To date, nothing has been resolved," says Robin Voitle, whose daughter attends seventh grade at the Village School. "This is about the Constitution. It's about right and wrong..."

Of particular concern, the letter says, are links on the teacher's Web site to "evidence for creation" and an "Anne of Green Gables" link that sends students to a "Young Ladies Christian Fellowship" Web page.

The teacher's "accelerated reader program classroom reading list contains a large number of books with Christian themes," according to the letter. Gilbert writes that "the handout, 'Why Jesus Is Better Than Santa Claus,' is just one example, we are told, of the kind of material discussed and passed out in (the teacher's) classroom..."

Voitle says she has been unimpressed by the school's response to her concerns. Her daughter, she said, was singled out by the teacher for raising the issue with administrators. And she says objectionable links remain on the Web site.

Paul Simmons, principal of the Irasburg Village School, said, "We do not condone the teaching of religion in public school...

"From my understanding that was not a handout. It was something the teacher had and a student saw and asked to see," Simmons said. "It was not a handout. It was never intended to be a handout. It should not have been in sight of a student, but that's in the past."

Voitle's said her daughter has suffered harassment at the school for voicing objections, and that school officials have yet to adequately address her concerns.

"It's kind of baffling," she said. "It's like they're trying to sweep us under the carpet like we're going to go away, but we're not."

Gilbert said the ACLU will continue to monitor the situation, though he's encouraged by the superintendent's action thus far...

I've tried accessing Rogers' website to check this out for myself, but a password is required. I assume only students and other school personnel would have that.

My bet is that the community at large doesn't support the idea of a classroom as a preacher's pulpit. Lacking that kind of support, the teacher will probably have to do the right thing and stick to teaching properly secular seventh grade subjects rather than Sunday school. I wonder how different the situation would have been somewhere like Washington County, Florida.

But not much.

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Robert Frost's Summer House Vandalized: I Hold With Those Who Favor Fire

Late poet Robert Frost's home vandalized

RIPTON , Vt., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Under-age partygoers reportedly fueled by alcohol and drugs trashed the Vermont farmhouse where U.S. poet Robert Frost spent his later years.

Frost bought the Homer Noble Farm in rural Ripton the year after his wife died in 1939 and spent most of the year every year there until his death in 1963...

...wicker furniture was thrown into a fireplace to generate heat in the two-story farmhouse, while tables, chairs, windows, dishes and light fixtures were also destroyed by revelers late last week.

Vomit was found in the living room, as well as numerous plastic cups and a pair of discharged fire extinguishers, he said...

Lovely, eh? I say swing 'em from birches!

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Gay Civil Unions Occur in New Hampshire: Planet Not Reported Falling Into Sun

As the New Year came in, so did the legal recognition of same-sex couples in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Legalizes Same-Sex Civil Unions

Concord, NH (AHN) - Gay unions are now recognized in New Hampshire. At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, the law allowing civil unions between gay and lesbian couples became effective. Hours after the law took effect, 37 gay couples entered into civil unions at an outdoor ceremony amid below freezing temperatures.

The civil union ceremonies took place at the New Hampshire Statehouse where the law was adopted and signed in 2007.

But the law will certainly stoke some fire from opposition, principally from conservative groups. Karen Testerman, executive director of the New Hampshire advocacy group Cornerstone Policy Research, said many state residents question if allowing people of the same sex to enter into civil unions is the right thing to do.

"Obviously, we are concerned about it because we have a special interest group (gays and lesbians) that is changing family law," Testerman told Seacoast news.

Testerman said their group opposes same-sex civil unions, but they will not start a campaign to recall the law. Instead, Cornerstone Policy wants to emphasize research findings that show the difference between gay and lesbian couples and straight married couples...

Among those who immediately entered into a civil union hours after the law become effective were Julie Bernier and Joan Andresen. Both are employees of the Plymouth State University.

"We've been together 20 years; we've been waiting for this moment for 20 years; finally the state will recognize us as we are," Bernier was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

New Hampshire is the fourth state to permit civil unions, but the first to do it without a court decision or the threat of one. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed the law on May, which grants same-sex couples the same rights, responsibilities and obligations as married male-female couples, but it does not call the union a marriage.

So far, no vengeful angels with flaming swords have been reported swooping out of the White Mountains. The world is apparently still going around the sun in the same orbit as it was last week. There hasn't been widespread necrophilia and heterosexual married couples didn't get divorced in large numbers in order to run off with their new gay partners.

Congratulations are due, I think, to Bernier and Andresen. They've been together for twenty years, statistically a lot better than most heterosexual couples in this country. Kudos, too, to Karen Testerman for realizing the obvious: that same-sex couples are different from opposite-sex couples. Gee, ya think?

The article doesn't mention that Cornerstone Policy Research is a fundamentalist group that advocates the usual slate of fundie initiatives, like getting religion into schools and basing public policy on scriptural literalism. They even do prayer shields!

...Romans 13:1 reminds us that there is no authority except of God, that all authority exists because God ordained it. Therefore we are to pray for our leaders.

The basic element of government is the family…a man and a woman and the children that bless that marriage. The strength of our society depends upon the strength of our families. We must pray for all who are in authority beginning with the family and moving up the scale to our governor , our legislators and our President and his cabinet and Congress.

For these reasons, Cornerstone Policy Research is calling intercessors to join us as we provide a shield of prayer for our state and her government and our families...

Mmmmmm, smells like divine right of kings. Thankfully, New Hampshire tends to be, as the article notes, a rather live-and-let-live place when it comes to people's private lives and thus social policy in general. As is the case for all of New England, religious fundamentalists haven't been able to make big inroads in this part of the world as they have in some other parts of the US. Perhaps it's because New England's history includes a period during which fundies really did run everything according to Biblical law and it didn't work out too well. Been there, done that, get thee hence to South Carolina, yon fundamentalists.

Personally, I'm glad to know that not only does my current home state allow any two people who want to take on a legal commitment do so, but so do the states next door. Massachusetts allows for same-sex marriage since 2004 using that very title, while Connecticut (since 2005), New Hampshire and Vermont (since 2000) all permit civil unions that are effectively the same thing as marriage. The only states left in New England that don't let same-sex couples get hitched are Rhode Island and Maine, and I think it'll happen there eventually.

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