A Leopold Trajectory

[badger2]

Smokey the Bear Lied to You: Flaws in Existing Fire Management Strategies are Exposed by a Year of Unusually Extensive Wildfires in the West
(Wisconsin Engineer Winter 2017, Volume 122, Number 1)

We call it a Leopold trajectory because Leopold himself saw deeper connections. As with his desire to study grasses, we place an anti-cancer trajectory in New Mexico at the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. The grasses in question are associated with a microorganism that produces the chemistry that kills common cancers such as basal cell carcinoma, even as the deer and cattle graze away.

More profoundly, basal cell carcinoma has the ability to fine-tune thyroid hormone processes inside the cell. A cancer that appears to be superficial is an illusion.

 

[badger2]

'Fighting these megafires has led to the National Forest Service spending more than half of its entire annual budget on firefighting -- $2,4 billion -- in contrast to just 16 percent of its budget in 1995....Old forest species such as the spotted owl depend on dense understory canopies for their natural habitats and don't typically live in the more open forests which result from removing understory canopy and brush to help reduce megafires.'
(Smokey the Bear Lied to You, op cit)

'These were clues in an environmental mystery. The mystery, in Leopold's words, was " when, how, why and what kinds of brush constitute a fire hazard." The question; the Prescott, like the Gila, had suffered extensive fires that dry spring. Leopold ventured only a few speculations. He kept notes on the behavior of fires on the Prescott. He, Supervisor Wales, and Ranger Oldham performed experiments on the inflammability of the various brush species, but their tests did not yield much insight. "Inflammability of the Prescott (and probably other) brush fields," he concluded, "happens to be complex, and requires more refined methods for successful solution."

To ascertain the factors involved, he advised the Prescott personnel to keep a careful record of the habits of the fires they fought. But there was a question behind the question, a mystery behind the mystery: when, how, and why had the vegetation cover of the forest changed so as to constitute a fire hazard in the first place, and what would the answers mean in terms of management strategies? As usual, Leopold had a theory:

" In its virgin state, large parts of the brush type were probably thinner than now, with much more grass. Grass fires and grassroot competition kept the brush down, and the grass probably checked the wholesale spread of Manzanita through fire.....This virgin state was itself temporary, the soil or at least large areas of it, being forest soil, tending to come back to woodland whenever fires allowed. This accounts for the widespread occurrence of [scattered] Juniper stumps....The reappearance of woodland on a large scale, after removal of sod and grass fores....dovetails into this hypothesis....So do the various phenomena of erosion."

Leopold admitted that his examination had been too superficial to substantiate this interpretation. It was nonetheless a remarkable first stab at an answer. He had focus in on ground fires and grazing as the fundamental factors influencing both the rate of erosion and the change in vegetation since settlement. The very process of settling the land had unwittingly exacerbated both the fire and the erosion problem. Leopold would bolster and refine his reasoning over the next two years, but the hardest step had already been taken. He had connected fire to grazing to vegetation change to erosion, and realized the need to study formally those connections.'
(Meine C, Aldo Leopold:His Life and Work, p. 203)

Variations on this fire theme accrue. Puma in California likely suffered a more intense susceptibility to feline immunodeficiency virus infection due the recent megafires.

 

[badger2]

The anti-cancer connection to the Aldo Leopold Wilderness is the grass, Digitaria. Associated with this grass genus are members of the genus Azospirillum, in particular A. lipoferum, which produces aminolevulinic acid. Aminolevulinic acid kills basal cell carcinoma, so the project is to clarify just what assemblages are under the effects of grazing by cattle or any other ruminant.

The origin of Pongola grass is interesting, since it links to Kwa-Zulu Natal, precisely fore the same (latitude) and locations of the Spondweni group viruses, of which Zika is a member. Since this is an interesting latitude as it relates to Zika at Palm Beach, Florida, Pongola grass was introduced into Florida in 1835. Digitaria occurs in New Mexico as well as in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, though latitudes and altitudes differ.

Thus one target healthcare grass for study is Arizona Cottontop, Digitaria californica, which also occurs in the southern regions of New Mexico, though it would be interesting to find it within Aldo Leopold Forest, which is in Albuquerque.

Pubmed lists the Sprillum abstract, though this was before the name change, and is the original work of Dobereiner and Day (Washington State University, Pullman). This is also a Brazilian link, so Zika studies cannot be said to be fully understood:

Sprillum-Digitaria
Light microscopy observations of tetrazolium-reducing bacteria in the endorhizosphere of maize and other grasses in Brazil. - PubMed - NCBI

Azospirillum lipoferum: at what latitude and longitude does it occur in New Mexico?

 

[badger2]

Should read '1935.'

 

[badger2]

Strange that Hillary Clinton, intimately linked to Arkansas rice and their accompanying mosquitoes, was kissing babies in Florida during the Zika event. From Zika origins in Kwa-Zulu, Digitaria eriantha, Pongola grass, is called "hungry rice."

As far as is known, there are no studies linkinhg Zika-vectoring mosquitoes to Digitaria in Florida.

1999 Influence of Synthetic Oviposition Pheromone and Volatiles from Soakage Pits and Grass Infusions Upon Oviposition Site-Selection of Culex Mosquitoes in Tanzania
Influence of Synthetic Oviposition Pheromone and Volatiles from Soakage Pits and Grass Infusions Upon Oviposition Site-Selection of Culex Mosquitoes in Tanzania
'....Grass infusion was prepared by cutting 2kg Digitaria into small pieces, soaking in 10 liters of unchlorinated tap water in a plastic bucket, and allowing fermentation for five days.'

The reader can also retrieve "Digitaria....Mosquito Hollow" in New England, and some other links. Do Zika-vectoring mosquitoes suck Digitaria juices in Florida? How would these juices affect viral maintenance in the vector?

 

[badger2]

When Azospirillum inhabits the root cells of Digitaria grass, the association produces aminolevulinic acid. Aminolevulinic acid kills HIV-1 virus.

HIV Virus / Warts / 5-Aminolevulinic Acid
Treatment of viral infections with 5-aminolevulinic acid and light. - PubMed - NCBI

Which would be less beneficial for Zika virus vector mosquitoes: an Azospirillum-infected Digitaria or a non-infected Digitaria?

 

[badger2]

For melanoma, a cancer-preventive task is to monitor the melanocortin 1 gene.

Hispanics and Skin Cancer
Hispanics May Think They Can't Get Skin Cancer, But They're Wrong

 

[badger2]

The Daily Cardinal, Spring Welcome Back Issue, 2018 Legislators Seek to Resurrect Conservation Corps to Tackle Higher Ed Affordability Crisis
'A new bill could revitalize a dormant program from last century to create environmental conservation jobs for some of the nearly 70 percent of young people struggling with higher education costs and student debt in the state.

The Wisconsin Conservation Corps would hire state residents between 16 and 25, half of whom must be high school students or graduates from families making no more than double the federal poverty level.

These young people would then be put to work constructing and improving trails, restoring forests and prairies and stabilizing stream banks, among other projects, according to the text of the bill.

Workers would be eligible for funds from Americorps, a federally funded network of domestic nonprofit organizations, which could be paid out in the form of tuition assistance, student loans or vocational training.
....
State Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, and state Rep. Jeff Mursau, R-Crivitz, have garnered several bipartisan sponsors seeking to revive the corps, which was eliminated by Democratic Governor Jim Doyle and GOP legislators in 2004 in an attempt to mitigate a $3.2 billion budget deficit.'

The mental and physical benefits of the CCC have been mulled over by badger2 for the last several years, so it was refreshing to see this. Long ago, badger2 received a diploma from the North American School of Conservation, which was a mail-order course based in Long Beach, California.

It is not the prestige of a certain institute but the little piece of paper signifying the completion of an intended goal, that makes for mental (and physical) health progress.

 

[badger2]

Having arrived at the Girl Scout Camp just above Cuba, New Mexico, badger2's work involved clearing trees away from the buildings that had survived the blizzard. Porcupines were in other trees, and elk came into camp in the evening to graze. The surrounding country produces that famed New Mexican enchantment of which golden memories are made.


Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps - Wikipedia

 

[MadChemist]

What is the point you are trying to make ?

 

[badger2]

Daily Cardinal, Spring Welcome Back Issue, 2018 Trump's Censorship is Authoritative, Harmful
'Fetus. Diversity. Transgender. Vulnerable. Entitlement. Science-based. Evidence-based. These are all words that the Trump administration has chosen to ban from the budget proposals of the Center for Disease. While the Department of Health and Human Services claims that no list of banned words exists, it is easy to understand the implication directed towards CDC employees: there may not be an official list, but using those particular words in your proposals will get you in trouble. CDC employees who like their jobs will undoubtedly refrain from putting these newly proclaimed buzz-words in their reports.'

Proving that the Leopold Trajectory thread is correctly placed here on the Healthcare forum, is this Ap 2016 CDC report:

Haematospirillum (Rhodospirillaceae) / Human Blood Isolate
Haematospirillum jordaniae gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from human blood samples. - PubMed - NCBI

Novispirillum (previously Azospirillum itersonii, previously Spirillum itersonii) shows aminolevulinic acid linked to healthcare grasses of New Mexico (and elsewhere) mentioned in this thread, used as a topical to kill basal cell carcinoma, and this closely-related chemistry occurring (inside [italics]) the human body via this organism.

Future New Mexico CCC workers may include not only stream-bank erosion control workers, but also more technically savvy workers that look for sampling areas and micro-habitats for the conservation of natural resources.

 

[badger2]

H. jordaniae is named for Jean Jordan (The Candy Lady), an unsung heroine of the CDC, which will sooner or later link with our development of a Japanese alphabet: the first example of the alphabet will be used in conjunction with Jean Jordan's counterpart, Yasuke Terasaki, from the Suzugamine Women's College in Hiroshima.

 

[badger2]

Here is an example of coming close to using a taboo buzz-word: 'Overexpression of shh (human HH Drosophila homologue) in transgenic mice induces features of basal cell carcinoma."

A decent site for medical browsing that includes a near-taboo word such as "evidence-based":
www.senseaboutscience.org

This is a cutting-edge article proving the cost-effective approach that opposes surgery via photodynamic therapy for basal cell carcinoma, further reinforcing the Leopold trajectory:

Jan 2018 Spain / BCC
Comparison of treatment of basal cell carcinoma between surgery and intralesional photodynamic therapy: a cross-sectional study. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[badger2]

For a basal cell carcinoma example, healthcare costs depend on the type of lesion, amongst other factors such as arsenic ingestion which is environmental. The risk seems to be accumulative ultraviolet radiation in childhood (an Italian study), not adulthood. A study in the Netherlands showed that the incidence of bcc in transplant patients was 10 times higher than in the general population.

Basal Cell Carcinoma
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmi.327.7418.794
'....The overall age and sex standardised annual incidence in Minnesota, USA, was reported at 1246 per 100,000. In Australia, the incidence is much higher at 726 per 100,000. In white populations in North America, the incidence has increased at more than 10% a year, leading to a lifetime risk of 30% of developing basal cell carcinoma. With an ever-increasing elderly population, the disease is likely to become more of a problem in the future. Indeed, the prevalence of this cancer will probably be greater than that of all other cancers combined.
....
Skin type 1 (always burns, never tans), red or blonde hair, and blue or green eyes have been shown to be risk factors, with an estimated odds ratio of 1.6. Recreational sun exposure in childhood seems to be an important risk factor, an Italian study calculated an almost five-fold increase in risk for an average summer holiday exposure of more than eight weeks throughout childhood (before the age of 20 years).. Outdoor occupation after the age of 20 years was not associated with an increased risk of bcc. This suggests that childhood and adolescence may be critical periods for establishing adult risk for bcc and may explain why studies have failed to find a large impact of increased cumulative sun exposure in adulthood on the risk of bcc.
....
A recent study looking at the use of sunbeds by young women with bcc has shown a non-significant (P= 0.351) increase in the average number of lifetime tanning bed exposures compared with the control population.
....
The most important clinical subtype is the morphoeic basal cell carcinoma. These have a more aggressive natural history and ill-defined borders, making complete excision under direct vision difficult. These types of basal cell carcinoma can be difficult to diagnose clinically and often present late. Some of these tumours can be huge and devastating to the patient, needing lengthy plastic surgical reconstructions and causing much cosmetic disfigurement. They account for approximately 5% of all basal cell carcinomas.

The risk of developing a squamous cell carcinoma is increased slightly after a basal cell carcinoma, with a 6% risk at three years. Patients are at increased risk of developing malignant melanomas -- an American study showed a multivariate risk of 2.2, a Danish study found a standardised incidence ratio of 2.64, and a Swedish study showed a six-fold increase in men developing malignant melanomas after a diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma and a four-fold increase in women. This risk is presumably related to exposure of ultraviolet radiation.'

 

[badger2]

should read 146 per 100,000

 

[badger2]

Future conservation corps work may monitor Aldo Leopold's "conditions in the field." Botulism-causing genus, Clostridia links to spirillum-like organisms associated with grass roots:

'....spirilla-like rods containing numerous lipid bodies which usually made up more than 80% of the culture. No Azotobacter, Beijerinckia, ad very few Clostridia were seen. The latter were more frequent and sometimes became dominant in earlier attempts, where test tubes with 5ml medium in a 7cm layer were used.'
(Dobereiner J, Day JM, Associative Symbioses in Tropical Grasses: Characterization of Microorganisms and Dinitrogen-Fixing Sites)

 

[badger2]

Linking to Yasuke Terasaki's Japanese spirillae to spirillae in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness grasses expedition is the Clostridium connection we have already shown for botulism in avians. This toxin, however, further links aminolevulinic acid produced by these spirilla to brain cancer.

The aminolevulinic acid connection is on chromosome 1p36.2

Neuroprotective 5-Aminolevulinic Acid / Neuroblastoma
Neuroprotective effect of 5-aminolevulinic acid against low inorganic phosphate in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. - PubMed - NCBI

The botulin toxin connection is on chromosome 1p36.1

Botulin Toxin Treatment of Schwartz-Jampel Syndrome
Botulinum toxin A injections for the treatment of Schwartz-Jampel syndrome: a case series. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[badger2]

Because aminolevulinic acid is also used for glioma imaging, these connections hold promise for inoperable therapies:

2017 Candidate Neuroblastoma Gene 1p36.2
http://www.ncbi.nlm.niyh.gov/pubmed/20878080

 

[badger2]

Suppression of RIZ in biologically unfavourable neuroblastomas. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[badger2]

We tracked the first Spirillum genus through name changes, arriving at Novispirillum itersonii itersonii ATCC 12639. The genome has been sequenced, and is shown at JGI, verified as producing 6-aminolevulinate synthase (EC 2.3.1.37).

If this organism occurs in New Mexico, and especially in Gila or Aldo Leopold Wilderness, then Leopold's "field conditions" for grasses (1909) take on fresh implications for future research. ATCC 12639 also links to CDC's human pathogen, Haemaspirillum, which genome is not yet available.