The Assassin Bug

Particularly if you are over 40 years old.

The Prune Seller from http://horinca.blogspot.com/2009/02/holy-pickles-of-chisinau.html

I was doing some research on feeding geriatric–uh, excuse me–senior cats, and I happened upon an article by veterinarian Andrew Sparks from Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, Volume 26, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 37–42.

If you weren’t upset enough about spending Saturday night alone researching  food for aging felines, imagine your mood after this excerpt:

Aging and Nutritional Implications in Humans

A full review of the changes associated with aging in humans is beyond the scope of this article. However, some of the important changes that may also have nutritional implications are worth highlighting ^{[1], [2], [3] and [4]}:

•In humans, food intake diminishes with age,⁵ and during each decade of life after 50 years of age, the calorific requirement drops by an average of 10% (as a result of a reduced metabolic rate and loss of lean tissue mass).

•Olfactory receptors and fibers notably decrease with age,⁶ resulting in a reduced sense of smell, and there is evidence too of a loss of taste associated with age. These changes can lead to loss of appetite and subsequent weight loss and malnutrition.

•Aging is associated with loss of maxillary and mandibular bone, causing erosion of tooth sockets, gingivial recession, and potentially tooth loss.

•There may be reduction in saliva production from some of the salivary glands (tongue, submandibular).⁷

•Pharyngeal contractions associated with forming a food bolus and initiating swallowing diminish with age, which can lead to delayed swallowing or swallowing difficulties.

•There is reduction in the lower esophageal tone, leading to a higher prevalence of gastro-esophageal reflux and “heartburn.”

•There is a decreased elasticity of the stomach wall and a reduced ability to accommodate large meals.⁵

•There is reduced gastric mucosal barrier function with reduced mucosal bicarbonate function and reduced prostaglandin synthesis, leading to an increased risk of gastric ulceration.

•Aging in humans is associated with shorter and blunter small intestinal villi, which will significantly reduce the surface area of the small intestine and reduce absorptive capacity.

•Lipid absorption is impaired in older humans.

•Small intestinal bacterial populations change with age, which can contribute to bloating, pain, and reduced absorption of calcium, folate, iron, and other nutrients.

•Large intestinal peristaltic activity declines with age, which can predispose to constipation.

•Exocrine pancreatic function may decline with age with a reduced functional mass, causing reduced secretion of chymotrypsin and lipase.⁸

•The production and flow of bile also declines with age, which may compromise fat digestion.

•Glomerulosclerosis and loss of functioning renal mass may reduce the ability to finely regulate electrolyte and acid-base balance and may predispose to hypotension or hypertension.

•A reduced secretion of somatotropin occurs in old age,⁹ leading to reduced protein synthesis and reduced lean body mass, a reduction in bone synthesis, and a decline in immune function.

•There is an age-related reduction in thyroid hormone (T3) concentrations that may contribute to reduced metabolic rate.¹⁰

•An age-related increase in circulating PTH concentrations occurs, which may contribute to reduced bone mineral density.¹¹

•An age-related reduction in aldosterone secretion is seen, resulting in a reduced ability to retain sodium, which may affect cardiovascular function.

•There is an age-related increase in cortisol secretion¹⁰ that may contribute to reduced bone mineral density.

•An age-related decrease in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity results in higher average blood glucose concentrations.¹²

•Skeletal muscles atrophy and there is a decrease in lean body mass with age, which results in reduced body strength and weakness.¹³ In some individuals this is severe—a change referred to as sarcopenia—and is associated with loss of muscle fibers, reduced muscle fiber size, replacement of functional fibers by noncontractile fibrous tissue, less efficient mitochondrial function, reduced blood flow to major muscles, and reduced motor neurone numbers.¹⁴ The reduction in motor neurone numbers may be the major underlying cause of the sarcopenia, but this will be exacerbated by reduced concentrations of anabolic hormones (see above). The loss of lean body mass contributes significantly to the reduced metabolic rate and reduced calorific requirement in old age.

•There is also a decreased stability and increased diversity of the intestinal microbiota with age.¹⁵

Now we know what made him so ornery and be away from work so often

c

The editorial staff woke up feeling tribal, political, embarrassed, and more than a bit peeved.

http://themetabug.com/2012/02/09/jews-we-wish-were-gentile-volume-iia/

The Meta-Bug visits Occupy Boston.

A Farewell to Rinderpest and Small Pox

On Aug. 8th, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted a ceremony at its headquarters in Rome to officially announce that the rinderpest virus had been eradicated. This marked the resolution of decades of coordinated effort to combat what had been, for centuries and possibly millenia, the most devastating and dreaded bovine virus. It now goes down in history as the only the second virus to ever be successfully eradicated.

Rinderpest had imposed a horrific toll on both animals and the communities reliant on them for commerce and sustenance. The most recent major outbreak in the early 1980s spread across much of Africa and cost at least $500 million in direct losses. Rinderpest, like many similar diseases, disproportionately ravaged less developed nations which depend more heavily on animals for food and draft power. While much of the recent history of rinderpest outbreaks can be measured in chiefly financial terms, the virus has contributed to extraordinary human suffering.

When it was introduced to Africa by Italians importing Indian cattle, the resulting outbreak killed an estimated 90 percent of the local cattle population. It also contributed to the Great Ethiopian Famine of 1892, which resulted in fatalities estimated to be as high as one-third of the country’s population. Local communities lost not only the animals they depended on for meat and dairy products for sale and consumption, but also the beasts of burden necessary for the tilling of fields and transportation of crops and goods. The huge number of cattle and oxen carcasses also helped provide the unsanitary conditions that fostered one of the worst regional outbreaks of cholera and small pox.

The eradication of rinderpest removes one more source of poverty and misery in the world. Of equal importance, it establishes that the eradication of small pox was not a one-off event, and that eradication efforts against other diseases can be successful. The campaign against small pox had been extraordinary, warranted by the extraordinary costs it had imposed on humanity throughout history. Edward Jenner, the man who discovered the first small pox vaccine, called it “the most dreadful scourge of the human species,” and with good reason. It was responsible for 300 million deaths in the 20th century alone, and as late as 18th century killed one of every seven children born in Russia, and one of every ten born in France or Sweden. It is responsible for more human deaths than any other virus, and far more than all human wars combined. As late as 1967, when the global initiative to eradicate it was restructured under the World Health Organization, it threatened 60 percent of the global population.

Today, the first time the average American student will encounter it is in an immunology class at their university or the OpenCourseWare of an online school. It is academic, or a curiosity, rather than a real threat. The eradication of both rinderpest and small pox was made possible due to successful regional elimination efforts combined with international coordination. The fact remains, however, that a live strain anywhere is a threat to everyone everywhere. In 1976, rinderpest had been contained to just three countries. The resulting complacency allowed for a massive spread of rinderpest throughout Africa and East and South Asia, including the aforementioned 1984 outbreak. This is a strong reminder of the importance of the total eradication of a virus in comparison to simple elimination. It also highlights the severe obstacles posed to eradication effort by regional underdevelopment and conflicts.

In 1998, Sir Gordon R. Scott of the Center for Tropical Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, who was a longtime leader in the effort, gave a bleak appraisal of the prospects for rinderpest eradication based on a concern that still resonates today:

The major obstacle is man’s inhumanity to man. Rinderpest thrives in a milieu of armed conflict and fleeing refugee masses. Until world peace is secured, the nays win the argument.

Even though rinderpest was successfully eradicated, and the last naturally occurring case was only three years after Scott’s assessment, rinderpest repeatedly defied prior eradication efforts and had rebounded after being isolated in regions were people suffered from deprivation and violence. So had small pox. So does polio today. While polio cases are extremely rare and present in just a handful of countries, even a handful of cases can turn into a fresh epidemic if proper care is not taken. The decade of observation from the last case of rinderpest in 2001 to the announcement of eradication in 2011 was justified because as an eradication initiative winds down, so does the production of vaccines and the sense of urgency by governments and NGOs. During this period, a renewed outbreak poses an even greater risk because the resources to manage it have been dramatically reduced. This makes conflict zones and persistent humanitarian disaster areas a very real threat to the welfare of the rest of the world. Ignoring them is both a strategic and moral failing.

It’s important to look back on both our prior victories and our prior hardships. For the former, we are reminded of how severely and utterly devastating a viral outbreak can be, and by extension we are encouraged to be more vigilant. For the latter, we are reminded of what we have accomplished, through cooperation, coordination, and extraordinary effort and sacrifice. Small pox plagued our species, and claimed lives so routinely that it became a fact of life for much of the world. Today, its absence is just as taken for granted. With any luck, polio will soon be just as forgotten, as will many other formerly devastating diseases, once they are truly eradicated.