Parademic Notes Week Ending 170312

-1. Disputed Information, 2. Trumpcare - ACA, 3. Magic + Neuropathy, ↕4. Mosquito Borne, 5. Medical Anthropology, 6. Lyme + Mice + Trees, 7. Cooperation + Time, 8. Anthropocene Fiction, 9. Munchausen Allergies, 10. Ebola + Prosilience, 11. Urban Foci of Disaster, 12. Anti-Semitism, 13 Food + Disease, ↕C. Communications.

Tags: Economics, Targeting Hospitals, Legal, Magic, Fact/Fake, Forced Immigration, ACA Repeal, Trump, Medical Scams, Anthropocene, Global Health, Parademic, Syndemic, Fukashima, Witchcraft, Mosquito, Lore, Communication, Disease, Vectors, Deforestation, Cooperation, Science Fiction

-1. Facebook Has Started to Flag Fake News Stories, pinning a “disputed” tag on fake news, as part of its “we’re going to fight fake news but there’s only so much we can do” campaign. It will be accompanied with a warning label, along with links to fact checking sites explaining why it’s not true. This won’t say it’s “not true” — just that it’s “disputed”. This is not the policy of the Parademic website. There is a “science, liberal, conservation” bias due to the fact that articles related to behavior in the context of biodisaster tend to be found in science, liberal and conservation oriented sources. But where possible different perspectives and searched for and included (except when it is so redundant to be painfully boring). For the most part material is not labeled as humor of other indicators it is in error. However; there are topics that do get labeled because the are parademic related one such as pseudoscience, scams, conspiracy theory How Psychology Makes Sense of Trump’s Conspiracy Theories*, unexamined assumptions. First off as the curator I don’t believe that I am omnipotent to make such socially constructedjudgements that something is fake. Later testing of evidence can prove such an assessment wrong, albeit evidence is not always accepted, and a future test of that test can confirm or contradict* 3↓, but not always Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Study Reveals How Eyewitness Testimonies Go Wrong. ¶ Moreover one of the devices used to keep Parademic as a website from being widely popular is that it insists on being a vehicle to practice critical thinking skills, to agree or disagree based on one’s own cognitive skills. This requires an investment of time and mental energy that most will not find worth the investment of questioning (when other sources will give the answers), interpretation (when other sources will tell you the right interpretation in easily understood language). The working assumption is that if there is a spike in interest then a syndemic* biodisaster has accelerated. At that time the  knowledge and belief no longer are functional, coupled with recognition that humans are a major factor of the syndemic and part of solving an accelerated biodisaster. *Reports of Medical Breakthroughs Often Don't Prove out,  170305-C.1↓.

            -*A. Syndemic requires not only viewing biothreats as being integrated with everything else that is part of the biosphere (which includes humans), but the ability to act against interactive biothreats. NCHHSTP Program Collaboration and Service Integration (PCSI). PCSI is a mechanism for organizing and blending interrelated health issues, activities, and prevention strategies to facilitate comprehensive delivery of services. The following is a continuation of 170305-12↓. Syndemics and the Biosocial Conception of Health. The syndemics model of health focuses on the biosocial complex, which consists of interacting, co present, or sequential diseases and the social and environmental factors that promote and enhance the negative effects of disease interaction.

            -1.1. Biology Education in the United States: The Unfinished Century (2002). With sufficient historical perspective, historians will, I predict, make at least three significant observations about the 20th century. First, it would be difficult to imagine any historical perspective of the past 100 years without highlighting science and technology. Indeed, in a survey, journalists and historians were asked to select the top 100 news stories of the 20th century, and 45 percent of the stories they chose related directly to science and technology; 12 of the 45 are directly related to biology, health, and education, themes for this essay. ¶ As we entered the 21^st century, biology had a revolutionary leap in knowledge, the long term impact of which is difficult to imagine. Although the advances in cell and molecular biology are truly remarkable, history may well show that the contemporary advances were only at the threshold of our understanding of living systems, from molecular to global levels, and that many of the advances had associated ethical and social issues. ¶ Second, because of advances in technology, particularly in communication and travel, the globe has become, in effect, a community whose citizens learn of significant events almost instantaneously. Such information may be good news or bad, about advances in science and technology or about natural disasters, civil strife, and cultural conflicts. Awareness of global issues is only a first step in understanding and managing ourselves in a global community. ¶ Third, historians reviewing the 20^th century would have to note the rise of constitutional democracy. This idea has spread from a vision of a few political thinkers to a reality in many countries that originally had very different forms of government, governments that had denied citizens political liberties and some of the fundamental freedoms required of the scientific enterprise.

            -1.2.  A few years back Parademic observed that the level of biological understanding needed for parademic concepts was the highschool level Where are the Common Core Science Standards, Essential Standards: Biology - North Carolina Public Schools, California Biology: High School. What was not considered at the time was that this core of biology was not widespread, and was the current highschool students. Those students have not moved on with the same level of understanding while the biology has also moved on, and that decision makers of today have an understanding of biology (if any) at the highschool level of twenty to forty years ago. Actually is some cases the understanding of some policy makers is the same as 350 years ago, which is not much different from the level of understanding during the previous 10,000 years. An even smaller group has a contemporary understanding of biology. As far as I am aware none of these people are currently in a position to directly inform national policy makers about the global biosphere. An excellent book to make up this weakness, without having to read a high school biology textbook and then ponder for months about the social implications, is #Book An Unnatural History of Emerging Infections, Excerpts. ¶ It would also be helpful if policy makers in government would have factual and not mythological knowledge about government. Trump Offers Planned Parenthood Funds If it Halts Abortions, its president spurned the proposal and noted that federal money already is not allowed to be used for abortion. Right Wing Media’s Favorite Myths About Planned Parenthood, Myths and Facts on Taxpayer Funding for Abortion, How Planned Parenthood Actually Uses its Federal Funding. Public Clinics Fear Federal Cuts to Planned Parenthood Would Strand Patients, Chuck Schumer’s Claim That ‘Millions of Women Turn’ to Planned Parenthood for Mammograms, 160515-9↓. ¶ It has also been pointed out before that MD’s are not necessarily scientists or have a better understanding of biology outside their specialty (and even within their specialty 3↓). They are in no way immune from the same foibles of other humans, Ben Carson Told HUD Staff He Could Zap Their Brains into Reciting Whole Books Read 60 Years Ago. ¿What?, Ben Carson Just Got a Whole Lot Wrong About the Brain. Morally Deficient, [Tweet]. ¶ A watch for, if the idea of parademic and BioTrumpism is valid (a hypophysis I would rather not get a natural experiment to test). IfTrumpism begins to fail there will be a default to the civil war_(Search) threat to stay in power 170220-6T↓. ∩ This behavior has already been exhibited by apparent supporters of Trumpism, and groups that are analogues to BioTrumpism IS Gunmen in White Lab Coats Kill 30 in Kabul Hospital, 170305-5.2, 170129-5↓+.

            -1.3. Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Teams with NTI and the Economist Intelligence Unit to Develop a Global Health Security Index. The mission of the index is to encourage progress towards a world that is capable of preventing epidemics of international impact (either natural, accidental or deliberate) from arising, or, should, prevention fail, respond quickly to contain them. In the first phase of this project, our team is focusing on developing a framework (i.e., the value, principles, attributes, and major components) to assess and compare countries’ levels of health security. To help inform the development our framework, we are convening next month an international expert advisory group. Once we’ve developed our framework, we will begin the process of assessing, collecting, and analyzing data on a country by country basis. This sounds like it may consider human factors such as biopolitics, cooperation, health and science literacy, misinformation, infrastructure funding, trust, etc.

-2. Perspectives on the Heated Health Law Politics and What’s at Stake for People. Seven editorial pages thoughts on the continuing political debate surrounding health care and concerns about how some people might be affected by proposed changes to the health law. With ‘Trumpcare’ on Horizon, Voters Go Wobbly on Repeal. With Holy Grail of Repeal in Sight, Leadership Gears up to Muscle Bills Through Despite Opposition. Pence: Despite Best Efforts of Activists, Americans Know ‘Obamacare must Go’. Older Adults Could See Premiums Spike by 25% If Health Law Is Repealed. Medicare Is Not ‘An Open Question’ for the White House, HHS Secretary Says. House Leaders Brace for the Task Ahead: Selling ‘Obamacare Lite’. The GOP Health Bill Doesn’t Know What Problem It’s Trying to Solve. Conservative Media Versus the GOP Healthcare Bill. Trump’s Health Care Bill Is the First True Test of His Powers as Salesman in Chief, Conway: ObamaCare Bringing out ‘Deal Maker’ Trump. [Cartoon]. Some Estimates Project Millions of People Losing Health Coverage. But Ask Top Republicans, and You’ll Get a Different Story, Trump Aides Attack Agency That Will Analyze Health Bill's Costs. KHN Joins Team to Parse Lawmakers’ Lingo on Health Law 2.2, 4.2.1↓.

            -Quote: I may not understand what you say, but I’ll defend to your death my right to deny it. – Albert Alligator [Cartoon]

            -2.1. Another parademic behavior associated with BioTrumpism is Donald Trump, Bad Science, and the Vitamin Company That Went Bust, If I Can’t Trust Donald Trump, Who Can I Trust (2011), The PrivaTest: Another Scheme to Sell You Something, 170220-1.9↓. [Meme, Meme, Meme, Meme, Lampoon, 3↓]. The Trump Network Was Scandalous. The Government’s Response May Have Been Worse. Despite years of complaints, the FTC did not shut down Ideal Health/Trump Network. In fact, it remains in business today, sold to another network marketing company. The FTC had plenty of avenues of inquiry. Pyramid schemes are illegal. Companies distributing false advertising to employees or customers are breaking the law. Health experts have blasted the Trump Network’s signature product, a multivitamin customized after the consumer performs a urine test, as having no redeeming value despite costing hundreds of dollars a month. Incidentally, Trump’s recent endorser, former presidential candidate Ben Carson, also hawked nutritional supplements of dubious value, another business that the FTC could have gone after.

            -2.2. All of this contributes to the increasing probability that Trump Has Set the US Up to Botch a Global Health Crisis. 1) Trump hasn’t named a CDC director and could cut 12 percent of its budget and don’t forget 170219-T.2↓. 2) “America first” doesn’t work during pandemics 170305-1.1A↓. 3) Trump has advocated for closing borders to countries dealing with outbreaks. That’s dangerous 170220-1.9↓. 4) The fallout from Trump’s travel ban could hamper research collaboration that could save lives 170226-5.1↓. ¶ BioTrumpism will also likely botch a national health crisis ACA Repeal Would Mean Massive Cuts to Public Health, Leaving Cities and States at Risk, Obamacare Repeal and Trump’s Spending Plan Put CDC Budget in Peril, GOP Health Bill Would Cut CDC's $1B Disease Fighting Fund, Is Trump Prepared for the Next Epidemic, DAY 47: Obamacare Vs. The GOP’s New Health Plan. However Much Trump Spends on Arms, We Can't Bomb Ebola 4.2↓ [Cartoon]. This may be in part due to not recognizing that in health terms the world is already globalized 170305-1.1A↓. [Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. Tweet. Cartoon]. ¶ There is another bill that has been unnoticed that will unravel other employment and health privacy laws, House Republicans Would Let Employers Demand Workers’ Genetic Test Results, Health Organizations Warn about “Regulatory Reform” Bills Sweeping Congress, 2↑, 4.2.1↓. ¶ An apparent paradox is New Policies Would Threaten Autism Research, Don't Be Distracted: The Real Issues in Autism Are Threats to Funding, Services, where one would think catering to anti-vax supporters would be desired. However if one already knows the cause (vaccines) then no need to research, and why risk proving oneself wrong.

            -Quote: His tweets showed panic, bad judgment, and a disregard for science. Not a great mindset for a president facing an epidemic. – Ron Klain. Data matters – but only the right data really matters. Turn the telescope around. Nothing replaces face to face time. Recognize and respect fear. Don’t over solve problems.

            -Quote2: What CDC does is probably more important to the average American than, in a sense, the Defense Department. You’re much more likely to be killed in a pandemic than you are in a terrorist attack, so you need to look at it that way. Those investments are extraordinarily important for the protection of the country. – Tom Cole

            -2.3. It was indicated in 170220-3.2↓ those who was selected to fill key positions are harbingers of policy direction and how it would be implemented. This is a refinement of that idea. However note that these are guilt by association, like ad hominem attacks based on a previous job or other association with a negatively viewed organization. At this people these people have not been associated with negative actions in their new positions. Meet the Hundreds of Officials Trump Has Quietly Installed Across the Government. Swamp denizens, including health care lobbyists hired by HHS Secretary Tom Price ¶ Alexandra Campau was formerly a lobbyist in Washington for the law firm Cozen O’Connor. The firm’s clients included a licensee of insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Fresenius Medical Care, a German company that specializes in medical supplies for renal dialysis. ¶ Timothy Clark, senior adviser to HHS Secretary Tom Price, ran his own political consulting firm in California. His past clients included PhRMA, the powerful trade group that represents the pharmaceutical industry. ¶ Keagan Lenihan, another senior adviser to Price, was a director of government relations at McKesson Specialty Health, a firm that supports independent health providers, where he directly lobbied HHS. For Lenihan, the new post represents a return trip through the revolving door between government and the private sector, and a reunion with an old boss. Before registering as a lobbyist, she was a senior legislative assistant for Price, when the now HHS secretary was in Congress. Asked about the three HHS staffers, a spokesperson (old PC term, not present PC) said: “We are not confirming or commenting on personnel at this time”, 170305-1.3↓. With Gottlieb the FDA Nominee, Biotech Breathes a Sigh of Relief. ¶ Why You Can't Keep a Secret. A constant theme in the Communications (↕C) stubs is that the reasoning of for hiding Outbreak Communication to avoid panic, economic damage, or hurting prestige (hide errors or wrong doing) tends to have the opposite consequences. 160424-2↓.

            -2.4. ∩ Uncertain if this would be comparable to forced migration from a biodisaster due to war, genocide, famine, disease outbreak, toxic contamination*, or climate change, but I am certain that an iconic photo of a child frozen to death would have major impact 10*↓. Ralph Goodale Wants Answers from U.S. on Asylum Seekers Crossing into Canada. Researchers Say Iconic Photo of Syrian Boy Sparked Change. [Sign, Photo, Photo, Photo Note the Stars and Stripes jacket]. The fleeing behavior was not anticipated in 170220 but should have been part of 6 Conditions of Uncertainty. Visceral fear responses of Flight, Fight, Freeze, Awareness,170220- 8.2, 170205-TA↓, should have been expected with populations that had already endured and escaped the above listed biodisasters/syndemics. Trumpism had advocated and in implementing mass deportation and building a wall as part of its rhetoric/logical fallacies, 170205-T↓, that ignore the non-refoulement principle. 160529-6↓. There Is a Rules Based International Order. It’s Just Not Omnipotent, Global Health Security: International Health Regulations (IHR). ¶  If true this has gotten a new wrinkle Canada Says Most Border Crossing Asylum Seekers Were in U.S. Legally, How America's Idea of Illegal Immigration Doesn't Always Match Reality. This may be equivalent to having a parademic without a biodisaster, just the perception of one. These people have a prior experience with escape, that even with legal status are perceiving facing the same things, resulting in behavior as if it is real, Learning How to Be a Doctor in the Shadow of Trump’s Wall, The Revised US Refugee Ban, Health, and Security. ¶ There is even an example of a default to a technological solution to a medical problem, rather than finding a social solution. However this tech solution does have social aspects. Could This Chatbot Prevent Some Deportations. This social aspect of technology could also be what is causing this behavior with local stories about checkpoints, shootings, border stops, hostile attitudes, official white supremacy and raids, along with world news Bulgarian Vigilantes Patrol Turkey Border to Keep Migrants Out, Out on Patrol with Heavily Armed Civilian Vigilantes on Arizona's Border with Mexico, Trump’s New Ban Halts Travelers from 6 Nations. The Dark Psychology of Dehumanization. ¶ A concurrent behavior is self isolation such as gated, membership only communities, echo chambers, cult compounds and 7 Doomsday Bunkers for Surviving the Apocalypse, No Matter Your Budget, usually represented by those preserving a real or imagined status quo 170220-8.2↓.

            -*. There are however examples of depopulated areas from forced migration due to a toxic release, in this case radiation. These have resulted in parademic, which like biodisaster can remain hidden (160117-13↓) from those not directly affected. In a sense the anniversary of the disaster that in done by the news is a form of memorial_(Search) 160821-10↓, [Photo] Japan Marks Fifth Anniversary of Devastating 3/11 Disasters, [Photos] Chernobyl 30^th  Anniversary: Ukraine's Tearful Memorials to Those Who Died in the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster. The Lonely Towns of Fukushima. Thousands of people fled from their homes, offices and schools six years ago after a devastating earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. To this day, few have returned, leaving behind ghost towns where eerie signs of the departed linger under a caking of dust. ¶ One of the impacts of a depopulated areas is that other populations, usually plants and animals or humans if the area is safe, to repopulate the area. Six Years After the Fukushima Disaster, a New Danger Looms: Radioactive Boars [Photo, Photo, Cartoon], 170205-12, 160410-3.1↓. In Fukushima, Abandoned Pets Are Multiplying, \fs24cf2 The Radioactive Man Who Returned to Fukushima to Feed the Animals That Everyone Else Left Behind, Study Reveals the Impact of the Fukushima Catastrophe on Plants and Animals, Six Years After Fukushima Disaster, Life Finds Way Back to Deserted Towns. ¶ The Chernobyl Diaries – Fact vs. Fiction, The Powerful Resonances of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker. Fun with Conspiracy Theories: Did the Chernobyl Disaster Cover up Something Even Worse, Some Thoughts on Fukushima, Conspiracy Theorists and Science Communication, The Most Blatant Fukushima FUD to Date. [Cartoon, Cartoon]. [Art, Art. Art, Art]. 160731-8↓. Fukushima Disaster Evacuees Told to Return to Abandoned Homes. 27,000 people who fled after the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six years ago have been told they must return to their homes or lose housing subsidies, despite lingering concerns over radiation in their former neighbourhoods that were outside the mandatory evacuation zone inside the mandatory evacuation zone. ¶ There is also a very individual, personal dimension of grief beyond the larger community experiencing grief 170122-11.1↓+. Patton Oswalt Explains How Pop Culture Gets Grieving All Wrong.

-3. ‘Essentially Witchcraft’: A Former Naturopath Takes on Her Colleagues. Britt Hermes once considered herself a doctor. Now, she’s an apostate. Hermes spent three years practicing naturopathy, a broad reaching form of alternative medicine that focuses on “natural” care, including herbal remedies, acupuncture, and the discredited practice of homeopathy. But unease about a colleague’s ethics led her to look more closely at her profession — and what she found alarmed her. So for the past two years, Hermes has been waging a scathing fight against naturopathy on social media, in science blogs, and on her own website, Naturopathic Diaries, which just won a “best blog of the year” award from a scientific skepticism magazine in the United Kingdom. She has not pulled punches. Is Dubious Cancer “Doctor” Colleen Huber Cybersquatting My Name. Naturopaths appear so frightened by my criticism of their quackery infused profession that they are registering domain names using my legal name. Even When Children Die, Naturopaths Refuse to Blame Each Other. Though I have referenced her infrequently she is a name I tend to read when I run across her articles since I first saw her at Science Based Medicine ND Confession, Part 1: Clinical Training Inside and Out. Like other bloggers who contest alternative and pseudomedicine she has her own trolls, Britt Marie Hermes Change.org petition – Fact Check – Part 1, Part 2. Trolling highlights the slipperiness of evidence 1↑ and snake oil doctors [Cartoon] 2↑. The Witchcraft she refers to is sympathetic magic [Chart], 170220-6.3↓+, and probably traditional herbal healers/shamans [Photo]. As Feared, Houston Cancer Quack Stanislaw Burzynski (Mostly) Slithers Away from Justice Again 1.2, 2.1↑. ‘We’ve Become Witch Doctors’: Prestigious Hospitals Embracing Alternative Medicine, Medicine with a Side of Mysticism: Top Hospitals Promote Unproven Therapies, Why Do Prestigious Hospitals Sell Snake Oil, 5.1↓. The Mainstream Press Finally Notices Quackademic Medicine. ¶ And like other witches, sometimes they are killed Widower: Slain Naturopath Said 'Chemotherapy Is for Losers'.

            -3.1. Parademic behavior does not need a biohazard to manifest. Apparently TV can be a pathogen reservoir. How a Soap Opera Virus Felled Hundreds of Students in Portugal. The “Strawberries with Sugar” outbreak is just one example of mass hysteria, which goes back centuries. Teens Suffer Soap Opera Virus (2006). 5 Disorders Caused by the Internet, TV, Magazines and Movies: 1 Truman Show Delusion. 2 Münchausen by Internet. 3 Conversion Disorder. 4 Paris Syndrome. 5 Mean World Syndrome. [Cartoon, Cartoon, Cartoon, Cartoon, Cartoon]. This leaves out another parademic that also originates from media, specifically healthrelated commercials, March 6, 1899, Bayer Patents Aspirin. This is both inventing conditions to market a cure, and the over generalizing to a conspiracy that all disease is invented so that it can be capitalized on, 8 Invented Diseases Big Pharma Is Banking on. The Scourge of Troponipenia.

            -3.2. Information Avoidance: from Health to Politics, People Select Their Own Reality. People deliberately avoid information that threatens their happiness and wellbeing. Researchers show that, while a simple failure to obtain information is the most clear cut case of 'information avoidance,' people have a wide range of other information avoidance strategies at their disposal. They are also remarkably adept at selectively directing their attention to information that affirms what they believe or that reflects favorably upon them, and at forgetting information they wish were not true. Am skeptical of this because it agrees with my own observations and biases about peoples relationship with information. However if true does explain so much of parademic behavior. C↓.

↕4. The Sydney Suburbs Hit Hardest by Surging Ross River Virus Outbreak. Scientists believe the biggest season for Ross River Virus in living memory – after inland flooding in spring created the perfect breeding conditions for mosquitoes that carry the disease – may be coming to the end. More than five times as many people contracted the virus in December and January than did over the same period last year, with 560 notifications compared to 96 last year. In the first six weeks of this year alone 430 people have been affected. 170226-4↓. Unfortunately an early warning of a health related outbreak from a flood cannot be stated with certainty. If given a strong emphasis then people may disregard future warnings if it does not come true, if the threat is understated then people will wonder why they were not warned, Do Outbreaks of Mosquito Borne Disease Always Follow Floods, Ross River Virus Warning Follows Increased Numbers of Mosquitos in Victoria. The worst case is when there are conflicting messages.

            -4.1. Experts Fear Yellow Fever Outbreak in Brazil Could Reach the U.S. With at least 326 confirmed cases, Brazil is experiencing its worst outbreak among humans in decades, and officials worry travel related cases could occur in warmer parts of the U.S., including the Gulf Coast states and Puerto Rico. 170226-4↓. Warmer Weather Could Bring Fresh Zika Misery. [Photo].

            -4.2. We Can’t Bomb Zika 2.2↑. As budget priorities are realigned by the Trump administration, we continue to track non-military shock risks. ¶ October 2016 in the US and its territories the number of pregnant women who had been positively diagnosed as carriers of the Zika virus was 2298. Now – in spite of the fact that we have been in the “off” season for mosquitoes that carry the virus – the number stands at 4759, a 107% increase. And the total number of US citizens infected with Zika has grown from 25,694 to 43,380, an increase of 69%. ¶ Most critically, the number of babies born with microcephaly and/or other birth defects in the continental US has climbed from 21 last September to 47 now (counting only live births). An August 2016 estimate was that as many as 270 babies in Puerto Rico might be born with microcephaly. That estimate was developed at the point when the number of Zika cases in pregnant Puerto Rico women was only about 60% of what it is today. ¶ Since then its been learned that babies born with Zika often suffer not only microcephaly but a whole range of devastating birth defects, including decreased brain tissue; damage to the back of the eye; joints with limited range of motion, such as clubfoot, and excessive muscle tone, restricting movement soon after birth. This pattern is now referred to as congenital Zika syndrome. GOP Obamacare Repeal Plan Could Hurt Fight Against Zika, Hepatitis, Other Health Problems 4.2.2↓.

                        -4.2.1. Anticipate that there will be more and more legal action against the EPA_(Search), and use of official position for personal gain, in the coming months. Public Health's Important Role in Climate Change Litigation. Although public health was a primary argument in the 2007 landmark Massachusetts vs. EPA case that led to the regulation of greenhouse gases, it has so far been  underutilized by pro environment plaintiffs, in part because the former plaintiff has gone to the dark side and being defunded [Meme, Button]. One Climate Lawsuit Could Change Everything. The Trump Administration Doesn’t Want it Going to Trial. EPA Chief Makes Strongest Statements Yet Rejecting the Science of Human Caused Climate Change, Pruitt's Climate Change Denial Is Easily Refutedby the EPA’s Website. The Creeping, Quiet Gaslighting of the EPA, Trump to Propose 24 Percent Cut in EPA Spending, Scott Pruitt Is a Clear and Present Danger to American National Security [Photo]. Day 38: A Timeline of the EPA. Legal, probate, labor issues and enactment of legislation often times accompany parademic, but this is another area that was not anticipated for 170220-8.14 Parademic Not Observed. This usually happens much toward the tail end of a bioevent, but apparently much faster is social disruptions. House GOP Advances Bills Sought by Doctors, Businesses to Limit Malpractice Awards, Create Class Action Hurdles 2, 2.2↑. ¶ The New Theory of Economic 'Agrowth' Contributes to the Viability of Climate Policies may be a way between hurting the economy by saving the environment and hurting the environment by saving economies (temporarily). The Mispriced Risk of Infectious Diseases. Global business leaders and investors are largely transfixed by two kinds of risk: macroeconomic and geopolitical. In the near term, this means a focus on the US Federal Reserve's impending rate hikes and the upcoming elections in France and Germany. Over the longer term, it means awareness of structural risks like high sovereign debt, demographic shifts, and natural resource scarcity. But there is a third, arguably more pernicious, risk lurking below most decision makers' radar: infectious diseases. Coming to believe that I had the economic impacts of biodisaster being the first indicator of a biodisaster accelerating is incorrect 170220-4, 170212-T4, 170129-8, 160403-9↓+

                        -A. Economic impact is not an indicator of  awareness of a biodisaster, but an indicator of parademic. The association with a biodisaster may remain unknown, or the economic circumstances blamed on something else. For most people economics probably trumps biosphere damage, they only become motivated to do something about biodisaster not because of threat to life, but threat to their income and wealth. Most of BioTrumpism is probably not so much against nature, but against what interferes with profit. BioTrumpism is probably not politically motived, but profit/business motivated using politics as the vehicle for its agenda. 170205-T.3↓.

                        -4.2.2. One suspects that Palm Beach, Florida, where Mar a Logo is, will have lots of mosquito spraying and no cases of Zika 4.2↑. This would be consistent with decisions in office that remove impediments to profit in his businesses that also could foster turf diseases [Chart] and mosquitos Miami-Dade County stands ready for Mosquito Season 2017. Trump's Golf Courses Would Benefit from His Water Rule Rollback, The Grass Has Never Looked Greener at Trump Golf Courses. Donald Trump and the Environmental Cost of Luxury Golf, Trump Golf Resort and Scottish Planners Clash over the Environment [Photo], Mosquito Madness [Photo]. Why Farmers and Ranchers Think the EPA Clean Water Rule Goes Too Far. ¶ The Mystery of Donald Trump and the New Jersey Cemetery. One would think he would want a tower 170305-13↓. ¶ Apparently there have been a number of injuries and complaints related to Trump’s Florida golf course, Mar a Lago Caddy Injures Shoulder Carrying Heavy Set of Classified National Security Briefings Around Golf Course, 170219-T↓.

-5. #Book: The Routledge Handbook of Medical Anthropology [Cover] provides a contemporary overview of the key themes in medical anthropology: the clinic and the field, bioscience and medical research, infectious and non-communicable diseases, biomedicine, complementary and alternative modalities, structural violence and vulnerability, gender and ageing, reproduction and sexuality. Lenore Manderson, Elizabeth Cartwright and Anita Hardon’s The Routledge Handbook of Medical Anthropology. Ethnographies of medicine, suffering, and war have covers with nuanced photographic figures of belabored people arguably make these books more compelling and help them win awards. These also raise ethical questions about the images.

            -5.1. One of the fields that makes up the interdisciplinary field of anthropology is folklore. Medical Lore in Modern Pediatric Practice. Examples of modern medical lore that are passed down from doctor to doctor are commonplace in pediatric medicine and share similar features with the most egregious examples of medical pseudoscience 3↑. This is part of a far larger context of formal education and informal (lore) education. As words are only a small part of communication – most of it is nonverbal body language, eye contact, proxemics, tone, dress, etc, Is Nonverbal Communication a Numbers Game. Learning knowledge likewise is not only instruction from certified people, it comes from classmates, outside the classroom, play, humor, personal experience, reading other than assigned books, debate, questions, “old timers” sharing their experience, bull sessions, etc (unfortunately no studies on the ratio). True that SLA_(Search), mis remembering, changes, misinterpretation and misinformation will creep in, but this happens in all human behavior that involves any form of communication*. This is not a valid reason to dismiss of medical lore as being invalid. There is lore of bedside manner, patient care, in group information, symptoms, zebras, jargon, how to manage the doctors or nurses or administrators, etc, that cannot be taught openly, only learned when the opportunity arises. Medicine is both Art/Science, specifically the balancing of the two. The clinical side teaches how to treat a terminal infectious disease patient, the human side teaches providing palliative to a child dying of Ebola. [Sign]. * Telephone Game. Effective Communication: Stop Playing the Telephone Game. ¿Hello? The Broken Telephone Game and its Implications for Effective Knowledge Sharing. 6.1↓.

            -Quote: Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability. – William Osler. Many of his quotes are part of the lore of evidence based medicine.

            -5.2. This is a different approach than SB277_(Search) [Photo]. Rather than mandatory vaccination, this requires education for those who do not want to immunize. However it is not about teaching vaccines are safe, but what to do to prevent getting others sick but what to do when there is an outbreak and one is not immunized. BYU Professor’s Immunization Bill Passes House and Senate.

-6. The repeated pattern of people changing a biome, and then moving in next to the reservoirs. Forbidding Forecast for Lyme Disease in the Northeast 8↓. Lyme disease is spreading, and this summer is shaping up as a whopper. Why has the tick borne illness gotten so bad. The answer traces back to something the colonists did more than 200 years ago. ¶ There is an early warning system for the disease a year in advance by looking at one key measurement: Count the mice the year before. The number of critters scampering around the forest in the summer correlates to the Lyme cases the following summer. ¶ The explanation is simple: Mice are highly efficient transmitters of Lyme. They infect up to 95 percent of ticks that feed on them. Mice are responsible for infecting the majority of ticks carrying Lyme in the Northeast. And ticks love mice. An individual mouse might have 50 to 100 ticks. ¶ When the Europeans came hundreds of years ago, they clear cut nearly all of the forests to plant crops and raise livestock. They also cut down trees for commercial use to make masts for ships, and for firewood. Since then a lot of the forest has come back – but it's not the same forest as before. Today it's all broken up into little pieces, with roads, farms and housing developments. ¶ For mice, this has been great news. They tend to thrive in these degraded, fragmented landscapes, because their predators need big forests to survive. Without as many foxes, hawks and owls to eat them, mice crank out babies. We end up with forests packed with mice –  mice that are chronically infected with Lyme and covered with ticks. All these little patches of forest dotting the Northeast have basically turned into Lyme factories, spilling over with infected ticks. ¶ Then people come along and do the darndest thing, they build their dream homes right next door. Humans are putting themselves in these areas where they're most at risk. Chopped Up, Forest Fragmentation May Increase Lyme Disease Risk . [Photo, Art] 170226-2.1↓. This is probably a continuation of behavior from 200,000 years ago, with the difference that there are fewer pristine places to move to Modern Hunter Gathers Relocate to Maximize Foraging Efficiency, The 'Dark Matter' of the Microbial World.

            -Quote: History may be divided into three movements: what moves rapidly, what moves slowly and what appears not to move at all. – Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. This is longue durée 170305-2↓. not that dissimilar to parademic LISAT_(Search), Long Information - Situation Awareness - Trends. For example longue durée (LISAT) of  the parademic economic impact of French Foie Gras Bill Will Swell with Bird Flu Overhaul, the methods to produce and the potential profits it represented, fostered avian flu: Foie Gras Producers Dealt Body Blow as Year Long Export Ban Extended Following Bird Flu Outbreak, 170122-8, 161211-6,  Say Au Revoir to France's Foie Gras (Only For a Bit) in the database at 160508-10↓, How Forbidding Foie Gras Increased the Appetite for It (2015), How Much Is Too Much (2011) , and Ban It, or Ready for Avian Flu Pandemic (2006).

            -6.1. H5N1 posted a related article that has a different emphasis, and commentary, than I would use. Example of the different meaning to the same information as per the process of 5.1↑. US: Powassan, Heartland and Bourbon Viruses Spread by Ticks (Beyond Lyme: New Tick Borne Diseases on the Rise in U.S.). (Commentary) As if we didn't have enough damn tick borne viruses to worry about. A very disturbing post: Powassan, Heartland And Bourbon Spread By Ticks. After describing what happened to one young man who contracted Powassan virus on Cape Cod, the report continues: (Excerpt) Over the past 60 years, the number of new diseases cropping up per decade has almost quadrupled. The number of disease outbreaks each year has more than tripled since 1980. The U.S. is no exception. The country is a hot spot for tick-borne diseases. In the past 50 years, scientists have detected at least a dozen new diseases transmitted by ticks.

-7. Multilab Replication Project Examines Cooperation under Time Pressure. In 2012, a trio of psychological scientists reported research showing that people who made quick decisions under time pressure were more likely to cooperate than were people who were required to take longer in their deliberations. ¶ A new multi laboratory effort was partially successful in replicating those results. In the original study, participants who did not follow the instructions to respond quickly (or slowly) were excluded from the data analyses. In the replication project, about 65% of participants failed to adhere to the time pressure constraints, and the results depend on whether or not such noncompliant participants are included in the analysis. When noncompliant participants were excluded, as in the original study, the pattern replicated the original results: People responding under time pressure cooperated at a higher rate than those who had to delay their responses. However, when those non-compliant participants were included in the analysis, time pressure had little or no effect on cooperation. The findings raise questions about the best approach to measuring the relationship between time pressure and cooperation. ¶ The original study tested one prediction of the social heuristic hypothesis, which holds that when people make cooperative decisions intuitively, they default to the behavior that is typically optimal in their daily lives. Because cooperation usually pays off in the long run for most study participants, this means that their automatic responses should favor prosocial behavior. Given time to make a more deliberative decision, though, decision makers tend to make more selfish responses.

-A. This has implications for parademic where cooperation is the key critical factor for survival. There is the additional complication that biodisaster does not initially have cues that it needs rapid response, much less indicators that if response in early the biodisaster can be mitigated if not prevented completely. Moreover; if people willfully do not comply with public health measures then cooperative response is neutralized. This non-compliance factor is seen repeatedly in parademic and non-cooperation is the basis of biopolitics. Biopolitical non-compliance is probably compliance with a different set of rules than those who are cooperative. Finding the balance between thoughtless compliance of the rules and thoughtful non-compliance of rules is not easy, and constantly changes. That is why self inflicted injury type of biopolitics succeeds, because people will cooperate with what is against their best interests because that is the right thing to do, or they have no means to counter those in power who have self serving interests, to include those in power able to inflict severe penalties for non-compliance with their dictates. [Cartoon, Sign, Cartoon, Cartoon, Photo, Cartoon]. There is also the factor of Prisoner’s Dilemma, except one of the prisioner’s knows what the other prisoner’s decision will be, 170219-3 et al↓, One in 5 Residents Overuses Electricity at Neighbors' Expense. How the World’s Richest Doctor Gave Away Millions — Then Steered the Cash Back to His Company.

-8. Science Fiction in the Anthropocene 170305-9↓, 6↑. The ultimate literature of the imagination calls upon us to do more than merely invent or imitate the apocalypse. 170220-6.6↓. #Books Science Fiction and the Risks of the Anthropocene: Anticipated Transformations in Dale Pendell's The Great Bay, Anthropocene Fictions: The Novel in a Time of Climate Change,  Rising Tide on a Steel Beach: SF Dreams the Anthropocene, Hot Tomorrow: The Urgency and Beauty of Cli-Fi, Love in the Anthropocene, Buck and Petal Chill the Anthropocene, Michael Charles Tobias Pens New Novel, Codex Orfeo. Science Fiction and Utopia in the Anthropocene, Less than One but More than Many: Anthropocene as Science Fiction and Scholarship in the Making, How America’s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future, Climate Change Is So Dire We Need a New Kind of Science Fiction to Make Sense of it, Can Science Fiction Help Us Dream Our Way out of Disaster. [Poster, Art, Cartoon, Strip, Art, Cartoon]. ¶  Could this movie be seen as a metaphor for the dangers of human encroachment on nature Box Office: ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Climbs Toward $47 Million Opening, Humans Are the Real Monsters, Kong: Skull Island Omits the Most Important Part of King Kong’s Story [Cartoon, Cartoon, Meme]. What It’s Like Writing Fiction in the Uncertain Era of Trump, Margaret Atwood Connects 'The Handmaid's Tale' to Current Politics, 170220-6.6, 170129-T.3.2↓. The Twilight Zone Can Make You a Better Person. Really.

-9. False Penicillin Allergies Fuel Superbugs – and Doctors Are Fighting Back. Up to 15% of patients in the US will say they're allergic to penicillin. That's tens of millions of people. But studies have shown that when those patients are challenged with tests, more than 95% turn out to be dead wrong. Reminds one of the fads of food allergies – nuts, gluten Low Gluten Diets Linked to Higher Risk of Type 2 Diabetes, health foods, Good Hydrations: Are Health Drinks Healthy – vaccine allergies, and other attention getting devices by using Munchausen. Allergic Form of Meadow's Syndrome (Munchausen by Proxy). No, Anti-Vaxxers, I Don't Have Munchausen by Proxy – but You Might, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy – A False Diagnosis to Blame Parents for Vaccine Injuries and Deaths. Patients More Likely to Get Flu Shots When Doctors Make Appointments.

-10. #Document. Producing Ebola: Creating Knowledge in and About an Epidemic. Try to remember what it was like during the fall of 2014. Ebola was always in the news, the virus was spreading and people were dying at an increasing rate in West Africa. Although there should have been ways to stop it, more and more people were falling ill. In the US, there was near panic about the possibility of it coming here. Informative and well written. Only problem with it is that this is now the tail end of Winter 2017*. Not what I would call timely material to inform policy and decisions. Likely that this will not be read as it no longer applies, and then for the next outbreak it won’t be found until after it is over (if it is ever found). The parademic website takes the opposite tack of being too fast and likewise can’t be found to be interrogated/searched with questions to apply and solve current problems. 170226-10↓.

            -*. The group that probably was most responsible for the Ebola fear mongering, overlaps with Climate Change Deniers, who are now ignoring early spring and emphasizing the late snow storms. Collectively these overlaps are BioTrumpism. 2.4↑. Curbing Climate Change Has a Dollar Value –  Here’s How and Why We Measure it.

            -10.1. #Glossary: I like this idea of a concept that is Better Than Resilient – Prosilient.  Resilience is an important idea in many fields, from psychology to ecology to economics – all three being part of parademic and impact of biodisaster. In psychology, resilience means the ability to recover from difficult life events such as illnesses, setbacks in love and work, and bereavement. In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to disturbances such as global warming by recovering quickly from damage. In economics, resilience is the capability of an economy to respond to shocks such as stock market crashes and return to prosperity. Resilience is a more powerful response than sustainability, which maintains the status quo. A resilient system is not just one that doesn’t change, but more importantly one that can deal with changes by recovering from them. ¶ Even better than resilience is the ability of a person, ecology, economy, or other system to respond to difficulties by getting better, not just recovering to a previous state. I propose to use “prosilience” to capture this idea. This word already exists in English although it’s not in most dictionaries and just means “prominent” or “jumping forth”. In my proposed usage, prosilient isn’t being proactive, which requires acting in advance to deal with anticipated problems. The world is often too uncertain to enable us to be proactive, but we can respond to unexpected events by trying to improve our overall situations rather than just reverting to the previous state. Moving Beyond Resilience to Prosilience, Buzzword Watch: Prosilience, CERT Looks at How to Move from Resilience to ‘Prosilience’.

-11. The Urbanization of Disaster Management. Page 1, The Risk Landscape in Cities Urban areas face specific security risks. Technological disasters are especially common in cities as centers of industry and infrastructure. They are also focal points of political and social conflicts. Cities are characterized not least by their social and technical density. The damage potential from hazards, such as pandemics or terrorist attacks, is therefore particularly high. Disaster management in urban areas is becoming more and more important. Chart of page 3 places 2014 – 2015 Ebola epidemic, as a Social disaster, not a Natural one. Does not specify why. Poverty, density, slow response, panic, social disruption, economic downturn, potential of reigniting civil war.

-12. The Internet Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Bigfoot. Lizard People. Paul is dead, and Elvis isn’t. Aliens [Photo]. It’s the stuff conspiracy theories traffic in, and it’s mostly harmless. The outbreak of Jewish cemetery vandalism and more than 100 bomb threats made against Jewish community centers. Anything but. Spend enough time lurking around the conspiracy community’s tangled webs of red string, the lines lead back to a single “culprit”: a Jewish shadow government bent on world domination. This anti-Semitic fear mongering held sway a thousand years ago, when Christians portrayed Jews as baby eating, well poisoners spreading the Black Plague. Since then, the story hasn’t changed. But every time an innovative communication technology emerges, anti-Semitism has surged to fill these new channels with hate. At the crux of The Protocols, a threatening cabal of cosmopolitan elites want to destroy the virtuous (white) nation state. That same formulation crops up in the contemporary alt-right’s outcry against “globalism” of 170305-1.1A, 170220-1.2 -6.5 et al↓.

-13. #Book. How Lemonade Helped Paris Fend off Plague and Other Surprising 'Food Fights'. Tom Nealon's new book searches through patchy historical records to trace subjects like how chocolate helped lead to war in the Caribbean, or the role a grain fungus played in the Crusades. Food Fights & Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste [Cover].

↕C. Missing the Signals:  India’s Anti-Vaccination Social Media Campaign. It is not just in the US and Europe where wealthier populations are among the most vaccine questioning.  India recently launched a one-month campaign to vaccinate over 35 million 9 month to 15 year old children with a measles rubella vaccine across five states. By the end of the first month of the campaign, it became clear that it was struggling to meet its goal. A different kind of campaign was circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook – fuelling a mix of conspiracy theories, safety concerns, and questioning around why the vaccine and the campaign were needed. What’s more, the rumours were taking hold in the wealthier southern states with generally the best education and health indicators in the country. ¶ Last year, though, there were already signals of waning confidence reported in the newly launched National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2015-2016). While showing progress in immunization uptake in the poorer states, where an extra effort had been made, wealthier states were reported to have declining coverage. The most dramatic drop in immunization coverage was in Tamil Nadu – a decline of 10% over the past decade. ¶ With such clear evidence of waning vaccine confidence reported in the recent National Family Health Survey, an extra effort to dialogue with already known to be hesitant communities before the campaign was launched, may have helped to build trust and allow for higher rates of vaccine acceptance. Actually there were other indicators of this trend before this, and there were actionsbeing taken, though obviously ineffective. Vaccine Derived Polio Spreading in “Polio Free” India, Anti-Vaxxers Gaining Ground in India Ahead of Mr Immunization Round, Why Malappuram District Has No Faith in Vaccination Drive (2016), India’s Vaccine Deficit: Why More than Half of Indian Children Are Not Fully Immunized, and What Can – and Should – Be Done (2011), India’s ‘Anti-Vaccine Mafia’ (which is in the archive of the original article), Alert Against Anti-Vaccination Campaign (2016), Health Department Failing to Hit Back at Anti-Vaccination Campaign, Indian Physicians Slapped with Anti-Vaccine Label (2010), Antivaccine Lobby Resists Introduction of Hib Vaccine in India (2010), Most Vaccine Related Posts on Social Media Are Anti-Vaccine, India Holds Bill Gates Accountable for His Vaccine Crimes (2014), Countering Anti-Vaccination Campaign Through Film. There may also be a continued influence from the UK that is anti-vax, Parental Concerns Reduce Uptake of Child Flu Vaccine. 3.2↑. Tamil Nadu Government Tweets Antidote for Anti-Measles-Rubella Vaccination Buzz.

            -A. The article also did not touch on the impact of Indian society and caste system on vaccination Understanding Disparities in Vaccination Coverage among Indian Children. The footnotes on page 23 indicate how strong caste still is in India: 2 Scheduled castes/tribes are identified by the government of India as socially and economically disadvantaged and in need of special protection from social injustice and exploitation; 3 Officially Referred to as Other Backward Classes (OBC) by the Indian Government but referred to in this paper as “less privileged classes”. My speculation is that the richer, better educated area are not only of higher caste, but feel somehow buffered from OBC. Similar to wealthy or religious seperatist communities in North America that likewise believe that they are not touched by the social problems and disease of the poor/middle classes and the religious others. How Motivated Skepticism Strengthens Incorrect Beliefs.

            -C.1. Worry Experienced During the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Pandemic in Korea. Korea failed in its risk communication during the early stage of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak; consequently, it faced difficulties in managing MERS, while disease-related worry increased. Disease-related worry can help disease prevention and management, but can also have a detrimental effect. This study measured the overall level of disease-related worry during the MERS outbreak period in Korea and the influencing factors and levels of disease-related worry during key outbreak periods. ¶ The overall level of MERS related worry was 2.44. Multivariate analysis revealed that women and respondents w very poor subjective health status had higher levels of worry. Respondents with very high stress in daily life had higher levels of worry than those who reported having little stress. The reliability test results on MERS related worry scores during key outbreak periods showed consistent scores during each period. ¶ Level of worry increased in cases having higher perceived susceptibility and greater trust in informal information, while initial stage of outbreak was closely associated with that at later stages. These findings suggest the importance of managing the level of worry by providing timely and accurate disease related information during the initial stage of disease outbreak. I question the survey about health caren . The survey seems incomplete in terms of factors that would influence the “worry level”, such as religion, political affiliation, family support and make up, if family or friends had MERS, proximity to hospitals or people from the MERS epicenter. Education category seems way to general. High School or lower would be fairly generic, but college and above is very diverse even with some courses being required of all college students, different college majors would mean very different areas of knowledge. An engineer would interpret MERS information than a musician, a biology major would interpret differently than someone with a history major. There was information about causes and impact of worry, but no definition of worry. Perhaps the Korean word for worry, geogjeong, has a very specific meaning to Korean speakers* that does not translate directly into English.

            * This does not appear to be the case given the alternative terms for the same concept in Korean, and the same word in Korean being used for what are different concepts in English. Also noted that only 3 of the 5 question in Q4 that asked about worry, in the Korean version, had the Korean characters for worry.