Hey there, Colorado, and welcome to a different version of The Temperature, the place this week we’re diving deep into parasites and air pollution. However, with Thanksgiving now behind us, we additionally should be aware of the season that’s actually bearing down upon us: It’s open enrollment time!
If you’re nonetheless weighing your Medicare choices, a reminder that you’ve till Dec. 7 to choose a plan. We’ve put collectively an knowledgeable information on navigate your Medicare selections, and in case you’d like extra, the video from our hourlong panel dialogue with Medicare specialists is embedded within the story. Click on right here for all the information.
In the meantime, in case you are seeking to buy insurance coverage by yourself, you could have till Dec. 15 to pick a plan in an effort to have protection that begins Jan. 1. And we’ve you coated there, too. Subsequent Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m., we’re internet hosting a stay, digital panel dialogue with state Insurance coverage Commissioner Michael Conway, Join for Well being Colorado CEO Kevin Patterson, and medical health insurance dealer Meagan Fearing to assist individuals select the protection that’s finest for them.
The occasion is free; all you’ll want to do is register for the occasion hyperlink. Go to ColoradoSun.com/occasions to register. And when you’ve got questions you’d like us to ask the specialists, ship them to questions@coloradosun.com.
Now, let’s get to the information.
HEALTH
Are your cats attempting to kill you? No, in all probability not, however their parasites could be.
Let me inform you a horror story.
A single-celled parasite that appears like a tiny spec of orzo pasta infects you. Nevertheless it doesn’t suck your blood or siphon off a few of your meals after which be on its manner. As an alternative, it burrows into your muscle tissues and varieties cysts that present a long-term hideout.
Solely, that’s not the creepiest factor it does. It additionally infects your mind and hunkers down within the amygdala, the a part of the mind concerned in regulating feelings. From that perch, it has the power to vary your habits in ways in which profit it.
That is the story of Toxoplasma gondii, and the story above is what occurs to rats when contaminated by it. Research have proven that rats contaminated by T. gondii lose their concern of cats, which makes them a simple meal. That is nice for hungry cats, nevertheless it additionally works out nicely for the parasite, which simply so occurs to breed within the digestive tract of cats (with out harming them) and is unfold via cat poop.
“So there’s a few winners,” deadpans College of Colorado professor Christopher Lowry.
“It makes it sound just like the pathogen is controlling our minds, nevertheless it’s form of a co-evolutionary relationship.”
Neat?
The potential downside for us is that we will be collateral harm on this transmission cycle. People may also be contaminated by T. gondii and never simply via contact with cat poop. Consuming unwashed greens or undercooked pork or lamb — pigs and sheep may also be contaminated — also can end in an an infection, although it usually doesn’t make you acutely sick or require hospital therapy.
And it seems that this an infection is shockingly widespread. Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology who research the hyperlink between neural perform and emotional habits, stated roughly 10% to fifteen% of individuals in america present proof of a earlier T. gondii an infection. In different nations, it could be a lot greater — Lowry just lately labored on a examine taking a look at individuals over the age of 65 in Spain and Portugal that discovered previous an infection charges of 67%.
In order that doubtlessly makes T. gondii a serious participant in human well being. However what does it do to us?
For starters, there’s some proof that it does impression human habits and probably make individuals much less risk-averse. One examine concluded that individuals who had been contaminated by T. gondii usually tend to trigger automobile accidents. One other says individuals with an an infection are extra entrepreneurial. (Lowry cautions that these findings are relative to all kinds of character elements — it’s not like everybody with an an infection is racing down I-25 prefer it’s a Formulation One course.)
However Lowry and a few colleagues needed to find out about different potential penalties, which brings us again to that examine on individuals from Spain and Portugal. Lowry and his co-authors from CU, the College of Maryland and numerous universities in Europe checked out measures of frailty in older individuals and examined whether or not there was a connection to a T. gondii an infection.
They discovered — deep exhale — that there isn’t. Simply taking a look at what is known as seropositivity, which is whether or not somebody has ever been contaminated, there was no correlation between an an infection and frailty later in life.
However they did discover an affiliation between frailty and what’s referred to as serointensity. In different phrases, T. gondii could also be linked with frailty in individuals who have been contaminated so much.
Lowry stated this may occasionally should do with irritation brought on by the parasite, particularly sure strains of it.
“The extra typically you’ve been contaminated, the extra typically you could have been uncovered to a pressure that produces a stronger inflammatory response,” he stated.
General, Lowry stated the takeaway from the examine, which was revealed earlier this month in The Journals of Gerontology, is extra of a be-aware form of message than a be-afraid form of message.
“From a really big-picture perspective, being contaminated will not be a horrible factor, with one exception,” he stated. “If infants purchase the parasite from their moms, that may have actually detrimental results. In order that’s why it’s at all times suggested that pregnant moms don’t change the kitty litter throughout being pregnant.”
Even in case you are not gestating new life, you’ll be able to shield your self by altering the litter field each day and washing your fingers nicely afterward, by avoiding stray cats and the areas they hang around, by completely cooking meat, and by rinsing fruit and veggies earlier than consuming.
MORE HEALTH NEWS
ENVIRONMENT
New calls for for watchdogging Suncor arrive with new experiences of air pollution releases
The Suncor Refinery retains extending its document of unintentional poisonous air releases into the air above its Commerce Metropolis neighborhood. And an environmental group targeted on air air pollution cites the latest incidents as but extra causes to pursue a brand new lawsuit towards the EPA for greenlighting Suncor operations.
The Heart for Organic Variety sued the EPA on Nov. 17 within the tenth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals, saying the company ought to have rejected Colorado’s working allow renewal for the jap portion of Suncor, referred to as Plant 2. After demanding modifications from state well being regulators, the EPA accredited many of the Plant 2 allow and continued its objections solely on a portion of environmental teams’ petitions concerning open information.
Permitting the remainder of the allow to remain in impact will worsen Entrance Vary air air pollution as Suncor dirties the air at charges above the EPA’s personal limits, the lawsuit claims.
“Our knowledgeable modeling and the state’s modeling confirmed the allow permits violations” of EPA ambient air requirements, stated Ryan Maher, a CBD workers legal professional. The allow permits Suncor to “approximate” emissions moderately than measuring precise air pollution and beginning to lower it, worsening air high quality for the neighborhood that already suffers disproportionate environmental impacts, Maher stated.
“That is particularly egregious given the lengthy historical past of noncompliance on the facility, and the weak, cost-of-doing-business fines that Suncor has acquired in these enforcement actions that do transfer ahead,” Maher stated. In September, for instance, the EPA fined Suncor $161,000 for producing gasoline with an excessive amount of benzene, whereas additionally requiring the corporate to purchase $600,000 in clear garden tools for 9 metro-Denver counties with extra ozone.
Suncor’s western portion, Vegetation 1 and three which might be awaiting a allow renewal from the state, reported air violations from malfunctions on Nov. 19, the middle famous. The report says the malfunction prompted exceedances of carbon monoxide releases for 14 hours, and for sulfur dioxide from flaring gasoline for 12 hours.
Suncor despatched an announcement saying, “The Commerce Metropolis North Denver Air Monitoring community of sensors inside a 3-mile radius of the refinery didn’t detect any ranges above the acute well being reference pointers throughout this occasion. As well as, information from Suncor’s fenceline monitoring system signifies that measured compounds had been beneath detection.”
Firm spokesperson Leithan Slade stated they may not touch upon the lawsuit.
Cautious or insomniac Solar readers may recall the EPA can also be below assault from the middle and from different environmental teams for approving the state of Colorado’s anti-ozone plan. The teams declare the EPA can not legally approve the plan as a result of it fails to carry the northern Entrance Vary counties into compliance with EPA ozone limits in coming years. That swimsuit was additionally filed within the tenth Circuit, in July.
Solar readers can hear extra in regards to the Suncor lawsuit later this week at ColoradoSun.com.
MORE ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Colorado’s COVID season continues to be raging on — final week noticed the second-highest variety of individuals hospitalized with the virus within the state this yr — however the public’s will to do one thing about it isn’t bringing the identical depth.
In a brand new ballot, the most recent in its collection monitoring public attitudes about COVID-19 and the vaccines designed to thwart it, the Kaiser Household Basis discovered that half of U.S. adults aren’t taking any precautions this yr to protect towards an infection or transmission. Meaning no masks, no testing and no avoiding massive gatherings.
Solely 20% of individuals polled stated they’d acquired the up to date vaccine booster shot, whereas one other roughly 28% stated they undoubtedly or in all probability would get the shot. That leaves the bulk saying they in all probability or undoubtedly gained’t get the vaccine booster.
Final week, there have been 280 individuals in Colorado who had been within the hospital for a case of COVID. For reference, final yr’s fall wave peaked within the final week of November at 440 circumstances. The state’s all-time peak for hospitalizations got here within the first week of December 2021, when there have been 1,847 individuals hospitalized.
You’ll be able to learn the complete report on the KFF ballot right here.
CLIMATE
HEALTH
Hey, you made it to the tip of one other Temperature! Since we took final week off, we’re late to saying that we’re grateful for YOU and your help of native journalism. Could your celebrations be merry and your impulse management be unaffected by brain-burrowing parasites this vacation season.
We’ll see you again right here subsequent week.
— John & Michael
