Link Banana

I know I know. Pigs! Flu! Pandemic! Mexico! Death! But this was news to me:

Birds are known to carry every single one of the 144 varieties of influenza virus, as defined by the shape of their surface proteins (ranging from the H1N1 strain to H16N9). For this reason, most scientists believe that all forms of the virus originated in birds and every flu is on some level a kind of bird flu.

UPDATE: This seems relevant, if not contradictory, to the above: Swine Flu Genes From Pigs Only. I suppose it’s partly a question of how generously you define “originated.”

An interesting disease discussed at some length in a rather old (and good) episode of Bloggingheads:

 A striking feature of LNS is self-mutilating behaviors, characterized by lip and finger biting, that begin in the second year of life. Neurological symptoms include facial grimacing, involuntary writhing, and repetitive movements of the arms and legs similar to those seen in Huntington’s disease. The direct cause of the neurological abnormalities remains unknown. 

In the discussion, Richard Preston uses the more jarring name “self-cannibalism.”

Alex Kotlowitz has a fascinating article in today’s New York Times Magazine about CeaseFire, a group that hires “violence interrupers” to stop one spat of violence leading to others. A converted doubter:

“My eyes rolled immediately when I heard what the model was,” says Webster of Johns Hopkins, who is studying the Baltimore project. Webster knew the forces the interrupters were up against and considered it wishful thinking that they could effectively mediate disputes. “But when I looked closer at the data,” Webster continues, “and got to know more about who these people were and what they were doing, I became far less skeptical and more hopeful. We’re going to learn from it. And it will evolve.” George Kelling, a Rutgers professor of criminal justice who is helping to establish an effort in Newark to reduce homicide, helped develop the “broken window” theory of fighting crime: addressing small issues quickly. He says a public-health model will be fully effective only if coupled with other efforts, including more creative policing and efforts to get gang members back to school or to work. But he sees promise in the CeaseFire model. “I had to overcome resistance,” Kelling told me, referring to the introduction of a similar program in Newark. “But I think Slutkin’s on to something.”

Why are people more group-oriented in a place like Japan and more individualistic in the United States? One intriguing theory:

disease-causing microbes. Societies that evolved in places with an abundance of pathogens, they argue, had to adopt behaviors that add up to collectivism, for reasons of sheer preservation. Societies that arose in places with fewer pathogens had the luxury of individualism, which is less effective at limiting the spread of disease but brings with it other social benefits, such as innovation.

Among the false beliefs about the disease, this one seems the most unusual:

Among the most popular, and pernicious, conspiracy theories is that AIDS isn’t caused by a virus at all. Peter Duesberg, a biology professor at University of California-Berkeley, has argued that drugs and promiscuity are the principal causes of the disease in the United States. He attributes AIDS in Africa to malnutrition.