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Hyperthyroid / Graves' Disease – The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the throat. It regulates metabolism, body temperature, heart rate, muscle strength and mood. In the case of hyperthyroidism, also called thyrotoxicosis, the thyroid produces too much thyroid hormone. This can lead to:
- Nervousness
- Irritability
- Increased perspiration
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Hair loss
- Weight loss
- Intolerance to heat
- Too many bowel movements
- Less frequent menstruation / decreased menstrual flow
- Separation of nails from the nail bed
- Hand tremors
- Protruding eyeballs
Most cases of hyperthyroidism are caused by Grave's Disease, which is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks the thyroid and forces the thyroid gland to produce too many hormones. Graves' disease was first described in the mid-1800's by Dublin physician Matthew Graves, who treated three successive women with heart palpitations and overly large thyroid glands.
The trigger in Graves' Disease is currently unknown, however there are theories that a viral or bacterial infection may trigger the antibodies which cross-react with the TSH hormone receptor. The thyroid is normally tightly regulated by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, however with Graves' Disease the antibody interrupts the normal feedback mechanism that regulates production of adequate amounts of thyroid hormone, causing levels to be abnormally high.
Hyperthyroidism can also be caused by small lumps or tumors on the thyroid gland. Infection or inflammation of the thyroid can cause temporary hyperthyroidism and is much more common in women than in men. Without treatment, hyperthyroidism can lead to heart problems, bone problems, and a condition called thyroid storm. Other possibilities include nutrient deficiencies, stress, environment and certain medications.
Conventional Treatment
In the U.S., hyperthyroid is initially treated with radioactive iodine, which destroys part of the gland and permanently reduces its hormone output.
Certain drugs may be prescribed such as Tapazole to reduce hormone levels. Please see your doctor regarding the many side effects that can occur with Tapazole.
People with Graves' disease may be prescribed beta blockers including Inderal, Tenormin and Lopressor to relieve tremors and a rapid heartbeat. The side effects may include: excessive heart rate slowing, inability to raise heart rate during exercise, worsening of congestive heart failure, and confusion, depression or impotence.
Surgical removal of the thyroid includes a risk of damage to the vocal chords and the glands around the thyroid that help control calcium absorption. This can also lead to hypothyroid, requiring long term thyroid hormone medication.
Alternative Treatment
Testing for food allergies, parasites, yeast and heavy metals may be performed. Food allergies can cause similar symptoms to Graves' Disease, including an elevated heart rate, digestive troubles (malabsorption) and high cortisol levels (cortisol effects thyroid function). Find a local Naturopath to learn more about alternative possibilities.
Digestion and detoxification is the main focus while following an anti-inflammatory diet with a focus on foods that help suppress thyroid function is recommended:
- Use plant sources of protein including beans, legumes and nuts
- Eliminate dairy, wheat (all grains if digestion is compromised), gluten, coffee, nicotine and soft drinks
- Eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils including canola, safflower, sunflower, corn, soy, margarine, vegetable shortening and all partially hydrogenated oils. Use olive oil and coconut oil only.
- Eat plenty of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, peaches, pears, spinach, turnips, soy
- Fruit including apples and berries
- Wild salmon
- Use ginger and turmeric when cooking
Daily exercise will assist the thyroid, and enough sleep is important for the glandular system. It is ideal for the body if you fall asleep at 10:00pm, and to rise between 6:30am and 7:30pm. Working on stress management is very important since the wrong response to stress can be detrimental for a proper working thyroid. Use a chemical free laundry and cleaning line to create a chemical free environment, since chemicals have been connected with malfunctions of the thyroid.
If taking Beta BlockersQ-Best 100
Beta blockers disrupt CoQ10 production.
Additional Supplementation for Graves' OpthalmopathySelenium by Thorne Research
In the May 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a study done by the University of Pisa in Italy showed that the selenium proved effective when tested against both the drug pentoxifylline and a placebo in cases of Graves' opthalmopathy. Participants were randomly assigned to take two daily doses of 100 micrograms of selenium, 600 mg of pentoxifylline or a placebo. After six months, only the selenium was associated with improved quality of life, a slower progression of Graves'-associated eye disease and reduced symptoms.
1. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/hyperthyroidism-topic-overview
2. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART03115/Graves-Disease.html
3. Selenium Might Help Treat Symptoms in Graves' Eye Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. May 2011.


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Katherine Fromwiller and Michael Scancarello were married October 19, 2014 by Monsignor Jacques Plante at St. Mary's Church, Bristol, Rhode Island.
Katherine is the daughter of John and Patrice Fromweiller of Damascus, Oregon. Michael is the son of Jim and Fran Scancarello of Rush (formerly of Potsdam).The bride was escorted and given in marriage by her father.
Katherine is a 2006 graduate of Sam Barlow High School, Damascus, Oregon. She received both her bachelor's of science degree in civil engineering in 2010 and her master's of science degree in geotechnical engineering in 2011 from Case Western Reserve University. She is currently employed as a geotechnical engineer at AECOM in Boston.
Michael is a 2008 graduate of Potsdam Central High School, Potsdam. He received his bachelor's of science degree in civil engineering in 2012 from Case Western Reserve University, and his master's of science degree in advanced infrastructure systems in 2013 from Carnegie Mellon. He is currently employed as a structural engineer at Odeh Engineering in North Providence, Rhode Island.
The bride was attended by her matron of honor and sister, Erica Brill; bridesmaids, Mir Johnson, Marcie Aydelotte, and Tyler McClain; and flower girls and nieces of the bride, Kennedy and Madison Brill.
The groom was attended by his best man, Kevin Alland; groomsmen, Stephen Trefethen, Joshua Willis and Jeremey Ridley; and ring bearer and nephew of the bride, Ayden Fromwiller.
Lectors and readers included the bride's grandmother, Mary Fromwiller, the bride's brother, James Fromwiller, and the groom's aunt and uncle, Pat and Dave Haines.
The church musician was pianist and friend of the bride and groom, Mark Colozzi. The church cantor was soloist and friend of the bride and groom, Jenica Reed.
The reception was held at Lindon House, Bristol, Rhode Island.
The couple planned to honeymoon in New Zealand and afterwards to reside in Providence, Rhode Island.

subset: commoncrawl


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Often, a boiler can be returned to normal working order by resetting it. This is done by pressing the button or turning one of the thermostats to reset for 3 seconds before turning the stat back up.
Follow this simple how to guide to resetting your domestic boiler with step by step instructions from a qualified CORGI HomePlan engineer.
If your heating isn't coming on and you've checked the power supply and pressure you may need to reset the boiler.
It's a very simple and safe thing for you to do in your own home.
1. Refer to your boiler manual
2. Push the reset button for 10 seconds
3. Wait 2 - 3 minutes, the boiler should fire up
4. Repeat twice if the first attempt fails.
5. If the boiler still fails to fire up on the third attempt, double check the gas supply. If this is fine, it looks like you have a fault with the boiler and should call out an engineer.
6. If the reset button is protected by casing, do not attempt to reset the boiler yourself, call out a professional.


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<< back to Teachings at Green Gulch Farm
Location: Green Gulch Farm
In topic: General Topics in Buddhism
What Is Buddhist Enlightenment - Talk 4 - Suzuki Roshi - Green Gulch 9/30/18By Norman Fischer | Sep 30, 2018
Location: Green Gulch Farm
In topic: General Topics in Buddhism
Norman gives the Sunday Dharma talk at Green Gulch Farms On Suzuki Roshi's teachings on "What is Buddhist Enlightenment"?
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After talking with Logan from Boone Mountain Sports about all the great Golden Stones around this year, I decided to tie up this guy in size 8 and 10. These Silly leg Golden Stones are great and look very life like under water.
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Clear Creek River Update
As I drove home through the canyon from Loveland Ski Area today I could not help but let my mind wonder on still pulling some fish from the river. Gaps have formed in the ice and you can see the bottom clear as day. Envisioning my indicator meandering the flow between the sheets dragging a caddis pupa and midge larva across the bottom to sluggish trout. With the changes in the seasons and most of our local waters locking in with ice it is time to once again hit the tying bench and start replenishing our supplies for the next season. Don't get me wrong fishing isn't over. There are plenty of tail waters to explore still but, the cold not only makes the fish sluggish to fight it also does the same to me. Come join us for tying classes and what I have come to call " story time" at The Windy Saddle in downtown Golden. Talk to Brett the owner and tell him Jay sent you.


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Cornelia Goth (with Hecuba and Menelaus), Ginia Kat, and Tara Kat (Ginia is just an aged up Tara, who's face template does not change at all into the elder stage. Cornelia's doesn't either! I guess whatever Dina's peddling must be working!)
As was pointed out earlier, Mary Sue Oldie (spikey hair) and the Tricou kidlets.
Goopy Gilscarbo (of course) and Peter Ottomas.
And finally...
I can't believe nobody has pointed out who the matchmaker is yet! Maybe you're just not used to seeing her pull such devious facial expressions? (Well, probably more because I didn't include any closeups of her) Hint: I imagine her to be a mischievous ageless fairy who likes to mess with people's heads.
I can't believe I did three "social gathering" chapters in a row. Thankfully the next one won't have me swamped with so many characters!


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Thank you for giving to HARP.
The HARP (Hope and Recovery Pets) program leverages the benefits of human-animal interaction to improve mental health and wellness in individuals suffering from severe mental illness. ProMedica is proud to partner with the University of Toledo, the Toledo Area Humane Society and area mental health care providers to place homeless pets with individuals referred to this program. Food, supplies and veterinary care are provided by HARP at no cost to the participant for the duration of the animal's life. Join us in giving a "new leash on life" for those living with severe mental illness!
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Shaun White Signature Series O2 XS Snow Goggles
Over the years, the world has witnessed Shaun White earning medal after medal. We could give you the totals but by the time you read this, there will probably be more. Shaun's talent inspires our innovation, and he has long been part of the Oakley family. Our collaborative work is now expanding with new renditions that celebrate Shaun's unique style while delivering technologies that answer his performance demands. The Shaun White Goggle Collection takes the experience, insight and spark of a sports icon and lights the fuse of performance.
Lexan® lens material provides 100% protection against ambient UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light up to 400nm
Expanded lens volume for optimized peripheral vision
Fog elimination of dual-vented lens with F2 Anti-Fog coating
Glare reduction and tuned light transmission of Iridium® lens coating (optional)
Meets impact requirements based on ANSI Z87.1 and EN 174:2001 standards (Pending)
Flexible O Matter® chassis conforms to your face comfortably, even in extreme cold
Low-profile frame design provides increased visibility and improved helmet compatibility
All-day comfort of triple-layer foam with moisture wicking polar fleece lining
Textured inner frame surface for glare reduction
Discreet frame notches under strap anchors provide compatibility with many Rx frames
Oversized 50mm wide adjustable strap with silicone lining for versatile, secure fit


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I have been building my hope on lesser things instead of on Jesus' blood and His righteousness (as the hymn lyrics go). That's why I have been experiencing panic attacks of late, and irrational and illogical thought patterns. In the midst of this 40 day fast I've been on, God has been very faithful to break off some strongholds in my life, and continues to do so – but not before shaking my life until whatever is not of Him starts falling off!
As some of you know, my husband has been out of full-time work since October of 2009, with the exception of a 2+ month project. God has provided Ronnie with short-term projects and part-time work, while also providing me with one main web programming & audio/video client that allows me to bring in just enough to keep us going, along with my husband's unemployment. God even blessed me with 7 weeks where I basically made twice what I make right now, giving us the ability to put some money in the bank for emergencies, and pay off my last credit card.
Now check out this strange train of thought I was experiencing. Throughout my marriage, I would try to make sure there was $1000 in the bank account. That made me feel safe that we could always pay bills. If it dropped below that, I would panic. But $1000 was my "safety net" of sorts.
Well, during the 7 weeks when I made twice my normal amount, at one point, my bank account balance actually said $6,000+ (don't get too excited – I owed much more than that in credit card and home equity loans). I paid off my last credit card balance ($2,000+), but saved the rest of the money instead of paying down a large chunk of my business loan. ALL OF A SUDDEN, I didn't like seeing the bank account go below $4,000, or I would panic. Notice, it used to be $1000 was my comfort zone – but NOW I was unhappy and frantic if I went under $4,000!
I couldn't understand my paranoia and illogical thinking. Why was $1,000 in the bank no longer a comfort zone? Why was I clinging to this money like my life depended on it? It was making me miserable, especially since my earnings were cut in half after those 7 weeks, and there was no way to keep that amount in there or build it up more. I was OBSESSED with money like I've never been in my life!
THEN GOD BROKE ME. We got a letter from an outsourcing company appealing my husband's unemployment benefits. It was unheard of, illogical, petty, and totally without merit – but they STILL filed an appeal to take his weekly benefits away, and even worse, if they won, WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY BACK WHAT HE HAS BEEN PAID!
I was so nervous I was making myself sick. Ronnie seemed calm, but as the time came closer, he started worrying some. I kept asking God why I was freaking out. What was I afraid of losing? And finally He showed me – I was afraid of losing my house and everything we had. He also showed me that I had begun to trust in the money in my bank account and my ability to make money INSTEAD OF TRUSTING IN HIS DAILY PROVISION. I was storing up my manna, and it was stinking to high heaven because it was rotten – and I was sick from eating rotten manna!
So I had to make a conscious decision – if He was going to take our house, our bank account, everything, I would be ok with it. I was going to made the decision to trust Him. If we had to start over with nothing, it would just be another journey in this adventure with God, and I would trust that He would direct us and that souls would be saved and lives would be changed into the image of Christ because of it – if we were obedient with a good attitude.
Today was the telephone hearing. I had already called the outsourcing company several times. Everyone there said they would not and could not repeal the Appeal to take away Ronnie's benefits as late as this past Thursday. They were rude, or did not return calls. I knew we had absolutely no control over them or this situation, and we were at the mercy of God's hand. I kept asking people to pray for God's favor in this trial and the heart of the person in charge. I hoped that the woman Ronnie actually had worked with could make a difference. But then God gave me these words:
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand –
ALL OTHER GROUND was sinking sand.
He showed me that I had started relying on and trusting in my bank account instead of Him. He showed me that neither the woman at Ronnie's work nor the woman in charge of the hearing were who I should be trusting in. I was to trust in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness – only in the prayer I would pray in His name, only in the power of my Lord to sovereignly intervene in a supernatural way, only in Jesus to somehow defend us. I was to trust in HIM ALONE. So I sang that hymn all morning long, over and over and over again.
1pm today the phone hearing occurred. I got a call from Ronnie and he said that the company trying to take away his benefits CHANGED THEIR MIND AT THE LAST MINUTE and said they were repealing the Appeal! My husband NEVER HAD TO DEFEND HIMSELF – Jesus sovereignly intervened and CHANGED THE MIND OF THE ACCUSER! It never occurred to us that this option might happen, but it DID!
Then it gets better. My husband was offered a job interview this same morning. It went well and they immediately sent him for a second interview (after the telephone hearing). They really liked him. So they sent him back to the first place to get set up. They have offered him a good salary for a short term project – enough to take care of us for the next few months! We can definitely now say:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20,21)
So what have I learned?
- That God will show you what the root of your problem is by exascerbating it (making the problem WORSE), until you come to grips with the issue.
- He will NOT allow you to trust in something other than Him without dealing with it in a way that will definitely get your attention.
- But most of all, we are not to build our hope on anything less than the day to day, minute by minute grace and mercy our Saviour offers us. We can't hoard it or save it for another day. We can only live for Him moment by moment, listening for His voice and obeying as He commands.
What is God trying to show or teach you right now? What struggle is He trying to use to show an underlying hindrance in your relationship with Him? Ask Him to make it plain and be willing to receive whatever answer He reveals. It will be so worth it!
Penny Haynes


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The atom of evolution
The Atom of Evolution
Jong Bhak¹,²,³,4, Dan Bolser³,5, Daeui Park4, Yoobok Cho4, Kiesuk Yoon4, Semin Lee¹, SungSam Gong¹, Insoo Jang², Changbum Park¹, Maryana Huston³, and Hwanho Choi³
¹Biomatics Lab, BioSystems, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea, ²KOBIC, KRIBB, Daejeon, Korea, ³BiO Institute, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea, 4OITEK Inc. Daejeon, Korea, 5MRC-DUNN, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. 1)
The main mechanism of evolution is that biological entities change, are selected, and reproduce. We propose a different concept in terms of the main agent or atom of evolution: in the biological world, not an individual object, but its interactive network is the fundamental unit of evolution. The interaction network is composed of interaction pairs of information objects that have order information. This indicates a paradigm shift from 3D biological objects to an abstract network of information entities as the primary agent of evolution. It forces us to change our views about how organisms evolve and therefore the methods we use to analyze evolution.
Keywords: interactome, comparative interactomics, network biology, interfaceome, biological information objects
Bioinformatics and paradigm shift.
Bioinformatics is a scientific discipline that analyzes, seeks understanding of, and models all life as an information processing phenomenon on utilizing energy with methods from philosophy, mathematics, and computer science using biological experimental data. Due to its information processing nature, bioinformatics is one of the broadest and deepest scientific disciplines. All biological research is aiming to understand the architecture of information processing in life. For example, the analysis of genomes and genes is to discover the underlying linguistic rules of molecules (Searls, 1993) and the concept of proteins as computational elements (Bray, 1995). In this sense, the shortest possible definition of bioinformatics is: Bioinformatics is Biology and Biology is Bioinformatics. In the next 20 years, bioinformatics will become the core of biological education even in secondary school biology courses. The early 2000s is at the point where the conventional views of molecular biology should change with new revolutionary views in biology. One of them is the transition from the conventional object-oriented understanding of biology to an interaction-oriented understanding.
Objects and interaction
The concept of evolution is the backbone of modern biology (Darwin, 1859). Evolution is used to explain development and change in many different areas of human society. The word evolution is from the Latin evolvere meaning "unfold". It succinctly means "descent with modification of objects", whatever the objects are. For example, although a car is not a self-replicating organic organism, an evolutionary process appears to have occurred in car models. The cars were duplicated, changed, and selected as a result of the interaction of manufacturers and users: by observing the users' selection and through market research, the manufacturers made design decisions for each new model. As abstract information objects, the cars evolved as much as human hair evolved over time. Hair is a product of hair cells while cars are the product of human brain cells. Here, the more influential factors in development are the interaction and information rather than the objects themselves. This leads us to the question of what the fundamental evolutionary unit is in interaction processes.
1.The fundamental unit of evolution is the interaction pairs of biological information objects.
Among many biological information object levels, cell-cell interactions are not the most basic unit of evolution, as non-cellular entities, such as molecules and viruses, show evolutionary processes. Use of the molecular level was our choice out of a number of possible levels found in the evolution of life. Unlike cells, genes and proteins at the molecular level contain important biological information as ordered data. The interaction process we suggest as the most basic unit of evolution lies at the molecular level where individual genes and proteins interact as special information objects with consistently ordered sequences (Fig. 1). Below and above this level, it is not easy to define structural or sequence order information.
2. Interaction networks
An interacting molecular pair with internal order information is the most basic unit of evolution with the potential of being selected. An interaction network is defined as a system that maintains its pairing architecture over time. All information objects, such as genes and proteins, "know" precisely with what other molecules they should or should not interact within that network. The interaction network as the sum of molecular interaction pairs, is the most conserved information entity in biology. We will discuss several issues and research development toward molecular interaction network in the following sections.
2.1.Misinteraction: Many diseases including BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease) are the result of the wrong interaction of proteins. Misfolding is a kind of misinteraction among atoms. In the evolution of proteins, avoiding misinteraction is extremely important. Most venoms and toxins work by causing such misinteractions in cells. For many proteins' evolution, it is perhaps more important to avoid undesired interactions than to find the desired interaction partners.
File:Interacting domains 1.gif
Fig.1.Two interacting molecules: a protein complex of two structural domains. Domains are perhaps the most fundamental biological unit giving any meaning or function in life
2.2. Complexity of cells and cell compartmentalization caused by the limited interaction specificity of protein structures: There is nearly an infinite number protein sequences. At this very moment, new proteins are being synthesized by some unknown organisms as constant mutations occur in nature. Due to this ongoing process, it is theoretically not possible to map all the protein sequences. However, there seem to be fewer than 2000 distinct protein folds that represent the infinite number of protein sequences. In a small bactrium, 2000 types of interaction nodes can have enough specificity to avoid misinteraction. However, in a large eukaryotic cell, with the given 3D molecular objects, it is difficult to avoid misinteraction. A protein domain can have several different specificity and specific interaction interfaces; however, with many paralogs within a single-cell bag, it still reaches the theoretical limit to control misinteractions. Inevitably, this selection force, in order to have more diverse interaction types and their functions, drove cells to compartmentalize. This is an object and function encapsulation to make higher complexity information architecture.
2.3. Protein folding is a molecular interaction problem: Misinteraction between amino acid residues within a protein leads to problems in the protein folding process in general. Protein folding in action is an interaction problem. Protein regions and amino acid regions interact with other regions and residues to form a network that is evolutionarily conserved due to order information kept over billions of years. The protein folding problem can be divided into local and long-distance interaction problems. The local interaction problem is the secondary structure formation and prediction problem. How amino acids interact locally determines the alpha helix, beta sheet, and other structures. The regularity is such humans can predict the secondary structures very reliably using algorithms such as neural networks. However, no algorithms have yet reached an average accuracy over 80%. This is because the long distance interaction information of proteins is missing.
2.4. Protein folding interaction type ratio is 79: 21: Therefore, one can hypothesize that the ratio between the local and long-distance molecular interaction ratio in protein folding is about 80:20. A test was carried out to measure the correct ratio using the reversed sequence set of protein structures from PDB (Protein DataBank: http://rcsb.org). It turned out that 79% of the protein structures have the same secondary structures (local residue interaction) regardless of the order of the protein sequences (Park et al., 2000). Therefore, the precise ratio of the local and long-distance molecular interaction ratio in protein folding is suggested to be 79:21. By devising a method to detect 21% of the long-distance interaction network information, one may be able to solve the protein folding problem computationally.
2.5.Interaction network is tight: Due to the risk of misinteraction, biological networks are extremely conservative (Park and Bolser, 2001). The interaction backbone of any interactome is very similar to all other known life forms. With the analysis of over 140 genomes, it is clear that there is a unique interactome core found by a comparative interactomics (manuscript in submission). The core interaction has the most critical functions of life such as RNA binding, energy metabolism, and translation machineries.
2.6. Driving of evolution by old and important families: The tightness of the interactome can also be demonstrated by the small number of protein families that seem to be the major driving force of species evolution. Their most representative is the PLCH (P-loop containing hydrolase: c.37.1 in SCOP) domain family, found at numerous important protein interactions in the widest range of species known (hence, perhaps the oldest and most important protein fold). The second most prominent family is the immunoglobin family that has prospered since the appearance of eukaryotes. While PLCH domains are found in almost all important functions, including energy metabolism and many enzymatic functions, immunoglobin famlies occur more in structural functions. A different niche or territory was occupied by the two different structures.
2.7.The age of protein folds and biological species measured by comparative interactomics: Measuring the age of any particular species is more a philosophical than a biological problem. All genomes have a complication in their genome origin due to horizontally transferred genes, deletions, and insertions that mask their lineage. Calculating the precise age of any species is theoretically impossible. Practically, there are no fossils that can reveal the exact age of any microbial organisms that lived billions years ago (Schof, 1993). However, it is possible to measure the relative antiquity of species by measuring the relative age of protein families. In the past, protein sequence alignments were used to estimate the rough date of the divergence of species (Doolittle, R.F, 1996). However, using an individual protein's divergence is not sufficiently precise. Using protein structural domains and families is a more reliable method. Protein domains and families have a proportionally linear relationship with the evolution of cells and species. Their rate of evolution is strikingly constant. However, the repertoire of protein families alone cannot explain the diversity of life forms. One can compare small RNA molecules to derive evolutionary distances among species. However, organisms have systems level differences in their morphology (for example, large multicellular organism versus microscopic monocellular organisms) and mode of life. Therefore, the best approach presently available is to compare their interactomes. Interactomes can reflect the complexity of the organisms. To answer a simple question of how one species differs from another, the difference of interaction networks of all the molecules can be an answer. Measuring the age of protein families can be done by the occurrences of proteins in presently known organisms. Proteins that are found in many species will have a greater chance of being older than others (Bolser and Park, 2003).
2.8.Evolution of interaction networks: Analyzing the pairs and networks in evolution is not easy, as there is a limited amount of molecular interaction information at present. Also, there are multiple layers of interaction. Protein domain-domain is a fairly distinct layer of molecular interaction. It is particularly useful to study the long evolution of protein structures. Protein-protein layer interaction that is one level higher than domain is important in real-time cellular processes. Furthermore, most proteins function within or in association with protein complexes that are at another layer of molecular interaction. Describing such multi-scale molecular interaction is not straightforward (Moon et al., 2005). An attempt has been made to map protein domain-domain interactions on a global scale from a 3D structural database (Park et al., 2001) which could map the interaction of structural groups or protein families. One can analyze the evolution of interaction networks using the bioinformatic homology assignment of various genomes (Lappe etal., 2001; Bolser et al., 2003; Kim et al., 2004). Computationally, by using the fused gene, it information, it is possible to detect the domain-domain I interaction (Marcotte et al., 1999; Enright et al., 1999). On the experimental side, large scale yeast two hybrid analysis enabled interactomes of several genomes. These approaches use full protein-protein interaction (Ito et al., 2001; Uetz, 2000).The advantage of using these approaches is that the information reflects each species' molecular interaction as a complex network, as long as the experimental technique (Raicu et al., 2004) is reliable. Yeast two hybrid experiment resembles a snapshot of the interactomes along evolutionary time. Recently, more research results have been accumulated on protein domain (fold) structure interactions (Chia and Kolatkar, 2004)
File:Interactome network 1.gif
Fig.2.An interaction network. Nodes are interacting protein domain families. Nodes with red characters are hub nodes. The multiple alignments show the interaction interfaces that belong to the interfaceome of proteins. The 3D pictures show the interacting domains with their interfaces highlighted.
2.9.Interactomes and interaction maps: The term interactome has been used independently by several bioinformatics researchers from the late 1990's (http://interactome.org). Around the same time, on the experimental side, very large scale yeast two hybrid system data became available for yeast and C. elegans (Walhout et al., 2000). Now, the list includes the fly interactome (Sanchez et al., 1999). Recently, there have been comparative studies of these large scale interactomes. Using the available experimental data, other groups started to predict the interactions of proteins using probabilistic models and interaction matrices. Although there is the important problem of obtaining experimental verification for such predictive methods, they can dramatically extend the scope of data in the interactome field.
2.10. Many interactomes: Now the field is moving into a new era where people are constructing the whole human interactome (http://hpid.org: Kim et al., 2003; Lehner and Fraser, 2004). The species specific interactome concept is not new. Other interactomes, such as the mitochondrial, have been built; it was estimated that there are around 1500 protein domains in mitochondria. The rice genome (Oryza sativa) has shown 1441 protein family-family interactions from the 32% assignment rate of proteins to all the predicted and known gene sequences (http://oryzasativa.org). Lately, the scope of interactomes has gone toward disease specific proteome such as the down syndrome interactome (Gardiner et al., 2004).
2.11. Interfaceome: the puzzle pieces of interaction: As one can describe protein folding as the interaction network of small molecules such as amino acids, the protein interactome can be subdivided into many pieces of interfaces. Mapping all such small pieces leads to structure based computational drug discovery. Interfaces are the bolts and nuts of the evolution, if interaction is the atom of evolution as a concept and principle. Interfaces do not contain any order information, therefore, unlike protein sequences, it requires a different representation method. A traditional way to do this is to represent them as 3D coordinates that can be grouped and belonged to a protein domain. This enables a hierarchy from the highest possible protein structure to its interface. For example, in SCOP hierarchy, interface X can be classified as C.371.1.1.X. It belongs to the SCOP class C and superfamily 37, family 1, domain 1, and the interface X. The consequence is that we can map all such structural interfaces into an organized network or map called Interfaceome (http://interfaceome.org). There has been much research on individual and groups of interfaces (Chothia and Janin, 1975; Lawrence and Colman, 1993; Jones and Thornton, 1997; Jones and Thornton, 1997; Jones et al., 2000). Interfaceome aims to cover all the interfaces in a network with a clear hierarchy that can be represented in many different ways such as in a Voronoi diagram (Richards, 1974; Richards, 1977; Poupon, 2004). Protein interfaces can be detected by simple distance measurement (PSIMAP) and accessible surface area (ASA, Chothia, 1976, Miller et al., 1987). InterPare is a database server that provides interfaceome information (http://interpare.net).
File:Interaction interface define 1.gif
Fig. 3. Determining interaction. a) Simple distance measure (for example, 5 angstrom 5 contacts) among proteins or protein domains. b) Accessible surface area (ASA) method for determining the interfaces. Delta ASA is the difference of ASA between bound and unbound forms of proteins.
3.Network Biology
3.1. Network evolution: The term network evolution indicates that the agent of evolution is the network rather than individual components of the network such as proteins and genes related to aging process (Promislow, 2004). It has been found that interaction networks, perhaps all biological networks, are very conservative and tight in evolution (most important biochemical pathways and regulation networks are shared by species in different superkingdoms). New molecular interactions are carefully chosen, and perhaps the core interactome has not changed since the very beginning of life. Network biology (http://networkbiology.org) is a new discipline where biological research is carried out with networks as the central perspective (Jeong et al., 2001; Albert and Barabasi, 2002; Albert and Othmer, 2003; Ng and Tan, 2004). Essentially, all biological entities (bio-entities) are analyzed as networks with their modular components (Gagneur et al., 2004). With this new perspective, the most critical aspect of biological problems is the information process capability and information processing architecture as represented in networks. One of the outcomes of network biology is the calculability of the complexity of life. Complexity is a measure of the concentration of information, and life can only be completely analyzed by mapping the architecture of complexity.
3.2.Network visualization: One of the first steps of analyzing complexity is representing data with visual tools such as Pajek (Batagelj and Mrvar, 2001), InterViewer (Ju et al., 2003), ProViz (Iragne et al., 2004), and PINC (Hongchao et al., 2004).
Modern biology is becoming an information science as contemporary biological problems are associated with networks, circuits, controls, and molecular evolution. An interaction pair as the most fundamental evolution unit has been introduced for mapping interactomes and biological networks. The ultimate understanding of life will be achieved through understanding the complexity of such interaction networks at two very different domains: a long evolution interaction process and a short period of cellular interaction processes. Recent efforts on mapping the interactions of biological information objects, such as interactome map, interfaceome map, network biology approach, and various servers associated with them, are introduced. Complete computational simulation of life by human beings will be achieved in the next few decades. However complex this will be and whatever experimental techniques will be necessary for us to reach that stage of evolution, it is necessary to map and interpret the interactions of molecules, especially proteins.
Jong Bhak is supported by IMT2000 C3-4 grant of ministry of information and communication of Korea and Biogreen21. JB thanks Andreas Heger, Liisa Holm, Matthieu Louis, Sabine Dietmann, Nabil Ali, Richard Harrington, Michael Lappe, Michael Schroeder, Panos Dafas, KyungSook Han, DongHoon Oh, HyunSuk Park, SangSoo Kim, Namcheol Kim, HyoGyum Kim, WanGyu Kim, Tim Hubbard, Cyrus Chothia, Sarah Teichmann, and other colleagues. We thank many scientists and engineers who enjoy what they do with curiosity, enthusiasm, fun and love as they are the people who make this world more understandable and appreciable.
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Preparing for Fire Season: The State and Public Utilities Are Working to Lessen the Fire Danger—but Will These Efforts Be Enough?February 14 2019
Don't be fooled by the precipitation, the snowpack and the wildflowers. When winter ends, it's unlikely that California's iconic landscape will sustain the moisture to withstand the scorching summer and fall.
California has yet to recover from the 5-year drought that began in 2012. For four years, record wildfires have ravaged the state, including the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma in 2017, and the Camp Fire last year that wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County. The 2019 wildfire season officially kicks off in mid-May, but California's wildfire season is essentially year-round now.
So what happens when the next big wildfire hits?
State fire officials are already amassing new aircraft that can drop thousands of gallons of bright red flame retardant. Emergency responders are pre-positioning fire crews in high-threat areas even before a fire starts. State officials will no longer second guess the use of wireless emergency alerts that grab people's attention by making smartphones vibrate and squawk.
The major investor-owned utilities—Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric—now plan to shut off power, even where fire risk is minimal, during red-flag weather warnings. It's considered a public-safety measure of last resort, because a power outage can cut off internet access and make communication difficult for hospitals, firefighters and emergency personnel.
The utilities also plan to fireproof California's electricity grid, a result of their equipment being implicated in so many recent disasters. That includes clearing brush and trees away from transmission lines, replacing wooden poles with metal ones, and using drones and weather monitoring stations to gauge danger via wind and smoke patterns.
Yet even these expensive precautions may not ward off the next towering inferno, say fire officials.
"I think we are better prepared," said Kelly Huston, deputy director of the state Office of Emergency Services. "The real question is whether or not that's enough."
'A Sense of Urgency'
Part of the problem is that California has been caught off guard by the new climate-driven fire seasons, amplified by longer hot summers and extended droughts. Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in state history have happened in the last five years.
"The fires are behaving so much differently than they have before," Huston said, noting the new wildfires are "virtually impossible to fight" as they leap mountains and gallop for miles, creating their own weather systems. "You couldn't have predicted this based on past fire."
California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker told state lawmakers on Jan. 30 that climate-change-driven wildfires are happening much faster than anyone predicted. But for the state regulatory agency to enforce safety at the state's eight investor-owned utilities, Picker said, he would need 15,000 to 20,000 new staff to police every electricity pole and wire. The agency has, roughly, a 1,300-member staff.
The CPUC regulates not only privately owned utilities from telecom to water, but also rail-crossing safety, limos and ride sharing. Historically, Picker's role has been more like that of an administrative judge than a police chief.
"If you want to get the Legislature to allow me to be a total dictator, and make decisions overnight, I'm happy," Picker elaborated to reporters afterward. "That's not what our job is. We are like a technical court. People have to have their day in court. It's not a fast process. Have you been in a court proceeding that took one day?"
But his answer on the challenges of enforcement frustrated lawmakers, on whom political pressure has mounted with every disaster. The CPUC is not known for swiftness. It took nine years to issue a statewide fire-threat map after Southern California fires, caused by Santa Ana winds whipping power lines, prompted commissioners in 2009 to demand one. It has laid out a two-month schedule just for reviewing fire-prevention plans utilities must submit under recent and hard-fought wildfire safety legislation.
After Picker's testimony, Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood, a forensic dentist who represents fire-ravaged Santa Rosa, took to Twitter.
"I want to hear a sense of urgency," he wrote. "We don't have time for a standard bureaucratic approach."
Amassing 'More Tools'
Ultimately, the fire challenge involves painful long-term decisions such as how to reconcile the acute demand for California housing with the suddenly limited supply of land that isn't in a high-risk fire zone.
Short-term, Democratic state Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa is among those who hope incremental improvements might make a difference. He is proposing the commission work with Cal Fire and the Office of Emergency Services to improve coordination for turning off power in red-flag weather, alerting residents to evacuate and better targeting crews to fight fires. His Senate Bill 209 would establish an official, statewide California wildfire warning center.
"It would give us more tools in trying to make sure this doesn't happen again," Dodd said.
Emergency officials also are studying past fires, and preparing. Survivors of the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma counties complained they had little or no warning when the flames flared up at night under dry windy conditions. Local officials opted against sending out a mass alert for fear of causing panic or hindering emergency responders.
"Everybody I talk to in our neighborhood pretty much either had family call or a neighbor knock on the door. I don't know of anyone that got an emergency alert," said Patrick McCallum, a higher education lobbyist who barely escaped his Santa Rosa home with his wife, Sonoma State University President Judy Sakaki. "Worse, there were police and fire engines running around, but they were not allowed to put their alarms on."
In coming weeks, the state is expected to issue clearer guidance to all 58 counties for issuing alerts and warnings to the public across multiple platforms. The new thinking is to over-communicate, rather than rely on the alerts of the 1980s sent over television and radio or ringing landlines.
"It is something people depend on to make decisions in a crisis," OES' Huston said.
The state also believes pushing out wireless emergency alerts on smartphones similar to an Amber Alert can now be done effectively without creating chaos. This simple weather warning was sent out to seven counties encompassing 22 million people in Southern California in December 2017 as a precaution after authorities saw dry windy conditions similar to the wine country fire two months earlier:
"Strong winds overnight creating extreme fire danger. Stay Alert. Listen to authorities."
This fire season, Californians may see it again.
A Firefighting Air Force
Meanwhile, Cal Fire is beefing up its capabilities. Rather than waiting to respond to a wildfire, emergency personnel have shifted to pre-positioning strike teams before a fire even starts.
The switch comes at a price; Cal Fire's expenses now already routinely exceed its budget. Last year's fire spending set a new record, and the political climate has made the outlays difficult to question.
"That's expensive, because you're paying the same amount of money for firefighters whether they're fighting a fire or sitting waiting for a fire to start," Huston said. "But you have to weigh that against the potential for loss and the expense of a disaster."
The state already boasts a formidable firefighting air force, featuring S-2T air tankers that dump 1,200 gallons of flame retardant and Huey helicopters for lifting fire crews in and out of steep terrain.
This spring, the Hueys will start to be replaced by more modern Black Hawks, the Army's frontline utility helicopter. The first one is expected to be ready in May, said Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean.
And over the next two years, Cal Fire will add seven C-130 Hercules cargo planes. Those will be retrofitted to carry between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons of flame retardant.
"California will have one of, if not the largest, firefighting air forces in the world," McLean said.
What About the Utilities?
At ground zero in much of the state are California's investor-owned utilities and their spark-prone equipment. PG&E has vowed to expand power shut-off territory to as many as 5.4 million customers, up from 570,000 today. SCE is focused on better weather monitoring, adding 62 high-definition cameras and 350 micro weather stations as part of a broader $582 million safety plan.
And SDG&E, which has been most aggressive with more than $1 billion in safety upgrades, will continue to replace wood poles with steel poles, hire a helitanker on standby year-round, and contract with firefighters especially trained to put out electrical fires.
Yet there's no statewide standard for deciding when the power should be shut off. Instead, participating utilities base decisions on temperature, wind, humidity and other factors. SDG&E has been lauded for its proactive use of public safety power shutoffs.
PG&E's rollout has been less reassuring.
Two days before the most destructive wildfire in California history ignited, 62,000 PG&E customers in eight counties, including Butte, were warned that their power could be turned off as a precautionary measure. This was sent at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 6: This is an important safety alert from Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Extreme weather conditions and high fire-danger are forecasted in Butte County. These conditions may cause power outages in the area of your address. To protect public safety, PG&E may also temporarily turn off power in your neighborhood or community. If there is an outage, we will work to restore service as soon as it is safe to do so."
Cal Fire reports the Camp Fire ignited around 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 8.
PG&E never shut off power. In fact, the utility went on to issue cancellation notifications hours after the deadly blaze started. Sent at 2 p.m. on Nov. 8: "This is an important safety update from Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Weather conditions have improved in your area, and we are not planning to turn off electricity for safety in the area of your address."
PG&E wouldn't comment on its decision. The California Public Utilities Commission would say only that it is investigating when asked if the state was looking at why the utility didn't initiate a blackout.
CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
In Bankruptcy: PG&E Files to Protect Itself From Wildfire Claims—but It Won't Solve All of the Utility's ProblemsJanuary 30 2019
As a publicly traded corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric reported $17.1 billion a year in revenues from its electric and gas operations. After operating costs, expenses and taxes, it still made out with a profit of $1.7 billion last year.
So why has California's largest utility filed for bankruptcy?
PG&E may be solvent, but it is facing a cash-flow problem as a byproduct of $30 billion in potential liabilities from a series of catastrophic wildfires in Northern California in 2017 and 2018. In the company's own words, the board has determined Chapter 11 "is ultimately the only viable option to restore PG&E's financial stability to fund ongoing operations and provide safe service to customers."
"A company the size of PG&E needs access to the capital markets, and right now, it's under stress," said Robert Labate, a San Francisco bankruptcy attorney with Holland and Knight, which has clients that do business with PG&E. "This is a way of getting breathing room."
PG&E is being sued by thousands of wildfire victims for property damage, medical expenses and a heap of punitive and personal injury damages alleging corporate negligence. Insurance carriers that have paid claims to homeowners and businesses for property damage have filed dozens of subrogation complaints. Even local governments, such as Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Santa Rosa, have piled on with their own legal claims.
So even though the company was just absolved by state fire investigators in last year's deadly Tubbs Fire, it still faces potentially tens of billions of dollars in liabilities. For one thing, its equipment remains a prime suspect in the Camp Fire that killed 86 people in Butte County late last year. A PG&E employee spotted flames near a shorted-out utility tower, at the same place Cal Fire identified as the start of the state's most-destructive wildfire.
But bankruptcy will by no means solve PG&E's long-term problems, which will require legislative and regulatory solutions. Because what will be just as important in the months and years ahead is consensus on a fundamental question: When can the utility pass disaster costs on to consumers as wildfires become more frequent and destructive?
And unfortunately for PG&E, that's about public trust.
"There's a lot of public distrust of investor-owned utilities right now," said Tara Kaushik, a utility lawyer also with Holland and Knight. "There's a sense that the utility has to be held accountable and to operate safely. But at the same time, we have these recurring wildfires that are making it unsustainable for them to continue operating."
Even before the utility announced its intent to reorganize in bankruptcy court, the financial market expressed concerns about PG&E's ability to recover costs associated with these recent disasters. It was part of the reason credit agencies recently downgraded PG&E to junk status, which only made it more expensive and difficult to access capital.
"The rating downgrade reflects the material exposure to new potential liabilities associated with the Camp Fire and the uncertainties associated with how the fire-related liabilities will be recovered," said Jeff Cassella, vice president at Moody's Investors Service.
As climate change impacts corporations' bottom line, the same concerns have extended to other California utilities, triggering downgrades for both Southern California Edison, which services the Coachella Valley, and San Diego Gas and Electric.
Cassella noted that state lawmakers passed $1 billion legislation that did nothing to address the 2018 wildfires. SB 901's most controversial provision, to make it easier for utility companies to absorb the cost of fire damages by borrowing money and charging customers to pay it back over many years, covered the 2017 fires and those that start in 2019, but not any when the Camp Fire hit.
PG&E also tried—but failed—to get the Legislature to loosen fire-liability laws. Under a legal doctrine called "inverse condemnation," utilities are liable for any wildfire damage traced to their equipment even if they were not negligent in maintaining it. Unless the state Supreme Court decided to issue a different interpretation or voters approved a constitutional amendment, releasing utilities of this financial responsibility would be pretty much out of the question.
Enter the California Public Utilities Commission.
The five-member commission regulates investor-owned utilities in the state and could decide whether PG&E acted prudently and should be allowed to pass on wildfire costs—even the damages a utility pays out in lawsuits—to consumers.
But a precedent has been set that has made PG&E think twice about its ability to recover wildfire costs through rate increases. In 2017, the commission blocked San Diego Gas and Electric from passing on $379 million in liability costs stemming from a 2007 wildfire. In a unanimous vote, the commission found the utility's management of its facilities unreasonable.
It's unclear what the CPUC would do if PG&E asked to pass on costs from the latest wildfires.
"We don't know yet," Kaushik said. "They haven't asked."
Even without liabilities, the cost to maintain public safety is creeping up. PG&E is asking for a $1.1 billion rate increase for wildfire prevention, risk reduction and safety enhancements, which, if approved by state regulators, would increase the average residential customer bill by 6.4 percent, or $10.57 per month.
Wildfire victims and their lawyers are quick to question PG&E's motives, calling Chapter 11 a tactic to discourage and discount lawsuits rather than taking responsibility for the spate of recent tragedies. Camp Fire victims recently rallied at the state Capitol with legal activist Erin Brockovich, who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in the 2000 box-office hit.
"This is another blow after the body blow of losing their homes and their lives," said Noreen Evans, a former state legislator who is now representing 4,000 victims of 2017 and 2018 wildfires, at the rally. "It's insult added to injury at a really hard time in their lives."
Evans noted that under bankruptcy, wildfire victims with claims in trial court would be treated as unsecured creditors.
"Their claims would be delayed and probably discounted," she said then—a fear that could now come true.
CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
A Note From the Editor: Celebrate the Best of Coachella Valley With Us; Help Our Friends in Northern CaliforniaNovember 28 2018
It's been a fascinating month of November here at the Independent, with the election and, of course, the Best of Coachella Valley. But I get to all of the greatness that is the Best of Coachella Valley stuff, I need to bring up a couple of stories we posted last week, because they have to do with one worst tragedies in modern California history—and the fact similar tragedies are likely to keep happening over and over again due to our new reality.
As of this writing, the Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County has claimed 88 lives—a number that is sure to rise, since more than 150 people have not yet been accounted for. More than 18,700 buildings—the majority of those homes—have been destroyed, including almost the entire town of Paradise.
Let's put that in perspective: Paradise and Desert Hot Springs are about the same size in terms of population. Paradise is larger than Rancho Mirage. And it's essentially gone.
One of the stories came to us compliments of our friends at the Chico News & Review. It starts out with one of the most harrowing, terrifying and heartbreaking stories of survival and loss that you'll ever read. It concludes with a link to a GoFundMe page for Chico News & Review staffers who lost their homes in the Camp Fire. This one holds a special place in my heart—not only are these fellow newspaper people; I started my career working for the News & Review company, so I ask you to contribute if you can. Thank you.
Meanwhile, life goes on here in our amazing Coachella Valley—and that brings me to the Independent's fifth annual Best of Coachella Valley readers' poll.
A record number of people voted in this year's two rounds of polling, and we're excited to present the results of that vote, along with features on some of the winners, and some additional "Best Of" selections by Independent staff and contributors.
I have a lot of people to thank here, including Beth Allen, who did the layout for the whole Best of Coachella Valley section in the print edition; and Brian Blueskye and Kevin Fitzgerald, who contributed our features. Huge thanks also go to all of our fantastic advertisers—and most of all, to the readers who navigated nearly 130 categories on our ballot to vote.
Please join us to celebrate all of our winners at the Best of Coachella Valley Awards Show, taking place at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 12, at Copa Nightclub in Palm Springs. After we give out the awards, Best Local Band winner Avenida Music will perform; admission is free.
Thanks, as always, for reading the Coachella Valley Independent. I encourage you to pick up the December 2018 print edition, on newsstands now. Finally … have a fantastic and fruitful holiday season!
'I Don't Want to See Any More of Them Die': California Legislator Jim Wood Confronts the Effects of Wildfire by Helping Identify the DeadNovember 22 2018
The sun was beginning to set as Jim Wood stepped out of the examination room at the Sacramento morgue and walked into the lobby, white surgical booties covering his shoes.
He'd keep working there late into the night, but was taking a short break from the solemn task of identifying bits of human remains gathered from the rubble of the horrific Camp Fire.
Wood is a forensic odontologist—a dentist specially trained to identify dead bodies by examining teeth. He's also a Democratic state assemblyman from Sonoma County. Those dual responsibilities have put him on the frontline in tackling two enormous, heart-wrenching puzzles: identifying the people who perished this month in California's deadliest wildfire, and figuring out what state policies could prevent such catastrophes in the future.
"I thought that last year was really, really awful," Wood said of the wine-country fires that killed 44 people, including some whom he identified through dental records. "I don't think anybody expected that this year would be way worse."
This summer Wood served on the special legislative committee that crafted a $1 billion plan to prevent wildfires—an amount he argued wasn't sufficient for the massive task at hand.
For years before he was elected to the Legislature in 2014, Wood was a family dentist. Along the way, he sought extra training in forensic odontology and eventually became one of just 100 people in the United States who are certified at the highest level in the trade. He traveled the country to help identify victims of America's worst disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Sept. 11 attack on New York.
More recently, Wood has put his skills to use a lot closer to home. Last year, he helped identify victims of the massive fire in Santa Rosa, just down the road from his house in Healdsburg. Last week, he was surveying the damage in Paradise, where the Camp Fire killed at least 83 people and destroyed 13,800 homes. Now, with the Legislature out of session, Wood is stationed at the coroner's office in Sacramento, part of a team of forensic specialists who are examining the remains arriving from Paradise in body bags.
Teeth. Roots of teeth. Metal crowns and porcelain fillings.
"Most of what I'm seeing today are the roots of teeth. In these really hot fires, the enamel, or the white part of the tooth, often pops off the tooth," Wood explained as he spoke in the lobby of the morgue.
"While those roots and parts of the teeth will survive, the jaw bone that supports the teeth is often burned away. So what we get are a bunch of teeth, but no way to associate them. So we use our knowledge of anatomy and the shapes of teeth, and I reconstruct. I look for a way to figure out how they would have looked in the mouth."
Wearing a white lab coat and rubber gloves, Wood arranges the dental remains on a big examination table. After he reconstructs a mouth, the next phase of detective work begins: Gathering dental X-rays and other records of people on the missing-persons list, and matching those images to the remains in the morgue.
It's been difficult, Wood said, because many dental offices in Paradise burned up in the fire, and with them burned the records that could help identify victims. But he's scouring other sources for X-rays that were saved electronically. Some 563 people remained on the missing-persons list as of Nov. 21, a number that has been fluctuating dramatically.
Mark Essick, sheriff-elect of Sonoma County, said Wood was a key player in helping law enforcement identify victims after the fires there last year. The sheriff's department calls him in to help solve other cases that involve dental remains.
"He's kind of a wizard," Essick said. "He's magic at what he does in helping us identify people."
In between the infernos of last year and this year, Wood served on the special legislative committee focused on wildfire prevention. With his calm demeanor and measured tone of voice, he sat through long hearings on forest management, utility liability and emergency alert systems. He pushed for spending more money on thinning forests, something he said would benefit his rugged district that stretches from Santa Rosa to the Oregon border.
During the hearings, Wood didn't publicly discuss his work identifying constituents who died in the brutal flames. But at one point in a late July hearing, he lost his patience.
"People are dying," Wood said to Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker, who had just described a lengthy bureaucratic process for approving utilities' fire-mitigation plans. "I don't want to be here five years from now, when millions more acres may have been burned in California, and many, many more lives have been lost, wondering what the heck were we doing. So I apologize for my passion. But … this is my district. This is where 44 of my constituents died, and I don't want to see any more die."
Authorities said 16 of last year's fires involved Pacific Gas and Electric equipment, creating the possibility that the company will face billions of dollars in liability. PG&E and other utilities were intensely lobbying the wildfire committee this summer, seeking a change to liability laws and a plan to help them avoid bankruptcy by spreading their costs out over time. In so doing, they showered politicians with campaign contributions, San Francisco Giants tickets and steakhouse dinners.
Wood was the only fire committee member to return PG&E's campaign donation, forgoing its $1,000.
"I know how some of my constituents feel about PG&E," Wood said. "I just didn't feel comfortable taking the contribution."
The cause of the Camp Fire has not yet been identified, but PG&E reported problems with its electrical lines outside of Paradise just before the fire broke out.
Wood is urging that wildfire prevention continue to be a focus when the Legislature reconvenes. He wants the state to do something big—and quick—though he acknowledges that he doesn't yet know what that should be.
It's likely to be a painstaking process, but as Wood heads back into the morgue's exam room, he seems to have become accustomed to painstaking work.
CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California's policies and politics.
Building for Blazes: As California's Wildfires Grow Increasingly Intense, More and More People Are Living in Dangerous AreasNovember 20 2018
In 2008, Paradise was spared.
That June, a fire broke out in one of the canyons southwest of the Butte County town and quickly roared east, up and over the ridge. Thousands scrambled to evacuate, clogging the single road to safety. A sudden wind shift allowed firefighters to cordon off the flames, but the experience left residents intimately aware of the risks of living in Paradise.
State lawmakers have been aware of the risk, too. In color-coded fire-hazard maps maintained by Cal Fire, Paradise is a bright red island in a churning sea of pink, orange, and yellow—all denoting various levels of danger.
"It is not a great feeling … to have highlighted an area for its vulnerability, and then having this come to fruition," said Dave Sapsis, a Cal Fire researcher who helped designate the state agency's "Fire Hazard Severity Zones."
As California grapples with an increasing possibility that the once-in-a-century wildfires that have torched Paradise and Malibu are becoming once-a-year occurrences, larger swaths of the state's population may find themselves living in the crimson regions of those maps. This presents lawmakers with a dilemma: Should they impose costly and politically unpalatable regulations on homeowners, and rip up existing infrastructure—or simply accept the risk?
"We've got to take intelligent precautions in how we design our cities," Gov. Jerry Brown said at a press conference with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke last week. "The zoning and the planning has to take into account the threat of fires, (and) the building of appropriate shelters, so that people can always find a way to escape—and then of course, (there are) all the things we're doing to mitigate climate change. All of it. It's a big agenda. But what we're paying this week is a very small fraction of what is needed over the years and decades."
With wildfires growing ever more ferocious—a product of a changing climate, forests increasingly packed with dead and dry kindling, and the encroachment of development into state's wilderness—it can be hard to tell which parts of California should be considered safe anymore. Coffey Park, the suburban subdivision of Santa Rosa that burned in last year's firestorms, was designated a low-fire-risk area by Cal Fire.
The agency is now in the process of updating its hazard maps, with an expected draft publication date of next summer.
For state Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Santa Rosa, this year's fires raise a number of "difficult yet necessary" questions about where and how communities are placed—and then replaced.
"What type of rules and regulations will there be if homes will be allowed to be rebuilt?" he said. "For example, defensible space, landscape restrictions, no longer allowing developments to be built with one way in and just one way out. … If there have been multiple fires over multiple years, are we truly going to rebuild?
"Being very candid with you, the discussion has just begun—but this is a discussion that we are going to have to have, because this is the new reality," he said.
Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco has championed giving the state more power to override local planning decisions to meet statewide housing goals.
"Job one is to help the people whose lives have been so dramatically altered by this disaster, but we also need to look at the long-term picture of this new normal," Wiener said. "Historically, we have allowed local communities almost complete autonomy in making housing-related decisions, whether that decision is not to allow new housing, whether that decision is to ban apartment buildings, or whether that decision is to allow a lot of housing in very fire-prone areas."
Wiener says he is not suggesting that development be banned outright anywhere, but that the state should impose standards that "reflect our needs as a state and reflect risks."
Between 1990 and 2010, an estimated 45 percent of all new housing units built in California were constructed in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface—where the state's cul-de-sac'd suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub fields. The encroachment of homes into undeveloped areas creates a much larger and challenging front for firefighters to defend.
"You get this very different fire dynamic once it gets into a heavily populated area," said Anu Kramer, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who co-authored the research upon which the estimate is based. "You have cars on fire, propane tanks exploding, and burning houses radiating a lot of heat, which can contribute to neighboring houses igniting. That's very different from trees and shrubs burning in a forest."
Strict rules for new homes, but not the old
California already has among the strictest fire-minded regulations on construction. Since 2008, any building constructed in areas designated at very high fire risk must be built with specific roofs, vents and other materials designed to resist fire and keep out flying embers. Homeowners are also required to maintain a perimeter of brush-free defensible space around their houses.
Legislation passed this year extends those restrictions, without exception, to development on local as well as state land. Cal Fire also operates a consulting arm for local governments hoping to make more fire-appropriate land-use decisions.
But some of those regulations were written with a certain type of community in mind, said Kramer: "Vacation homes in Tahoe with wood roofs and pine trees over the house. … A lot of the regulations are geared towards that quintessential idea."
The charred homes of more urban enclaves such as Malibu and Santa Rosa were not destroyed by "a giant tsunami wave of flame," said Chris Dicus, a Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo professor and president of the Association for Fire Ecology. Instead, they burn "from the inside out after embers get inside the house through vents and windows or under doors." Those embers may have traveled from the front of the original fire miles away.
While many existing regulations require new construction be "hardened" to embers, they don't apply to existing homes. That leaves many of California's at-risk communities stuck with old, fire-prone homes, and inadequate or constrained infrastructure.
"We're currently paying for the sins of the past, where subdivisions and other developments were built without fire in mind," said Dicus.
Some changes are relatively easy to make even after construction: installing ember-resistant vents, weather-sealing garage doors, and clearing flammable items like lawn chairs off the property's perimeter can keep embers from starting new spot fires. Other changes are pricier: regular brush clearing, double-paned windows to reduce radiant heat inside a home, replacing wood roofs with metal, and installing fire shutters.
You have a lot of homeowners who "maybe can't afford to upgrade and retrofit" their homes, said Molly Mowery, president of Wildfire Planning International. "We know now what keeps us safer, but you can't just change that overnight."
Homeowner help: Subsidies, rebates and discounts?
One possible solution, said Sen. Wiener: the state could help current homeowners make those changes.
"What we don't want to do is force people out of their homes because they can't afford—for lack of a better phrase—a 'wildfire retrofit,'" he said. He added that he would consider "subsidy and rebate programs … but I don't want to pretend like I know what all the answers are."
Absent new government assistance, insurers could encourage homeowners to be more fire-conscious. In the same way that health insurance providers might offer their policyholders discounted gym memberships, home insurers could cut a deal for those who install ember-resistant vents.
But only one major insurer in California currently offers discounts to encourage fire-safe behavior. According to a recent RAND Corporation report, that's because most providers argue that state regulators don't let them charge homeowners living in high-fire-risk areas a high enough premium to justify a discount. The state Insurance Department counters that such rate hikes wouldn't be justified based on the evidence.
The study also found that most homeowners in high-risk areas are just purchasing less coverage and opting for plans with higher deductibles, leaving them more exposed.
And then there are changes that homeowners alone cannot make.
Calli-Jane DeAnda, executive director of the Butte County Fire Safe Council, spent last year promoting the region's evacuation plan, so she knew what to do as soon as reports came in that fire was moving toward Paradise.
"I had turned on the town's AM 1500 radio station, and they were notifying residents that an evacuation center had been set up and that certain zones needed to be evacuating," she said. "So I felt kind of calm … like, 'Oh, this is how the plan was supposed to go.'"
But that plan soon met a bottleneck on Skyway, the main route out of Paradise.
DeAnda said she got on the road at around 8:20 a.m.—along with hundreds of her neighbors. She wasn't out of the foothills and away from the spot fires popping up along the side of the road for an hour and a half. It's a drive that would typically take her 25 minutes.
Nearly a dozen of the bodies identified in the devastation left by the Camp Fire were found in their cars, stuck in the crush of evacuation traffic.
Paradise had an evacuation plan. But the plan, and the town's cramped, 19th-century layout, were not prepared for a fire of such intensity or speed. And in that respect, Paradise is not alone: The hills above Berkeley and Oakland, where 25 people died in a fire in 1991, also featured narrow, winding roads that made escape more difficult.
"I worry about another deadly fire in the East Bay," said Kramer, the researcher. "It burned before, and it's going to burn again. And when it does, it's going to be really bad."
To rebuild … or say 'enough is enough'?
In the aftermath of fire, local governments often face an impossible task of balancing the need to rebuild as quickly as possible—to get those who have lost everything back into their homes—with the need to prepare for the worst.
After three fires raged through the foothills of Butte County in 2008, including the one that prompted the first evacuation of Paradise, the county Board of Supervisors made the building code more flexible for homeowners to rebuild: Homeowners could have their permit applications expedited, and use lumber located on their own property for construction. This summer, the board renewed and expanded the exemption.
The building code carve-out represents a necessary compromise between smart planning and the needs of homeowner, many of whom could not afford to build a new house up to the current code, said DeAnda. Without the exemption, she said, many homeowners would have likely replaced their burnt homes with modular houses or trailers, which she said often present a bigger fire risk.
DeAnda, who spends most of her time raising awareness about fire safety across the country, lives in one such "ancient mobile home" in Concow, just east of Paradise. "It's going up in 8 minutes if it catches on fire," she said.
"There is a lot of emphasis, and understandably so, on prioritizing getting back to normal," said Dr. Miranda Mockrin, a research scientist at the U.S. Forest Service who has studied how communities respond to wildfire. She said most local governments avoid using building restrictions and regulations, instead favoring less-coercive, voluntary fire safety programs and educational outreach.
But rebuilding is a slow process. If communities want to require more fire-conscious development, "there is time," she said.
For Chris Coursey, the mayor of Santa Rosa, which lost some 3,000 homes last year, there was never a question about whether to allow the incinerated communities of Coffey Park and Fountain Grove to rebuild.
"Under state law, people have the right to rebuild a legal home that they lose in a disaster. We don't have the ability to tell them that they can't rebuild" he said.
Nor would he want to, he added.
"If you live in California, you're going to face an earthquake or a fire or a flood or a mudslide at some point—there's no way to mitigate all of that risk," he said.
Santa Rosa officials, he added, are trying to drive more development into the city's downtown, away from its more-vulnerable edges. Since last year, nearly 60 homes have been reconstructed. They've been built up to the new, municipal fire codes, and many homeowners have elected to use more fire-resistant materials. But Coursey said only so much can be done to prepare for catastrophe.
"I think we're more fire-aware; I think we're more fire-ready," he said. "But if that wind and that combination of low humidity and high temperature and high winds happened again, I think we're vulnerable."
CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Anna Dise slammed her hand into her car's steering wheel, crying out for her father, Gordon, as he ran into their blazing home in Butte Creek Canyon.
She tried desperately to get the car to start, but it was no use. Worse yet, she was running out of time, and her dad wasn't coming back out. One of the last things Dise saw before grabbing her two dogs and running for her life from the spreading Camp Fire was her childhood home's kitchen disintegrating.
Dise called 911, but emergency personnel couldn't get to her. To survive, she needed to find a way to outwit the blaze. She found a ditch and hunkered down, using what little water it held to douse herself and her beloved pets, Luna and Sirius, as embers rained down upon them.
Hours went by, and Dise, terrified the flames would consume her, stayed on alert as she spent the night outside.
"I had to stay awake and watch which way the fires were moving, all the hot spots," she said on Nov. 9 at Chico's Neighborhood Church, one of several locations temporarily housing evacuees and others rescued from the deadly Northern California blaze that ignited the previous morning.
In the early morning light, under a blanket of smoke, Dise hiked back to her house. There, she found its charred, skeletal remains and the car "all melted down." There was no sign of her father.
"I don't even think I saw my dad's bones, but I know he was in there," she said.
Inexplicably, a bag of family photos she'd abandoned was "untouched, no burns or anything." That, along with her canine companions, provided some comfort.
"We lost everything except for each other," she said.
Dise's cellphone battery had died, so she walked to a neighbor's house and waited for help to arrive. She heard chainsaws in the distance—the sound of Cal Fire personnel working their way through fallen trees—and was rescued around 7 a.m.
Dise's harrowing story would be unfathomable were it not for the fact that so many other Butte County residents can relate to it. Indeed, tens of thousands of residents fled for their lives, as the Camp Fire bore down on the Paradise and Magalia ridge communities of Butte County, as well as several surrounding hamlets, including Concow and Butte Creek Canyon.
The blaze started the morning of Nov. 8 east of Paradise in the Plumas National Forest. The cause is still under investigation, but one of the primary questions is whether an issue with a nearby high-voltage power line is related. Already facing billions in lawsuits for allegedly sparking other California wildfires—including the Tubbs Fire in Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties in October of last year—PG&E reported to the California Public Utilities Commission that an outage occurred just before the first calls of the Camp Fire came in to authorities.
It spread quickly in the parched foothills, pushed by low humidity and high winds that blew embers for miles, triggering fires throughout the region. As of this morning (Nov. 20), the firestorm had destroyed more than 16,800 structures. It has consumed more than 151,000 acres and was 70 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.
Amid the gray, post-apocalyptic landscape, particularly in the residential portions of Paradise, streets leading to the few main arteries exiting to the valley below were strewn with vehicles. They'd been abandoned by occupants who'd been stopped in gridlock traffic and had no choice but to get out and try to outrun the fast-moving flames.
Some of the automobiles were so scorched that their make and model were unrecognizable. Only shells remained, and in some cases, trails of melted aluminum oozed on the asphalt below. Several were crushed by collapsed power polls or trees. Still others appeared eerily unscathed.
James Betts witnessed the confusion and panic first-hand. Huddled with other evacuees at Neighborhood Church the day after escaping the flames, he described how quickly the fire moved through his Paradise neighborhood and how fortunate he was to make it out.
He, along with a friend and several family members, including his grandmother and nephew, were alerted to the fire by loud explosions. Outside, they saw flames down the street and drivers backed up on the roadway, honking and yelling.
Nobody in Betts' group had a car.
"I was screaming at people, begging them, 'Please stop,'" he said. "It was like Armageddon outside. It was nuts."
A stranger driving a pickup truck finally pulled up and all of them, plus their animals, piled into the bed. "We're so lucky, we really are," Betts said. "I gave him the biggest hug in the world. I don't even know his name."
Betts was echoed by fellow Paradise evacuee Oscar Albretsen, an epileptic who also was without transportation. "I honestly thought I was going to burn to death," he said.
Rescue came in the form of his neighbors, who made room in their vehicle for Albretsen and his cat, Nibbler.
The scene he described on the downhill ride to Chico is surreal—a wall of fire on either side of the roadway, which was dotted with charred deer carcasses, abandoned cars with pets inside, and homes burning or burned to the ground with only their chimneys intact.
Albretsen's last glimpse of the landscape in no way resembled his hometown.
"It's beautiful, and a town where people are so good to each other," Albretsen said. "Now it's starting to dawn on me: Everybody lost everything."
A version of this piece originally appeared in the Chico News & Review. Please consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign for employees of the News & Review who have been affected by the fire at www.gofundme.com/help-our-news-amp-review-family.
The Weekly Independent Comics Page for Nov. 22, 2018!November 22 2018
On this week's cranberry-crazy weekly Independent comics page: This Modern World hears what the Talking Trumpie Bear has to say; Jen Sorenson flees from all the notifications; The K Chronicles pays tribute to the Sharpie; Red Meat does some cosmetics testing; and Apoca Clips watches with disbelief as Li'l Trumpy visits the Camp Fire devastation.


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Structural Engineer - Project Manager
Location : Parsippany NJ US 07054
Job Type : Direct
Reference Code : 19183-MK1
Compensation : 95000.00 - 120000.00 USD/YEAR
Hours : Full Time
Required Years of Experience : 10
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