New London School Explosion

Diabetes becoming alarmingly common worldwide, new study finds

Nearly 10 percent of the world’s adults have diabetes, and the prevalence of the disease is rising rapidly. As in the United States and other wealthy nations, increased obesity and inactivity are the primary cause in such developing countries as India and in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

That’s the sobering conclusion of a study published Saturday in the journal Lancet that traces trends in diabetes and average blood sugar readings in about 200 countries and regions over the past three decades.

The study’s findings predict a huge burden of medical costs and physical disability ahead in this century, as the disease increases a person’s risk of heart attack, kidney failure, blindness and some infections.

“This study confirms the suspicion of many that diabetes has become a global epidemic,” said Frank Hu, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s School of Public Health who was not involved in the research. “It has the potential to overwhelm the health systems of many countries, especially developing countries.”

Worldwide, the prevalence of diabetes in men older than 25 rose from 8.3 percent in 1980 to 9.8 percent in 2008. For women older than 25, it increased from 7.5 percent to 9.2 percent.

“This is likely to be one of the defining features of global health in the coming decades,” said Majid Ezzati, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at Imperial College London, who headed the study. “There’s simply the magnitude of the problem. And then there’s the fact that unlike high blood pressure and high cholesterol, we don’t really have good treatments for diabetes.”

There are two types of diabetes, a metabolic ailment in which the body is unable to rapidly or adequately move sugar out of the bloodstream and into tissues after a meal. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease that comes on in childhood and requires that a person take insulin shots to survive. Type 2 accounts for 90 percent of cases and generally comes on after age 25. It is controlled by insulin, pills and, in some cases, weight loss and exercise.

The disease is most common in the islands of the South Pacific — Oceania — where an explosion of severe obesity, coupled with a genetic proclivity for diabetes, has driven diabetes prevalence to 25 percent in men and 32 percent in women in some places. The Gulf States also have very high rates, with Saudi Arabia ranking No. 3, Jordan No. 8 and Kuwait No. 10 in diabetes among men in 2008.

New London School Explosion « spydersden

March 18, 1937, was just like any other day in New London, Texas, a community in Rusk County previously known as “London”. It was mild and not particularly memorable, other than being a Friday, which was enough to have the school kids in New London on edge about getting out and having a weekend.

The London school district was one of the richest in America. An oil find in Rusk County in 1930 had boosted the local economy, and educational spending grew with it. The London School, a large structure of steel and concrete, was constructed in 1932 at a cost of $1 million. in current dollars that would equate to about $15.75 million. The London Wildcats played football in the first stadium in the state to have electric lights.

The school was built on sloping ground, and a large dead-air space was contained beneath the structure. The school board had overridden the original architect’s plans for a boiler and steam distribution system, instead opting to install 72 gas heaters throughout the building.

In early 1937, the school board canceled their natural gas contract and had plumbers install a tap into Parade Gasoline Company’s residue gas line in order to save money. This practice, while not explicitly authorized by local oil companies, was widespread in the area. The natural gas extracted with the oil was considered to be a waste product and was siphoned off. Since there was no value to the natural gas, the oil companies turned a blind eye. This “raw” or “wet” gas varied in quality from day to day, even from hour to hour.

Untreated natural gas is both odorless and colorless, so leaks are undetectable. Gas had been leaking from the residue line tap, and had built up inside an enclosed crawlspace that ran the entire 253-foot length of the building’s facade. Students had been complaining of headaches for some time, but little attention had been paid to it.

Friday’s classes had been canceled to allow for students to participate in the neighboring city of Henderson’s Interscholastic Meet, a scholastic and athletic competition. Following the school’s normal schedule, first through fourth grade students had been let out early. A PTA meeting was being held in the gymnasium, a separate structure roughly 100 feet from the main building.

Around 3:20PM Central time, Lemmie R. Butler, an “instructor of manual training”, turned on an electric sander. It is believed that the sander’s switch caused a spark that ignited the gas-air mixture.

New London School Explosion

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