Science News - May 7, 2011

Promising new Alzheimer’s model “Memories can’t wait” (SN: 3/12/11, p. 24) was a well-written analysis of the problems facing those of us working in the field of geriatric psychology. The new research model based on inflammation is very promising. From a cost-benefit standpoint, early diagnosis and preventive treatment of potential Alzheimer’s patients will be essential for Medicare to survive. Joe Roberts, Jackson, Miss.

Mapping diabetes

I read with interest the article titled “ ‘Diabetes belt’ cinches the South” (SN: 4/9/11, p. 14). Looking at the map, I noticed that the high diabetes rates in the western states seem to correlate strongly with American Indian reservations. Have there been any studies that indicate Native Americans have higher incidences of diabetes? If so, is it lifestyle or biology?

Other areas of the map, specifically
in southwest Wyoming, Colorado and
northern New Mexico, seem to show
a lower incidence of diabetes, which
may be worth more study. I wonder if
this is due to something in the lifestyle
that can be exported or to the climate
or elevation, which cannot. Or per-
haps the lower rates are caused by bad
or limited data. In any case, studying
areas with lower rates might give as
much useful information as studying
the counties of high incidence.

The reader makes a good observa-
tion — there is a high prevalence of
diabetes on some American Indian res-
ervations, which is reflected in the map.
Study coauthor Lawrence Barker of
the CDC acknowledged this during an
interview. And indeed, the lower rates
in some areas may point to new strate-
gies in lowering diabetes rates in other
communities. The lower rates may be
explained by something straightforward
such as a healthier lifestyle, though the
data used in the map do not address
underlying causes. — Nathan Seppa

Dangerous knowledge The problem, as discussed in the David Nichols interview (“The costs of putting knowledge into the wrong hands,” SN: 2/26/11, p. 32), is not with the free exchange of knowledge but rather with the government’s drug prohibition policy. By suppressing the relatively safer drug MDMA (ecstasy), moralists are acting with the same ruthlessness that led to, during alcohol prohibition, the poisoning (“denaturing”) of industrial alcohol — a policy that resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths. Terry Franklin, Amherst, Mass.