texascavers Digest 13 Apr 2012 00:18:35 -0000 Issue 1529
Topics (messages 19825 through 19837):
tomorrow's TSS worksession CANCELLED
19825 by: Jim Kennedy
NSS Election Announcement - please post
19826 by: R D Milhollin
Re: TCMA Auction
19827 by: Logan McNatt
Very Cool Marketing - Bat Wine
19828 by: R D Milhollin
8.6 quake in Indonesia.. GW movement.
19829 by: tbsamsel.verizon.net
Latest WNS News
19830 by: Mark Minton
WNS syndrome news dissection
19831 by: rafal kedzierski
19832 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com
Restoration Field Camp, Carlsbad Caverns
19833 by: William Tucker
Antiobiotic-resistant bacteria discovered in Lechuguilla Cave may help doctors :
19834 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com
Help Needed to Move Cave
19835 by: R D Milhollin
NSS preregistration discount
19836 by: Mixon Bill
TSA Meeting Minutes
19837 by: Denise P
Administrivia:
To subscribe to the digest, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
To post to the list, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Begin Message ---
Cavers, due to the inability of the principle worksession organizers (Ron, Jim,
Ann) to make it to the TSS office in time to open things up for the volunteers
at the scheduled time tomorrow, we are forced to cancel this month's
worksession. We apologize for the last-minute notice.
Jim Kennedy
TSS Office Manager
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Texas NSS Members:
The 2012 NSS Director Election is currently in progress and will end on May
1st, 2012.
We've had amazing response to the online election process. People are
commenting that it's the easiest, quickest, most "pain-free" election ever.
The 2nd e-mail ballot reminder went out today (April 10th) to all NSS members
who had not voted yet. Look for an e-mail from Vote-Now.com.
Please vote and thanks,
Allan Weberg, Chairman
NSS Nominating Committee
[email protected]
For more information...
Here are the NSS Nominating Committee pages on the NSS web site:
https://secure.caves.org/committee/nominating/index.shtml
If you would like to view the candidate platform statements prior to loading
the ballot, you may do so here:
https://secure.caves.org/committee/nominating/Pages/Platforms2012.htm
Permission is granted to repost this message on caver related forums.
*********************************************************
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
UH-OH
The ViceMan Cometh
Or is it the ViseMan?
On 4/9/2012 7:03 PM, Michael Cicherski wrote:
Could the following folks please contact me in regards to the 2012 TCMA auction.
Bill Bentley
Charles Goldsmith
Lee Jay Graves
Mallory Mayeux
Lydia Hernandez
Shannon Summers
Gaylon Falgout
Austin McRee
Linda Palit
Sofia ?
Thanks,
Michael Cicherski
TCMA Auction Treasurer and bean-counter
[email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
forwarded from Cheryl Jones' post on NSS CaveChat in the "Everything Bats"
topic:
http://www.benefitwines.com/batworld_s/305.htm?Click=2270
Don't drink wine?
http://www.henhousecoffee.com/batworld/
Batworld is in Mineral Wells Texas
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/uv?cb_72019=on&format=gif_default&begin_date=2012-04-10&end_date=2012-04-11&site_no=370812080261901
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Here's the latest on
WNS:
<http://news.yahoo.com/study-fungus-behind-bat-die-off-came-europe-191829558.html>.
Mark
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Delving further into the PNAS article claiming that N. American and European
WNS is the same.
Just because American bats infected with N. American and European fungus showed
similar symptoms does not mean that these are the exact same Geomyces
destructans, which I think the article was implying. I think the importance may
be for proving the Kochs postulates of Geomyces destructans in white nose
syndrome (implying that fungus is causative of the disease). There is this
amazing thing called 'molecular biology' that actually lets you look at the
genomic structure and determine its similarity to other pathogens, and trace
its genetic drift.
>From Pubmed, there is an article from 2011 that shows clonal genotype of US
>isolates is similar, imlpying clonal dispersion of fungus in North America
>(Emerg Infect Dis, 2011, July 17(7): 1273-6). However, I'm not aware of any
>papers showing molecular match between N. American or European Geomyces
>destructans.
Rafal Kedzierski
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I love it when you talk that way, Rafal! J
Mark
From: rafal kedzierski [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:20 PM
To: texas cavers tc
Subject: [Texascavers] WNS syndrome news dissection
Delving further into the PNAS article claiming that N. American and
European WNS is the same.
Just because American bats infected with N. American and European fungus
showed similar symptoms does not mean that these are the exact same
Geomyces destructans, which I think the article was implying. I think
the importance may be for proving the Kochs postulates of Geomyces
destructans in white nose syndrome (implying that fungus is causative of
the disease). There is this amazing thing called 'molecular biology'
that actually lets you look at the genomic structure and determine its
similarity to other pathogens, and trace its genetic drift.
>From Pubmed, there is an article from 2011 that shows clonal genotype of
US isolates is similar, imlpying clonal dispersion of fungus in North
America (Emerg Infect Dis, 2011, July 17(7): 1273-6). However, I'm not
aware of any papers showing molecular match between N. American or
European Geomyces destructans.
Rafal Kedzierski
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Announcing
Restoration Field Camp
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
June 11 - 16, 2012
This camp is open to anyone 18 years of age or older no matter their caving
experience. It is a great opportunity for new cavers to learn about cave
conservation, restoration and etiquette. They will receive instructions and
guidance and we will be performing meaningful cave restoration projects at
the Park all week. It is also a great camp for experienced cavers and
restorationists, too.
We will be performing various cave restoration and conservation projects in
the cave on behalf of Carlsbad Caverns and enjoying our off times together.
We will be staying in the historic research huts just a short walk from the
Natural Entrance. The evening bat flights visible from the porch are
particularly grand. The cost of the camp is being kept to a minimum and the
mood will be casual, friendly and fun.
The camp is being organized by William and Tammy Tucker on behalf of the
Cave Research Foundation.
If you are interested, contact William Tucker
(mailto:[email protected]) and you will be sent further details and an
application.
http://wiki.lubbockareagrotto.org/index.php?title=Restoration_Field_Camp
William
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Key to New Antibiotics Could Be Deep Within Isolated Cave
ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2012) — Antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in one
of the deepest, most isolated caves in the world could mean good news in
the battle against superbugs. Researchers from McMaster and the University of
Akron have discovered a remarkable prevalence of such bacteria in New
Mexico's Lechuguilla Cave, a place isolated from human contact until very
recently.
The discovery that bacteria have developed defenses against antibiotics
could indicate the presence of previously unknown, naturally occurring
antibiotics that doctors could use to treat infections.
McMaster's Gerry Wright, scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote
Institute for Infectious Disease Research, and Hazel Barton, associate
professor of biology at the University of Akron, collected strains of bacteria
from the cave's deepest recesses.
None of the bacteria are capable of causing human disease, nor have they
ever been exposed to human sources of antibiotics but they pair found that
almost all were resistant to at least one antibiotic. Some were resistant to
as many as 14 different antibiotics.
In all, resistance was found to virtually every antibiotic that doctors
currently use to treat patients.
"Our study shows that antibiotic resistance is hard-wired into bacteria. It
could be billions of years old, but we have only been trying to understand
it for the last 70 years," said Wright. "This has important clinical
implications. It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the
environment
that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."
The researchers also identified resistance in bacteria related to the
bacterium that causes anthrax. This resistance has yet to emerge in the
clinic.
"We can say to doctors, 'While this isn't a problem right now, it could be
in the future, so you need be aware of this pre-existing resistance and be
prepared if it emerges in the clinic, or you are going to have a problem,'"
said Barton.
Resistance to antibiotics among bacteria is a growing concern for human
health. With the emergence of bacteria such as multi-drug resistant
Staphylococcus and the global spread of resistance to all clinically used
drugs,
where and how these organisms acquire resistance are becoming important
questions, said Wright.
"In extreme cases these organisms are resistant to seven or more drugs and
are untreatable using traditional treatment, and doctors must resort to
surgery to remove infected tissue," said Wright. "The actual source of much of
this resistance is harmless bacteria that live in the environment."
Because antibiotics are heavily prescribed and used in agriculture, it is
difficult to find an environment where antibiotics do not exert some kind of
influence. That made Lechuguilla Cave the perfect environment to look at
the pre-existing reservoir of antibiotic resistance in nature.
Since it was discovered in 1986, access to the cave has been limited to a
few expert cavers and researchers each year. It is surrounded by an
impermeable layer of rock, meaning it can take water up to 10,000 years to
reach
its deepest recesses, an age well beyond the discovery of antibiotics.
The research was published April 11 in the Journal PLoS ONE.
_http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120411205423.htm_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120411205423.htm)
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
forwarded from VARList:
We need your help to move a cave from Colorado to West Virginia for MayaCon!
What are we talking about? A crawl-through electronic cave obstacle course to
challenge your caving skills. We brought the CaveSim obstacle course to the
2011 NSS Convention, and many cavers said "Bring it to MayaCon!" The NSS has
agreed to help us, but we need your help, too. Here's our project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/813491856/cavesim-at-nss-caving-convention-2012.
Click the photo to view our fun video (worth watching even if you don't want to
help). We're giving rewards (like artificial cave
formations) in exchange for donations, and we have a few rewards that are just
for grottos. We're trying to do more than just MayaCon -- we'd really like to
raise $6000 to buy a large enclosed trailer so that we can do many more
general-public and caver-only events (conventions, regionals, cave rescue
trainings, etc.) Also check out my latest project update (about a recent cave
rescue):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/813491856/cavesim-at-nss-caving-convention-2012/posts
Thanks in advance for your help,
Dave Jackson, NSS 60740
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Just a reminder that you can save $30 by preregistering for the NSS
convention before May 1. See http://nss2012.com/register/. There is
also a substantial discount for students; you have to dig deeper into
the site to see that. Presumably this means college students, although
they don't say. There is a separate price for grade-school age kids.
You can preregister and get the student discount, but you'll have to
show your student ID on site to complete the registration at that price.
--Bill Mixon
----------------------------------------
Nature is a hanging judge.
----------------------------------------
You may "reply" to the address this message
came from, but for long-term use, save:
Personal: [email protected]
AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hello-The minutes from the TSA meeting conducted at Spring Convention are
posted at:
http://cavetexas.org/PDF/TSA/Minutes-2012-03-31.pdf, also linked from the home
page and the minute page from
http://cavetexas.org/TSA/tsaofficialbusiness.html, at:
http://cavetexas.org/TSA/meetingminutes.html.
Thanks,
Denise Prendergast
TSA Secretary
--- End Message ---
