Using a new cancer registry UNC researchers discovered some areas in North Carolina with unusually high rates of cervical cancer. The counties with the highest overall rates and highest mortality rates are among the state’s poorest. Among the report’s other findings is that African-American women die from cervical cancer at double the rate of white and Hispanic women.

Here’s the release:

UNC study identifies pockets of high cervical cancer rates in North Carolina

A study of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in North Carolina has revealed areas where rates are unusually high.

The findings indicate that education, screening, and vaccination programs in those places could be particularly useful, according to public health researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who authored the report.

“In general the rates of incidence and mortality in North Carolina are consistent with national averages,” said Jennifer S. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and an author of the study published recently online in the journal Preventive Medicine. “However we do see pockets where the rates are among the highest for any of the 50 states. These are the areas where we need to focus our efforts to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, this highly preventable disease.”

Smith, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, is director of the Cervical Cancer-Free America initiative, which is guiding states to develop cervical cancer prevention programs aimed at eliminating cervical cancer through education, vaccination, screening and early treatment.

UNC researchers examined data from the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry on all cervical cancer cases reported in the state from 1998 to 2007. In total, there were 3,652 cases of invasive cervical cancer and 1,208 deaths in that period. The study found cervical cancer incidence and death rates varied greatly by county, with less affluent counties having higher rates. While most cases and deaths were among white women (65 percent and 64 percent, respectively), Hispanic women had the highest incidence rate (18.3 cases per 100,000 women). The rates for African American and white females were 10.6 cases per 100,000 women and 7.3 cases per 100,000 women, respectively.

A greater proportion of African American women died from cervical cancer than other races. The mortality rate was 4.5 deaths per 100,000 women, compared to 2.2 deaths per 100,000 white women and 2.0 deaths per 100,000 Hispanic women.

Results also showed:

* More than 45 percent of cervical cancer cases were in women aged 30-49, but more than half of the deaths occurred among women over age 50. Almost a third of the deaths were of women aged 70 and older.
* The highest rates were seen in the least affluent counties (divided into three tiers of economic strength by the N.C. Department of Commerce; tier 1 = least prosperous, tier 3 = most prosperous). Overall, counties’ incidence rates varied between 3.2 and 15.1 cases per 100,000 women. Mortality rates were from 0 to 8 deaths per 100,000 women. Ten counties (Anson, Chowan, Duplin, Halifax, Hoke, Lincoln, Randolph, Robeson, Sampson and Scotland) had both high incidence rates (more than 11 cases per 100,000 women) and mortality rates (more than 3 deaths per 100,000 women) of cervical cancer (click link to see related map).
* No notable difference was found in the stage at which the cancer was diagnosed for women in rural areas compared to urban settings.
* Women with private insurance were more likely to be diagnosed at earlier, more treatable stages than women with no insurance or with government-sponsored insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, military benefits). There was no difference in stage of diagnosis between women with government-sponsored insurance and no insurance.

“This in-depth, registry-based assessment provides us with a clearer picture of which women in North Carolina are being diagnosed with cervical cancer, and it identifies gaps in our state’s cervical cancer prevention health network,” Smith said. “The cancer registry data will help us, as a state, initiate targeted and appropriate interventions. It’s an important step toward eradicating cervical cancer in North Carolina. The analysis also can serve as a model for other states as they bolster the efforts to reduce or end this cancer across the nation.”

Other authors included Sheri Denslow, Ph.D., UNC epidemiology alumna; Gabriel Knop, statistician, Christian Klaus, spatial analyst, and Chandrika Rao, Ph.D., director, all with the N.C. Cancer Registry; and Noel Brewer, Ph.D., associate professor of health behavior and health education at the UNC public health school. Brewer also is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and is director of Cervical Cancer-Free NC, a UNC-led group that is forming coalitions to foster cervical cancer prevention practice activities and research.

The study can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2012.01.020

For a list of all N.C. counties’ cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates, see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743512000412#t0015

If the recent spell of warm weather has you thumbing through the seed catalogs you may want to check out the new zone map site at the United States Department of Agriculture, which has a nifty GIS driven version interface. Punch in your zip code and drill down. Both the USDA and NOAA are stepping up their climate change monitoring including the effect on plant hardiness. Around here, the maps say we’re a warm Zone 7, but Zone 8 isn’t far away, pushing up from the coast with the line through parts of Harnett, Wake and southern Chatham. Regardless of zone, this month will feature its usual wild swings. Last year, the last day of the month was a record setter with a high of 81.

Sunrise, February 1: 7:15 a.m. Sunset: 5:41 p.m.
Sunrise, February 30: 6:49 a.m. Sunset: 6:08 p.m.

First Quarter – January 30; Full Moon – February 7; Last Quarter – February 14; New Moon — February 21; First Quarter February 29

The Full Moon in February is known as the Snow Moon, Wolf Moon and Hunger Moon
Planets & Stars: Planets are in the night sky in February — Jupiter, Venus and the Moon draw closer together through the month crossing paths finally crossing paths around the 24th with Mercury finally visible after sundown.

February is Black History Month and Heart Month
Significant Dates
• February 1 is National Freedom Day;
• February 2 is Groundhog Day and Candlemas;
• Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12;
• The Feast of Saint Valentine is on February 14;
• February 2 is Groundhog Day;
• February 17 is Random Act of Kindness Day;
• President’s Day is Monday, February 20
• Mardi Gras is on February 21
• Ash Wednesday if February 22
• George Washington’s birthday and, possibly, Groundhog Day is on February 22;
• Leap Day is February 29

There are UNC home basketball games on February 8 (Duke!), 11, 18, and 29.

Langston Hughes was born 100 years ago today. The author, essayist, poet and newspaper columnist visited North Carolina a few times in his career including a trip to Chapel Hill which he later wrote about in an essay called “Color in Chapel Hill.”
There are several accounts of his visit, the most extensive in this post by the folks at the Southern Historical Colllection, where we learn that Hughes visit later came back to haunt Frank Porter Graham during Graham’s run for the U.S. Senate:

The publication of the Scottsboro issue of Contempo was timed to appear several days before Hughes was to visit Chapel Hill for a public reading. Citizens of the town of Chapel Hill were incensed. UNC President Frank Porter Graham and Chapel Hill town officials received a flood of letters denouncing Hughes as “sacrilegious” and calling for his engagement to be canceled (to put it softly). Graham did not interfere and the reading went on as planned.

The NC Collection blog also had this tidbit:

Hughes spoke before a full crowd on campus and later dined at a local restaurant with a group of white students, only learning later that he had been the first African American to eat in the dining room of a downtown restaurant. Chapel Hill restaurants would not be formally integrated until the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Interesting headline from Politico for a sidebar about President Obama’s proposed consolidation of several agencies and departments. The President explains how the NOAA came to be a part of the Department of Commerce.

“If you’re wondering what the genesis of this was apparently, this had something to do with President Nixon being unhappy with his Interior Secretary for criticizing the Vietnam War. So he decided not to put NOAA in what would have been a more sensible place,” Obama said in remarks today.

And who was that Interior Secretary?

Answer: Former Alaska governor Wally Hickel, who died in 2010.

Nice story out of WNC. Asheville Citizen-Times writer Susan Reinhardt interviews a couple of fellows who made it to triple digits.
I’ve interviewed several 100 year old women, but never any guys. These two, as the story says, have their wits about them. Here’s the link.

The days are short,
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.
— John Updike, “January”

Here in the Piedmont, January is not the coldest month of our year. It’s close, but December and February are pretty much in a tie for first. Of course this depends on where you are and how the winds affect you and the slopes around you. The Piedmont’s hilly land — urban and rural — makes for quite a few frost hollows — low-lying areas where it is not uncommon for a layer of warm emanating from nearby slopes air to trap a layer of cold air in the hollow. That makes for some cold nights no matter what the reading is at the airport.

Sunrise, January 1: 7:26 a.m. Sunset: 5:12 p.m.
Sunrise, January 31: 7:14 a.m. Sunset: 5:28 p.m.

First Quarter – January 1; Full Moon – January 9; Last Quarter – January 16; New Moon — January 23

The Full Moon in January is the Old Moon, Wolf Moon and Ice Moon.
Planets & Stars: It’s a beautiful time for stargazing with some of the brightest — like Sirius, the Dog Star — right overhead at midnight. It’s also a good time of year to view the planets. Mars gets so close you can see the polar caps with a decent set of optics.Venus and Jupiter are still morning and evening lights respectively while Mercury and Saturn join the dawn patrol. The Quarantids Meteor Shower, radiating out of Bootes in the Western North Western sky, peaks on January 3 &4 with the best viewing around midnight.

Get the kettle out. January is Hot Tea Month, Oatmeal Month and Soup Month.
Significant Dates
• January 1 is New Years Day and Freedom Day
• January 3 is the Festival of Sleep and Fruitcake Toss Day
• Trivia Day is — you guessed it — January 4
• The Feast of the Epiphany is on January 6
• January has a Friday the 13th. It is also International Skeptics Day.
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is on January 15 and celebrated this year on January 16
• The Chinese ring in the Year 4710, The Year of the Dragon — on January 23.
• January 25 is Opposite Day
• January 26 is Australia Day
• January 31 is Yad Drawkcab

Winter along Snow's Cut

For the record (since it’s so late)

The wintry west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw — Robert Burns, Winter: A Dirge

The Winter Solstice slips into December 22 this year at thirty minutes past midnight. The best thing you can say about the onset of winter is that the steady loss of daylight comes to an end. The first day of winter, you see, is a happy moment — for the days grow longer from then on. Unfortunately, that means a long journey into night through the better part of December. So take your Vitamin D and run outside in midday as often as possible. Sunlight is precious. Savor it. Oh, and bundle up.
Sunrise, December 1: 7:07 a.m. Sunset: 5:02 p.m.
Sunrise, December 30: 7:26 a.m. Sunset: 5:12 p.m.

First Quarter – December 2; Full Moon – December 10; Last Quarter – December 17; New Moon — December 24

The Full Moon in December is the Cold Moon, Oak Moon, Frost Moon, Winter Moon and Long Night’s Moon (you catching the theme here?)

Planets & Stars: Venus rules the morning sky while Jupiter rules the night. The month is also another big one for meteor showers The Geminids burst out of Gemini around the 14th and the Ursids can be found near the Little Dipper around December 22. And since it will be winter check out the Winter Triangle — Betelgeuse, Procyon and Sirius — near Orion.

December is Bingo Month, Universal Human Rights Month and according to The Onion, National Awareness Month
Significant Dates
• December 1 is World AIDS Day and Rosa Parks Day;
• December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities;
• National Cookie Day is December 4;
• St. Nicholas Day is December 6;
• Human Rights Day is December 10;
• Bill of Rights Day is December 15
• National Maple Syrup Day is December 17
• Chanukah begins on December 21;
• The first day of winter is December 22;
• National Egg Nog Day is December 24 and so is Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day is December 25
• December 26 is Boxing Day and the start of Kwanzaa
• New Year’s Eve is December 31

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
— James Whitcomb Riley, When the Frost is on the Punkin

November is when the deed is done, when everything annual that’s still kicking comes to a crashing end as the average low plummets from 43 at the beginning of the month to 31 degrees at the end. The month commences on All Saints Day followed by Día de los Muertos then very quickly kills off a hour of daylight in the afternoon with another of man’s infernal meddling with the clock. Daylight Savings Time as its fans like to call it ends Sunday morning November 6. Fall back if you must and please note that it messes a bit with the following sunrise/sunset item.
Sunrise, November 1: 7:38 a.m. Sunset: 6:20 p.m.
Sunrise, November 30: 7:07 a.m. Sunset: 5:02 p.m.

Moon Phases: First Quarter – November 2; Full Moon – November 10; Last Quarter – November 18; New Moon — November 25

The Full Moon in September is known as the Hunter’s Moon, Beaver Moon, Frost Moon and Snow Moon.
Planets & Stars: November is all about the Leonids, one of the biggest meteor displays of the year. They typically run from about November 10 to 21 with the peak around the 16th or 17th. Look in the western sky near Leo.

November is Child Safety Month, Good Nutrition Month, Latin American Month and National Adoption Month.
Significant Dates
• November 1 is All Saint’s Day and National Author’s Day;
• November 2 is Día de los Muertos;
• National Sandwich Day is November 3;
• Guy Fawkes Day is November 5;
• Election Day is Tuesday November 7;
• Veteran’s Day is November 11;
• Homemade Bread Day and Take a Hike Day are on November 17;
• November 20th celebrates the Mexican Revolution;
• Thanksgiving is on November 24

There is a UNC home football game on November 26 and home basketball games on November 20 and 22.

Subtropical storm Nameless is creeping up the coast from Florida. I’ve been watching the rainfall estimates as it moves northward. Looks like we’ll get something out of it in the Piedmont. Down East should get plenty.

I watched October
Flare today
The Flames spread across the highway
Across the ridges, along the creek banks
Where sycamores marched naked
— Sam Ragan, I Watched October

The light and temperature plunges this month, but expect a little reminder from nature, that we are still a southern place. Indian Summer, typically takes place in late October here in the Piedmont after the first frost. For what its worth, a study of frost dates from 1951 to 1980 has the Chapel Hill frost date as October 23.
Please note that we don’t do the daylight savings time thing until the first week in November.
Sunrise, October 1: 7:11 a.m. Sunset: 7 p.m.
Sunrise, October 30: 7:37 a.m. Sunset: 6:21 p.m.

First Quarter – October 3; Full Moon – October 11; Last Quarter – October 19; New Moon — October 26

The Full Moon in October is the Hunter’s Moon, Travel Moon, and Blood Moon. Some people insist that the Harvest Moon is in October rather than September.
Planets & Stars: Earth passes through the dust of Halley’s Comet late in October and that means the Orionids meteor display. The radiant for meteors is a little left of Orion and run from roughly October 17-25 with peak viewing on October 21.

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cookie Month, Diabetes Awareness Month and, yeah, Sarcastic Month. The first week is get Organized Week.

Significant Dates
• October 1 is Homemade Cookies Day and World Vegetarian Day;
• Child Health Day is October 3;
• National Denim Day is October 7;
• Columbus Day is October 10;
• University Day and Farmers’ Day are on October 12;
• October 17 is Black Poetry Day;
• Mother-in-Law Day is October 23;
• United Nations Day is October 24
• Halloween is October 31