Bits n' pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

Early stage breast cancer may not require chemotherapy, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Rather, treatment may only require an estrogen-blocking drug.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says small family farms produce 70 percent of the world’s food. But 80 percent of the world’s hungry live in rural areas and are either farmers or landless farm workers. The non-profit GRAIN report, Hungry for Land, says those small farms are more productive than large farms, are mostly run by women, but are shrinking in size due to corporate land grabs.

The U.S. Dept. of Education has reduced investigations of allegations of abusive practices by for-profit colleges by about 75 percent, THE WEEK reports. The investigation arm is now lead by a former dean of a college that settled for $100 million for misleading students about their post-college careers.

A poll assessing the public’s opinion Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling with 2016 elections shows 53 percent of Republicans – as opposed to 27 percent a year ago – view Mueller unfavorably. The figure is 24 percent for Democrats, and an overall 36 percent for registered voters. The Politico/Morning Consult poll found 48 percent think the president has tried to interfere with the investigation. And 59 percent disagree with the president saying he has an “absolute right” to pardon himself. The investigation so far has resulted in five guilty pleas and 18 indictments against people and corporations.

Of children ages four to nine that learn about gun safety, about 85 percent forget their lessons, according to a report from Rutgers School of Nursing. And their parents also show room for improvement: the report indicates that 85 percent of firearm-owning parents don’t practice safe gun storage.

Almost 15 percent of men and 30 percent of women held in prisons have a mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Donations from fossil fuel companies to Democratic candidates will no longer be accepted, the Democratic National Committee has decided. Huffington Post reported that the DNC is also considering a ban on donations over $200 by anyone working for a fossil fuel industry. During the 2016 election year oil and gas companies donated $7.6 million to Democrat candidates; they donated $53.7 million to Republican candidates. Coal companies gave 97 percent of their donations to Republicans in 2016.

Ripping apart families at the U.S.-Mexico border is “disgraceful,” Evangelist Franklin Graham told The New York Times. He also called separating babies from mothers “immoral.”

The medical journal The Lancet says some people self-medicate for depression by eating sweets. But studies show a 38 percent higher risk for depression in those eating the most baked goods. The WHO says depression is the leading cause of poor health and disability worldwide. In the U.S. it impacts 16 million Americans, which includes 6 million seniors. Depression rose 18 percent between 2005 and 2015.

With the suicide rate up more than 20 percent in the last 10 years, health care practitioners are suspecting what can be called “diseases of despair.” According to Michael Rozier, S.J., at St. Louis University, hopelessness, lack of opportunity and feelings of not belonging appear to influence some chronic physical conditions, substance abuse and suicide. Rozier’s recommendations include more funding for mental health care, changes in opioid prescribing practices and addressing why opportunity is not equally distributed.

Increasingly red fox are becoming fond of urban living. As reported in National Wildlife, the canines are earning appreciation when they dine on urban (but wild) rabbits that munch on gardens. The fox is now found in over 100 major cities around the world.

Stats for 2016 show almost seven million people were displaced that year; they were forced out of their homes, but were still able to stay within their country. For some the cause was conflict and criminal violence, but three-times more people were displaced by natural disasters like floods and fires, as compared to the previous year, says the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.

Blast from the past: During WWII the U.S. put 120,000 Japanese-Americans into internment camps, made possible by a law that says the government can hold a citizen without trial or a hearing during wartime. Of the people investigated for spying on Japan’s behalf, 10 were convicted — all of them Caucasians, according to the Smithsonian. President Ronald Reagan made a formal apology to interned Japanese-Americans, and each was paid $20,000.

Lorraine H. Marie is an independent writer based in Colville, Washington.