TASK DEFINITION: Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: Homebred beef cattle are seen at a local cattle market in Hongseong, about 170 km (106 miles) south of Seoul July 29, 2008. A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won The mutation, in an Alabama cow that tested positive in 2006 for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is identical to one that causes a related brain-wasting disease in humans. This suggests BSE may sometimes arise spontaneously in cattle. Jurgen Richt of Kansas State University said cattle producers must never let down their guard against BSE because cattle anywhere, at any time, can develop the disease. The finding may support a 2005 theory that the BSE epidemic in cattle could be traced to feed contaminated with cattle remains from India, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens. BSE or mad cow disease swept through British dairy herds in the 1980s, forcing the destruction of millions of animals. No one ever found where it came from but most experts thought at the time it came from cattle feed that contained the remains of sheep infected with a similar disease called scrapie. Cattle were never known to develop BSE before the epidemic, but some experts have argued they may have. This report lends credence to that idea. BSE, scrapie and a human version called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, are brain-destroying illnesses called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In some cases, animals or people that eat brain and nervous system material from victims of these diseases can develop them, too. They are passed along by misfolded infectious protein fragments called prions. A very rare disease called variant CJD has been found in people who ate infected beef products. Fatal and incurable, it has affected just 167 people so far. Most countries now ban the use of meat and other parts from mammals in food for cattle. They also ban the use of potentially infectious tissues such as brain and spinal cord in human food. “There are tendencies around the world, now that the feed-borne epidemic has gone down, to relax these rules and regulations,” Richt said in a telephone interview. “So if we have these genetic cases popping up here and there and we don’t have our mitigations in place, we will have another epidemic somewhere.”   He suggested breeding the gene out of cattle. “We can clean the world cattle herd of that mutation,” Richt said. CJD is also known to pop up spontaneously in the human population. A genetic mutation causes the disease in one in a million people globally. Richt and colleagues tested the brain of the Alabama cow and found a mutation identical to the prion gene mutation that causes some cases of CJD. It is probably rare in cattle, found in fewer than one in 2,000, they said in the report, published here  But the animal passed along its mutation to its heifer, which suggests it is inherited. Claim: Gene mutation underlies some mad cow disease: study.

SOLUTION: A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: “The water affects everyone,” she said, which is why she believes her job is so important. Reese is studying public health and environmental health at East Carolina University in North Carolina. She will be an intern for the East Shore department, working on the Connecticut shoreline until the end of July. Reese spends her Tuesday mornings driving around to all the public and private natural swimming areas in Branford, North Branford and East Haven, collecting water samples and putting them on ice in her purple cooler. The samples are then collected by state Department of Public Health couriers and brought to the state lab in Rocky Hill for testing. Water quality testing has always been a priority for the East Shore department every summer, but this year, Alex Cinotti, the assistant director of health, has something he’s trying to prove. Every year, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the department collects weekly water samples from 12 water bodies used for swimming, both freshwater and saltwater, to ensure bacteria levels are low enough for public safety. Samples are collected and tested once a week, and as long as bacteria levels fall below state-determined risk levels, the beaches and other water bodies remain open. This year, however, Cinotti would like to take the sampling a step further — to show a direct correlation between rainfall and elevated bacteria levels, he said, as rain will often wash contaminants into public waters and cause bacteria levels to rise. “This is our opportunity to take samples and establish a pattern,” Cinotti said. “Bacteria is bacteria and we consider it pathogenic.” As such, in addition to the weekly sampling of water, Cinotti said that the department is collecting samples after heavy rains to see if bacteria levels rise after rainfall. This kind of analysis could not be done last summer, Cinotti said, because there were few rain events due to the drought. On the state level, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will close public beaches after a significant amount of rainfall, in anticipation of potentially higher bacteria levels. Scott Szalkiewicz, a health program supervisor for the state Health Department, told the Register last summer that because samples take 24 hours to process, it’s helpful to be able to close beaches before test results come in when officials believe bacteria levels will be high based on the amount of rain and visual indicators. The East Shore District Health Department serves Branford, North Branford and East Haven. The 12 bathing waters surveyed each week include the east and west East Haven beaches, the Clark Avenue beach, Branford Point, Stony Creek, Hotchkiss Grove, Turtle Bay, Sunrise Cove, Lanphier Cove, Cedar Lake, Linsley Lake and Clear Lake. According to water quality records from the East Shore District Health Department in 2016, there was only one time when bacteria levels reached a level at which one of the beaches had to close. Sunrise Cove reached a level of 1,000 colonies of bacteria in the sample of 100 milliliters of water on Aug. 2, 2016, according to the records. Cinotti said that the safe levels for salt water are 104 colonies of bacteria per 100 milliliters of water and 235 colonies for fresh water per 100 milliliters of water. Some things that cause heightened bacteria levels include wild animal and dog feces, sewer overflows and leaks, Cinotti said. Rain may wash contaminants such as sewer overflows, nitrogen-rich pollutants and goose and dog feces into the Sound and other bathing water bodies. Potential health risks from swimming in water with high levels of bacteria include possible infections to open wounds and gastrointestinal illness when water is accidentally swallowed, Cinotti said. He added that it’s possible swimmers could contract eye- or ear-related illnesses from high levels of bacteria. “We really need to protect children,” Cinotti said. “They are more vulnerable than adults.” ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2rFTp4s ___ Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com Claim: Officials study link between rain and bacteria in water.

SOLUTION: For Kellyn Reese, waking up on Tuesday mornings and going to the beach because it’s her job is a nice perk of being a summer intern at the East Shore District Health Department.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California have sent a letter with the signatures of 64 colleagues to congressional leaders supporting the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment that prevents federal officials using public funds to enforce federal laws against medical marijuana. “The provision, which first became law in December 2014, has successfully protected patients, providers, and businesses against federal prosecution, so long as they act within the confines of their state’s medical marijuana laws,” they said in the letter that was sent this week. It asked Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to include the provision in any final package as they negotiate a fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill to fund the government beyond Dec. 8. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May told congressional leaders in a letter that it would be “unwise” to renew the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, saying marijuana is harmful and is banned by federal law. Blumenauer, in a message to marijuana stakeholders and supporters, said that despite bipartisan support for the provision, the leadership of the House didn’t allow a vote on it or any other marijuana-related amendments. But the Senate Appropriations Committee included the provision in its bill. “I’m working hard to ensure Rohrabacher-Blumenauer remains in effect to protect individuals in 46 states and thousands of state-legal businesses from federal intervention,” the Oregon congressman said in his message, emailed to The Associated Press by the Oregon Cannabis Business Council. Blumenauer, in a telephone interview with AP last summer, said Sessions is “out of step” with most members of Congress, who have become more supportive “of ending the failed prohibition on marijuana.” ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky Claim: Continued protection sought for medical-marijuana states.

SOLUTION:
Two members of Congress — one an Oregon Democrat and the other a California Republican — are pushing to ensure that protections against federal intervention remain for another year for 46 states, Washington DC, Guam and Puerto Rico that allow some form of medical marijuana.