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Project Peanut Butter and Hershey team up to reduce childhood malnutrition in rural Ghana

With funding from The Hershey Company, Project Peanut Butter announced today that it will make and distribute vitamin-enriched nutritional packets to impoverished children in rural Ghana.

10 Dec 2012

FAO report calls for increased investments in global agriculture to eradicate hunger

"Excessive corruption, poor infrastructure and scarce government resources were deterring investment in agriculture and contributing to high levels of malnourishment around the world," Xinhua writes, noting the release on Thursday of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) annual report.

8 Dec 2012

Roe, Gingrey to lead GOP doctors caucus

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that House Republicans are likely to embrace the same Medicare cuts that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had assailed President Barack Obama over, but which are likely to be included again in the House Republican budget. And Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., is getting encouragement to head the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

4 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Disputing Obama's and GOP's commitment to cutting spending and avoiding fiscal cliff

President Obama has said he wants to reform entitlements eventually, someday, after Republicans raise taxes. Republicans want the President to sign on to serious reform now as part of any deal, since AARP and the left will kill anything that isn't passed immediately. Given the political difficulty of reforming entitlements, Republicans are right to try to get Mr. Obama's fingerprints on such a deal this year.

4 Dec 2012

Low-level exposure to organophosphates affects neurological and cognitive function

Scientists have found that low-level exposure to organophosphates (OPs) produces lasting decrements in neurological and cognitive function. Memory and information processing speed are affected to a greater degree than other cognitive functions such as language.

2 Dec 2012

Researchers to fortify milk with heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids

Not everyone has a taste for fish, even though it is a natural source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. And while a growing number of omega-3 enriched foods may net health benefits for people who resist the lure of salmon or sashimi, milk remains the product that has gotten away in what has become a billion-dollar health industry.

1 Dec 2012

Guineafowl may spread Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus

Turkey raises and releases thousands of non-native guineafowl to eat ticks that carry the deadly Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Yet research suggests guineafowl eat few ticks, but carry the parasites on their feathers, possibly spreading the disease they were meant to stop, says a Turkish biologist working at the University of Utah.

30 Nov 2012

New antifungal drugs could be developed based on substance bacteria use to decompose mushrooms

Soft rot diseases cause a great deal of damage in agriculture, and turn fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms to mush. By using imaging mass spectrometry together with genetic and bioinformatic techniques (genome mining), German researchers have now discovered the substance the bacteria use to decompose mushrooms.

29 Nov 2012

Link between high fructose corn syrup intake and diabetes prevalence

A new study by University of Southern California (USC) and University of Oxford researchers indicates that large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in national food supplies across the world may be one explanation for the rising global epidemic of type 2 diabetes and resulting higher health care costs.

28 Nov 2012

'Doc fix' cost: $25 billion for one year, CBO says

The Hill reports that delaying a scheduled pay cut for one year to doctors who treat Medicare patients would cost $25 billion.

22 Nov 2012

Iridoid synthase can make powerful chemicals from catnip to vinblastine

Scientists have discovered an enzyme used in nature to make powerful chemicals from catnip to a cancer drug, vinblastine. The discovery opens up the prospect of producing these chemicals cheaply and efficiently.

22 Nov 2012

Certain occupations do increase risk of breast cancer

Is there a link between the risk of breast cancer and the working environment? A study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health provides further evidence on this previously neglected research topic, confirming that certain occupations do pose a higher risk of breast cancer than others, particularly those that expose the worker to potential carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.

19 Nov 2012

GigaScience announces publication of whole-genome sequencing and analysis of Wuzhishan Pig

The international open-access journal GigaScience announces the publication of the whole-genome sequencing and analysis of the Wuzhishan Pig, an extensively inbred, miniature pig, which can serve as an excellent model for human medical research.

16 Nov 2012

Joint U.N. assessment finds better harvests in DPR Korea but warns undernutrition persists among 2.8M vulnerable people

"There has been an increase in staple food production in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the second year running, but undernutrition persists for nearly three million people, according to a new United Nations assessment released" Monday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

15 Nov 2012

Pig genes resemble human genes when associated with diabetes, obesity

Insights into the genetic code of pigs that reveal how the species evolved could improve the health of animals in future.

15 Nov 2012

Older North American farmers face increased risk of serious injury

Older North American farmers work fewer hours than their younger peers but spend more time operating heavy machinery and equipment-raising their risk of serious injury, according to new research from the University of Alberta.

13 Nov 2012

FAO Food Price Index falls slightly during October

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index, "which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar," fell slightly in October, "largely because of falling cereals and oils prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday," Reuters reports.

9 Nov 2012

USAID unveils plans to harmonize nutrition efforts

"The U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] has unveiled plans to harmonize its funding and efforts surrounding nutrition," Devex reports.

9 Nov 2012

Blog posts address possible global health, foreign policy priorities in second Obama administration

After President Barack Obama's re-election on Tuesday, the following blog posts addressed possible foreign policy priorities during the next administration.

9 Nov 2012

African leaders must do more to ensure continent meets farming potential

"Images of starving children, epitomized in news coverage from Ethiopia in the 1980s, have given Africa a reputation for famine that does an injustice to the continent's potential," Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria and a member of the Africa Progress Panel, writes in a CNN opinion piece.

8 Nov 2012

Agriculture News and Research

Project Peanut Butter and Hershey team up to reduce childhood malnutrition in rural Ghana

FAO report calls for increased investments in global agriculture to eradicate hunger

Roe, Gingrey to lead GOP doctors caucus

Viewpoints: Disputing Obama's and GOP's commitment to cutting spending and avoiding fiscal cliff

Low-level exposure to organophosphates affects neurological and cognitive function

Researchers to fortify milk with heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids

Guineafowl may spread Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus

New antifungal drugs could be developed based on substance bacteria use to decompose mushrooms

Link between high fructose corn syrup intake and diabetes prevalence

'Doc fix' cost: $25 billion for one year, CBO says

Iridoid synthase can make powerful chemicals from catnip to vinblastine

Certain occupations do increase risk of breast cancer

GigaScience announces publication of whole-genome sequencing and analysis of Wuzhishan Pig

Joint U.N. assessment finds better harvests in DPR Korea but warns undernutrition persists among 2.8M vulnerable people

Pig genes resemble human genes when associated with diabetes, obesity

Older North American farmers face increased risk of serious injury

FAO Food Price Index falls slightly during October

USAID unveils plans to harmonize nutrition efforts

Blog posts address possible global health, foreign policy priorities in second Obama administration

African leaders must do more to ensure continent meets farming potential

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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