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International community must address challenges to food, water security in a systematic, coherent manner

"New ideas and approaches to the water and food nexus will be addressed at World Water Week," which will take place in Stockholm, Sweden from 26-31 August, Anders Jagerskog, an associate professor and director of knowledge services at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), writes in this post in the AlertNet Blog.

22 Aug 2012

We must demonstrate 'Olympian leadership' to improve global nutrition

In this post in the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' "Global Food For Thought" blog, Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus, a global research program that develops and disseminates nutrient-rich staple food crops to improve nutrition globally, writes, "David Cameron's decision to tie a hunger summit to the Olympics was imaginative ... because Cameron saw how the Olympics, that celebrate the best of human athleticism and teamwork, could also be used to draw attention to those who will never ever come close to competing in an Olympics event."

21 Aug 2012

New neurotechnology aims to help rehabilitate stroke survivors

What comes naturally to most people - to think and then do - is difficult for stroke patients who have lost the full use of their limbs. New research by Rice University, the University of Houston (UH) and TIRR Memorial Hermann aims to help victims recover that ability to the fullest extent possible with a $1.17 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the President's National Robotics Initiative (NRI).

21 Aug 2012

PD risk factors for potential clinical screening identified

A meta-analysis has identified 19 risk factors that significantly impact a person’s risk for Parkinson’s disease and could be of potential value for clinical screening, say the authors.

20 Aug 2012

Pennsylvania Department of Health reports four confirmed and six probable cases of H3N2v flu

The Pennsylvania Department of Health today reported four confirmed and six probable human cases of influenza due to a new strain of the flu known as H3N2v.

18 Aug 2012

U.S., France, Mexico to hold phone conference to discuss need for emergency meeting on U.S. drought, food security

"France, the United States and G20 president Mexico will hold a conference call at the end of August to discuss whether an emergency international meeting is required to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in half a century," Reuters reports.

15 Aug 2012

Editorial, opinion pieces, blogs address hunger summit held in London on Sunday

The following editorial, opinion pieces, and blog posts address a hunger summit hosted by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron at the conclusion of the Olympic Games in London on Sunday.

14 Aug 2012

PM Cameron discusses foreign aid, nutrition summit; Aid agencies deliver petitions to Downing Street calling for government action on hunger

British Prime Minister David Cameron "has defended the government's commitment to overseas aid funding at a time of recession, as he prepares to co-host a hunger summit in Downing Street on the closing day of the Olympics," the Guardian reports.

12 Aug 2012

Agriculture, nutrition sectors must work together to fight undernutrition

"Agriculture and nutrition are deeply intertwined. Not only does increasing agricultural productivity have the potential to improve rural families' nutrition, but healthier and better-nourished farmers are more productive, earn more income, and contribute to further economic growth," Gary Darmstadt, Sam Dryden, and Emily Piwoz of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation write in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

10 Aug 2012

Boys are little more susceptible to both bad and good exposures

A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health found that, at age 7, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures.

10 Aug 2012

Breakthrough vaccine against deadly Nipah virus

A major breakthrough in the development of a highly effective vaccine against the deadly Nipah virus has been reported by a team of federal and university scientists. The results of their study, "A Hendra virus G glycoprotein subunit vaccine protects African green monkeys from Nipah virus challenge," will appear in Science Translational Medicine online.

10 Aug 2012

Addressing food insecurity in the DRC

In this post in USAID's "Impact" blog, Jessica Hartl, information officer for the Office of Food for Peace, notes she "recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to visit food assistance programs implemented by" the office and asks, "[W]hy in countries so lush and ripe for agriculture were people so food insecure?"

9 Aug 2012

Improve investment in agriculture to meet growing demands

Extreme weather is forcing grain and meat prices to rise, and food production will have to increase about 60 percent over the next 40 years to meet a growing world population, but "there are solutions to these daunting problems," Catherine Bertini, former director of the U.N. World Food Programme and the 2003 World Food Prize laureate, and Dan Glickman, former secretary of agriculture, write in a Politico opinion piece.

8 Aug 2012

Michigan State University to improve food security and nutrition in Africa and Asia

Michigan State University will use a $7.3 million federal grant to cultivate the next generation of agricultural scientists in Africa and Asia, in hopes of improving food security and nutrition there.

7 Aug 2012

U.S. announces additional $12M in humanitarian aid to Syria

"The United States announced Thursday it would hike its humanitarian aid to Syria, adding another $12 million to provide food, water, medicine and other necessities for battered and displaced people" affected by violence in the Syrian conflict, the Los Angeles Times blog "World Now" reports.

3 Aug 2012

Partners in health reports on efforts to curb Haiti's cholera epidemic using oral vaccinations

"In April, Partners In Health [PIH] responded to Haiti's cholera epidemic by providing oral vaccinations to 45,000 people living in the country's Artibonite region -- specifically, to two rice-farming communities hit hard by cholera," Louise Ivers, senior health and policy adviser at PIH, reports in an article on the organization's webpage.

3 Aug 2012

Save the Children, World Vision report examines efforts to build resilience in Africa's Sahel

"Efforts to build resilience in the Sahel, a region chronically affected by drought and malnutrition, are highly fragmented, dysfunctional and ineffective, a report from Save the Children and World Vision said on Wednesday," the Guardian reports.

2 Aug 2012

Australia's top medical researchers for 2012 announced

Finalists for one of Australia’s longest running and most prestigious awards for medical research were announced today. This year’s winner will join a list of alumni winners that includes many of the country’s most respected scientists.

31 Jul 2012

WFP warns 1.6M Zimbabweans will need food aid, up 60% this year

"The number of people needing food aid in Zimbabwe will rise by 60 percent this year to 1.6 million, the World Food Programme [WFP] said on Friday, citing an annual assessment carried out by the United Nations and the Zimbabwean government," Reuters reports.

31 Jul 2012

JHSPH dean expresses disappointment with USDA's retraction of Meatless Monday endorsement

On Friday, Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to express his disappointment with USDA's recent retraction of Meatless Monday endorsement.

31 Jul 2012

Agriculture News and Research

International community must address challenges to food, water security in a systematic, coherent manner

We must demonstrate 'Olympian leadership' to improve global nutrition

New neurotechnology aims to help rehabilitate stroke survivors

PD risk factors for potential clinical screening identified

Pennsylvania Department of Health reports four confirmed and six probable cases of H3N2v flu

U.S., France, Mexico to hold phone conference to discuss need for emergency meeting on U.S. drought, food security

Editorial, opinion pieces, blogs address hunger summit held in London on Sunday

PM Cameron discusses foreign aid, nutrition summit; Aid agencies deliver petitions to Downing Street calling for government action on hunger

Agriculture, nutrition sectors must work together to fight undernutrition

Boys are little more susceptible to both bad and good exposures

Breakthrough vaccine against deadly Nipah virus

Addressing food insecurity in the DRC

Improve investment in agriculture to meet growing demands

Michigan State University to improve food security and nutrition in Africa and Asia

U.S. announces additional $12M in humanitarian aid to Syria

Partners in health reports on efforts to curb Haiti's cholera epidemic using oral vaccinations

Save the Children, World Vision report examines efforts to build resilience in Africa's Sahel

Australia's top medical researchers for 2012 announced

WFP warns 1.6M Zimbabweans will need food aid, up 60% this year

JHSPH dean expresses disappointment with USDA's retraction of Meatless Monday endorsement

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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