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USDA NIFA awards NC State $25M grant to study human noroviruses

North Carolina State University will use a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to strengthen food safety by studying human noroviruses across the food supply chain in an effort to design effective control measures and reduce the number of virus-caused food-borne illnesses.

4 Aug 2011

'Political resolve' needed to end world hunger

"[A]s the worst drought in 60 years again devastates the Horn of Africa, throwing as many as 12 million into desperate hunger … there are hopeful signs that today's drought need not result in the tens of thousands of deaths that we saw in earlier decades," World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran writes in the Reuters blog "The Great Debate."

4 Aug 2011

Dermatologists present latest advances in treating aging hand at AAD 2011 meeting

When it comes to revealing a person's age, hands down, the back of the hand is more telling than the face and neck. Fortunately, dermatologists are applying new technologies to add volume to the hand as well as remove dark brown "age spots" to reverse these telltale signs of aging.

4 Aug 2011

U.N. issues appeal for air cargo space, warns about rising child mortality among Somalis in Kenya

UNICEF on Tuesday "appealed to the air transport sector to provide free and discounted cargo space to bring emergency food supplies into the region," the U.N. News Centre reports.

4 Aug 2011

Pharming, Santarus reach SPA agreement with FDA for RHUCIN Phase III trial

Specialty biopharmaceutical company Santarus, Inc. and biotech company Pharming Group NV today announced that they have reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the design of a Phase III clinical study with the investigational drug RHUCIN under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process that is intended to support the submission of a Biologics License Application.

4 Aug 2011

Diamedix, LABSCO sign distribution agreement for instrumentation systems and test kits

IVAX Diagnostics, Inc., a fully integrated in vitro diagnostics company, announced that Diamedix Corporation, IVAX Diagnostics' wholly-owned subsidiary located in Miami, Florida, has signed a three-year agreement with Laboratory Supply Company, the largest privately held supplier of diagnostic instrumentation and clinical laboratory products to hospitals, physician office laboratories, reference labs and other non-acute care settings in the United States.

4 Aug 2011

Virginia Tech to develop, implement and evaluate food security for Southern Appalachians

While the popularity of locally and regionally grown food is on the rise among Americans, food accessibility remains a major concern for those with limited financial resources.

4 Aug 2011

Urine test for prostate cancer: Study

Lead researcher Dr. Scott Tomlins, a pathology resident at the University of Michigan Health System said, “This is a tool that men and their physician can use to help them decide whether it's appropriate to get a biopsy now or delay that decision.”

4 Aug 2011

Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella worries experts

According to an international team of researchers a strain of Salmonella that is resistant to important antibiotics has spread from Africa to Europe in recent years and has been spotted in a few samples of imported spices in the United States.

4 Aug 2011

Instituto Bioclon receives FDA approval for Anascorp to treat Centruroides scorpion sting

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Anascorp, the first specific treatment for a scorpion sting by Centruroides scorpions in the United States.

4 Aug 2011

36 million pounds of ground turkey recalled due to Salmonella

Meat manufacturer Cargill Inc. is recalling nearly 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a California death and at least 78 other salmonella illnesses nationwide, company officials said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Class I recall, with the highest health risk, late Wednesday. All of the recalled products were produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant.

4 Aug 2011

Incyte announces FDA acceptance of NDA filing for ruxolitinib to treat myelofibrosis

Incyte Corporation announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing the New Drug Application (NDA) for Incyte's lead investigational compound, ruxolitinib, as a potential treatment for patients with myelofibrosis.

3 Aug 2011

New approach reduces cyanogen, enhances nutritional value in root crop

Researchers working at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center have made an another advancement in their efforts to improve the root crop cassava which is a major source of calories to 700 million people worldwide, primarily living in the developing world.

3 Aug 2011

Feed for hens decides health of eggs

Eggs, one of the most commonly consumed breakfast foods in the United States, have long been a subject of controversy. Are they healthy or are they a high-cholesterol trap? The answer depends on what the hen eats, says a Tel Aviv University researcher.

3 Aug 2011

Famine will spread in Somalia unless 'massive' response mounted, U.N. says

The drought and hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa is getting worse, and unless there is "a massive increase in the response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions" in Somalia, Valerie Amos, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters on Monday, Reuters reports.

3 Aug 2011

Menu labels not effective in improving meal choices and nutrient intakes

Researchers from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University introduced the star-rating system to signal the nutritional quality of the canteen meals and as such to highlight the healthiest meal options.

3 Aug 2011

Bite Counter can help people monitor how much they eat

Two Clemson University researchers seek to make diners mindful of mindless eating. Psychology professor Eric Muth and electrical and computer engineering professor Adam Hoover have created the Bite Counter, a measurement device that will make it easier for people to monitor how much they eat.

3 Aug 2011

Neglected tropical diseases becoming more common in Europe, study shows

"Worm infestations, food parasites, Chagas disease, sand fly-transmitted infections and other neglected tropical diseases usually found in Africa and Asia are turning up more often in Europe, according to a new study" published recently in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers from the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the New York Times reports.

3 Aug 2011

Study finds spread of multidrug-resistant S. Kentucky

A new study has identified the recent emergence of a multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella that has a high level resistance to ciprofloxacin, a common treatment for severe Salmonella infections.

3 Aug 2011

Researchers sample hydrogenotrophic microbes in the healthy human colon

They make up less than one-hundredth of 1 percent of the microbes that live in the colon, but the bacteria and archaea that sop up hydrogen in the gut are fundamental to colon health. In a new study, researchers take a first look at these "hydrogenotrophic" microbes, mapping where they live and how abundant they are in different parts of the lower intestine.

3 Aug 2011