Agriculture News and Research

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Healthy diet heavier on the pocket: Study

A new study has shown that choosing to eat healthy can be expensive. Researchers from the University of Washington looked at the economic impact of following new U.S. dietary guidelines, which recommend eating more potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D and calcium, and avoiding saturated fat and added sugar. These recommendations aimed at curbing the rising number of obese and overweight individuals, but the study findings underline some of the obstacles to adopting new habits.

5 Aug 2011

Desalination could help combat worldwide fresh water shortages

Over one-third of the world's population already lives in areas struggling to keep up with the demand for fresh water. By 2025, that number will nearly double.

5 Aug 2011

Virginia Tech student receives prestigious award for cellular signaling receptor study linked to diabetes, obesity

Stephanie Nicole "Nikki" Lewis, a graduate student in the interdisciplinary doctoral program in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology at Virginia Tech, has been awarded the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Predoctoral Research through the National Institutes of Health for her study of a cellular signaling receptor that is associated with chronic inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease.

5 Aug 2011

Scientists develop Instant Corn Soy Blend for young children

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have developed a fully cooked food-aid product called Instant Corn Soy Blend that supplements meals, particularly for young children.

5 Aug 2011

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

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

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

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

Scientists produce first systematic network map of plant protein interactions

An international consortium of scientists has produced the first systematic network map of interactions that occur between proteins in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

2 Aug 2011

PA departments warn public regarding use of glass-bottled milk from Brunton Dairy in Aliquippa

The Pennsylvania departments of Health and Agriculture and the Allegheny County Health Department are advising the public of the possible health risks associated with products, specifically glass-bottled milk, from Brunton Dairy in Aliquippa, Beaver County.

30 Jul 2011

Safeguard Scientifics reports consolidated net income of $121.8M for second quarter 2011

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., a holding company that builds value in growth-stage life sciences and technology companies, today announced results of operations for the second quarter of 2011.

27 Jul 2011

Preventing bioterrorism worldwide

Around the globe, many nations are realizing that the potential for bioterrorism isn't just about the U.S., officials say. And because an intentional introduction of bacteria, a virus or a toxin could happen anywhere, the World Organization for Animal Health is issuing a paper aimed at prevention.

26 Jul 2011

U.N. emergency meeting recognizes need for urgent response to Horn of Africa drought

At an emergency meeting at the Rome headquarters of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday, the agency announced "there will be a donors pledging conference Wednesday in Nairobi to raise as much as $1.6 billion to help fight famine in Somalia and other drought-stricken populations in East Africa," the Associated Press/Forbes reports.

26 Jul 2011

Media outlets examine mobile phones' effect on health, development in Africa

PBS NewsHour examines how the Canadian organization MEDA is using text messages to track malaria supplies in local clinics and retailers in Tanzania. The piece includes a related video featuring a MEDA employee giving a tour of the program (Cheers, 7/22).

25 Jul 2011

Al-Shabab says ban on aid groups in Somalia remains in place; WFP announces resumption of airlifts

Two weeks after lifting a ban on certain aid groups providing assistance in Somalia, the militant Islamist group al-Shabab "has announced that the ban remains in place" and said that the U.N.'s declaration of famine in two regions of the country was being used as "propaganda," Al Jazeera reports.

25 Jul 2011

Blue-collar workers with arthritis in much worse health than all other workers

While more Americans are working past age 65 by choice, a growing segment of the population must continue to work well into their sixties out of financial necessity. Research conducted by the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine looked at aging, social class and labor force participation rates to illustrate the challenges that lower income workers face in the global marketplace.

22 Jul 2011

Humans' desire to kill rats has only made them stronger

Over millennia, mice have thrived despite humanity's efforts to keep them at bay. A Rice University scientist argues some mice have found two ways to achieve a single goal -- resistance to common poison.

22 Jul 2011

Pharmaceutical waste forms a whole new range of contaminants

The health implications of polluting the environment weigh increasingly on our public consciousness, and pharmaceutical wastes continue to be a main culprit. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher says that current testing for these dangerous contaminants isn't going far enough.

21 Jul 2011

U.N. declares famine in two regions of Somalia; U.S. pledges $28M in additional aid

Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday, Mark Bowden, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said the U.N. had officially declared a famine in the southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia, VOA News reports.

21 Jul 2011