PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Chemical trickery explored to help contain potato pest

2013-03-18
(Press-News.org) This press release is available in Spanish.

The pale cyst nematode, Globodera pallida, is one bad roundworm.

Unchecked, the pest burrows into potato roots to feed, obstructing nutrients and causing stunted growth, wilted leaves and other symptoms that can eventually kill the plant. Severe infestations can cause tuber yield losses of up to 80 percent.

Now, however, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and cooperating scientists are evaluating new ways to control G. pallida using naturally occurring chemicals called egg-hatching factors.

According to lead scientist Roy Navarre, with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the egg-hatching factors are actually chemicals exuded from the roots of potato and certain other solanaceous plants into surrounding soil. There, the chemicals stimulate G. pallida eggs to hatch.

Normally, this helps ensure the survival of emerging juvenile nematodes. But Navarre's approach calls for using the chemicals to "trick" the eggs into hatching when no potato plants are present, leaving juveniles without food or a host on which to reproduce.

His investigations are part a broader, multi-pronged control effort involving researchers from state universities, other ARS labs, and other federal and state agriculture departments.

G. pallida, a non-native species from Europe, was first detected in eastern Idaho in April 2006. To date, it's been found in and confined to 17 infested fields representing 1,916 total acres in Idaho's Bingham and Bonneville counties. Despite G. pallida's limited geographic distribution, its presence in U.S. soils has had far-reaching impact: closed or limited export markets, devalued farmland, regulatory restrictions and other economic hardships.

Fumigation is a key defense. However, the eggs are encased in cysts that can resist fumigation, according to Navarre, who works at the ARS Vegetable and Forage Crops Research Laboratory in Prosser, Wash.

He is exploring two approaches to force the eggs to hatch in the absence of a host: amending the soil with purified forms of egg-hatching factors, and planting sticky nightshade as a "trap crop" whose roots exude the chemicals, but don't support the nematode's reproduction.

### Read more about this research in the March 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar13/nematodes0313.htm

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

9 new wasp species of the genus Paramblynotus described from Africa and Madagascar

2013-03-18
A newly published article "Revision of the Afrotropical Mayrellinae (Cynipoidea, Liopteridae), with the first record of Paramblynotus from Madagascar" by Dr. Simon van Noort, from Natural History Department, Iziko South African Museum, and Dr. Matthew L. Buffington from the Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA offers the description of 9 remarkable new species of wasps. Mayrellinids are extremely rare wasps, which are under-represented in museum collections. Most species are known from single specimens. The study was published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research. The ...

Only one-third of parents follow doctors' orders for kids all of the time

2013-03-18
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Pediatricians regularly dispense advice to parents of young children during well-child visits, but a new University of Michigan poll shows that many aren't following doctors' orders. Only one-third of parents (31 percent) said they follow advice from their child's health care provider all of the time, according to the most recent University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Thirteen percent said they follow the provider's advice only occasionally. Parents from lower-income households ( END ...

Oregon researchers synthesize negative-charge carrying molecular structures

2013-03-18
EUGENE, Ore. -- (March 18, 2013) -- University of Oregon chemists have synthesized organic molecular structures that move both positive and negative electrical charges -- a highly desired but often difficult combination to achieve in current efforts to create highly flexible electronic devices and other new-age technologies. The research utilized a family of readily available and inexpensive hydrocarbons known as indenofluorenes to build molecular scaffolding for integrative circuitry. An indenofluorene-derivative framework, said co-author Michael M. Haley, head of the ...

Similar neuro outcomes in preterm infants with low-grade brain bleeding as infants with no bleeding

2013-03-18
A new study from researchers at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and other centers suggests that preterm infants with a low-grade bleeding in the brain may have similar neurodevelopmental outcomes as infants with no bleeding. The study appears online at JAMA Pediatrics. The study's lead author Allison Payne, MD MS, a neonatologist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and instructor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said, "The results are important because it is a large multi-center study showing different results than a recent study ...

New Evaluation of the Heart Truth® Professional Education Materials Released

2013-03-18
WASHINGTON, DC – Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. Yet historically, women have been less likely than men to receive evidence-based medical care for both the prevention and management of heart disease. In 1999 the American Heart Association (AHA) published the first clinical recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. This was soon followed by the implementation of The Heart Truth® campaign for consumers in 2002 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which was expanded in 2004 ...

Cell on a chip reveals protein behavior

2013-03-18
For years, scientists around the world have dreamed of building a complete, functional, artificial cell. Though this vision is still a distant blur on the horizon, many are making progress on various fronts. Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv and his research team in the Weizmann Institute's Material's and Interfaces Department recently took a significant step in this direction when they created a two-dimensional, cell-like system on a glass chip. This system, composed of some of the basic biological molecules found in cells – DNA, RNA, proteins – carried out one of the central functions ...

University of California's unofficial favorite sea slug poised to make a comeback

University of Californias unofficial favorite sea slug poised to make a comeback
2013-03-18
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– After almost four decades of absence from local waters, a special sea slug appears to be making a comeback, and marine scientists at UC Santa Barbara are eagerly anticipating its return. With its vivid blue and gold colors and its discovery by UC zoologists in 1901, the nudibranch Felimare californiensis, also known as the California chromodorid, has been a favorite species of sea slug for UC marine scientists and students for decades. But while it held a special place in their hearts, it lost its place in local waters, which once included La ...

Causing collapse

2013-03-18
One of the most basic laws of quantum mechanics is that a system can be in more than one state – it can exist in multiple realities – at once. This phenomenon, known as the superposition principle, exists only so long as the system is not observed or measured in any way. As soon as such a system is measured, its superposition collapses into a single state. Thus, we, who are constantly observing and measuring, experience the world around us as existing in a single reality. The principle of superposition was first demonstrated in 1922 by Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach, ...

Digital rectal exam remains important part of prostate screening

2013-03-18
The digital rectal exam is an important screening test that can discover prostate cancer that a prostate-specific antigen or PSA test may not, despite the higher sensitivity of the PSA test, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The digital rectal examination is a procedure where a physician feels the surface of the prostate with a gloved finger. The doctor is able to feel any lumps or hard areas on the prostate. A PSA test checks for levels of prostate-specific antigen in the blood, with higher levels signaling potential cancer. As men age, the ...

Food memories can help with weight loss

2013-03-18
Research led by a psychologist at the University of Liverpool has found that using memories of recent meals reduces the amount of food eaten later on. It also found that being distracted when eating leads to increased consumption. Researchers analysed 24 separate studies which had examined the impact of awareness, attention, memory and distraction on how much food we eat. They found that remembering meals, being more aware and paying added attention to meals results in lower food consumption and could help with weight loss programmes. Techniques such as writing down ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Chemical trickery explored to help contain potato pest