MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/17/2012) —An international team of researchers, including a University of Minnesota scientist, has developed an integrated physical, genetic and functional sequence assembly of the barley genome, one of the world's most important and genetically complex cereal crops. Results are published in today's issue of Nature. The advance will give researchers the tools to produce higher yields, improve pest and disease resistance, and enhance the nutritional value of barley. Importantly, it also will "accelerate breeding improvements to help barley ...

CHICAGO—Consumers are increasingly demanding the development of ready-to-eat gluten and lactose-free food products that meet their needs and help improve their health. A recent study in Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), shows how new white sauce formulations are being created to meet these demands. Consumers with celiac disease often find that gluten-free products are of inferior quality compared with their traditional, non-gluten-free counterparts. Traditional white sauce is made with milk, flour or starch, oil, and salt. ...

CHICAGO- With over a thousand different varieties of mangoes to choose from, selecting the right variety for mango products can be a daunting task. A new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), explores the impact that processing has on the flavor and texture of mango varieties. Findings suggest that processing plays an important role in determining the flavor and texture of the final product. Researchers at Kansas State University studied the flavor and texture of four different mango varieties as they were processed ...

Salt marshes have been disintegrating and dying over the past two decades along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and other highly developed coastlines without anyone fully understanding why. This week in the journal Nature, scientist Linda Deegan of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass., and colleagues report that nutrients--such as nitrogen and phosphorus from septic and sewer systems and lawn fertilizers--can cause salt marsh loss. "Salt marshes are a critical interface between the land and sea," Deegan says. "They provide habitat for fish, birds ...

New research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine sheds light on how overeating can cause a malfunction in brain insulin signaling, and lead to obesity and diabetes. Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease) and his research team found that overeating impairs the ability of brain insulin to suppress the breakdown of fat in adipose tissue. In previous research Dr. Buettner's team established that brain insulin is what suppresses lipolysis, a process during which triglycerides in fat tissue are broken down and ...

CHICAGO—According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 63 percent of the deaths that occurred in 2008 were attributed to non-communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, Type 2 diabetes and obesity—for which poor diets are contributing factors. Yet people that live in societies that eat healthy, plant-based diets rarely fall victim to these ailments. Research studies have long indicated that a high consumption of plant foods is associated with lower incidents of chronic disease. In the October issue of Food Technology magazine, Senior ...

Overturning decades of conventional wisdom, researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have found that moderately high indoor concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) can significantly impair people's decision-making performance. The results were unexpected and may have particular implications for schools and other spaces with high occupant density. "In our field we have always had a dogma that CO2 itself, at the levels we find in buildings, is just not important and doesn't have any direct impacts on people," said Berkeley ...

Nano-ribbons of silicon configured so the atoms resemble chicken wire could hold the key to ultrahigh density data storage and information processing systems of the future. This was a key finding of a team of scientists led by Paul Snijders of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The researchers used scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to validate first principle calculations – or models – that for years had predicted this outcome. The discovery, detailed in New Journal of Physics, validates this theory and could move scientists closer ...

Los Angeles, CA (October 17, 2012)- When it comes to analyzing gender stereotypes in the media, studies have shown that photographs of men focus on male faces while photographs of women are more focused on women's bodies. A recent study from Psychology of Women Quarterly, a SAGE journal, finds that this type of "face-ism" is even more extreme in cultures with less educational, professional, and political gender discrimination. "Being in a relatively egalitarian cultural context does not shield politicians from this face-ism bias; in fact, it exacerbates it," wrote study ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A Rutgers study of recent New Jersey college and university graduates with disabilities has found that students attributed their academic success to a combination of possessing such strong personality traits as self-advocacy and perseverance, and their relationship with a faculty or staff mentor. Accessing campus accommodations was not a major issue but learning about such help "was not always the smoothest process," they noted. The research also determined that students mainly used campus resources for assistance rather than a combination of college ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Men and women who are expectant parents have different stress reactions to relationship conflict, according to researchers at Penn State, who studied couples expecting their first child. In addition, recovery from the initial reaction to conflict also can be different for men and women, depending on individual difficulties, such as anxiety, or relationship difficulties, such as chronic relationship conflict. The researchers found that men's increased stress levels -- measured by the amount of the stress hormone cortisol -- during a conflict discussion ...

CHICAGO – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is renewing its call to reduce the destructive effects of guns in the lives of children and adolescents, including counseling parents about safe gun storage as well as supporting legislation to prevent firearm injuries and deaths. According to the AAP, the safest home for children and teens is one without guns. If there are guns in the home, scientific evidence shows the risk of injury or death is greatly reduced when they are stored unloaded and locked, with the ammunition locked in a separate place. Pediatricians routinely ...

Mediation May Be Smarter Than Litigation in Your Missouri Divorce When a divorce ends up in court, the judge has to decide the issues most important to the family like child custody, visitation, spousal maintenance, child support, property division and debt allocation. It is almost always better for the divorcing couple to come to agreement on these crucial issues privately in a marital settlement agreement. Although there may be compromise and neither spouse will get everything he or she wants, at least the parties are voluntarily agreeing to their future family matters, ...

New Jersey Juveniles Get Due Process Before Transfer to Adult Prison The decision to incarcerate a juvenile should never be taken lightly. Since young people are still growing and maturing, removing juveniles from the general population for an extended period of time has the potential to severely damage their ability to transition from troubled teens to productive adults. It is for this reason that New Jersey operates a specialized juvenile justice system to house youth who have committed state crimes. Unlike adult prisons, juvenile justice facilities are designed ...

Uncertainty Reigns in Texas Transition to Medicaid Managed Care Tens of thousands of Texans rely on home health care agencies to provide them with the care and assistance they need to stay well and maintain a sense of independence. In most cases, these patients are covered under a Medicaid plan that pays for the majority of their home health care expenses. Recently, Texas transitioned to a managed care model for Medicaid patients. In March 2012, the state completed that transition, shifting approximately 1.1 South Texas patients into health maintenance organizations. ...

28 Indicted in Texas Medicare Fraud Crackdown It is nearly impossible to turn on the news these days and not hear a story about troubles in the Medicare system. As the population ages, the federal government is becoming increasingly strapped for the cash it needs to pay for elderly Americans' medical care. As a result, the government is doing everything it can to identify and eliminate waste in the system. Suspected acts of Medicare fraud are its biggest target. Recently, the government's Medicare Fraud Strike Force came to Texas as part of an enforcement sweep ...

Mixed News for Utah Homeowners in Mid-Year Foreclosure Reports Foreclosure data from the first half of 2012 reveals both good news and bad for Utah homeowners. While foreclosures in Utah have dropped significantly since 2011, Utah still remains among the top 10 states in the nation for foreclosure activity, according to a recent report from foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.. One in every 108 Utah homes is currently in some stage of the foreclosure process, RealtyTrac reported, or just under 1 percent. This is significantly higher than the national average of ...

Be Aware of Arizona's Aggravated DUI Laws and Penalties People in Arizona are probably familiar with the term DUI, but many may not know that you do not have to be drunk to get a DUI, that a driver under the influence of legal or illegal drugs can get a DUI and that DUI penalties can be compounded by aggravating factors such as child passengers. The recent story of a mother charged with aggravated DUI for driving with a child passenger while under the influence of a drug shows how a mistake can quickly become complicated and costly. A mother from Mesa was recently ...

New York Tackles Pedestrian Fatalities New York's Department of Transportation has been working to improve pedestrian safety throughout the city. Its latest project is the Pedestrian Safety Report and Action Plan, based on an exhaustive study of more than 7,000 serious collisions between motor vehicles and pedestrians. A central part of the new Action Plan is an anti-speeding campaign. Accidents are twice as deadly for pedestrians when the involved motor vehicles are traveling at unsafe speeds. The standard speed limit in New York City is 30 mph, a fact many drivers ...

New Rules for Discrimination Claims Against Federal Employers The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new rules recently that modify the complaint process for people who believe they have been subjected to employment discrimination by a federal agency. The revisions are the first major changes to the EEOC complaint process for the federal sector since 1999. The changes apply both to employees of federal agencies as well as those who believe they have been illegally denied employment with a federal agency as a result of illegal discrimination. Improving ...

West Virginia Senior Drivers: Increased Risk for Fatal Collision Since 1863, the West Virginia State Motto has been Montani Semper Liberi, or "Mountaineers are Always Free." We love and value our freedom, no matter what our age. One of the greatest freedoms we possess in this country is the freedom to travel without restrictions, usually by car. Ask older folks in the nursing homes what they miss the most, and many will tell you that they miss the ability to drive when and where they like. According to the U.S Census Bureau's population estimates by age ...

Despite Changes Elsewhere, Marijuana Penalties Remain Tough in Tennessee Those facing possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and sale of marijuana face stiff penalties in Tennessee. In the United States more than half of drug arrests are related to marijuana, but despite the threat of fines and jail time many people favor use of the substance. Some believe federal and state polices are misdirected. In recent years cities like New York and Chicago and now states like Washington and Colorado are deciding whether criminal penalties for ...

California Car Accident Highlights the Realities of Aging and Driving The issue of the safety of elderly drivers made the news recently when a 100-year-old California man hit 14 people with his car while backing out of a parking lot. A common reaction was negative: Older people should not be allowed to drive, said many. In reality, though, the facts indicate that drivers over 80 have fewer car accidents than drivers in their early 20s, according to the American Automobile Association's director of traffic safety advocacy and research. More and more older drivers are ...

Dividing Retirement and Pension Funds in a California Divorce People have a variety of options available to them for retirement savings, including 401(k) accounts, 403(b) accounts, company pensions, stock shares and Keogh accounts. When married couples divorce, they need to apportion those retirement savings between themselves as part of the property division. California residents should understand the steps involved in awarding retirement funds in divorce. Retirement Account Funds Marital Property Retirement accounts that people open during marriage are marital ...

Why Consider Collaborative Divorce for a California Dissolution? The word divorce usually conjures up mental images of couples bitterly arguing, protracted court battles and people nursing wounded feelings long after the divorce is final. However, more people are looking for an alternative way to end their marriages -- a method that might not result in so much emotional damage. People considering ending their marriages should know what collaborative divorce is and some of the benefits it offers over other ways of divorcing. Collaborative Divorce Principles Collaborative ...