Feature Channels: Food and Water Safety

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Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Maryland, have identified highly absorbent materials that can extract drinkable water out of thin air – which could potentially lead to technologies that supply potable water in the driest areas on the planet.

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Mixing drinking water with chlorine, the United States’ most common method of disinfecting drinking water, creates previously unidentified toxic byproducts, says  Carsten Prasse from Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland.

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Research technician Natalie Jones is the lead author on a paper that looked at how scientists model the vulnerability of karst formations around the Grand Canyon. Along with professor Abe Springer, she created a new model that can give land and water managers more information so they can better protect the water system.

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Using a new “non-targeted” approach, University of Washington and UW Tacoma researchers screened samples from multiple regions of Puget Sound to look for potentially harmful compounds that might be present.

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A new $2.5 million grant will help an interdisciplinary team of researchers analyze innovative approaches to improving urban sustainability. The team will study various approaches to bolstering local food production in Des Moines and the surrounding area and how those approaches could affect nutrition, waste and environmental impacts.

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Some Valentine's Day gifts can cause allergy and asthma symptoms and should be avoided no matter how much you think they might convey your devotion.

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The first animal study of a pig virus’s potential to jump to another species shows that the virus, once introduced to a select group of birds, is easily transmitted to healthy chickens and turkeys.

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The idea of food addiction is a very controversial topic among scientists. Researchers from Aarhus University have delved into this topic and examined what happens in the brains of pigs when they drink sugar water.

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Adverse outcomes from childhood exposures to lead and mercury are on the decline in the United States, likely due to decades of restrictions on the use of heavy metals, a new study finds.

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At a glance: Experiments in worms reveal the molecular damage caused by DEHP, a chemical commonly used to make plastics flexible DEHP interferes with proper cell division during egg formation, leads to excessive DNA breakage, alters chromosome appearance Abnormalities help explain known link between DEHP and human birth defects, male infertility If replicated in further research, the insights can help inform regulatory changes, consumer choice b

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Diarrheal diseases are a leading cause of death for young children, accounting for nine percent of all deaths worldwide in children under five years of age, with most occurring in children under two years of age. Now, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) found that even milder cases of diarrheal diseases can lead to death in young children.

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Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have solved a mystery: How did arsenic show up in aquifer water that had been triple purified? Dissolved organic compounds.

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A study of seven wastewater treatment plants points to two treatment methods — granular activated carbon and ozonation — as being particularly promising for reducing the concentration of pharmaceuticals including certain antidepressants and antibiotics.

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Today a team of researchers from the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the Federico II University of Naples, in collaboration with the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO), at Temple University in Philadelphia, and the Department of Biotechnology at the University of Siena, Itay, has discovered the effectiveness of a new extract, of natural origin, able to prevent nephrotoxicity induced by the mycotoxin Ochratoxin A (OTA), and has published this research in the international Journal of Cellular Physiology.

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Common classroom activities – such as playing with Play-Doh or uncooked pasta – have little or no potential to cause harmful gluten exposure in children with celiac disease, reports a study in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (JPGN). Official journal of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) and the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, JPGN is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Evaporation ponds, commonly used in many industries to manage wastewater, can occupy a large footprint and often pose risks to birds and other wildlife, yet they’re an economical way to deal with contaminated water. Now researchers at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated a way to double the rate of evaporation by using solar energy and taking advantage of water’s inherent properties, potentially reducing their environmental impact. The study is reported in the journal Nature Sustainability.

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People with restricted diets – due to allergies, health issues or religious or cultural norms – are more likely to feel lonely when they can’t share in what others are eating, new Cornell University research shows.

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if you’re traveling over the river and through the woods for the holiday, here are tips from Ritu Verma, MD, medical director of the University of Chicago Medicine Celiac Disease Center, to help keep your child who is living with celiac disease healthy and in the holiday spirit.

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Nearly 90 percent of peanut-allergic individuals in the study could potentially tolerate almonds, but 33 percent preferred strict avoidance due to fear of an allergic reaction.

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The integration of crop and livestock production on organic farms doesn’t appear to pose substantial food safety risks and could yield benefits for producers, according to a study involving Iowa State University scientists. The experiments involved three sites in the Midwest on which acres were rotated between organic crop and livestock production.

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A study of pregnant women in coastal Florida found that hair mercury concentration was associated with consumption of locally caught seafood and all seafood, a higher level of education, and first pregnancy. The highest concentrations were in women over 33 with the highest levels in Asian women. Pregnant women who ate seafood three times a week had the highest concentration – almost four times as high as those who did not consume any seafood.

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A team of researchers at McMaster University has developed a self-cleaning surface that can repel all forms of bacteria, preventing the transfer of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and other dangerous bacteria in settings ranging from hospitals to kitchens.

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Researchers at UC San Diego and MIT linked theory and experiment to move closer to developing materials that address global water scarcity.

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In their first attempt to quantify stormwater ponds, researchers with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences found about 76,000 such ponds statewide. Many master-planned communities, especially in Florida, rely on stormwater ponds for flood control and water treatment. But the ponds also can be homes to many invasive plant species, which are costly to control.

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An extraordinary scientific collection of archived fish, as well as fish and water quality data taken from the Hudson River over more than five decades, has been gifted by Entergy Corporation (Entergy), to the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS).

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When it comes to food technology, the information shared on social media often trumps the facts put out by the scientific community and food experts, leading to the dissemination of disinformation, “fake news” and conspiracy theories. Nowhere is this more evident than consumers’ mistrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite assurances from the scientific community and food experts. Several studies covering this widespread risk perception of food technologies will be presented during the Visual Cues and Perceptions of Risk: Modern Agriculture in the Era of Social Media symposium on Wednesday, Dec. 11 from 8:30-10:00 a.m. at the 2019 Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia

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Each year, millions of people contract serious diarrheal illnesses typically from contaminated food and water. Among the biggest causes of diarrheal diseases are the bacteria Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), and researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are testing a vaccine designed to offer protection against these serious pathogens.

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A new survey released by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future finds that the majority of registered voters support greater oversight of industrial animal farms. The Center for a Livable Future is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Naturally occurring chemicals in the global food supply are known to pose a burden on worldwide health. New studies have found that a certain foodborne toxin, in addition to its known health effects,, is also linked to vaccine resistance, and for the first time the global burden of disease from foodborne arsenic, lead, cadmium, and methyl mercury has been quantified.. The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) will present new studies as part of its Global Disease Burden Caused by Foodborne Chemicals and Toxins symposium on Monday, Dec. 9 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. as part of its 2019 Annual Meeting at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia. This symposium will provide updates to a 2015 World Health Organization (WHO) publication which analyzed the disease burdens caused by these toxins.

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University of Washington researchers have found that warmer temperatures, at levels expected under most climate change projections, can lead to higher concentrations of arsenic in rice grains.

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Hundreds of environmental health professionals across the nation report challenges and research needs in six areas — drinking water quality, wastewater management, healthy homes, food safety, public health pests and emerging issues such as disaster risk reduction and new facility types for body art and cannabis-infused products — in research from Baylor University and national health partners.

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Study investigates effects of irrigation management on yield and profit

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The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) expressed its support after the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted today to approve the nomination of radiation oncologist Stephen Hahn, MD, FASTRO, as the next Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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New research reported in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology on one of the permitted neonicotinoids indicates it effectively controls pests and might even help bees.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year an estimated 48 million people, about one in six, contract a foodborne illness. Approximately 128,000 require hospitalization, and 3,000 cases are fatal.

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A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found there were more than 67,300 calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers regarding exposures to natural psychoactive substances. The study looked at calls from January 2000 through December 2017, which totaled an average of 3,743 exposures each year, or approximately 10 calls every day.

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Experts from the University of Chicago Medicine Center for Esophageal Diseases share their tips on how to celebrate Thanksgiving without feeling the sting of acid reflux.

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Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing too little for key aspects of the environment. And most believe the U.S. should focus on development of alternative sources of energy over expansion of fossil fuels, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

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Spark conversation with fun facts about Thanksgiving foods!

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Whether it be arguments about the merits of pumpkin spice or who makes the best chicken sandwich, food is an ever-popular subject on social media. Michigan Medicine researchers turned to Twitter to see what this online culinary discussion reveals about the people behind the posts, and whether the platform could serve as a real-time tool for assessing information valuable to public health researchers.

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From Florida to Virginia, farmers are enjoying the fruits of Sanjay Shukla’s labor. His compact-bed geometry system allows growers to plant crops in tall soil beds, and the result is thousands of dollars in annual savings.

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A Rutgers New Jersey Poison Control Center expert discusses how children and adults can reduce risks of poisoning

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Artificial light at night negatively impacts thousands of species: beetles, moths, wasps and other insects that have evolved to use light levels as cues for courtship, foraging and navigation. Writing in Biological Conservation, Brett Seymoure, the Grossman Family Postdoctoral Fellow of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St.

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RealEats, a Geneva, New York-based company that delivers freshly made meals using locally sourced ingredients, has been named winner of the $1 million grand prize in the inaugural Grow-NY business competition. RealEats was one of seven finalists to take home prize money during the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit, held Nov. 12-13 at the Joseph A. Floreano Riverside Convention Center in Rochester. The competition, which will also be held in 2020 and 2021, was administered by Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement.