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Energy News- President Obama Announces Three Steps to Boost Biofuels February 3, 2010President Obama has announced three actions to boost U.S. biofuel production, including the final rule implementing the Renewable Fuel Standard, which calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022; a proposed rule for biomass crop assistance; and a report that establishes a roadmap for biofuel growth. […]
- President Obama: Federal Government to Cut GHG Emissions 28% by 2020 February 3, 2010A 2009 Executive Order that requires federal agencies to cut their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will result in a 28% overall reduction by 2020. The figure is the aggregate of targets set by 35 federal agencies, which will comply by increasing their use of energy efficiency and renewable energy. […]
- Under the Copenhagen Accord, 55 Countries Agree to Cut GHG Emissions February 3, 2010Countries representing 78% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use have submitted their national pledges to the United Nations. The pledges mark the first follow-up to the Copenhagen Accord, an agreement reached in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. […]
- President Obama Announces Three Steps to Boost Biofuels February 3, 2010
- Renewable Energy
- NREL Battery Testing Capabilities Get a Boost NRELRecovery Act funding will be used to enhance battery testing equipment and facilities, helping NREL continue to support industry. […]
- Smart Windows: Energy Efficiency with a ViewBuildings consume 40 percent of our nation's energy. NREL is testing and researching electrochromic windows that could knock that back significantly. […]
- NREL to Help Scale Up Biofuels OperationsThanks to a partnership with DOE and NREL, companies are getting the cash and expertise needed to jumpstart biofuels production scale-up. […]
- NREL Battery Testing Capabilities Get a Boost NREL
- Energy And The Environment
- CONFERENCE CALL: Top Administration Officials to Discuss Energy Announcements February 3, 2010WASHINGTON — Today at 3:00 p.m. – following a meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and a bipartisan group of governors from across the country – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Administrator Lisa P […]
- EPA’s Energy Star Leaders Quadruple Energy Savings In One Year February 2, 2010WASHINGTON - In 2009, EPA’s Energy Star Leaders prevented the equivalent of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios […]
- EPA and DOE Join States to Speed Energy Efficiency Progress in the United States February 2, 2010WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to increasing energy efficiency and reducing costs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today the creation of the State Energy Efficiency (SEE) Action Network […]
- CONFERENCE CALL: Top Administration Officials to Discuss Energy Announcements February 3, 2010
- Energy Research
- Strange matters February 7, 2010The result from a years-long effort at DOE's Jefferson Lab (known as the G-Zero experiment) to measure strange matter in the proton has revealed that strange matter doesn't magnetize the proton or distort its charge distribution all that much. […]
- Unique glass microspheres show promise for medicine, energy February 7, 2010Networks of interconnected pores in the shells of the Savannah River National Laboratory???s?? Porous Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres give the tiny ???microballoons??? unique capabilities for potential use in targeted drug delivery, hydrogen storage and other uses. […]
- Theory, simulations explain DNA sequencer surprise February 7, 2010Researchers working toward a low-cost DNA sequencing tool for medical diagnostics and other uses have proposed a microfluidic device that uses a single-walled carbon nanotube as a nanopore conduit to thread, or translocate, a single strand of DNA from one reservoir with electrolyte to another, analyzing and sequencing the DNA in the process. […]
- Strange matters February 7, 2010
- Agriculture
- Barley Protein Concentrate Could Replace Fishmeal in Aquaculture FeedsRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS fish physiologist Rick Barrows and Montana Microbial Products have developed a barley protein concentrate that could replace fishmeal to make a less expensive feed for trout and other commercially produced fish. Vitamin mix helps health of farmed fish Ethanol co-products could lower cost of freshwater fish pro […]
- ARS Scientists Turn to a Wild Oat to Combat Crown RustRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS plant pathologist Martin Carson is using genes from a wild oat, considered by some to be a noxious weed, to help combat crown rust, the most damaging fungal disease of oats worldwide. ARS photo. Heading off world wheat threat Sentry lab searches for threats to U.S. grains ARS, cooperators fight new strain o […]
- Secrets to Superb Malting Barleys Explored by ARS ResearchersRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS chemist Mark Schmitt is discovering what happensbiochemicallyinside malting barley grains as they sprout, so that plant breeders will have a better basis for developing superior varieties. New USDA cereal crops laboratory dedicated New enzymes boost alcohol production New barley bred for candymakers, br […]
- Barley Protein Concentrate Could Replace Fishmeal in Aquaculture Feeds
- Food, Drugs And Health
- FDA Issues Guidance to Help Streamline Medical Device Clinical TrialsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued guidance on Bayesian statistical methods in the design and analysis of medical device clinical trials that could result in less costly and more efficient patient studies. […]
- FDA Updates Statement on the Investigation into the Salmonella Montevideo OutbreakThe Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, continues to work closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health and other states in the investigation of an outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo infections associated with certain Italian […]
- United States Seizes more than 1500 Cases of Food from Wisconsin Distribution WarehouseAt the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals on Tuesday seized a wide range of human and animal food products stored under insanitary conditions at Mid-States Closeouts, a distribution warehouse in Ellsworth, Wis. The products were seized under a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. […]
- FDA Approves Xiaflex for Debilitating Hand ConditionThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xiaflex (collagenase clostridium histolyticum) as the first drug to treat a progressive hand disease known as Dupuytren's contracture, which can affect a person’s ability to straighten and properly use their fingers. […]
- FDA Requests $4.03 Billion to Transform Food Safety System, Invest in Medical Product Safety, Regulatory ScienceThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting $4.03 billion to promote and protect public health as part of the President’s fiscal year 2011 budget – a 23 percent increase over the agency’s current $3.28 billion budget. The FY 2011 request, which covers the period of Oct.1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011, includes increases of $146 million in budge […]
- FDA Issues Guidance to Help Streamline Medical Device Clinical Trials
Oats And Antioxidants
United States Department Of Agriculture — Studies Provide Insight into Key Oat Chemical
By Stephanie Yao
Studies conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are helping to increase understanding about the environmental factors that regulate avenanthramide (Avn) production in oat grain.
Avns, metabolites with potent antioxidant properties, are one reason oats have been widely touted for their many health benefits. The specific purpose of Avns inside the oat plant is still largely unknown, but previous studies have found an increased production of Avns in oat leaves when the plant is attacked by a fungus. This finding leads researchers to believe that Avns help oat plants fight off these fungi.
Chemist Mitchell Wise with the ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit in Madison, Wis., teamed up with fellow chemist Doug Doehlert with the ARS Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, N.D., to examine the correlation between disease pressure and Avn concentration in the oat grain.
The scientists tested 16 oat cultivars and two breeding lines at three locations in North Dakota over a two- year period. They found that oat plants with the strongest crown rust resistance typically had the highest Avn concentrations in environments where crown rust occurred. They also found that Avn production is likely influenced by additional environmental factors, because not all cultivars with strong crown rust resistance produced high Avn concentrations. Details of this study can be found in the scientific journal Cereal Chemistry.
Still, according to Wise, the results suggest that oat breeders—taking into account crown rust pressure during growth—can select certain cultivars for enhanced production of Avns.
Wise is also further researching the biosynthesis of Avns in the laboratory. He developed a suspension culture system from oat shoot tissue in which Avns are produced in response to a chemical that mimics fungal infection. This useful tool can be used for more detailed investigation into how certain Avns are produced.
Read more about this research in the February 2010 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This research supports the USDA priorities of improving nutrition and health and promoting international food security.