Today's News: Friday, February 1, 2013
Research
HIV research eyes enzyme
A team of scientists, including researchers from the University of Minnesota, believe they have found a new "soft spot" in the structure of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The researchers are working to design drugs that target an enzyme in HIV that currently is not targeted by other drugs.
BND.com
http://www.bnd.com/2013/02/01/2479453/at-mizzou-hiv-research-eyes-enzyme.html#storylink=cpy
New U of M soybean entomologist ready to help
Minnesota’s soybean growers have a new resource person to assist with insect issues. The University of Minnesota hired Bob Koch, Ph.D. as an assistant professor and Extension entomologist, beginning work in January 2013.
Minnesota Farm Guide
http://www.minnesotafarmguide.com/news/people_and_industry/new-university-of-minnesota-soybean-entomologist-ready-to-help/article_8841d1fe-6701-11e2-80a1-001a4bcf887a.html
Cattle-feed additive may curb pit foam in hog buildings
A feed additive used with cattle may help greatly reduce pit foaming in hog buildings. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found adding monensin reduces the amount of foam in pits prone to foaming. Chuck Clanton, an Extension ag engineer at the university, comments.
Iowa Farmer Today
http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/staff/cattle-feed-additive-may-curb-pit-foam-in-hog-buildings/article_cd224a46-6c89-11e2-a2e3-0019bb2963f4.html
Abnormal gut bacteria linked to severe malnutrition
There's more to malnutrition than poor diet. Two complementary studies suggest that microbes have an important role to play in both the onset and treatment of a poorly understood form of malnutrition called kwashiorkor. Alexander Khoruts, from the University of Minnesota, adds insight.
News Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23127-abnormal-gut-bacteria-linked-to-severe-malnutrition.html
New antidote for cyanide found
Researcher Steven Patterson, U of M Center for Drug Design, and colleagues, create an upgrade to existing cyanide antidotes.
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/antidote-cyanide-found-132827160.html
Live Science
http://www.livescience.com/26778-new-antidote-for-cyanide-found.html
Dangerous dreams
Drs. Mike Howell and Paul Tuite, U of M Neurology, talk about the risks and patterns seen in patients with REM Behavior Disorder.
Fox 9
To Watch: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/video?clipId=8299550&autoStart=true
Business and Politics
Mayo Clinic's request for $500 million from state is criticized
The Mayo Clinic put in a request yesterday for $500 million from the state of Minnesota to assist in a $6 billion plan to improve its Rochester, Minnesota, campus. Art Rolnick, a senior fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs and former director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, compared the public-financing request to the Minnesota Vikings threatening to move to Los Angeles if they didn't get help paying for a new stadium.
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2013/02/01/mayo-clinic-art-rolnick-vikings.html
Turning smart grids into strong grids
Engineered resilience reflects the tendency of a system to stabilize at or near an equilibrium state, “where resistance to disturbance and speed of return to the equilibrium are used to measure the property,” according the National Academy of Sciences. When prairies burn, they do not die. The same cannot be said for the electric power grid. On the contrary, the electric grid has become a cautionary tale for the risks of systemic collapse. Massoud Amin, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, adds insight on power grids in the United States.
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/02/01/resiliency-portfolio-standards-turning-smart-grids-into-strong-grids/
Feds eye campus bank card deals
The U Card is as ubiquitous at the University of Minnesota as the buck-tooth Golden Gopher himself. More than 40,000 University of Minnesota students carry the photo ID, a key to dorms, computer labs, libraries and laundry rooms. It carries a menu of optional add-ons too, such as a link to a free TCF checking account that turns the student ID into an ATM card. But now, such campus financial products have attracted the attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/business/189303161.html?refer=y
People and Lifestyle
Coupon clipper's big haul
A University of Minnesota senior has figured out how to help battered women with all the coupons in the paper. Yesterday, Lindsay Gorelick delivered goodie bags of needed items to the Harriet Tubman Center, all products she got with coupons -- $3,000 worth of items while spending just $38.
MPR
To Watch: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2013/02/5x8_-_2113.shtml
Pests wait out Minnesota's cold
As winter approaches its Groundhog Day midpoint, this season might have seemed unusually cold to people. But native and invasive plants and insects have hardly shivered. "It hasn't been cold enough to come anywhere close to killing insect pests," said Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Forest Ecology.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/189304891.html?refer=y
Updates and Events
U of M celebrates 750,000th urolith
Carl Osborne, College of Veterinary Medicine, is quoted in an article about the U of M Urolith Center celebrating its 750,000 urolith.
DVM 360
http://digital.dvm360.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/dvm_201301/#/66
Chinese dance group coming to University of Minnesota-Crookston Saturday
A Chinese Dance Theater performance is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Kiehle Auditorium the University of Minnesota-Crookston along with a free workshop and a dinner.
Grand Folks Herald
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/255376/