A large research team led by senior author Guodong Zhang at the University of Massachusetts Amherst reports that the antimicrobial ingredient triclosan, found in hand soaps and toothpastes among other products, could have adverse effects on colonic inflammation and colon cancer by altering gut microbiota, the microbes found in our intestines. (Jordan Times 7/2/18; Sky Chronicle 6/11/18; Medicalnewser 6/10/18; ChemicalWatch 6/7/18; Metro.us, Science and Technology Reserach News, Health Care Purchasing News 6/4/18; Salon 6/3/18, Minneapolis Star Tribune, LA Times, Popular Science, AOL.com, CBS Boston, The Patch 5/31/18, Daily Mail [UK], Stamford Advocate [The Conversation] 5/30/18; Medkit.info, Biosciencetechnology.com, Firenewsfeed.com, Infosurhoy.com, 5/31/18; News Office Release)
News from the Media
Stephen M. Rich, microbiology and director of the Laboratory of Medical Zoology and the Tick Testing Lab, is quoted in an article highlighting the dangers of tick bites. UMass Amherst, the report says, “is ground zero for tick research. Every week, thousands of people from across the country send ticks to its TickReport program to be tested for diseases." (CNN 5/26/18)
Prof. Stephen Rich, a microbiologist at UMass-Amherst and the director of its Laboratory of Medical Zoology, says there’s no such thing as a light tick season. They’re all bad. (The Sun Chronicle 5/14/18)
UMass extension educator and “Fruit Advisor,” Jon Clements advises commercial fruit growers across the state on the best practices to cultivate their crop and turn a profit against the reality of a changing climate. (Gazette 5/9/18)
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns of a recent surge of tick-borne disease incidence in the United States said microbiology professor Stephen Rich, director of the Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A new $100,000 grant from the state’s public health department, using CDC funding, will help to subsidize the cost of tick testing for Massachusetts residents through a contract with the LMZ. ( Berkshire Eagle, Keene Sentinel [via Cape Cod Times], 5/21/18; WFXT-TV 25, WPRI-TV 12, Medicine News Line, 5/9/18; Phys.org, WWLP-TV 22, 5/8/18; News Office; Globe 5/7/18)
Richard Peltier, UMass Amherst, environmental health sciences, examines the causes of air pollution and its adverse impact on human health. (The Conversation, 5/7/18)
University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have identified an enzyme that might be responsible for increased colon inflammation in obese people — and they’re hoping that, by inhibiting it, they might someday prevent colon cancer, said Guodong Zhang, a food science professor at UMass Amherst. (Globe; New China 4/30/18)
UMass professor Paul K. Barten, environmental conservation, takes annual trip with students to the James Bay region of Quebec where they visit a Cree culture camp. “The Cree in particular, how self-reliant and resourceful they are, by any standard measure it defines what conservation and sustainability really is,” Barten says. (CBC [Canada] 4/27/18)
The cold, wet weather this month has set the vegetable growing season behind, according to Katie Campbell-Nelson, a vegetable expert with the UMass Extension in Amherst. (NEPR, 4/24/2018)
Masoud Hashemi and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst tested faba bean as a cover crop before planting sweet corn with good news for growers. (Science Newsline 4/12/18)
