RESEARCH: Dry-cured ham bones -- a source of heart-healthy peptides.

RESEARCH: Dry-cured ham bones -- a source of heart-healthy peptides.Drinking bone broth is a recent diet fad that proponents claim fights inflammation, eases joint pain and promotes gut health. Simmering animal bones in water releases collagen and other proteins into the broth that may have health benefits, although more research is needed to validate these claims. Now, a new study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has shown that ham bones contain peptides that could have cardioprotective effects. During cooking and digestion, proteins from animal bones can be broken down into smaller pieces, or peptides, that have different properties than the intact protein. For example, some peptides from collagen act as antioxidants or inhibitors of disease-related enzymes. To see if Spanish dry-cured ham bones could be a source of beneficial peptides, Leticia Mora and colleagues ground up the bones and simulated conditions of cooking and human digestion. Then, they examined whether the bone samples could block the activities of several enzymes involved in cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that the bone peptides, most of which were derived from collagen and hemoglobin proteins, inhibited the enzymes even after heating and simulated digestion. In fact, these treatments released additional bioactive peptides, suggesting that the use of ham bones to make broths and stews could have a positive impact on cardiovascular health. RESEARCH: Dry-cured ham bones -- a source of heart-healthy peptides.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: Urbanization may hold key to tiger survival.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: Urbanization may hold key to tiger survival.Conservationists look at five human socioeconomic scenarios to better understand fate of endangered big cat.A new wildlife conservation society led study published in the journal Biological Conservation says the future of tigers in Asia is linked to the path of demographic transition -- for humans. The study marks the first-of-its-kind analysis that overlays human population scenarios with the fate of these endangered big cats. Prior to the 20th century, some experts estimate there were more than 100,000 tigers living in the wild; today that number is between 3000 -- 4000. At the same, over the last 150 years, the human population of Asia as grown from 790 million to over 4 billion, with dire consequences for tigers and other wildlife. But these trends are changing. The demographic transition is the process by which human populations peak and then go down. The researchers looked at different scenarios of economic, education, migration, and urbanization policy. In 2010, 57 million people lived in areas defined as "tiger conservation landscapes" that contained all of the world's remaining wild tigers. However, by 2100, depending on population trends, as few as 40 million people could be sharing space with tigers, or it could be as many as 106 million.

AGRIBUSINESS: Rising temperatures may safeguard crop nutrition as climate changes.

AGRIBUSINESS: Rising temperatures may safeguard crop nutrition as climate changes.Hotter temperatures may offset the negative effects of higher carbon dioxide levels on seed quality.Recent research has shown that rising carbon dioxide levels will likely boost yields, but at the cost of nutrition. A new study in Plant Journal from the University of Illinois, U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), and Donald Danforth Plant Science Center suggests that this is an incomplete picture of the complex environmental interactions that will affect crops in the future -- and rising temperatures may actually benefit nutrition but at the expense of lower yields. Two years of field trials show that increasing temperatures by about 3 degrees Celsius may help preserve seed quality, offsetting the effects of carbon dioxide that make food less nutritious. In soybeans, elevated carbon dioxide levels decreased the amount of iron and zinc in the seed by about 8 to 9 percent, but increased temperatures had the opposite effect.Iron and zinc are essential for both plant and human health.

RESEARCH : Plants smell different when attacked by exotic herbivores.

RESEARCH : Plants smell different when attacked by exotic herbivores.Plants emit odors in response to herbivory. A new study reveals that the odor bouquet changes depending on the type of enemy that attacks the plant. To the surprise of the researchers involved, native plants emit a special odor bouquet when they are attacked by exotic herbivores.

RESEARCH :HOW PLANTS SMELL.

RESEARCH :HOW PLANTS SMELL.Plants don't need noses to smell. The ability is in their genes. Researchers have discovered the first steps of how information from odor molecules changes gene expression in plants. Manipulating plants' odor detection systems may lead to new ways of influencing plant behavior. Plants detect a class of odor molecules known as volatile organic compounds, which are essential for many plant survival strategies, including attracting birds and bees, deterring pests, and reacting to disease in nearby plants. These compounds also give essential oils their distinctive scents.

AGRIBUSINESS: Body-painting protects against bloodsucking insects.

AGRIBUSINESS: Body-painting protects against bloodsucking insects. A study by researchers from Sweden and Hungary shows that white, painted stripes on the body protect skin from insect bites. It is the first time researchers have successfully shown that body-painting has this effect. Among indigenous peoples who wear body-paint, the markings thus provide a certain protection against insect-borne diseases. Most of the indigenous communities who paint their bodies live in areas where there is an abundance of bloodsucking horseflies, mosquitoes or tsetse flies. When these insects bite people there is a risk of bacteria, parasites and other pathogens being transferred. The study shows that body-painting provides protection against the insects. A brown plastic model of a human attracted ten times as many horseflies as a dark model painted with white stripes. The researchers also found that a beige-coloured plastic figure used as a control model attracted twice as many bloodsuckers as the striped model.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: Transmission of antibiotic resistant E. coli mapped in wild giraffe social networks.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: Transmission of antibiotic resistant E. coli mapped in wild giraffe social networks.A team has shown that antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria in wild giraffes most likely come from anthropogenic sources, such as local cattle herds and humans. The team from the University of Minnesota has shown that antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria in wild giraffes most likely come from anthropogenic sources, such as local cattle herds and humans. The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. They found that the majority of antibiotic resistance genes identified in giraffe E. coli had been previously identified in E. coli from both humans and domestic cattle in East Africa. Giraffes three months of age or younger were more likely to harbor antibiotic resistant E. coli than other age groups. This is a surprise as giraffe neonates nurse from their mothers exclusively and interact minimally with other group members, leading to a prediction they would have low exposure to resistant bacteria and residual antibiotics in their environment. The result suggest there may be competition between antibiotic resistant and susceptible E. coli strains in the giraffe neonatal gut, with resistant E. coli having a selective advantage.