Nutrition Collaboration Addresses Hunger in Oswego County

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Written by: John DeRousie, Custom Marketing Solutions FULTON, NY The need for food subsidy and the lack of accessible nutrition information, is of great concern to the many human services agencies that serve Oswego County.

The Nutrition Coalition of Oswego County recently completed a comprehensive resource directory that provides local human service agencies with valuable information that they may share with their clients regarding food subsidy, including a list of food pantries and soup kitchen and access to nutritional information. Displaying copies of the directory are coalition members: Carolyn Handville (left), coordinator of OCOs Cancer Services Program Partnership; Amy Roland (center), director of OCO Nutrition Services; and Danielle Wert, coordinator of the Rural Health Network of Oswego County.

While many area food pantries are serving more families and individuals than ever before, a significant amount of other families and individuals are lacking in the knowledge of how to locate and access food pantries as well as learning more about proper nutrition for themselves and their families.

In an effort to address this issue and combat it head on the Nutrition Collaboration of Oswego County has compiled a comprehensive Resource Directory.

Although, nutritional resources are available, we believed there was a need for a Nutrition Directory that was as comprehensive as possible and was user friendly for agencies to locate food resources where their clients live. The directory provides local human service agencies with valuable information that they may share with their clients regarding food subsidy and access to nutritional information, said Amy Roland, director, OCO Nutrition Services.

Organized by school district, the Nutrition Collaboration Resource Directory contains contact information for agencies and organizations that deal with hunger issues, a list of food pantries and soup kitchens complete with location and hours of operation; locations for free food distributions; and information and locations for the Food Sense program. Updated regularly, the directory is looking to add a list of days and times for area farmers markets, as well as contact information on community gardens that exist in Oswego County.

We have heard very positive feedback regarding the resource directory, added Roland. The agencies have responded that the format of the directory, and the critical contact information that it contains, allows them to quickly provide their clients with accurate information. It has proven to be a valuable resource when discussing the availability of food subsidy for those who live in Oswego County.

To date the Nutrition Collaboration Resource Directory has been distributed to the appropriate agencies.

For more information on the directory, contact Roland at Oswego County Opportunities at 315-598-4712 or via e-mail at aroland@oco.org

The Nutrition Collaboration Resource Directory marks the completion of one of the organizations two initial goals. The other goal of establishing a community garden began last spring and was an immediate success. Located in Fulton, the community garden provided consumers of local food pantries with the opportunity to come together to tend their garden and raise fresh vegetables for themselves and others who depend on food subsidy.

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Nutrition Collaboration Addresses Hunger in Oswego County

Otago nutrition researcher awarded international prize

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A leading University of Otago nutritionist, Professor Rosalind Gibson, has been awarded the 2013 Kellogg International Prize in Nutrition. The award is given by American Society of Nutrition (ASN) to a member of its Global Nutrition Council actively engaged in research to benefit populations in non-industrialised countries, as demonstrated through publications in the scientific literature, and actively engaged in training new scientists for international nutrition research.

Professor Gibson, a research professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, has been recognised for her work on three fronts: her research on micronutrient malnutrition, her teaching in countries in both Africa and SE Asia of advanced level short courses in nutritional assessment, and her authoritative book - Principles of Nutritional Assessment - a widely used reference text that has now been continuously in print for more than twenty years.

"I am particularly pleased to receive this international recognition for my translational research and my contribution to capacity strengthening in nutritional assessment in low-income countries," she says.

"I have also appreciated the interest and support of all my colleagues during my research career, and the enthusiasm and dedication of my postgraduate students, in both Canada and New Zealand, who have often worked in difficult conditions."

Professor Gibsons interest in Africa was initiated by three years in Addis Ababa at the Ethio-Swedish Childrens Nutrition Unit following completion of an MS in Public Health Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her PhD from the University of London was for research on zinc in premature infants a study that initiated a life-long interest in micronutrient nutrition.

In 1979, Professor Gibson moved to the University of Guelph, Ontario where her research focussed on micronutrient nutrition, particularly on zinc in populations at risk of deficiency. Subsequently she expanded this research to low-income countries, initially Guatemala, Papua New Guinea and Malawi, the work focussing on zinc and iron.

Professor Gibsons experience in zinc malnutrition led to her becoming a founding member of the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group in 2000, a small interest group that continues to press WHO and other international bodies on the importance of zinc nutrition in low-income countries. Zinc deficiency in children in developing countries plays a major role in stunting as well as decreased immunity, leading to increased risks of infections due to common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, and mortality.

Her more recent research has emphasized sustainable food-based strategies to combat micronutrient deficiencies. This research in low-income countries has included studies with her students in Thailand, Cambodia, Mongolia, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Brazil. This work has continued since moving to the University of Otago where she co-directs the regional WHO collaborating Centres for Nutrition.

To help with the desperate shortage of experienced nutrition professionals in many low-income countries, Professor Gibson began giving intensive short courses on nutritional assessment lasting one to three weeks to small groups of senior students and health professionals. These courses, initially in Ethiopia, have also been given in South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia and this work continues at the present time.

These courses often complement a locally-based MSc programme and are often tailored to address significant local nutritional problems.

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Otago nutrition researcher awarded international prize

Cheap, Abundant Waste Sulfur Made Into New Polymer for Plastics, Batteries

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Material has better properties than past sulfur-based batteries

University of Arizona(UA)biochemistry/chemistryprofessorJeffrey Pyunand his doctoral studentJared Griebel have published an intriguing study, offering up a new sulfur-based polymer which transforms cheap, abundant waste sulfur -- the kind that'sfiltered out of burnt fossil fuel exhaustto preventacid rain pollution-- into a polymer.

I. From Trash to Treasure

The new polymer can be used both structurally and in polymeric battery electrodes.

The new plastic is light and rugged. The pair bill it as highly promising when paired with liquid lithium in battery cells. The invention comes at an opportune time -- sulfur production is outpacing stock. At North America's largest oil refineries, such asFt. McMurray in Alberta, refiners have taken to storing powder sulfur in dusty yellow "mountains" waiting for somebody to come up for a clever use for it.

According to Jered Griebel's calculations, 0.5 lb of sulfur is produced per every 19 gallons of refined gasoline. While some of that waste is used to make sulfuric acid, much of it is piling up unused. Professor Pyun bills the resource as the "garbage of transportation",adding[press release], "There's so much of it we don't know what to do with it."

The production of the new sulfur polymer begins with liquefying the sulfur at high temperatures and pressures (sulfur has a boiling point of roughly 441 degrees Celsius under standard temperatures) via inverse vulcanization. The researchers had to hunt down special materials -- most don't like to blend with the molten sulfur.

II. First Time's the Charm

Ironically, the first material tried of 20 potential candidates worked out the best by far; the rest proved duds. The resulting polymer is between 50 and 90 percent sulfur by weight.

The batteries made from the polymer have better capacity retention (how long charge is preserved) than past Li-S batteries. They also have a higher specific capacity(823 mAh/g at 100 cycles) than past designs, meaning they could store more energy. The relative stability of the Li-S sulfur polymer battery could make them an attractive target for automotive, aerospace, and personal electronics uses where traditional lithium ion batteries havesuffered flammability issues.

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Cheap, Abundant Waste Sulfur Made Into New Polymer for Plastics, Batteries