text:
Research Topics
Genomes and Genes
Summary: A naturally occurring compound that has been of interest for its role in osmoregulation. As a drug, betaine hydrochloride has been used as a source of hydrochloric acid in the treatment of hypochlorhydria. Betaine has also been used in the treatment of liver disorders, for hyperkalemia, for homocystinuria, and for gastrointestinal disturbances. (From Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p1341)
Top Publications
Research Grants
Scientific Experts
Detail Information
Publications321 found, 100 shown here
- Betaine in human nutritionStuart A S Craig
Danisco USA Inc, 440 Saw Mill River Road, Ardsley, NY 10502, USA
Am J Clin Nutr 80:539-49. 2004b>Betaine is distributed widely in animals, plants, and microorganisms, and rich dietary sources include seafood, especially marine invertebrates ( approximately 1%); wheat germ or bran ( approximately 1%); and spinach ( approximately 0...
- Involvement of AMP-activated protein kinase in beneficial effects of betaine on high-sucrose diet-induced hepatic steatosisZhenyuan Song
Dept of Medicine, Univ of Louisville Medical Center, Louisville, KY 40292, USA
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 293:G894-902. 2007..Promising beneficial effects of betaine supplementation on human NAFLD have been reported in some pilot clinical studies; however, data related to ..
- Concentrations of choline-containing compounds and betaine in common foodsSteven H Zeisel
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health and School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 7461, USA
J Nutr 133:1302-7. 2003..b>Betaine, a choline derivative, is important because of its role in the donation of methyl groups to homocysteine to form ..
- Choline and betaine in health and diseasePer Magne Ueland
Section for Pharmacology, Institute of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
J Inherit Metab Dis 34:3-15. 2011..Pre-and postnatal choline availability is important for neurodevelopment in rodents. Choline is oxidized to betaine that serves as an osmoregulator and is a substrate in the betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase reaction, which ..
- Divergent associations of plasma choline and betaine with components of metabolic syndrome in middle age and elderly men and womenSvetlana V Konstantinova
Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen 5020, Norway
J Nutr 138:914-20. 2008Choline is involved in the synthesis of phospholipids, including blood lipids, and is the immediate precursor of betaine, which serves as a methyl group donor in a reaction converting homocysteine to methionine...
- Plasma lipids and betaine are related in an acute coronary syndrome cohortMichael Lever
Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
PLoS ONE 6:e21666. 2011Low plasma betaine has been associated with unfavorable plasma lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk. In some studies raised plasma betaine after supplementation is associated with elevations in plasma lipids...
- Smoking, dietary betaine, methionine, and vitamin D in monozygotic twins with discordant macular degeneration: epigenetic implicationsJohanna M Seddon
New England Eye Center, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Ophthalmology 118:1386-94. 2011..We evaluated monozygotic twin pairs with discordant age-related macular degeneration (AMD) phenotypes to assess differences in behavioral and nutritional factors...
- Mitochondrial adaptations to NaCl. Complex I is protected by anti-oxidants and small heat shock proteins, whereas complex II is protected by proline and betaineE W Hamilton
Department of Biology, Syracuse University, 130 College Place, Syracuse, New York 13244 1220, USA
Plant Physiol 126:1266-74. 2001..on maize (Zea mays) mitochondrial electron transport and its relative protection by osmoprotectants (proline, betaine, and sucrose), antioxidants (ascorbate, glutathione, and alpha-tocopherol), antioxidant enzymes (catalase and Cu/..
- Annotation of genes involved in glycerolipid biosynthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: discovery of the betaine lipid synthase BTA1CrWayne R Riekhof
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Eukaryot Cell 4:242-52. 2005..the bifunctional protein that it encodes; we predicted this protein to be sufficient for the synthesis of the betaine lipid diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (DGTS), a major membrane component in Chlamydomonas...
- Separation of cationic aracyl derivatives of betaines and related compoundsMalina K Storer
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, P O Box 151, Christchurch, New Zealand
J Chromatogr A 1104:263-71. 2006..Retention is reduced by increasing the water content and the buffer concentration. Capillary electrophoresis migration times are affected by the choice of buffer anion, with low pH citrate buffers favoured...
- Betaine improves the PCR amplification of GC-rich DNA sequencesW Henke
Research Division of the Department of Urology, University Hospital Charite, Humboldt University, D 10098 Berlin, Germany
Nucleic Acids Res 25:3957-8. 1997b>Betaine improves the co-amplification of the two alternatively spliced variants of the prostate-specific membrane antigen mRNA as well as the amplification of the coding cDNA region of c-jun...
- Homocysteine, glycine betaine, and N,N-dimethylglycine in patients attending a lipid clinicMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, PO Box 151, Christchurch, New Zealand
Metabolism 54:1-14. 2005..Glycine betaine, N,N-dimethylglycine, and carnitine were measured in fasting plasma and urine samples...
- Determination of choline, betaine, and dimethylglycine in plasma by a high-throughput method based on normal-phase chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryPal I Holm
LOCUS for Homocysteine and Related Vitamins, University of Bergen, N 5021 Bergen, Norway
Clin Chem 49:286-94. 2003The quaternary ammonium compounds, choline and betaine, and dimethylglycine (DMG) reside along a metabolic pathway linked to the synthesis of neurotransmitters and membrane phospholipids and to homocysteine remethylation and, therefore, ..
- Identification of two gene clusters and a transcriptional regulator required for Pseudomonas aeruginosa glycine betaine catabolismMatthew J Wargo
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
J Bacteriol 190:2690-9. 2008Glycine betaine (GB), which occurs freely in the environment and is an intermediate in the catabolism of choline and carnitine, can serve as a sole source of carbon or nitrogen in Pseudomonas aeruginosa...
- The clinical significance of betaine, an osmolyte with a key role in methyl group metabolismMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 43:732-44. 2010b>Betaine is an essential osmolyte and source of methyl groups and comes from either the diet or by the oxidation of choline. Its metabolism methylates homocysteine to methionine, also producing N,N-dimethylglycine...
- A novel transgenic mouse model of CBS-deficient homocystinuria does not incur hepatic steatosis or fibrosis and exhibits a hypercoagulative phenotype that is ameliorated by betaine treatmentKenneth N Maclean
Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
Mol Genet Metab 101:153-62. 2010..determinations indicate that HO mice are in a hypercoagulative state that is significantly ameliorated by betaine treatment in a manner that recapitulates the disease as it occurs in humans...
- DMSO and betaine greatly improve amplification of GC-rich constructs in de novo synthesisMichael A Jensen
Stanford Genome Technology Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
PLoS ONE 5:e11024. 2010..these limitations in researching GC-rich genes and their non-coding elements, we explored the use of DMSO and betaine in two conventional methods of assembly and amplification...
- Betaine administration corrects ethanol-induced defective VLDL secretionKusum K Kharbanda
Research Service 151, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4101 Woolworth Avenue, Omaha, NE 68105, USA
Mol Cell Biochem 327:75-8. 2009..of this study was to determine whether VLDL secretion was reduced by chronic ethanol consumption and whether betaine supplementation, that restores PEMT activity and prevents the development of alcoholic steatosis, could normalize ..
- Improved salt tolerance in tobacco plants by co-transformation of a betaine synthesis gene BADH and a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter gene SeNHX1Shufeng Zhou
Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Molecular Environmental Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nan XinCun XiangShan, Beijing 100093, China
Biotechnol Lett 30:369-76. 2008..acquired by separate transformation or co-transformation of a vacuolar Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene, SeNHX1, and a betaine synthesis gene, BADH...
- The ATP-binding cassette transporter Cbc (choline/betaine/carnitine) recruits multiple substrate-binding proteins with strong specificity for distinct quaternary ammonium compoundsChiliang Chen
Department of Plant Pathology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Mol Microbiol 75:29-45. 2010We identified a choline, betaine and carnitine transporter, designated Cbc, from Pseudomonas syringae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is unusual among members of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family in its use of multiple ..
- Betaine for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: results of a randomized placebo-controlled trialManal F Abdelmalek
Division of Gastroenterology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
Hepatology 50:1818-26. 2009Based on animal studies and pilot studies in humans, betaine, a methyl donor for the remethylation of homocysteine, may be a therapeutic agent for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)...
- Quantitative measurement of betaine and free choline in plasma, cereals and cereal products by isotope dilution LC-MS/MSStephen J Bruce
Department of Bioanalytical Science, Nestle Research Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland
J Agric Food Chem 58:2055-61. 2010b>Betaine and choline are important components of the one-carbon metabolism cycle, linked with the amino acid homocysteine and lipid metabolism...
- An abnormal urinary excretion of glycine betaine may persist for yearsMichael Lever
Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 40:798-801. 2007Does abnormal betaine excretion persist?
- Betaine decreases hyperhomocysteinemia, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and liver injury in alcohol-fed miceCheng Ji
USC UCLA Research Center for Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases, Research Center for Liver Disease and Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90033, USA
Gastroenterology 124:1488-99. 2003..This novel ER stress mechanism of alcoholic liver injury was studied in the model of intragastric alcohol-fed mice...
- Osmotically induced intracellular trehalose, but not glycine betaine accumulation promotes desiccation tolerance in Escherichia coliD T Welsh
Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Universita degli Studi di Parma, Italy
FEMS Microbiol Lett 174:57-63. 1999..In contrast, glycine betaine whether added as an excipient or accumulated intracellularly had no influence on desiccation tolerance...
- A whole-grain cereal-rich diet increases plasma betaine, and tends to decrease total and LDL-cholesterol compared with a refined-grain diet in healthy subjectsAlastair B Ross
Nestle Research Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland
Br J Nutr 105:1492-502. 2011..Plasma betaine and alkylresorcinol concentrations were elevated after 1 week of the WG diet (P = 0·01 and P < 0·0001, ..
- Long-term effect of betaine on risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome in healthy subjectsU Schwab
Department of Clinical Nutrition, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Kuopio, Finland
Eur J Clin Nutr 65:70-6. 2011To examine the effects of betaine on serum lipid profile, plasma homocysteine concentration and hemostatic factors in healthy subjects.
- Corynebacterium glutamicum is equipped with four secondary carriers for compatible solutes: identification, sequencing, and characterization of the proline/ectoine uptake system, ProP, and the ectoine/proline/glycine betaine carrier, EctPH Peter
Institut für Biotechnologie 1, Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH, D 52425 Julich, Germany
J Bacteriol 180:6005-12. 1998Gram-positive soil bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum uses the compatible solutes glycine betaine, proline, and ectoine for protection against hyperosmotic shock...
- Betaine excretion correlates with plasma homocysteine when plasma lipids are elevatedMichael Lever
Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 45:154-6. 2012To reconcile observing a positive correlation of betaine excretion with homocysteine in lipid disorder patients but not other study groups.
- Sex differences in the control of plasma concentrations and urinary excretion of glycine betaine in patients attending a lipid disorders clinicMichael Lever
Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 40:1225-31. 2007To find whether the control of betaine metabolism differs between male and female patients and identify the effects of insulin and other hormones.
- Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular diseaseZeneng Wang
Department of Cell Biology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA
Nature 472:57-63. 2011..Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine--choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine--were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort...
- Consumption of wheat aleurone-rich foods increases fasting plasma betaine and modestly decreases fasting homocysteine and LDL-cholesterol in adultsRuth K Price
Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UK
J Nutr 140:2153-7. 2010..Although underlying mechanisms and components are unclear, betaine, found at high levels in wheat aleurone, may play a role...
- Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase genes from Arabidopsis with different sub-cellular localization affect stress responsesTagnon D Missihoun
Institute of Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants IMBIO, University of Bonn, Kirschallee 1, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Planta 233:369-82. 2011Arabidopsis thaliana belongs to those plants that do not naturally accumulate glycine betaine (GB), although its genome contains two genes, ALDH10A8 and ALDH10A9 that code for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenases (BADHs)...
- Glycinebetaine protects plants against abiotic stress: mechanisms and biotechnological applicationsTony H H Chen
Department of Horticulture, ALS 4017, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki 444 8585, Japan
Plant Cell Environ 34:1-20. 2011..Thus, transgenic approaches that increase tolerance to abiotic stress have enhanced our understanding of mechanisms that protect plants against such stress...
- 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolic assessment in a rat model of obesity induced by a high-fat dietSo Hyun Kim
College of Pharmacy, Chung Ang University, Seoul, 156 756, Republic of Korea
Anal Bioanal Chem 395:1117-24. 2009..Several key metabolites in urine, such as betaine, taurine, acetone/acetoacetate, phenylacetylglycine, pyruvate, lactate, and citrate contributed to the ..
- Glycinebetaine: an effective protectant against abiotic stress in plantsTony H H Chen
Department of Horticulture, ALS 4017, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Trends Plant Sci 13:499-505. 2008..In particular, the reproductive organs of GB-accumulating transgenic plants exhibit enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. Furthermore, accumulation of GB results in increased yield potentials under non-stress conditions...
- Cloning of a Na(+)- and Cl(-)-dependent betaine transporter that is regulated by hypertonicityA Yamauchi
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
J Biol Chem 267:649-52. 1992..intracellular concentrations of electrolytes by accumulating high concentrations of the nonperturbing osmolyte betaine. When kidney-derived Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells are cultured in hypertonic medium, they accumulate ..
- Betaine attenuates alcoholic steatosis by restoring phosphatidylcholine generation via the phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase pathwayKusum K Kharbanda
VA Alcohol Research Center, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68105, USA
J Hepatol 46:314-21. 2007..Further in vitro studies showed that betaine supplementation could correct these alterations in the ratio as well as attenuate alcoholic steatosis...
- Carbon tetrachloride-induced nephrotoxicity and protective effect of betaine in Sprague-Dawley ratsFeral Ozturk
Department of Histology Embryology, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey
Urology 62:353-6. 2003..the antioxidative defense enzymes and to detect the alterations of renal microscopy after carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) administration in rats and to investigate the possible protective effects of betaine against CCl4-induced renal damage.
- Choline metabolism and risk of breast cancer in a population-based studyXinran Xu
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Mt Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA
FASEB J 22:2045-52. 2008..we investigated the associations of dietary intake of choline and two related micronutrients, methionine and betaine, and risk of breast cancer...
- Inter- and intra-individual variations in normal urinary glycine betaine excretionMichael Lever
Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 40:447-53. 2007To establish whether normal human subjects excrete glycine betaine at a constant rate.
- GbdR regulates Pseudomonas aeruginosa plcH and pchP transcription in response to choline catabolitesMatthew J Wargo
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA
Infect Immun 77:1103-11. 2009..and PchP enzyme activity are positively regulated by phosphorylcholine degradation products, including glycine betaine. Here we report that the induction of plcH and pchP transcription by glycine betaine is mediated by GbdR, an AraC ..
- Cellular choline and glycine betaine pools impact osmoprotection and phospholipase C production in Pseudomonas aeruginosaLiam F Fitzsimmons
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, USA
J Bacteriol 194:4718-26. 2012..is abundantly produced by eukaryotes and plays an important role as a precursor of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, glycine betaine has additional roles as a nutrient source and an inducer of the ..
- High intakes of choline and betaine reduce breast cancer mortality in a population-based studyXinran Xu
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Box 1057, Mt Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA
FASEB J 23:4022-8. 2009Choline and betaine provide methyl groups for one-carbon metabolism. Humans obtain these nutrients from a wide range of foods. Betaine can also be synthesized endogenously from its precursor, choline...
- Two evolutionarily closely related ABC transporters mediate the uptake of choline for synthesis of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine in Bacillus subtilisR M Kappes
Philipps University Marburg, Department of Biology, Germany
Mol Microbiol 32:203-16. 1999Biosynthesis of the compatible solute glycine betaine in Bacillus subtilis confers a considerable degree of osmotic tolerance and proceeds via a two-step oxidation process of choline, with glycine betaine aldehyde as the intermediate...
- Relationship of dimethylglycine, choline, and betaine with oxoproline in plasma of pregnant women and their newborn infantsRussell W Friesen
Nutrition Research Program, Child and Family Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V5Z 4H4
J Nutr 137:2641-6. 2007Choline and glycine are inter-related through their roles in methyl metabolism. Choline is metabolized to betaine, which donates a methyl group to homocysteine to form methionine, also generating dimethylglycine, which is further ..
- Betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase: just a regulator of homocysteine metabolism?M A Pajares
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas Alberto Sols CSIC UAM, Arturo Duperier 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain
Cell Mol Life Sci 63:2792-803. 2006b>Betaine homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT), a Zn(2+)-dependent thiolmethyltransferase, contributes to the regulation of homocysteine levels, increases in which are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases...
- The codA transgene for glycinebetaine synthesis increases the size of flowers and fruits in tomatoEung Jun Park
Department of Horticulture, ALS4017, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Plant Biotechnol J 5:422-30. 2007..The enlargement of flowers was related to an increase in the size and number of cells, and reflected the pleiotropic effect of the codA transgene on the expression of genes involved in the regulation of cell division...
- Cationic lipids derived from glycine betaine promote efficient and non-toxic gene transfection in cultured hepatocytesDavid Gilot
Hopital Pontchaillou, Régulation des équilibres fonctionnels du foie normal et pathologique, INSERM U522, Avenue de la Bataille Flandre Dunkerque, 35033 Rennes, France
J Gene Med 4:415-27. 2002..The low efficiency and toxicity of transfection in a primary culture of hepatocytes using cationic lipids remains a limiting step to the study of gene function and the setting up of non-viral gene therapy...
- Choline and homocysteine interrelations in umbilical cord and maternal plasma at deliveryAnne M Molloy
Department of Clinical Medicine and the National Human Genome Research Institute, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Am J Clin Nutr 82:836-42. 2005..Choline, via betaine, is an important folate-independent source of methyl groups for remethylating homocysteine in liver.
- Betaine: a key modulator of one-carbon metabolism and homocysteine statusPer Magne Ueland
LOCUS for Homocysteine and Related Vitamins, Institute of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Clin Chem Lab Med 43:1069-75. 2005b>Betaine serves as a methyl donor in a reaction converting homocysteine to methionine, catalysed by the enzyme betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase...
- Short and long-term variation of plasma glycine betaine concentrations in humansMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 37:184-90. 2004Glycine betaine is important in cell volume regulation and in remethylating homocysteine, a vascular risk factor.
- The osmolyte betaine promotes protein misfolding and disruption of protein aggregatesAntonino Natalello
Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, Milan 20126, Italy
Proteins 75:509-17. 2009In this work the effect of betaine on the structure and aggregation of the GST-GFP fluorescent fusion protein was studied by different complementary techniques, including electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, circular dichroism, ..
- Genetic engineering of the biosynthesis of glycinebetaine leads to increased tolerance of photosynthesis to salt stress in transgenic tobacco plantsXinghong Yang
Photosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
Plant Mol Biol 66:73-86. 2008..the ability to synthesis glycinebetaine (GB) in chloroplasts was established by introducing the BADH gene for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.)...
- Fibrates may cause an abnormal urinary betaine loss which is associated with elevations in plasma homocysteineMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, P O Box 151, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 23:395-401. 2009b>Betaine is an osmolyte, supplies methyl groups, and controls plasma homocysteine. Abnormal urinary loss of betaine is common in patients with the metabolic syndrome or diabetes mellitus...
- Elevated glycine betaine excretion in diabetes mellitus patients is associated with proximal tubular dysfunction and hyperglycemiaW J Dellow
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
Diabetes Res Clin Pract 43:91-9. 1999..population of diabetic subjects (Type 1 and Type 2), the urine excretion of the renal osmolyte, glycine betaine, was compared to known markers of glycemic control, renal dysfunction and to the excretion of related betaines, ..
- Plasma dependent and independent accumulation of betaine in male and female rat tissuesS Slow
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch Mail Center, Christchurch, New Zealand
Physiol Res 58:403-10. 2009Tissue betaine is an intracellular osmolyte that also provides a store of labile methyl groups. Despite these important biological roles, there are few data regarding tissue betaine content...
- Proteomics reveal a concerted upregulation of methionine metabolic pathway enzymes, and downregulation of carbonic anhydrase-III, in betaine supplemented ethanol-fed ratsKusum K Kharbanda
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Omaha, NE 68105, USA
Biochem Biophys Res Commun 381:523-7. 2009We employed a proteomic profiling strategy to examine the effects of ethanol and betaine diet supplementation on major liver protein level changes. Male Wistar rats were fed control, ethanol or betaine supplemented diets for 4 weeks...
- Betaine supplementation decreases post-methionine hyperhomocysteinemia in chronic renal failureDavid O McGregor
Department of Nephrology, Christchurch Hospital and School of Medicine, Private Bag 4710, Christchurch, New Zealand
Kidney Int 61:1040-6. 2002..Glycine betaine (GB) is known to decrease tHcy in other clinical settings, but whether it is beneficial in chronic renal failure ..
- Betaine improves nonalcoholic fatty liver and associated hepatic insulin resistance: a potential mechanism for hepatoprotection by betaineElango Kathirvel
Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Long Beach Healthcare System, Long Beach 90822, USA
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 299:G1068-77. 2010Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) is a common liver disease, associated with insulin resistance. Betaine has been tested as a treatment for NAFL in animal models and in small clinical trials, with mixed results...
- Choline and betaine intake and the risk of colorectal cancer in menJung Eun Lee
Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 19:884-7. 2010Dietary choline and betaine have been hypothesized to decrease the risk of cancer because of their role as methyl donors in the one-carbon metabolism...
- Glycinebetaine accumulation is more effective in chloroplasts than in the cytosol for protecting transgenic tomato plants against abiotic stressEung Jun Park
Department of Horticulture, ALS 4017, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Plant Cell Environ 30:994-1005. 2007..Thus, an increase in total GB content does not necessarily lead to enhanced stress tolerance, but additional accumulation of chloroplastic GB is likely to further raise the level of stress tolerance beyond what we have observed...
- Dietary intake of S-(alpha-carboxybutyl)-DL-homocysteine induces hyperhomocysteinemia in ratsJana Strakova
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Nutr Res 30:492-500. 2010b>Betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from betaine to homocysteine (Hcy), forming dimethylglycine and methionine...
- Variability of plasma and urine betaine in diabetes mellitus and its relationship to methionine load test responses: an observational studyMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, PO Box 151, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
Cardiovasc Diabetol 11:34. 2012Since betaine is an osmolyte and methyl donor, and abnormal betaine loss is common in diabetes mellitus (>20% patients), we investigated the relationship between betaine and the post-methionine load rise in homocysteine, in diabetes ..
- Influence of temperature and elevated carbon dioxide on the production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate and glycine betaine by marine phytoplanktonAstrid Spielmeyer
Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University, Lessingstr 8, 07743 Jena D, Germany
Mar Environ Res 73:62-9. 2012..In addition, we addressed glycine betaine (GBT) that fulfills a similar function as osmolyte like DMSP...
- Substrate specificity and ion coupling in the Na+/betaine symporter BetPCamilo Perez
Department of Structural Biology, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
EMBO J 30:1221-9. 2011BetP is an Na(+)-coupled betaine-specific transporter of the betaine-choline-carnitine (BCC) transporter family involved in the response to hyperosmotic stress...
- Glycinebetaine-induced water-stress tolerance in codA-expressing transgenic indica rice is associated with up-regulation of several stress responsive genesHitesh Kathuria
Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Plant Genomics, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, India
Plant Biotechnol J 7:512-26. 2009..Our data show that metabolic engineering for GB is a promising strategy for introducing stress tolerance in crop plants and which could be imparted, in part, by H2O2- and/or GB-induced stress response genes...
- Effect of homocysteine-lowering nutrients on blood lipids: results from four randomised, placebo-controlled studies in healthy humansMargreet R Olthof
Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
PLoS Med 2:e135. 2005b>Betaine (trimethylglycine) lowers plasma homocysteine, a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease...
- Extreme halophiles synthesize betaine from glycine by methylationA Nyyssola
Danisco Cultor Innovation, Kantvik, Sokeritehtaantie 20, FIN 02460 Kantvik, Finland
J Biol Chem 275:22196-201. 2000Glycine betaine is a compatible solute, which is able to restore and maintain osmotic balance of living cells. It is synthesized and accumulated in response to abiotic stress...
- Cystathionine beta-synthase null homocystinuric mice fail to exhibit altered hemostasis or lowering of plasma homocysteine in response to betaine treatmentKenneth N Maclean
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, United States
Mol Genet Metab 101:163-71. 2010..crosses is non-Mendelian and not significantly improved by treatment with either the Hcy lowering compound betaine or the cysteine donor N-acetylcysteine...
- Betaine supplementation improves the atherogenic risk factor profile in a transgenic mouse model of hyperhomocysteinemiaB C Schwahn
Departments of Human Genetics and Pediatrics, McGill University Health Center Montreal Children s Hospital, Montreal, Canada
Atherosclerosis 195:e100-7. 2007To investigate the lipotropic action of betaine on plasma lipoproteins and tissue lipids.
- Ectoines as compatible solutes and carbon and energy sources for the halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter salexigensC Vargas
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
J Appl Microbiol 100:98-107. 2006..To investigate the catabolism of ectoine and hydroxyectoine, which are the major compatible solutes synthesized by Chromohalobacter salexigens...
- Hepatic very-low-density lipoprotein and apolipoprotein B production are increased following in vivo induction of betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferaseJanet D Sparks
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
Biochem J 395:363-71. 2006We have previously reported a positive correlation between the expression of BHMT (betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase) and ApoB (apolipoprotein B) in rat hepatoma McA (McArdle RH-7777) cells [Sowden, Collins, Smith, Garrow, Sparks ..
- Betaine supplementation attenuates atherosclerotic lesion in apolipoprotein E-deficient miceShiwei Lv
Faculty of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat Sen University, 74th Zhongshan Road II, 510080, Guangzhou, People s Republic of China
Eur J Nutr 48:205-12. 2009b>Betaine serves as a methyl donor in a reaction converting homocysteine to methionine. It is commonly used for the treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia in humans, which indicates it may be associated with reduced risk of atherosclerosis...
- Glycine betaine may have opposite effects on protein stability at high and low pH valuesLaishram R Singh
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
Biochim Biophys Acta 1794:929-35. 2009The compatible osmolyte glycine betaine (GB) is the most efficient osmoprotectant and best excluder from the protein surface...
- Increasing solubility of proteins and peptides by site-specific modification with betaineJunpeng Xiao
Department of Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Biochemistry Graduate Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
Bioconjug Chem 19:1113-8. 2008..solubility and prevent aggregation of polypeptides using site-specific modification with the small molecule betaine, which contains a quaternary ammonium moiety...
- Betaine protects chronic alcohol and omega-3 PUFA-mediated down-regulations of PON1 gene, serum PON1 and homocysteine thiolactonase activities with restoration of liver GSHRavi Varatharajalu
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Lipid Research Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20422, USA
Alcohol Clin Exp Res 34:424-31. 2010..may affect PON1 status presumably via reactive oxygen species by depleting liver glutathione (GSH), whereas betaine may counter their effects...
- Plasma and urine betaine and dimethylglycine variation in healthy young male subjectsMichael Lever
Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand
Clin Biochem 42:706-12. 2009We aimed to compare the individuality (within subject consistency) of plasma and urine betaine and N,N-dimethylglycine.
- Osmoregulatory systems of Escherichia coli: identification of betaine-carnitine-choline transporter family member BetU and distributions of betU and trkG among pathogenic and nonpathogenic isolatesAnh Ly
Department of Microbiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
J Bacteriol 186:296-306. 2004..Both lacked the trkH homologue trkG. Transporters ProP and ProU account for all glycine-betaine uptake activity in E...
- Organization of the genes involved in dimethylglycine and sarcosine degradation in Arthrobacter spp.: implications for glycine betaine catabolismR Meskys
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Mokslininku 12, Vilnius, Lithuania
Eur J Biochem 268:3390-8. 2001..Based on the sequence analysis reported herein, pathways are proposed for glycine betaine catabolism in Arthrobacter species, which involve the identified folate-dependent enzymes.
- Betaine supplementation and blood lipids: fact or artifact?Steven H Zeisel
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health and School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Nutr Rev 64:77-9. 2006b>Betaine supplementation in humans has been shown to lower plasma homocysteine concentrations in modestly hyperhomocysteinemic patients...
- Synergism between the chaperone-like activity of the stress regulated ASR1 protein and the osmolyte glycine-betaineZvia Konrad
Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
Planta 227:1213-9. 2008..The protective activity of SlASR1 is synergistic with that of the osmolyte glycine-betaine, which accumulates under stress conditions...
- NMR-based metabonomics reveals that plasma betaine increases upon intake of high-fiber rye buns in hypercholesterolemic pigsHanne Christine Bertram
Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarslev, Denmark
Mol Nutr Food Res 53:1055-62. 2009..The 3.29 ppm signal is ascribed to N(CH(3))(3) protons in betaine, which may be an important contributor to the health promoting effects of rye.
- Isolation and sequencing of Escherichia coli gene proP reveals unusual structural features of the osmoregulatory proline/betaine transporter, ProPD E Culham
Department of Microbiology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
J Mol Biol 229:268-76. 1993Transporters encoded in genetic loci putP, proP and proU mediate proline and/or betaine accumulation by Escherichia coli K-12. The ProP and ProU systems are osmoregulatory...
- Glycine betaine transport in the obligate halophilic archaeon Methanohalophilus portucalensisM C Lai
Department of Botany, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China
J Bacteriol 182:5020-4. 2000Transport of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine was investigated using the glycine betaine-synthesizing microbe Methanohalophilus portucalensis (strain FDF1), since solute uptake for this class of obligate halophilic methanogenic Archaea ..
- Interrelations between glycine betaine catabolism and methionine biosynthesis in Sinorhizobium meliloti strain 102F34Lise Barra
Osmorégulation chez les bactéries, UMR CNRS 6026, Universite de Rennes I, Campus de Beaulieu, Av du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France
J Bacteriol 188:7195-204. 2006..This vitamin B(12)-dependent enzyme is encoded by the metH gene. Glycine betaine can also serve as an alternative methyl donor for homocysteine...
- Enhancement of tolerance of abiotic stress by metabolic engineering of betaines and other compatible solutesTony H H Chen
Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:250-7. 2002..Some interventions have increased the tolerance of some crop plants to abiotic stress. Furthermore, analysis of such transgenic plants has begun to clarify the roles of compatible solutes in stress tolerance...
- Low dose betaine supplementation leads to immediate and long term lowering of plasma homocysteine in healthy men and womenMargreet R Olthof
Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences and Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
J Nutr 133:4135-8. 2003..plasma homocysteine is a risk for cardiovascular disease and can be lowered through supplementation with 6 g/d of betaine. However, dietary intake of betaine is approximately 0.5-2 g/d...
- Orally administered betaine has an acute and dose-dependent effect on serum betaine and plasma homocysteine concentrations in healthy humansUrsula Schwab
Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, Finland
J Nutr 136:34-8. 2006b>Betaine, i.e., trimethylglycine, is linked to homocysteine metabolism. A 3-mo daily betaine supplementation decreased even normal plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations in humans...
- Molecular cloning and functional characterization of two kinds of betaine-aldehyde dehydrogenase in betaine-accumulating mangrove Avicennia marina (Forsk.) VierhT Hibino
Faculty of Science and Technology, Meijo University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Plant Mol Biol 45:353-63. 2001..The level of glycinebetaine in A. marina increased under high salinity. Betaine-aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) was detected in all four species, but choline monooxygenase could not be detected...
- Evaluation of the stress-inducible production of choline oxidase in transgenic rice as a strategy for producing the stress-protectant glycine betaineJin Su
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
J Exp Bot 57:1129-35. 2006Glycine betaine (GB) is a compatible solute that is also capable of stabilizing the structure and function of macromolecules...
- Thermoprotection of Bacillus subtilis by exogenously provided glycine betaine and structurally related compatible solutes: involvement of Opu transportersGudrun Holtmann
Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps University Marburg, D 35032 Marburg, Germany
J Bacteriol 186:1683-93. 2004..subtilis. Low concentrations of glycine betaine enhanced the growth of the B...
- Impaired sulfur-amino acid metabolism and oxidative stress in nonalcoholic fatty liver are alleviated by betaine supplementation in ratsDo Y Kwon
College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, San 56 1 Shinrim Dong, Kwanak Ku, Seoul 151 742, Korea
J Nutr 139:63-8. 2009..An additional group of rats received the HF diet supplemented with betaine (1%)...
- Metabolic engineering for betaine accumulation in microbes and plantsRungaroon Waditee
Research Institute of Meijo University, Tenpaku ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
J Biol Chem 282:34185-93. 2007Plants accumulate a variety of osmoprotectants that improve their ability to combat abiotic stresses. Among them, betaine appears to play an important role in conferring resistance to stresses...
- Betaine (trimethylglycine) as a nutritional agent prevents oxidative stress after chronic ethanol consumption in pancreatic tissue of ratsGungor Kanbak
Eskisehir Osmangazi University, The Medical School, Department of Biochemistry Eskişehir, Turkey
Int J Vitam Nutr Res 79:79-86. 2009..cytotoxic effects of chronic ethanol consumption on the pancreatic tissue and a possible cytoprotective effect of betaine as a methyl donor and an important participant in the methionine cycle...
- [Effects of salinity and betaine on BHMT mRNA expression in Lateolabrax japonicus]Yun Xia Qian
Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Dongwuxue Yanjiu 32:277-84. 2011b>Betaine homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT, EC 22.214.171.124) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from betaine to homocysteines (Hcy) to form dimethylglycine and Met, respectively...
- Characterization of osmolyte betaine synthesizing sarcosine dimethylglycine N-methyltransferase from Methanohalophilus portucalensisShih Ya Chen
Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC
Arch Microbiol 191:735-43. 2009..overcome the extracellular salt stress, Methanohalophilus portucalensis FDF1(T) synthesizes the compatible solute betaine through the methylation of glycine, sarcosine, and N,N-dimethylglycine...
- Betaine removal during thermo- and mesophilic aerobic batch biodegradation of beet molasses vinasse: influence of temperature and pH on the progress and efficiency of the processEdmund Cibis
Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Wrocław University of Economics, Komandorska 118 120, 53 345 Wrocław, Poland
J Environ Manage 92:1733-9. 2011..a high extent of biodegradation of beet molasses vinasse is to establish the conditions for the assimilation of betaine, which is the main pollutant in this high-strength industrial effluent...
- Combined effect of betaine and trehalose on osmotic tolerance of Escherichia coli in mineral salts mediumE N Miller
Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Biotechnol Lett 29:213-7. 2007In mineral salts medium, supplementing with betaine in combination with increased production of endogenous osmoprotectant from a second copy of the trehalose biosynthetic genes (otsBA) improved growth of E...
- Interactions of the osmolyte glycine betaine with molecular surfaces in water: thermodynamics, structural interpretation, and prediction of m-valuesMichael W Capp
Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
Biochemistry 48:10372-9. 2009..area (ASA) analysis are developed to quantify and interpret the interactions of the remarkable osmolyte glycine betaine (GB) with molecular surfaces in water...
- S-adenosyl-methionine and betaine improve early virological response in chronic hepatitis C patients with previous nonresponseMagdalena Filipowicz
Hepatology Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
PLoS ONE 5:e15492. 2010..S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) and betaine potentiate IFNα signaling in cultured cells that express hepatitis C virus (HCV) proteins, and enhance the ..
Research Grants76
- Homocysteine, Adiponectin, and Alcoholic Liver DiseaseZhenyuan Song; Fiscal Year: 2009..intervention, specifically these being able to rectify abnormal methionine/homocysteine metabolism such as betaine and S-adenosylmethionine, have been well-accepted; thus, our approach is designed to not only more completely ..
- Homocysteine, Adiponectin, and Alcoholic Liver DiseaseZhenyuan Song; Fiscal Year: 2010..intervention, specifically these being able to rectify abnormal methionine/homocysteine metabolism such as betaine and S-adenosylmethionine, have been well-accepted;thus, our approach is designed to not only more completely ..
- MOLECULAR BASIS AND ENZYMOLOGY OF MICROBIAL BIOSYNTHESISF Tabita; Fiscal Year: 1999....
- DEVELOPING SOLUTES AS STRUCTURAL/MECHANISTIC PROBES OF PROTEIN-DNA INTERACTIONSM Thomas Record; Fiscal Year: 2011..Insight into the roles of E. coli osmolytes (e.g. Kglutamate, glycine betaine) in the biophysics of regulation of cytoplasmic volume and biopolymer volume fraction in response to osmotic ..
- DEVELOPING SOLUTES AS STRUCTURAL/MECHANISTIC PROBES OF PROTEIN-DNA INTERACTIONSM Thomas Record; Fiscal Year: 2010..Insight into the roles of E. coli osmolytes (e.g. Kglutamate, glycine betaine) in the biophysics of regulation of cytoplasmic volume and biopolymer volume fraction in response to osmotic ..
- Epidemiologic Study of Placental AbruptionCande Ananth; Fiscal Year: 2006..methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR), methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) 66A yields G polymorphism, betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) mutation and hyperhomocysteinemia...
- OSMOLYTE PROTECTION OF PROTEINS AGAINST INACTIVATIONDAVID BOLEN; Fiscal Year: 2001..compatible osmolytes sorbitol and inositol, and the counteracting osmolytes glycerolphosphoryl choline (GCP) and betaine. We will use transfer free energy measurements of amino acid side chains and the peptide backbone from water to ..
- Rare disease CRC for new therapies and new diagnosticsArthur Beaudet; Fiscal Year: 2006..with AS according to genotype, to complete the ongoing double-blind, placebo controlled trial of folic acid and betaine in AS, and to develop a follow-on clinical trial for activation of the paternal allele for UBE3A in AS patients...
- ENZYMES IN THE CRYSTALLINE STATEJanet Smith; Fiscal Year: 2007..enzymes to be studied, B12-dependent methionine synthase (MetH), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT), are key catalysts in the metabolism of one-carbon units and control the ..
- ENZYMES IN THE CRYSTALLINE STATEMartha Ludwig; Fiscal Year: 2005..enzymes to be studied, B12-dependent methionine synthase (MetH), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT), are key catalysts in the metabolism of one-carbon units and control the ..
- GENETIC RISK FACTORS FOR HYPERHOMOCYSTEINEMIAROY GRAVEL; Fiscal Year: 2000..The second is betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT)...
- Genetics of Prader-Willi/Angelman syndromeArthur Beaudet; Fiscal Year: 2007..effect of various drugs on human cultured fibroblasts and in mice, and an ongoing clinical trial of folate and betaine will be modified based on these results...
- THERMODYNAMIC AND NMR STUDIES ON THE E COLI CYTOPLASMM Record; Fiscal Year: 1993..g. glycine betaine, proline) in the growth medium...
- Dietary affects upon genomic methylation in Trout cancerJoseph Brunelli; Fiscal Year: 2005..influenced by dietary regimens which manipulate the availability of (folate, methionine, choline, vitamins B12, betaine and zinc)...
- RENAL CELL SOLUTE REGULATIONSteven Gullans; Fiscal Year: 1993..In renal epithelial cells four major osmolytes exist, glycerophosphorylocholine (GPC), betaine, myo-inositol, and sorbitol...
- Targeting By mLin-7 Binding Partners In Renal EpitheliaBenjamin Margolis; Fiscal Year: 2004..The PDZ domain of mammalian Lin-7 can bind to the carboxy-terminal tail of the betaine gamma amino butyric acid transporter-i (BGT-l) and may have an important role in the retention of BGT-1 at the ..
- Hepatic Steatosis and the Lipid MetabolomeGHULAM A S ANSARI; Fiscal Year: 2010..aim 1), a situation exacerbated by alcohol consumption (aim 2), and which can be reversed by dietary supplement (betaine) (aim 3)...
- Hepatic Steatosis and the Lipid MetabolomeGHULAM ANSARI; Fiscal Year: 2007..aim 1), a situation exacerbated by alcohol consumption (aim 2), and which can be reversed by dietary supplement (betaine) (aim 3)...
- Clinical Trials in Rett Syndrome ConferenceWalter Kaufmann; Fiscal Year: 2005..Of the small number of reported clinical trials in Rett syndrome (RTT), only an ongoing study of folate and betaine takes advantage of this new genetic information. Consequently, the proposed workshop is quite timely...
- Dietary Supplements, Imprint Gene Expression and CancerRandy Jirtle; Fiscal Year: 2006..We have demonstrated that dietary methyl donor supplementation with extra folic acid, vitamin B12, choline and betaine during early development of viable yellow agouti (A {vy}) mice alters coat color by increasing CpG methylation at ..


text:
By DON DARE 6 On Your Side Consumer Investigator
MARYVILLE (WATE) - A disabled woman from Maryville says it is unfair that she had her driver's license revoked. The college student has broken no traffic laws, but her license was taken away just weeks after passing her test due to problems associated with her disability. Brittany Bowman, 18, a freshman at Maryville College, is disabled with a congenital disorder, arthrogryposis. It's a rare condition characterized by stiff joints and abnormally developed muscles. In early March, she bought a car after passing her driver's test a few weeks earlier. As a self-motivated, independent person, Brittany is determined to do things without much help, whether it's getting into her car or driving.
But she's disappointed that her drivers license has been suspended after doing nothing wrong. "I get a letter telling me I have to do a driver's evaluation," she told 6 On Your Side recently. "Before the medical committee will consider me keeping my license."
Brittany would have to pay $350, despite having no trouble driving whatsoever.
Pam Hill helped teach her granddaughter to drive. "As far as the steering wheel, she can turn it. She's very careful," Hill said.With questions about her disability, the Department of Safety vehicles required Brittany to have her doctor fill out a driver evaluation order.
The doctor writes that Brittany may have, "trouble turning quickly."Brittany was eager to show us how well she can steer the car. Before she gets her license back, a certified driving specialist will have to determine her driving skills. But doesn't understand why she really has to do that. "Like I proved to the guy at the DMV that I can do everything, yet I still have to get all of this done," she said. "I think it's unfair."
"There's an evaluation period depending on their skill level," said Patrick Bowen with Superior Van and Mobility.Bowen showed us special adaptive devices that are designed so the disabled can drive vehicles safely. "All that is determined by the evaluator, to make certain the individual is safe for themselves, but everyone else on the road," he said.The other day, Brittany successfully completed her evaluation test in Chattanooga at Siskin Hospital."He's not going to require me to have anything on my vehicle, but it would be good for me to look into it," Brittany said.
There are devices like the V grip, the ball grip, the tri-pin grip that help drivers adapt to steering.Based on some of the latest equipment, Brittany believes it will be to her advantage to invest in one or two of them. Like any other motorist, she wants to drive as safely as possible.
It is often seniors or those with debilitating conditions who have to undergo a special driver's evaluation exam.
For Brittany, it was the original examination officer who believed a doctor's evaluation was first necessary to determine if she could drive safely.
The state tells 6 On Your Side these evaluations are necessary, not only for the protection and safety of the driver, but for others on the road as well.
Don Dare's 6 On Your Side reports can be seen every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on 6 News at 6:00.
If you have a consumer issue, call the 6 On Your Side Hotline at 865-633-5974 or email email@example.com.
1306 N. Broadway NE Knoxville, Tennessee 37917
Telephone: 865.637.NEWS(6397)
Fax: 865.525.4091
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning a disorder of brain development, which is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that around 1 in 88 American children is on the Autism spectrum. That number continues to change as detection methods improve and as communities, such as ours, find increasing importance in detecting ASD at an early age.
The University Center for the Child and Family (UCCF) has ASD assessment and treatment programs for individuals ages 1–25 on the Autism spectrum, including the ADI-R, Vineland-II, and ADOS-2 assessments. Please visit our ASD Testing and Evaluations page for more information on these tests, and our ASD Treatment Options page for details on the therapy we offer for clients with ASD.
Symptoms of ASD
The signs of Autism can be seen in children as young as one year, and recognizing these signs can have great implications for the future of that child. First signs of Autism are usually seen around 12–18 months of age, and can include some of the following signs from the lack of expression facially or verbally
Lack of exchange or interaction with a caretaker
Very slow or nonexistent language development
Loss of language or social skills
The first signs of Autism are typically seen when a child does not reach a milestone in development. The CDC provides parents with a milestone resource to read about what developmental milestones are associated with different ages. If you notice that your child is not reaching these milestones, it is time to take action for his or her mental health by calling for an assessment.
Let us at UCCF bring you and your loved one clarity and an environment in which to thrive by setting up an appointment for an assessment or treatment for your child with ASD.
For additional information Autism Speaks website


text:
Town of Tonawanda and Erie County tax bills have been mailed
BY: Metro Source Staff | January 16, 2013
TONAWANDA - The Town of Tonawanda and Erie County tax bill were mailed out on or before Jan. 15, according to Town Clerk Marguerite Greco, and town property owners can submit payments now.
"We have in place, multiple payment options to aid taxpayers in fulfilling their town and county responsibilities by the Friday, February 15 deadline," stated Greco.
Tax payments by check or money order can be mailed to the town clerk's office, 2919 Delaware Ave., Rm. 14 Municipal Building, Kenmore, N.Y. 14217-2308. To pay in person, the office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and for added convenience, on Feb. 15 the office will be open until 8 p.m.
Additionally, a drop-box is located on the Delaware Road side of the municipal building, by the handicap entrance (near the rear of the building). You may use this to pay your taxes any time day or night, including weekends.
If tax payments are being made on-line, through your bank, payments must be received at least 10 days prior to due date. These checks are not electronically deposited to the tax office account.
Residents wishing to pay by credit card can visit the town's website, www.tonawanda.ny.us and click "Pay Taxes On-Line." Transaction terms and conditions apply. Credit payments may be made using MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, check debit card, electronic check or ACH transfer. All transactions are subject to third party service fees; $2.50 for payments $1to $100 or 2.5 percent for payments higher than $100. Online payments post immediately to the town tax system. The deadline for online payments is 11:58 p.m., Friday, Feb. 15. Payments made after the deadline will be subject to late fees and penalties. Credit card payments can also be made over the phone by calling the town clerk's office, during business hours at 877-8800, ext. 810.
The last day to pay your 2013 tax bill, without penalty, is Friday, Feb. 15. Any payment received in person or postmarked (U.S. Post Office only) after that day will be assessed penalties and interest as set forth on the back of your tax bill. The date of payment cannot be determined by the date of the check or the date the funds are with-drawn from your account.
For more information about paying taxes, go to www.tonawanda.ny.us/townclerk.
Be the first to Comment


text:
- Mobile site
- E-Newsletters
- News feed
- Find us on Twitter
Daily Echo on Twitter
Saints News on Twitter
Leisure news on Twitter
- Find us on Facebook
Echo on Facebook
Man charged over park rape (From Daily Echo)
When news happens, text SDE and your photos or videos to 80360. Or contact us by email and phone.
Crime RSS Feed
Man charged over rape in park on New Year's Day
10:16am Wednesday 8th January 2014 in Crime
DETECTIVES have charged a man with the rape of a woman in a Southampton park.
Officers were given more time to interview Stuart Ashley-Burton, of no fixed address, who was arrested on Monday.
A 32-year-old woman said she was attacked as she made her way home from celebrating the new year with friends.
It was alleged the attack took place in a park in the Northam area of the city in the early hours of New Year's Day.
Mr Ashley-Burton will appear today at Southampton Magistrates' Court facing a charge of rape.


text:
My reference to Kansas is to say, the normal orientation of basketball positions, I believe, has dramatically changed.
Over the off-season I wrote an article / post that discussed the need to look at the positions of a basketball team in a new light. I teneted that there are crashers, slashers, passers, and stretchers. I think I'd like to review this topic in light of the current Pistons roster and the need to create the right mix to get on track.
Let's start out with a quick review of what I mean by each of the terms:
Crashers - they pound the boards, i.e. they rebound, put back the ball off of offensive rebounds, and are low post players pure and simple. Of course, a player can also develop mid-range shooting abilities, but their real contributions are made close to the basket.
Slashers - they penetrate. These players drive to the basket, and typically draw fouls. They are quick, powerful, and stir things up to create opportunities as the defense collapses on them as they go to the basket.
Passers - these players are pass first, shoot later types. The best of the best have a great understanding of the angles, the timing, and the various methods to get the ball into the hands of their teammates. It may be simplistic to categorize any player as strictly a passer, but they are a field general first and foremost and whatever talents they possess - long range shooting or thrashing really is only a way to aide in their ability to pass more effectively.
Stretchers - I may have also called these players long range shooters, or long guns. They are the players that can widen the court and draw defenders away from the basket. The right player can stretch the court to make thrashers and crashers much more effective.I may have also called these players wings, but I would like to rename wings as another specialist - flyers.
Flyers - these players are players that love to run. The transition game is their bread and butter. They bring energy, a fast pace to the game, and seem to be their best on moving the ball after a defensive rebound or steal.
Here are 5 descriptions of different styles of play. I think that rather than small forwards or power forwards, or point guards and shooting guards, or simply a center, we should look for these attributes and consider combinations of players that create unique strengths or in some instances counter-measures to when an opponent is getting an upper-hand.
Who would I class on the Pistons as these types? Let's review:
Crashers - Do we have 2, 3 or 4? Maxiell is definitely one. Drummond too. Is Kravtsov; I' haven't really seen enough of him to know. Would you consider Monroe one? Monroe may be, or he may also be a thrasher given his ability to move with the ball.
Slashers - I think we may have 5 or 6 of these: Stuckey, Maggette, and Monroe are the players that I think qualify for sure as this type of player. Knight may be developing into this type, Singler too. Middleton I am hoping is this type of player. In my opinion Crashers and Thrashers are the most valuable of players, but I'll readily admit a team needs players that provide an option in all of the roles.
Passers - We don't really have a true top notch passer. We have several players that are decent passers however. Perhaps the most important of which is Monroe. Knight, Stuckey, Bynum, Singler, and Prince are others I'd consider our best passers, but obviously they are not elite in this regard.
Stretchers - We've been told we have several, but whether they are really elite stretchers is questionable. English, Daye, and Villanueva. Singler and Knight might qualify as well. Obviously they cannot be considered elite at this time.
Flyers - Jerebko, Singler, Knight, and perhaps Middleton and English are this type of player. Perhaps Drummond has this unique ability as well. If Kravtsov were this type of player too, this would make him a strong candidate in my book to play much more.
Combinations and substitutions should be predicated on how well players are performing in these roles. Defensively the match ups to the other team's strengths is a key that the coach has to read and consider in he creates his combinations. Yet, the way the team can attack the basket and move the ball is central to my formulation.
Starters, based on my preliminary analysis, should be:
Knight, Singler, Jerebko, Monroe, Drummond - two crashers, three slashers, four possible flyers, and this combination also provides some stretch and passing.
Second unit:
Stuckey, Maggette, Prince, Maxiell, Kravtsov - two crashers, two slashers, a passer, but limited or non-existent stretch, or fly player orientations. It might prove interesting to mix Middleton, Daye or English into this mix at times if they can demonstrate these qualities at a relatively high level.
Somewhere at the end of the bench:
Bynum and Villanueva would be at the end of my bench. I still tend to like the energy Bynum brings so I wouldn't be too reluctant to interject him into the second unit from time to time, but I think the primary unit offers the most upside.
Elite skills as a Stretcher and, or Passer are missing.


text:
No results found
Please try another search.
Please try another search.
Mobile Phone round-ups
Sign up for the
email newsletter
Samsung teases improved handwriting recognition for Galaxy Note 4
Apple's Chinese network partner may have 'confirmed' the iPhone 6
Samsung subverts Ice Bucket Challenge into iPhone-bating ad
Sony rules out KitKat upgrade on three Xperia smartphones
iPhone 6 dimensions revealed by latest leak
Samsung Galaxy Alpha release date confirmed for September 12
Sony Xperia Z3 release date, rumours, news, specs and price
LG G3 owners complain of cracking issues
Moto X+1 stars in leaked press shots
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 leak promises next-level camera tech
About us


text:
Who will make Eminem or Slim Shady???
Also i wanted to see DWade)))
Oct 27, 2011 -- 3:15AM, Killuminati91 wrote:Tupac Shakur (Hit em up Set Clothes), pretty close imo.www.saintsrow.com/community/characters/d...
Tupac Shakur (Hit em up Set Clothes), pretty close imo.
Pretty good. But will never be able to pull what SR2 could :(I didn't create this btw, but it was just too amazing to NOT save. Don't remember the creator. It was in some huge 100pg SR2 thread
I took a stab at Sylvester Stalone, looks a lot better on Steam, I'll take some closeup screenshots when I get off work so you can get a better look at his face.
My profile if you care to add or like them.
Marv (Sin City)
A close up shows his face filled with scars (actually just age marks, but i thought it fitted quite well). Also tried to reassemble his iconic nose. He's also got a backpack on his back, ready to take on Cardinal Roark.
Zach Galifianakis (on Tim and Eric)
With his awesome queen bee-hairstyle. Too bad you cant make it larger but still quite happy with it.
Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (The Big Lebowski)
My role-model and spiritual guide. The only thing I'm not very happy with is the hair, but there was a lack of alternatives so I picked the closest match. And everyone looks so muscular... But I'll abide for now! White Russians coming up!
Link to my page: www.saintsrow.com/profile/Cannabud
Posted these in another thread, but here's James Marsters as Spike and David Boreanaz as Angel and Seeley Booth.
I love seeing Marv! Well done, Cannabud!
My meager contribution so far is Ron Perlman as Clay Morrow. I didn't like the hair so I just covered it with a stocking cap.
the link: www.saintsrow.com/community/characters/details/126189308842622509
my profile: saintsrow.com/profile/binary1313
Just made Keanu Reeves as Neo and "sad keanu", not sure how bang on it is but you definately recognise him
thumbs up if you like them!
I also just threw together a quick version of the twins from the Matrix movies.
I will be geting my hands on this! check out my youtube channel. "marcusgarlick"
Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) from Fringe.


text:
The recent spate of suicides that began in Karnataka in south India, part of a serial death dance that continues to enacted in the provinces of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab and Haryana, has failed to stir the nation. In the years to come, more and more farmers will take the only route available to escape the pangs of hunger following mounting indebtedness resulting from a shift towards commercial agriculture and liberalised import regime.
Such is the growing indifference and hypocrisy that except for the routine formation of legislative committees, and by writing-off the outstanding loans, even the death of thousands of resource-poor farmers has not shaken up an ungrateful nation. Denials from the government notwithstanding, thousands of farmers have committed suicide since 1987 in the States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and even in the frontline agricultural State of Punjab. Over the years, an unbridled growth in hunger and poverty has bred immunity against human compassion. Suicide deaths, therefore, have failed to evoke any strong reaction.
At a time when all national political parties are battling for survival, and with the political stalwarts engaged in protecting their own position of influence, the suicide epidemic has failed to snowball into a major politico-economic issue. The death of hundreds of farmers has, therefore, gone in vain. And in the bargain, what appears to be the greatest tragedy since the days of the green revolution continues to remain buried beneath official apathy.
A majority of the cotton farmers who died in Andhra Pradesh alone have left behind a family of five and an unpaid debt averaging Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000. Except in Punjab and Haryana, where the level of indebtedness is a little higher at Rs 1,20,000 or so, farmers in other parts of the country too have had outstanding dues not exceeding Rs 80,000 on an average. That no employee of the government or the private sector will ever consider ending his/her life at such a "meagre" level of indebtedness, is a pointer towards the stark realities that exists in the countryside.
The unpaid debt that has been left behind by the unlucky farmers has actually accumulated over the years. Initially, all they may have required by way of farm credit may not have been more than a few thousand rupees. But the Indian
banking system does not recognise such low levels of micro-credit. As a result,
farmers are left with no choice but to seek the mercy of money lenders. And even if the banks were to extend credit to farmers through the cooperatives, defaulting at times of crop failure is no valid excuse.
Significantly, those who ended their lives by drinking pesticides knew that death was the only way to escape the humiliation that comes with being a defaulter. Expecting the government to posthumously write-off the outstanding dues against their names, they knew that such an extreme sacrifice will come as breadth of fresh air for their dependents. And that is the difference between human lives in South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, the death of 500 protesters over a few days of demonstrations brought down the most autocratic of the regimes in the region. In India, the death of several times the number of farmers has not even resulted in the customary transfer of the concerned bureaucrats and officials.
Crop failure resulting from the resurgence of a dreaded crop pest, is certainly no provocation for an extreme step to commit suicide. And yet, hundreds of farmers have sacrificed their lives unable to reap the benefits accruing from increasing commercialisation of Indian farming. And behind the mounting death toll hangs the sordid tale of perhaps what could be classified as India's biggest scam.
Feeding the farmers: Fifty-five years after the Indian farmers pulled out the perpetually hungry millions from the clutches of 'ship-to-mouth' existence, it is now their own turn to be fed. To stave off starvation among the farming community, the Tamil Nadu government in south India, launched in January a free mid-day meal programme for the small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and their families.
The tragic and shocking reversal of the role – feeding the farmers who have been feeding the country all these years – is the result of the culmination of national policies that have neglected agriculture and farming in the wake of globalisation and economic liberalization. Tamil Nadu's courageous decision to provide free noon meal to farmers and their families will soon trigger a domino effect, with many more States announcing similar programmes for farmers in distress.
For a country, which has 600 million farmers and another 200 million agricultural workers, the cost of faulty economic liberalization has just begun to show. Withdrawing the State support to agriculture and farming, and increasingly leaving farmers at the mercy of the monsoon and the markets, the national policies were in reality being drawn to shift the national resources for the benefit of only the business and industrial houses. Successive governments, since the noted economist Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister made the blunder of buttressing industry at the cost of farming in 1991, have only exacerbated the crisis by moving the scarce resources to bolster the industry. While agriculture continued to be neglected, industry continued to receive tax-holidays, cheaper credit, highly subsidized land, and excise duty relief.
An ungrateful nation ignored agriculture. In fact, some pro-liberalisation economists led the assault on farming saying that it is not the poor farmers who needed adequate infrastructure, cheap credit, an assured market, and a remunerative price but the small percentage of rich industrialists, business and trade that needed to be showered with the State exchequer. The result is that while the non-performing assets of the nationalized banks in India grew to Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 10,00,000 million) – you cannot call it bank fraud, as it has been performed by the rich — with many individual industrialists defaulting the banks to the tune of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5000 million), the recovery of outstanding dues from small and marginal farmers continued to be in the range of 85 per cent. "Tough love", isn't it? Tough for the poor and hungry, and love for the rich and the elite!
Agriculture credit became a low priority, with some committees suggesting withdrawl of credit support to farmers. Credit for housing and buying a car is available at 9 to 11 per cent rate of interest while the crop loans to farmers fetch a hefty interest of 17 per cent. In reality, farmers were worse-off with almost 60 per cent of them depending upon the private moneylenders. The more the poverty levels, the more the rate of interest. In the infamous Kalahandi belt of Orissa, better known for hunger and starvation, I know of farmers who receive loans from private money-lenders at a stupendous interest rate of 460 per cent. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, the rate of interest varies from 160 per cent to 250 per cent and in Jharkand, tribals in Palamau district pay back at a phenomenal interest rate of 130 percent.
Farmers defaulting the banks and private moneylenders (with petty outstanding dues) were hauled up and put behind the bars. Thousands of the farmers in distress preferred to commit suicide rather than to be faced with humiliation that comes along with indebtedness. On the other hand, the industrialists who defrauded the banks adorn the government committees and even head the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Erring farmers are put behind bars, following a draconian law that was enacted during the days of the British Raj. Between 1904 and 1912, the British had framed Public Demand Recovery Act, under which farmers could be jailed for defaulting the State for a paltry sum. So much so that even the jail expenses were to be borne by the farmers. Former Agriculture Minister, Nitish Kumar, had asked the State governments (since agriculture is a State subject) to repeal the obsolete law but such is the callous apathy that none of the State governments even cared to respond to the letter. This was in 1991. Since then, thousand of farmers have been sent to jail for their inability to pay back small loans.
Knowing well that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is aimed at destroying the foundations of food self-sufficiency so assiduously built over the past three decades, the government merrily goes about dismantling the planks of food security and in the process driving millions of farmers from their meager land holdings to head for the urban centers looking for menial jobs. Agriculture instead is being assigned to the corporate and business houses. Government has no money to buy foodgrains from farmers, it's fiscal deficit grows when farmers demand an increase of Rs 10 in procurement price (hike of Rs 10 means a burden of Rs 100 crore – Rs 1000 million), but doesn't even flinch an eyelid while allocating Rs 140,000 crore ( Rs 14,00,000 million) for the agri-business industry for the next ten years.
The attack on the Indian peasantry is not only from the WTO but also from the genetic engineering industry, both of which work in close tandem. The entire scientific community (including the Indian Council of Agricultural Research) and the bureaucracy at the national and the State levels is being lined up to pave a way for the smooth entry of the genetically modified crops. Very conveniently diverting the national attention from the more pressing crisis afflicting the farming sector, agricultural scientists have joined the orchestrated campaign to bring in the GM crops keeping the country's growing food need in the year 2030. On the other hand, there has not been a single effort by the nations' agricultural research community to address the shameful crisis that continues to plague the countryside.
If only the effort that is being made to bring in the GM crops was directed to distribute the mountains of surplus foodgrains (exceeding 38 million tonnes at present) that rot in the open, a majority of the 320 million hungry people in India could have been adequately fed. If only the wasteful expenditure of Rs 100-300 crore (Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 million) that goes into developing one GM crop, which has little or no advantage for farmers but is aimed at bringing more profits for the companies, had been utilized for helping out the farming communities, the country could have laid a strong foundations for an 'evergreen revolution'.
Tamil Nadu's decision to throw open the free meal centers, which provides lunch to 7.5 million school children, to farmers as well from the auspicious day of 'pongal' on January 15, is a loud and clear 'wake-up' call. Corporatisation of agriculture, privatization of water, and pushing farmers to face the vagaries of the market, is all aimed at driving out farmers from farming. Ironically, the world's biggest private enterprise, considering that every fourth farmer is an Indian, is under a threat from privatization. Economic liberalization therefore is aimed at destroying the very foundations of the farming systems thereby paving the way for a corporate takeover of Indian agriculture.
But before we go any further, let us first take a look at the great saga of green revolution -what made this country emerge from the clutches of hunger and starvation.
Towards food self-sufficiency: Former Agriculture Minister, the late Mr C.Subramaniam sat huddled with his senior staff. There was tension in the air. Depending upon imported foodgrains coming from 12,000 miles away, and particularly when it came in driblets following US President Lyndon Johnson's directive to "teach India a lesson", was already humiliating enough. What worried Subramaniam was that the food stocks had reached such a precarious low that it was only sufficient to last for another two weeks and still worse, there was nothing in transit. "As a last resort, I told my officials and experts to identify the nearest food carrying ships on the ocean throughout the world. I said we would identify the nearest ships carrying wheat to other countries and appeal to the US President to divert it to India if other countries could wait for another six to eight weeks," he had told this writer.
This was in 1966-67, the critical year of drought when India imported 11 million tonnes of foodgrains. A year earlier, India had imported 10 million tonnes of foodgrains. It was almost at this time the Paddock brothers, often referred to as 'prophets of doom', concluded in their book Famine 1975 that by the mid-seventies at least half of India would be led to a slaughterhouse. Before 1947, Indian history was replete with famines, drought and food shortages. Between 1770 and 1880, as many as 27 food scarcities and famines were recorded. At least 20 million lives were lost in India in about 20 famines that struck since 1850.
Ever since the days of green revolution in the early 1970s, India has done remarkably well to keep the famines and acute starvations at bay. The seeds of Green Revolution were truly sown in the mid-60s. What followed next is already part of the contemporary history. India not only became 'self-sufficient' in food grains but also became a net exporter.
The famine-avoidance strategy that India launched had all the necessary ingredients that make for a sustained effort. In 1965, Agricultural Prices Commission was constituted with the basic objective of assuring fair prices for farm produce. The Commission, an autonomous body, works out the cost of cultivation for 22 agricultural commodities, and suggests a price to the Government that includes profit that should serve as an incentive to grow more. The administered price of wheat, for instance, was raised by 71 per cent between 1972 and 1981. Similarly, the price of rice was jacked up by 81 per cent during the same period.
Later to sustain the tempo of the rice revolution, the relative price structure was moved in its favour. In the early phase of Green Revolution, the price policy favoured wheat, but after the mid-seventies it was tilted in favour of rice. And for oilseeds and pulses, the reverse was put into action. Relatively high support prices were announced in the early 90s to make their cultivation profitable.
The biggest achievement of the Indian food policy, dependent more and more on buffer stocking and operational stock holding, has been the avoidance of famine-like conditions. It was with the basic objective of curbing consumption and ensuring an equitable distribution of available food supplies, especially in the deficit areas and among the poorer strata of society, that the Public Distribution System (PDS) was introduced. PDS supplies were also used for the 'food for work' programme as well as other anti-poverty programmes. At present, PDS covers more than 80 million families and the total foodgrains distributed through a network of 40,000 fair price shops accounts for over one-third of the total trade in foodgrains.
Dismantling food security: The restructuring of the Indian economy has shifted the focus to agri-exports. Cultivation of staple food is being replaced by cash crops, tomatoes in place of wheat, durum wheat (for bakery purposes) replaces wheat as a staple diet in Punjab and Haryana, flowers in place of rice, and so on. In the coastal areas, private enterprise is taking away the fish catch depriving the local communities of a livelihood and the only nutrition source. In Kerala, vast tracts of forests and paddy fields have been converted into rubber, coffee and coconut plantations. Every year, about 25,000 hectare of good paddy land is being diverted for non-paddy purposes.
The structural transformation is not only peculiar to Kerala alone. It is happening in almost all the states. Commercial crops is eating into the fertile land tracts meant for growing essential foodgrains, thereby making the states rely more heavily on the PDS. The diversion of good agricultural land, which in any case is limited, to commercial farming and even industries, is further restricting the ability to grow enough foodgrains.
The other strategy to destroy the strong foundations of food self-sufficiency is to withdraw from announcing procurement prices for agricultural commodities. The government then is under no obligation to purchase the surplus that flows into the mandis. Farmers would thus be left at the mercy of the trade and the market forces, and if the past experience is any indication it simply means rendering the farming community vulnerable to exploitation thereby threatening the country's food self-sufficiency, so assiduously built over the past three decades. Millions of farmers will then abandon agriculture and move to the urban centers in search of menial jobs.
Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee's call sometimes back to the State government's to adopt the system of decentralisation of procurement of foodgrains and distribution was also designed with the underlying objective of dismantling the major plank of the country's food security system. Addressing the State chief ministers' at a conference in New Delhi on 'WTO Agreement on Agriculture and Food Management' in early 2002, Vajpayee was actually seeking political support, by exhorting the chief ministers to rise above party politics, for a "consensus action plan on some crucial imperatives."
Stating that WTO and food management issues were central to the country's agriculture and the national economy, the Prime Minister had spelled out an agenda for action, which in reality is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. "As a first step, we propose to restructure the Food Corporation of India (FCI). This year's Budget has unveiled a new system of decentralised, State-level procurement and distribution. Instead of providing subsidised foodgrains from the Central pool, financial assistance will be provided to the State governments to enable them to procure and distribute foodgrains to below poverty line families at subsidised rates."
What the Prime Minister did not specify was that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) makes it imperative for countries like India to knock down the procurement machinery. Accordingly, grains for the food buffer have to be purchased at the market price and the releases from the buffer (read FCI) have also to be at the market prices, except for those living below the poverty line. In the past two years, the government has tried to "restructure" the public distribution system as per the WTO norms by removing the "above the poverty line" (APL) families from being a recipient of the subsidised rations.
For the ruling coalition, the next stage in the process of dismantling the food procurement system is to "decentralise" it. The chief ministers rejected the proposal on grounds that they neither had the required financial resources nor infrastructure to procure, store and distribute foodgrains on their own. Punjab's former chief minister, Prakash Singh Badal had argued strongly in favour of continuing the present system of procurement. Terming the decentralisation move as "impracticable and inadvisable", he had warned against any change in the existing policy. "Rather, the government should play a more proactive marketing role in favour of farmers."
Surprisingly, Mr Badal's views found strong support from the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who termed the decentralisation move as being "flawed". Mr Naidu felt that the emphasis should be more on increasing FCI's efficiency rather on decentralising procurement and distribution operations. Joining them were the chief ministers of Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal. The chief ministers also viewed the WTO regime as a threat to the country's agriculture even as the Prime Minister attempted to allay their fears over the issue.
What prompted the chief ministers to torpedo Prime Minister's proposal was not only sensible economics but was also a fall-out of the political ground realities. Unlike the Prime Minister, who always tries to shift the blame for any faulty decision on his coalition members, the chief ministers do not have that escape route. Moreover, and obviously more importantly, chief ministers are aware of the rising dissent against the pro-WTO policies of the Central government. For the chief ministers, accepting a disastrous policy of decentralising the food procurement systems, would be like committing a political Harakiri.
Food procurement operations, linked to the announcement of assured prices for agricultural commodities, were the two planks of the 'famine-avoidance' strategy that India had adopted in the wake of the green revolution. Whether the economists like it or not, the fact remains that a combination of these policies helped India to emerge from the dark days of 'ship-to-mouth' existence. And why does the IMF, the World Bank and WTO oppose it? The answer is simple. India's massive food procurement operations are coming in the way of the expansion of the food trade that the United States and the European Union are looking for. And if the US doesn't find an assured food market in a country as huge as India, with one sixth of the world's population, the chances are that its own agriculture will collapse under the artificial weight of its own federal subsidies.
Produce and perish: At the height of the paddy harvesting season in September 2000, hundreds of thousands of farmers in the frontline agricultural states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, in northwest India, had waited for over three weeks before the government agencies were forced to purchase the excess stocks. For three weeks, farmers sat patiently over heaps of paddy in the grain markets. At least a hundred farmers, unable to bear the economic burden that comes with crop cultivation, preferred to commit suicide by drinking pesticides. In Andhra Pradesh, in south India, there were no buyers for the five million tonnes paddy surplus. Even in the poverty-stricken belt of Bihar and Orissa, in north-central India, farmers waited endlessly for the buyers.
Farmer's suicides are perhaps a reflection on the breakdown of institutional safety nets, which in the past have cushioned the impact of agrarian crisis. The state government of Andhra Pradesh has publicly asked farmers not to produce more paddy. In Punjab, the citadel of the green revolution, farmers are being asked to shift from staple foods like wheat and paddy to cash crops. And yet, agriculture scientists want farmers to go on producing more foodgrains keeping the deficit projections for the year 2015 in mind. There appears to be something terribly wrong with the way the scientists, industry and the planners blindly support biotechnological breakthroughs in the name of feeding the world, whereas political masters in the developing world are actually asking farmers not to produce more.
What lies ahead is frightening. Committed to the WTO, the government has in reality begun to remove trade barriers much in advance. Take the case of edible oils, the government has reduced the custom duties further thereby opening up the country for massive imports. From a position of strength, India has in the past decade turned into a major importer of edible oils regardless of the impact such cheap imports have had on the livelihood security of millions of oilseed farmers. With the blue revolution already sucked dry by the aquaculture industry, the yellow revolution in oilseeds turning colourless, and the white revolution under attack from the private dairy industry and cheap imports, all eyes are now set on dismantling the gains of the much-acclaimed green revolution.
Consider the following situation: At the time of Independence in 1947, India had about five million farms. By the early 1980s, the number had risen to about 90 million, and the estimate is that there are now some 110 million farms in the country. Every fourth farmer in the world today is an Indian, and nearly half the country's land is being utilised for crop production. Already the population has crossed the one billion mark. At the same time, India also has 20 per cent of the world's animal population. Given the dismal nutrition standards, more than 320 million people, mostly women and children suffer from chronic hunger. And that too at a time when the grain silos are bursting at the seams.
The choice, therefore, is limited. The only viable path towards sustaining the natural resource base to satisfy the demands of the growing population for food and other agricultural commodities lies in enhancing the potential of domestic agriculture. A correct mix of policies, coupled with strategies that restore the shine in agriculture, is the answer to India's food crisis. It requires location-specific technologies and production packages that meet the aspiration of a majority of the farmers owning less than 2 hectares on an average.
Try to wipe out every tear from the farmer's eye, and they would do the rest. They have done it in the past, and they have the ability to feed the nation for future. #
(Devinder Sharma is a distinguished food and trade policy analyst. Among his latest work includes two books: GATT to WTO: Seeds of Despair and In the Famine Trap. Responses should be mailed at: [email protected] )


text:
July 28, 2009
"George Jackson was my hero. He set a standard for prisoners, political prisoners, for people. He showed the love, the strength, the revolutionary fervor that's characteristic of any soldier for the people. He inspired prisoners, whom I later encountered, to put his ideas into practice. And so his spirit became a living thing." – from the eulogy by Huey P. Newton, former Minister of Defense, Black Panther Party, at the Revolutionary Memorial Service for George Jackson, 1971
January 31, 2009
Grading and construction activities by the Florida-based megadeveloper Lennar enter a third year … with asbestos and particulate levels at air monitor HV9 – located adjacent to a residential complex – skyrocketing to over 296,000 structures per cubic meter Dec. 28-30.


text:
February 23, 2013
Scottsbluff Inland draws from a vast parts inventory covering everything from light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks to SUVs and 4x4s. On-the-truck service ranges from diagnostics to repairs.
An in-house gear shop and on-site reman facility guarantees quality control and quick turnaround. Established in 1944, Inland Truck Parts Company is an employee owned organization specializing in truck parts, remanufacturing and service. Inland offers parts and shop services at 27 locations in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
Full-service truck repair and maintenance, as well as Pro-Guardia Breakdown Prevention, is currently offered at 20 Inland Truck Parts & Service locations.
Dear Sir/MadamWe would like to support vehicle hornsPlease visit our website on http://www.horn.com.tw and our e-catalogue is on http://www.horn.com.tw/e-catalog.php if you are interested in our products.Manufacturer of truck air horns, including motor horns, crystal horns, moon light horns, beam horns, echo horns, car exceeding horns, etc. OEM & ODM are welcome.automotives ( automobiles, cars, vehicles, vehicles) parts- (1) truck horns, motor horns, moonlight horns, hand pull horns, beam horns, big convoy horns, echo horns, automatic air horn compressors, crystal horns, Yankee horns, car air horns. (2) air horn parts- horn switches, stainless steel horncovers, echo horn tanks, high pressure nylon air tubes, copper foots, aeration hoses, hand pull horn connectors.Please list the products you like where also would like to know the prices from through our website is a convenient way to know our prices from your lists if you are interested in our products.Company name: EVERPLUS CAR HORN CO.,LTD.e-mail: convoyjohnlu@ hotmail.comAddress: 16,lane 132,Yung Ping Rd.,sec.3,Taiping district,Taichung City,Taiwan.
We offer e-newsletters that deliver targeted news and information for the entire fleet industry.
The expert, Mark Betner from Citgo will answer your questions Ask a question
Wheel end expert Jeff Geist from STEMCO will answer your questions Ask a question
Fiery Crash Video Paints Portrait of Brave and Caring Truckers
The True Causes of Rubber on the Road
Freightliner's S2G Propane-Autogas-Powered Truck Chassis
Volvo Brings Trucking Web Series to America
Peterbilt Adds New Configuration for SmartAir System
Chicago Pneumatic Announces New Impact Wrench
Mitsubishi Announces Idle Limit System Option for Canter Trucks
Fleetmatics Adds HOS Logging to Reveal


text:
I don't think Henning has any excuses left. If Sparano and Ireland (I don't know who has the final say) do not fire him this week then I have lost all respect for them. I know this loss is not his fault but he consistently makes the worst possible calls in a game.
#3d string QB and you run the ball 6 times. The score was 6-0 at half time. Can't say we were playing catch up.
Shotgun I don't know if he was watching the game but all the snaps were at Thigpens feet. Not easy to handle those snaps while they are bull rushing up the middle.
I could list a dozen more but I'm going to let you participate. Lets hear your reasons why Henning should be packing up his desk. Mind you it's a long week so there isn't a better week than this one.


text:
Next Best Thing Form Guide
Change Team
Threat Level
|Overall team threat level:
|6 / 10
This season
Not currently active
League Titles
|Season ending 18th Sep 2011
|CANTERBURY (University SC) - Sun Division 2
|Season ending 8th Jan 2012
|CANTERBURY (University SC) - Sun Division 2
|Season ending 24th Jun 2012
|CANTERBURY (University SC) - Sun Championship
|Longest winning streak
|5 wins from 15-07-2012 to 12-08-2012
|Longest losing streak
|6 losses from 25-09-2011 to 30-10-2011
|Goals scored ever:
|Average goals per game:
|Goals conceded ever:
|Overall goal difference:
|Greatest thrashing ever given:
|vs Expected Toulouse 28-10-2012 (won 13-0)
|Greatest thrashing ever taken:
|vs The Motley Crew 16-06-2013 (lost 10-0)
|Most goals in single game:
|vs Expected Toulouse 28-10-2012 (won 13-0)
Change Team
Powersay is for teams looking for players and players looking for teams. Choose 'auto-match' to receive email updates when we find a match.
The Powerplay Hall of Fame is where we honour our leagues' greatest players. Nominate your team mates for inclusion now!
Powerplay TWEETS
Tweets by @powerplayleague


text:
You must earn 10,000 points to post other members' whiteboard
GREAT JOB!!!... CONGRATS 700+ Consecutive Days !! Your NEWEST GB...AL
Congratulations on posting for 700 consecutive days, also for earning 737K points, Wishing you success in all that you do. Lets be buddies also. Thanks Shep.
Congratulations on having the tenacity to post for 700 consecutive days! Best of luck on reaching your new goals!!! Warren :-)
Congratulations on 600 consecutive days posting. Very good start. May 2014 bring you and yours peace and joy. Lets be buddies Thanks. Shep
Congratulations on having the perseverance to post for 600 consecutive days! Good Luck on reaching your next milestone!! Warren :)
Hi, congratulations on having the perseverance to post for 500 consecutive days. WOW!! Keep up the great work and Good Luck in the future! Warren {:-)
Visiting or just passing thru?
Congratulations on having the tenacity to post 400 consecutive days AND 1/2 million points! Warren {:-)
Congrats on reaching 500k on the nose and your titanium car! Also, congrats on the 400 consecutive days too! Keep on going!
Congratulations on posting 400 consecutive days. good work. Lets be buddies. Thanks....Shep


text:
After Carlos Tevez's four goal haul for Manchester United, which other Premier League strikers have bagged four in a game?
One of the goals Carlos Tevez scored against Blackburn last night may be in dispute - but which other footballers have managed to bag four in a single match?
Off the top of my head, I can think of Dimitar Berbatov, who got four for Spurs against Reading in December 2007.
Any other suggestions?
« Remember Arron and Ben Peak if you're thinking of drink-driving this Christmas | Breaking news: Roy Keane and Sunderland have parted ways »
2 Comments
Solksjaer against forest back in the day? think it was 9-0 andf the season they went down from the premiership
Not in the Premiership, but RVN scored all four of Real Madrid's goals in a 4-1 victory over CA Osasuna