State gets grant to protect beef industry from mad cow disease. Illinois farm regulators expect to conduct 400 inspections and 1,000 feed tests the next two years with the aid of a nearly $500,000 federal grant intended to protect the domestic beef industry from mad cow disease. [News Source]

Fat cells also linked to prion infection. Scientists have added fat cells to the roster of bodily tissues and organs that may harbor infective prions, the renegade misfolded proteins that are believed to cause scrapie in sheep and mad cow disease in cattle. [News Source]

State gets grant to prevent mad cow disease. Illinois farm regulators expect to conduct 400 inspections and 1,000 feed tests the next two years with the aid of a nearly $500,000 federal grant intended to protect the domestic beef industry from mad cow disease. [News Source]

Cattle Have Biggest Weekly Drop Since First U.S. Mad Cow Case (Bloomberg) Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Cattle prices had the biggest weekly drop since January 2004, soon after the U.S. disclosed its first case of mad cow disease, as the surging jobless rate spurred concern that consumers may buy less beef. Hogs gained. [News Source]

Grant funds Illinois mad cow prevention efforts (Chicago Tribune) SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois can continue efforts to prevent mad cow disease in cattle with nearly $500,000 from the federal government. The funding, announced this week, will help state regulators inspect farms and test cattle feed during the next two years. The Food and Drug Administration program enforces a ban on certain types of feed products. Illinois expects to conduct 400 inspections and ... [News Source]

Cattle Fall to Lowest Since 2006 as Demand Slumps; Hogs Climb (Bloomberg) Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Cattle prices fell to the lowest in more than two years as a surging U.S. jobless rate spurred concern that consumers may buy less beef. Feeder-cattle futures plunged to the lowest since 2004, and hogs gained. [News Source]

Grant funds Illinois mad cow prevention efforts (KWQC-TV 6 Davenport) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois can continue efforts to prevent mad cow disease in cattle with nearly $500,000 from the federal government. The funding, announced this week, will help state regulators inspect farms and test cattle feed during the next two years. [News Source]

Check it out: ‘An Inspector Calls’ at Mad Cow Theatre (Orlando Sentinel) WHAT: Maybe J.B. Priestley didn't really have Christmas in mind when he wrote An Inspector Calls, the British mystery onstage at Mad Cow Theatre. But the idea of one person's responsibility to another may crop up in the back of your mind while you're watching this eerie drama set in the drawing room of a well-off family, where a mysterious visitor brings news no one wants to hear. Rob Anderson ... [News Source]

Prion Infectivity Found In White And Brown Fat Tissues Of Mice (Medical News Today) Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Scripps Research Institute have found novel prion infectivity in white and brown fat tissues of mice. The study appears December 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. [News Source]

State gets grant to prevent mad cow disease (The State Journal-Register) Illinois farm regulators expect to conduct 400 inspections and 1,000 feed tests the next two years with the aid of a nearly $500,000 federal grant intended to protect the domestic beef industry from mad cow disease. [News Source]