Intestinal Lymphatic Tissue Important For The Absorption And Spread Of The Scrapie Prion (Science Daily) Scrapie is a transmissible, degenerative and ultimately fatal disease of the nervous system of sheep. The cause of the disease is a prion protein, and absorption from the intestine is assumed to be the natural route of infection. Lymphatic tissue associated with the intestine is important for the early accumulation of prion protein and its subsequent spread to the central nervous system. [News Source]

Groups sue over Wyo’s elk-feeding program. Wyoming's longtime policy of feeding elk in winter on public lands is contributing to the spread of disease, and the federal government should take a hard look at the practice, conservation groups argued Thursday. [News Source]

FDA to adopt more transparent process for GE animals. The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it would make the process it uses to approve genetically engineered animals more transparent, but consumer groups expressed concern the government was not going far enough to protect the public. [News Source]

FDA announces formal guidelines for genetically engineered animals. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration announced formal guidelines to govern the approval of genetically engineered (GE) animals. [News Source]

FDA Issues Final Regulations for Genetically Engineered Animals (MedicineNet.com) Title: FDA Issues Final Regulations for Genetically Engineered Animals Category: Health News Created: 1/16/2009 2:00:00 AM Last Editorial Review: 1/16/2009 [News Source]

Common Soil Mineral Degrades The Nearly Indestructible Prion (Medical News Today) In the rogues' gallery of microscopic infectious agents, the prion is the toughest hombre in town. Warped pathogens that lack both DNA and RNA, prions are believed to cause such fatal brain ailments as chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and moose, mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. [News Source]

Groups pursue suit over Wyo.’s elk-feeding program (AP via Yahoo! Finance) Wyoming's longtime policy of feeding elk in winter on public lands is contributing to the spread of disease, and the federal government should take a hard look at the practice, conservation groups argued Thursday. [News Source]

don’t miss: ‘almost, maine’ (Orlando Sentinel) WHAT: Today's tough economy may mean that arts groups have had to cut back. But some of them are finding new ways to deliver art to their audiences -- and that includes Orlando Theatre Project, which will perform free readings of the whimsical comedy Almost, Maine twice next week in Mad Cow Theatre's tiny Stage Right. Writer John Cariani set Almost, Maine in a remote northern outpost where the ... [News Source]