Results from a study in Malawi showed that chewing gum containing xylitol, a naturally occurring alcohol sugar, was associated with a 24% reduction in preterm birth. The findings were published today in Med (a Cell Press journal). Researchers found that the group of pregnant individuals randomized to receive chewing gum also saw a 30% drop in low-birthweight babies, when compared with the control group which did not receive xylitol gum, noted lead author Dr. Greg Valentine, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Results from a study in Malawi showed that chewing gum containing xylitol, a naturally occurring alcohol sugar, was associated with a 24% reduction in preterm birth. The findings were published today in Med (a Cell Press journal). Researchers found that the group of pregnant individuals randomized to receive chewing gum also saw a 30% drop in low-birthweight babies, when compared with the control group which did not receive xylitol gum, noted lead author Dr. Greg Valentine, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Cozy, comfort food is the best food, and decidedly one of the best things about the weather getting colder. Cassoulet is a perfect example. It’s traditionally a hearty, rich, slow-cooked bean stew with several steps and a long ingredient list.

Third-party organizations are spending money to take aim at city spending, waste and ‘wokeism.’ We take a closer look at why.

Potter, E G. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7873, 2021, 12 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/328980
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_328980.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_328980.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7873, 2021, 12 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/328980" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Tschirhart, V; Pehrsson, S; Wodicka, N; Percival, J; Jefferson, C; Peterson, T; Berman, R. Canada's northern Shield: new perspectives from the Geoscience for Energy and Minerals Program; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 612, 2024 p. 295-325, https://doi.org/10.4095/332502
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_332502.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_332502.jpg" title="Canada's northern Shield: new perspectives from the Geoscience for Energy and Minerals Program; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 612, 2024 p. 295-325, https://doi.org/10.4095/332502" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Jefferson, C W; Pehrsson, S; Tschirhart, V; Peterson, T; Chorlton, L; Bethune, K; White, J C; Davis, W; McNicoll, V; Paulen, R C; Rayner, N. Canada's northern Shield: new perspectives from the Geoscience for Energy and Minerals Program; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 612, 2024 p. 163-281, https://doi.org/10.4095/332499
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_332499.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_332499.jpg" title="Canada's northern Shield: new perspectives from the Geoscience for Energy and Minerals Program; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 612, 2024 p. 163-281, https://doi.org/10.4095/332499" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Name: HiCHEW Sours Brand: Morinaga Place Purchased: Daiso Market (Little Tokyo) Price: $1.50 Size: 3.17 ounces Calories per ounce: 113 Type: Chew/Sour Rating: 8 out of 10

Link to each review on Gary Chew's list.

Rita O'Grady and husband Eddie work at Ford Motor in 1960s London. She's a good mother, wife, housekeeper, friend... and a totally uncompromising shop steward for a band of rogue unionist females who work for much lower pay than their male counterparts. With Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, and Miranda Richardson. Now in limited release.

Gwyneth Paltrow as country singing star Kelly Canter. No you're not having a Jack Daniels flashback of "Tender Mercies", "Crazy Heart" and "True Grit", though you wouldn't be far off if you did. Now playing.

Two-track love story in which the now of it is shown alternately with its beginning six years before. Chew calls it raw, real, tender, touching, happy, goofy... and sad. A smart date movie for realists. Stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Now in limited release.

"Glengarry Glen Ross" lite, updated for our times? Chew explains. With Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt and Kevin Costner. Now in limited release.

Majoring in stream-of-consciousness with a minor in death-obsession are Nick Stahl and Jonathan Jackson. Alona Tal and Beau Garrett help the medicine go down. Now in limited release.

It's 1959. The career of the magician in this marvelous, artfully animated feature film is quickly slipping over the horizon. He is alone, but can still find joy in kindness to a young girl he meets along his tour. Now in limited release.

Barney Panofsky is a TV producer and thrice-married party dog whose life goes verkakte. From the book by Mordecai Richler, the movie is set in the same cynical Canadian milieu established in Richler's earlier opus, "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz". Starring Paul Giamatti, with Minnie Driver, Rosamund Pike and Dustin Hoffman. Now in limited release.

The best movie from 2010 that Chew has seen in 2011... and eligible for the Best Picture Oscar this weekend. With Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter. Now playing.

A diminutive other-world alien gets encountered in the vicinity of Area 51 by two comic book geeks from England named Graeme and Clive. With Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jane Lynch, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Wiig, Tulsa's Bill Hader, John Carroll Lynch and Seth Rogen. Opens 3/18.

...is still outstanding. More about the "fabulous" prizes in GroupBlog 323.

Jake Gyllenhaal "Quantum Leaps" multiple times into an explosive trainwreck of the very recent past. Will he foil the mad bomber and find true love? The answer will become available to you on April Fool's Day.

Chew: "One could almost imagine that 'Hanna' begins where Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' leaves off, except that the child with the father, both trekking through a post apocalyptic world, is not male, but female." Stars Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. Opens April 8.

IMAX 3D documentary about animals whose destiny is to exist in the wild, narrated by Morgan Freeman. Opens wide on April 8.

Robert Redford's relevant, thought-provoking film about the immediate aftermath of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Stars James McAvoy, Robin Wright and Tom Wilkinson. Opens wide on April 15.

Take a heaping helping of 1956's "Trapeze", mix in mid-30s Gable/Harlow movies, and add a soupcon of 1955's "Picnic", and you have something much like this new movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. Opens wide on April 23.

Best Foreign Language Oscar winner for 2011. Danish director Susanne Bier and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen tell a stoic story about two upper-middle class Danish families, one just stricken with the natural death of the mother, the other slipping from estrangement into divorce. Each has a boy about 11 years old. Chew calls it grounded and uplifting, despite the strife, pain and disillusionment. Now in limited release, opens at Tulsa's Circle Cinema on 5/20.

Will Ferrell is Nick, recently-fired regional VP of sales and backsliding alcoholic whose wife put his ass out in the grass. Rebecca Hall is Samantha, newly moved in across the street from Nick, pregnant and awaiting her husband's arrival to settle down to Arizona living. Laura Dern is Delilah, divorced former high school bud of Nick's, living in the area with her two kids. She and Nick haven't seen each since graduation. Opens at the Circle Cinema 5/13.

Depressing, maudlin, creepier than "Mulholland Drive", but then again, Mel Gibson's character is seen talking to Jon Stewart with a stuffed beaver on his fist. Opens wide on May 20.

Director Terrence Malick creates a realistic, but dreamlike tale, spinning from a routine life in Waco of the mid-Fifties to an urban present. Stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. In limited release May 27.

Woody Allen's new movie has Owen Wilson escaping his Hollywood present to early 20th Century Paris. A better time to live a life? With Rachel McAdams, now in limited release.

A tender, funny, coming-of-age yarn starring Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Alicia Silverstone, Blair Underwood and Rita Wilson. Opens wide June 17.

Thirtysomething Oliver has just struggled his way past the event of the death of his eccentric mother. Not long after, his father announces: "I'm gay. And I've known it since before I married your mother." Stars Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. Now in limited release.

Plenty of laughs in this R-rated, extremely rude flick. Jason Bateman, Jason Sedeikus and Charlie Day are the aggrieved employees; Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston are the horrible bosses. Opens wide Friday.

Gary Chew says FwB is really, really quite bad. But on the brighter side, it does feature Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman and Richard Jenkins. Opens wide July 22.

Daniel Craig can't remember a thing when he wakes up in the Old West with a high-tech wristwatch thing attached to his arm. It's just what he'll need in this new-fashioned shoot-em-up with Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Opens wide July 29.

A double of Earth has been behind the sun for eons... until now. A young woman's life changes at the instant its synchronicity with Earth One is broken. Starring Brit Marling and William Mapother, coming soon to a theater near you.

Emma and Dexter are college students who have an overnight fling just after graduation. They decide to meet up same time each year to see what's up with their friendship. With Jim Sturgess, Anne Hathaway and Patricia Clarkson. Opens wide Friday.

In the 1990s, three former Mossad agents try to work out what went wrong during their mid-60s mission in East Berlin to kidnap and bring to justice a very evil man. With Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Chastain. Now playing.

Actress Vera Farmiga makes her directorial debut in this contemporary story of a thirtysomething married woman and mother dealing with her faith. Now playing.

Remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 classic is important, and in its strange and unsettling way, approaches cinematic art. Stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth. Now playing.

This low-key Brad Pitt vehicle, a cerebral baseball story, may not be to everyone's taste, including Oscar's. Also stars Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Opens today.

Pretty entertaining for a templated rom-com. The number in question is how many persons with whom one has shared intimate moments. Stars Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Ari Graynor and Blythe Danner. Opens today.

Stellar cast in a drama portraying an Ohio presidential primary scheduled on what proved to be a bad hair day for Julius Caesar. With Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright and Gregory Itzin. Opens today.

Guesting on Peter B. Collins' show: Mike Miller and Gary Chew. Jerry Pippin: "I think they are going to discuss old Tulsa radio and television days, plus a little about God knows what else." The podcast will be available Monday night late on PBC's website or at iTunes.

An age-appropriate "Harold and Maude" with a shading of "Love Story": Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper meet, then go to funerals of people they don't know. Now playing.

"Margin Call" is a fictionalized account of the meltdowns of Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG in September 2008. The Halloween scare is just how close the financial world came to the brink of chaos. Stars Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker and Demi Moore. Opens 11/4 at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.

This cinematic version of Hunter Thompson's first novel is set in 1960 Puerto Rico at a slow-dying multilingual newspaper. Johnny Depp gets involved with predatory capitalism at the beginning of the Castro era. Now playing.

Biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the iconic FBI chief with Judi Dench, Annie Hoover. Naomi Watts, Helen Gandy and Armie Hammer. Now playing.

George Clooney is a soon-to-be widower who is part of a multi-generational Hawaiian family. Will he and his extended family sell the virgin coastal land on Kauai they've owned for generations? Opens today.

A new Steven Spielberg film that astounds your visual senses. Opens Christmas Day.

Farmscape for October 31, 2024

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the province's farmers are disappointed with this year's crops but relieved that things weren't worse.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released its final crop report of the season yesterday.
Tyce Masich, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says producers were able to get their crops off well before the heavy frosts set in.

Quote-Tyce Masich-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Starting in May when producers were seeing it was very cool and wet so there were some seeding delays and also the early season cool temperatures specifically delayed crop development in the first two months of the growing season, which wasn't great for crops but the moisture did allow them to be well established for the lack of moisture in July and August that we saw.
In July and August there were hot and dry conditions throughout most of Saskatchewan which really hurt the early season yield potential that producers were expecting.
Early season, with all of the moisture that we had, there were more reports of early season root rot in crops which hurt crop establishment early in the season and then, as the season progressed and things got warmer and drier, that's when the grasshoppers really came out and started to feed on crops.
I know in the west and southwest producers were spraying for grasshoppers specifically and in areas of the province that would have gotten rainfall in the beginning July when canola was full canopy there were a lot of producers spraying for sclerotinia stem rot and there were some reports of sclerotinia stem rot in Saskatchewan but I think overall it had a pretty minimal impact on yields this year.
The biggest thing was the hot conditions in July really heat blasted a lot of canola which would have resulted in most of the yield loss for canola and other crops as well.

Masich says yields for most crops in Saskatchewan were slightly above average with the exceptions of crops like canola and mustard that were slightly below average but, given the dry years we've had the past couple of years, growers are happy with that.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers