Estrogen protects male rats from aortic aneurysms

When it comes to abdominal aortic aneurysms — life-threatening bulges or weak areas in the main artery feeding blood to the lower half of the body — new research shows that it is definitely better to be female. During 2000, about 11,000 people in the United States died from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Eighty percent of these aneurysms, which doctors call AAAs for short, occur in men. Scientists know very little about why this often-undetected condition, for which there is no medical treatment, strikes men more often than women. But vascular surgeons have found some intriguing clues.

Plastic surgeons perform first entire face reconstruction

Hundreds of thousands of people are burned in fires each year with many suffering from facial burns as a result. These burn victims not only have severe physical scars, but deep emotional scars, too. A team of plastic surgeons has successfully combined several reconstructive techniques to help burn victims regain some sense of self without undergoing multiple painful procedures and huge scarring often associated with reconstructing the face, according to a study presented today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2004 conference in Philadelphia.

Cells in retina found to behave like soap bubbles

Soap bubbles delight children and the young at heart, but they also have been objects of scientific study for centuries. Operating under the laws of physics, bubbles always try to minimize their surface area, even when many bubbles are aggregated together. Now two Northwestern University scientists have demonstrated that the tendency to minimize surface area is not limited to soap bubbles but extends to living things as well. In a paper published Oct. 7 in the journal Nature, they show that cells within the retina take on shapes and pack together like soap bubbles, ultimately forming a pattern that is repeated again and again across the eye. Gaining insight into these patterns can help researchers understand the interplay between genetics and physics in cell formation.

UN concerned by disappearance of nuclear material from Iraq

Satellite images show equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons have disappeared from Iraq, the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has warned, and it has called on countries to provide information concerning their whereabouts. Entire buildings once monitored and tagged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been dismantled, and equipment and materials in open storage areas have been removed, the Agency’s Director-General, Mohamed ElBaradei, wrote in a letter to the Security Council.

Lithium may protect neurons from radiation therapy

Patients who undergo radiation for treatment of brain tumors may survive their cancer only to have lasting memory and learning deficiencies, the impact of which can be particularly devastating for children. Now, researchers have discovered that lithium, a drug commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, can protect the brain cells involved in learning and memory from radiation damage. While the work has been conducted in cell culture and animal studies thus far, clinical trials are expected to be conducted soon to test whether the drug can protect humans from cognitive deficits as a result of cranial radiation therapy.

Marital satisfaction affected by both spouse’s mental health

New research examines why a person’s mental health is important for maintaining a satisfying marriage and how either partner can influence the other’s marital happiness. In a sample of 774 married couples from seven states in the U.S., researchers assessed each partners’ level of depression and anxiety with the MMPI-2 scale along with their marital satisfaction to find out if one partners’ pathology was associated with his or her view of the relationship and/or the partner’s view of the relationship. Specifically, the researchers examined how much each person’s marital satisfaction was predicted by his or her own level of depression and anxiety and/or by his or her spouse’s level of depression and anxiety.

New bacteria may help decaffeinate coffee

Chemists have made an important advance in harnessing the ability of bacteria to make new molecules, and their discovery could eventually lead to the creation of naturally decaffeinated coffee plants. The researchers have coupled the life of a bacterium to the presence of theophylline, a compound that is used to treat asthma, and is produced by the breakdown of caffeine in both coffee and tea plants. One of the reasons that coffee has a high level of caffeine is that in the plant, caffeine is synthesized very quickly, but breaks down to theophylline very slowly.

Respiratory therapists twice as likely to have asthma

Respiratory therapists are at an increased risk of developing asthma and asthma-related symptoms due to their involvement in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with respiratory conditions. A new study in the October issue of CHEST showed that respiratory therapists have an elevated prevalence of asthma diagnosis after they enter into the profession and, when compared to physiotherapists, are more than twice as likely to develop respiratory symptoms. The study also found that the administration of specific aerosolized medications and the use of certain diagnostic equipment were associated with an increased risk of asthma.

Blood pressure drugs may slow deterioration of Alzheimer’s

Certain blood pressure drugs may slow the deterioration of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the October 12 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Called angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or ACE inhibitors, the drugs are used to treat high blood pressure. Only ACE inhibitors that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier were shown to have the effect on Alzheimer’s. The blood-brain barrier is a natural protective mechanism that shields the brain from foreign substances.

Imaging clarifies brain changes linked to autism language deficits

Researchers have found that a structural difference previously observed in the brains of some boys with autism is found primarily in those with language problems and also appears in boys with a condition called specific language impairment (SLI). The findings suggest that this anatomic feature may underlie language difficulty only rather than overall autism and supports an apparent relationship between the two conditions.

Feds target Cortislim for false advertising

The Federal Trade Commission has charged marketers of two dietary supplements with claiming, falsely and without substantiation, that their products can cause weight loss and reduce the risk of, or prevent, serious health conditions. According to the FTC’s complaint, Los Angeles-area marketers Window Rock Enterprises, Inc. and Infinity Advertising, Inc., their principals, Stephen Cheng and Gregory Cynaumon, and business partner and product formulator Shawn Talbott have sold ”CortiSlim” and ”CortiStress” through a number of widely aired infomercials and short TV commercials, as well as radio and print advertisements and Internet Web sites. ”The Window Rock defendants’ weight-loss and disease-prevention claims fly in the face of reality.”

CDC Issues Interim Flu Vaccination Recommendations

On October 5, 2004, CDC was notified by Chiron Corporation that none of its influenza vaccine (Fluvirin) would be available for distribution in the United States for the 2004-05 influenza season. The company indicated that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, where Chiron’s Fluvirin vaccine is produced, has suspended the company’s license to manufacture Fluvirin vaccine in its Liverpool facility for 3 months, preventing any release of this vaccine for this influenza season.

Pioneering Spacecraft Designer Max Faget Dies

The man who designed the original spacecraft for Project Mercury and is credited with contributing to the designs of every U.S. human spacecraft from Mercury to the Space Shuttle has died. Dr. Maxime A. Faget, who in 1958 became part of the Space Task Group that would later evolve into the NASA Johnson Space Center, died Saturday at his home in Houston. He was 83 years old. ”Without Max Faget’s innovative designs and thoughtful approach to problem solving, America’s space program would have had trouble getting off the ground,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. ”He also was an aeronautics pioneer. In fact, it was his work on supersonic flight research that eventually led to his interest in space flight. The thoughts and prayers of the entire agency are with his family.”

‘Junk’ DNA may be very valuable to embryos

A new study sheds light on events orchestrating the changes when mammalian eggs are fertilized and become embryos. Researchers have discovered that expression of genes in mouse eggs and very early embryos is activated in part by regions of DNA called retrotransposons, which may have originated from retroviruses. These regions, found in DNA of human, mouse, and other mammals in hundreds of thousands of copies, are called retrotransposons because they have the ability to propagate and insert themselves into different positions within the genome. The research, published in the October issue of Developmental Cell, suggests that retrotransposons may not be just the ”junk DNA” once thought, but rather appear to be a large repository of start sites for initiating gene expression.