INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved for sale an Indianapolis pharmaceutical company's treatment for bipolar depression.

Eli Lilly & Co. said Symbyax should arrive in most U.S. pharmacies in two to three weeks, the Indianapolis Star reported Monday.

Symbyax becomes the first FDA-approved drug to treat the depressive phase of bipolar disorder, a hard-to-treat mental illness with debilitating mood swings ranging from deep depression to abnormal elation.

Symbyax is not a new chemical entity. It pairs two Lilly drugs, Prozac and Zyprexa, in one pill.

By combining the two drugs in one, "there's a synergy effect beyond what you expect" from taking the two drugs separately, said Dr. Robert Baker, associate medical director for U.S. neurosciences at Lilly.

Baker said Lilly studies show Symbyax is effective in easing the symptoms of depression in bipolar patients without pushing them into mania, which often happens when antidepressants alone are given.

Zyprexa, Lilly's current best-seller, is approved for schizophrenia and acute mania in bipolar disorder. Prozac, Lilly's previous No. 1 drug, is an antidepressant.

Inject the garlic -- cure the cancer

REHOVOT, Israel, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Israeli scientists have destroyed malignant tumors in mice using a chemical that occurs naturally in garlic, the Weizmann Institute reported Monday.

The key to the scientists' success lies in a unique, two-step system for delivering the cancer-wrecking chemical to the tumor cells.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute's Biological Chemistry Department describe their technique in the December issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

Allicin, the substance that gives garlic its distinctive aroma and flavor, is also a known toxic substance that can kill cancerous cells. It is composed of an enzyme, alliinase, and an inert chemical called alliin.

The scientists attached alliinase to an antibody that was "programmed" to be attracted to a gastric tumor's characteristic receptors. Then they injected that alliinase-antibody combination into a cancerous mouse.

Once the alliinase-antibody had settled on the tumors, the scientists alliin into the mouse. The combination of alliinase and alliin -- at the site of the tumor -- created the toxic allicin, which cured the mouse of its gastric tumors.

Mid-life crisis may cause Alzheimer's

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A California scientist has pinpointed midlife crisis in brain circuitry as key to the onset of Alzheimer's later in life.

A novel model of human brain aging developed by a University of California-Los Angeles neuroscientist identifies midlife breakdown of myelin, a fatty insulation coating the brain's internal wiring, as a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease later in life, the university announced Monday.

Detailed in the January edition of the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Aging, the model presents opportunities to explore how lifestyle changes, hormone replacement therapy, higher education or treatment with common medications in middle age might help brains remain healthy longer.

"This model embraces the human brain as a high-speed Internet rather than a computer. The quality of the Internet's connections is the key to its speed, fidelity and overall capability," said Dr. George Bartzokis, the author and visiting professor of neurology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

"Close analysis of brain tissue and MRIs clearly shows that the brain's wiring develops until middle age and then begins to decline."

Beagle's signal remains undetected

LONDON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- For the fourth straight day, no radio signal has been detected from Britain's Beagle 2 Mars lander, mission scientists reported Monday.

The 250-foot Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, was turned towards Mars between 19:30 GMT and midnight Dec. 28, but no response was received, the Beagle team said.

This will be Jodrell Bank's last opportunity for some time to listen for a signal from Beagle 2. The longer day on Mars means the planet has rotated so the little clamshell-shaped craft's landing site -- in an area near the Martian equator called Isidis Planitia -- is no longer above the horizon at the observatory when the spacecraft should be transmitting its signal.

The Stanford University radio telescope in California also attempted to search for Beagle's signal Saturday night and early Sunday morning, but no data were received.

Likewise, on the evening of Dec. 28, no signal from Beagle 2 was received by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter during its pass over the landing site.