WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Union of Concerned Scientists is upset over U.S. plans to build a plutonium processing plant without consulting the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The organization specifically is critical of the Energy Department for designing the $5 billion South Carolina facility that will turn plutonium into fuel for U.S. nuclear reactors without making the plans available for inspection by the IAEA.

Edwin Lyman, senior staff scientist in UCS's Global Security Program, said the move undermines the credibility of nuclear non-proliferation efforts at a time when the international community is struggling to stop the spread of nuclear weapons materials and technologies around the world.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Lyman said the United States has a responsibility to "set the gold standard for safeguards and security" as an example for the rest of the world.

Lyman said an IAEA review of the plant design would provide assurances to the international community that the facility will be used for peaceful purposes. He said such a gesture would be a "powerful symbol" to the rest of the world that the United States plays by the same rules that it urges other countries to follow.

Nanoparticles may aid cancer diagnoses

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers have created gold nanoparticles capable of identifying marker proteins on breast cancer cells.

The Purdue University scientists say using such tiny particles to better diagnose and treat cancer would be about three times cheaper than the most commonly used current method and might provide many times the quantity and quality of data.

"We hope that this technology will soon play a critical role in early detection and monitoring of breast cancer," said Associate Professor Joseph Irudayaraj, leader of the study. "Our goal is to see it in commercial use in about four years."

The tiny rod-shaped gold particles, even smaller than viruses, are equipped with antibodies designed to bind to a specific marker on cell surfaces. Researchers analyze the surface markers -- proteins on a cell's exterior -- because they can contain valuable information about what type of cell they belong to or what state that cell may be in.

"In cancer diagnosis, the ability to accurately detect certain key markers will be very helpful because certain types of cancers have specific surface markers," Irudayaraj said.

The research is available online in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

NASA concerned about Mars rovers

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists said they are becoming increasingly concerned about the status of the Mars exploration rovers.

NASA engineers said one rover, Opportunity, remains nearly inactive due to dust storms on Mars that have been ongoing for more than a month.

Atmospheric dust and particles settling onto Opportunity's solar panels are challenging the rover's ability to convert sunlight into enough electricity to supply its needs.

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said the most recent communication from Opportunity was received Monday and indicated sunlight over the rover's location was only slightly less obscured than during the dustiest days that occurred in mid-July.

With dust accumulating on its solar panels, the rover is producing barely as much energy as it is using in the very-low-power regimen it has been following since July 18.

The other Mars rover, Spirit, was also accumulating dust on its solar panels, said John Callas, rover project manager at JPL.

"We will continue to watch the situation on Mars and do all we can to assist our rovers in this ongoing battle against the environmental elements on the Red Planet," Callas said.

New type 1 diabetes therapy discovered

BOSTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found a triple combination therapy that includes inflammation reduction can play a key role in type 1 diabetes treatment.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers determined the therapy consisting of tolerance-inducing and anti-inflammatory properties is successful in abolishing adverse autoimmunity against insulin-producing cells in a mouse model of Type 1 diabetes.

The findings also suggest a previously unrecognized role for inflammation in the disease.

"Type 1 diabetes is known to develop as a consequence of autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells," said senior author Dr. Terry Strom. "But in addition to the long-recognized role of T-cell-dependent immune-system-mediated islet destruction, this work reveals for the first time that a form of inflammation in fat and muscle (also acts to) prevent insulin from disposing blood glucose into tissues that require glucose."

The study -- which included Maria Koulmanda, Prabhakar Putheti, Hang Shi, Ejona Budo, Susan Bonner-Weir, and Drs. Xin Xiao Zheng, Nicolas Degauque, Zhigang Fan, Jeffrey Flier, Hugh Auchincloss Jr. and Andi Qipo -- appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.