UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Astronomers to gain more observing time

WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are joining forces to enhance astronomy.

NRAO -- a National Science Foundation facility -- will coordinate with NASA's planned Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope to allow astronomers to use both the orbiting facility and ground-based radio telescopes to maximize their scientific payoff. Astronomers will compete for coordinated observing time and support from both GLAST and NRAO's radio telescopes.

GLAST, scheduled for launch late this year, will perform a survey of the entire sky at gamma-ray wavelengths every three hours.

NRAO operates the continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array, as well as telescopes and telescopic arrays in Green Bank, W.Va., and Socorro, N.M.

"Coordinated gamma-ray and radio observations of celestial objects will greatly enhance the ability to fully understand those objects," said NRAO Director Fred Lo. "Astronomy today requires such multiwavelength studies, and this agreement paves the way for exciting, cutting-edge research."

NASA's GLAST astrophysics and particle physics mission was developed in collaboration with academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

New drug shows thyroid cancer promise

CHICAGO, June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say the investigational drug axitinib produced tumor regression or stability in nearly three of four advanced thyroid cancer patients.

In the exploratory phase-2 trial, tumors in 18 of 60 patients (30 percent) shrunk by 31 percent to 83 percent. Another 25 patients (42 percent) incurred stability, with no tumor progression or slight reduction in size when measured at four months.

"This is exciting," said Dr. Ezra Cohen, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. "Until now we really didn't have anything to offer thyroid cancer patients with advanced disease that was refractory to standard measures."

Axitinib is a small molecule designed to prevent tumors from acquiring the blood supply they need to grow. A follow-up trial testing axitinib in patients who have not responded to standard chemotherapy is ongoing.

Pfizer Inc., the maker of axitinib, funded the trial, which included researchers from Johns Hopkins University, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the universities of Michigan and Colorado, the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Premier Oncology Corp. and Pfizer.

The research was reported earlier this week in Chicago during the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

More mitten crabs found on U.S. East Coast

EDGEWATER, Md., June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say Chinese mitten crabs, first reported in Chesapeake Bay, are more widespread across the U.S. East Coast than initially thought.

Four crabs were caught in Delaware Bay during the last week of May. Seven adult male mitten crabs have been documented from the two bays since 2005. Prior to that, the potentially invasive species had never been recorded in eastern U.S. coastal waters.

A native of eastern Asia, the crabs have invaded both freshwater and saltwater in Europe and the western United States.

Named for the unusual thick fur-like coating on its claws, the mitten crab is listed as injurious wildlife due to its potential to cause ecological and economic damage.

"We don't know the present status of this crab along the eastern U.S. coast," said Gregory Ruiz, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center at Edgewater, Md. "At the moment, it is not clear whether these crabs are reproducing or established in the Mid-Atlantic region or whether the captured crabs are just a few individuals that originated elsewhere."

Scientists speculate the crabs might have arrived in the ballast water of ships or through live trade.

A piece of the past rides into space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 5 (UPI) -- A 400-year-old piece of U.S. history will be aboard NASA's space shuttle Atlantis during its upcoming mission to the International Space Station.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said a four-century-old metal cargo tag bearing the words "Yames Towne" -- along with other commemorative mementoes -- are packed in Atlantis' mid-deck floor cargo space for the roundtrip flight to the International Space Station.

The commemoration honors this year's 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Va. -- the first permanent English settlement in North America.

"We found the tag at the bottom of a well during a dig at the James Fort," said William Kelso, director of archaeology at Historic Jamestowne. "It appears to be a discarded shipping tag from a crate or trunk that arrived from England around 1611. The artifact clearly marks Jamestown as a destination -- our nation's first address."

When the one-inch diameter artifact returns to Earth, it will have traveled more than 4 million miles in four centuries. Two sets of Jamestown commemorative coins, authorized by Congress and issued by the U.S. Mint, will also be aboard Atlantis.