UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Buoy network protects endangered whales

WOODS HOLE, Mass., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. marine scientists say they've established a network of electronic buoys along Massachusetts Bay's shipping lanes to protect endangered right whales.

The Right Whale Listening Network developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recognizes the whales' distinctive calls and routes the information to a public Web site and a marine warning system, giving ships the chance to avoid deadly collisions.

Right whales were hunted to the brink of extinction centuries ago, and now fewer than 400 of the 50-ton, long-lived black whales remain, scientists said, noting collisions with ships are currently a leading risk factor.

"For the first time, we can go online and hear … calling whales, and see where those whales are in the ocean off Boston and Cape Cod," said Christopher Clark, of the Lab of Ornithology. "Better yet, those calls immediately get put to use in the form of timely warnings to ship captains."

Clark said even the deaths of one or two breeding females each year could lead to the population's extinction.

"If all ships slow down for whales, it could make a real difference," he said.

The sounds and additional information are available at http://listenforwhales.org

Study finds new aspect of sickle cell

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found sickle cell patients' blood contains clumps, or aggregates, of red and white blood cells that might contribute to the disease.

It's been long known that patients with sickle cell disease have malformed, "sickle-shaped" red blood cells that can cause sudden painful episodes when they block small blood vessels.

Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown blood from sickle cell patients also contains clumps of red and white blood cells.

The scientists said their finding marks the first time aggregates made up of red blood cells and white blood cells have been found in whole blood from sickle cell patients. The study also shows how the red and white blood cells adhere to one another.

"If the blockages are caused by these chunks of aggregates that are circulating in the blood, and we know how the aggregates are sticking together, we potentially could design drugs to disrupt the aggregates so that they pass through the blood vessel more freely," Assistant Professor Julia Brittain said.

The study was published on-line April 18 in the British Journal of Hematology.

NASA's Polar satellite ends its mission

GREENBELT, Md., April 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Polar satellite has concluded its 12-year mission to study the Northern and Southern lights.

When the Polar satellite was launched in February 1996, the plan was for a two-year mission to study the lights that form a ring around Earth's north and south magnetic poles. Polar exceeded expectations by a decade.

"We've gone well beyond our original plan and into our dreams," says John Sigwarth of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"Polar ran out of fuel during its final maneuver in February," said Sigwarth. "But even after the fuel was exhausted, we continued to maneuver on the cold helium gas that was left in the tank," he said, likening that to "using the force of your breath as you breathe out to propel yourself backward" if you happen to be traveling through space like a satellite.

But now, he said, Polar has run out of breath.

Controllers turned off the satellite Monday, slightly ahead of a likely fatal encounter with the sun. From its current orientation, Polar will drift slowly, allowing the sun's energy to quickly overwhelm the satellite, Sigwarth said.

Lungs are illuminated for better diagnoses

SHEFFIELD, England, April 29 (UPI) -- British medical scientists say they have created a technology that illuminates a person's lungs to help determine if they are correctly functioning.

The University of Sheffield researchers said their technology could result in earlier diagnosis of emphysema and smoking related damage, as well as other lung conditions and diseases.

The technique involves a person inhaling small amounts of harmless hyperpolarized noble gases (Helium-3 and Xenon-129), which are then imaged inside a MRI scanner. The gases are hyperpolarized using high power lasers by a process called optical pumping.

The high resolution images of the air spaces that are produced offer additional functional information that is currently not available with traditional X-rays and other types of scans, the researchers said.

The technology can also be used to help detect the early stages of lung obstruction in children with cystic fibrosis, something which a traditional X-ray would miss, they said.

The scientists said they are now considering using the technology to assess inhaled therapies for asthma patients and help plan radiotherapy treatment in patients with lung cancer.