UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

World checklist of bees is compiled

WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led international team of scientists says it's identified nearly 19,500 bee species worldwide, which is about 2,000 more than previously estimated.

Research leader Michael Ruggiero of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History said the ongoing "colony collapse disorder" -- an unexplained phenomenon that's wiping out colonies of honey bees across the United States -- highlights the need for such a worldwide checklist of bees and more information about bee species and their interactions with the plants they pollinate.

"At a time when biological diversity is suspected to be declining at an alarming rate, it is important to have a solid baseline from which to measure future trends," said Ruggiero. "This is very exciting because bees are critical for pollinating flowering plants, including most non-cereal food crops."

Ruggiero said the bee checklist acts as a taxonomic "Rosetta Stone" that will enhance communication, information exchange and data repatriation about bees. "The completed checklist is a first step in modeling and forecasting future population trends," he added.

The study included researchers from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Denmark, Japan, South Africa and the United States.

New drug may mitigate Alzheimer's disease

MANHASSET, N.Y., June 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says he and his German colleagues have created an experimental medicine that might mitigate the effects of Alzheimer's disease.

Yousef al-Abed, chief of medicinal chemistry at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, designs medicines by creating novel molecular compounds.

In his latest work, al-Abed was looking for a way to target the amyloid plaques that clump together between neurons in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers discovered the medicine, CNI-14493, can transform amyloid into a form that doesn't aggregate to form plaques in the brain and also neutralizes the toxicity of the amyloid.

Al-Abed, along with Michael Bacher and Richard Dodel of Marburg University in Germany, found the amyloid burden in the brain was reduced by 70 percent to 85 percent in areas hard hit in Alzheimer's patients -- the cortex and the hippocampus.

"It's very exciting," said al-Abed. "Developing medicines is like doing a puzzle. You stare at it and gamble. Then you test it and if you are lucky you succeed. We were lucky."

The study appears in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

ESA approves 8,413 astronaut applications

PARIS, June 23 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says it received nearly 10,000 responses in its search for new astronauts, with 8,413 people provisionally accepted.

The ESA began its search for astronaut candidates May 19, calling for applications from talented individuals who want to join the European Astronaut Corps. The 8,413 applicants proceeding to the next step in the selection process provided a medical certificate and finalized their online application forms.

Most of the applications were received from France (22.1 percent) and Germany (21.4 percent) followed by Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain, the ESA said, noting of the total applications, 16 percent were submitted by women.

"The Astronaut Selection Team, based at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany, now has the challenging task to select the best applicants," the space agency said in a statement. "Those who make it through this first selection can soon expect to receive a letter inviting them to participate in the next stage -- the psychological testing."

Officials said the tests will identify the psychological and technical skills of the applicants, who will be tested in different fields, including visual memory and psychomotor aptitude.

Effective sickle cell therapy is underused

BALTIMORE, June 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. study finds uncertainties about proper use and possible negative effects of an effective sickle cell drug may be influencing doctors not to use it.

A literature review by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers suggests physicians might be wrongly avoiding prescribing hydroxyurea for those in serious need.

"We know that many people with sickle cell disease aren't being offered this drug, which is the only one we have to treat this disease," said Dr. Sophie Lanzkron, an assistant professor who led the study for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Lanzkron and colleagues analyzed data from 246 studies and found the number of intensely painful sickle cell crises, caused when misshapen "sickled" red blood cells clump in blood vessels, dropped by as much as 84 percent in people taking hydroxyurea, while hospital admissions declined by up to 32 percent.

On the negative side, studies in mice indicated hydroxyurea impairs sperm development and the researchers conclude that effect might also occur in humans.

In the team report, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, they said hydroxyurea should be considered a viable treatment option, but emphasized the need for more research.