UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Oshkosh air show honors NASA anniversary

OSHKOSH, Wis., July 29 (UPI) -- The Oshkosh air show, the largest annual U.S. air show, is honoring the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 50th anniversary.

The Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture 2008, which runs through Sunday in Oshkosh, Wis., includes a Tuesday appearance of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin as part of the commemoration of five decades of NASA's aerospace achievements.

Griffin holds a pilot's license, with a flight instructor certificate for instrument and multi-engine ratings. He's also the co-owner of a small aircraft.

"NASA is proud to be able to display unique artifacts depicting the history of NASA and U.S. spaceflight in the EAA AirVenture Museum," said Jim Hull, NASA exhibit and artifact manager. "We will not only have objects from the space program, but also from NASA aeronautics research that visitors can enjoy."

High insulin could indicate ovary syndrome

HERSHEY, Pa., July 29 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say high levels of insulin could be an early sign that girls whose mothers suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome might also be susceptible.

Researchers at the Penn State University College of Medicine say their finding could help determine whether daughters of women suffering from PCOS are at a higher risk of developing the disease, compared with girls whose mothers do not have the disease.

"Polycystic ovary syndrome is a common hormonal disorder that affects women of reproductive age, and sometimes causes inability to become pregnant," the researchers said, noting symptoms include hairiness due to excessive amounts of male hormones, irregular periods and insulin resistance.

"We found insulin resistance in children who had entered puberty, and whose mothers had PCOS," said Dr. Richard Legro, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and the study's lead author. "We did not find it in the youngest children, which suggests that the disease is triggered by puberty."

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was reported in a recent issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Ares rocket parachute is tested

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for its Ares I rocket.

The drogue parachute is designed to slow the descent of the rocket's spent first-stage motor, cast off by the Ares I rocket during its climb to space, permitting recovery of the motor for use on other Ares I flights.

Last week's test marked an "early milestone in development and production of the Ares I rocket, the first launch vehicle for NASA's Constellation Program that will send explorers to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades," the space agency said.

Engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., managed the team that conducted the drogue chute test July 24 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz.

FDA: Don't eat American lobster tomalley

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns consumers not to eat tomalley in American lobster (Maine Lobster), no matter where the lobster was harvested.

FDA officials said tomalley -- the green substance found in a lobster's body that functions as the animal's liver and pancreas -- might be contaminated with dangerous levels of the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP.

The federal agency said American lobsters, also known as Maine lobsters, are harvested from the Atlantic Ocean from Northeastern Canada to South Carolina.

The FDA said its advisory applies only to tomalley, since cooking doesn't eliminate PSP toxins.

"However, studies have shown that, even when high levels of PSP toxins are present in lobster tomalley, lobster meat itself is typically unaffected," the FDA said.

"Lobster tomalley normally does not contain dangerous levels of PSP toxins," the agency said in a statement. "The current high levels of PSP toxins likely are associated with an ongoing red tide episode in northern New England and eastern Canada. Authorities in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as in Canada, have issued advisories cautioning against eating tomalley.