NASA: Arctic sea ice at 2008 low point
BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says satellite data shows Arctic sea ice coverage appears to have reached its lowest extent for 2008.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., said the sea ice coverage is the second-lowest amount seen since the dawn of the satellite era.
"While slightly above the record-low minimum set Sept. 16, 2007, this season further reinforces the strong negative trend in summer sea ice extent observed during the past 30 years," NASA said in a statement. "Before last year, the previous record low for September was set in 2005.
In March, when the Arctic reached its annual maximum sea ice coverage during the winter, scientists from NASA and the data center reported thick, older sea ice was continuing to decline. According to NASA-processed satellite microwave data, that perennial ice used to cover 50 percent to 60 percent of the Arctic, but this winter it covered less than 30 percent.
Perennial sea ice is the long-lived layer of ice that remains even when the surrounding short-lived seasonal sea ice melts to its minimum extent during the summer.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center will issue an analysis of the possible causes behind this year's Arctic sea ice conditions during the first week of October.
New ovarian cancer treatment is developed
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says a combination of the new drug trabectedin with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin provides clinical benefit for relapsed ovarian cancer.
University of California-Irvine Associate Professor Bradley Monk said the combination, which does not include a platinum drug, challenges the current standard of treatment for women whose cancer recurs at least 6 months after first-line treatment.
"This trial, which included almost two-thirds such women, challenges this traditional paradigm and suggests that a non-platinum doublet is also effective in this setting," he said. "Trabectedin represents a new chemical entity in North America and, if approved by the FDA, would be an important new option for women with recurrent ovarian cancer."
Trabectedin, a synthetic version of a compound first isolated from sea-squirts, has been granted marketing approval in Europe for the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.
Monk made the statement in Stockholm, Sweden, while presenting his study during the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology.
NASA mission will study Martian atmosphere
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency plans a Mars robotic mission to study that planet's climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before.
Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it selected that mission from among 20 investigational proposals submitted in response to a NASA Announcement of Opportunity in August 2006.
"This mission will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars' evolution," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program.
Mars once had a denser atmosphere that supported the presence of liquid water on the surface, scientists said. As part of a dramatic climate change, most of the Martian atmosphere was lost. The spacecraft, nicknamed MAVEN, will make definitive scientific measurements of present-day atmospheric loss that will offer clues about the planet's history.
"The loss of Mars' atmosphere has been an ongoing mystery," McCuistion said. "MAVEN will help us solve it."
Genetic profile linked with cleft palate
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have identified a series of genetic mutations that appear linked with significant risk for cleft palate and other dental disorders.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine researchers said cleft palate and similar abnormalities are devastating conditions that cause tremendous social isolation, and are associated with decreased lifespan, a higher risk of cancer and increased susceptibility to psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Alexandre Vieira, an assistant professor, led the researchers who collected and evaluated genetic material from the saliva and blood of more than 500 individuals in families with two or more siblings affected with cleft lip or palate, and an additional 100 people from unrelated families whose samples were used for general population comparison data.
"We found a group of more than a dozen gene mutations that appear to be significantly associated with cleft lip and palate, as well as other dental abnormalities -- predominantly at the locations for ERBB2, CDH2 and IRF6," said Vieira. "Here we report, for the first time, an extensive candidate gene analysis for cleft susceptibility -- a crucial step that may allow for better estimates of recurrence risk in individual families."
The findings appear in the journal Genetics in Medicine.
