UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Rate of aging in wild is twice that in lab

SYDNEY, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Australian and U.S. scientists say they've found giant Australian flies age more than twice as quickly in the wild than in a laboratory setting.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of Nebraska were interested to determine how animals age in harsh and stressful natural environments, rather than in protected laboratory environments used for most aging studies. They chose to study a giant, stilt-legged Australian fly so they could identify individual flies by writing codes on their backs with enamel paint.

The researchers monitored the flies in their natural environment, as well as a similar group of flies living in their laboratory.

The scientists said they discovered the rate of aging of both male and female flies in the wild was more than twice that of male flies in the laboratory. The findings, said the researchers, suggest estimates of aging, lifespan and fitness of animals derived solely from laboratory animals be interpreted with considerable caution.

The study that involved Nori Kawasaki, Rob Brooks and Russell Bonduriansky of the University of New South Wales and Chad Brassil of the University of Nebraska appears in the journal American Naturalist.

Bee venom: A treatment for hypertension?

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists are using honeybee venom toxin in an effort to develop a new treatment for hypertension.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers say they've modified a honeybee venom toxin called tertiapin, or TPN, so it can be used to study the workings of ion channels that control heart rate and the recycling of salt in kidneys. In general, ion channels selectively allow the passage of small ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium into and out cells.

Led by Dr. Zhe Lu, a professor of physiology, the scientists are focusing on TPN's influence on inward-rectifier potassium channels, or Kir channels. TPN stops the flow of potassium ions across cell membranes by plugging Kir channels on the outside of cells, the researchers said.

"The clue comes from patients with genetic defects in these channels who lose a lot of sodium because it cannot be effectively reabsorbed and thus have low blood pressure," said Lu. "An inhibitor specifically against these kidney channels will allow this idea to be tested."

The research that included Yajamana Ramu and Yanping Xu appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

NASA opens Web-based educational project

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has developed a free Web-based educational product consisting of more than 55 short video segments.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said its "eClips" are available via the Internet for the 2008 -09 school year.

"NASA eClips feature many of the agency's missions and engages students in the excitement of science and engineering," the space agency said. "From the deepest regions of space to hurricanes here on Earth, the goal of NASA eClips is to inspire students to learn more about science and math concepts.

The program is separated into grade-appropriate topics and designed as a resource for classroom teachers, officials said. Accompanying the collection of NASA eClips will be educator guides to provide teachers with examples of how to effectively use the products as instructional tools.

The clips are available at http://www.nasa.gov/education/nasaeclips or http://www.youtube.com/nasaeclips.

New technology identifies cancer cells

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a technique that uses a specialized electrical field to determine whether cells are normal, cancerous or metastatic.

Purdue University researchers found cells expanding the most after being exposed to the electrical field were metastatic cancer. The scientists said the new technique allows screening of single cells 300 times faster -- five cells per second -- compared with previous methods.

"If you look at the properties of only a few cells, it would be a stretch to say they exactly represent a tissue cell population since tissues have tens of thousands of cells," said Assistant Professor Chang Lu, who led the study. "Our goal is to have a tool so that we can reputably look at large numbers of cells and obtain information about their biomechanical properties."

Lu said the amount of electricity and the length of time cells are exposed also determines how much the various types of cells expand. Under the parameters Lu's team used, metastatic cells expanded by 75 percent after electroporation, while primary cancer cells and normal cells expanded by 50 percent and 25 percent, in that order.

The study appears in the online edition of the journal Analytic Chemistry.