UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Orbital, SpaceX to resupply space station

HOUSTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., and SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., have been tapped to resupply the International Space Station when the space shuttle retires.

The two relatively small companies beat out industry giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin to win the $3.5 billion contract Tuesday, NASA said.

Orbital and SpaceX are to share unmanned cargo duties from 2010, when the shuttle fleet retires, until a new U.S. spacecraft is built, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Russian rockets will ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the Space Station during that time, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday.

"It is a way of taking American taxpayers' dollars to pay an American company to take American payloads to the space station so we're not entirely dependent on the kindness of the Russians," said John Pike, a space expert at Global Security.org, a Washington think tank.

Boosting blood flow may fight Alzheimer's

CHICAGO, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Improving blood flow to the brain appears key to delaying or preventing some forms of Alzheimer's, says Chicago's Feinberg School of Medicine.

Depriving the brain of sugar glucose carried in the blood appears to trigger a biochemical process that can cause Alzheimer's disease, Feinberg announced Wednesday.

The brain begins to starve as people age, said Robert Vassar, the study's lead author, noting a simple preventative strategy would be to exercise more while managing cholesterol and hypertension.

"If people start early enough, maybe they can dodge the bullet," Vassar said, noting vasodilators, which increase blood flow, could help those who already have symptoms of the disease.

Depriving the brain of glucose increases production of an enzyme that produce the sticky protein clumps found in Alzheimer's, said Vassar, whose findings are to be published in the Dec. 26 issue of the journal Neuron.

Cancer enzymes found in zebrafish study

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A study of zebrafish has revealed ways to potentially slow or prevent the onset of cancerous tumors, the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah says.

Using zebrafish that share genetics similar to humans, researchers discovered two enzymes that, when combined, could be involved in the earliest stages of cancer, the Salt Lake City-based Institute announced Wednesday.

Genetically manipulating the enzymes could lead to therapies that target tumors in their earliest stage, said David Jones, a senior director at Huntsman.

"We could conceivably reactivate a completely normal gene in a tumor cell -- a gene that could prevent the growth of a tumor if reactivated," Jones said.

The enzymes appear to trigger an "on-and-off switch" for genes that could could cancer and numerous other diseases and birth defects, said the research published in the Dec. 26 issue of Cell.

Older people at risk from mixing drugs

CHICAGO, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Older people risk health problems by mixing unsafe combinations of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, say researchers at the University of Chicago.

Nearly 2.2 million U.S. adults, ages 57 to 85, are at risk for problems such as internal bleeding and muscle weakness, said the study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers noted a significance increase during the last decade of supplements, prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications, such as aspirin, omega-3 fatty acids, garlic and glucosamine-chondroitin, USA Today reported Wednesday.

"Some may assume that, just because a drug is available without a prescription, it's safe," said Dima Qato, a pharmacist who led the study at the University of Chicago.

The findings mean the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, policymakers, doctors, pharmacists and patients all must focus on improving drug safety for older adults," Qato said.