Global warming can no longer be avoided
BOULDER, Colo., April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists say their research indicates the effects of significant global warming on Earth can no longer be avoided.
But the researchers said a worldwide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would reduce the effects, lessening sea-level rise and possibly saving Arctic Sea ice.
The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, determined that if all nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, the most dangerous potential aspects of climate change -- including significant sea-level rise and massive losses of Arctic sea ice and permafrost -- could be partially avoided.
"This important study, when taken with similar efforts, will help define a major challenge for society," said Cliff Jacobs of the National Science Foundation, which partially funded the study.
The study's lead author, NCAR scientist Warren Washington, said the findings gained through several supercomputer studies indicate the Earth can no longer avoid significant global warming during this century. "But," he said, "if the world were to implement this level of emission cuts, we could stabilize the threat of climate change."
The European Union has called for dramatic cuts in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers said. The U.S. Congress is debating the issue.
The findings will be reported in next week's edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Heart attack bleeding risk test created
ST. LOUIS, April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have developed a method of estimating the bleeding risk in heart attack victims.
Using clinical variables, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Duke University and collaborating institutions say their method can help lessen the chances that heart attack patients will experience the common complication.
"Until now, there hasn't been a simple tool applicable to the general population that can predict the risk of bleeding before patients are treated for heart attack," said Dr. Richard Bach, a Washington University cardiologist and medical director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. "Older methods for estimating risk either were derived from a low-bleeding-risk population or used variables that aren't available until after treatment is begun."
Study co-author Dr. Brian Gage, also from Washington University, said the risk of bleeding is substantial in people with heart attacks. "We found that this population could be risk-stratified, so that people at high risk of bleeding could receive less aggressive anti-coagulant and anti-platelet therapy while those at low risk could receive full-dose therapy."
Led by Dr. Sumeet Subherwal, a cardiology fellow at Duke University, the study appears in the journal Circulation.
Vehicle diagnostic device is developed
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. engineers say they've developed technology that can detect defects in vehicles by driving over a speed bump-like "diagnostic cleat" containing sensors.
Purdue University Associate Professor Douglas Adams is working with the U.S. Army and Honeywell International Inc. to develop the system.
In the tests, military vehicles are driven over the diagnostic cleat, which is like a rubber-jacketed speed bump equipped with sensors called triaxial accelerometers. The system measures vibrations created by forces that a vehicle's tires apply to the cleat. Damage is detected in the tires, wheel bearings and suspension components by using signal processing software to interpret the sensor data.
"Let's say one of the tires is severely under pressure," Adams said. "The cleat tells you to turn around and fill up that tire because you are about to embark on a 10-hour mission with this vehicle. Or, you are returning the vehicle to the depot and the cleat tells you that the right rear suspension has a problem in the shock absorber or a critical bolt in the front suspension is broken. The maintenance personnel don't have to troubleshoot the vehicle. They know what to fix."
The system also could be used to test civilian vehicles, he said.
Research findings are to be presented April 22 in Detroit during the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.
Study seeks to hike leukemia drug efficacy
PHILADELPHIA, April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. and British scientists say they've identified a class of drugs that may enhance the effectiveness of medications used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia.
People with chronic myeloid leukemia are usually first treated with a drug known as imatinib mesylate. Although very effective at first, the body often becomes resistant to the drug as the disease progresses. Now a team of researchers from Britain's University of Leicester and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has identified a class of drugs that might enhance the therapeutic effects of imatinib mesylate and other drugs that target the same molecule.
Researches, led by Paolo Salomoni and Bruno Calabretta, observed that in several different CML cell lines and primary cells, although imatinib mesylate killed the majority of cells, a marked proportion underwent a process known as autophagy, destroying themselves.
The scientists determined suppression of autophagy by using either drugs or RNA interference enhanced imatinib mesylate and also induced death of CML cell lines.
The researchers suggest inhibitors of autophagy might be used with imatinib mesylate or other drugs that target the same molecule to enhance their therapeutic benefits.
The study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Investigations and is available online at https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=35660.
