UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

NASA plans lunar spacecraft launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency said preparations are complete for the launch of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

The two National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft are to be launched together to the moon aboard an Atlas V rocket on June 17. Three launch windows are available for the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., liftoff -- at 3:51 p.m., 4:01 p.m. and 4:11 p.m. EDT.

NASA said its television coverage of the launch will begin at 1 p.m. EDT. If the launch must be postponed 24 hours, the launch times on June 18 will be 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m. and 5:32 p.m. EDT.

"LRO's objectives during its mission orbiting the moon are to identify safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and demonstrate new technology," NASA said in a statement. "LRO will orbit the poles of the moon during a one-year exploration mission followed by a planned multi-year science mission."

Approximately four to five months after launch, LCROSS will impact the moon, providing information about the lunar composition and presence of water ice or hydrated minerals.

An overview of the LRO mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/overview/index.html.

Scientists create new way to treat obesity

LOS ANGELES, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have engineered a metabolic pathway in mice to prevent diet-induced obesity.

The UCLA scientists led by Professor James Liao and Associate Professor Katrina Dipple constructed a non-native pathway in mice that increased fatty acid metabolism and resulted in resistance to diet-induced obesity.

Graduate student Jason Dean, the study's author, said the idea came from plants and bacteria.

"We know plants and bacteria digest fats differently from humans, from mammals," Dean said. "Plant seeds usually store a lot of fat. When they germinate, they convert the fat to sugar to grow. The reason they can digest fat this way is because they have a set of enzymes that's uniquely present in plants and bacteria. These enzymes are called the 'glyoxylate shunt' and are missing in mammals."

Liao's team cloned bacteria genes from Escherichia coli that would enable the shunt, then introduced the cloned E. coli genes into the mitochondria of liver cells in mice; mitochondria are where fatty acids are burned in cells.

The researchers found the glyoxylate shunt cut the energy-generating pathway of the cell in half, allowing the cell to digest the fatty acid much faster than normal. They also created an additional pathway for converting fatty acid into carbon dioxide.

The study is detailed in the journal Cell Metabolism.

New sensor to speed genome sequencing

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are developing a solid-state genome sequencing sensor that could ultimately perform DNA analysis with a single molecule.

University of Illinois researchers said their nanopore sensor, made by drilling a tiny hole through a thin film of aluminum oxide, could offer tremendous possibilities for personalized medicine and advanced diagnostics.

"Solid-state nanopore sensors have shown superior chemical, thermal and mechanical stability over their biological counterparts, and can be fabricated using conventional semiconductor processes," said Professor Rashid Bashir. "The aluminum-oxide nanopore sensors go a step further, exhibiting superior mechanical properties, enhanced noise performance and increased lifetime over their silicon-oxide and silicon-nitride counterparts."

The researchers describe the fabrication and operation of the aluminum-oxide nanopore sensor in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Advanced Materials and now available at the journal's Web site.

Study: Rural epidemics most dangerous

MANHATTAN, Kan., June 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests an infectious disease striking a rural area might be more disastrous than an epidemic in a large metropolitan area.

Kansas State University Associate Professor Caterina Scoglio and colleagues sought to identify optimal strategies to forecast and control disease outbreaks in rural areas.

"What are used as mitigation strategies in cities will not be so effective in rural areas," Scoglio said. "In cities, people have a lot of informal contact with one another, but looser ties."

She said that means during an epidemic urban residents are less likely to interact with sick neighbors and, therefore, are less likely to spread a disease. But the scientists found 35 percent of rural residents said they would be willing to visit other people in the community during a major epidemic.

"In a rural setting, you're maybe more likely to watch out for all of your neighbors, and your neighbors may also be your uncles, aunts and other family members," Associate Professor Todd Easton, one of the researchers, said.

Easton's group ran a computer simulation on a hypothetical disease outbreak in a rural town in which on Day 1 everyone is healthy. By Day 20, they found everyone would have contracted the disease.

The research is to appear in multiple journals.