UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Astronauts to begin pre-launch quarantine

NASA says the six STS-129 astronauts scheduled to lift off next week to the International Space Station are ready to begin their quarantine period.

The six astronauts spent Monday attending to administrative duties at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA said. They were to enter a germ-free environment Monday night, where they will remain until Thursday when they fly to the Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is set for 2:28 p.m. EST Monday,on Monday Nov. 16, with the countdown to begin at 1 p.m. EST Friday.

At the space center in Florida, NASA said the work week began with the installation of new equipment at Launch Pad 39A. Technicians were to install instruments in both the mobile launcher platform's service mast and in space shuttle Atlantis' aft section. NASA said the equipment will record the sound pressure and vibration at liftoff -- which recently were determined to be stronger than originally thought.

The testing of the "main engine acoustic environment" using microphones and sensors will continue with next week's launch.

The STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles Hobaugh and piloted by Barry Wilmore, with astronauts Robert Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips into space.

Atlantis and its crew will deliver various pieces of equipment to the space station, with the mission to include three spacewalks.

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Rat study: Marijuana may ease PTSD

HAIFA, Israel, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Israeli researchers say synthetic marijuana helped rats under stress recover sooner from emotional trauma.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests marijuana may help patients overcome life stresses that worsen reawakened trauma and other symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

University of Haifa in Israel research student Eti Ganon-Elazar under the supervision of Dr. Irit Akirav examined how long it took rats to overcome a traumatic experience without intervention. Next, these rats were introduced to additional stress. The stress slowed trauma recovery time.

Additionally, another group of rats exposed to the trauma as well as stress received an injection of synthetic marijuana into the brain -- an area connected to emotive memory. Although these rats were exposed to stress they agreed to re-enter an area -- signaling easing of effects of their trauma -- after the same amount of time as the rats not suffering additional stress had -- indicating, the researchers said, the synthetic marijuana helped cancel the effect of additional stress.

The rats given synthetic marijuana also released more of a hormone related to stress, the researchers said.

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FDA issues updated food code

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has released an updated FDA Food Code that's used as a model for state, city, county and tribal inspections.

The 2009 Food Code, officials said, is used to regulate more than 1 million restaurants, retail food stores and vending and food service operations across the United States. They said the code provides the basis for most licensing, inspection and enforcement activities, as well as serving as a model for food statutes, regulations and ordinances.

Officials said the 2009 edition of the Food Code is the seventh full edition published by the FDA. The previous full edition was released in 2005 with a supplement published in 2007.

Among the updates, cut leafy greens are now included among the foods that require time and temperature control for safety. And requirements are added to improve food worker awareness of food allergen concerns in the food service and retail setting.

Serving hamburgers and other ground meats in an undercooked form upon a consumer's request is no longer an option for items offered on a children's menu, officials said. And a new definition and criteria are added for the non-continuous cooking of foods comprised of raw animal products.

Several requirements related to the effective cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and surfaces are enhanced or clarified.

More information is available at http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/FoodCode2009/.

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Blood test may detect Alzheimer's early

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Middle-aged women with high levels of the amino acid homocysteine are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease later, Swedish researchers found.

Thesis author Dr. Dimitri Zylberstein, of Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said the discovery could lead to a new and simple way of determining who is at risk for Alzheimer's long before there are any signs of the illness.

Zylberstein used data from the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, which was started at the end of the 1960s when nearly 1,500 women age 38-60 were examined, asked questions about their health and had blood samples taken.

Nearly all of the samples have now been analyzed and compared with information on who went on to suffer from Alzheimer's and dementia much later.

"Alzheimer's disease was more than twice as common among the women with the highest levels of homocysteine than among those with the lowest, and the risk for any kind of dementia was 70 percent higher," Zylberstein said in a statement.

The researchers do not yet know whether it is the homocysteine itself that damages the brain, or whether there is some other underlying factor that both increases levels of the homocysteine and causes dementia.

Elevated homocysteine levels have been linked to certain vitamin deficiencies -- B12 and folate.