UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Atlantis undocks from space station

HOUSTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts undocked from the International Space Station at 4:53 a.m. EST Wednesday, beginning the return to Earth.

Immediately after the undocking, shuttle pilot Barry Wilmore maneuvered Atlantis into an orbit circling the space station while station astronauts visually inspected the shuttle's heat shield for possible damage inflicted during its launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

After completing a full circle around the space station, NASA said Atlantis fired its thrusters twice to depart the station's vicinity at about 1 1/2 feet per second.

Astronaut Nicole Stott is returning to Earth aboard the shuttle after spending 87 days at the space station as an Expedition 21 flight engineer. Her return to Earth makes STS-129 the final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station, with only five space shuttle missions remaining. In the future, ISS crew rotations will be handled by Soyuz spacecraft under Russian command.

Atlantis is scheduled to land Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:44 a.m. EST.

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Avoid kissing, handshakes at Thanksgiving

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The American Red Cross advises families to make some changes in how they interact and eat at Thanksgiving, to prevent the spread of the swine flu virus.

Sharon Stanley, chief nurse of the American Red Cross in Washington, says Thanksgiving is all about food, family and friends -- but with H1N1 flu still circulating families can take some steps to keep the celebration happy and healthy.

Stanley advises to:

-- Avoid the usual kisses and handshakes when greeting friends and family.

-- Wash hands frequently, before preparing food, while cooking and always before eating.

-- Keep plenty of hand soap in the bathroom, preferably in a pump container. Skip pretty hand towels and use disposable hand towels or a roll of paper towels.

-- Consider putting the glasses away and using plastic cups, or provide a way for guests to identify their drinks to avoid drinking out of anyone else's glass.

-- Put serving utensils in every dish, including snacks like nuts, pretzels or potato chips, so people can spoon out their portion instead of reaching in with their hands.

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Intelligence poorly related to brain size

LONDON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've found brain size is much less related to the complexity of an organism's thought and behavior than is currently assumed.

Professor Lars Chittka of the Queen Mary's Research Center for Psychology at the University of London and Jeremy Niven of the University of Cambridge examined the brain size of a broad range of organisms, ranging from insects to vertebrates. They also analyzed the complexity of behaviors, social structures and mental processes of the organisms.

The scientists said they concluded animals with bigger brains are not necessarily more intelligent.

Chittka and Niven said a honeybee's brain weighs only one milligram and contains fewer than 1 million nerve cells, while a human brain weighs more than 1.25 kilograms (about 2.75 pounds), and contains an estimated 85 billion nerve cells. Yet the honeybee can count, categorize objects, understand the meaning of "same" and "different," and differentiate among shapes.

The researchers said the determined larger animals have larger brains partly because they need larger nerve cells. Moreover, they said larger brains have a greater number of redundant nerve circuits that add precision to sensory processes and detail to perception.

Their findings appear in the journal Current Biology.

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Gene may help drugs fight cancer

GRANADA, Spain, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Spanish scientists say they have found a gene that leads to the death of tumor cells derived from breast, lung and colon cancer.

The University of Granada researchers, led by Professors Antonia Jimenez, Jose Salazar and Consolacion Alonso, said the importance of the newly found gene -- called "gene E" -- is that its use to fight cancer can reduce the potent drugs that are currently used, resulting in a more effective treatment.

The researchers, including Ana Rosa Rama, said chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery show at present "limited" results in advanced stages of cancer.

"That is why it is urgent to find new therapies, and gene therapy has emerged as a potentially powerful therapeutic platform," Rama said, noting "it is possible to use gene therapy as an aid to chemotherapy, improving its results when it comes to attacking cancer, thus allowing the dosage of agents to be reduced and contributing to a reduction in side effects for the patient."

The scientists said their research suggests the possibility of using gene E to reduce the concentration of chemotherapeutic agents in current use with cancer patients.