UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Mars Odyssey orbiter experiences a problem

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- NASA scientists say they are trying to resolve a problem aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which put itself into a safe standby mode Saturday.

Space agency engineers said the likely cause of the event was an upset in the orbiter's computer "memory error external bus," as was the case with a similar event in June 2008.

While in safe mode, Odyssey remains in communication with ground controllers and maintains its optimal temperatures and power, NASA said. To clear the memory error, the team Monday commanded Odyssey to perform a cold reboot of its onboard computer. Controllers said the spacecraft reported the reboot was completed successfully.

"This event is a type we have seen before, so we have a known and tested path to resuming normal operations," said Odyssey Project Manager Philip Varghese of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Odyssey has been orbiting Mars since 2001, studying the planet and supporting the missions of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the Phoenix Mars Lander.

Until Odyssey is available again as a communications relay -- expected in about a week -- NASA said Spirit and Opportunity will be operating with direct communications to and from Earth.

Researchers identify heart attack trigger

LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Scientists in Britain have identified the trigger leading to arterial damage caused by atherosclerosis, the disease that causes heart attacks and strokes.

Researchers at Imperial College London say the findings suggest the condition could potentially be treated by blocking the molecule that triggers the damage. The research also suggests bacteria may be playing a part in the disease.

Dr. Claudia Monaco says plaques form in arteries that feed the brain and heart, obstructing the blood flow. The plaques are made of substances like fatty deposits and cholesterol. Immune cells are attracted into these plaques, which form inside the wall of the artery, leading to the artery becoming inflamed and to the artery wall being damaged. Sometimes, the plaque can burst as a result of this damage, causing a stroke or heart attack.

The trigger identified is the molecule TLR-2, a "receptor" molecule that lives on the surface of an immune cell. When it recognizes harmful molecules and cells, including bacteria, it switches the immune cell into attack mode to protect the body. It can also switch on the immune cells when the body is under stress, Monaco says.

The study, published in the journal Circulation, finds that in laboratory tests, blocking the TLR-2 receptor stopped cells from making the molecules that cause inflammation and damage to the artery -- suggesting that the molecule is triggering the damage to the artery.

EPA postpones more ethanol in gasoline

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will postpone allowing any increase in the amount of ethanol in gasoline until it can determine the impact.

The Union of Concerned Scientists applauded the Tuesday decision, saying more ethanol in gasoline could increase tailpipe pollution or damage older vehicles.

The EPA announcement was in response to a petition filed by Growth Energy, an ethanol industry group, which asked the agency to increase the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent.

"The Obama administration is respecting the role of science and resisting industry pressure to put private interests ahead of public health and the environment," said Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist in UCS' Clean Vehicles Program. "Raising ethanol blend percentages without testing what it would do to air quality and vehicle engines is like going in for surgery before getting a diagnosis. It wouldn't be good for the industry or the environment to rush ahead only to find out later that we guessed wrong."

Martin said most vehicles on the road today are not certified to operate on ethanol blends higher than 10 percent. But he said it's not clear how light duty car engines or boat engines, for example, would perform with higher blends.

The EPA and Department of Energy are testing engines to answer that question.

Research sheds new light on epilepsy

NEWCASTLE, England, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- British medical scientists say they've used human brain tissue removed from people suffering from epilepsy to do research that may lead to better treatments.

Newcastle University scientists say they have, for the first time, been able to record spontaneous epileptic activity in brain tissue that has been removed from patients undergoing neurosurgery.

Led by Dr Mark Cunningham, the research has revealed a particular type of brain wave pattern associated with epilepsy is caused by electrical connections between nerve cells in the brain rather than chemical ones. That means traditional drugs are useless to them.

Cunningham said the findings mark a huge step forward in understanding epilepsy, which affects an estimated 45 million people worldwide.

"Until now we have only been able to mimic epilepsy using experimental animal models, but this can never give you a true picture of what is actually going on inside the human brain in epilepsy," he said. "Our findings help us to understand what is going wrong and are an important step towards finding new epilepsy treatments in the future."

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.