October 11, 1997
News of the Week:
Missing Enzyme Incites Cancer Debate
Sources:Cells from mice lacking an enzyme called telomerase still form tumors, raising doubts that cancers can be thwarted by inhibiting the enzyme, which protects the tips of chromosomes.
Ronald A. DePinho
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY 10461
Bubbles burst stable chemical bonds
By concentrating energy into bubbles, high-pressure liquid jets can drive chemical reactions.
Sources:
William R. Moser
Department of Chemical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609
Website: http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/ChemEng/People/moser.htmlKenneth S. Suslick
Department of Chemistry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
601 South Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Prion proponent wins Nobel for medicine
The 1997 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is given to Stanley B. Prusiner, who provided evidence that a protein can act as an infectious agent.
Mental disorders tied to teen parenthood
Sources:
Young people who encounter mental disorders such as depression and substance abuse face a greater likelihood of having children during their teenage years.
Ronald C. Kessler
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School
180 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115-5899
Water link to frog deformities strengthened
An unidentified agent in the water from wetlands in Minnesota causes deformities in laboratory tests on frog embryos.
Sources:
James Burkhart
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Building 101, Room B242
P.O. Box 12233
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
David M. Gardiner
Department of Development and Cell Biology
University of California
Irving, CA 92697
Mark Gernes
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
520 LaFayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-4194
Plant estrogens may ward off breast cancer
Women who eat whole grain foods and other rich sources of phyto-oestrogens are less likely to have breast cancer.
Sources:
Herman Adlercreutz
Department of Clinical Chemistry
University of Helsinki
Meilahti Hospital
Haartmaninkatu 4
Fin-00290
Helsinki
Finland
Stephen Barnes
Department of Pharmacology
University of Alabama
Birmingham, AL 35294
David Ingram
145 Mounts Bay Road, Suite 44
Perth 6000
Australia
Full report of nuclear test fallout released
Sources:The National Cancer Institute reported on nationwide exposure to fallout from 90 atmospheric nuclear tests conducted throughout the 1950s and 1960s at the Nevada Test Site.
Faye Austin
Division of Cancer Biology
National Cancer Institute
6130 Executive Boulevard
Executive Plaza North, Room 500
Mail Stop Code 7380
Rockville, MD 20892-7380
Pat Ortmeyer
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
6935 Laurel Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Big gun: Pistol shines in the infrared
Astronomers have obtained a detailed look at what could be the brightest star in the heavens.
Sources:
Donald F. Figer
Division of Astronomy
University of California
P.O. Box 951562
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1562
Research Notes:
Biomedicine
Combating corneal transplant rejection
Sources:A new immunization technique may lessen rejection of corneal transplants.
Jerry Y. Niederkorn
Department of Ophthalmology and Microbiology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard
Dallas, TX 75235-9060
A better understanding of pterygia
Pterygia, cloudy growths on the eye, are caused by sunlight exposure.
Sources:
Ted W. Reid
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
Texas Technical University Health Sciences Center
7703 Floyd Curl Drive
San Antonio, TX 78284
Sweet dreams for contact lenses
New permeable contact lenses avoid bacterial binding and eye infections.
Sources:
H. Dwight Cavanagh
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard
Dallas, TX 75235-9060
Articles:
Inside Old Faithful
Scientists look down the throat of a geyser
A miniature video camera loaded into Yellowstone National Park's "Old Faithful" between eruptions revealed a narrowing that helps explain the geyser's behavior.
Sources:
Susan W. Kieffer
Kieffer & Woo
P.O. Box 130
Palgrave, Ontario L0N 1P0
Canada
James A. Westphal
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
Toothsome Technology
Scientists strive to improve dental materials
Dental restorations made with tougher composites and ceramics may last longer, reducing trips to the dentist.
Sources:
Joseph M. Antonucci
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Stephen Bayne
Department of Operative Dentistry
School of Dentistry
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7450
E-mail: stephen_bayne@dentistry.unc.edu
Jack L. Ferracane
Department of Biomaterials and Biomechanics
Oregon Health Services University
Portland, OR 97201
E-mail: ferracan@ohsu.edu
J. Robert Kelly
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Lars-Ake Linden
Polymer Research Group
Department of Dental Biomaterials Science
Karolinska Institute
Royal Academy of Medicine
P.O. Box 4064
S-14104 Huddinge
Stockholm
Sweden
T. Nikaido
Tokyo Medical and Dental University
Tokyo 113
Japan
Improving the accuracy of the decennial count
Despite strong support from statisticians, the Census Bureau's plan to increase the use of sampling in the next census has met resistance in Congress.
Sources:
Margo Anderson
Department of History
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Robert M. Bell
RAND Corp.
1700 Main Street
P.O. Box 2138 Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
David A. Binder
Business Survey Methods Division
R.H. Coats Building, 11-A
Statistics Canada
Ottawa, ON K1A 0T6
Canada
Harvey M. Choldin
Department of Sociology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
323 Lincoln Hall
Champaign, IL 61820
Stephen E. Fienberg
132G Baker Hall
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Martha A. Riche
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233-0900
Website: http://www.census.gov/
Andrew A. White
Committee on National Statistics
National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20418
Website: http://www2.nas.edu/cnstat
Table of Contents - 10/11/97