June 14, 1997

New Crowd at the Solar System's Edge

A mammoth, icy body recently discovered beyond the orbit of Neptune may represent a new population of objects.

References:

Duncan, M.J., and H.F. Levison. 1997. A disk of scattered icy objects and the origin of Jupiter-family comets. Science 276(June 13):1670.

Luu, J., et al. A new dynamical class of objects in the outer solar system. 1997. Nature 387(June 5):573.

Further Readings:

Cowen, R. 1997. Comet reservoir gets more real. Science News 151(June 7):352.

Unclogging arteries? Radiation helps

Giving balloon angioplasty a radiation chaser appears to increase the chance that vessels will stay unclogged.

References:

Teirstein, P.S., et al. 1997. Catheter-based radiotherapy to inhibit restenosis after coronary stenting. New England Journal of Medicine 336(June 12):1697.

Further Readings:

Amols, H.I., et al. 1996. Dosimetric considerations for catheter-based beta and gamma emitters in the therapy of neointimal hyperplasia in human coronary arteries. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 36(November):913.

Fackelmann, K. 1997. Can you catch heart disease? Science News 151(June 14):375.

Holmes, D.R. 1997. Preventing coronary restenosis and complications. New England Journal of Medicine 336(June 12):1748.

Weinberger, J., H. Amols, et al. 1996. Intracoronary irradiation: Dose response for the prevention of restenosis in swine. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 36(November):767.

Wiedermann, J.G., et al. 1994. Intracoronary irradiation markedly reduces restenosis after balloon angioplasty in a porcine model. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 23(May):1491.

Faulty protein repair spurs mouse seizures

Mice lacking an enzyme that repairs damaged proteins die from seizures within two months of birth.

References:

Kim, E., et al. 1997. Deficiency of a protein repair enzyme results in the accumulation of altered proteins, retardation of growth, and fatal seizures in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94(June 10):6132.

Social sense may heed uneven inheritance

A still-unidentified gene on the X chromosome apparently contributes to one's ability to gauge others' social reactions and to inhibit impulsive acts.

References:

McGuffin, P., and J. Scourfield. A father's imprint on his daughter's thinking. Nature 387(June 12):662.

Skuse, D., et al. 1997. Evidene from Turner's syndrome of an imprinted X-linked locus affecting cognitive funciton. Nature 387(June 12):705.

Further Readings:

Pennington, B. 1997. Using genetics to dissect cognition. American Journal of Human Genetics 60(January):13.

Nevada's Basin and Range: Down on its luck

Fossil leaves topple a longstanding theory about how the western landscape formed.

References:

Wolfe, J.A, et al. 1997. Paleobotanical evidence for high altitudes in Nevada during the Miocene. Science 276(June 13):1672.

Further Readings:

Wernicke, B., et al. 1996. Origin of high mountains in the continents: The southern Sierra Nevada. Science 271(Jan. 12):190.

Keys to an antibody's near-perfect fit

Immature antibodies change shape easily to bind to foreign substances, and they develop their characteristic lock-and-key property only as they age.

References:

Wedemayer, G.J. . . .R.C. Stevens. 1997. Structural insights into the evolution of an antibody combining site. Science 276(June 13):1665.

Further Readings:

Pennisi, E. 1994. A room of their own. Science News 145(May 21):335.

Divide and conquer for quantum computers

Quantum computations, in theory, can be speeded up significantly by letting many quantum computers work together on data encoded as particles in an entangled quantum state.

References:

Grover, L.K. Preprint. Quantum telecomputation.

Further Readings:

Brassard, G. 1997. Searching a quantum phone book. Science 275(Jan. 31):627.

Cirac, J.I., et al. 1997. Quantum state transfer and entanglement among distant nodes in a quantum network. Physical Review Letters 78(April 21):3221.

Lipkin, R. 1996. Schrodinger's cat: Two atoms in one? Science News 149(May 25):325.

Peterson, I. 1996. Quantum-quick queries. Science News 150(Aug. 31):143.

______. 1995. Electron waves: Interference in an atom. Science News 148(Aug. 26):133.

______. 1995. Quantum bits. Science News 147(Jan. 14):30.

______. 1994. Opening a quantum door on computing. Science News 145(May 14):308.

Yam, P. 1997. Bringing Schrodinger's cat to life. Scientific American (June):124.

Clinton calls for ban on human cloning

President Clinton asks Congress to enact cloning legislation based on the findings of a national bioethics commission.

References:

Shapiro, H., et al. 1997. Cloning Human Beings: Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Washington, D.C.: The White House.

Further Readings:

Adler, T. 1996. Bidding bye-bye to the black sheep? Science News 149(March 9):148.

Majzoub, J., and L. Muglia. 1996. Knockout mice. New England Journal of Medicine 334(April 4):904.

Marshall, E. 1996. Whose genome is it, anyway? Science 273(Sept. 27):1788.

Travis, J. 1997. A fantastical experiment. Science News 151(April 5):214.

Venter, J., et al. 1996. A new strategy for genome sequencing. Nature 381(May 30):364.

Research Notes:

Astronomy

Leonids: The coming storm

Earth is poised to plunge headlong into the most intense interplanetary dust storm it has encountered in 33 years.

References:

Jenniskens, P., et al. 1997. Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Baltimore.

Further Readings:

Cowen, R. 1993. Aftermath of a meteor shower. Science News 144(Oct. 2):217.

Additional information on the Leonid shower and coming storm is available at http://www-space.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid.html

Biology

HIV may spare cells -- for a short time

To allow itself time to reproduce, HIV may have developed a strategy that prevents infected cells from committing suicide quickly.

References:

Sieg, S., et al. 1997. Fas ligand deficiency in HIV disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 94(May 27):5860.

Sources:

David Kaplan
Institute of Pathology
Case Western Reserve University
Biomedical Research Building
2109 Adelbert Road
Cleveland, OH 44106-4943

Stopping cellular traffic in pregnancy

The presence of a protein called Fas ligand on cells in the uterus and placenta of pregant mice suggest that the body seeks to limit immune cells from traveling between the mother to the fetus.

References:

Hunt, J.S., et al. 1997. Fas ligand is positioned in mouse uterus and placenta to prevent trafficking of activated leukocytes between the mother and the conceptus. Journal of Immunology 158(May 1):4122.

A bacterium that munches on solvents

Scientists have isolated a bacterium that can convert chlorinated solvents to a harmless gas; the advance may lead to new ways of cleaning contaminated groundwater.

References:

Maymo-Gatell, X., et al. 1997. Isolation of a bacterium that reductively dechlorinates tetrachloroethene to ethene. Science 276(June 6):1568.

Further Readings:

McCarty, P.L. 1997. Breathing with chlorinated solvents. Science 276(June 6):1521.

Computers

Quantum cheating

Researchers identify a loophole in certain cryptographic schemes that take advantage of quantum effects to achieve a high level of security.

References:

Lo, H.K., and H.F. Chau. 1997. Is quantum bit commitment really possible? Physical Review Letters 78(April 28):3410.

Mayers, Dominic. 1997. Unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment is impossible. Physical Review Letters 78(April 28):3414.

Further Readings:

Peterson, I. 1996. Bits of uncertainty. Science News 149(Feb. 10):90.

Earth Science

Florida air loaded with African dust

Dust from northern Africa could put Florida and other eastern states in violation of proposed EPA regulations.

References:

Prospero, J.M., and D.L. Savoie. 1997. Spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Baltimore.

New Jersey's link to a global crisis

Ancient sediments drilled in New Jersey chronicle the events that killed off the dinosaurs and other life 65 million years ago.

References:

Olsson, R.K., et al. 1997. Spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Baltimore.

Articles:

Galaxy Formation Theory Meets Its Match

From gas clumps to galactic clusters

Theories of galaxy formation that involve cold dark matter indicate that galaxies finished assembling relatively late in the universe, a prediction that appears borne out by recent observations.

References:

Ellis, R.S., et al. 1997. Workshop on the New Generation Space Telescope. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Greenbelt, Md.

White, S.D.M., et al. 1997. Space Telescope Science Institute Workshop on the Hubble Deep Field. Baltimore.

Further Readings:

Cowen, R. 1997. From soup to us. Science News. 151(June 7):354.

______. 1997. More Hubble trouble. Science News 151(May 3):272.

______. 1997. After Hubble: The next generation. Science News 151(April 26):262.

______. 1996. Images hint at seeds of a giant galaxy. Science News 150(Sept. 7):149.

______. 1996. Found: Primeval galaxies. Science News 149(Feb. 24):120.

______. 1996. Hubble's deep view of the universe. Science News 149(Jan. 20):36.

Harbinger of a Heart Attack

Does a protein in the blood foretell heart trouble?

Inflammation may play a role in the development of heart disease.

References:

Epstein, S., et al. 1996. Association between prior cytomegalovirus infection and the risk of restenosis after coronary atherectomy. New England Journal of Medicine 335(Aug. 29):624.

Ridker, P., et al. 1997. Inflammation, aspirin, and the risk of cardiovascular disease in apparently healthy men. New England Journal of Medicine 336(April 3):973.

Serhan, C., et al. 1997. Aspirin-triggered 15-epi-lipoxin A4 (LXA4) and LXA4 stable analogues are potent inhibitors of acute inflammation: Evidence for anti-inflammatory receptors. Journal of Experimental Medicine 185(May 5):1693.

Further Readings:

Libby, P. 1995. Molecular bases of the acute coronary syndromes. Circulation 91(June 1):2844.

Raloff, J. 1997. Unclogging arteries? Radiation helps. Science News 151(June14):364.

Ross, R. 1993. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: A perspective for the 1990s. Nature 362(April 29):801.

Table of Contents - 6/14/97

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