science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Κυριακή 4 Μαρτίου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Cassini Detects Hint of Fresh Air at Dione
Marine Microbes vs. Cystic Fibrosis
FDA approves two new pancreatic enzyme products Viokace and Ultresa to aid food digestion
Vitamin D shrinks fibroid tumors in rats

Cassini Detects Hint of Fresh Air at Dione

Posted: 03 Mar 2012 01:10 PM PST

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has "sniffed" molecular oxygen ions around Saturn's icy moon Dione for the first time, confirming the presence of a very tenuous atmosphere. The oxygen ions are quite sparse - one for every 0.67 cubic inches of space (one for every 11 cubic centimeters of space) or about 2,550 per cubic foot (90,000 per cubic meter) - show that Dione has an extremely thin neutral atmosphere.

Marine Microbes vs. Cystic Fibrosis

Posted: 03 Mar 2012 12:59 PM PST

Microbes that grow in the ocean could one day help doctors combat the deadly disease cystic fibrosis (CF), said Tracy Mincer, a microbiologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Mincer studies the small chemicals marine microbes make to do specific jobs such as communicating with each other or warding off predatory protozoa. In October 2011, the Flatley Discovery Lab (FDL) of Charlestown, Mass., awarded Mincer a $1.2-million grant to provide thousands of the chemicals for screening as potential drugs to treat CF.

FDA approves two new pancreatic enzyme products Viokace and Ultresa to aid food digestion

Posted: 03 Mar 2012 12:49 PM PST

Two new pancreatic enzyme products used to help aid food digestion, Ultresa (pancrelipase) and Viokace (pancrelipase), were approved today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Ultresa is a delayed-release capsule used to treat children and adults with cystic fibrosis, a serious genetic disorder affecting the lungs and other organs, or other conditions who cannot digest food normally because their pancreas does not make enough pancreatic enzymes.

Vitamin D shrinks fibroid tumors in rats

Posted: 03 Mar 2012 12:43 PM PST

Treatment with vitamin D reduced the size of uterine fibroids in laboratory rats predisposed to developing the benign tumors, reported researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.