This week in European sciences -- week 37
 

Overview
FAZ recommends a book on diseases exaggerated by pharma companies to boost their revenues (eg Viagra). The Guardian cares about the future of Hubble space telescope. FAZ explains why many deaths of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade center will never be identified. Also FAZ on therapies for infections by fungi, also an article about the controversy of hormone therapy. Corriere della Sera on smart cloths, and smart experiments challenging supernatural phenomena. Süddeutsche Zeitung on a field trial to prevent panic situations in sports arenas. La Repubblica on a conference discussing the influence of television on our beliefs. Der Spiegel with a grand piece on people suffering dementia. FAZ asks how to monitor the pollen of GMO plants. In addition: L.A. Times on the flooding problem of sinking Venice. Wall Street Journal on a proposal to fight underage alcohol drinking. NY Times writes about reactions on NASA's hasty efforts to resume space shuttle flights. Also NY Times reports on efforts of drug development based on RNA. Also NY Times asks for rethinking trauma after 9/11 attack. Also NY Times on safety problems of US nuclear power plants reported by a scientist's group. Washington Post on retracted results from an Ecstasy study. Also how to curb the appetite of obese people by an extra hormone dose.

Disease & Fiction

Michael Adrian recommends in FAZ (September 12, 2003) a book "Die Krankheitserfinder" (in German language) by journalist Jörg Blech on diseases exaggerated by pharma firms to boost their revenues. Look for Viagra: Initially erectil disfunction was a strict defined, physiological malfunction, now a health problem of the mass - a climax of product marketing. There is some more fiction, like the "Aging Male Syndrome", probably hormone therapy of women and others. Hence Blech makes us more informed about the dependencies between pharma companies, doctors and the patient.
Joachim Müller-Jung reports on a meeting of members of the British and German governmental ethics commissions. The British project "UK biobank" was discussed. In that project half a million Britains are medically screened in the next years and checked over decades. Issues on ethics and data security are quite generously handled by the British, and are questioned by German experts. But it looks like Germany and France will bring to public their own proposals on biobanks and its value for medical research later this year.

Scientists Study Venice Flooding Problem

That Venice is sinking is no secret. However, scientists are concerned that the Italian city is significantly deteriorating. Therefore, more than 100 scientists from around the globe are scheduled to participate at a conference to discuss how to save Venice. The meeting will start this Sunday at Cambridge University, Sue Leeman reports for the Associated Press (in L.A. Times, September 12, 2003). It is the first time in 30 years that scientists gather to examine Venice's flooding problems. "Everybody knows that Venice gets flooded," a statement from the British advocacy group Venice in Peril reads. "Not everyone knows that this is a drastically deteriorating situation." Venice in Peril is the group organizing the conference in Cambridge, UK.
 

Alok Jha cares on the future of Hubble space telescope. Is it worth saving from retirement in about seven years? Scientists have to weight costs and the risks of space flight against scientific value, because cheap ground based telescope will partly outperform Hubble.
Tim Radford writes about Lord Wilson, the famous pionier in fertility research now changing towards the science of human consciousness: "Human consciousness doesn't look like being easily solved. The more you read about it, the more puzzling it becomes." Wilson will become in 12 months president of the British Association of the Advancement of Science, a society also fostering the public understanding of science. Also Wilson presents a BBC television series called The Human Mind ... and How to Make the Most of It.

A Third Will Never be Identified

Alfons Kaiser explains in FAZ (September 11, 2003) why more than a third of 9/11 deaths will not be identified and how the team at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) is working to put the puzzle together. The official death toll is 2792. With classical methods of identification like teeth impression, finger prints, X-ray comparision 726 were identified by May 2002. Afterwards only DNA profiling gives clues using a new method called SNP test (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism). All in all about 19,936 bodies and parts of bodies are brought to OCME. 7465 parts were addressed to 1524 names. 1268 people have not yet been identified. OCME officials think it is possible to get some 200 more, but a third will never be identified.

House Panel Wary on Plan for Shuttle

The U.S. House Science Committee fears NASA is going too fast in its efforts to resume space shuttle flights. NASA has said it plans to fly as early as March 2004 and do up to four mission next year. However, members of the House Science Committee feel uneasy about what they consider to be a rush, Warren E. Leary reports in the New York Times (September 11, 2003). "I'm still concerned that the target is exceedingly ambitious and could skew NASA's efforts to return to flight," committee chairman Representative Sherwood Boehlert, a republican from New York, said. The panel wants to stress the importance of safety. NASA officials responded that the March goal was flexible.
 

Invasion of Fungi

Barbara Hobom reports in FAZ (September 10, 2003) on infections by fungi. As a result of modern medicine infections doubled in the last 20 years (in Germany). The amounts of highly suffering patients with suppressed immune systems have increased. This makes infections easier. When fungi have infected organs no therapy will usually help. Normally there is no danger coming from nature's myriads of fungi - the skin shields us. Problems come with weak spots in the skin and depressed immune status: the fungi may infect skin and nails. Because fungus' cells are quite similar to human cells side-effects of medication are common - especially when fungi spread to inner organs. Now researches hope to figure out targets for medication by genetical analysis of the fungi.
Joachim Müller-Jung gives a pro-and-con overview on recent critics on hormone therapy. Generations of women have profitated by the method, he stresses. On the other side, more and more studies are coming up questioning the therapy concept.

Assault on Youths' Drinking Urged

Higher taxes on beer and liquor and a limitation on advertisement are some of the suggestions a federal science panel proposes to fight underage drinking in the United States, John R. Wilke and Christopher Lawton report in the Wall Street Journal (September 10, 2003, front page). The writers identified the panel as an influential group that will use the National Academy of Sciences study to provide their cause with new ammunition on local and state government levels. "The consequence and cost of youthful alcohol use are enormous," the study reads, estimating that the tab for underage drinking is around $53 billion. That figure includes $19 billion for auto accidents. Beer and liquor industry lobbyists have already attacked the study, calling it a biased product. The topic currently receives special focus because Senate hearings on underage drinking are scheduled for Sept. 30.
 

Company Alliance to Develop Drugs Based on RNA

Merck & Co has formed an alliance with Alnylam Holding company, a small biotechnology firm, "to develop drugs using a widely watched new technology aimed at precisely shutting off genes involved in disease," Andrew Pollack reports in the New York Times (September 10, 2003). The new technology is known as RNA interference and is among the "hottest topics in biology," Pollack writes. RNA interference is a natural process which cells use to turn off genes. Scientists think it is a defense mechanism against viruses. "It's both an important event for our company and an important event for RNA interference," Chief Executive of Alnylam, John Maraganore, said about the new alliance with Merck. Clinical trials of drugs based on RNA interference could start in two to three years, Marganore said.
 

Field trial with 60,000 football fans

When on this week's Wednesday Germany plays against Scotland for participation at European Championchip in 2004, about 15 video cameras are not directed on the football players but on the spectators. As Hubert Filser reports in Süddeutsche Zeitung (September 9, 2003) the recordings shall help scientists for computer modelling the fastest way to evacuate a sports arena. How do spectators move usually through corridors and passages? By gauging the modells with usual behaviour the scientists want to extrapolate the unusual, in other words: panic. As a result of the simulations they want to catch hints how to optimize the arena's architecture that several 10,000 fans may leave the arena in a few minutes.
 

Calculating the Toll of Trauma

A new study examining the use of mental health services in Washington, D.C., and New York after the Sept.-11 attacks has professionals question whether new trauma really reawakens old trauma. The study took a look at the number of visits at medical centers run by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. And while mental health professionals predicted that the terrorist attacks of two years ago would increase the demand of psychiatric treatment, the number of visits to mental health professionals has not increased in the past two years, Erica Goode reports in the New York Times (September 9, 2003). The findings cause researchers to rethink and redefine trauma.
William J. Broad reports on an ecosystem deep under the sea: the hydrothermal vents. Scientists have found hundreds of unfamiliar species, most of them bacteria living in or near the up to 500 degree Celsius heated water. Some of the microbes use iron as a means of respiration. Hence, scientists consider those as possible first steps in creating life.
 

Flat-sharing with Dementia

Six elderly people live in one flat. Each has his or her own room, they share living room, kitchen, two bathrooms and their diagnosis - dementia. In a grand, but putting-us-back-on-earth report in Der Spiegel (September 8, 2003) Katja Thimm shows us the live of the dozing six. Suffering with Alzheimer's disease they fade away, forgetting about everything, the argument a minute ago, the face of relatives. - Populations gets older, the report also addresses the question how to cope with ever widespreading Alzheimer - a disease not seen as curable up to date.
 

Safety Problem at Nuclear Plants is Cited

The Union of Concerned Scientists questions the efficiency of emergency cooling systems at nuclear reactors. The system kicks in should one of the water pipes rupture and is meant to prevent the meltdown of reactors. The union together with a New York environmental group called Riverkeeper claims that in case of an emergency these backup systems could fail after a few minutes. Matthew L. Wald reports in the New York Times (September 8, 2003) that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission identified the potential problem years ago, “but does not anticipate that corrective action will be completed until early 2007.” The nuclear watchdog group “plans to petition the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week,” Wald reports. The petition will specifically asks to shut down two nuclear reactors in Buchanan, N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson River. According to David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, the current safety of plants rely on the non-failure of water pipes.
 

Big Worry on Small Pollen

Volker Stollorz reports in FAZ on Sunday (September 7, 2003) considerations of German plant scientists and government officials how to monitor pollen of genetically modified plants. According to EU legislation GMO content in foods above 0.9% must be notified. But what will happen by wind-drifting GMO pollen when neighbor's land produces organic foods? How to shield them, worries environmental activists. But: Has GMO pollen actually to be monitored at all, and who will pay for a country's monitoring scheme? According to the report Monsanto says looking at some 20 meters around the GMO field is sufficient. Others develop methods to filter the pollen out of the wind efficiently and analyse its GMO content.
Klaus Koch shows how to make fuel out of kitchen-garbage. Researcher ferment the rubbish and produce methane gas for subsequent burning and power generation.
All is technically feasible, but expensive.
Richard Friebe reports on a possible breakthrough in basic breast cancer research. British researchers uncovered the work of the so-called uPA protein system. It controlls in some way the spilling of tumor cells into the body to form hazardous metastasises. A blocker protein could give an halt to the process, but results by clinical studies are years away.
 

Results Retracted on Ecstasy Study

Opponents of ecstasy, an illegal drug known to rule young people’s raves, thought they had proof of how damaging ecstasy can be. But the year-old study, which claimed that the illicit drug “could cause permanent brain damage and Parkinson’s disease” is retracted in its entirety, Rick Weiss reports in the Washington Post (September 6, 2003). Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, who published these findings last year, said “the drug they used in their experiments was not ecstacy after all.” The mislabling of vials caused the use of methamphetamine or “speed” instead of what the scientists believed to be ecstasy.
 

Hormone Found to Suppress Appetite in Obese People

While the craze for trim and slim continues to overwhelm the United States, statistics keep showing that Americans get fatter. However, obese people put their hopes on new studies. One of these, reports Rob Stein in the Washington Post (September 4, 2003), indicates that "an extra dose of a hormone produced by the digestive system can apparently curb the appetite of obese people." Other media outlets have picked up on the study and hopes rise that the hormone called peptide YY 3-36 can cause people to eat about a third less food than without it. Researchers, however, caution and say the study was too brief to draw definite conclusions.
 

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