VANCOUVER — A unique gene that can stop cancerous cells from multiplying into tumours has been discovered by a team of scientists at the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver. The team, led by Dr. Poul Sorensen, says the gene has the power to suppress the growth of human tumours in multiple cancers, including breast, lung and liver. The gene, HACE 1, helps cells fight off stress that, left unchecked, opens the door to formation of multiple tumours. Dr. Sorensen’s team found cancerous cells form tumours when HACE 1 is inactive, but when additional stress such as radiation is added, tumour growth is rampant. Kick-starting HACE 1 prevented those cells from forming tumours.

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In late February 2006, al-Qaeda destroyed the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra. During the previous two months that my cavalry squadron had been operating in Iraq, my main focus was the technical training of the Iraqi national police and combined operations with them against Sunni insurgents in west Baghdad. Before Samarra, it did not seem important which areas of Baghdad were Shiite or Sunni or that the police battalions I operated alongside were almost completely Shiite. Before Samarra, I assumed that Iraqi citizens saw the national police as the security arm of the elected, and thus legitimate, government and that the officers had the people’s support against insurgents. It took about three weeks after the attack, in which time my combat patrols sprang from one Sunni mosque to another to protect them from Shiite militias that were at times supported by members of the national police, for me to realize what was really going on. For me, Samarra came to define the nature of the violence in Iraq: civil war. Some say that Iraq cannot be in a civil war because the country’s major institutions are not fighting each other with conventional military forces. But this is too […]

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WASHINGTON — Seven weeks after the collapse of comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, the Bush administration is shifting to a plan the president once said could not work: stepped up enforcement of existing laws. What concerns many of the nation’s businesses and farms that use undocumented labor is that it might work all too well. ‘It’s going to hurt my members and be terrible for the economy,’ says Craig Silvertooth, director of federal affairs for the National Roofing Contractors Association. According to US data, about 30 percent of the roofing workforce is ‘improperly documented,’ he says. Even with wages at more than $21 per hour, the industry hasn’t been able to recruit enough legal workers to meet the demand. ‘If a contractor is in the middle of a major project and loses a third of his workforce, he won’t be able to complete the job. You’ll see businesses contracting and some doors shut,’ Mr. Silvertooth adds. The 26-point crackdown, announced Friday, aims to cut the incentive for illegal immigration in the United States: jobs. ‘If we have work site enforcement directed at illegal employment, we strike at that magnet,’ said Secretary of Homeland Security […]

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WASHINGTON — Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles. Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands. ‘Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries,’ said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics. Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore. The shortest life expectancies […]

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The research, conducted by paleoclimatologist Curt Stager of Paul Smith’s College in Paul Smiths, N.Y. and colleagues, can be used by public health officials to increase measures against insect-borne diseases long before epidemics begin. Studying sunspots may lead to better prediction of disease in East Africa. (Credit: Curt Stager, Paul Smith’s College) The scientists showed that unusually heavy rainfalls in East Africa over the past century preceded peak sunspot activity by about one year. ‘The hope is that people on the ground will use this research to predict heavy rainfall events,’ Stager said. ‘Those events lead to erosion, flooding and disease. With the help of these findings, we can now say when especially rainy seasons are likely to occur, several years in advance.’ ‘These results are an important step in applying paleoclimate analyses to predicting future environmental conditions and their impacts on society,’ said Dave Verardo, director of the National Science Foundation’s paleoclimate program, which funded the research. ‘It’s especially important in a region [East Africa] perennially on the knife-edge of sustainability.’ Sunspots indicate an increase in the sun’s energy output, and peak on an 11-year cycle. The next peak is expected in 2011-12. If […]

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