Biotechnolgy News Shorts ARCHIVES 5/18/99 - 8/31/99

8/31/99
Scientists find diabetes chemical
NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists say they have identified a key chemical player in the development of the most severe kind of diabetes, a step that might help in prevention. The study, done in mice, pertains to Type 1 diabetes, which is treated with daily insulin shots. The disease, also known as juvenile diabetes, appears after the immune system mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Nobody knows what triggers the attacks. Scientists have been trying to identify the precise targets of the attack in hopes of developing a vaccine-like treatment to prevent the destruction. The new work identified a small bit of the insulin molecule as a target for some white blood cells involved in the destruction.

8/31/99
Researchers seek sleep syndrome gene
WASHINGTON (AP - A sleep syndrome that sends people early to bed and early to rise doesn't necessarily make them healthy, wealthy and wise. The disorder, traced to a single gene, can send sufferers to bed when everybody else is still going strong, researchers at the University of Utah have found. Understanding what governs people's wake-sleep cycles has important medical implications for dealing with insomnia, jet lag, shift work and depression, the scientists report in the September issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Researchers studied people who have a shorter than normal wake-sleep cycle. Regardless of work schedules or social pressures, these folks just can't stay up much later than 8:30 p.m. and they tend to wake up around 5:30 a.m.

8/31/99
Gene study links whales, hippos
WASHINGTON (AP) - One has no legs and swims in the ocean, and the other has four legs and lives in rivers, but a genetic study shows that the whale and the hippo are close relatives in evolutionary history. The study by researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Pa., compared gene sequences from the minke whale, the sperm whale and the hippopotamus. It found the diverse animals share a sequence of genes inherited from an ancient common ancestor. The study found that the camel, pig, giraffe, sheep and cow share some gene sequences with the whale and hippo, indicating that far back in time all had a common ancestor, according to evolution theory.

8/31/99
FDA approves quick pneumonia test
WASHINGTON (AP) - Doctors struggling to decide whether a wheezing patient needs antibiotics to treat pneumonia are about to get a simple, 15-minute test to help their diagnosis. The Food and Drug Administration approved Binax Inc.'s first-of-a-kind pneumonia test Monday. It uses a patient's urine to detect a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumonia, which is estimated to cause 500,000 cases of pneumonia a year. The test should help doctors decide more quickly if a patient's pneumonia is caused by that bacteria, and thus what treatment is needed.

7/30/99
Study impacts muscular dystrophy
(AP) - Animal studies raise the possibility that a common antibiotic might be an effective treatment for about 15% of victims of Duchenne muscular dystrophy whose disease results from a certain genetic error. The studies, conducted in mice, suggest the drug might restore the production of a critical missing protein. Doctors from Ohio State University plan to start a small study soon to see if the approach works in people. Clues about the possible treatment emerge from research conducted by Dr. H. Lee Sweeney and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania. A report on their experiments is being published in the Aug. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

7/30/99
Study: Tamoxifen loses effectiveness
WASHINGTON (AP) - Tamoxifen, a drug that fights breast cancer by blocking the action of the hormone estrogen, eventually loses its effectiveness and then actually may help the cancer grow, researchers say. In a study to be published Friday in the journal Science, scientists at Duke University Medical Center said they have found that the reaction of breast cells to tamoxifen changes over time until the drug starts to behave like the hormone it is supposed to block. Estrogen has been shown to promote the growth of about half of breast cancers. Tamoxifen blocks this action by preventing estrogen from linking up to a receptor on the surface of cells.

7/30/99
Researchers show new stem cell use
WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers have shown that master cells from rodent embryos can be used to repair nerves in the spinal cord and brain, a step toward new treatment for nerve disorders such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. In laboratory studies, researchers guided the evolution of embryonic stem cells from mice into mature nerve cells that were transplanted into rats where they produced a nerve insulating material that the rats lacked. The study will appear Friday in the journal Science.

7/29/99
Manipulated trees said less harmful
(AP) - Scientists in Michigan say they are cultivating genetically modified trees that grow almost twice as fast as normal trees and may be a more environmentally friendly raw material for paper. If the trees can be grown commercially, they could increase the timber output of forests and reduce the amount of chemicals used in bleaching paper pulp. The scientists at the Michigan Technological University were looking for a way to grow trees with less lignin, a glue-like substance that has to be separated from wood fibers before they can be used to make paper.

7/29/99
Scientists turn good cell cancerous
(AP) - For the first time, scientists have created a cancerous human cell by genetically altering a normal one in the laboratory - a breakthrough that could speed the development of drugs that wipe out tumors. Researchers know that cancer is caused by genes turned bad, and they have been trying to develop drugs that fix these flaws. But up to now, they have been fumbling in the dark: They aren't sure exactly which combinations of flaws cause the many types of cancer. Nor do they know precisely which drugs repair which faulty genes. Now they will be able to create specific genetic flaws in the lab and then try to find drugs that work.

7/20/99
Fla. eyes marijuana-killing fungus
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida may start testing a fungus that could kill marijuana plants - a move that environmentalists say could ultimately backfire if the fungus mutates and attacks crops like tomatoes and corn. Two state agencies have given approval for the tests to be conducted in a quarantine lab on the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, a bioherbicide designed to destroy plants like marijuana, 55,000 plants of which were destroyed in the state last year. Florida's anti-drug czar said Tuesday that nothing would happen anytime soon.

7/20/99
Pain sensitivity linked to gene
WASHINGTON (AP) - The reason some people react with a mild "ouch" to injuries that can cause others to scream has been linked by researchers to a single pain sensitivity gene. The discovery may someday allow doctors to prescribe drugs to precisely match the pain threshold of patients suffering from injuries, cancer or such chronic conditions as arthritis, Johns Hopkins University researchers say. "Now people can think of pain as a genetically regulated problem," said George R. Uhl, lead researcher of a study. "This will help us learn how to treat long-term pain."

7/15/99
Hormone clue to appetite control
(AP) - Scientists have moved closer to discovering how an appetite-stimulating hormone works in the brain, a finding that may help them develop drugs to fight obesity and eating disorders. Researchers knew melanin-concentrating hormone is one of many compounds that control how much someone eats. They also knew MCH needs a place to attach itself in the brain, called a receptor. Until now, they had not located it. According to a report in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, two groups working separately identified the receptor. The connection was identified by trial-and-error: matching all of the compounds produced by the brain to a previously identified receptor whose purpose was unclear.

7/15/99
Clinton wants stem cell research
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton's top ethics advisers are close to recommending a change in federal law to allow the government to finance a certain type of human embryo research, but the White House instead said Wednesday it will support a more conservative approach. The issue is over experiments with "master cells," building blocks for other tissues in the body that scientists can cull from human embryos. These embryonic stem cells are generating huge excitement because they could lead to new therapies for Alzheimer's and other devastating diseases. But the use of them has raised troubling ethical questions, and is generating opposition from anti-abortion forces and some members of Congress.

7/14/99
Biotech crops a mixed blessing
WASHINGTON (AP) - Farmers are having mixed success planting crops that are genetically modified to kill insect pests, according to an industry study released Tuesday. While the altered seeds produce better yields, farmers can lose money on the crops when commodity prices and infestations are low, the study found. Corn growers made an extra $72 million by using genetically modified seeds in 1997, but planted three times as much acreage of the crop last year and lost $26 million when grain prices plummeted and infestation levels dropped, according to the report by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy.

7/06/99
Japan's cloned cows are 1 year old
TOKYO (AP) - The world's first clones from cells of an adult cow turned a year old Monday, and Japanese officials said they are growing strong and healthy. The twins, named Noto and Kaga, were the second adult-animal clones after Dolly, the British sheep that made history by becoming the first clone of an adult animal. Despite being slightly smaller than most cows their age, Noto and Kaga are quite healthy. Their births were significant primarily because they showed that other animals, not just sheep, could be cloned.

7/06/99
Hopes high for cystic fibrosis drug
WASHINGTON (AP) - Every day for a week, Dannon Baker swallowed a little white pill as part of an experiment to see if a new type of therapy will finally attack the cause of deadly cystic fibrosis rather than just treat its symptoms. Studies of three drugs called "gene assist therapies" are in their early stages, experts caution. But, if they work, Baker and other patients could expect more normal lives by using a daily medicine to control a genetic defect that causes cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis afflicts about 30,000 American children and young adults. The disease attacks patients' lungs with a thick mucus and most die from lung damage or infection. CF also harms digestion and vitamin absorption by clogging other organs, and causes patients to excrete high levels of salt through sweat.

6/30/99
Anthrax inoculation may be delayed
WASHINGTON (AP) - Inoculating all 2.4 million military troops against anthrax as protection against biological war may be delayed because the company producing the vaccine may lack the needed financial resources, according to congressional critics. The House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the Defense Department's reliance on BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich., as the sole licensed manufacturer of the vaccine. "The Pentagon is locked in a dependent relationship with a new, unproven company," according to Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., the panel's chairman. He said the Pentagon "may have misjudged the financial and technical capabilities of the company to perform under the contract."

6/30/99
DNA test may uncover Lincoln clues
CHICAGO (AP) - For years, the blood-spattered velvet cloak that Mary Todd Lincoln is believed to have worn on the night President Lincoln was shot has mostly hung untouched. But with recent developments in DNA testing, researchers say the garment could reveal some of the mysteries surrounding the health of the nation's 16th president. History buffs at the Chicago Historical Society acknowledge, however, that testing could destroy a valuable relic of history and prove false some of the stories and myths about Lincoln.

6/26/99
Transplants could treat Parkinson's
NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists may have found a way to generate unlimited supplies of brain cells for transplanting into Parkinson's disease patients. Researchers are studying brain-cell transplants to help treat some Parkinson's patients. But the source of those cells is problematic. Getting them from aborted fetuses is controversial, and taking cells from animals raises concern about introducing new diseases into people. The new work focuses on brain cells called neural stem cells. These cells, which can be grown in batches in the lab, can give rise to a variety of specialized brain cell types and scientists are studying how to control that process to produce the kinds of cells they want.

6/25/99
Britain bans human embryo cloning
LONDON (AP) - The government rejected expert advice and banned the cloning of human embryos Thursday for any kind of medical research, saying more time is needed to consider the implications. The decision, announced in Parliament after months of deliberations, came as a surprise. The move meant embryos may no longer be cloned for infertility and congenital disease research. The government had been expected to follow a recommendation by its advisors that Britain should allow continued research into the cloning of human embryos - provided they were destroyed after a maximum of 14 days - for the treatment of disease, while maintaining a ban on cloning to create babies.

6/23/99
New non-animal chemical test backed
WASHINGTON (AP) - Good news for bunnies. A federal advisory panel has recommended the use of a new, non-animal test to determine whether chemicals will burn the skin. The test could save lots of laboratory animals from potentially painful exposure to chemicals. "The panel recommended starting with this test and, if it's positive, you could classify a chemical as a corrosive without having to use an animal," Dr. William Stokes of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said Tuesday. If the test, known as Corrositex, shows that the chemical is not corrosive, it would then be tested on animals to see if it is irritating, he said. "But at least you would not have the severe corrosive lesion with the animal," Stokes noted.

6/22/99
China working on cloning panda
BEIJING (AP) - Scientists have taken a step toward cloning a giant panda by growing an embryo that contains a dead animal's genes - a development China hailed as a possible breakthrough in efforts to save the endangered species. Scientists from the government-funded Chinese Academy of Sciences grew the embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Monday. The embryo was nurtured over 10 months and scientists are now trying to implant it in a host animal's uterus.

6/18/99
Panel urges switch to polio shots
ATLANTA (AP) - A federal advisory panel Thursday recommended replacing the oral polio vaccine with the injected version. The oral vaccine, which is made from live but weakened polio virus, has been used routinely for childhood vaccination since 1965 and is highly effective against the    disease. However, it causes about eight cases of polio in the U.S. each year - about one person in 2.4 million doses. The injected vaccine is safer but doesn't provide the same protection as the oral vaccine.  6/18/99
Man gets cardiac gene therapy
BOSTON (AP) - For the first time, doctors have injected genetically engineered DNA into heart muscles to help restore blood flow to clogged arteries by using a catheter without any anesthesia. Until now, the gene was injected into the heart during a two-hour surgery that required general anesthesia and several days of recuperation. The new, minimally invasive   technique will eventually allow patients to go home an hour after it's completed, doctors say. It could also be a safer alternative to bypass  surgery or angioplasty for high-risk patients.

6/15/99
Machines to help with gene sequence
WASHINGTON (AP) - New machines will enable the Department of Energy to triple its speed in decoding human genes and should enable the agency to reach its goal of sequencing 300 million base pairs of DNA by March. Elbert Branscomb, director of the department's Joint Genome Institute, said 24 new DNA sequencer machines to be installed at its Walnut Creek, Calif., lab will enable the agency to increase the number of base pairs processed monthly from about 5 million to about 15 million. The new machines, valued at about $5 million, were made by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech of Piscataway, N.J., and are being leased by the department. Twelve machines are already operating and another dozen are expected soon. 

6/11/99
Gene map may be completed by 2002
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal project to completely map the human genetic pattern could be complete by 2002, a year earlier than last predicted. Researchers around the world trying to catalog all of the 60,000 to 90,000 genes in human DNA are making rapid progress that could bump up the completion date, said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Identifying all the human genes will make it possible to treat or prevent cancer, inherited disorders and some diseases, experts say. Once genes are located, researchers can determine what proteins they make and use that knowledge to correct problems caused by mutated or inherited genes.

6/10/99
Secret message hidden in dot of DNA
(AP) - Updating a Nazi spy trick used during World War II, scientists have devised a way of hiding a coded message in a dot of human DNA. In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, researchers describe how they made and mailed a microdot that contained a secret message hidden amid millions of strands of DNA. The technique wouldn't be of much use to secret agents because it is a cumbersome way of sending a message. It is little more than a neat trick that exploits the enormous capacity of DNA to hold information.

6/4/99
Report: Live anthrax spores found
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. scientists have found live spores of the deadly anthrax bacteria in a pit on an Aral Sea island, where the biological weapon was supposed to have been buried safely more than a decade ago, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The newspaper described the Central Asia island where the pit is located, Vozrozhdeniye or Renaissance Island, as "the world's largest anthrax burial ground." Hundreds of tons of anthrax bacteria, which were developed in the Urals region of Russia under the Soviet biological weapons program, were drenched in bleach, sealed in stainless steel drums and sent to the island by train. The bleach was to have killed the bacteria before it was buried in the sand, the newspaper reported.

6/3/99
Transplants cure cases of blindness
(AP) - Giving new hope to people blinded by fire, chemical burns or certain illnesses, doctors are restoring victims' sight by transplanting special tissue-making cells into the eye. Up until recently, blindness caused by damage to the eye's surface was considered largely untreatable. This procedure, pioneered a decade ago but refined since then, would not help people who were born blind or lost their sight because of nerve or retina damage. It is only for patients who are legally blind but can still sense light. In the first long-term study of the procedure, Japanese researchers restored sight to half of the eyes on which they performed surgery, though some needed as many as four operations.

6/3/99
Scientist ties knots in DNA strands
(AP) - Using laser beams like tweezers, a Japanese researcher has managed to tie incredibly tiny knots in strands of DNA. Right now, the feat is little more than a gee-whiz trick. But researchers at Keio University in Yokohama envision using the technique someday to tie off parts of cells to learn more about their workings. Graduate student Yasuharu Arai used a powerful microscope equipped with optical tweezers - a laser beam split into two independently controlled beams - to twist the molecular strings.

 6/2/99
Bacteria can grow in simulated Mars
CHICAGO (AP) - A methane-making, oxygen-hating microbe is able to thrive in Mars-like laboratory conditions, according to a researcher who says the experiment raises fresh hope about the possibility of life on the red planet. The microbe, said Timothy A. Kral of the University of Arkansas, "grows just fine and dandy" in a simulated Martian environment that would kill most every other forms of Earth life. Kral said he and a colleague, Curtis Bekkum, created an environment in culture dishes that closely mimics the environment of Mars. The dishes contained no oxygen, but were bathed in carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases. The soil in the experiment resembles what is known about Martian dirt, with no organic nutrients. [Editor's note: Linked story incomplete]

 6/1/99
All-male batch of mice cloned
(AP) - Scientists in Hawaii have cloned a trio of identical mice using ordinary cells rather than DNA extracted from the female reproductive system. This time, the cloned critters were male. The clones grew using genetic material extracted from tail cells of adult male mice, but only one grew to adulthood, according to a study in the June issue of the journal Nature Genetics. Researchers said their experiment demonstrates that cloning can be accomplished with the genetic material contained in the nucleus of somatic cells, or ordinary cells found throughout the body. Previously, most cloning experiments ranging from mice to Dolly the Sheep used DNA extracted from female reproductive cells.

 5/27/99
Cloned sheep may age prematurely
(AP) - Dolly the cloned sheep is only 3, but her genes are already showing signs of wear and she may be susceptible to premature aging and disease - all because she was copied from a 6-year-old animal, Scottish researchers say. There is no direct evidence Dolly will die prematurely. She is healthy and has delivered lambs in the past two years. But the DNA in her cells shows signs of wear typically found in an older animal. Geneticists said the finding, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, provides further evidence that cloning, at least for now, has its practical limits. And it adds to the ethical and medical concerns about the consequences of cloning humans.

 5/25/99
Conn. company trying to clone pets
FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) - Two entrepreneurs are charging pet owners to store their beloved animals' DNA in anticipation of the day when science can clone Fido or Fluffy. For $1,000 per pet plus a $100 annual storage fee Heather J. Bessoff and Ron D. Gillespie will take a genetic sample from a living or dead animal and keep it frozen at their lab. Their company, PerPETuate Inc., has signed up six customers since it began in October. Bessoff is a veterinarian and Gillespie an agricultural consultant. They run the company from Bessoff's basement. So far scientists have cloned only mice and farm livestock such as sheep. Recently, a dog owner donated $2.3 million to Texas A&M University to try to clone his beloved Missy.

 5/25/99
DNA thefts prompt change in research
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Late one night during the embryonic stages of biotechnology, a patented DNA molecule disappeared from a refrigerator at the University of California. It ended up at Genentech Corp., a pioneer in the industry and today one of its giants. A jury will begin deliberating Monday - more than 20 years later - over whether Genentech should pay as much as $1.2 billion for allegedly using the DNA without permission to develop the top-selling human growth hormone Protropin. Genentech, which later paid the University of California, San Francisco $2 million for the DNA in 1979, claims the substance wasn't actually used for Protropin.

 5/24/99
Soybean oil tested as motor oil
WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers say they've developed an alternative use for soybeans - as a motor oil. Researchers from Agro Management Group Inc., of Colorado Springs, Colo., who developed and patented the product, drove two trucks on an 18-day tour through 18 states. One was lubricated with conventional motor oil, the other with the new soybean oil. The two materials performed equally, researchers said. The new product, made from soybean, canola and other vegetable oils, operates in the same way as conventional motor oil but is biodegradable, nontoxic and produces fewer harmful emissions, researchers said. The product will initially be offered only for commercial fleets in Michigan and already is being used in U.S. Postal Service vehicles in Grand Rapids, Mich.

 5/24/99
Merck hopes new pill will ease pain
NEW YORK (AP) - Merck & Co. made a $5.2 billion profit last year on nearly $27 billion in sales. But the future of the nation's largest drugmaker is uncertain as four of its blockbuster drugs lose patent protection in the next two years, which make them susceptible to competition from cheaper generics. That's why analysts say Merck desperately needs strong sales from its new pain pill Vioxx, which was approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration and is expected to reach pharmacies in mid-June. Vioxx, though, will have to compete with another new painkiller, Celebrex, which has been the hottest selling drug of the year.

 5/24/99
Gov't recommends embryo research
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton's top advisory panel on medical ethics is recommending government financing of limited forms of research on human embryos to build on discoveries promising huge medical advances. The National Bioethics Advisory Commission acknowledged the report was likely to raise controversy but said the research's promise for the betterment of mankind merits the recommendations. A draft report outlining reasons for the decision by the National Bioethics Advisory Commission says Congress should rescind parts of its four-year ban on spending federal money for embryonic research. 

 5/24/99
Salmonella linked to popular cheese
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A strain of drug-resistant salmonella bacteria which caused two outbreaks of digestive illness has been linked for the first time to raw milk used to make a cheese popular with Hispanics, according to a new report. The outbreaks struck three Northern California counties, peaking in Feb. 1997 and involving 31 patients, and the Yakima, Wash., area, peaking in April 1997 and involving 79 patients. They were the first such outbreaks of drug-resistant salmonella, and almost all those sickened were Hispanic. All the cases were linked to Mexican-style soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk, according to the report, which appeared in the May 19 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. 

 5/21/99
Genes may predict leukemia relapse
SEATTLE (AP) - Scientists are studying genetic fingerprinting to try to predict in advance which leukemia patients who go into remission eventually will relapse. The work so far is experimental, but preliminary results are promising, said Dr. Jerald Radich of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who explained the procedure at a biotechnology meeting here this week. The idea: "If you (fight) the disease when there's less of it, the chance of nipping relapse in the bud is a lot higher," Radich said. Oncologists attempt to wipe out all leukemia cells with chemotherapy before declaring a patient in remission. But Radich said the method of determining remission is poor: They examine patients' bone marrow under a microscope, which can miss low levels of residual cancer cells.

 5/21/99
Lab-designed corn may harm insects
(AP) - Scientists have discovered a disturbing unintended consequence of genetic engineering: Pollen from a widely planted, laboratory-designed strain of corn can kill monarch butterflies. Monarch caterpillars eating milkweed leaves dusted with pollen from the altered corn plants ate less, grew more slowly and died more quickly. After four days, 44% of them had died vs. none of the caterpillars that didn't feed on the pollen. Monarchs are not an endangered species. But environmentalists fear that if the genetically engineered corn is killing the orange-and-black butterflies, it may be killing other insects and doing other unseen damage to the food chain.

 5/21/99
Doctors slow Huntington's in mice
(AP) - Scientists have found a way to delay the onset of Huntington's disease and slow its progressin mice by targeting an enzyme that is believed to trigger cell death. The finding, published inThursday's issue of the journal Nature, is a promising lead for drug researchers working to extendthe lives of Huntington's sufferers. "I think this is important and exciting. This is the firstdemonstration of a drug that can slow the progress of HD in an animal model," said Dr.Christopher Ross, a Johns Hopkins Medical School professor and a scientific adviser to the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Huntington's has been linked to enzymes called caspases, which cause brain cells to die slowly. 

 5/21/99
Study: Antibiotic resistance growing
(AP) - Jet-setting Americans who eat chicken and meat overseas are bringing back resistance to certain antibiotics used to treat stomach upset and other bacterial illnesses. A study published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine is the first to link Americans' growing resistance to antibiotics primarily to foreign travel. Until now, scientists believed resistance was growing largely because doctors were overprescribing antibiotics. Resistance to the class of antibiotics called quinolones has been reported in people in Europe and Asia because of the widespread use of antibiotics in poultry and other livestock there, but the problem had not been well-documented in the U.S.

 5/19/99
U.S. defends smallpox stocks
GENEVA (AP) - The U.S. refused Tuesday to commit to destroying its samples of the smallpox virus, even if the 191-nation World Health Organization upholds its decision that all stocks should be destroyed in six weeks. Smallpox was wiped out as a disease in 1980 following a worldwide immunization campaign, but known stocks of the virus are still kept in two laboratories - one in the U.S. and one in Russia. Terrorism experts in the U.S. maintain some of the Russian stocks may have been moved to other, undeclared sites that are possibly less secure than the declared laboratory, the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Siberia.

 5/19/99
Viroids stunt tree growth
LINDCOVE, Calif. (AP) - Under the shadow of the Sierra foothills, three rows of pint-sized Valencia orange trees stand in sharp contrast to the taller, bushier trees in the rest of a quarter-acre field. Joe Semancik, a University of California, Riverside researcher, created the dwarf trees using tiny nucleic acids called viroids, which have the seemingly paradoxical effect of stunting the trees' growth but making them produce more and bigger oranges. "If you stress the trees, they tend to fruit," says Semancik, a nationally renowned plant pathologist who planted these dwarfs 15 years ago at the UC Lindcove Research & Extension Center. "With the viroids, there's not enough stress to damage it, but enough to produce more. How all this happens? I'm not sure."

 5/18/99
Cells may give tip off on cancer
ATLANTA (AP) - It's not exactly the male Pap test, but checking for something called PIN may give men who fear prostate cancer the same early warning that women receive for cervical cancer. In a presentation Sunday, doctors said that checking the prostate gland for abnormal growths called PIN - prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia - can often catch cancer in the making. The Pap test, developed in the 1940s, offers a way of spotting the earliest stage of cancer while it is still easily curable with surgery. There is no male equivalent for diagnosing prostate cancer, the leading male cancer. But doctors say looking for PIN appears to offer some of the same advantages.

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