UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

New ESA satellite starts operations

PARIS, May 7 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says its GIOVE-B satellite transmitted its first navigation signals Wednesday.

ESA scientists called the event a "truly historic step for satellite navigation since GIOVE-B (Galileo in Orbit Validation Element) is now, for the first time, transmitting the GPS-Galileo common signal using a specific optimized waveform, MBOC (multiplexed binary offset carrier)." That waveform was approved in an agreement signed by the European Union and the United States for their respective systems, Galileo and the future GPS-III.

The 1,100-pound satellite that was launched April 27 is continuing testing for Europe's planned $5.3 billion global positioning system that is to become operational in 2013.

"Now with GIOVE-B broadcasting its highly accurate signal in space we have a true representation of what Galileo will offer to provide the most advanced satellite positioning services, while ensuring compatibility and interoperability with GPS," said Galileo Project Manager Javier Benedicto.



Study: Anesthetics may curb nerve regrowth

AUSTIN, Texas, May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists using a worm model say they've found nerves can regenerate up to 12 times faster when they are severed without the use of anesthetics.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin said the experiments with a one-millimeter-long worm (C. elegans) are providing substantial clues on how nerves regenerate. The goal is to identify genes that affect nerve generation and might lead to new drugs and therapies for human neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases.

The study, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, discovered that during surgery to sever its nerves, the worm's axons regrew within 60 to 90 minutes without the use of anesthetics. Previously, with the use of anesthetics, axons -- which conduct electrical impulses from the neuron -- took as long as 12 hours to regrow.

The research appears in the journal Nature Methods.



MIT building low-cost solar concentrator

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 7 (UPI) -- A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students is building a prototype power concentrator with a goal of revolutionizing the solar energy field.

Led by MIT mechanical engineering graduate student Spencer Ahrens, the team is assembling a 12-foot-square mirrored dish capable of concentrating sunlight by a factor of 1,000. But it's being built from simple, inexpensive industrial materials selected for price, durability and ease of assembly rather than for optimum performance.

Ahrens said the goal is to make a dish that, in mass production, can be competitive in cost with other energy sources and produce heat for space heating and electric power at the same time.

"The technical challenge here is to make it simple," Ahrens said. "We're using all commodity materials that are all in high production."

Ahrens said the dish, in the Sun Belt, could make about 10,000 peak watts of heat and 3,500 peak watts of electricity.

"It's designed for long life -- we hope they will last more than 30 years with good maintenance -- and for indigenous manufacturing in the developing world with minimal tooling," he said.



New way to heal tracheal injuries created

CANBERRA, Mass., May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've created a technique that can heal airway injuries produced by events such as smoke inhalation and long-term intubation.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology technique has successfully healed airway injuries in rabbits by the placement of new tracheal cells around the injury site, the scientists said. Two types of such cells embedded within a three-dimensional gelatin scaffold can assume the functions of the damaged tissue.

Most current attempts at tissue regeneration seek to rebuild the complex architecture with structural precision. But the MIT researchers said they found it isn't necessary to recapture the ordered layering to heal injuries. Instead, they concentrated on restoring cellular health. When cells are intact and have regained their biological function, they need only reside near the injured tissue to enhance overall repair, said Professor Elazer Edelman, senior author of the study.

Patents on the technique have been licensed to Pervasis, a company co-founded by Edelman, which develops cell-based therapies that induce repair and regeneration in a wide array of tissues.

The research appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International