Does Aspirin Reduce the Chance of Colon Cancer

People with a genetic susceptibility to colon cancer could cut their chances of developing the disease in half by taking a daily dose of aspirin, researchers said Monday.

The finding might lead to other treatments by helping researchers understand how aspirin combats colon cancer, one of the top three cancers in rich countries.

Though aspirin has been used widely for years to treat minor aches and to alleviate fevers, it can irritate the stomach and intestines and cause major bleeding.

European researchers followed more than 1,000 people with Lynch syndrome, a genetic mutation that makes them vulnerable to cancers in the colon, rectum, stomach, brain, liver, womb and elsewhere. The syndrome accounts for about 5 percent of all colon cancers.

About half of the study participants were given 600 milligrams, or two aspirin pills daily, while the other half got placebo pills for about four years.

In the group that got aspirin, six people developed colon cancer, versus 16 in the group that got placebos. "We are delighted," said John Burn of Newcastle University in Britain, who led the study.

"All the more so because we stopped giving the aspirin after four years, yet the effect is continuing," he said in a statement.

Burn presented the study results Monday in Berlin at a joint meeting of the European Cancer Organisation and the European Society for Medical Oncology.

Experts said the finding would have no immediate impact on the general public.

"This doesn't mean that everyone should start taking aspirin if they're worried about bowel cancer," said Henry Snowcroft of Cancer Research United Kingdom.

"Aspirin can cause significant side effects if not used as directed by a doctor," Snowcroft said.

Previous studies have found patients who already have colon cancer and are being treated with chemotherapy and surgery may further reduce their risk of dying by up to 30 percent by taking aspirin. The cheap drug is also taken by millions of people worldwide to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Major Security Crackdown in China for National Day

China's Leaders are leaving nothing to chance, China is undertaking a massive security clampdown for a celebration next month to mark the founding of the Communist state.

The festivities at Tiananmen Square on October 1 will commemorate the 60th anniversary of National Day. President Hu Jintao is expected to deliver a speech, and a military parade and fireworks are also planned.

As part of its security measures, the government is building a security "wall" around Beijing, the state media reported.

The government will deploy 220,000 security guards and 300,000 community volunteers for the ceremony, the Xinhua news agency said.

Adjoining provinces and municipalities will conduct security checks on roads leading to China's capital city to ward off potential threats.

Chinese residents traveling to Beijing, will be required to register their names. Every bus bound into the capital also has to be registered.

Thousands of police officers will stand guard at railway stations and the government will not only ground air traffic flights during the parade, but kite-flying will also not be permitted.

The Chinese will enjoy eight days off, from October 1 to October 8, both for the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As early as March, police began a nationwide crackdown on March that will continue until October 1. By the end of August, authorities had confiscated close to 53,000 guns and 2 million bullets, Xinhua said.

The security measures are intended to ward off a 'spillover' or escalation of the disturbances that have shaken the western city of Urumqi. Long-simmering resentment between the indigenous minority of resident Uyghurs and the dominant majority of incoming Han Chinese, erupted into riots and left more than 200 people dead in July this year.

The Sleeping Bear Glacier of Chile

Grey Glacier, Chile

Part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field of Chile and Argentina, Grey Glacier covered 104 square miles when it was measured in 1996.

By 2007, when this photograph was taken by astronauts from the International Space Station, the glacier had shrunk considerably, as seen in this comparative false-colour image.

Scientists think increased regional temperatures and changes in the amount of precipitation have led to more ice calving off as free-floating chunks, and less ice being replenished each year.

In the natural-color image above, Grey Glacier looks pale blue because ice absorbs red wavelengths of light and scatters blue. The rough surface of this part of the glacier is caused by vertical cracks in the surface called crevasses, which are formed near the ends of glaciers as the flow of ice at the bottom speeds up relative to the brittle ice on top.

Image: NASA, 2007

NASA: Shuttle Discovery is going home courtesy of SCA

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA)
NASA uses two modified Boeing 747 jetliners, originally manufactured for commercial use, as Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

One is a 747-100 model, while the other is designated a 747-100SR (short range).

The two aircraft are identical in appearance and in their performance as Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

The 747 series of aircraft are four-engine intercontinental-range, swept-wing "jumbo jets" that entered commercial service in 1969.

The SCAs are used to ferry space Shuttle orbiters from landing sites back to the launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center and also to and from other locations too distant for the orbiters to be delivered by ground transportation.

The Shuttle orbiters are placed atop the SCAs by Mate-Demate Devices, large gantry-like structures that hoist the orbiters off the ground for post-flight servicing and then mate them with the SCAs for ferry flights.

Features which distinguish the two SCAs from standard 747 jetliners are:

• Three struts with associated interior structural strengthening protrude from the top of the fuselage (two aft, one forward) on which the orbiter is attached.
• Two additional vertical stabilizers, one on each end of the standard horizontal stabilizer, to enhance directional stability.
• Removal of all interior furnishings and equipment aft of the forward No. 1 doors.
• Instrumentation used by SCA flight crews and engineers to monitor orbiter electrical loads during the ferry flights and also during pre- and post-ferry flight operations.
The two SCAs are under the operational control of NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

"Stateless" Mynamar Boy Comes 3rd in Japan Paper Airplane Contest

Mong Thongdee, a 12 -year-old stateless who was born in Thailand to Myanmar migrants, competes during the team indoor flight duration competition at the All-Japan Origami Airplane Contest in Makuhari, near Tokyo, on Saturday.

A Mynamar boy who the Thai Government claim is "Stateless" and has no 'official nationality' even though he lives in Thailand, has captured third place in a Japanese paper airplane contest on Sunday. Only after he made extensive tearful pleas to be allowed to attend the contest, did the authorities decide to grant him a rare 'temporary' passport for the event.

Mong Thongdee, 12, won a national paper airplane championship in Thailand in August 2008 after he threw a plane that flew for 12 seconds, and was later chosen to attend the Japanese contest in Chiba, near Tokyo.

Mong, who lives in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, is the son of Myanmar migrants and they have officially been declared 'stateless', by the Thai Government and therefore have no legal right to travel abroad.

His first application to leave Thailand was denied, but after national media coverage of him quietly sobbing after the refusal captured the hearts of many Thais, he was granted a temporary passport.

NASA Experimental Rocket Sparks a Flood of Alien UFO Calls

A series of spooky lights above parts of the northeastern United States Saturday sparked a flurry of phone calls to authorities and television news stations, claiming to have seen UFOs.

TV stations from New Jersey to Massachusetts heard from dozens of callers who reported that the lights appeared as a cone shape shining down from the sky, like the lights from a mothership.

However, the lights were simply the result of an experimental rocket launch by NASA from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Keith Koehler said the Black Brant XII Suborbital Sounding Rocket was launched to study the Earth's highest clouds. The light came from an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket's fourth stage about 173 miles high.

Natural noctilucent clouds, also called "polar mesospheric clouds," are "found in the upper atmosphere as spectacular displays that are most easily seen just after sunset," according to a NASA statement published earlier in September. "The clouds are the highest clouds in Earth's atmosphere, located in the mesosphere around 50 miles altitude."

Normally, noctilucent clouds are not visible to the naked eye and can only be seen when illuminated by sunlight below the horizon. The launch took place at 7:46 p.m. Saturday, just as the sun was setting for the day.

Observation stations on the ground and in satellites will track the artificial noctilucent clouds created by the rocket for months, NASA said.

"Data collected during the experiment will provide insight into the formation, evolution, and properties of noctilucent clouds, which are typically observed naturally at high latitudes.

"In addition to the understanding of noctilucent clouds, scientists will use the experiment to validate and develop simulation models that predict the distribution of dust particles from rocket motors in the upper atmosphere," the NASA statement said

UK RAF: Surplus Aircraft to be Leased out for Private Holiday Flights

The aircraft will be hired by commercial airlines and the RAF Roundel quickly painted over and replaced by commercial flagship colours for civilian use.

If the RAF need them back during a time of crisis they will be painted back again.

It is the first time that aircraft not needed by the military will be leased out to commercial airlines.

The idea is part of new measures to save the Ministry of Defence money.

Fourteen Airbus A330s are being bought by the company AirTanker and these will be leased by the Ministry of Defence.

The deal will cost the taxpayer an estimated £13bn over almost 30 years and is the world's biggest defence Private Finance Initiative.