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Antidepressants only work in the most depressed patients
60 SECONDS spread to New England’s largest bat cave, Aeolus cave in Vermont. “It doesn’t appear that the fungus is the primary cause of death,” says Elizabeth Buckles of Cornell University, New York. The syndrome encompasses a number of problems, including abnormal hibernation patterns, weight loss and increased mortality. It’s too early to tell how the illness is transmitted or if it is a result of environmental change, she adds. Scott Darling of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says cavers should not to enter caves or mines with hibernating bats until 15 May. “At that time, we hope to know more about this sickness and how it is spread,” he says.
THE American west’s dusty portrayal in movies and literature is no exaggeration – after the first settlers arrived, dust levels in the region soared. Jason Neff of the University of Colorado at Boulder and colleagues studied sediment samples from two lakes in Colorado’s San Juan mountains. They found atmospheric dust levels in the area jumped fivefold around 150 years ago, and have remained at that level ever since. The team reckons the advent of large-scale agriculture and railway building must have kicked up the dust (Nature Geoscience,
Prozac downer
CALL TO SET UP SPACE POLICE
HAS the Prozac bubble finally burst? Such antidepressants Do international guidelines on what seem to work no better than countries can and can’t do in space need a placebo, except for the most to be tightened up? severely depressed. So says a Last week, the US navy destroyed new study which backs up recent an out-of-control spy satellite, raising reports that the effectiveness concerns over the testing of antiof antidepressants may have satellite technology by its military. The been exaggerated. move follows the Chinese government’s Irving Kirsch of Hull annihilation of a defunct satellite last University, UK, studied all data year, which left a cloud of orbiting submitted to the US Food and debris that will pose a threat to Drug Administration for the spacecraft and astronauts for decades. licensing of the SSRIs fluoxetine, Though the US action to destroy its venlafaxine, nefazodone and satellite did not break existing rules paroxetine. “Compared with covering such events, the guidelines placebo, [these] antidepressants need to be strengthened, according to do not produce clinically the International Association for the significant improvements in Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), patients who initially have a non-profit organisation based in moderate or even very severe the Netherlands. depression,” he concludes (PloS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pmed.0050045). However, David Nutt, head of psychopharmacology at Bristol University, UK, defends SSRIs, saying that if they provide some sort of placebo benefit, this should not be discounted. Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, said that “extensive scientific and medical experience has demonstrated it is an effective antidepressant”. Anyone taking these drugs should consult their doctor before coming off them. –Blast-off for US satellite zapper– www.newscientist.com
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo133). “Looking at their data, it’s almost like a switch was flipped,” says Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. Dust can have profound effects on ecosystems, Neff says. The soil
Gene cornucopia Varieties of maize that produce high yields while also being drought and disease-resistant will become easier to breed, now that the first draft of the maize genome has been published. Researchers at Washington University in St Louis led the $30 million effort to sequence the 10 maize chromosomes. They contain 2.5 billion bases; the human genome has 3 billion.
“Large-scale agriculture and railway building kicked up dust into the atmosphere” contains nutrients which, if blown away, can leave an area barren. If dust is deposited on a snowpack, it can accelerate melting. What’s more, dust tends to stick to other air pollutants, causing respiratory problems.
Health gap widens Healthcare is infamously inequitable in the US, and it appears to be getting worse. Nancy Krieger of Harvard University and colleagues found that in 2000 the death rate in people under 65 in the poorest sections of society was 60 per cent higher than among the rich. That figure is double what it was in 1980 (PLoS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pmed.0050046).
One problem is that the rules are non-binding, says IAASS member Ram Jakhu, an expert on international space law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He believes that the guidelines should be made part of international law and policed by a body modelled on the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is responsible for air safety. These ideas are detailed in a draft document being circulated by the IAASS. It may not be geopolitics that decides the matter. The burgeoning space-tourism industry will pressure governments to agree stronger space legislation, says Alex Soons, executive director of the IAASS. “People and companies that invest in space need to know their investment is protected by law,” he says. (See also Comment & Analysis, page 23)
Watson backs Obama James Watson has contributed $2300 towards the Barack Obama campaign, according to www.opensecrets.org. The co-discoverer of the structure of DNA caused a furore last year when he suggested that black people are less intelligent white people.
Dark mapper
US NAVY/HANDOUT/CNP/CORBIS
Dust up
The largest map of the universe’s dark matter has been created. The Canada France Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii surveyed the light from thousands of galaxies, apparently deflected by dark matter. It suggests there is a web of vast dark-matter filaments, some more than 270 million light years in length. Previous surveys have focused on much smaller regions of the sky.
Measles surge Catch-up measles vaccinations are needed for hundreds of thousands of children in the UK who missed out during the autism scare over the MMR triple vaccine, warns the Health Protection Agency. Last year, the number of measles cases in England and Wales was at its highest since 1995.
1 March 2008 | NewScientist | 7
THE American west’s dusty portrayal in movies and literature is no exaggeration – after the first settlers arrived, dust levels in the region soared. Jason Neff of the University of Colorado at Boulder and colleagues studied sediment samples from two lakes in Colorado’s San Juan mountains. They found atmospheric dust levels in the area jumped fivefold around 150 years ago, and have remained at that level ever since. The team reckons the advent of large-scale agriculture and railway building must have kicked up the dust (Nature Geoscience,
Prozac downer
CALL TO SET UP SPACE POLICE
HAS the Prozac bubble finally burst? Such antidepressants Do international guidelines on what seem to work no better than countries can and can’t do in space need a placebo, except for the most to be tightened up? severely depressed. So says a Last week, the US navy destroyed new study which backs up recent an out-of-control spy satellite, raising reports that the effectiveness concerns over the testing of antiof antidepressants may have satellite technology by its military. The been exaggerated. move follows the Chinese government’s Irving Kirsch of Hull annihilation of a defunct satellite last University, UK, studied all data year, which left a cloud of orbiting submitted to the US Food and debris that will pose a threat to Drug Administration for the spacecraft and astronauts for decades. licensing of the SSRIs fluoxetine, Though the US action to destroy its venlafaxine, nefazodone and satellite did not break existing rules paroxetine. “Compared with covering such events, the guidelines placebo, [these] antidepressants need to be strengthened, according to do not produce clinically the International Association for the significant improvements in Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), patients who initially have a non-profit organisation based in moderate or even very severe the Netherlands. depression,” he concludes (PloS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pmed.0050045). However, David Nutt, head of psychopharmacology at Bristol University, UK, defends SSRIs, saying that if they provide some sort of placebo benefit, this should not be discounted. Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, said that “extensive scientific and medical experience has demonstrated it is an effective antidepressant”. Anyone taking these drugs should consult their doctor before coming off them. –Blast-off for US satellite zapper– www.newscientist.com
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo133). “Looking at their data, it’s almost like a switch was flipped,” says Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. Dust can have profound effects on ecosystems, Neff says. The soil
Gene cornucopia Varieties of maize that produce high yields while also being drought and disease-resistant will become easier to breed, now that the first draft of the maize genome has been published. Researchers at Washington University in St Louis led the $30 million effort to sequence the 10 maize chromosomes. They contain 2.5 billion bases; the human genome has 3 billion.
“Large-scale agriculture and railway building kicked up dust into the atmosphere” contains nutrients which, if blown away, can leave an area barren. If dust is deposited on a snowpack, it can accelerate melting. What’s more, dust tends to stick to other air pollutants, causing respiratory problems.
Health gap widens Healthcare is infamously inequitable in the US, and it appears to be getting worse. Nancy Krieger of Harvard University and colleagues found that in 2000 the death rate in people under 65 in the poorest sections of society was 60 per cent higher than among the rich. That figure is double what it was in 1980 (PLoS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pmed.0050046).
One problem is that the rules are non-binding, says IAASS member Ram Jakhu, an expert on international space law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He believes that the guidelines should be made part of international law and policed by a body modelled on the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is responsible for air safety. These ideas are detailed in a draft document being circulated by the IAASS. It may not be geopolitics that decides the matter. The burgeoning space-tourism industry will pressure governments to agree stronger space legislation, says Alex Soons, executive director of the IAASS. “People and companies that invest in space need to know their investment is protected by law,” he says. (See also Comment & Analysis, page 23)
Watson backs Obama James Watson has contributed $2300 towards the Barack Obama campaign, according to www.opensecrets.org. The co-discoverer of the structure of DNA caused a furore last year when he suggested that black people are less intelligent white people.
Dark mapper
US NAVY/HANDOUT/CNP/CORBIS
Dust up
The largest map of the universe’s dark matter has been created. The Canada France Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii surveyed the light from thousands of galaxies, apparently deflected by dark matter. It suggests there is a web of vast dark-matter filaments, some more than 270 million light years in length. Previous surveys have focused on much smaller regions of the sky.
Measles surge Catch-up measles vaccinations are needed for hundreds of thousands of children in the UK who missed out during the autism scare over the MMR triple vaccine, warns the Health Protection Agency. Last year, the number of measles cases in England and Wales was at its highest since 1995.
1 March 2008 | NewScientist | 7