SPACE SHUTTLE
The space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit Monday with sixastronauts and a full load of spare parts for the internationalspace station.
The supply run, which will hold the shuttle astronauts in spacethrough Thanksgiving, should keep the space station humming foryears to come.
Atlantis is scheduled to arrive at the space station onWednesday.
NASA wants to stockpile as many pumps, tanks, gyroscopes andother oversize pieces of equipment as possible at the space station,before the three remaining shuttles retire next fall. None of theother visiting spacecraft are big enough to carry such large pieces.
Most of the gear will be attached to the outside of the spacestation on storage platforms.
NASA expects to keep the space station flying until 2015, orpossibly 2020 if President Obama gives the go-ahead.
-- Associated Press
AIDS
The failure of an experimental AIDS vaccine trial two years agomay have been caused by the common cold virus, researchers haveconcluded.
The vaccine was intended to block the spread of HIV, which causesAIDS. But the test was canceled after volunteers who got the shotswere more likely to become infected than those who got a dummy shot.
The problem may have been using the common adenovirus to carryHIV material around the body to help the immune system recognize theinvader. The conclusion comes from researchers reporting inTuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences.
The test vaccine itself did not spread the illness, the team ofresearchers said. But adenovirus, which causes the common cold, isso widespread that many people have previously been exposed to it.
The study appears in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences.
-- Associated Press
Study: Injured uninsured more likely to die in ER: Uninsuredpatients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls andgunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospitalas similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to atroubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researcherssurprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergencyroom care was equitable. The study appears in the November issue ofArchives of Surgery. The researchers couldn't pin down the reasonsbehind the differences they found.
Autopsy shows Chicago schools leader committed suicide: Autopsyresults show that the president of the Chicago Board of Educationcommitted suicide by shooting himself in the head. The Cook CountyMedical Examiner's Office released Michael Scott's autopsy resultsMonday. Police officers who rushed to the Chicago River early Mondayin response to a report of a body being spotted found Scott dead. InAugust, Scott said that he had been subpoenaed to testify before afederal grand jury investigating allegations of politicallyinfluenced admissions to top schools.
Kuwaiti company reportedly conspired to defraud U.S.: A companythat was paid billions to supply food for the U.S. military inKuwait and Iraq inflated prices and defrauded the U.S. governmentfor contracts to feed American troops, federal prosecutors saidMonday. Kuwaiti logistics firm Public Warehousing Co., which says ithas been the military's chief food supplier in Kuwait and Iraq since2003, has been charged with making false statements, submittingfalse claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. AttorneyGentry Shelnutt. The company, also known as Agility, said in astatement that it is 'surprised and disappointed' by the federalcharges and that it has long cooperated with federal reviews andaudits designed to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spentappropriately.
-- From news services
