FINDINGS

Another Stem Cell Retraction

The editor in chief of the journal Science said yesterday that he would start the process of retracting a 2004 article in which disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk claimed to have made stem cells for the first time from cloned human embryos. Donald Kennedy said he was taking the action in response to Korean investigators' disclosure yesterday that the work was faked.

The journal is already in the process of retracting a follow-up 2005 article by Hwang and colleagues that the panel declared fraudulent last month.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health yesterday revealed details of tests, commissioned by the journal Nature, to determine the veracity of Hwang's remaining claim to fame: the first creation of a cloned dog, named Snuppy. Concurring with Korean investigators, lead researcher Elaine Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute said that DNA studies on blood samples proved with odds of more than 1 billion to 1 that Snuppy is a clone.

U.S. scientists said they would continue efforts to develop medically useful stem cells despite the revelations of fraud in Korea, but the Roman Catholic Church, which opposes experiments on human embryos, called for new restrictions on the research.

"The Korean hoax is the most obvious symptom of a field where ethical concerns were dismissed in the pursuit of alleged miracle cures," said Richard M. Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Weight Is Issue in Midlife

Middle-aged people who are overweight but have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels are kidding themselves if they think their health is fine.

Northwestern University researchers tracked 17,643 patients for three decades and found that being overweight in mid-life substantially increased the risk of dying of heart disease later in life, even in people who began the study with healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

High blood pressure and cholesterol levels are strong risk factors for heart disease. Both are common in overweight people, and they are often thought to explain why overweight people are more prone to heart disease. But there is a growing body of science suggesting that excess weight alone is an independent risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

The lead author of the study, in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, is Lijing Yan, a researcher at Northwestern University and Peking University.

Study: Waking Up Takes Time

If it takes a while to clear the cobwebs after waking up, that's understandable. "Sleep inertia" leaves some people so groggy that they might as well be drunk, researchers said yesterday.

Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado at Boulder wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the befuddled feeling usually lasts at least a few minutes but may be detectable for up to two hours.

The findings are relevant to those who must spring into action after awakening, such as firefighters and other emergency workers, truck drivers, and resident doctors.

Wright's study of 16 subjects found that the most severe impairments on performance tests came in the first three minutes after awakening from eight hours of sleep.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports