Nation Digest: Shuttle lifts off on mission to space station

SPACE SHUTTLE

Atlantis heads to space station

The space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit Monday with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the international space station.

The supply run, which will hold the shuttle astronauts in space through Thanksgiving, should keep the space station humming for years to come.

Atlantis is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Wednesday.

NASA wants to stockpile as many pumps, tanks, gyroscopes and other oversize pieces of equipment as possible at the space station, before the three remaining shuttles retire next fall. None of the other visiting spacecraft are big enough to carry such large pieces.

Most of the gear will be attached to the outside of the space station on storage platforms.

NASA expects to keep the space station flying until 2015, or possibly 2020 if President Obama gives the go-ahead.

-- Associated Press

AIDS

Cold virus may have thwarted vaccine test

The failure of an experimental AIDS vaccine trial two years ago may have been caused by the common cold virus, researchers have concluded.

The vaccine was intended to block the spread of HIV, which causes AIDS. But the test was canceled after volunteers who got the shots were more likely to become infected than those who got a dummy shot.

The problem may have been using the common adenovirus to carry HIV material around the body to help the immune system recognize the invader. The conclusion comes from researchers reporting in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The test vaccine itself did not spread the illness, the team of researchers said. But adenovirus, which causes the common cold, is so widespread that many people have previously been exposed to it.

The study appears in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

-- Associated Press

Study: Injured uninsured more likely to die in ER: Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable. The study appears in the November issue of Archives of Surgery. The researchers couldn't pin down the reasons behind the differences they found.

Autopsy shows Chicago schools leader committed suicide: Autopsy results show that the president of the Chicago Board of Education committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office released Michael Scott's autopsy results Monday. Police officers who rushed to the Chicago River early Monday in response to a report of a body being spotted found Scott dead. In August, Scott said that he had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating allegations of politically influenced admissions to top schools.

Kuwaiti company reportedly conspired to defraud U.S.: A company that was paid billions to supply food for the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq inflated prices and defrauded the U.S. government for contracts to feed American troops, federal prosecutors said Monday. Kuwaiti logistics firm Public Warehousing Co., which says it has been the military's chief food supplier in Kuwait and Iraq since 2003, has been charged with making false statements, submitting false claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. Attorney Gentry Shelnutt. The company, also known as Agility, said in a statement that it is "surprised and disappointed" by the federal charges and that it has long cooperated with federal reviews and audits designed to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.

-- From news services