LA Times Science Files for 2007/05/23

These are items compiled by staff of the LA Times.

• MEDICINE
  Concerns about diabetes drug Avandia aren’t new
  

  WASHINGTON – Federal investigators warned nearly five years ago that the diabetes drug Avandia might be causing heart failure, according to an internal government memo released Tuesday by a consumer group. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer.

• MEDICINE
  FDA approves first pill to stop periods
  

  The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first birth control pill designed to eliminate a woman’s monthly period. By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff Writer.

• MENTAL HEALTH
  Suicides a symptom of larger UC crisis
  

  DAVIS, CALIF. – As 20-year-old Jennifer Tse was dying in January, she typed a message on her laptop to the coroner’s investigators she expected would examine her body. The lonely UC Davis sophomore, depressed and struggling with her studies, had swallowed cold pills, antidepressants, dishwashing liquid and insect poison. Tse’s death is another grim statistic in what university administrators say is an escalating mental health crisis on campuses across the nation. By Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writer.

• ENVIRONMENT
  California urges EPA to change greenhouse gas rules
  

  WASHINGTON – California presented its case Tuesday for permission to impose tough new limits on greenhouse gas emissions by cars and trucks, pressing a campaign that state officials hope will set the stage for aggressive action nationwide on a major contributor to global warming. By Joel Havemann and Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writers.

• POINTS WEST
  Dying of hospital indifference syndrome
  

  When he saw The Times’ story about the woman who died on the floor of the King-Harbor hospital emergency room while staffers ignored her pleas for help, Eric Johnson was more relieved than shocked. The 47-year-old South Los Angeles man counted himself lucky that his own recent visit to King-Harbor hospital hadn’t ended the same way. By Steve Lopez, Times Staff Writer.

• ENVIRONMENT
  L.A. County considers ban on polystyrene containers
  

  The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to consider banning plastic foam food containers from restaurants and stores in unincorporated areas because they add to the region’s mounting pollution problem. By Susannah Rosenblatt, Times Staff Writer.

• WAYWARD WHALES
  Fresh water takes its toll on whales
  

  SACRAMENTO – After 10 days cruising the Sacramento River and delta, two wayward humpback whales are beginning to show the first signs of ill health from prolonged exposure to fresh water, experts said Tuesday. By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer.

• FOOD CHAIN
  Hot topic: our fragile food system
  

  Monterey, Calif. – WITH all the talk about “sustainable” agriculture, sustainable fishing and sustainable eating, it was remarkable how little agreement there was last week at Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 2nd annual Sustainable Foods Institute about what sustainable actually means. By Corie Brown, Times Staff Writer.

• WILDFIRE
  Report lists factors in deaths of Forest Service crew
  

  Deadly miscalculations, unpredictable fire behavior and a misguided decision to save homes in the path of a fast-moving wildfire led to the deaths of a U.S. Forest Service crew overrun by the Riverside County fire in October, according to a report by state and federal fire officials released Tuesday. By Maeve Reston and Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writers.

• OBITUARY
  Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, 74; won Nobel Prize in physics for
  

  liquid crystal work Nobel Prize-winning scientist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who was dubbed the “Isaac Newton of our time” for his pioneering research on liquid crystals, has died. He was 74. From Times Staff and Wire Reports.