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LONDON, Sept. 30 (UPI) — An attempt to test a World War II plan to create ships from ice came to an abrupt end when the frozen boat melted and sank, observers said.

The project, for the BBC science series “Bang Goes The Theory,” was meant to test a concept that warships could be made from water frozen in molds, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

Geoffrey Pyke, an inventor, suggested in the 1940s that in the event of steel stocks running out it would be possible to make an unsinkable aircraft carrier using a material he called Pykrete, made of ice and wood pulp.

The mixture could be molded into any shape and, with a slow melting rate, would be perfect for seafaring vessels, he claimed.

The BBC decided to put Pyke’s theory to the test by mixing 1,300 gallons of water with hemp and freezing it in a 20-foot, boat-shaped mold.

It took three weeks to freeze it in one of the United Kingdom’s largest ice warehouses before it was ready for launch.

Barely an hour after being put in the water, the boat was taking on water and capsized with the cast of the television show aboard, all of whom were rescued.

Giles Harrison, director of the show, blamed the failure on a design fault allowing water to pour into the vessel sooner than expected.

“I think we’ve proved that Pykrete works, but it is unstable,” he said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

LONDON, Sept. 30 (UPI) — An attempt to test a World War II plan to create ships from ice came to an abrupt end when the frozen ship melted and sank, observers said.

The project, for the BBC science series “Bang Goes The Theory,” was meant to test a concept that warships could be made from water frozen in molds, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Geoffrey Pyke, an inventor, suggested in the 1940s that in the event of steel stocks running out it would be possible to make an unsinkable aircraft carrier using a material he called Pykrete, made of ice and wood pulp.

The mixture could be molded into any shape and, with a slow melting rate, would be perfect for seafaring vessels, he claimed.

The BBC decided to put Pyke’s theory to the test by mixing 1,300 gallons of water with hemp and freezing it in a 20-foot boat-shaped mould.

It took three weeks to freeze it in one of the United Kingdom’s largest ice warehouses before it was ready for launch.

Barely an hour after being put in the water, the boat was taking on water and capsized with the cast of the television show aboard, all of whom were rescued.

Giles Harrison, director of the show, blamed the failure on a design fault allowing water to pout into the vessel sooner than expected.

“I think we’ve proved that Pykrete works, but it is unstable,” he said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 30 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say they’re embarking on a 20-year, multination study to learn more about the roles diet and nutrition play in breast cancer.

Purdue University scientists will lead a team in the International Breast Cancer and Nutrition Project, partnering with the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a university release said Thursday.

The effort will begin by focusing on the United States, France, Japan, Ghana, Uruguay, Lebanon and Canada.

Each country will have a dedicated research team, and the project will have a number of milestones at several-year intervals, the release said.

This effort will allow scientists to study worldwide diversity in breast cancer rates, dietary patterns and cultural background, researchers say.

“What we are specifically looking at is how the disease and prevention are related to women’s heritage and environment,” said Sophie Lelievre, associate professor of basic medical sciences and leader of the Breast Cancer Discovery Group at the Purdue Center for Cancer Research.

“The reality is that there are many unknowns about how nutrition relates to breast cancer prevention and recurrence,” Connie Weaver, head of the Purdue Department of Foods and Nutrition, said.

“Up until now, the link between diet and risk of breast cancer has not been studied in populations that encompass the diversity of diet and breast cancer incidence observed around the world,” she said.

The project will launch Oct. 18-19 at Purdue during the Symposium on Breast Cancer Prevention, the university said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

TORONTO, Sept. 30 (UPI) — Many Canadians say a diagnosis of cancer would worry them as much for its financial consequences as its health consequences, a poll indicates.

The poll by the Canadian Cancer Society shows only a third of citizens believe the country’s healthcare system would provide affordable treatment if they were cancer-stricken, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Thursday.

Rising drug costs and the inconsistent coverage afforded by drug plans around the country justifies that worry, a society official says.

“It is not acceptable that cancer patients should worry about how they are going to pay for the drugs they need,” Aaron Levo, assistant director of public issues at the CCS, said.

Canada’s universal access to medically necessary healthcare is being undermined as a growing number of patients have to pay for essential cancer drugs out-of-pocket, Levo said.

Further problems are caused by significant disparities in drug coverage between provinces, he said.

“The society is alarmed and frustrated that the federal government seems to be ignoring this critical health issue for Canadians,” Levo said.

“Canadians clearly support establishing a national program to help them pay for cancer drugs but, unfortunately, they are losing confidence in Canada’s healthcare system to fix it,” he said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 30 (UPI) — Those who live in Gulf Coast-facing counties report an increase of more than 25 percent in depression diagnoses after the BP oil spill, a U.S. survey indicates.

The Emotional Health Index, one of six sub-indexes that make up the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being — which tracks U.S. well-being — indicates residents of counties facing the Gulf of Mexico experienced a decline in their overall emotional health following the BP oil spill.

The findings are based on 2,598 interviews conducted Jan. 2-Aug. 6 with residents of 25 Gulf Coast-facing counties from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas — and of these interviews 1,239 occurred after the oil spill started April 20.

During the same period, 30,657 interviews were conducted with residents of inland counties of those Gulf Coast states and 179,435 in non-gulf states as a part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

The increase in diagnoses reveals clinical depression along the gulf coastline was climbing at a time when it was flat throughout the rest of the country, Gallup officials say in a statement.

The margin of error ranges from 3 percentage points, 0.9 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

VALLEY CENTER, Calif., Sept. 30 (UPI) — Robert C. Truax, considered one of the leading rocket scientists of the 20th century, has died in California, his family said.

Truax’s wife Marisol said he died Sept. 17 in Valley Center of prostate cancer at age 93, The New York Times reported.

Truax was a career naval officer lent to the Air Force for top-secret projects and later became a corporate aerospace executive and an entrepreneur, the Times said.

In early research for the Navy he laid the groundwork for the liquid-fuelled rockets vital to American space efforts and was a leader in developing the Thor, Viking and Polaris missile programs.

As president of the American Rocket Society, Truax was an indefatigable booster of the American space program.

Truax was born Sept. 3, 1917, in Gary, Ind., after which the family moved to Northern California and later settled in Alameda, where Truax completed 12 years of school in nine years and became an Eagle Scout.

He graduated from the Naval Academy with a degree in mechanical engineering, writing scientific articles on rockets.

Truax is survived by his third wife, Marisol Guzman, four children from his first marriage, two sons from his second, seven grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

CINCINNATI, Sept. 30 (UPI) — Having a dog as a pet could reduce some allergies in children, but having a cat could make them worse, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say owning a dog seemed to have some “immunotherapy” benefit and reduced other allergies, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

But allergic children with a cat in the house exhibited a dramatic increase in their sensitivity to reactions, the study found.

The study particularly examined the relationship between pet ownership and eczema.

The researchers found that children who tested positive for dog allergies were less likely to develop eczema by age 4 if they owned a dog before the age of 1.

But unlike dog ownership, cat ownership seemed to have a negative effect on children with cat allergies.

“Children who owned a cat before age 1 year and were allergic to cats based on a skin allergy test were 13 times more likely to develop eczema by age 4,” Dr. Tolly Epstein said.

Parents of children at risk for eczema may want to consider the findings when choosing a family pet, she said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

HONG KONG, Sept. 30 (UPI) — Food safety authorities in Hong Kong say recent tests of 3,900 food samples in local shops and restaurants found 14 food items that failed safety checks.

Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety took about 2,700 samples for chemical tests and the remainder for microbiological and other tests, Xinhua news agency reported.

Among the food items failing were frozen suckling pig with excessive levels of a veterinary drug, frozen fish and shrimp with high mercury levels, and some fresh fish with elevated levels of cadmium, Xinhua said.

A sample of Singaporean-style fried noodles was contaminated with bacteria, while other foods were found to contain banned preservative chemicals.

The food safety center issued citations to the shops and restaurants involved, Xinhua reported.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

TIANJIN, China, Sept. 30 (UPI) — China says its newly opened marine museum in the northern port city of Tianjin, displaying thousands of rare polar marine species, is the country’s largest.

With a display space of half a million square feet, the Tianjin Polar Marine Museum has more than 2,000 polar species from Russia, Canada, Australia and other countries on display, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported Thursday.

Visitors at Thursday’s opening could experience a 100-foot-long “touch pond” to touch and feel a selection of fish, shrimps, crabs, shellfishes, marine algae and coral.

Within the museum is a performance venue capable of accommodating an audience of 2,000.

The polar marine museum is part of a “polar marine world” project of Chinese company Haichang (Group) Co. Ltd., which is still under construction.

The investment for the whole project is about $538 million, Xinhua reported.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

DETROIT, Sept. 30 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say they’ve launched clinical trials they hope will lead to treatments targeting stem cells involved in human cancers.

University of Michigan scientists say the trials are being conducted on women with advanced-stage breast cancer and are an attempt to affect the cancer’s stem cells, believed to be resistant to traditional therapies and the fuel behind cancer’s spread, the Detroit News reported Thursday.

The trial is using experimental drugs intended to block these cancer stem cells in order to shrink or at least stop tumors from spreading, the newspaper reported.

Mary Diesing, who has battled breast cancer that has spread to her bones, spine and liver, is taking part in the trial.

“This is my last hope,” Diesing, 69, said. “My doctor told me either I do this or go into hospice.”

University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Director Max Wicha, who launched the trials Diesing is enrolled in, has begun collaborating with other Michigan scientists involved in stem cell research.

“We rarely use the ‘C word’ — cure — but the intent of research today is not to study (cancer) but to treat and ultimately to beat it,” Jeffrey Trent of the Grand Rapids-based Van Andel Institute said.

“There is so much hope that we’re positioned today with the information from the (human) genome, with the biologic expertise and understanding of the stem cells, I think we can be at the vanguard of treatments that hopefully will lead toward not just longer, disease-free survival but quite literally cures,” Trent said.

“That’s the hope of the cancer stem cell approach.”

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.