The two agencies entered into an agreement that can "help American scientists use the ISS to answer questions about human health and diseases," said a statement released by NASA on Wednesday.
"The pact signals to researchers the availability of a remarkable platform on which to conduct experiments." it said.
"Not only will the station help in our efforts to explore the moon, Mars and beyond, its resources also can be applied for a much broader purpose -- improving human health," said Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator.
NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni said that the station provides a unique environment where researchers can explore fundamental questions about human health issues including how the human body heals itself, fights infection or develops diseases such as cancer or osteoporosis.
Compared with the Earth-bound laboratories where researchers conduct experiments every day, the facility at the station provides a virtually gravity-free environment where the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie human diseases can be explored.
NASA sent U.S. Congress a plan in May describing how the U.S. segment of the ISS can be used as a national laboratory. The report outlines possible partnerships with other government agencies and private companies to conduct research aboard the station.
As part of the agreement, NIH and NASA will encourage space-related health research by exchanging information and providing technical expertise in areas of common interest. The two agencies will also facilitate and share each other's research and development efforts.
In addition, NIH and NASA have agreed to coordinate publicity of mutually beneficial activities, publications and research results.
The new evidence suggests that decades-old "quit for your baby" messages are too simplistic an approach for many women — and that perhaps prenatal checkups should include screening pregnant smokers for mental health disorders that require care.
"These ladies all know, I promise you, about the health risks. That's not what it is," says Dr. Jan Blalock of the University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center, which has begun a first-of-a-kind study, Project Baby Steps, to test whether non-drug depression therapy helps pregnant smokers quit.
"We should at least understand more about why these ladies don't quit. We should be looking more carefully instead of just saying, 'Whoop, got this group of hard-core smokers.'"
Certainly learning how dangerous smoking is to their developing baby can urge women to try to quit. It increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birthweight, death from SIDS, and learning and behavior disorders.
Dr. Renee Goodwin, a Columbia University epidemiologist, tracked more than 1,500 pregnant women who took part in a larger study of Americans' health. A surprising 22 percent smoked at some point during pregnancy, and about 12 percent were classified as nicotine-dependent.
Pregnant smokers were typically poor, less educated and had less access to health care.
But strikingly, 30 percent of the smokers had a mental health disorder, as did more than half who were nicotine-addicted — and the vast majority suffered depression. The smokers were about three times as likely to have a disorder as pregnant nonsmokers, Goodwin recently reported in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Nicotine and other chemicals in cigarette smoke can act in the brain like weak antidepressants, says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"They are not just smoking to get the habit-forming aspects," Volkow explains. "On top of that, they are seeking the therapeutic effect. It comes at a very, very high cost."
The move has been another major advance in promoting educational equality after the central government exempted students in rural areas from tuition and miscellaneous fees related to nine-year compulsory education last year, said the official.
About 4 million students at 1,800 colleges and universities and 16 million students at 15,000 secondary vocational schools would benefit from the financial aid scheme, he said.
The ministry would strive to make the national scholarships, bursaries and student loans available to more students, and require schools to put aside certain amount of money out of their earnings to support needy students, said the official.
The financial aid provided by all-level financial authorities during this fall semester would reach 15.4 billion yuan (2.03 billion dollars) and that for the whole year of 2008 would be 30.8 billion yuan (4.05 billion dollars), according to the official.
He said the nation had given priority to rural education development to support needy students there to finish their nine-year compulsory education.
By 2010, the nation would have allocated accumulatively 218.2 billion yuan (28.7 billion dollars), of which 125.4 billion yuan from the central government, to carry out the scheme, according to the official.
Last year the central government exempted students in rural areas of western China from tuition and miscellaneous fees related to nine-year compulsory education. The same has been applied in the central and eastern regions this year.
The exemption has relieved the financial burden on 150 million rural families with school-age children. Yet most urban, middle-class parents think the scrapped charges are just "a drop in the bucket" compared with the hefty amount they have to pay, averaging 30,000 yuan in Beijing, for their children to enter the best schools.
The nine-year compulsory education, including six years at elementary school and three years at junior high school, was enforced in China in 1986.
Liu Jiaxun also said China's lowest and southernmost glacier, Mingyong, has shrunk by at least 40 meters over the past 13 years.
The combined effects of ice melting and drying water sources would have devastating effects downstream, said Liu, deputy director of the Meteorological Bureau of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northeastern Yunnan Province.
Mingyong -- at 2,700 meters above sea level and 28.5 degrees north -- had the lowest elevation and latitude of all China's glaciers, said Liu.
At 11.7 km long and covering 13 sq. km, it was shrinking faster than any other Chinese glacier, he said.
Mingyong is located on the eastern side of the 6,740-meter Kagbo Peak, the highest peak on the Meili Snow Mountain, on the border of Yunnan and the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China. The mountain has been shrouded in mystery after attempts to climb it failed over the past decades.
Liu's observations were based on his study of global warming and its impact on scenic resorts, including Meili Snow Mountain, Baimang Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain, in the province, after analyzing the meteorological data collected over ten years.
Glaciers were sensitive to changes in the global climate. With the world's climate warming up, almost all low latitude glaciers were melting.
The melting would result in floods, farmland damage and mud-rock slides, while the drying up would lead to river shrinkage and severe drought, Liu said.
In addition, the disappearance of the glacier landscape would destroy natural resources for scientific research and tourism.
"In Europe, the snow line of the Alps has truncated 100 meters in 50 years," said Liu. "The annual temperature in Shangri-la county of Yunnan has risen from 4.8 degrees centigrade since 1990 to 5.2 degrees in 2006."
Zheng Guoguang, president of the China Meteorological Bureau, said China had suffered 21 consecutive warm winters, pushing up ocean levels by 2.5 mm annually and the national average temperature in 2006 hit a record 10.2 degrees centigrade.
Diqing, also known as Shangri-la after the unearthly beautiful land invented by British novelist James Hilton in his 1930s novel "Lost Horizon", also boasts the Three Parallel Rivers World Nature Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO.
In order to better understand global warming and its impact on the Tibetan sacred mountains and the fauna and flora, Liu has initiated a series of scientific programs by carrying out routine tests and data-collecting activities on depth of snow and melting of glaciers.
"People tend to think that the melting is attributable to tourism, however, there is no direct evidence for that observation," said Liu. "The mining and industrial activities will always top the list of major contributors to global warming."
The number of domestic tourists in Diqing has increased from 517,500 in 1997 to 2.86 million in 2006, when foreign tourists numbered 308,000.
Researchers at Brown University in East Providence, Rhode Island, explain that on weekends, teens wake up at a time that is later than their internal body clock expects. The fact that their clock must get used to a new routine may affect their ability to be awake early for school at the beginning of the week when they revert back to their old routine.
The findings were published recently on Eurek Alert, the website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The study, conducted by Stephanie J. Crowley of Brown University, was based on the fact that high school students' sleep is typically restricted during the school week and is compensated by late and long sleep on weekends.
The study examined circadian phase, sleep quality and morning vigilance before and after simulating this weekend sleep pattern.
"When teenagers stay up late and sleep in over the weekend, this behavior resets their daily clock to a later time," said Crowley. "This resetting can push back the brain's cue to be awake on Monday morning for school."
"As a result, teens may feel worse and have poor performance in school at the beginning of the week. Essentially, teenagers may be giving themselves jetlag over the weekend even without getting on a plane," Crowley said.
The best way for teenagers to prevent late and long sleep on weekends is to ensure that they are getting the required amount of sleep each night. Experts recommend that teenagers get about nine or more hours of sleep each night to achieve good health and optimum performance.
Researchers offer several recommendations for teenagers to have a good-night sleep and to keep healthy, including the following:
-- Get a full night's sleep on a regular basis. Do not stay up all hours of the night to "cram" for an exam. If extracurricular activities at school are proving to be too time-consuming, consider cutting back;
-- If you are not asleep after 20 minutes, then get out of bed and do something relaxing, such as reading a book or listening to music, until you are tired enough to go back to bed;
-- Get up at the same time every morning and Avoid taking naps after school if you can.
-- Don't read, write, eat, watch TV, talk on the phone or play cards in bed;
-- Avoid any rigorous exercise within six hours of your bedtime;
-- Those who think they might have a sleep disorder are encouraged to consult with their primary care physician, who will refer them to a sleep specialist.