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Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Dawn begins a 1.7 billion-mile trip CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dawn spacecraft was launched Thursday from Florida, beginning a 1.7-billion-mile journey.

A Delta 2 rocket lifted off from launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 7:34 a.m. fitted with nine extra solid-fuel boosters to start Dawn on its trip to the asteroid belt to investigate the giant rocky asteroid Vesta in 2011 and then the icy dwarf planet Ceres in 2015.

The two asteroid belt bodies are in orbit between Mars and Jupiter. By using the same set of instruments at both destinations, scientists will be able to more accurately formulate comparisons and contrasts, NASA said.

Dawn's science instrument suite will measure shape, surface topography, tectonic history, elemental and mineral composition, as well as seeking water-bearing minerals.

Study supports physician-aided suicide SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined legalization of doctor-assisted suicide does not result in a disproportionate number of deaths among specific groups.

The University of Utah-led study contradicts arguments by assisted suicide critics such legalization would result in disproportionate deaths among the elderly, poor or chronically ill, women, minorities, uninsured, minors, mentally ill and less educated patients.

The study focused on Oregon and the Netherlands, where doctor-assisted suicide is legal. It found only AIDS patients use doctor-assisted suicide at elevated rates, researchers reported.

"Fears about the impact on vulnerable people have dominated debate about physician-assisted suicide," said the study's lead author, bioethicist Professor Margaret Battin. "We find no evidence to support those fears where this practice already is legal."

Oregon is the only U.S. state in which physicians are allowed to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients.

The Netherlands allows doctors to prescribe medication for suicide or perform euthanasia for patients facing intolerable suffering.

The research is reported in the October issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.

ISS crew repositions Soyuz spacecraft HOUSTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The Expedition 15 crew of the International Space Station moved a docked Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft Thursday to make room for the Expedition 16 crew's arrival.

The crew members boarded the Soyuz spacecraft Thursday morning, initiating the move at 3:20 p.m. EDT with cosmonaut Oleg Kotov piloting the spacecraft to the aft port of the Zvezda service module. That move freed the Zarya nadir, or Earth-facing, port for the planned Oct. 12 arrival of Expedition 16.

The Soyuz re-docked with the space station at 3:47 p.m. EDT while 211 miles above western Africa, National Aeronautics and Space Administration controllers in Houston said.

The Soyuz was re-located about 80 feet from where it had previously been docked, despite having traveled about a third of the way around the world while doing so. The re-docking procedure was supervised by Russian controllers in Moscow.

Doctors control emotions with patients CHICAGO, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests physicians shut off the portion of their brain that helps them appreciate the pain their patients are experiencing.

Instead, the University of Chicago research indicates physicians activate a portion of the brain connected with controlling emotions during such patient encounters.

Because doctors sometimes have to inflict pain on patients as part of the healing process, they also must develop the ability not to be distracted by the suffering, said Jean Decety, a professor of psychology and psychiatry and co-author of the study.

"They have learned through their training and practice to keep a detached perspective; without such a mechanism, performing their practice could be overwhelming or distressing, and as a consequence impair their ability to be of assistance for their patients" said Decety.

The research that included the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans shows for the first time that people can learn to control such a response.

The study, conducted with Yawei Cheng of the Institute of Neuroscience at the National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, is to be published in the Oct. 9 issue of the journal Current Biology and is currently available in the journal's online edition.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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