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Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf, currently locked in a power struggle with opposition leaders following his recent presidential election win, has already survived a number of assassination attempts. Yesterday, a helicopter escorting the embattled president crashed in Kashmir, raising new concerns for his safety. According to an army spokesman, the accident resulted from a technical malfunction and not foul play. Musharraf was not on board when the helicopter attempted its ill-fated emergency landing. Four people were killed and five others injured after the aircraft hit the ground and exploded in flames.

Between 1995 and 2004, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba led to the deaths of 23 people in the US. This year, American health officials noted a record spike, with 6 cases spanning 3 US States. The killer amoeba thrives in warm environments, and experts suspect that rising global temperatures played a role in this year's exceptionally high death toll. Naegleria fowleri is often found in fresh water, where it feeds off algae and bacteria in the sediment. It invades a swimmer's central nervous system via the nose and climbs along nerve fibers through the floor of the cranium to enter the brain. Victims generally die within 2 weeks of initial exposure.

The results of a new Finnish study indicate that people who don't complete high school are at a higher risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease than those who receive further education, regardless of lifestyle choices and other factors such as physical activity, smoking, occupation, and income. When researchers compared subjects who had completed the Finnish equivalent of elementary (5 years or less), middle (6-8 years), or high school level education (9 or more years), they found that the risk of developing dementia was 40% lower in the mid-level education group and 80% lower among those in the high education group when compared to the least educated group.

While results of a study linking high cholesterol with an increased risk of premature birth merely confirmed previous findings, researchers were surprised to learn that low cholesterol levels also appear to raise premature birth risk. In fact, 21% of white women in the study with low cholesterol gave birth prematurely as compared to only 12% of women in the high cholesterol group. Interestingly, no increased risk was observed in African-American women with low cholesterol. Based on these findings, it appears that too little cholesterol may be as bad as too much cholesterol during pregnancy.

In a study measuring the effects of Western medicine and acupuncture on back pain, 1,162 adults with chronic lower back pain were provided with either drug and exercise therapy, traditional acupuncture, or sham acupuncture, in which needles were inserted randomly and less deeply around the painful area. While 27% of the drug and exercise group reported some pain relief, more than 40% of patients in each acupuncture group experienced reduced pain intensity. Researchers say these findings suggest that the body may react positively to any thin needle prick, or that acupuncture simply triggers a placebo effect.

When sealed flasks of Salmonella typhimurium bacteria were sent into space on the Shuttle Atlantis for 12 days in 2006, the microbes became 3 times more lethal than their earthbound counterparts. Researchers discovered this after feeding mice identical strains of the bacteria, varying only whether the Salmonella had traveled to space or remained in similar temperature conditions on earth. After just under a month, 90% of the mice that had been infected with the space germs were dead, as compared to only 60% of the Earth bacteria group. Not only did the space Salmonella kill more mice more quickly, it also showed different genetic activity than non-traveling bacteria.

This week, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly will review a resolution proposing that European schools resist teaching creationism, the belief that God created the world in 6 days, and intelligent design, the theory that a higher intelligence helped some life forms develop, in school science classes. If passed, the resolution would not be binding on the Council's 47 member states, it would merely reflect the widespread political opposition to teaching these disciplines as science.

Doctors have begun the process of skin stretching that will prepare 2 year old conjoined twins Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias for their upcoming separation surgery. The girls, connected primarily at the chest, are joined at the right atria of their hearts and share a single liver. Because of their face to face orientation, they are unable to walk and their backs are beginning to curve. The complex surgery, which is scheduled for late November, has only a 50% survival rate, but doctors are optimistic about the girls' prognoses.

As the melting of polar ice caps presents the possibility of exploiting the previously inaccessible and resource rich Arctic seabed, a number of countries have stepped-up their competition for territorial and economic rights there. Last month, a Russian expedition took soil samples from the N Pole seabed for analysis, leaving behind a Russian flag to mark their successful descent. Now, Russia says those samples provide evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater oceanic ridge in the Arctic Ocean, is part of the Russian Federation's adjoining continental shelf and is therefore part of Russia's land mass.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will be traveling to New York this week to attend the opening session of the UN General Assembly and participate in a World Leaders Forum at Columbia University. In preparation for his visit, Ahmadinejad requested permission to visit Ground Zero, the site of the former World Trade Center and September 11th attacks. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly denied this request, citing construction efforts and security concerns. A number of American politicians expressed shock that Iran's president, considered a leading sponsor of terror, would deem such a visit appropriate and condemned the request.