San Diego

Scientists link gene with manic depression

Scientists say they’ve identified a flawed gene that appears to promote manic-depression, or bipolar disorder, a finding that could eventually help guide scientists to new treatments.

A particular variant of the gene was associated with only about 3 percent of cases in a study, but researchers said other variants might be involved with more.

Follow-up research might help reveal the mysterious underlying biology that makes some people susceptible to the disorder, and so help scientists devise new treatments, said the study’s senior author, Dr. John Kelsoe of the University of California, San Diego.

The work is reported in tpday’s issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Manic-depression, which affects about 2.3 million American adults, involves episodes of depression and mania, states of abnormally high mood or irritability.

Oregon

Search ends for two missing from boat

All eight survivors among the 19 people thrown into the ocean when a wave capsized their small charter fishing boat were wearing the vessel’s bright orange life vests, authorities said Sunday.

None of the dead were.

The survivors from Saturday’s accident were able to swim the few hundred yards to shore of Tillamook Bay, the Coast Guard said.

On the ocean, Coast Guard rescue boats and helicopters pulled bodies from the water through the day Saturday, but there was no sign of the two missing men — Tim Albus of Madras and Barry Sundberg of Cheney, Wash. The search for the two men was called off midmorning Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board official John Goglia told reporters the investigation would examine the condition of the ocean when the 32-foot boat set out, as well as the boat itself and its equipment.

Florida

Border Patrol captures eight Cuban migrants

Eight Cubans were spotted on the beach Sunday and were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents, officials said.

Officers recovered a 19-foot boat and believed the migrants might have been smuggled to shore, although that was still under investigation, Border Patrol spokesman Keith Roberts said.

Witnesses saw the seven men and one woman and called police, who in turn contacted Border Patrol officers, Roberts said.

The migrants were being held for questioning in Pembroke Pines, officials said. Border Patrol officers were interviewing witnesses.

Under U.S. policy, Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay, but those intercepted at sea are usually returned. After a year, Cubans can apply for permanent residency.

New York City

Bomb scare delays Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

A bomb threat delayed Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday while police searched for an explosive device, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York said.

No explosives were found, Spokesman Joseph Zwilling said.

An unidentified man called the rectory at about 9:30 a.m. and said he had attended the 8 a.m. Mass and had left a bomb inside, Zwilling said. Police emptied the cathedral and brought in search dogs, but found no explosives, Zwilling said.

Worshippers were allowed back into the cathedral by 11 a.m., the spokesman said.