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CELL,YANG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS This undated photo combo provided by the journal Cell and taken with a bright field camera, shows a mouse with its skin removed during various stages of examination. ByMalcolmRitter The Associated Press NEW YORK Researchers have found a way to make see-through mice, but you won't find these crit- ters scampering in your kitchen. The transparent rodents aren't alive and they're for research only, to help sci- entists study fine details of anatomy. Before they are treated with chemicals, the ani- mals are euthanized and their skin removed. Re- searchers made their in- ner organs transparent, but not their bones. The results look like a rodent-shaped block of gel- atin with the organs held in place by connective tis- sue and a gel used in the procedure. Mice are mainstays of biomedical research be- cause much of their basic biology is similar to ours and they can be altered in ways that simulate human diseases. Scientists have been able to make tissues trans- parent to some degree for a century, and in recent years several new meth- ods have been developed. Last year, for example, a technique that produced see-through mouse brains made headlines. Such treatments reveal far more detail than X-rays or MRI exams could deliver. The new work is the first to make an entire transpar- ent mouse, experts said. It should be useful for projects like mapping the details of the nervous sys- tem or the spread of can- cer within lab animals, said Viviana Gradinaru of the California Institute of Tech- nology, senior author of a paper describing the work. It was released Thursday by the journal Cell. It might also help doc- tors analyze biopsy sam- ples from people someday, she said. The see-through tech- nique involves pump- ing a series of chemicals through blood vessels, as well as other passages in the brain and spinal cord. Some chemicals form a mesh to hold tissue in place. Others wash out the fats that make tissue block light. It takes about a week to create a trans- parent mouse, Gradinaru said. The researchers have also made transpar- ent rats, which take about two weeks, she said. Scientists can use stains to highlight anatomical details like the locations of active genes. See-through mice reveal details of inner anatomy SCIENCE By Mstyslav Chernov The Associated Press ROZSYPNE, UKRAINE As mortar fire landed nearby, an international team of in- vestigators finally reached the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 wreckage site Thursday and got their first look at a scene experts fear has been badly compromised in the two weeks since the plane was blown out of the sky. For the families of the 298 victims, it was an im- portant start in locating and recovering bodies still out in the open and build- ing a case against those who perpetrated the trag- edy. Harun Calehr, the uncle of two young victims of the disaster, said by telephone from his home in the U.S. that he was happy inves- tigators had reached the site. But Calehr said he re- mains concerned that doz- ens of bodies haven't been retrieved. "It's been two weeks. I just hope they can get there now and do their job," Calehr said from Houston. "The only thing keeping me sane is being religious, hoping for some- thing positive." As the investigators — two each from the Neth- erlands and Australia — made an initial survey of the area shortly after lunch- time, fighting raged be- tween government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels, and mortar shells rained down on fields in a nearby village. Despite the dangers, the team called the one-hour inspection a success. "Today was more about an assessment of the site than it was of a search," said Australian Federal Po- lice commander Brian Mc- Donald. Up to 80 bodies are still at the site, said Austra- lian Foreign Minister Ju- lie Bishop, speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. from Ukraine. Ukraine and the U.S. contend the plane was shot down by the rebels July 17 with a Russian-supplied missile. The rebels deny it. For days, clashes along routes to the wreckage site had kept investigators from reaching the area to find and retrieve bodies that have been decaying in the 90-degree midsummer heat. Independent observ- ers warned that evidence was being tampered with. But after negotiations, the investigators were al- lowed through the final rebel checkpoint at the vil- lage of Rozsypne on Thurs- day afternoon by a rifle-tot- ing militiaman who then fired a warning shot to pre- vent reporters from accom- panying the convoy. The militiaman, who gave his name only as Ser- gei, said there was still fighting in Rozsypne as the Ukrainian army continues an offensive to take back territory from the rebels. Ukrainian national se- curity spokesman Andriy Lysenko said a "day of quiet" was declared Thurs- day in response to a call for a cease-fire from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon. But clashes were still taking place in the imme- diate vicinity of where the Boeing 777 came down. Re- porters who tried to reach the area by another route were warned by residents that some nearby roads had been mined. And Associated Press reporters passing by Hrabove, another village around which fragments of the plane remain un- collected, saw one mortar shell fall on a spot about 160 yards from their car and heard two more hit nearby. It wasn't imme- diately clear who was re- sponsible for the mortar fire or what the intended target was, though Ly- senko blamed the rebels. The 60-mile drive took the investigators and eight officials of the Organiza- tion for Security and Co- operation in Europe from the rebel-held city of Do- netsk through the town of Debaltseve, which was re- taken earlier this week by the government, and later back into rebel territory. Armored personnel car- riers and armored trucks bearing the blue-and-yel- low Ukrainian national flag could be seen in and around Debaltseve, and residents at one entrance to the town walked along a pontoon erected over the remains of a blown-up bridge. The OSCE said on Twit- ter that the team observed a moment of silence upon reaching the scene in re- membrance of the victims. MALAYSIAN PLANE Investigators reach Ukraine wreckage site DMITRY LOVETSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An Ukrainian government army's soldier stands guard next to the cars of Convoy of the OSCE mission in Ukraine at a check-point in the village of Debaltseve, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Thursday. By Omar Almosmari The Associated Press BENGHAZI, LIBYA Islamic hard-line militias, includ- ing the group accused by the United States in a 2012 attack that killed the am- bassador and three other Americans, claimed con- trol of Libya's second larg- est city, Benghazi, after overrunning army barracks and seizing heavy weapons. The sweep in the eastern city is part of a new back- lash by hard-liners against their rivals ahead of the sit- ting of a new parliament. In the capital Tripoli, escalat- ing battles Thursday be- tween militias prompted multiple foreign govern- ments to scramble to get out their citizens as thousands of Libyans fled across the border into Tunisia. The weeks-long surge of violence renewed fears that Libya, which has been in chaos since the 2011 civil war that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gad- hafi, is plunging deeper into civil strife. With a crippled central government and weak army and police, the country's nu- merous rival militias have held sway in Libya for the past three years. Though they battled each other fre- quently, a balance of fear among them prevented any from going too far and forced them to divide areas of power. But now, there militias led by Islamist and extremist commanders ap- pear to be trying to gain a more decisive upper hand. The Health Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the death toll in Trip- oli since the violence in- tensified in the past month reached 214, with more than 981 people wounded. Militias allied to Islamist politicians have been fight- ing for weeks to wrest con- trol of Tripoli's airport from rival militias, destroying much of the airport in the process. On Thursday, wit- nesses said that random rocket fire hit houses and vehicles in western Trip- oli, sending residents flee- ing. Shelling hit a funeral in a southern district, kill- ing four children and three women from a single fam- ily, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. By noon on Thursday, more than 10,000 Libyans fled by land across the bor- der into neighboring Tu- nisia over the previous 12 hours, Tunisia's state news agency reported. They joined thousands of other Libyans who have already streamed into Tunisia in re- cent days. LIBYA Islamic militias declare Benghazi control MOHAMMED BEN KHALIFA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Black smoke billows over the skyline as a fire at the oil depot for the airport rages out of control a er being struck in the crossfire of warring militias battling for control of the airfield, in Tripoli, Libya, on Monday. Call or apply in person Circulation Dept. Red Bluff Daily News (530)527-2151 ext 128 Must be 21 or older & bondable. 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