A.
A Gene Mutations May Shed More Light On Alzheimer's
Disease
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers at the University
of California, San Francisco have identified a gene
which may be associated with the onset of Alzheimer's
Disease. Neurologist Kirk Wilhelmsen, who led the
study, found three mutations in a gene which produces
tau protein. This has been found to cause several
neurodegenerative disorders, including frontotemporal
lobe dementia. What's interesting to scientists,
is that the tau protein has long been a suspected
factor in Alzheimer's Disease.
Wilhelmsen:
In Alzheimer's Disease, the tau protein clumps up
in tangles called neurofibliary tangles and these
are a marker that's used to make the diagnosis of
Alzheimer's Disease.
Narrator:
Before this finding, clumps of tau protein were
thought to be a marker of brain cells dying, rather
than an actual cause.
Wilhelmsen:
We don't think that mutations in the tau gene cause
Alzheimer's Disease, but we think that the tau gene
is involved in the process that leads to Alzheimer's
Disease as well as other diseases and sometimes,
the cause is actually a mutation of the tau gene.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Passing Down Recipes For Health
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Passing Grandma's recipes
down to later generations has more worth than just
sentimental value. Joanne Ikeda, a University of
California, Berkeley nutritionist, says there's
a lot of nutritional value in these recipes, since
the older generation consumed more greens.
Ikeda:
The tradition of eating greens has not necessarily
continued down the generation. It may be what happens
is the moms and the daughters tend to eat the greens
when they go to grandma's house but they don't really
prepare them for themselves.
Narrator:
In a nutrition study focusing on African-American
women, Ikeda reports younger women say they would
eat more greens if they knew how make them tastier.
Ikeda:
Now the grandmothers know this, but it looks like
they need to pass this down to the granddaughters.
We're concerned that this wonderful tradition of
eating greens may leave once this generation has
passed. So we'd really like to see more of an emphasis
of handing this down to the mothers and the daughters.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Treating Cancer With Antibody Therapy
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Although there are a number
of cancers which are called "chemotherapy-responsive"
- the sad truth is they're not the majority of cases.
That's why many cancer researchers, including Dr.
Robert Figlin of UCLA, are looking at immunotherapy
to play a bigger role in cancer treatment.
Figlin:
The natural idea would be, if you can enhance their
immune system so that their immune system is now
observing the development of cancer and hopefully
destroying it as it develops, then you have a surveillance
mechanism that enhances the patient's chances for
cure.
Narrator:
Because of recent advances in antibody therapy,
including UCLA's promising approaches to prostate
and kidney cancer, Figlin envisions using immunotherapy
a lot more in the future.
Figlin:
I think what you're going to see as we move forward
is, in quotes, in those chemotherapy- responsive
diseases, that doesn't mean that immunotherapy can't
be part of the package and I think in those chemotherapy-responsive
diseases, immunotherapy is being added to enhance
what chemotherapy has accomplished.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Understanding The Risk Of EMF Exposure
Narrator:
This is Science Today. After years of scientific
studies on the possible health risks associated
with electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, the data is
still inconclusive. But there does seem to be a
low association between childhood leukemia and power
line exposure. Richard Luben, a professor of biomedical
sciences at the University of California, Riverside,
says the public should understand just what "low
association" means.
Luben:
Just to put it in context, the level of risk that's
associated with power lines, which is about a one
point five fold increase in cancer, is about the
same risk as associated with secondhand smoking.
Narrator:
The key difference, Luben says, is literally millions
more people are exposed to secondhand smoke compared
to those exposed to power lines.
Luben:
So it's not only a matter of is there an effect,
because I think most people who responsibly look
at the data will say that there is an effect there....there's
also a question of how big the effect is, how much
risk is really there.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Subtle Signs Of Anxiety In Verbal Speech
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Anxiety is often marked by
an overwhelming sense of fear or worry. But neuroscientist,
Dr. Louis Gottschalk of the University of California,
Irvine says there are more subtle signs.
Gottschalk:
We've produced hard data to show that people who
are anxious may focus on other people. Or you'd
think, well if somebody volunteers "but I wasn't
afraid, I'd jump from that airplane and wasn't afraid."
They didn't have to say that. And we've demonstrated
that people that use denials. That may not always
correlate so highly with some other measure of anxiety
but it correlates pretty highly with biochemical
measures.
Narrator:
Gottschalk demonstrated this decades ago with the
Gottschalk-Gleser scale, an international tool he
co-developed to detect more than just anxiety.
Gottschalk:
Hostility outward or hostility towards oneself.
We developed scales for how schizophrenic somebody
is, how depressed, how hopeful, how nurturing or
how much human relations somebody has.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
