A.
Who Benefits The Most From Cholesterol Guidelines?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A new study has found people
with heart disease benefit more from current cholesterol
guidelines than those without heart disease. Dr.
Lee Goldman, a professor of medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco says that's because
those with existing heart disease are at higher
risk and the cholesterol guidelines are more aggressive
for them than the rest of the population.
Goldman: The first thing the study will do
is get the guideline writers upset because they
will fear that as a result, people without heart
disease will not follow the guidelines and doctors
will not pay attention to the guidelines.
Narrator: But Goldman says that's not the
intent of the paper.
Goldman: What it really says is that in terms
of keeping people alive, adding years of life or
even quality years of life, that the principle focus
should be on people that already have evidence of
heart disease or who are at very, very high risk
for it. Our paper really emphasizes that in secondary
prevention, you not only get the most bang for the
buck - you get the most bang.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Should All Unruptured Aneurysms Be Treated?
Narrator: This is Science Today. For years,
doctors have debated the value of surgically treating
all unruptured cerebral aneurysms. While most do
require surgical treatment, a new University of
California, San Francisco study suggests that in
a large subset of patients, such treatment is unnecessary.
Dr. Clay Johnston, an assistant professor of neurology
was lead author of the study.
Johnston: Previously, people, the numbers
they had found were around one - one of those hundred
would have a rupture in one year. And clearly at
those levels, treatment was justified. But the new
study's much larger than the previous ones, had
found that in sub groups of patients, in ones with
very small aneurysms where they hadn't had a ruptured
aneurysm elsewhere, that their rupture rates were
very, very low - in fact, one twentieth of one percent
a year.
Narrator: This new information is reassuring
to patients who had formerly thought of unruptured
aneurysms as time bombs.
Johnston: They don't have a time bomb and
they can go on and live their life normally and
not necessarily expect to have any problems whatsoever
from the aneurysm.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
C.
How Doctors Can Help Victims Of Domestic Violence
Narrator: This is Science Today. Doctors
can play a major role when it comes to helping patients
who are victims of domestic violence. A new study
has revealed physicians who simply acknowledged
physical abuse had occurred and confirmed their
patient's worth, had a very positive impact on these
patients in the long run. Barbara Gerbert, a behavioral
scientist at the University of California, San Francisco,
interviewed women who had positive encounters with
their doctors about their abuse.
Gerbert: We had thought we might find ephipanies.
That is, a woman would say this happened with my
physician and I immediately knew that I was in a
dangerous situation and immediately took steps to
leave.
Narrator: Instead, Gerbert found women described
positive encounters with their doctor as 'planting
the seeds of change' and even found many women clung
to their doctor's validation.
Gerbert: Physicians may never see the outcomes
of those efforts because they may never see the
person again and yet, these women are out there
and they have physicians to thank for their safety
today.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
D.
The Growing Ethical Issues In Organ Transplantation
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Many difficult ethical issues
have come up in the field of organ transplantation.
Dr. John Roberts, chief of transplant services at
the University of California, San Francisco, says
because of a lack of donors, one of the main issues
is deciding how to allocate organs.
Roberts:
As the demand for transplantation increases, we're
really left with these issues about how do we get
organs distributed fairly or with justice?
Narrator:
With limited resources, a philosophy called triage
often comes into play.
Roberts:
There's sort of wartime triage and there's peacetime
triage. Peacetime triage generally occurs in situations
where you have enough of a resource, you just have
to figure out who needs to go first. Where, wartime
triage is you just say, I can't take care of this
guy - let him die. That's sort of the battlefield
triage kind of system and one that transplantation,
particularly of the life-saving organs, heart and
liver is sort of been moving toward.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
A New Device Detects An Insidious Poison
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Carbon monoxide poisoning
is particularly insidious because it's odorless
and in small doses, the symptoms resulting from
exposure are very similar to other, non life-threatening
ailments. Michael Apte, a scientist at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory who has developed personal
carbon monoxide sensors, says the symptoms often
resemble the flu.
Apte:
Dizziness, nausea, disorientation, headache…so unfortunately,
when we're exposed at that level, if we go to the
doctor, we're often misdiagnosed as having the flu.
It can be a vicious cycle where people are continually
exposed for many, many, many days - entire seasons
sometimes.
Narrator:
Apte's personal sensor can be used in the residential
setting, but for now, Apte sees it more as an occupational
research tool.
Apte:
Public health departments, the state or federal
environmental protection agencies, scientists who
are interested in public health issues. They could
use the device to measure carbon monoxide exposures
within the workplace.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
