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A.
Women Smokers are More Vulnerable to a Cancer-Causing
Mutation
Narrator: This is Science Today. Women smokers
are three times more likely than men to have a common
lung cancer-causing mutation known as K-ras. John
Wiencke, a professor of epidemiology at the University
of California, San Francisco, says in their collaborative
study with Harvard University, it was also discovered
men and women with this mutation had more aggressive
tumors early on in the stage of their disease.
Wiencke: They're more likely to not survive
following their surgery at a rate that's four times
that of patients that don't have these mutations.
Narrator: More study is needed, but Wiencke
says it may be estrogen that makes this mutation
more common in women.
Wiencke: There had been for some time an
idea that this mutation may cooperate with estrogens
and promote the growth of cells, particularly cells
that exist in the lung. And apparently K-ras expression
increases the number of receptors on cells and this
would make perhaps, a cell more responsive to estrogen
and it's growth-promoting effects.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Why Preteens are Home Alone
Narrator:
This is Science Today. New research has found parents
of middle-school children aged ten to twelve are at
a loss over what to do about a lack of after-school
programs. Rivka Polatnick, a senior researcher at
the Center for Working Families at the University
of California, Berkeley, says once children graduate
from elementary school, the supports that working
parents had relied on before drop off.
Polatnick: There's very little in the way of
full-scale childcare for the after school hours at
the middle school stage. So, many families find that
home alone becomes the only way out.
Narrator: Polatnick also interviewed middle
school children about this trend and found although
many welcome this newfound independence, some kids
admitted they were lonely or bored being home alone
in front of the TV or computer.
Polatnick: So with some kids, there's just
basic safety issues, but then beyond that there's
the question of what's the optimal way for kids to
be spending those hours from three to six and sitting
in front of a TV, even if they're safe, is not what's
optimal.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
C.
The Facts about Head Injury
Narrator: This is Science Today. Many people
believe a concussion means losing consciousness, but
it's really any alteration in mental function that
occurs after a blow to the head. Martin Holland, a
clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University
of California, San Francisco describes what happens
when a concussion occurs.
Holland: The cell gets disturbed so much that
it takes a heck of a lot of energy to try and reestablish
the cell's normal state. The cell goes into a state
of starvation where it can not produce enough energy
to try to reestablish all its biochemical mechanisms.
Narrator: Symptoms may be subtle - a headache,
dizziness, memory lapses and confusion or even a personality
change.
Holland: For the most part, they are most severe
immediately or right around the time of the concussion
and with time they recover. Now, on occasion you'll
find a patient that does not recover from the post-concussive
syndrome and we really don't know why they don't.
But for the most part, most people do and by six months,
most people who have had a concussion that have suffered
post-concussive syndrome no longer have anything.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
A Possible Alternative To Hysterectomy
Narrator: This is Science Today. Every year,
about 600 thousand hysterectomies are performed nationwide,
many in women who have fibroids, or benign tumors
in the uterus. Dr. Scott Goodwin, director of Interventional
Radiology at UCLA , helped develop a new technique,
which may alleviate the need for hysterectomy.
Goodwin:
The procedure itself is called embolization and the
basic idea is to block the blood flow to the entire
uterus to a large extent the fibroids are more sensitive
to that, so the normal uterine tissue can stay alive,
whereas the fibroids tend to shrink or disappear.
Narrator: Goodwin says this happens by inserting
a catheter into the arteries of the uterus and injecting
small plastic particles, which cut off blood flow
to the fibroids.
Goodwin: It seems to be very safe and it's
working for at least 90 percent of the women. Will
it last five years, will it last three years? We don't
really have that answer yet.
Narrator: But Goodwin says for many women,
this is a hopeful alternative to what is often considered
emotionally traumatic surgery. For Science Today,
I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Researchers Aim to Prevent Childhood Leukemia
Narrator: This is Science Today. In studying the
incidence of childhood leukemia, researchers aim to
first understand the genetic events that lead to this
disease. Joseph Wiemels, a research epidemiologist
at the University of California, San Francisco says
from there, researchers can then devise preventative
measures.
Wiemels:
Preventive measures may just be recommendations or
they may be a cancer vaccine. It turns out that stimulating
your immune system early in life actually prevents
childhood leukemia. Normal vaccines given at a normal
time is actually preventative for leukemia.
Narrator: Having older siblings also gives
a child less risk of leukemia, because infections
are passed down to the child from the older children
at a very early age.
Wiemels:
There are several pieces of evidence like that coming
together, which show that it's actually early stimulation
of the immune system which then modulates these cells
that eventually become leukemic. They become modulated
and suppressed at an early age in life if you get
the proper stimulation of your immune system.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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