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A.
The FDA Recommends a New Drug for Multiple Sclerosis
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
recently recommended the approval of a drug called
Novantrone to slow down the deterioration and relapse
rate of multiple sclerosis. The drug works by suppressing
certain white blood cells, including T-cells, which
are thought to attack the myelin sheath. This is
a fatty material that insulates nerve fibers in
the brain. Claude Genain, a professor of neurology
at the University of California, San Francisco,
says myelin destruction is the essence of the disease.
Genain: Because these fibers are no longer
insulated, they can not conduct anymore the nerve
impulses, which carry the orders from the brain
to any part of the body.
Narrator: In his own line of research, Genain
discovered the body's own antibodies play a direct
role in the development of the disease. This finding
can lead to another possible target for drug therapy.
Genain: But one has to remember that this
all happens in the context of a very coordinated
attack between T cells and antibodies against the
components of the brain and the myelin
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Why Bad Breath Should Not Be Ignored
Narrator:
This is Science Today. There are many reasons why
one may develop chronic halitosis, or bad breath.
While the most common cause is bacteria, Dr. Glenn
Clark, who runs the UCLA Fresh Breath/Halitosis clinic,
says sometimes the cause is an underlying illness.
Clark: Diabetes, liver disease, any number
of metabolic or endocrine disorders. So we'll review
their medical history in a thorough fashion. If we
feel it's necessary, we'll send them to their internist
to have a more thorough medical work up as well.
Narrator: Too often, patients won't seek professional
help for their halitosis.
Clark: It doesn't seem that they will talk
about this problem to their dentist or to their physician
unless it's really, really bad. Most people just won't
discuss it, but when they go to a clinic that is specifically
set up, they will then discuss it. It is the reason
they're there. Sort of like psychological problems.
You don't talk to your physician about your depression,
your anxiety, unless it's a crisis.
Narrator: Yet the sooner you get help,
the sooner you'll get rid of this embarrassing problem.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
What Women Should Know About Heart Disease
Narrator: This is Science Today. Women die
of heart disease five times more than they do of breast
cancer. Yet Barbara Drew, an associate professor at
the University of California, San Francisco's School
of Nursing, says there's still a perception that heart
disease is a man's disease.
Drew: However it is the number one killer in
women and women of all ethnic groups. And women have
poorer outcomes from heart disease than men do. They
have poorer outcomes after cardiac surgery and after
most procedures.
Narrator: Drew says there are many theories
why that is.
Drew: Women tend to be older by the time they
develop heart disease and that may have something
to do with it. They may have smaller coronary arteries
which are harder to work with and women have been
noted to have atypical chest pain symptoms sometimes,
which cloud what is wrong with the person and make
diagnosis more difficult.
Narrator: It's estimated one out of nine women
aged 45-64 will develop heart disease and after 65,
one out of three. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Decreasing Hypertension with Dietary Potassium
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Contrary to popular belief,
it may be the chloride in table salt and not the sodium,
which raises blood pressure. Curtis Morris, director
of the University of California, San Francisco's General
Clinical Research Center, found in a rat study that
potassium salts from fruits and vegetables lowered
blood pressure, whereas a potassium salt combined
with chloride caused an increase in hypertension.
Morris: I think it's very possible that there
are a number of people who have so-called borderline
or high/normal blood pressures whom hypertension might
be prevented or delayed by increasing dietary intake
of potassium and reducing the dietary intake of salt.
Narrator: Morris says the best way to get this
source of potassium, a so-called good salt, is to
eat more fruits and vegetables.
Morris: Fruits and vegetables are very rich
sources of dietary potassium and that potassium is
not potassium chloride which, in some people, probably
is a benefit.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Sorting Through Alzheimer's Disease Research
Narrator:
This is Science Today. There's so much information
coming out about new treatments and possible cures
for Alzheimer's Disease that Carl Cotman, director
of the University of California, Irvine's Institute
of Brain Aging and Dementia, says the public needs
help weeding out what's accurate and what's not.
Cotman:
There's just not enough neurologists, psychiatrists
and specialists to ever see the bulk of the people
and so really, this has to be translated ultimately
to family medicine. That's really where the working
grassroots basis is for so much of the health care
and the elderly today.
Narrator: There's also a need for more experimentation.
Cotman: What would happen if a person was on
estrogen plus an ibuprofen plus an antioxidant? This
is kind of an educational cycle. Some of these dietary
interactions among the elderly are still fairly undescribed
and unexplored and we're constantly asked by our families
and patients, well, how much should we take? When
should we take it? And you know sort of what's wrong
but then you gotta figure out what's right for these
individuals.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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