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A.
The Domino Effect of Extinction
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers looking into
how the global biosphere recovers following an extinction
event, discovered that the time scale for recovery
is approximately ten million years. James Kirchner
of the University of California, Berkeley says that's
much longer than previously thought and goes to
show that extinction has a domino effect.
Kirchner: Because individual species are
so interdependent, the elimination of one species
will have knock on effects through many others -
through everything that feeds on it, everything
that in other ways, depends on that species.
Narrator: Kirchner and his colleagues used
analysis techniques from astrophysics to determine
the rate of extinction compared to the rate of evolution
over the past 535 million years.
Kirchner: No one had been able to do that
before because the mathematical techniques you need
to be able to draw those connections, given the
uneven spacing of the fossil record, are available
in astrophysics. And no one in paleontology was
aware of those.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
The Benefits of a Smoke-free Workplace
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A University of California,
Berkeley study looking into the benefits of a smoke-free
workplace, found that aside from the obvious health
benefits for the employee, there's also direct benefits
for the employer. Joel Moskowitz was lead investigator
of the study.
Moskowitz: In the long term, employers have
a lot to gain as well. One of the things we know about
smokers is that they have higher rates of absenteeism
due to various illnesses that they're more likely
to contract. So their workers are much more productive,
which is contrary to I think what some people's thinking
- this hassle factor - the smokers have to go outside
and may waste more time.
Narrator: The study also found smokers
in non-smoking workplaces were more likely to quit
than those in environments with no anti-smoking regulations.
Moskowitz:
So, you're saving a lot of lives and reducing a lot
of disease and disability. Other studies have shown
that smokers will smoke fewer cigarettes, too, if
they're in workplaces that restrict smoking.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Understanding Anxiety Disorders
Narrator: This is Science Today. Anxiety disorders
affect approximately twenty million Americans. Lynn
Martin, a clinical research specialist at the University
of California, San Francisco, says it's natural to
have some anxiety and fear ....
Martin: It's when it gets to be excessive,
to cause a person significant distress in their life
or to lead to impairment in functioning in any part
of one's life - school work, home, relationships,
that we begin to think of it as an anxiety disorder.
Narrator: Anxiety disorders include obsessive-compulsive
disorder, phobias, traumatic stress and panic disorders
and even excessive worry, known as generalized anxiety
disorder.
Martin: And we're currently doing a research
study on generalized anxiety and the phone is ringing
off the hook with people who have high anxiety and
excessive worry and it's usually worry about two or
more things in one's life that one realizes one doesn't
need to be worrying about.
Narrator: Public awareness of anxiety disorders
is crucial since a lack of understanding prevent less
than half of those affected from seeking treatment.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
D.
What Athletes Should Know About Leg Pain
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Leg pain in athletes is
often caused by stress fractures or shin splints but
the source of pain can sometimes be a disorder called
chronic compartment syndrome. Dr. Robert Pedowitz,
a professor of sports medicine at the University of
California, San Diego, says in terms of treatment,
it's important to know the difference.
Pedowitz: Because the treatment is very different
in a stress fracture versus a chronic compartment
syndrome. One of the areas of research here at UCSD
has been in developing techniques for making the diagnosis
of chronic compartment syndrome.
Narrator: This disorder occurs when pressure
within the muscle during exercise goes beyond a certain
threshold, restricting blood flow and causing pain.
Pedowitz: So we have provided an evaluation
service where we actually measure the pressure within
the muscle by putting tiny catheters within the muscle
and then we monitor the pressure before, during and
after exercise. I suspect more patients in the past
haven't had the surgery that can fix their problem
because they never had the diagnosis established.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Obesity And Childhood Diabetes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. In the last decade, there's
been an almost sixteen-fold increase in cases of children
with Type 2, or adult onset, diabetes. Dr. Kenneth
Jones, who heads the University of California, San
Diego's Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, says
parents of obese children or those who have a family
history of diabetes, should be aware of the symptoms.
Jones:
Increased frequency in urination, volume of urination,
urinating at night and the younger patients return
to bed wetting after being dry for periods of years
and increased thirst are probably the major things
that the parents need to look for.
Narrator: As in adults, the first line of defense
is diet and exercise.
Jones: And this gets us to the issue of the
increasing epidemic and is it caused by the increasing
frequency of obesity in this country and what do we
need to do about that? And certainly this is going
to be a major public health problem over the coming
years. If we are to arrest this epidemic of obesity,
we need to attack it early.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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