A.
Scientists Create Radiation-tolerant Materials
Narrator:
This is Science Today. One of the
limitations in the handling of nuclear waste in
this country has been long-term storage. Materials
currently encasing radioactive matter degrade with
time, making them prone to rupturing or leaching.
But the Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed
new radiation-tolerant materials that may eventually
solve this problem. Kurt Sickafus, a staff scientist,
says they worked with a set of materials called
crystalline-ceramic oxides.
Sickafus:
There are many people that have
studied crystalline oxide as waste forms and we
believe we've identified a special subset of ceramic
oxides, which have very favorable properties for
long-term storage.
Narrator:
Basically, these materials' atoms
shift around to accommodate defects caused by radiation
damage.
Sickafus:
Our
hope is that this will be an important step to get
a number of our colleagues in the study of waste
forms to take an interest in crystalline waste forms
and in particular, the kinds of structures we've
proposed looking at in this study.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Questioning the Accountability of Nursing Homes
for Poor Staffing
Narrator:
This
is Science Today. Nursing home residents in this
country receive, on average, a total of three and
a half-hours of care per day. And that's not enough,
according to a report co-authored by University
of California, San Francisco researchers. Charlene
Harrington, a professor of social and behavioral
sciences, helped conduct a nationwide survey of
an expert panel on nursing home care, which recommended
better staffing.
Harrington:
Some studies have shown if you have more staff,
especially RN staff, you have fewer deaths. And
we found that facilities have fewer deficiencies
when the survey and inspections are done.
Narrator:
Harrington says poor staffing is not necessarily
due to a lack of funding.
Harrington:
There's the issue about are the nursing homes really
being accountable and are they really spending the
money on what they're supposed to be spending the
money on. Only thirty-six percent of every dollar
in a nursing home goes to the staff that are giving
the direct care, so there's twenty-seven percent
going off in administrative cost.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
A Link Between Post-op Pain and Infection
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers
have discovered an important link between post-operative
pain and infection. Dr. Daniel Sessler, a professor
of anesthesia at the University of California, San
Francisco, discovered that completely controlling
pain with medication not only improves patient comfort,
but also significantly reduces the risk of infection.
Sessler:
Tissue oxygen is known to be the most important
factor influencing infection. The reason is that
the primary defense against the bacteria that cause
surgical infections are killed by neutrophils, which
are a type of white blood cells and they depend
on oxygen.
Narrator:
But pain stimulates the body's protective
fight or flight response. This chemical reaction
limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to tissues
such as the skin; so more oxygen can go to the brain
and other organs necessary in emergencies.
Sessler:
However, in post-operative surgical patients,
those same responses are not helpful and it's best
to use effective pain treatment to block the fight
or flight response.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
The Rise of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Federal health
officials have recently announced bacteria that
cause serious illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis
are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
Dr. Leland Rickman, an expert in infectious disease
at the University of California, San Diego, says
while this is alarming, it's not surprising.
Rickman:
Bacteria from centuries ago have
actually been discovered that are resistant to antibiotics
even before we discovered them. So, it's nothing
new for the bacteria to be able to produce antibiotics
in their own right.
Narrator:
What is new, is how quickly drug-resistant bacteria
are evolving and outsmarting us.
Rickman:
In the past, at least we've had the ability to develop
new antibiotics to stay one or two steps ahead of
some of these microorganisms. But with recent events
over the last several years, it's obvious to me
and to others that at some point, we are going to
lose some antibiotics against certain infections
that could potentially bring us back to the pre-antibiotic
era.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Patients with Kidney Disease Benefit from Anabolic
Steroids
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's been
discovered that patients with kidney disease, who
are on dialysis and suffering from malnutrition,
benefit from low doses of anabolic steroids, or
synthesized testosterone. Dr. Kirsten Johansen,
a professor of medicine at the University of California,
San Francisco, says these patients often suffer
from malnutrition.
Johansen:
Malnutrition and low protein mass
are the strongest predictors of mortality that we
have right now in this group. Our hope was that
if we could improve that, perhaps we could improve
mortality as well.
Narrator:
When patients were given the steroid anabolic steroids
for six months, their body mass increased and they
reported less fatigue than those given a placebo.
Johansen admits these steroids have a controversial
air about them, but emphasizes they used much lower
doses than those reportedly used by weightlifters.
Johansen:
I see this from being very different from use of
these compounds by weightlifters. What we're doing
here is trying to treat a problem as opposed to
taking healthy people and trying to do better.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
