A. Perceptions of Social Status May Affect Health
Narrator:
This is Science Today. If you consider yourself
relatively high up on the social ladder, chances
are you're in good health and are less stressed
out. Those were the findings of a University of
California, San Francisco study led by Nancy Adler,
a professor of psychiatry.
Adler:
What we
created was literally a social ladder. We showed
people a ladder with ten rungs and said - imagine
everyone in US society is somewhere on this ladder
that people at the top are the best off, they have
the most income, the best jobs, most education.
People at the bottom are the worst off - where would
you place yourself?
Narrator:
Adler
found where people placed themselves was strongly
correlated with a number of physical and mental
health indicators. So Adler says it's not just the
effects of income or education that are linked to
better health, but rather, one's perception of higher
social status.
Adler:
I think
it is a powerful demonstration that what goes on
in our minds and our brains is important. That how
you think about your circumstances has an important
impact on other aspects of your functioning.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A Disturbing Study on Nursing Home Care
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's been found that about
a third of the 1.6 million nursing home residents
in this country may suffer from malnutrition and
dehydration. This disturbing finding was part of
a University of California, San Francisco study,
in which one of the researchers, Charlene Harrington,
called for better training and more staffing in
nursing homes.
Harrington:
On average, there's only three and half hours in
total per resident of nursing care and that means
that it's a little more than an hour of nursing
per shift. So that, we think, is simply not adequate.
Narrator:
Harrington says a big problem that's been
identified is there's not enough staff to feed the
residents.
Harrington:
A number of residents have been dying of malnutrition
and dehydration and that's really because there's
no one there. They make take a tray in and set it
in front of the residents and then just walk out
because they have fifteen or even twenty residents
to feed. And we're saying they shouldn't have more
than two to three residents to feed. And so you
need a lot more extra staff during mealtime hours.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Tough Anti-smoking Laws Prevent Thousands of Deaths
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A new report estimates that
more than 30 thousand heart-related deaths were
prevented the first nine years of California State's
tough anti-smoking program, which began in 1988.
The report by University of California, San Francisco
researchers, represents the first time scientists
have linked savings in lives to a tobacco control
program. Joel Moskowitz, a researcher at UC Berkeley
who has also studied smoking laws, says strong laws
do have an effect on smokers.
Moskowitz:
We did find a relationship that was related to the
strength of the ordinance or the existence of the
ordinance, such that the stronger the law, the more
likely they were to have quit smoking.
Narrator:
Moskowitz studied workplace smoking in particular.
Moskowitz:
What
we found comparing workers who worked in communities
with the strongest laws, about twenty-six percent
had quit smoking in the last six months and were
still abstinent at the time of the survey in comparison
in communities with no laws -- only nineteen percent
had quit smoking during that period and were still
abstinent.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
A Deadly Poison Put to Good Medical Use
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The bacteria that produces
the poison that accumulates in improperly canned
foods and causes deadly food poisoning known as
botulism, has found a favorable spot in medical
science. Dr. Richard Glogau, a dermatologist at
the University of California, San Francisco, says
when greatly diluted and purified, this deadly bacteria
is an amazingly useful drug called Botox.
Glogau:
It's turned out to be fabulously effective for a
great variety of medical conditions, many of which
have had no effective therapy at all. So it's definitely
a molecule for the new Millennium.
Narrator:
Botox
was first used in dermatology to treat wrinkles
in the upper face by paralyzing the muscles that
cause lines to form.
Glogau:
That's
how it made it's primary entrance into the specialty
and from there, it's turned out to be useful for
other things like uncontrolled sweating and treatment
of headache, chronic nerve pains of certain types
like shingles. And we're just beginning to find
out some of the other things it can do.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
A New Device that Sorts out Fine Particle Pollutants
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's been found that the
more pollution particles there are in the air, the
more people are getting sick with asthma and other
respiratory problems. So, the Environmental Protection
Agency recently issued new rules to control the
levels of these small particles to protect human
health. Lara Gundel, a staff scientist at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, is zeroing in on fine
particle pollutants.
Gundel:
The
question is, what's causing the health problems?
We want to know what the composition is, how does
it vary from one part of the country to the other
and then how do those differences relate to health
effects?
Narrator:
To do this, Gundel developed a novel way to separate
gases and particles by using an air sampler with
a sticky coating inside the tubing.
Gundel:
The
particles just go off and are collected on a fabric
and measured later in a filter like a vacuum cleaner
bag. The aim is to get accurate measurements of
particle mass and number and accurate determination
of the composition.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
