A. Dentists to Receive Training for Dealing
with Domestic Violence
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The American Dental Association
has recently begun efforts to enact domestic violence
educational programs for dentists. In a recent survey,
Barbara Gerbert, a behavioral scientist at the University
of California, San Francisco, found many dentists
didn't screen for domestic violence, even when patients
had visible signs of abuse. In a previous study,
Gerbert found both the victims and their doctors
tended to avoid the subject.
Gerbert:
We found
that there was this very intricate dance that both
parties played a part in of approaching the topic
or avoiding the topic and very seldom did a woman
describe that they had been asked directly and answered
directly.
Narrator:
But Gerbert
says validating or compassionate messages from an
authority figure had a powerful effect over victims.
Gerbert:
Asking
women, identifying the abuse and validating the
women and their worth can plant seeds for change
and have an enormous impact in the long run.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
An Optical Solution in Surgically Treating Carpal
Tunnel Syndrome
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A more efficient, less-invasive
technique to treat carpal tunnel syndrome is being
developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Engineer Robert van Vorhis says the new technique
involves endoscopes.
van
Vorhis : Endoscopes are like little telescopes
that you go into the body with and traditionally,
they've been used in the abdomen and in the abdomen
all the organs are different colors.
Narrator:
But in joint spaces, the tendons, ligaments
and nerves are the same white color, which make
visualization a problem and can impede the success
rate of surgery. So, researchers are using advanced
optics to get a clearer picture without all the
glare.
van
Vorhis: You can think of it as image processing
at the speed of light. The optic solution will become
potentially part of the endoscope itself and the
physician may never even know about this part in
specific, but they'll be able to benefit from it's
function.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Using a Dental X-ray to Detect Strokes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Too often, people at risk
of a stroke don't find out until it's too late.
That's why a panoramic dental x-ray has the potential
to become a valuable screening test in asymptomatic
patients. Dr. Arthur Friedlander, an oral surgeon
at UCLA, says although cardiologists have their
own sophisticated tests, doctors limit these tests
to those who are already presenting with early signs
of impending stroke.
Friedlander:
Whereas dentists see millions of patients each year,
who believe, probably incorrectly, that they're
free of the danger of an impending stroke. .
Narrator:
If white spots show up on a patient's neck during
this x-ray, that's plaque in the carotid artery,
which can break off and cause a stroke. But there
are other implications.
Friedlander:
The disease
process that's taking place in the neck, known as
atherosclerosis, is also taking place in all the
other blood vessels in the body.
Narrator:
So, getting patients to the doctor sooner may also
prevent future heart attacks. For Science Today,
I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
What Women Should Know about Fibroids
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Every year, nearly six hundred
thousand women have hysterectomies, making the procedure
the country's second most common major surgery after
cesarean. Dr. Scott Goodwin, an interventional radiologist
at UCLA, says one of the most common reasons for
hysterectomies are fibroids.
Goodwin:
Fibroids are a benign tumor of the muscle of the
uterus. They tend to affect women who are in their
forties or are approaching menopause. No one knows
for sure why some women get fibroids, although there
does seem to be some genetic component.
Narrator:
Goodwin
has been treating patients with a non-operative
alternative to hysterectomy called embolization,
in which the blood flow to the fibroid is blocked
off and essentially dries up.
Goodwin:
The way
it's done is to put a small plastic tube or catheter
in the arteries to the uterus and then inject some
small plastic particles and they float out in the
bloodstream and they then mechanically block the
blood flow.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Obstacles Many Young Couples Face Raising Children
Narrator:
This is Science Today. In today's society, more
and more young parents are living hundreds - sometimes
thousands, of miles away from the families they
grew up with. Phillip Cowan, a psychology professor
at the University of California, Berkeley, says
this lack of familial support can be trying on young
couples who are trying to juggle raising a family
while pursuing careers.
Cowan:
This is happening in times that are really changing.
They're isolated often in homes and away from the
communities and friends. Work circumstances have
changed so that men and women are both working in
many, if not almost all families today.
Narrator:
This is unlike the past, when it was presumed men
would work and women would stay home to raise the
family.
Cowan:
And
it worked to women's disadvantage in some ways as
the whole feminist revolution talked about. But
it did work because at least people thought that's
what we're going to do and they did it. Now we don't
know what to do. We call these couple's 'new pioneers'
because they really are charting new territory -
and they're not finding it easy.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
