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A.
Higher Doses of a Heart Failure Drug Deemed Safe
and Effective
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A new study has found a majority
of doctors are not prescribing ACE inhibitors, a
popular heart failure drug, in high enough doses
for effective treatment. Dr. Andrew Michaels of
the University of California, San Francisco, says
certain high-risk patients, such as those who have
had angioplasty or a bypass, are often not even
given ACE inhibitors.
Michaels: Part of that potentially could
be that some physicians may feel that after a patient
is revascularized with either a bypass or an angioplasty,
their benefit from ACE inhibitors might be a little
less, although no clinical trial would support that
idea.
Narrator: And no clinical trial could support
the idea that higher doses of ACE inhibitors are
unsafe. So Michaels says these drugs should be used
more aggressively, especially in those patients
with congestive heart failure.
Michaels: Those patients are at really high
risk of having another heart attack or dying within
the next year. And if those patients are discharged
on the ACE inhibitor, those rates of complications
go down dramatically.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Is Today's Society Neighborly?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Contrary to popular belief,
modern Americans are actually more rooted today than
they were in the past. Claude Fischer, a sociologist
at the University of California, Berkeley has studied
mobility trends and says one of the reasons today's
society regards itself as less rooted, is the fact
many of us don't seem to know our neighbors.
Fischer: It
could both be the case that people are moving less
and less and the case that they're less likely to
know their neighbors well because of other things
going on. One of them is, for instance, at the end
of the 20th Century, fewer people are at home at a
give time. So it's quite often the case that you have
a neighborhood where people stay, but nobody's home
during the day, so those opportunities for contacts
and getting together are less.
Narrator: Fischer says the main thrust
of his research is to essentially set the record straight.
Fischer:
So
if we're worried, for example, about community action
or we're worried about social disorder in our neighborhoods,
one of the glib answers which is just "well, that's
just modern life, people move from place to place"
- I think we have to set that answer aside and look
at other things.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Laser Technology Could Do Away with Stitches
Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers
are working on improving a technique called laser
tissue welding, which would offer a less invasive
way to close a wound without using stitches. Instead,
Luis da Silva of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
says tissues would be sealed together with a strong
solder made of human proteins.
da Silva: The consistency is like egg white.
It does a better mating of the two surfaces. That's
important in the whole healing and welding process.
The solder just basically acts, we hope, for a week
or two weeks, eventually the body takes over and starts
to really put in the correct bonding and welding.
Narrator: The researchers are also working
on a tissue welding feedback system that reassures
doctors the solder held up.
da Silva: We've actually been able to develop
a diagnostic which looks at the temperature of the
solder and by monitoring that is able to kind of reduce
the chances of burning it and has significantly increased
the likelihood of success of a good joint.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
A New Study May Help Crewmembers of the International
Space Station
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The findings of psychological
studies of former crewmembers and ground control personnel
of MIR space station missions may be used to help
train and support those involved with the International
Space Station. Nick Kanas, a University of California,
San Francisco psychiatrist is conducting these studies
for NASA.
Kanas: We will be able to look at crews and
mission control groups that have a lot of experience
with other languages and other peoples versus those
that have less experience. And we are trying to see
how that might factor into how the tension, cohesion
and leadership works out in these different groups.
Narrator: Right now, crews are selected for
a number of factors, including background, training
and meeting mission requirements. But Kanas' previous
work highlighted the importance of experience living
with other people and dealing well with other languages
and cultures.
Kanas: We hope to raise people's awareness
and attention as to some of these additional psychosocial
factors so that they can be involved in the selection
process as well as the training process.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
What Young Women Should Know about Maintaining Healthy
Bones
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Young women may hear the words
osteoporosis or low bone density and think these medical
conditions are not something they have to worry about
now. But Deborah Sellmeyer, director of the University
of California, San Francisco's Bone Density Clinic,
says the teenaged years are a crucial time to be focusing
on good nutrition.
Sellmeyer:
It seems like a very distant thing at that time. But
that's an extremely important time to have good nutrition,
especially calcium and good overall nutrition. And
it's something that's tough to get young girls to
do because they're worried about how much fat is in
milk and they're worried about fitting in with everybody
and if everybody's drinking soda and having pizza
every day, that's what you're going to do if you're
a teenager.
Narrator: But Sellmeyer encourages young women
to begin thinking about their adult health by getting
proper nutrition and being active, so their bone density
levels will be at optimal levels in the future.
Sellmeyer: Bone density stays level throughout
your sort of middle years and starts trailing off
a little bit probably in your mid to late thirties.
And then once you hit menopause for women, that's
when we start to see an increased rate of loss.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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