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A.
The Future of Nutrition Therapy for Diabetics
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Over six percent of the U.S.
population has diabetes and nutrition therapy is
a very integral part of caring for the disease.
Clinical nutritionist Lisa Scott of the University
of California, San Francisco, says the wave of the
future in nutrition therapy is what's called carbohydrate
counting.
Scott: Carbohydrates are the main things
that raise your blood sugar in the foods that you
eat. So if you can know how much carbohydrate is
in the foods you are eating and you're told how
much you can have at each meal, then that really
helps control your blood sugars.
Narrator: And Scott says it's a very flexible
plan, in that it allows for variation in what a
patient eats, so long as the carbohydrate intake
falls within a certain range.
Scott: You may be told that you can have
sixty grams of carbohydrate at a meal and when you're
taught all the foods that have carbohydrates and
how much has carbohydrate, you can eat from many
of the food groups, as long as you keep your carbohydrates
within the range that you're told.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Astronauts Readjust to Life on Earth
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Now that the first crew of
the International Space Station has returned to Earth,
they have to readjust to gravity. According to Kenneth
Baldwin, a professor of physiology and biophysics
at the University of California, Irvine, this process
can take several months of physical therapy.
Baldwin: One of the primary
experiences that astronauts encounter when they're
in space, due to the fact that they're not able to
exert force on their muscle systems, is that the muscles
do atrophy. And atrophy refers to a shrinkage of the
muscle fiber. Protein is lost and generally, along
with the loss in muscle protein, is a loss in strength.
Narrator: Baldwin chaired a review panel
examining the types of training and physical therapy
used and helped NASA realize there was not enough
heavy resistance training.
Baldwin:
As a result of our report, I think we have changed
the mindset at NASA and they are more responsive to
trying to introduce this type of activity into their
routine training.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
A National Call to Limit Antibiotic Use
Narrator: This is Science Today. For over a
decade, experts have warned that overuse of antibiotics
is causing germs to become resistant to drugs. Because
of this, there's a national call to lower total antibiotic
use by 20 or 30 percent. Dr. Leland Rickman of the
University of California, San Diego, says it's a challenging
time in infectious disease and a lot of what researchers
do is try to stay even with the bacteria as it outsmarts
us.
Rickman: In the past, at least we've had the
ability to develop new antibiotics to stay one or
two steps ahead of the microorganisms. But with recent
events over the last several years, at some point,
we are going to lose some antibiotics against certain
infections that could potentially bring us back to
the pre-antibiotic era where there would be infections
that we just couldn't treat with antibiotics.
Narrator: In the meantime, Rickman agrees with
limiting antibiotic use.
Rickman: So in other words, if you don't need
an antibiotic, don't take it.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.Understanding
the Health Effects of Fine Particle Pollution
Narrator:
This is Science Today. There are clear health effects
associated with levels of what's called fine particle
pollution in urban areas. Because of this, environmental
health scientist, Thomas McKone of the University
of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, is working to better understand
this association.
McKone: We have a center here that supports
the EPA's effort to better understand the relationship
between sources being automobiles, power plants, people
burning wood smoke, all these things come together
to form this collection of fine particles in the atmosphere
in the urban areas.
Narrator: The big issue is, who's going to
cut back on this pollution?
McKone: It gets complicated because what we
want to look at is not the level you measure in the
air, but what's in the level where people actually
breathe? And those are quite different. So, what we're
trying to do is establish a relationship between what
a person sees and the number of sources that could
be accounting for the level of pollution - in this
case, particulate matter.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
A Growing Concern about Certain Dietary Supplements
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Each year, the American public
spends billions of dollars on what is termed 'unproven
remedies' - and this includes dietary supplements.
Christine Haller, a toxicologist at the University
of California, San Francisco, says the rise of dietary
supplement use is of particular concern to those in
poison control.
Haller:
Because dietary supplements are not regulated
by the FDA and they're not considered to be a food
or a drug. And therefore, people sort of have access
to them indiscriminately and we are seeing some adverse
effects being reported.
Narrator: In particular, Haller says the products
of concern contain ephedra, which are marketed to
help lose weight, boost energy or enhance athletic
performance.
Haller: It contains ma huang, which is an herbal
form of ephedrine and caffeine, in combination. And
these two products in combination seem to be potentially
more dangerous in causing adverse effects. So we would
prefer people check with their physician before starting
any of these dietary supplements.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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