|
A.
Osteoporosis is Not Just a Woman's Disease
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Osteoporosis - a disease
characterized by low bone mass and deterioration
of bone tissue - is often associated with women.
But Farhad Parhami, a researcher at UCLA, says the
disease also affects men - especially as they age.
Parhami:
It just happens that men tend to get osteoporosis
later in life and now it seems that at least one
of the reasons that this happens is that they start
out with a higher peak bone mass. So they have more
bone to start with than women do. Therefore, by
the time that bone is lost to the degree that it
will be clinically significant and will cause fractures
happens later in life than in women.
Narrator:
Parhami and his colleagues found a possible risk
factor for osteoporosis is having high cholesterol.
Parhami:
We have just started to look at this phenomenon
and we haven't really proven that cholesterol plays
a role in osteoporosis. It's an exciting new area
and we're going to go ahead and pursue it and see
if there is definite cause and effect relationship
there.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Discovering a Major Source of an Ozone Depleting Gas
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's been discovered that salt
marshes are a major source of methyl bromide, a natural
and industrially produced gas. Robert Rhew, a researcher
at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, says scientists
knew more than half of the methyl bromide in the atmosphere
came from the oceans, fumigation and vegetation burning
- but there was still a significant balance that was
unaccounted for.
Rhew: So this big missing source
- we went out to look for it and one of the places
we looked for was salt marshes because salt marshes
are areas of high, primary productivity. And it turns
out that salt marsh vegetation - or something intimately
associated with the vegetation - it's producing methyl
bromide and methyl chloride like gangbusters.
Narrator: Because these compounds deplete
the ozone, controls to regulate its production have
been developed. But Rhew stresses salt marshes are
not bad for the environment. In fact, they play a
vital ecological role. The key is balance.
Rhew:
We're getting
closer to understanding the global budget of these
compounds, which will in the end affect our decisions
on how to regulate it internationally.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
What Parents Should Know About Childhood Concussions
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Parents with children participating
in sports should be aware that there's nothing mild
about a mild concussion. In fact, Dr. David Hovda,
director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center,
says his studies suggest a mild trauma to the brain
may impair the plasticity - or growth - of a developing
brain.
Hovda:
During our very young, developing years, our
brain is very capable of absorbing and integrating
vast amounts of knowledge very quickly and having
the brain respond in a very plastic fashion.
Narrator:
The researchers tested young rats, whose brain
capacity is equivalent to 5 to 7-year-old humans and
found a mild trauma to the brain altered the capacity
to respond to an enriched environment. But Hovda says
parents should not be overtly afraid to let their
children play sports…
Hovda:
We are not talking about trying to sequester people
from continuing their normal activity, we're trying
to educate the public so that when something does
happen, you have somebody who at least understands
that something has occurred and how to actually respond
to it.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
A Dietary Intervention Program for Colon Cancer
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's often assumed that the
older you are, the harder it is to break bad habits,
especially when it comes to diet. But Cheryl Rock,
a professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the
University of California, San Diego says that's not
necessarily the case.
Rock:
We think that with what we know about individualizing
and food choices, that it's possible to change your
diet at any age.
Narrator:
Working with an older population, Rock and her colleagues
have designed a dietary intervention program called
the APPLE study, which emphasizes more vegetable and
fruit intake to reduce the risk of the recurrence
of a colonic polyp, which may be a precursor to colon
cancer.
Rock:
Our average participant in the APPLE study is someone
who's in their sixties and seventies and often retired
and they don't want to spend a lot of time at home
cooking. And so, that's a study in which we emphasize
a lot of convenient ways that you can get this kind
of a healthier diet. And the outcome is that we can
prevent the recurrence of colon polyps, which have
been in turn related to the greater likelihood of
developing colon cancer.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Stigma and Mental Health Disorders
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Mental illness affects one
in five Americans each year - and yet, a UCLA study
has found about two-thirds of people with serious
depression or anxiety disorders do not receive proper
care. Psychologist Alexander Young says it has been
suggested that major advances in medications and the
emergence of managed care have improved the quality
of treatment over the last few decades.
Young:
I think this study shows, that's just not the
case. That there really has not been substantial improvement
over the past decade or two with regard to treatment
of these disorders. So I think we need to look for
answers as to how treatment can become improved and
how people can become aware of treatment.
Narrator:
Another problem, Young says, is there's still a stigma
associated with mental heath disorders.
Young:
There has
been some progress with regard to stigma and more
people are likely to see this as a genuine, biological
problem and something that's amenable to treatment.
I think there's still a fair amount of stigma left
there, probably in ethnic groups and communities and
problems in care. But it is improving.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
|
