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A.
Who Needs the Flu Shot?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The peak flu season - October
through March - is upon us and if you're in a higher
risk group, now is the time to get vaccinated. Mary
Lynch, a professor of nursing at the University
of California, San Francisco, says this category
includes the very young, the very old and those
who may have chronic disease or are immunosuppressed.
Lynch:
Why are we worried about the flu? I'll tell you why
we're worried about the flu. Right now and for the
past twenty years, over 20 thousand individuals have
died each year from influenza or influenza-related
complications. So it's not something to take lightly.
Narrator:
Lynch says it used to be recommended that people
over sixty-five get flu shots every year, but now
that figure has dropped to age fifty.
Lynch:
Because there was a feeling that many individuals
could have existing cardiac or pulmonary problems
and not be aware that they had these conditions
and not know that they were at risk.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
The Facts about Sudden Oak Death
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For several years a fungus
has been infecting and killing many thousands of coastal
oak trees in the West. It's called sudden oak death
and according to David Rizzo, a plant pathologist
at the University of California, Davis, it was first
discovered in California in 1995.
Rizzo: We think the main cause
of sudden oak death is a fungus or fungus-like organism
known as Phytophthora and that is what initially gets
in there, it can kill trees on its own, but often
it will stress trees that other organisms can also
come in.
Narrator: In large trees, Rizzo says
the first symptoms are a bleeding or oozing coming
directly out of the bark.
Rizzo:
Those are the earliest symptoms that we notice. As
the tree goes on it shows less vigor and often times
though, the tree will apparently appear to die over
a period of a few weeks, but the tree has probably
already been infected for quite a while before that.
Narrator:
Travelers
in infected areas can prevent the spread in other
regions by making sure they clean traces of soil off
shoes or tires. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Researchers Discover Cannibalism in the Open Sea
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Physical processes, such as
ocean circulation, have traditionally explained fluctuations
in marine populations. But a new study suggests there
may be more to it than that. Researcher Mark Ohman
of the University of California, San Diego's Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, found evidence that tiny,
marine crustaceans called copepods engage in cannibalism
to limit their population. Specifically, Ohman says
female copepods may eat their own eggs.
Ohman:
This is what introduces a self-regulating, or
self-limiting term to the population, that nobody
has found before in the open sea.
Narrator:
Copepods are the most numerous multicellular animals
in the ocean and perhaps, the most numerous on Earth.
Ohman:
They're very important in marine food webs as grazers
of the ocean's primary production and very important
as prey for pelagic fishes and a variety of other
marine organisms.
Narrator:
Ohman says the main goal of their research is
to develop better predictive models of marine ecosystems.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
How Small Strokes May Affect Memory Loss
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For years there's been question
about how small strokes may affect memory loss and
whether people with such memory loss also have Alzheimer's
Disease. Now for the first time, a study led by researcher
Bruce Reed of the University of California, Davis,
has come up with clear evidence that the impact on
the brain caused by minor strokes is very different
from the damage caused by Alzheimer's Disease.
Reed:
We looked at the brain's metabolic function - so we
used PET scans, which give you basically a map of
the brain's metabolic activity. Memory function in
Alzheimer's disease was related to the degree of activity
in temporal lobe, basically. But in the stroke patients,
how well they remembered things was related to functioning
in the frontal lobes of the brain.
Narrator:
Reed says these findings can help doctors distinguish
between the two forms of memory loss.
Reed:
Which is important to people, even if it doesn't have
an immediate implication in terms of what drugs you
would use. It's still important to the patient, it's
still important for the families to know what's wrong.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
How Doctors Can Help Victims of Domestic Violence
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Physicians who proactively
intervened with patients, who were victims of domestic
violence, have reported success using intervention
tactics, which validated the patient's worth and provided
a non-judgmental environment. Behavioral scientist
Barbara Gerbert of the University of California, San
Francisco, led this study - one of the few to examine
domestic violence in relation to health care.
Gerbert:
Other studies had been talking about physicians feeling
like they would be opening Pandora's Box to ask the
question. To discover a patient who'd been abused.
What we wanted to show was that it might not be so
difficult.
Narrator:
One of the most successful intervention tactics physicians
used was validating the worth of victims of physical
abuse.
Gerbert:
By saying, "you don't deserve this, no one deserves
this." We think that the main message that we
have - that validation is important to victims of
domestic violence - applies to anyone.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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