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A.
A Hospital-Based Bio-terrorism Protocol
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The recent Anthrax outbreak
-- and a lingering threat of more attacks to come
-- has left many Americans feeling anxious about
bio-terrorism and prompted an increase in hospital
visits. Doctor Richard Jacobs, an infectious disease
expert at the University of California, San Francisco,
says these concerns need to be taken seriously.
That's why he has implemented a protocol for his
hospital to follow.
Jacobs:
If somebody came in and said "I have been exposed
to a powder," we would get them into a room,
we would have them take their clothes off and decontaminate
themselves, which means washing with soap and water.
And then we would call the city health department
and ask them for advice on what to do with the patient.
And hopefully, if there were material that could be
tested, they would come out and test it.
Narrator:
Jacobs says this system differs from other methods
nationwide.
Jacobs:
None of them are applicable to the real front line,
nitty-gritty, what do I do if someone walks in here
with a fever and a rash that might be smallpox?
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A Natural Milk Production Technique for Cows
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Increasing milk production
in cows has been a goal for many years - but some
of the techniques, such as using bio-engineered growth
hormones, have met with controversy. Yet animal scientist
Brenda McCowan of the University of California's Veterinary
Teaching and Research Center at Tulare, says they've
been using recordings of calf calls to stimulate milk
production.
McCowan: Which makes sense from
a biological perspective because calves - and these
are calves that are hungry who are vocalizing - that
cows would respond to hungry calves wanting milk.
Narrator: While this natural milk production
technique appears to be working, McCowan says their
research is still in a proof of concept stage.
McCowan:
We also want to determine whether or not the calves
habituate to the sounds and if so, whether or not
we can combat that by providing new sounds from different
calves. And we want to know if we play calls from
calves with different ages, whether or not that will
increase production in cows at different locations
in their lactation curve. So there's a lot of optimizing
to do, a lot of more studies to do before we'll be
absolutely sure that this is a really viable technique.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Alcoholics May Reverse Cellular Brain Damage by Quitting
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Prolonged alcohol abuse can
cause brain cells, or neurons, to die and inhibit
the brain from carrying out its normal functions.
But Doctor Dieter Meyerhoff, a researcher at the University
of California San Francisco, says too much alcohol
can also impair the brain in other ways.
Meyerhoff:
What is also happening in these brains - apart
from neuron death - is that the neurons become smaller.
That means their cell bodies shrink and the extensions,
called dendrites, they shrink.
Narrator:
Dendrites are small, fingerlike branches that allow
brain cells to communicate with each other. Shrinkage
of these dendrites can cause neurons to misfire and
impair the brain's decision-making abilities. But
Meyerhoff says once alcoholics stop drinking, dendrites
can repair themselves.
Meyerhoff:
The number of dendrites and white matter tissue really
recovers. And it is likely that it is the re-growth
of the dendrites that are important for cognitive
function, that they are the reason for the recovery.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
How to Deal with the Holiday Blues
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The holiday season is upon
us - and while for many it's a time of excitement
and happiness, for others it's a time of stress, anxiety
- the holiday blues. Patricia Arean, a psychiatry
professor at the University of California, San Francisco
says the first step in dealing with depression, is
recognizing it.
Arean:
Everybody has their ups and downs and certainly
what is considered normal is to have occasionally
days when you're like "uh, I'm too wiped out
to deal with this'. If it's lasting more than two
weeks, if you're feeling like this everyday, you should
talk to your doctor. Maybe you're starting to slide
into depression.
Narrator:
When feeling
depressed, Arean recommends making a list of your
problems and to trying to stop viewing things in a
negative light.
Arean:
This
doesn't mean we're telling people "think good
thoughts/think happy thoughts", it's just a matter
of thinking about how do you address the negative
aspects of your life so that they don't overpower
you.
Narrator:
Little by little, Arean says looking at your problems
in an more objective, less judgmental way, may lead
to better overall mental health. For Science Today,
I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Problems Caused by Crop Hybridization
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The contentious debate over
the use of genetically modified crops still rages
on, especially since bio-engineered genes in crops
can readily mate, or hybridize, with native plants.
Dr. Norman Ellstrand, an expert in plant genetics
at the University of California, Riverside, says crop
hybridization with native plants has caused other
problems in the past, including increased weediness.
Ellstrand:
There's a case in California where rye mated with
a wild rye plant that had been introduced and the
hybrids became such a difficult weed in Northeastern
California that the farmers had to give up growing
wheat and rye in Northeastern California and change
their lifestyle because of this weed.
Narrator:
Hybridization between crops and their wild relatives
can also cause trouble for endangered species, which
happened to rice in Taiwan.
Ellstrand:
The plants began to look more and more like cultivated
rice and they picked up some of the detrimental characters
of cultivated rice, such as susceptibility to certain
diseases.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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