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A.
Understanding the Brain's Response to Alcohol
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For years, scientists have
known that addictive substances like alcohol affect
a part of the brain that controls the pleasure and
reward centers. Now researchers led by Ivan Diamond,
a professor of neurology at the University of California,
San Francisco, have identified a molecule that helps
explain how alcohol affects the brain. Diamond says
in the presence of alcohol, two chemical processes
that normally work in opposite directions instead
work in combination.
Diamond:
And so we think that this "synergy"
of an outside substance teaming up with an inside
normal function is what accounts for hijacking the
nerve cells so that they now develop a need to take
more and more of the drug, or in this case, alcohol.
Narrator:
When the researchers blocked the molecule that combined
alcohol's effects to the existing brain processes,
the brain's need for alcohol dropped considerably
Diamond:
Now that's very encouraging because it suggests
that by a pharmacalogic manipulation, or ultimately
by a drug treatment, we might be able to change
this need to continue drinking.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
New Insights into the Dynamics of Breaking Waves
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Using high tech imagery, researchers
have discovered new insights into the dynamics of
breaking waves. Ken Melville of the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography at the University of California, San
Diego, explains.
Melville: It's probably not well
understood that breaking surface waves play an important
role in the interaction between the atmosphere and
the ocean; in the generation of ocean currents; in
the transfer of gases between the atmosphere and the
ocean via bubbles. And the interaction between the
atmosphere and ocean will lead to improved models
of ocean waves, ocean currents, storms, hurricanes
and in general, weather and climate.
Narrator: Researchers will use aircraft
with high-tech instrumentation to study the characteristics
of hurricanes.
Melville:
At this stage, this is being done as an experimental
program, but we expect in the future these sorts of
measurements will be transitioned into the standard
tools that are used by the hurricane prediction center
to predict the strength and tracks of hurricanes.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Parasitic Bacteria Can Make Sterile Fruit Flies Fertile
Again
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A bacteria formerly considered
a good-for-nothing parasite may turn out to help its
fruit fly host. Researchers led by University of California,
Berkeley biologist Thomas Cline were studying gene
mutations that had made female fruit flies sterile.
But just as they were about to start experiments to
try to make the sterile flies fertile again, they
discovered that the formerly sterile fruit flies had
already regained their fertility.
Cline:
What we found out was that the strain that was
now making some progeny, that normally wouldn't; the
difference between that and a strain that couldn't
make any eggs at all was that one was infected by
a bacterium.
Narrator:
Even though the bacteria, called Wolbachia, was previously
known to affect the sex genes of other insects, it
had not been seen in the fruit fly. Since the fruit
fly is one of the best-understood organisms, Cline
says the consequences of the discovery are encouraging.
Cline:
Now we can really bring to bear all the powerful tools
that are available in the fruit fly to the study of
Wolbachia and how it really lives and interacts in
its host.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Study Argues Medicare Fails to Cover Costs of Senior
Care
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A recent study argues that
Medicare does not pay for many of the services an
older patient needs on an initial visit to the doctor.
Geriatrician Elizabeth Landsverk of the University
of California, San Francisco, began the research because
of her own experiences working with the senior population.
Landsverk:
Having been out in practice for ten years, I found
that it was really difficult to do all the things
that the older population seemed to need in the time
I was allotted. And it seemed that we weren't getting
reimbursed for the full work that we did.
Narrator:
Landsverk found that 37% of the appointment was not
covered, including crucial time spent evaluating older
patients' ability to function at home. She says the
consequences can be both financially and medically
costly.
Landsverk:
You're more likely to have someone who is failing
at home and the first hint you have of it is that
they end up in the hospital instead of figuring out
what's going on at home and trying to address those
issues before there's a medical crisis.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Difficulties of Developing Medications for Epilepsy
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The three-decade old screening
process used to test new medications to treat the
seizure-causing disease epilepsy may need to be updated.
According to Doctor Paul Garcia of the University
of California, San Francisco, the process cannot adequately
insure the safety of such medications. He says in
the early 1990s felbamate looked like the perfect
medicine.
Garcia:
Until the other shoe dropped … and in fact, after
about five- or six-hundred thousand people got on
the medicine, it became evident that people were dying
from the medication essentially.
Narrator:The
felbamate example shows how hard it is to test epilepsy
medications.
Garcia:
The bottom line is that the kind of testing we do
before a medicine comes to market is not enough to
tell us whether the medication is safe, not at all
enough to tell us whether it's safe, because it doesn't
tell us anything about those rare, severe side effects
from the medication.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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