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A.
A CDC Grant Establishes Center for Infectious Disease
Preparedness
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Public health researchers
across the nation will be joining forces to battle
bioterrorism through a new Center for Infectious
Disease Preparedness. The network combines over
a dozen public health academic centers, including
the University of California, Berkeley's School
of Public Health. Dr. Arthur Reingold, a professor
of epidemiology at the School of Public Health,
says the center is newly funded.
Reingold:
It's one of 19 academic centers of public health preparedness
in the United States - but one of four that's dedicated
one hundred percent to infectious disease preparedness.
Narrator:
Reingold says the basic idea of the center is to
help improve the level of training and preparedness
of people working primarily at the local and county
health department level in several Western states.
Reingold:
I think how prepared we are is a moving target because
presumably the level of preparedness is improving
as a result of the events of the last year and of
course, it's quite variable by region. It also depends
in part on prepared for what specific diseases?
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Old Mines are a Major Source of Mercury Contamination
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Mercury has recently been recognized
as a major environmental concern because concentrations
of mercury once considered safe are now known to cause
neurological damage. Russ Flegal, an environmental
toxicologist at the University of California, Santa
Cruz, says one of the reasons controlling levels of
mercury is so difficult is because mercury is so volatile
as a gas.
Flegal: Large amounts of mercury
are found in fossil fuel products so when they burn
coal, that puts a lot of mercury into the atmosphere.
So recently in the United States, they've gone at
great lengths to control mercury emissions from coal
production.
Narrator: Flegal says it used to be
thought that simply plugging up openings to abandoned
mercury mines could do this.
Flegal:
But when they process mercury, they take the ores
out and they heat them - they volatize whatever mercury
they can and they push the slag rock over the hill,
and that slag is essentially pure mercury sulfite
anyway and so when it's exposed to the environment,
it continues to release mercury.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
A New Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The National Science Foundation,
along with ten scientific research institutions nationwide,
has announced the formation of a new biophotonics
center. The center will apply state-of-the-art optical
tools to biology and medicine. Jay Groves, a University
of California, Berkeley chemistry professor, is one
of the principle investigators with the center and
says this effort will strengthen the biomedical community
at large.
Groves:
Most of the research being done are all cutting
edge areas of where optics is converging with biomedical
applications.
Narrator:
Besides improving laboratory technologies, Groves
says the center represents an exciting collaboration
across fields.
Groves:
It's support for equipment and students that work
on these projects, but more importantly than that,
it's linking people together who have this expertise
in photonics and optics, but are studying biomedical
problems, into a much larger community.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Acute Seizures Demand Medical Attention
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Seizures occur when the brain's
neurons misfire, frequently causing abnormal movement
and behavior in the human body. When a seizure happens,
the brain can often return to its normal functions
rather quickly - usually in less than a minute. But
as Doctor Brian Alldredge, a neurology professor at
the University of California at San Francisco points
out, sometimes the brain is unable to respond.
Alldredge:
In some cases, either when people have epilepsy
or people have an insult to the brain that causes
their first seizure in their lifetime, the normal
brain functions that stop seizures cannot be present,
or the extent of the injury is so big that the brain
can't stop the injury by itself.
Narrator:
If
a seizure lasts for much longer than a minute, Alldredge
says the situation can be life threatening.
Alldredge:
And
when it starts to last three, four, five minutes and
longer than that, it becomes what we call an acute
seizure or an emergent seizure - something that requires
emergency medical attention.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
How to Approach the ADHD Diagnostic Process
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's estimated that one to
three children in any classroom of thirty students
is suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder, or ADHD. Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, a professor
of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley,
says parents concerned that their child may have ADHD
need to initiate a behavioral assessment.
Hinshaw:
The first thing to look for is: Are problems of inattentiveness,
forgetfulness, not following directions, impulse control
problems, have they been present for some time? Are
they happening both at home and at school? Is a child
pretty extreme compared to her-or in the case of boys,
his-age mates?
Narrator:
In such cases, Hinshaw warns that parents cannot rely
on a brief doctor's visit for an accurate diagnosis,
and should pursue a thorough assessment.
Hinshaw:
Thorough history, information from home and school,
looking at the symptoms over time, and ruling out
a good many conditions that may look like ADHD. That's
all part of the diagnostic process.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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