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A.
The Major Advances in Neurosurgery
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The advances in neurosurgery
have been incredible, including the move towards
less invasive surgeries with better results. UCLA's
Division of Neurosurgery is celebrating their 50th
year, and division chief Neil Martin says so much
has happened in that relatively short span of time.
Martin:
For instance, the treatment of intercranial aneurysms
is something where there's been major breakthroughs.
Less invasive, safer microsurgical approaches for
treating aneurysms are the norm now.
Narrator:
About ten years ago, one of the most exciting
developments in treating intercranial aneurysms
occurred at UCLA.
Martin:
Aneurysms
can now be treated with a procedure similar to a
cardiac angioplasty where a catheter is threaded
through the body's arteries into the aneurysm inside
the head and the aneurysm filled with very soft,
pliable coils. That seals it from the inside and
has an effect in many cases similar to that we have
achieved in the past with open brain surgery.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
National Security to Tighten Regulations for Pesticide
Use
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security is planning to target agriculture for closer
scrutiny - particularly, the use of pesticides. Under
proposal are regulations requiring people who use
pesticides to have a demonstrated need for them. Pesticide
expert Patrick O'Connor-Marer of the University of
California, Davis says the administration is interested
in developing a positive identification system for
those who use, transport or store pesticides.
O'Connor-Marer:
: It's going to probably make it a little more difficult
to send somebody down to their chemical supply store
to buy some pesticides - they'll have to show identification
when they purchase a pesticide.
Narrator:
This
will add layers to all levels of the pesticide regulation
process, so implementation will be slow.
O'Connor-Marer:
There is a lot of pressure coming from the homeland
security to move these things forward quickly. But
the U.S. EPA can put guidance directives out to the
states to start implementing some of these things
even before the regulations change. I don't think
we'll see anything coming in the immediate year, but
in two years there might be.
Narrator: For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
An Unobtrusive Way to Monitor Animal Habitats
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers at the University
of California, Berkeley, have discovered an unobtrusive
way to monitor animal habitats. David Culler, professor
of computer science, says that by installing a network
of wireless microsensor motes into a habitat, researchers
can obtain highly specific, raw data about the environment
without being disruptive.
Culler:
: So for example, if you're monitoring animals, you
can do it in this very unobtrusive fashion. And it
may well be that what we see is quite different than
what people have seen before because they've been
intruding on the very thing that they're trying to
measure. As well as that we're able to measure it
at granularity that they've never been able to perceive
it.
Narrator:
Culler says once the microsensors are installed, the
challenge for biologists will be to process all of
the data.
Culler:
So it's like, when you invent a microscope, there's
all of the sudden all of these organisms that you've
never seen before and all these interactions. So it's
getting information of the physical changes, activities,
across space and time, and then being able to make
sense out of that and take action in response to it.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
New Insights May Help Women with Unexplained Infertility
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The process of a week-old human
embryo to implant itself to the uterine wall, called
implantation, has been discovered by researchers at
the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Susan
Fisher, who led the study, says defects in this early
process may be the main problem for about two million
American women with unexplained infertility.
Fisher:
Human implantation has always been very much a black
box and it's really important to know what's inside
that black box because human reproduction is a very
inefficient process - I think most people don't realize
how inefficient it is.
Narrator:
Even at peak fertility, a woman in a given month has
only about a 30 percent chance to get pregnant.
Fisher:
We know that infertility now in our society has really
reached epidemic proportions, so it's really important
to understand the components of implantation and early
establishment of pregnancy.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
HIV/AIDS Mortality Discrepancies Between Blacks and
Whites
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A recent UCLA study is providing
insights into HIV/AIDS mortality discrepancies among
black and white American adults. Mitchell Wong, an
assistant professor of medicine, reports that HIV/AIDS
accounts for 11% of the gap in life expectancies.
Wong:
There are several questions that are obvious, now
that we've gotten some of these answers. For example,
is it really blacks that are more likely to get certain
diseases? Or is it that once they get a particular
disease, they're more likely to die from it?
Narrator:
Wong says that one explanation in the case of
HIV/AIDS, is that the use of newer HIV medications
has been lower among blacks-resulting in HIV mortality
improving more for whites than for blacks. Wong says
the gap will probably narrow as HIV treatments improve,
but adds that intervention is imperative.
Wong:The
question is really not so much which factors underlie
the differences-it's really a matter now I think,
of figuring out what's the best way to intervene.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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