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A.
Neuroscientists Identify Distinct Molecular Key
to Overcoming Fear
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Neuroscientists at UCLA have
discovered a distinct molecular process in the brain
that's involved in overcoming fear. Dr. Mark Barad,
who led the research, says they studied a model
for the kind of psychotherapy famously used in animals
by Pavlov, called extinction of conditional fear.
Barad:
We're trying to understand what the molecular mechanisms
of extinction are so that we can devise medications
that will make extinction go faster and if we can
do that, we believe that we'll be able to make psychotherapy
go faster, because one of the problems with psychotherapy
is that it takes a long time.
Narrator:The
researchers discovered a molecular channel in brain
cells that's required to overcome fear, but plays
no part in becoming fearful or expressing fear.
This may have a huge impact on treating anxiety
disorders.
Barad:
This
would not reduce people's fear and it wouldn't impair
their ability to learn new associations about dangerous
things. Instead, you would be able to specifically
get rid of a fear that you think was no longer adaptive,
no longer appropriate.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
How the Roundworm Offers Insight into the Human Brain
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers at the University
of California, San Francisco, are making major breakthroughs
in understanding the formation of the nervous system
by looking to the roundworm. Lead investigator Cori
Bargmann says the nerve connection in a developing
roundworm offers insight into understanding the trillions
of connections in the human brain.
Bargmann:
So the way that I think about why we would work on
a worm instead of working on the human brain is for
the same reason that if you were trying to understand
how an engine worked, you'd be better off studying
the 1964 Volkswagen Beetle than a brand new Boeing
777 aircraft. And the analogy here is that we want
to understand the simple animal-the Volkswagen-the
worm. And that then we can use the insights we learn
from that to target our questions to understanding
the human brain in a much more precise and intelligent
way.
Narrator:
Using a fluorescent imaging technique to see the brain
cell interactions of the worm, Bargmann and her team
have been able to identify a molecule that's crucial
to making nerve connections in the brain. For Science
Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Dramatic Rise of Diabetes Among Latino Immigrant Population
Narrator:
This is Science Today. In the last decade, there's
been about a fifty percent increase in diabetes among
the immigrant Latino population in California. According
to a two-year study of Latina women led by Marc Schenker,
a preventive medicine professor at the University
of California, Davis, the evidence is clear that eating
low quality foods, loaded with fat and sugar, are
having a major impact on Latino health.
Schenker:
Obesity is an increasing problem among Latino immigrants
to California, even in some situations such as farm
workers, where you would think obesity would not be
a problem, and yet it's becoming one.
Narrator:
This is in part due to a cultural change in traditional
diets.
Schenker:
When we looked at factors such as fast food intake,
traditional food intake, fruit and vegetable intake,
what we saw was that the profile was worse among women
born in the U.S. or who had immigrated here, compared
to those who were born in Mexico.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Measuring and Understanding Environmental Factors
that Affect Kids
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It's only been in the last
ten years or so that policy makers began to focus
more on how various environmental factors and conditions
particularly affect children and not just adults.
In this spirit, environmental health researcher Amy
Kyle of the University of California, Berkeley, collaborated
with the Environmental Protection Agency to lay out
the types of environmental factors that are most important
to children.
Kyle:
We find that while lead in blood in children has gone
down overall, we still have a significant number of
children who are still at risk from lead and we really
need to do something about that.
Narrator:
Kyle's study also found that 8% of women in this country
of childbearing age have higher than normal levels
of mercury in their blood and this affects babies
in the womb.
Kyle:
They're at greatest risk while their brains are still
developing. We also have learned that mercury levels
in the blood that the developing child is exposed
to are actually a little bit higher than the mothers.
So it is a significant concern. We need to think about
where that mercury is coming from and see where it
is coming from and see what we can do about that.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Privacy Protection Issues and Wireless Microsensor
Technology
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers developing wireless
mircosensory networks at the University of California,
Berkeley, are making giant leaps in our capability
to monitor everything from individual molecules to
massive security systems. As the application base
widens, David Culler, a chief innovator of this technology,
says that privacy protection is a large consideration
in their proceedings.
Culler:
Very deep social issues associated with this technology.
It's wonderful that you could monitor-get lots of
information about your self or people that you care
about. But now you have to ask, how is that information
controlled? Who has what rights to it, how is it processed,
how is it maintained? And much of that needs to be
sorted out.
Narrator:
Currently there are about 150 research groups
around the world using the Berkeley platform as a
basis for sensory network research.
Culler:
And again,
I think it's very important that the research community
is asking those questions and tries to get a good
handle on that while the technology is still at a
young stage. So privacy and security are a big part
of the agenda moving forward.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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