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A.
PET Scans are Better Predictors for Alzheimer's
Disease
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A UCLA study has found that
a PET scan vastly improves a doctor's ability to
accurately predict Alzheimer's Disease, the most
common form of dementia. Dan Silverman, associate
director of UCLA's Alzheimer's Disease Center, says
the PET scan is a functional imaging measure.
Silverman:
Meaning that we look at how active each part of the
brain is at the time that the scan is being obtained,
as opposed to normal structural imaging methods that
are common in clinical practice, like CT scans or
MRI scans.
Narrator:
Basically, the PET scan measures a patient's brain
metabolism - and that would include neurodegenerative
patterns in the brain that occur with Alzheimer's
disease.
Silverman:
We found that by adding PET to the diagnostic
evaluation of these patients who had mild cognitive
changes, that we could improve our accuracy in predicting
what would happen to them in the future. And that
has the implication of also enhancing our ability
to be able to intervene earlier in the course of
their disease.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month
Narrator:
January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. This
is Science Today. Glaucoma is a sight-threatening
condition in which the optic nerve is damaged and
affects about 3 million Americans. Dr. Robert Weinreb
of the University of California, San Diego says pressure
builds in the eye because fluid cannot drain properly.
Weinreb: In the case of glaucoma,
for some reason, the drain gets blocked and the fluid
is entering the eye but cannot leave the eye at the
same rate that it's entering. And this causes the
fluid pressure to increase in the eye...very much
like if you stop up a drain in the sink in your kitchen,
the fluid level is going to rise.
Narrator: If the internal pressure is
not alleviated, it can damage the nerve fibers in
the optic nerve and cause vision loss.
Weinreb:
Initially,
our treatment consists of a series of eye drops that
reduce the amount of fluid flowing into the eye or
open up the drain.
Narrator:
The key to preventing glaucoma is early detection and
Weinreb recommends those at risk have an annual exam.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
New Cardiac Monitoring System Tested in Ambulances
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A new emergency cardiac monitoring
system is being tested out in ambulances in Santa
Cruz county - a mountainous region in California where
drive times to hospitals are very often long. The
system, designed by the University of California,
San Francisco, can send vital data by cell phone directly
to ER.
Drew:
We have a saying that time is muscle, meaning
that for ever second and minute that ticks by where
the artery is closed, more of the heart muscle is
damaged. And that damage is irreversible, it doesn't
grow back.
Narrator:
Study leader Barbara Drew adds that the new 'tele-electrocardiography
system' gets a dozen views of the heart every 30 seconds
and can detect ischemia - the damaging blockage of
an artery. Transmitting this information to ER via
the phone will speed up treatment.
Drew:
The doctors and nurses could see what trouble
the heart was in and have things all ready to go,
so that when the wheels got to the curb of the emergency
department, there would be a minimal delay in opening
up the artery.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Understanding the Cause and Effects of Deep Earthquakes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Geologists at the University
of California, Riverside, are puzzling over an extraordinary
event that happened in an underwater trench below
the Fiji Islands: a massive, deep earthquake triggered
a bigger earthquake seven minutes later in a place
where earthquakes have never been reported before.
Geology professor Harry Green says so far they can
rule out the second quake being an aftershock.
Green:
Aftershocks are very clearly defined as being
close to the triggering earthquake-an earthquake goes
off and of course the surface that moves is not infinite-it
stops somewhere. And where it stops, it leaves strong
stress concentrations around the borders, those areas
break and produce earthquakes of their own. So aftershocks
are always smaller than the triggering earthquake-usually
at least one magnitude smaller-and they're close by
the original earthquake, whereas the situation I'm
talking about is happening a long ways away.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Glacier Studies Offer Insights into Global Climate
Change
Narrator:
This
is Science Today. Geologists at the University of
California, Riverside have been studying glaciers
to better understand global climate changes such as
global warming. Associate professor Lewis Owen says
by looking at the deposits left behind by ancient
glaciers, we can draw exact analogies to modern climate
conditions.
Owen:
There are several things that we can get out of glaciers
- essentially, we look into changes in precipitation
and changes in temperature. So if we can work out
how the glaciers have responded in the past, we can
work out what the variation of precipitation and temperature
has been.
Narrator:
Owen dated the glaciers with a combination of walking
the terrain where glaciers once existed near Los Angeles,
making computer models of the changes and utilizing
a new technique for dating past glaciations called
cosmogenic radionuclide dating.
Owen:
So one of the real interests is to reconstruct
what glaciers are and how fast they move. And because
of these new dating techniques, we can really start
to say when and where they were at a particular time
and reconstruct regional, and then global scale change.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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