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A.
How Mind-Body Interventions Impact the Immune System
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Understanding how the mind-body
approach may impact the immune system is a rather
new area of investigation and really did not begin
to emerge as a scientific discipline until about
ten years ago. Dr. Michael Irwin, a researcher at
UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center has been studying how
mind-body interventions may improve well-being and
immunity.
Irwin:
Recent work done here at UCLA has found that
the practice of a very simple behavioral technique
called Tai Chi Chih, which is a variant of Tai Chi,
can significantly improve the immune system of older
adults.
Narrator:
Irwin specifically looked at an immune cell that
is predictive of risk for developing a particular
kind of viral infection called shingles, which affects
older people, as well cancer and AIDS patients.
Irwin:
I'm not suggesting that they forgo vaccinations
against viral illnesses, but rather that this complimentary
approach can augment at least this one aspect of
the immune system that may promote health.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
It's the Neighborhood that Matters in ALS
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A multi-center study led by
University of California, San Diego researchers has
found that ALS, a neurodegenerative disease also known
as Lou Gehrig's disease, can either be damaged or
saved from degeneration by neighboring non-neuronal
cells. Lead author of the study, Don Cleveland, says
in this case the neighborhood very much matters.
Cleveland: Mutant neurons, which
one had originally predicted to be irrevocably targeted
for toxicity, can be saved if they are surrounded
by good, non-neuronal neighbors. And conversely, if
you have a perfectly normal neuron finding itself
in a bad neighborhood surrounded by mutant expressing
non-neuronal cells, that neuron becomes damaged.
Narrator: These findings may have major
implications in the future treatment of the disease.
Cleveland:
The best
news is in terms of therapeutic approaches, that one
doesn't really need to limit therapies to direct them
toward the neurons, because the toxicity isn't just
the neurons - it's the surrounding cells, too.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Research Suggests Gingko Biloba May Help Improve Memory
Narrator:This
is Science Today. A six-month UCLA study has found
that gingko biloba, an herbal supplement that's widely
used and marketed for memory enhancement, significantly
improved the verbal recall of people with age-associated
memory impairment. Linda Ercoli, of UCLA's Neuropsychiatric
Institute, led the study.
Ercoli:
We were interested in conducting a preliminary
study to look at the long-term effects of gingko,
not only on cognition but also on brain metabolism
in people with normal, age-related memory problems
- and so this study was not conducted in people with
dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
Narrator:
For the first time, researchers used PET scanning
to measure the brain's glucose metabolism, which is
an indirect measure of brain cell function.
Ercoli:
We looked at both cognition and brain metabolism
in this study. We found that using gingko for six
months improved memory. We also found that for all
persons in this study, better memory was associated
with increased brain functioning.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
E-Consumers Beware of Harmful Herbal Products on the
Internet
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Two years ago, the FDA banned
the importation of herbal products containing aristolochic
acid or aristolochia. Lois Swirsky Gold, director
of the Carcinogenic Potency Project at the University
of California, Berkeley says aristolochic acid is
a toxin known to cause kidney failure and cancer in
humans
Gold:
Aristolochia is an ingredient in many herbal products
that are used for arthritic-type symptoms, premenstrual
symptoms, stomach ailments, colds and so on.
Narrator:
Even with the FDA ban, Gold says these products can
be easily purchased through the Internet.
Gold:
And so what we've identified is the need to have
a policy that when we know something is a hazard,
how are we going to deal with it? We've made it clear
to the government that this product that they don't
intend to be available is very available and they
better do something else to make it unavailable to
people.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Far and Wide Reach of Tsunamis
Narrator:
This
is Science Today. Tsunami is a Japanese word that
means "harbor wave". Casey Moore, a professor
of Earth Sciences at the University of California,
Santa Cruz says tsunamis - which are sometimes called
tidal waves - are caused by earthquakes, underwater
landslides, volcanic eruptions or impact from meteorites.
Moore:
In any case, if it's a landslide or a tectonic earthquake-related
movement, the water surface gets disturbed and that
wave moves out and propagates.
Narrator:
Although tsunamis are not very frequent, when they
do occur, they tend to be quite notable since they
can travel long distances.
Moore:
For instance, the earthquake in 1964 in Alaska
- the tsunami devastated Eureka, California. It came
because of the ocean bottom and the wave came in and
focused there and there was a substantial amount of
damage.
Narrator:
Moore is part of an international research team
that's working to improve risk assessment of catastrophic
earthquakes, which can trigger tsunamis. For Science
Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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