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A.
A Study Suggests Changing the Age Limit for Prenatal
Diagnostic Testing
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A University of California,
San Francisco study suggests prenatal diagnostic
testing, such as amniocentesis, should be offered
to all women - regardless of age. Dr. Miriam Kuppermann,
a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, says the
risk of fetal deformities, including Down syndrome,
rise with a mother's age, so the current guidelines
have age 35 as the cut-off.
Kuppermann: That being an age where it would
be cost beneficial to offer the test, as well as
the age at which the risk of the procedure - namely
the likelihood that it would cause a miscarriage
- was the same likelihood that the woman was carrying
an affected fetus.
Narrator:
The risk of either occurrence is about 1 in 200
- and the assumption is that women consider either
outcome to be an equal burden. Kuppermann conducted
a study of 500 pregnant women of various ages.
Kuppermann:
On average, they found having a child with Down
syndrome to be more burdensome than experiencing
a procedure-related miscarriage.
Narrator:
The researchers also concluded that prenatal
diagnostic testing for all women would be cost-effective.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
New Research on the Benefits of Acupuncture in Treating
Heart Disease
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers at the University
of California Irvine are studying how acupuncture
can help your heart. Cardiologist John Longhurst has
received a two million dollar grant to continue his
research on the underlying physiological basis of
acupuncture, and its effects on the cardiovascular
system.
Longhurst:
We're looking down at the cellular or sub-cellular
level to try to determine how acupuncture can influence
the cardiovascular system. And we're trying to define
the mechanisms by which acupuncture can regulate the
sympathetic outflow.
Narrator:
Although cardiovascular benefits of acupuncture have
previously been observed, the mechanism of action
is unknown. Longhurst says this research is the first
of its kind to receive federal support and is important
in establishing a scientific basis to those observations.
Longhurst:
If we can define the mechanisms about how acupuncture
works, this will provide important evidence that will
help convince physicians and scientists that there
really is something to the practice of acupuncture
that might be beneficial for the treatment of cardiovascular
diseases.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Federal Agencies Work to Improve Climate Forecasting
Narrator:
This is Science Today. There's a great deal of effort
among federal agencies to come up with ways to improve
climate forecasting - especially in countries prone
to flooding or drought, such as Central America and
Africa. Joel Michaelsen, a professor of geography
at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says
there are a few ways to do this.
Michaelsen:
One is just look for precursors that would allow
us to make better forecasts several months in advance.
But another is to take the kinds of forecasts that
are made by federal agencies in the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and convert them into
information that is more easy to interpret and to
evaluate in the countries themselves. What we do is
to provide ways of interpreting that on a local scale
so that people in Africa can come up with some estimate
that what are the chances there's going to be a crop
failure at a certain level and things of that nature.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
A Study Reveals Financial Differences at Hospitals
for Certain Patients
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Elderly patients who have trouble
performing basic tasks alone, such as walking or dressing,
cost hospitals over 20 percent more than elderly patients
who are functionally independent. What's more, these
costs were not made up by Medicare reimbursement.
Researcher Kenneth Chuang of the University of California,
San Francisco's Veteran's Affairs Medical Center,
led the study, says this study and says it revealed
obvious financial differences.
Chuang:
What this could lead to and we do know if it is or
not, is that hospitals could tend to either try and
get people who are functionally dependent out of the
hospital quicker to try to make up differences in
cost, partially due to increased lengths of stay that
you sometimes see in people who are more functionally
independent. Or it could lead to discriminatory practices
in one way or another.
Narrator:
Chuang says since this was a one-hospital study, similar
studies need to be conducted in other hospitals to
confirm this.
Chuang:
Ways to resolve these inequities may become more apparent
after that.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Understanding the Role of Advance Directives
Narrator:
This is Science Today. At some point, we may be
faced with a situation where we are unable to make
our own medical decisions, it's important to designate
someone we trust to make those decisions for us. One
way of doing this is through an advance directive,
a written document that names the person we'd like
to make decisions in our place, and specifies treatments
we wouldn't want. But according to Felicia Cohn, director
of medical ethics at the University of California
Irvine College of Medicine, not everyone knows how
or takes the time to create an advance directive.
Cohn:
Every patient is supposed to be asked when they are
admitted if they have an advance directive, and if
they do not they are supposed to be offered the opportunity
to create one, but that doesn't necessarily result
in any more advanced directives.
Narrator:
The reason, Cohn says is that young, healthy individuals
simply have other things on their minds.
Cohn:
You go into the hospital for a knee replacement or
to repair a torn ligament, or to have a baby, and
an advance directive is not going to be at the forefront
of your mind, you are not expecting to die on that
admission.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
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