A.
Why Hormone Replacement is Not an Effective Prevention
Treatment
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For over a decade, many post-menopausal
women have considered hormone replacement therapy
the best way to combat some of the more dangerous
effects of growing old. But a new report indicates
that estrogen replacement may not be effective in
preventing problems like heart disease, Alzheimer's
and fractures. Dr. Deborah Grady of the University
of California, San Francisco, says there are many
reasons why estrogen therapy should not be prescribed
for prevention.
Grady:
One, and most importantly, you're taking a totally
healthy person who feels well. Do you have any chance
of making her feel better? No, not much. But you
can make them feel worse and you can cause them
to develop adverse effects and side effects.
Narrator:
Grady adds that prescribing estrogen widely
is ineffective - and risky.
Grady:
Everybody's at risk and only a few of
them are going to benefit. And for this reason I
really think that the benefits should be proven
in the best form of research, which is the randomized
trial.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Researchers Study the Hazards of Underwater Quakes
and Landslides
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Landslide-generated tsunamis,
as opposed to those caused by earthquakes, were
once considered pretty rare. But recent evidence
indicates that an underwater landslide caused a
deadly 30-foot tsunami, which devastated coastal
villages off Papua New Guinea in 1998. Casey Moore,
a professor of Earth Sciences at the University
of California, Santa Cruz, explains that tsunamis
occur when there are rapid changes on the seafloor.
Moore:
And that rapid change can be
brought about by movement of an earthquake fault
that might uplift it or down drop it. Or also, a
huge landslide can cause a tsunami - a submarine
slide where part of the Earth drops down suddenly
and when it does that, then the water surface gets
disturbed.
Narrator:
Moore is part of an international team
studying an area that generates the most powerful
submarine quakes.
Moore:
We're
trying to study geologic hazards and I think the
public needs to appreciate that these efforts need
a consistency of effort that's going to go on for
decades.
Narrator:For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Better, Safer Treatments in the Works for Lupus
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Lupus is an autoimmune disease,
meaning it's a disorder in which the body's immune
system essentially turns against itself. The disease
affects over a million Americans, the majority of
whom are women. At the University of California,
San Francisco's Clinical Trials Center, associate
director John Davis is working on developing safer
treatments for lupus.
Davis:
We have
some effective treatments today, however they're
associated with significant side effects. The most
severe is infertility in young women because of
our cytotoxic therapies, osteoporosis, increased
infections because of the suppression of the immune
system.
Narrator:
So, Davis is working on ways to target lupus more
effectively, including a targeted therapy that blocks
a negative interaction between the immune system's
B and T cells.
Davis:
As technology gets more advanced and we learn more
about the specific genes that are causing certain
elements of lupus, we are going to be able to do
so much more for patients.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
The Health Benefits of Spiritual Inner-Peace
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A recent study from the University
of California, Berkeley found that people who attend
church regularly tend to live significantly longer
than those who do not. Dr. Doug Oman, the study's
author, says that all denominations showed a similarly
close link between church attendance and longevity
- with one notable exception.
Oman:
Those who practiced non-Western religions, they
were less likely to attend services frequently.
But they didn't seem to suffer as much statistically,
suggesting that perhaps they were getting some of
those coping benefits and inner-peace benefits in
some other way.
Narrator:
Oman says that this may mean that the connection
is between health and what he calls "spiritual
coping methods" - rather than actual church
attendance. He says this could lead to health practices
that are spiritual - but not religious.
Oman:
If you have the impulse to reach for a cigarette
you could repeat that mantra or holy name and perhaps
that spiritual ideal would be a spiritual coping
method that could help improve your health behavior
that way.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
How a Major Surgery Could Possibly Be Avoided
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A third of American women
reach the age of sixty having had a hysterectomy.
In this country each year, 600 thousand hysterectomies
are performed - but nearly all of them for benign
problems such as uterine fibroids or excessive bleeding.
According to Dr. Alison Jacoby of the University
of California, San Francisco, many hysterectomies
could be avoided with the use of non-surgical treatments.
Jacoby:
All too commonly women are recommended for hysterectomy
when they could maybe with some medical treatment
bridge the gap to menopause and not need surgery.
Typically using birth control pills or progesterone.
Narrator:
Fibroids are benign lumps in the uterus that can
cause bleeding and discomfort. But Jacoby says they
are not dangerous and their symptoms can be easily
treated without surgery.
Jacoby:
In the beginning when a person comes in, even if
she has fibroids, if her symptom is heavy bleeding
usually we try to use hormones to lessen the flow.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
