|
A. A Class of Drugs that's Effective Against Atherosclerosis
Narrator: This is Science Today. A class of drugs used to reduce cholesterol levels and inhibit the development of diabetes, is also effective in the prevention of the fatty plaques that cause atherosclerosis. Dr. Christopher Glass of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine discovered that drugs, which activate two types of proteins known as PPAR-gamma and PPAR-alpha, can prevent atherosclerotic lesions in artery walls by up to 70 percent.
Glass: Here's a drug where it will impact on the primary problem, diabetes, but also have a beneficial impact on a complication of diabetes by acting directly on the artery wall to slow down the pathological processes the drive this disease. So I think this will probably influence how doctors use these drugs down the line. Now our work is all in animals, so this is a major impetus to try and translate the work that we've done in animals into clinical trials involving patients, but this is very transferable.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
New Study Boasts a Rare Public-Private Partnership
Narrator: This is Science Today. Several University of California campuses are participating in a bold, 5-year initiative to test whether brain imaging can be combined with other biological and clinical markers to measure the progression of mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. Dr. William Jagust of UC Berkeley, who leads the initiative's research on PET scans, says this initiative is rare.
Jagust: First of all, it's a public-private partnership. It actually involves the pharmaceutical industry, NIH and academia and to my knowledge, that kind of interaction is unusual, if not unique. Second of all, it's very large and the reason is there are many technical factors that have to be overcome.
Narrator: Researchers will see if imaging technologies, like PET and MRI scans, can predict cognitive decline over time and will also learn more about the natural rate of change in brain anatomy and brain function.
Jagust: And looking at these rates of change naturally over time is something that many people are interested in potentially to use as an indicator of a treatment by a drug.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Studying Infectious Diseases in the Peruvian Amazon
Narrator: This is Science Today. An international team of researchers led by tropical disease expert, Joseph Vinetz of the University of California, San Diego has received a National Institutes of Health grant to establish a training program and research project in Peru, which will focus on malaria and other infectious diseases endemic in the Peruvian Amazon.
Vinetz: The Amazon has been a place historically that has been underprivileged, underserved and really, where disease is understudied compared to the burden of disease there relative to the population.
Narrator: Vinetz says malaria is worsening in countries such as Africa, Southeast Asia and throughout the Amazon basin of Latin America. And while malaria has been virtually eliminated in the United States, we're still vulnerable due to increased globalization.
Vinetz: All of these diseases of developing countries can show up in the United States without warning – whether it's the avian strain of influenza, whether it's SARS, whether it's malaria. So, we are by no means immune – in fact, we are more and more vulnerable.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Consumers Benefit from Organic Market Competition
Narrator: This is Science Today. Take a trip to your local supermarket and chances are high that you'll find sections dedicated to organic products. Julie Guthman, a professor of Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has conducted a comprehensive study of organic agriculture in California – the fastest growing segment of farming today.
Guthman: Some consumers say, I just want a safer food, made with fewer pesticides and some consumers are really into this seasonal, direct marketing business. Consumer conceptions are all over the place.
Narrator: As the organic market continues to grow, consumers are benefiting because prices are going down due to increased competition. Part of this competition is coming from conventional growers and businesses that have entered the organic market.
Guthman: But it's not like General Mills was coming along looking for these sorts of things. It was more that these smaller businesses were, as they succeeded – it was sort of a venture capital thing – they started looking for people to buy them out and then the big manufacturers came into the market. But they didn't initiate it and that's quite different.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Researchers Look into a Fundamental Scientific Question
Narrator: This is Science Today. Scientists can distinguish whether materials were formed inside or outside of the solar system by examining the isotopic ratios of these materials. John Bradley, director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recently found an isotope ratio that was a fingerprint of a pre-solar environment.
Bradley: Basically, we just use the isotopes to prove that some of the organic matter in these particles actually comes from the interstellar medium. It was formed long before the solar system was even here. This research is chasing what is perhaps the ultimate, scientific question. Where did we come from? How did life get started on Earth? And this is perhaps one of the most complicated problems in science today – understanding how a primordial piece of organic goop made the transition from something that's dead to something that's self-replicating in life. I think in the next fifty years or so, we will answer that question.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
|
