A. An Anti-Inflammatory Strategy for Cancer Therapy Identified
Narrator: This is Science Today. The observation that inflammation can stimulate the growth of tumors and even initiate them dates back at least two thousand years. Yet, just how inflammation does this has not been very clear. University of California, San Diego pharmacology professor, Michael Karin, has been studying a pro-inflammatory protein called NF-kappa B to gain more insight.
Karin: We envisioned that it can either play a role early on in cancer development, but that it also may play a role in cancer development at the later stage, for instance by stimulating the growth of already established tumors or even contributing to metastatic growth of the cancer.
Narrator: When NF-kappa B was inhibited, tumor growth in mice was halted and a cancer-killing protein called TRAIL became more effective.
Karin: So that's the idea, that you can actually use now inflammation in combination with inhibition of NF-kappa B to actually fight against the tumor.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B. Low-Income Kids at High Risk for Childhood Obesity
Narrator: This is Science Today. Childhood obesity is a problem for all Americans, but it's hitting children living in low-income neighborhoods harder. Patricia Crawford, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley, explains.
Crawford: We are seeing that the rates for overweight are increasing faster now for children at low income. And that is very clearly linked I think to the opportunities that these children have to get more exercise to and to get more healthy foods…
Narrator: With limited healthy choices nearby, Crawford says children of low-income families consume more fast food because it's convenient and cheaper.
Crawford: The obesity promoting foods are more likely to be eaten by those at low income. You can get more calories for your money with these foods that are of lower nutritional quality. And in addition the environment in which they live, is such that it is harder to walk in neighborhoods and there are fewer neighborhood resources to promote physical activity.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Tracking the Activity of Mountain Lions
Narrator: This is Science Today. It's estimated there are about four thousand to six thousand mountain lions in the state of California - and although lion sightings are still considered rare, as urban populations continue to extend into the wildlands, conflicts between people and lions are becoming more common. Walter Boyce, director of the Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis, has been using satellite GPS collars to track the activity of lions.
Boyce: When lions live close to people, they'll feed on domestic animals. Essentially, lions are opportunists and they're going to feed on whatever's available to them. So part of what we're trying to do is to really generate the information that will allow people to make good decisions about their own personal safety, as well as the safety of their own animals.
Narrator: Boyce's field research in southern California has determined that over all, mountain lions do a good job avoiding interaction with humans.
Boyce: The lions were not too far away from the people. They were within a few hundred yards at most while people were out doing their thing. But people were, by and large, unaware of them.
Narrator : For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
An Alternative to Using Ethanol as a Gas Additive
Narrator: This is Science Today. Using ethanol as a gasoline additive could jack up prices at the pump. In a study at the University of California, Berkeley, geoengineering professor Tad Patzek found it cost more to use ethanol extracted from corn than using gasoline with no additives. Instead, Patzek suggests companies make cars that are less dependent on gas.
Patzek: There are also things that can be done to improve combustion in the internal combustion engines, which are not being done or investigated, which are much simpler and much more cost effective than adding ethanol from corn.
Narrator: Patzek says gasoline additives could be eliminated if carmakers built more fuel-efficient engines and stepped up production of hybrid cars.
Patzek: The impact of ethanol on the US gasoline consumption can be at most at the range of 2 maybe 2.5 percent of gasoline. Now if we went to hybrid cars we could have had, over time, we could have impact of the order of 20, 30, 40, percent.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
E.
Why Minor Depression Should Be Identified and Treated
Narrator: This is Science Today. Even though depression is the most common mental disorder, affecting between 17 to 20 percent of the American population, it is often under-diagnosed. Dr. Lewis Judd, chair of the psychiatry department at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, says a little over half of those with depression are identified and receive treatment.
Judd: People may not know they are depressed. They may feel they have low energy, “I have trouble getting out of bed, you know, I am having trouble sleeping, my appetite is bad and I'm losing weight” and may not be aware that it actually is an illness they are experiencing, thinking that maybe it's just a phase they are going through.
Narrator: Judd led a multi-center study indicating that minor depression – a less severe form of the disorder – can be effectively treated with medication. Since minor depression left untreated can lead to the more debilitating, major depression, Judd says it's important to get treatment as soon as possible.
Judd: It's important that everyone be aware of the signs and symptoms and to seek help – not suffer in silence, not suffer alone.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
