A.
Monitoring Toxic Algae to Prevent Shellfish Poisoning Syndrome
Narrator: This is Science Today. One of the most pressing issues of ocean health is a naturally occurring phenomenon in which toxin-producing marine phytoplankton cause harmful algal blooms. Ocean scientist Mary Silver of the University of California, Santa Cruz, says the concern is when organisms eat the toxic algae; the toxins can move from the marine food web and accumulate in shellfish that may be harvested for human consumption.
Silver: So our job here is to identify them, know what the toxin levels are and then we work with the state health department and we also measure these toxins as they enter shellfish. So we coordinate our findings with those of the public health department. And just about every part of the developed world has monitoring programs to detect this when it gets into shellfish.
Narrator: Silver stresses that in almost all cases, these phytoplankton are not harmful to swimmers or surfers.
Silver: At low levels, they're not a problem, so it's entirely a dose problem.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
An Immune Cell's Role in Atherosclerosis
Narrator: This is Science Today. Atherosclerosis is a process in which deposits of cholesterol, fatty substances and cellular waste products build up in the inner lining of an artery. The build-up itself is called plaque, which can restrict blood flow and cause a heart attack. Dr. Christopher Glass, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, describes how the macrophage a cell that normally plays a role in immunity is a key cell in the development of the disease.
Glass: The macrophages are entering the artery wall and they're accumulating cholesterol and that makes what we call a macrophage foam cell. It's basically a fat macrophage it's chock full of cholesterol. And that's kind of the hallmark of the early stages of atherosclerosis.
Narrator: Glass has been working to identify some of the molecular mechanisms that cause the disease to occur, in the hopes of pinpointing targets for new types of therapies.
Glass: One of the goals for the pharmaceutical industry is to continuously develop better classes of drugs that are more specific, more effective and have fewer side effects.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
The Two Different Types of Stroke
Narrator: This is Science Today. Stroke, which is commonly referred to as a brain attack, is the single leading cause of adult disability in the United States and it's the third leading cause of death. Dr. David Liebeskind, an associate neurology director at the UCLA Stroke Center, says there are two different types of stroke.
Liebeskind: There is what we call an ischemic stroke, where blood flow is cut off to the brain and this most of what we talk about when we refer to brain attack', but there are also hemorrhagic strokes, where there's actually bleeding that takes place in the brain. These two types of strokes are taken care of in very different ways, but both require very prompt treatment with the patients coming ideally to the emergency room as fast as possible.
Narrator: The UCLA Stroke Center has been a leader in multiple areas of stroke care, including technological innovation and neurosurgery.
Liebeskind: The treatment of acute stroke has also been developed here by a technological innovation called the MERCI device. This is the first device that has been FDA cleared for use in acute ischemic stroke, so this is a groundbreaking event.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Psychological Stress and Its Effects on Aging
Narrator: This is Science Today. Have you ever described a person undergoing a stressful event as having aged overnight? While the correlation between stress and wear and tear on the body have been linked before, there's never been physiologic proof. That is, until researchers at the University of California, San Francisco measured a chemical called telomerase, which plays a key role in cellular aging, in response to psychological stress. Psychologist Elissa Epel led the study.
Epel: Even though we thought this relationship might exist, to actually see that psychological stress, reported perceptions, numerical ratings on some page were related to these minute cellular processes that we just recently learned how to measure well to see that they were actually related in a consistent way was mind blowing.
Narrator: Epel says it's exciting to think of all the possibilities of how this might be applied to improving health and measuring how effective interventions are.
Epel: Mind body interventions or even pharmacological interventions.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E. The Challenge of Planning Irrigation in Arid Regions
Narrator: This is Science Today. Water quality has always been a challenge when planning irrigation in arid regions not only in terms of finding suitable quality water for crops, but also when it comes to the disposal of drainage water. University of California Cooperative Extension irrigation and water management expert, Khaled Bali, is working to address these issues in the southeastern corner of California known as the Imperial Valley.
Bali: The only source of irrigation water here in the Valley is Colorado River water. And we use about 20% of the annual yield of the river. On average, we have about 15 million acres feet of water and we use here down in the Valley, there million acre feet.
Narrator: About one-third of applied irrigation water leaves fields as surface runoff that eventually flows into the Salton Sea the largest inland body of water in California. This runoff threatens fish and wildlife, so Bali has developed improved irrigation practices.
Bali: The way we're doing it is by minimizing the amount of surface runoff at the same time we reduce the subsurface drainage.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
