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A.
A Call for Action to Remedy Mold Growth in Buildings
Narrator: This is Science Today.
While there’s been a lot of research and public
awareness about mold growth in damp buildings and
its impact on respiratory health, there hasn’t been
a lot of documentation on the health benefits of
mold remediation.
Fisk:
But we know enough today that we can try
to reduce this problem without knowing more about
it. We have enough knowledge that we think it’s
time to move forward to take some actions.
Narrator:
Bill Fisk, the head of the Indoor Environment Department
at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says
some of those actions could be education programs.
Fisk:
We’d like to see better education and training
for people who design and construct buildings. We’d
like to see a greater public awareness of the importance
of dampness problems and we think with greater public
awareness, homeowners, for example, should understand
that they really shouldn’t tolerate dampness problems
in buildings. And when they have mold, they should
have it removed. They shouldn’t tolerate these conditions
because they do pose a health risk.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
B.
Will Nerve Growth Factors Lead to New Therapies for
Brain Disease?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Twenty years of research has
shown that a family of proteins called growth factors
are present in the brain throughout life. Dr. Mark
Tuszynksi of the University of California, San Diego,
says if these growth factors are given to animals
that have some sort of brain disease, they potently
prevent the death of cells in the brain.
Tuszynski:
And this ability to prevent cell death in the adult,
living brain is of potential vital importance for
developing better therapies for neurological disease.
It’s the case that many diseases of the brain are
quite untreatable and that includes things like Alzheimer’s
disease, Parkinson’s, ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease and
all of these diseases progress over time.
Narrator:
Tuszynski led a clinical trial in which nerve
growth factor injected into the brains of patients
with Alzheimer’s disease led to an increase in metabolic
activity in the brain. Larger studies need to be conducted,
but if all goes well, this could be a new therapy
in four to five years.
Tuszynski:
That sounds like a long time, but the development
of these growth factors and of gene therapy has really
been twenty years in the making.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
C.
The Amazing Biodiversity of Salamanders
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Plethodontid salamanders have
no lungs – instead, they breathe through their moist
skin. According to Rachel Mueller, a graduate student
of integrative biology at the University of California,
Berkeley, these salamanders are very diverse when
it comes to life history strategies.
Mueller:
So some of them have an aquatic larval stage, which
is sort of analogous to a frog-tadpole stage and then
metamorphose and live the rest of their lives on land.
Some of them have an aquatic larval stage that they
retain through sexual maturity.
Narrator:
Then there are some which have actually forgone the
larval stage all together and are instead, fully terrestrial.
Mueller:
The eggs are laid on land and out of the
eggs pops a little, tiny miniaturized terrestrial
salamander. So from the perspective of diversity,
those are very different strategies. In salamanders,
direct development, which is the case where you have
an egg laid on land and a little terrestrial salamander
walking out of it, only happens in Plethodontids,
it’s not seen anywhere else.
Narrator:
Adding to their biodiversity, Mueller recently
discovered through genetic analysis that three of
the four known groups of Plethodontid salamanders
aren’t actually groups at all. For Science Today,
I’m Larissa Branin.
D.
Research May Influence Products Designed for Infants
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Psychologists at the
University of California, Davis, have been studying
infants and toddlers’ attraction to shiny objects
and their tendencies to mouth such glossy surfaces.
Psychology professor Richard Coss says this behavior
is a holdover from when early primates were seeking
water for survival and it has implications for the
design and manufacturing of toys, plastic bags and
household products.
Coss:
We thought that that might have some application
to containers, possibly jars that have medicines,
you might have buckets, since there is a condition
of children tipping over in their buckets and drowning.
So, possibly, you could have duller surfaces for these
household items and of course, plastic bags.
Narrator:
The U.S. Product Safety Commission is considering
making such changes, but in the meantime Coss offers
advice to parents and caregivers.
Coss:
You have to be aware that there are certain
kinds of surfaces, particularly small objects that
might be shiny, they could actually place in the mouth
and choke. So that’s why certain toys have certain
size restrictions so you can’t have parts fall off
and endanger the infant that way.
Narrator: For Science Today, I’m
Larissa Branin.
E.
Bridging a Future for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Many years ago, if
a person was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the
prognosis wasn’t very promising. Basically, patients
with this degenerative brain disorder had two years
of good function and then faced a life of disability.
Since then, medication has helped patients with Parkinson’s
have many years of good function.
Starr:
When levodopa therapy was introduced in 1968 that
made the first five to ten years of life with Parkinson’s
bearable with good function.
Narrator:
Dr. Phillip Starr of the University of California,
San Francisco says after five to ten years, complications
develop from medications. For these patients, there’s
deep-brain stimulation surgery, or DBS.
Starr: We’ve now extended the period
of good function and good quality of life another
five to fifteen years beyond what medical therapy
can do. So we often look at deep brain stimulation,
even though it’s not curative, as a bridge to a future
time where truly curative therapies will be available.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
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