A.
An Antibiotic Shows Promise in Fighting Parkinson's Disease
Narrator: This is Science Today. An antibiotic that's long been used to treat tuberculosis and leprosy has shown promise fighting Parkinson's disease in lab tests. Tony Fink, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says the drug, called rifampacin, prevented the formation of protein fibrils associated with the death of brain cells that occur in Parkinson's disease.
Fink: We're interested in finding compounds that may be potentially effective as therapeutic agents as drugs to combat the disease. It's believed that one of the key steps in Parkinson's disease, in its development, is the formation of fibrils by a protein called alpha synuclein.
Narrator: In lab tests, Fink's group found that rifampicin stabilized alpha synuclein.
Fink: This is very basic research. In one sense, the purpose would be to allow us to develop new, potential drugs. Rifampicin itself has some drawbacks, so we're actively looking at other related compounds that may be more effective.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Schools May Be the Best Place to Focus on Childhood Obesity
Narrator: This is Science Today. Childhood obesity is an epidemic, with national figures indicating the percentage of children and adolescents defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s. Patricia Crawford, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley, says a variety of national and statewide preventative measures and campaigns are in place.
Crawford: The schools have been the place where it seems there's been the most movement right now. Parent groups, school boards, policy makers have been interested in making a change in the child's food and activity environment in schools.
Narrator: Since school is such a large part of a child's day, the promotion of healthier foods and healthier activities could have a great impact.
Crawford: We at the Center for Weight and Health are conducting several studies right now on changing beverages in high schools – what the effects of that are. We are also working with elementary schools and middle schools to change the food offerings and physical activity offerings and to look at the effects of those.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C. An Extensive Database Search on Antidepressants and Suicide
Narrator: This is Science Today. At the UCLA Center for PharmacoGenomics and Clinical Pharmacology, researchers look into the genetic basis of response to antidepressant treatment. Julio Licinio, co-director of the center, says to understand who responds well and who doesn't, they look at genetics. To do that, patients at the clinic are treated with antidepressants – but when recent reports began linking antidepressant use to suicidal behavior, Licinio launched a new study.
Licinio: I became concerned that I might be putting patients at risk, so I examined all available data from different perspectives and the conclusions that I had were pretty different from what was being said out there.
Narrator: Licinio's search of studies in a national database from 1960 to 2004 on antidepressants and suicide, found that since the introduction of drugs like Prozac in 1988, suicide rates have actually plummeted.
Licinio: The more that the drugs are prescribed, the fewer suicides we have.
Narrator: Licinio's conclusion was that the biggest cause of suicide in the United States is not antidepressants, but rather untreated depression. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Understanding & Treating Severe Vision Loss in the Elderly
Narrator: This is Science Today. Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, affects about one in three elderly people in the United States. According to ophthalmologist Jacque Duncan of the University of California, San Francisco, aside from age, other risk factors include smoking, hypertension and having lighter colored eyes.
Duncan: Fortunately, ninety percent of the people with the disease won't end up losing vision due to it, however because it is so common, one in ten people who have it will develop new blood vessels under the retina, which is known as the wet form of AMD.
Narrator: The wet form of the disease is much more much severe and is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in older people. Duncan led a study that found that anti-cholesterol medications known as statins and aspirin may protect against severe vision loss in the elderly.
Duncan: The medicines that we're talking about are relatively safe, but they're not without side effects, so I'm not telling people to go take them right now by any means. I think it's an important observation and I think it warrants further study.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E. Buckyball, Anyone?
Narrator: This is Science Today. A buckyball is a soccer ball-shaped molecule made up of sixty carbon atoms that are arranged in a series of interlocking hexagons and pentagons. Mike Crommie, a staff scientist in the Material Science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says there's a whole class of molecules that have similar kinds of shapes.
Crommie: People often refer to them as Fullerenes and there are other related molecules called nanotubes. They were discovered within the last twenty years and people are very interested in them because they're very flexible, we can create new kinds of structures with them and they have very interesting electronic and even magnetic properties that allow us to create new kinds of materials that did not exist before.
Narrator: Crommie is particularly interested in the buckyballs because one can change their electronic properties.
Crommie: Why would one even be interested in these molecular structures in the first place? Because in some sense, what we're doing is we're understanding how they behave and how we can change them and control them with an eye toward future applications.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
