Uc Science Today

Everything that humans are used to on Earth changes in space and that’s what astronauts should be prepared for during long space trips. “You are now in microgravity, which means that you don’t have these loads on not just your skeleton, but your skeletal muscle, your heart, your sense of balance.” That's imaging scientist Thomas Lang, of the University of California, San Francisco. He explains that astronauts are exposed to a dangerous level of radiation, which increases the risk of cancer and brain damage. “To some extent in lower Earth orbit we are protected by Earth’s magnetic field, but once we go to, as proposed to these NASA missions, back to the Moon or to deep space habitats in cislunar orbit, there we are going to be exposed to solar, wind, as well as galactic heavy ion- radiation.” Add to that isolation and the absence of daylight, and space travel might not seem so appealing. But researchers like Lang are working on strategies to make space trips a healthier experience.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered that a specific virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV, could trigger childhood leukemia - a type of cancer that strikes about 15,000 American children each year. “We found evidence of this virus at birth and it was found more frequently in children that went on to get leukemia. This virus was found years before diagnosis.” That’s study leader Adam de Smith, who says CMV could also lead to other diseases. “Children born with CMV may have developmental defects and particularly hearing los affected with CMV virus. So it is a pretty big public health issue and one thing that may come out of this research is a potential for a vaccine against CMV virus.” While the development of this vaccine has been a priority for American health officials, the process is complicated. So De Smith says a lot more research needs to be done before a vaccine is available.

Virtual reality may help people with a visual condition called amblyopia, in which there is reduced vision in one eye. Neuroscientist Adrian Chopin of the University of California, Berkeley, says they’re treating patients with this visual defect by having them play 3D computer games that, he says, could restore their eyesight. “Virtual reality is really developing tremendously right now. We are trying to develop a new game. That is something in between a video game industry and treatment.” Chopin hopes this new 3D computer game treatment will overwrite the old dogma that adult patients’ amblyopia cannot be cured. “Now we have all these optometrists and ophthalmologists out there telling the patients very often that there is nothing that can be done for them because they are too old and they needed to be treated when they were children. And we realize it is not true. I mean, it is difficult to change it, but it is not that it is impossible." Chopin says the virtual reality study is already showing sign

Pregnant women exposed to social stress and environmental chemicals, have a higher risk of prenatal developmental problems and low-birth-weight babies. Study leader Tracey Woodruff, an environmental health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, says the key here is the combined effect of the risk factors. “Our study was evaluating the literature to understand what the combined effects were of being exposed to environmental chemicals and stresses that people may experience during life. Stresses that are due to things like living in poor living circumstances, issue that might be due to discrimination like racism, etc. or poverty." Babies born to mothers exposed to these hardships are at higher risk of developing multiple diseases in childhood and having cardiovascular problems and diabetes in adulthood. “We have to do a better job of figuring out how do these varies factors that influence somebody’s health work together rather than just studying them separately, because they might be in

Space missions are exciting, but they’re risky for astronauts’ health. The lack of gravity in space may seriously damage their musculoskeletal systems, especially the spine and hip. Thomas Lang, an imaging scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, has recently discovered crucial details about bone loss in space. “What we did in our study is to look at how this corresponded to architectural changes in the hips. We used a 3-dimentional approach called quantitative computed tomography and in particular in the hip we found the trabecular bone – the spongy bone in the center of the medullary canal in the hip - was lost at about up to 3 percent per month.” That’s similar to the bone structure that 70 or 80-year old women might lose in a year. “The driving factor is disuse. Very similar to what happens when somebody has a spinal cord injury and they sit down in a wheel chair.” One solution is to ensure that astronauts get strenuous workouts in space.

Parents who used to smoke, but quit before conceiving, may still put their child’s heath at risk. Researchers of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco, have studied dust in homes where children were diagnosed with leukemia and found an increased level of tobacco particles in the carpeting. UCSF Associate Researcher Adam de Smith explains the connection. “If a family is smoking relatively heavily, they might not even be smoking in the house, they might be smoking outside, but when they come into the home, particles drop onto the carpet. If they have children several years later, we have found that those particles can remain there several years later. So it is possible if a child is playing around on the carpet, he may still be exposed to toxic particles that could perhaps increase the leukemia risk." Studies show that even if you don’t smoke inside the house and frequently vacuum, only about 10 percent of dust gets removed. So de Smith says, best way to p

Hi there – I’m Larissa Branin, host of Science Today and it’s that time of the week again where we go over some of the stories covered this past week. First, we learned that by the end of the century climate change will likely cause a decline in wheat and barley yields by up to 33 percent. This statistical model was developed by a team of researchers led by UC Davis. Graduate student Matthew Gammans, who worked on the study, told us it was based on 65 years of weather records and data from wheat and barley yields in France.  “So we started by looking at the relationship between weather and yields and then using some climate change projections, we forecasted that relationship into the future to see what we can expect to happen to these yields.” Their work is one of the first flexible statistical models applied to these cereal crops, which means that every potential temperature was included in the analysis. We then chatted with public health professor Kristine Madsen of UC Berkeley about soda consumption in t

What’s the best way to treat people suffering from substance abuse? Jennifer Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, has been studying the hormone oxytocin as a possible cure for addictions, due to its ability to reduce stress, anxiety and social discomfort. “By enabling people to make better social connections and by attenuating the craving for that other substance or act, or giving them a better set of tools with which to embark on this road to recovery, and it is not that it is to say that it is like a panacea: you are going to take a little intranasal oxytocin and everything is going to be perfect, but perhaps it could be one of many tools that people use to get better and get back into a healthy life style.” Mitchell says oxytocin could be a substitute for those self-medicating with alcohol, opioids or even gambling. “Whether or not it is related to depression or stress or anxiety or PTSD, the bottom line is they are experiencing the state of despair.” Mitchel

Soda consumption in the United States fell to a 31-year low last year. This, according to the trade publication, Beverage-Digest. Instead, consumers seem to be reaching for lower-calorie products, including bottled water. This is something public health professor Kristine Madsen found in a University of California, Berkeley study, which was conducted after the City of Berkeley passed the nation’s first soda tax in 2014. "Even in the comparison cities of Oakland and San Francisco, there was an overall increase of 20 percent in water consumption. But it was 63 percent in Berkeley. So, it looks like people were switching from sugar-sweetened beverages to really what I would say is the healthiest alternative." Madsen agrees that many consumers are becoming more health conscious. But even trends could have a role in the decline of sugary drinks – like all of the eco-friendly water bottles being carried around these days. "So, that ‘cool factor’ is really important and could absolutely be an important driver m

By the end of the century, climate change will likely cause a decline of wheat and barley yields by 17 to 33 percent. Those were the findings of a new statistical model by the University of California, Davis. Matthew Gammans, a graduate student who worked on the study, says it was based on 65 years of weather records and data from wheat and barley yields in France. "So we started by looking at the relationship between weather and yields and then using some climate change projections, we forecasted that relationship into the future to see what we can expect to happen to these yields." Their work is one of the first flexible statistical models applied to wheat and other cereal crops. "When I say “flexible”, I mean not just kind of the average temperature or the max temperature, but kind of looking at exposure to every temperature bin, so every potential temperature is included in the analysis and it’s the first to apply that to Europe and it’s also the first to use that kind of flexible methodology to loo

The sight of farmers in China, bent over rice fields enveloped in air pollution, inspired researcher Colin Carter of the University of California, Davis to find out how surface ozone was impacting their most important crop. "You couldn’t see from one end of the field to the other. And the sunlight wasn’t even getting to the plants. So it sort of struck me that pollution today in China is a bigger issue for agriculture than climate change is. The two are related, but they are different." For the first time, Carter and his colleagues were able to identify a specific stage of a rice plant’s development as being vulnerable to surface ozone, a form of pollution that’s similar to smog. This information can be used to help the country implement regulatory policies to control surface ozone during critical stages of a rice plant’s growth. "The factors that cause surface ozone also lead to climate change. So, if the pollution is controlled, not only will it give immediate benefit to agriculture, but it will also h

Taking care of a loved one suffering from dementia is not an easy job. In fact, family members who look after sick relatives, often suffer from depression and could use some caregiving, too. That’s according to Robert Levenson, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Part of it is just an understanding that this is really important, really prevalent and preventable in a way. We don’t know how to cure dementia, but I think we can probably keep caregivers a lot more healthy.” Levenson’s recent study shows that depression of family caregivers may contribute to dementia patients’ earlier death. He suggests this is where social services can step in and help caregivers. “We are talking about providing some health with making meals, letting caregivers have a few hours to get out of the house and maybe get some exercise. Some of these solutions to these problems are low-tech, not high-tech, low-cost, not high-cost." Dementia is a growing public health problem. Five million Americans have th

More than a third of American adults are obese. Experts often call it an epidemic and have long been struggling to find ways to fight obesity. “Knowledge is definitely a great way to combat that. That’s what happened with cigarette smoking when it became obvious this is going to be detrimental. Are we at that stage yet, I don’t think so. We are still going to have an epidemic and people are still becoming more and more obese. And it is a problem and we need to find solutions." That’s Andrew Dillin, a molecular biologist of the University of California, Berkeley. He is looking into the possibility of defeating obesity with our - nose. “Can we actually go through human population, the obese people and actually test their sense of smell? Maybe we can stratify the obese population, attenuating their sense of smell may be very beneficial." This hypothesis is based on Dillin’s recent study. It showed that lab animals without a sense of smell were not gaining extra weight and were losing excessive pounds.

Many American parents are concerned about preschools becoming too formalized – with teachers being too focused on kids’ academic performance rather than play. But academically-rich activities at a young age is not a bad thing, according to Bruce Fuller, professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley. “Preschool educators then feel they gotta have kids ready to do well on tests and there’s been a good deal of research showing that in preschools that are just play-focused, a lot of kids spend time wandering around classrooms, a lot of youngsters are in dress-up corners for 40-50 minutes." Fuller says while children have a good time, they don’t learn as much as they should at a preschool age. “Kids’ brains are like sponges. They can pick up pre-literacy skills, new vocabulary. They can pick up understanding of math concepts quickly. Our finding pushed the early education establishment to think how can we blend playful activity and move from childrens’ natural curiosity while at the same

HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, is often referred to as the ‘good cholesterol’. That’s because HDL particles remove cholesterol out of our cells and out of our bodies. But a University of California, Davis study has found there’s more to HDLs than that. Angela Zivkovic, an assistant professor of nutrition, explains. "They don’t just suck cholesterol out. They also actually interact with your immune cells and do some really interesting things to modify the way that your immune system is responding to different things. So, it looks like they can really be remodeled." Zivkovic found that the composition of HDLs, particularly the amount and structure of sugars called glycans, varies in individuals. And this can cause different functions, including influencing the body’s inflammatory response. "It’s not really been understood how exactly that happens, and so what we’re really interested in is, how can you change the composition of the HDL particles to get them to be more anti-inflammatory?" The hope

Hey there! This week on Science Today, we learned how the sense of smell impacts our metabolism. According to Andrew Dillin, a molecular biologist at UC Berkeley, if there is a lack of smell the body is wired to burn all the food that comes in. It doesn’t store any of it. And Dillin discovered that lab animals lacking a sense of smell remained thin even after gorging on fatty food. “There is something about the wiring of the sensory system of smell into the brain to control the rest of the body’s metabolism." But before you think you’ve found the perfect diet, Dillin says scientists still don’t know exactly how the sensory organs for smell are integrated with the brain. That requires more research in the lab – and then there will be more work looking into if the mice research translates to humans. While on campus, we visited psychologist Robert Levenson, who told us that when it comes to looking after loved ones with dementia, caregivers really need to give it their all. “If you are not able to bring your

The preschool system in America needs a lot of improvement. That’s according to Bruce Fuller, a professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley. “Preschool in America is about 50 years behind preschool in Europe, preschools in Scandinavian countries like Finland or Sweden. Even UK, which has a more conservative political history. These countries fund high quality pre-K for low income and true middle class families. They might not subsidize pre-K for wealthy families, but for the true middle-class quality pre-K is pretty well funded.” America’s approach is quite different. “In many parts of the country the lowest quality pre-K are in true middle class communities, communities where families earn $52-53,000 a year. They don’t qualify for government subsidies, but they can’t pay high fees." So Fuller says very often low qualified pre-K teachers get hired. “And it is really the middle class of America that’s hurt the most."

If family caregivers for dementia patients become depressed, they may not be able to give their disease-stricken loved ones the full attention that they need. And this may even contribute to the patient’s earlier death. This, according to Robert Levenson, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. “If you are not able to bring your A game to caregiving, the whole quality of caregiving might suffer. As caregivers get more depressed, their level of the stress sort of permeates the entire household. It might be almost contagious in a way that a virus would be contagious. But this would be a psychological virus." But there might be a different explanation for this dynamic, what Levenson calls - reverse causation. “And that is even if we measure depression many, many years before the death of the patients, it may be that if the patients destined to die early, they are already more difficult for caregivers to care for. So their decline may have been causing some of that depression.”

Narrator: This is Science Today. Sustainable dining is a huge deal on college campuses and the University of California, Santa Barbara is no exception. In fact, for years they’ve been taking an innovative approach towards reducing food waste that incorporates some behavioral psychology. Jill Horst, director of dining services, describes how they dealt with all the half-eaten apples they were noticing in their tray returns. Horst: 9:17 It wasn’t because the apple wasn’t good, but the apple was so large. 9:27 So …we decided, well they have different sized apples, so why don’t we take a look at what would be the best size apple that somebody could consume without any waste? Narrator: They found that a five to six ounce apple was the proper portion. And while the change resulted in much less waste in the dining hall, it wasn’t without some initial push back from students. Horst: “Uh, what happened to the apples? These are, like mini apples”. But we never took anything away, we just sized things the right way. H

When you are hungry, you may notice that your sense of smell grows stronger. But what happens to our appetite if we have a stuffy nose? According to Andrew Dillin, a molecular biologist of the University of California, Berkeley, we don’t necessarily eat less, but our metabolism does get affected. “If there is this lack of smell, this perception of the sense of smell, the body is wired to burn all the food that comes in. It doesn’t store any of it." While working on his study, Dillin has discovered that lab animals lacking a sense of smell remained thin even after eating fatty food. “There is something about the wiring of the sensory system of smell into the brain to control the rest of the body’s metabolism." And while this may sound like a great way to lose weight, scientists still don’t know exactly how the sensory organs for smell are integrated with the brain. Dillin says this requires more research in the lab – and then there will be more work looking into if the mice research translates to humans