Combating Cardiac Arrest

What kills more people than AIDS, breast cancer, and lung cancer combined? Cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest is the heart’s inability to contract properly which causes the blood to stop circulating. When this occurs, the brain doesn’t receive oxygen which can lead to death in a matter of minutes. Cardiac arrest kills an average of 1,000 people every day.

In this episode of Health Matters, Dr. David Granet and his guest, Dr. Ulrika Birgersdotter-Green, introduce the newest device called an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator that could help save lives.

Watch “Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators and Sudden Cardiac Death” to discover how it works in conjunction with the heart’s electrical system and learn tips for lowering your risk of cardiac arrest.

Check out other programs about cardiology on UCSD-TV.

The Resurgence of Manufacturing

The most recent presidential election brought the issue of outsourcing to the forefront of Americans’ minds as citizens became concerned that they were losing their jobs to factories in China or Bangladesh.

However, Peter Cowhey, Dean of the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UC San Diego, tells us that the U.S. remains the largest manufacturer based on total output.

As rumors stir about the de-industrialization of America, Cowhey explains that the rate of manufacturing only seems to be drastically declining, because it is not growing as fast as the rest of our economy.

In “The Resurgence of Manufacturing in the United States,” Cowhey is joined by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, Vizio CEO Willliam Wang, former Gateway CEO Ted Waitt and journalist James Fallows to discuss the trends of manufacturing as well as strategies for keeping and creating jobs in the United States.

For more videos with Peter Cowhey, click here or see what other programs on globalization are available.

Dementia in Society

Dementia is a deterioration of cognitive function that begins with mild cognitive impairment, which appears just like forgetfulness, and eventually ends in death.

There are many causes of the disease such as stroke, chronic alcohol abuse and Alzheimer’s but there is no way to reverse the damage of the brain’s degeneration.

Dr. Mario D. Garrett of San Diego State University’s School of Social Work discusses the social impacts of dementia, such as the way dementia is classified by institutions and even the errors he has found in the way dementia is perceived.

Watch “Brain Fitness: Social Aspects of Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment – Research on Aging”  from the Stein Institute for Research on Aging to hear Garrett explain the revolution in dementia studies and the necessity for dementia victims to have social interaction.

Watch this other video on Dementia with Dr. Berneet Kaur.

Tuning into the Sounds of Our Dynamic Planet

Did you know there are unheard sounds in the Earth’s atmosphere that can travel all the way around the world?

Dr. Michael Hedlin of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography explains that when massive events occur in the atmosphere low frequency sounds are generated that can be received all over the earth, depending on the magnitude of the event. Much like when there is an earthquake and seismic waves can be read on seismometers around the planet.

Although we cannot hear these sounds because of their low frequencies, there is still a lot they can tell us about things like volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts.

Listen in as Michael Hedlin discusses what we can learn from the Earth’s atmosphere’s frequencies in “Listening to Earth’s Atmosphere: Tuning into the Sounds of Our Dynamic Planet”

Check out other videos in the Perspectives on Ocean Science Series presented by Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The Psychology of War Criminals

What does it mean to be evil?

When considering the evil events in history, the Holocaust remains one of the most notorious.

Dr. Joel Dimsdale, professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego, began his work 40 years ago studying survivors of Nazi concentrations camps, uncovering strategies of coping that helped these victims survive. However, after a visit from a Nuremberg executioner, Dimsdale began to study the perpetrators of these crimes instead.

In “The Anatomy of Malice: Rorschach Results from Nuremberg War Criminals,” Dimsdale searches for the answers to questions like: How could the Nazi’s do what they did? Were they criminally insane? Psychopaths? Suffering from delusions, or some other mental disorder?

In this presentation, part of the Holocaust Living History Workshop, Dimsdale examines archival data of Rorschach ink blot tests administered at the Nuremberg trial in an attempt to uncover those answers.

Watch other programs in history and the Holocaust on UCSD-TV.