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This is today's Carolina Minute.

Most patients with schizophrenia get some relief of symptoms from medication. But about forty percent do not.

For them, University of South Carolina psychiatric nurse Suzanne Hardeman says researchers are studying higher doses of drugs to get results.

 The purpose of the study is to find out whether higher doses of already used schizophrenia medication are more effective in patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia. There are some people who while they did not respond at F-D-A approved doses, they did respond at higher doses and their chemical makeup is such that they actually needed higher doses in order to get treatment effects. Hardeman says they are working in conjunction with Vanderbilt University in researching schizophrenia drug treatment outcomes.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

University of South Carolina researchers are conducting a sixth-month study of a schizophrenia drug to determine if higher doses provide greater relief for some patients.

            Psychiatric nurse Suzanne Hardeman says they're evaluating the drug risperidone which carries exaggerated side effects.

In some people it might, but if the theory that some people need more medication to get the treatment effect then they possibly would not get the side effects, even with the double dose because they need that much medication to get treatment effect. Typically, the side effects of anti-psychotics are stiffness, drooling, rigidity, muscle-spasms..those are the most common along with nausea...

Hardeman says a certain percentage of schizophrenia patients continue having hallucinations despite taking medication.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

The Associated Press recently asked three statisticians from different universities to analyze numbers data without telling them what they represented.

University of South Carolina statistician John Grego was one of them who quickly solved the mystery.

It didn't take a lot of due diligence to figure out what it might be. I figured it was climate related, but I still didn't know what the responses specifically were.  He basically asked us to look at a larger data set and see if there was trend. And after confirming there was an upward trend in that data set using several different approaches, he gave me a smaller data set and said can you see a downward trend toward the end of this particular series? Grego says blind tests are a valid method of analyzing data because it keeps personal beliefs out of the findings. Next time...the surprising unanimous conclusion that all three statisticians determined about climate patterns.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Statisticians studying climate warming data dispute a downward trend in temperatures.

University of South Carolina statistician John Grego says the results were determined from data collected from more than one hundred years of global temperature changes.  

 The only way you could find a downward trend there was by looking for a trend starting specifically at 1998. If you started any other year, that downward trend is going to go away. So, from a statistician's perspective, it seemed like a good chance to educate the public about how to be cautious in interpreting points of view that are supported by data analysis and what to look for that might make you think  the data analysis is suspect. Grego was one of three national statisticians asked by the Associated Press to analyze the data, but weren't told what the numbers represented until their results were submitted.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Many people suffer from chronic neuropathic pain...pain without an obvious injury.

University of South Carolina researcher Dr. Sarah Sweitzer has examples of chronic pain diseases that could be helped by a developing therapy from the herpes simplex one virus.

 Patients who have type 2 diabetes can get it. Post-herpetic neuralgia-after somebody has shingles they can go on to develop chronic neuropathic pain. Somebody who has H-I-V can actually have chronic neuropathic pain. After an injury, you can have chronic neuropathic pain, patients who come back with phantom limb pain is a type of chronic neuropathic pain.

Sweitzer says traditional treatment for chronic pain is often with high doses of morphine. Next time, details on how therapy from the herpes simplex one virus, also known as the cold sore virus...may be the solution to treating chronic neuropathic pain.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Cold sores are unsightly painful blisters commonly appearing on the lip.  

However, University of South Carolina researcher Dr. Sarah Sweitzer says medical researchers are on the brink of developing a revolutionary use for the virus in treating chronic pain.

 We take the herpes simplex one virus and we take out all of the part of it that is the cold sore virus and all we're left with is the part that will get into the neuron and allow a neuron to make whatever specific   protein we put in. And the protein we put in happens to be the protein called the muopioid receptor, but other than that this virus will not make more of itself and this virus will give people cold sores.

Sweitzer says the university is partnering with Johns Hopkins to conduct the Herpes Simplex One Virus study. Next time, explaining how the virus can help treat pain.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Medical researchers are using the cold sore virus Herpes Simplex Virus One to find the pathway to neuropathic pain therapy.

University of South Carolina researcher Dr. Sarah Sweitzer explains that a large percentage of the population already has the virus.

 But, the reason we choose it is because it actually infects the neurons that go from your skin to your spinal cord and those are the only neurons it will infect. And by infecting those neurons, we can then change receptor expression,  protein expression, specifically in those neurons, and those are the first neurons that are responsible for transmitting pain...transmitting a stimulus into a pain signal into our body.

Sweitzer says we have our own protector from pain...commonly known as an endorphin rush that keeps us from feeling intense pain from exercise or athletic injuries.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Warning: soft drinks may be hazardous to your health. The concern that sugary drinks are one cause of obesity in Americans is widespread.

Yet, University of South Carolina health sciences vice-provost Russ Pate says the evidence is unclear.

The data at the population level addressing the relationship between consumption of sugared beverages of health outcomes like obesity and diabetes are in all honesty not that clear. On the other hand, it's certainly is true, on the face of it sugared beverages and sodas are empty calories.

Pate says sugary drinks provide energy, but they don't provide needed nutrients, so drinking sodas gives a temporary energy boost at best.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Studies  show that two-thirds of Americans are obese. That's prompting some to call for a tax on fattening foods.

University of South Carolina health sciences vice-provost Russ Pate says he supports such a tax system to promote public health.

 I think it's clear that taxation of consumer products affects behavior.  I will say that I am generally in favor of financial disincentives for behavior that we know have adverse health effects. And, I'm generally in favor of financial incentives for participation in lifestyle behaviors that have positive health outcomes. For example, Pate says he supports tax incentives to employers who provide physical activity and exercise and fitness programs to employees.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Health experts are nearly unanimous in the opinion that the obesity epidemic is largely caused by lack of exercise.

University of South Carolina health sciences vice-provost Russ Pate says the other problem is that Americans eat too much high-fat food and food with added sugar.

 A problem that we have right now is fresh fruits and vegetables which everyone agrees we should be eating a lot more of, tend to be relatively expensive and relatively unavailable to us. And so from a broad public policy standpoint, I do think it would make sense to increase the price of foods that we should be consuming less of.

Pate says that revenue could be used to decrease the price of foods that are lower in fat and sugar.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Sports drinks were originally developed to enhance endurance sport performance.

University of South Carolina health sciences vice-provost Russ Pate says evidence is clear that they are beneficial.

Sports beverages typically have carefully selected concentrations of carbohydrates in various combinations of sucrose and glucose, along with carefully selected concentrations of electrolytes sodium potassium in particular.

 Pate's studies have shown that consumption of sports drinks, during and after endurance exercises,  benefits all athletes in their performances.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Public health experts are waving the warning flag about the overuse of sports drinks as an anytime beverage.

University of South Carolina health sciences vice-provost Russ Pate says the caution is especially for parents.

 What's a greater concern is when sports drinks become the beverage of choice for kids and they have it in their lunchboxes and it's sort of a regular part of their beverage consuming habit. There I think it can be overdone, in that context ought to be thought of as not different than other sugared beverages like sodas. Pate says the potential harm is the over consumption of empty calories.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Prescribed medication is meant to make us better, but we also often have to worry about adverse side effects.

However, college of Pharmacy Executive Dean Dr. Joseph DiPiro says a lot more attention is being paid to drug safety.

Medication safety encompasses a wide range of things from actual side effects of drugs to allergic reactions that some people experience with some medications. It could also be the toxic effects that could occur if people don't take their medicines correctly. Maybe they take too much by accident. That involves all of that...the unanticipated and undesired side effects of medicines.

DiPiro says drug safety will be a large emphasis for the university since being approved for the Center for Medication Safety and Efficacy in the Center for Economic Excellence.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Doctors and pharmacists are frequently solicited by drug companies to try their products. However they don't always have time to investigate which drugs are best for their patients.

However, College of Pharmacy Executive Dean Joseph DiPiro explains how the college of Pharmacy is helping conduct unbiased research for state doctors.

In the Academic Detailing Program, pharmacists go out into the state...meet with physicians in their offices and provide them with the full scope of information about a wide range of products and guidelines for how they should be used in an unbiased way. right now, the program focuses on drugs that are used to treat mental health conditions.

DiPiro says South Carolina is only one of a few states that have an Academic Detailing Program.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

We may not have a cure for cancer, but researchers are aggressively working to develop better cancer drugs.

College of Pharmacy Executive Dean Dr. Joseph DiPiro explains why this type research is so important.

 Cancer drug research has gotten so much attention and resources in the past few years because it is so common and so devastating, and also the federal government has put a lot of money into it through the N-I-H, And pharmaceutical manufacturers have done quite a lot to develop cancer treatments over the past few years, so there have been a lot of new treatments, and clearly we haven't cured cancer yet, so there will be a lot more efforts in that in the years ahead.

DiPiro says the College of Pharmacy also partners with MUSC and the School of Medicine to make cancer drug discovery a major focus of research.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Many children develop speech and language skills at a rate slower than what is expected for a child's age.

University of South Carolina speech pathologist Denise Finneran studies language impairment, and explains how therapists determine speech delay.

So, the child is going to sound like a kid who is six months, a year, two years than a child actually is, then the child is going to sound immature compared to their peers. The language impairment can be in a number of different areas. It could be in their use of their vocabulary, it could be in their understanding and use of grammar, how we put the words together to make sentences and questions.

Finneran says by two years old a child should be using at least fifty words, keeping in mind it could be slightly less than that.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

English is the language taught in U-S schools.

However, University of South Carolina speech pathologist Denise Finneran is conducting a study examining another common dialect, African American English and its influence on children.

 Why it's important to consider these two dialects is because the grammar differs. The children are learning a different set of rules about English. So, for example is what I look at is third person singular is a particularly difficult issue with young children because that's something that varies in most non-mainstream dialects. In standard English you say she runs, you don't say she run, but there are a lot of people who say she run and in their linguistic community that's correct.

Finneran it's important to note that if children are speaking the language of the home, that it doesn't mean they're language impaired.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Americans love to debate the problems facing the country, everything from improving healthcare to the economy.

However, the rancorous tone of the debate has University of South Carolina sociologist David Willer examining why Americans are so angry.

Many, many years ago, I do remember the Eisenhower-Stevenson era political issues were never morality issues. Since that time, issues of private morality have been injected in to the public political sphere. They don't really belong there, I don't believe. Issues like abortion, prayer in schools, these are not public issues, these are issues of private morality and they ought to stay that way. The state shouldn't interfere.

Willer says the acrimonious discourse, can be reversed. Next time...changing the tone of the debate.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Americans have demonstrated their anger about the state of the nation all summer.

University of South Carolina sociologist David Willer explains who's responsible for introducing civility back into the debate.

 I think the main responsibility here lies with everyone, but especially with the leadership. Our political leadership really needs to learn to focus on public issues and to agree to exclude private issues, particularly private morality issues. I think this absolutely essential in any democracy, otherwise things will heat up, we'll get to a point where there's no compromise possible.

Willer says democracy has to be about issues such as the distribution of wealth in our country, or general health welfare or whether a country should go to war.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.

This is today's Carolina Minute.

Some healthcare workers are resisting the recommendation that they should get the swine flu vaccination.

University of South Carolina infectious disease expert Dr. Helmut Albrecht says the reason they should get the vaccine is not for them, but to protect the patients.

If you get the flu, you'll survive it, you'll do fine, you'll feel cruddy for a week and then you'll be over it. But, people like us who are in contact with a lot of people with a weakened immune system, that are debilitated, that are elderly, that are of extreme ages...young or have conditions that set them up for severe flu...if we pass the flu on to them, they will have a severely more problematic time to get over it than we would ever have. Albrecht says all healthcare workers should be

required to get the swine flu vaccine unless they have serious medical or religious reasons to not get it.

With this Carolina Minute, I'm Frenche Brewer.