North Korea shells Yeongpyeong Island in South Korea, killing 2. Battling medical ageism. A new HIV pill gives hope for prevention. Invasive weeds and seeds crowding out native Southern California plants. Languages on the endangered list.
N. Korea attacks S. Korea over disputed boundary
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned North Korea’s artillery attack on South Korea’s Yeongpyeong Island as “one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War.” The North Koreans say the attack was retaliation for South Korean naval exercises which, they contend, crossed into their territorial waters. South Korea responded with howitzers and fighter jets. Officials in Seoul said there could be considerable North Korean casualties. The entire skirmish lasted about an hour. How serious was this battle and what are the chances it could flare into a full-scale war? And how is the Korean community of Los Angeles responding?
Guest:
Jim Walsh, International Security Expert, Security Studies Program, Center for International Studies, at M.I.T. He’s working on a book on North Korea for Yale University Press.
Hye Young Ku, Reporter for Korea Daily
How to battle medical ageism & get quality health care at any age
Humans may be created equal, but we don’t all age the same. So why do doctors often treat us like we do? There are people in their eighties who are highly active and octogenarians checking into skilled nursing facilities. Genetics, diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices have a lot to do with it. But the kind of health care we get can make a huge difference. In his new book, “Treat Me, Not My Age,” Dr. Mark Lachs argues that the prevalence of medical ageism in our health care system can have disastrous consequences. But if patients are armed with good information, quality care is possible, regardless of age. Have you ever experienced medical ageism? What should patients do to ensure doctors treat their person, not their age?
Guest:
Mark Lachs, M.D., author, Treat Me, Not My Age: A Doctor’s Guide to Getting the Best Care as You or a Loved One Gets Older; Lachs is a physician, scientist, and gerontologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City
HIV treatment pill dramatically reduces infection risk
There’s big news in AIDS research today. A new study reveals that a pill used to treat people with HIV can also prevent infection. Scientists at San Francisco’s Gladstone Institutes found that daily doses of the drug Truvada, cut the risk of gay and bisexual men from getting HIV by almost 73%. The researchers, led by Dr Robert Grant, from the University of California at San Francisco, calculated that taking Truvada reduced the overall risk of HIV infection by around 44%. The findings are very promising, but more research is needed to see if this approach will work for women and IV drug users. Also, Truvada doesn’t come cheap. Treatment runs about $36 a day or $13,000 a year. Are we willing to pay that much to prevent people from being infected with HIV?
Guest:
Dr. Stephen Boswell, President and CEO of Fenway Health in Boston; where he is also a practicing physician and HIV/AIDS researcher
Invasive weeds and seeds are destroying Southern California’s flora
Around two dozen non native plants have escaped Southern California gardens and are threatening the state’s native plants and animals. Worse, most of these invasive species are for sale at nurseries, meaning people are unintentionally planting more of these predators. How can you protect your garden and what can be done to stem the invasion of invasive plant species into your local nursery?
Guest:
Ilsa Setziol, environment writer based in Southern California. Ms. Setziol contributes to various public radio programs, including KQED's ClimateWatch, KPCC news, and the Home section of the Los Angeles Times.
Languages on the endangered list
When a language dies, humanity suffers more than a loss of words. The diversity, culture and heritage of a society are threatened with extinction as well. And yet, many of the languages now spoken around the globe are destined to die out in our lifetime. Renowned linguist K. David Harrison has journeyed throughout the world, from Siberian forests to a trailer park in Utah, in a quest to meet with the last speakers of these languages before they are lost forever. In doing so, Harrison has met with the elders who, in his words, “hold in their minds a significant portion of humanity’s intellectual wealth.” According to Harrison, a language is lost every 14 days. Can we afford to let the world’s poetry, literature and collective humanity shrink as its languages die? How can we keep languages alive?
Guest:
K. David Harrison, author of The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World’s Most Endangered Languages and co-star of the Sundance feature film The Linguists