Transcripts: 566.1 to 566.3

Week: 566.1 Guest: Dr. Jordan Cohen, President, Association of American Medical Colleges Topic: What's wrong with too many doctors? (part one of three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: So, what's wrong with too many doctors?....coming up....

SPOT: NEMA...the National Emergency Medicine Association... fights our worst health enemies - heart disease, stroke, trauma. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: The nation's premier medical organizations are behind a statement aimed at reducing the number of physicians we produce each year...now about 25 thousand. Research from the Institute of Medicine shows we have an oversupply of doctors...Association of American Medical Colleges president Jordan Cohen dismisses the idea that too many doctors is good for the consumer...

COHEN: The notion that more doctors will produce lower health care costs is actually just the other way around...the more doctors we produce, the predictable result will be that health care costs will actually rise.

NEMA: Dr. Cohen says physician unemployment would be very detrimental...

COHEN: We have never had in this country the prospect of unemployment of physicians. And one has to ask whether or not we're still going to be able to attract the kind of talent the country has become accustomed to, and I think deserves to have as it's doctors.

NEMA: Cutting funds for residencies, a work force advisory panel, and special programs to address the shortage of doctors in inner city or rural areas...all part of the consensus statement. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.

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Week: 566.2 Guest: Dr. Craig Warden, genetic researcher Univ. of California at Davis Topic: The purpose of the UCP 2 gene in controlling weight (part two of three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: The gene that may control our weight...coming up...

SPOT: 15 years in the prevention of heart disease, stroke and trauma. The National Emergency Medicine Association. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: Each of our cells may carry the switch that determines whether our bodies burn fat or store it...University of California at Davis researcher Craig Warden found the UCP 2 gene, along with colleagues at Duke University and the National Center for Scientific Research in France....

WARDEN: This is a very interesting protein which burns calories and so may help us to lose weight by literally burning off fat.

NEMA: The more UCP 2 protein we have, the more we're prone to burn the fat through production of body heat...

WARDEN: So the same way that people might be shorter or taller because of some differences in how much of one protein or another they make...we might also make more or less of this protein and in more or less of some tissues, so we particularly make a lot in our muscle and our fat.

NEMA: Warden says the search now begins to find what triggers the production of UCP 2 in the cells, find a way...naturally or synthetically...to produce it, and use it to help people who need to lose weight for health's sake. The study appears in a recent issue of Nature Genetics. Next, we'll talk about the potential for UCP 2 to help people keep weight on. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.

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Week: 566.3 Guest: Dr. Craig Warden, genetic researcher Univ. of California at Davis Topic: Fat burning protein could help sick people keep weight on (part three of three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: The body's thermostat....coming up...

SPOT: For 15 years, the National Emergency Medicine Association has worked against stroke, heart disease and trauma. Join the effort, call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: Dr. Craig Warden of the University of California at Davis says the newly discovered UCP 2 gene could be the key to controlling weight loss...or gain...

WARDEN: We think this protein is involved in controlling the balance of energy use between body heat and body weight and so this is important to people who are overweight but there are other functions for people who are underweight, who are losing weight and who don't want to, this might also be important. So people who are just naturally or extremely low weight or people who have cancer or AIDS, it might be possible to promote weight gain by turning this protein off, by making it so the protein is less active and less calories are being burned for heat. This protein is also found in the immune system, there's quite a lot of it, and the white blood cells and so we think it might have a roll also in anytime where heat is generated so this would include fever and inflammation.

NEMA: The next step is finding the mechanism for activating the production of the UCP 2 protein, to control the natural process. Warden made the finding with Duke University and Research Scientifique in France. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.