The New Explorers. Series III; No. 306; Don't Judge a Book

<v Nurse 1>1 2 3. <v Nurse 2>His heart rate is 165... <v Nurse 3>Do we know how many hours post-burn he is? <v Nurse 4>He was apparently burned at 11:00. <v Nurse 3>The face is involved and most of the back. <v Bill Kurtis>There's an injury. <v Nurse 2>His stat is 90. <v Bill Kurtis>The body begins to fight back. <v Nurse 2>His stat's a hundred now. <v Bill Kurtis>Survive, it says. Live. <v Bill Kurtis>Stop the bleeding. Stop the infection. <v Bill Kurtis>Heal the wound. <v Bill Kurtis>Form a scar. <v Bill Kurtis>And so it does. <v Bill Kurtis>This child is lucky. His burns were bad, but he'll live with scars. <v Bill Kurtis>But why do they form? And how? <v Bill Kurtis>Those are the questions that this man is trying to answer. <v Bill Kurtis>It's a mystery that the human body holds within its shell, the skin. <v Bill Kurtis>And it's a mystery we're just beginning to solve. <v TV Announcer>Major funding for The New Explorers is provided by Amoco, celebrating

<v TV Announcer>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v TV Announcer>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc., providing <v TV Announcer>recycling and other waste services around the world. <v TV Announcer>And by Duracell, embracing the power of science education, <v TV Announcer>the source of future technology and innovative growth. <v TV Announcer>Duracell, the copper top battery. <v Bill Kurtis>Scars tell a private story. <v Bill Kurtis>When the injury is great, they can stigmatize and exposes us to stares and <v Bill Kurtis>whispers of the insensitive. <v Bill Kurtis>But our New Explorer believes that scars are not inevitable. <v Bill Kurtis>He's working to remove them using a very unusual tool. <v Bill Kurtis>You may have been given a shot with one. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Raphael Lee uses it to apply a drug he came upon almost by accident. <v Bill Kurtis>A drug used for years to regulate blood pressure. <v Bill Kurtis>But he thinks it can also be used to make scars shrink and in some <v Bill Kurtis>cases, disappear.

<v Bill Kurtis>A security guard's life can become routine, patrolling empty corridors, <v Bill Kurtis>trying to be ready for the unexpected. <v Bill Kurtis>And then 1 day it happens and it's over as suddenly as it began. <v Bill Kurtis>Life will never be the same. <v Bill Kurtis>3 years ago, Kevin was working as a security guard when he was seriously injured in a gas

<v Bill Kurtis>explosion. He doesn't remember much, but within seconds, <v Bill Kurtis>intense flames had burned him so badly, doctors feared he would lose both his eyesight <v Bill Kurtis>and his hands. <v Bill Kurtis>A dramatic change in Kevin's life from his days as a United States Marine. <v Bill Kurtis>Today, he wears a pressure mask to help keep his facial scars flat <v Bill Kurtis>as they continue to heal. <v Bill Kurtis>But sometimes Kevin wonders, which is worse, the scars or the mask? <v Kevin>Some people, you know, they look at me and they say, oh, <v Kevin>get away, you know, especially like when I wear my mask. <v Kevin>It's a bunch of ignorant people around here. <v Kevin>So far had I had um 2 people pull guns <v Kevin>on me. <v Kevin>You know, just 'cause you see somebody that look different or act different, you know,

<v Kevin>you shouldn't make fun of 'em. <v Speaker>[background chatter]. <v Kevin>Don't judge a book by its cover. <v Kevin>You oughta read the book first. <v Speaker>[background chatter] <v Bill Kurtis>But for Kevin and other victims of disfiguring the scars help maybe only <v Bill Kurtis>a few miles away. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Here we go. <v Leroy>Ready when you are. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Raphael Lee is performing a new technique in scar reconstruction. <v Bill Kurtis>The sound is deceiving. <v Leroy>It- it's alright, it's alright. <v Bill Kurtis>He's forcing the drug through the skin at a high speed. <v Bill Kurtis>And it's very painful. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Okay, let me know. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>We can always add a little uh anesthetic. <v Bill Kurtis>But patients like Leroy return every 2 weeks looking for improvement. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>OK. I think we just stop right there. <v Bill Kurtis>They're hoping that Dr. Lee has found the secret to scar reduction. <v Bill Kurtis>Another patient, Don has been coming to Dr. Lee for a year. <v Nurse Practitioner>You know the routine. Have a seat in the chair there.

<v Dr. Raphael Lee>Gosh, you're really gonna get a super result. <v Bill Kurtis>Scars not only affect a person's appearance, but can also limit the body's ability <v Bill Kurtis>to function. Don's hands and arms were injured in a propane explosion at work. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Have we put any Verapamil on here bef-? <v Don>Um- <v Dr. Raphael Lee>On this 1 we did, for sure right? <v Don>This part. And just a little bit on this hand right here. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I think we are oughta just try it. It'll just give you a better cosmetic result. <v Don>I'd go through that pain day and day if I can get my hands back to where <v Don>they were before. <v Bill Kurtis>Back to where they were before the scars. <v Bill Kurtis>With Dr. Lee's help, that's where they're going. <v Bill Kurtis>Don's hands have shown dramatic improvement in the past year. <v Bill Kurtis>You can see that the red color is less intense. <v Bill Kurtis>It's beginning to fade and the scar is smaller. <v Bill Kurtis>Other patients have experienced similar improvements. <v Bill Kurtis>This facial scar has lost a lot of its thickness over a year. <v Bill Kurtis>Notice the texture changes on the right.

<v Bill Kurtis>But the treatments take time, months for some, years for <v Bill Kurtis>others, and some may never see results. <v Bill Kurtis>The scar on this woman's arm has also started to recede. <v Bill Kurtis>What seems to matter most is the age of the scar. <v Bill Kurtis>The newer the scar, the better the response. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>The scars that are fairly young, are not very strong. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>The- the collagen molecules that are in there aren't connected together through <v Dr. Raphael Lee>the structures called cross-links. <v Bill Kurtis>Like everything else in our bodies, collagen comes from our cells. <v Bill Kurtis>Trillions of tiny building blocks that keep us breathing, thinking, living. <v Bill Kurtis>Each 1 is a small universe, entirely self-contained. <v Bill Kurtis>If we could travel inside, we'd probably start at the command center of the cell, <v Bill Kurtis>the nucleus. It contains the blueprints in the form of chromosomes <v Bill Kurtis>wrapped in the shape of a double helix.

<v Bill Kurtis>They're the software that programs the cell. <v Bill Kurtis>When there's an injury, the brain sends a message to the nucleus to begin repairs. <v Bill Kurtis>The command goes out, first to the ribosomes to start producing collagen, <v Bill Kurtis>a protein that helps form scars to patch or rebuild the break <v Bill Kurtis>in the skin tissue. <v Bill Kurtis>The cell membrane controls passage in and out of the cell. <v Bill Kurtis>It has different channels to send messages on to other cells. <v Bill Kurtis>Collagen is transferred from the cell and builds up at the site of the injury. <v Bill Kurtis>Often the cell produces more collagen that is necessary to seal the wound. <v Bill Kurtis>That's what scar tissue is: too much collagen. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Lee has discovered a way to interrupt this process. <v Bill Kurtis>He does this by injecting Verapamil, a drug which blocks the messages <v Bill Kurtis>sent through 1 of the channels of the cell membrane, the calcium channel. <v Bill Kurtis>It encourages the production of an enzyme which breaks down the collagen. <v Bill Kurtis>This changes the shape of the cell from long and thin to a more spherical shape,

<v Bill Kurtis>thereby reducing the size of the scar. <v Bill Kurtis>We can make a nice science fiction movie here with that [laughs]. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Well, it- it's really fascinating and the importance of <v Dr. Raphael Lee>cell shape in regulating many cellular processes is becoming <v Dr. Raphael Lee>more and more recognized over the past 15 years. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Now, what we see here are fibroblasts gr- growing on a <v Dr. Raphael Lee>plastic cell culture dish being maintained at about 37 degrees <v Dr. Raphael Lee>centigrade. <v Bill Kurtis>That's normal body temperature. <v Bill Kurtis>Now very carefully, you're putting in the calcium blocker, <v Bill Kurtis>which then will surround the cell that we are now seeing. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>We should begin to see a change in the geometry of the cells shortly. <v Bill Kurtis>You mean that by understanding the properties of a cell, how it reacts, <v Bill Kurtis>that you've been able to trick it into acting the way you want it to? <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Well, that's exactly the approach.

<v Bill Kurtis>There's quite a dramatic change here in front of us from there, look at that. <v Bill Kurtis>It's- and it's beginning to round out, I see, losing its <v Bill Kurtis>edges that we're stretching. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>You can certainly see that now. It's very dramatic. <v Bill Kurtis>Solving problems is what motivates Dr. Lee, director of the Electric Trauma <v Bill Kurtis>Program and Burn Unit at the University of Chicago and professor of Surgery and <v Bill Kurtis>medical physics. Dr. Lee enjoys the time he spends on research that leads to <v Bill Kurtis>a clinical benefit for the patient. <v Bill Kurtis>The discovery that led to his work in scar reduction started with Petri dishes much like <v Bill Kurtis>these, when a colleague accidentally left a 12-hour experiment running <v Bill Kurtis>for the weekend. When they returned, they discovered that the tissue they'd been studying <v Bill Kurtis>had all but disappeared. <v Bill Kurtis>An unexpected turn led to a new discovery. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>It's pretty rare that the discoveries that are made were actually predicted in the- in

<v Dr. Raphael Lee>the proposal that was written. <v Bill Kurtis>But would this discovery work on people? <v Bill Kurtis>Berta was Dr. Lee's first patient to try injection therapy. <v Bill Kurtis>Ear piercing caused keloid scars to develop on her ear lobes. <v Bill Kurtis>Other treatments had failed. <v Bill Kurtis>This is what her left ear lobe looked like before for Verapamil. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Berta! How are you? <v Berta>Fine. Fine. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Nice to see you. <v Berta>You, too. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I wanted to take a look at your ears. <v Berta>Oh, okay. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>And uh talk to you a little bit about um what sort of led up to you coming you know here <v Dr. Raphael Lee>to begin with. <v Berta>Oh, okay. I just want the ?keloaf? off my ear, you know. <v Berta>You know, I didn't care, just try anything, just as long to get them off. <v Berta>[both laugh] Yeah. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Alright. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>We applied the- the drug in the scar, and a week later she returned and it was softer, <v Dr. Raphael Lee>and about 30 percent reduced in size. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>And so we were very encouraged at that point in time. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I think that was probably the most exciting time.

<v Bill Kurtis>Here's that first visit photo again. <v Bill Kurtis>You can see the progress after 2 injections. <v Bill Kurtis>After 5 injections, the keloid scar tissue is almost completely gone. <v Bill Kurtis>And she can wear earrings again, clip-ons. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>And so now we see that it's easier to- you can- it feels pretty normal <v Dr. Raphael Lee>with except for the fact that there is a little bit of excess skin and- <v Berta>I love earrings. Now, I can wear earrings with different- you know, different earrings <v Berta>with different types of suits and- you know, it just make you feel good. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Okay, um we'll start around the usual [fade out]. <v Bill Kurtis>Keloid scars in the extreme can cover the entire body. <v Bill Kurtis>Some African-Americans are genetically predisposed to them. <v Bill Kurtis>These scars can be caused by any skin abrasion. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>This is really the first thing that has caused- <v Keloid Patient>Any type of reduction. <v Bill Kurtis>Keloids can be removed surgically, but they grow back. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Lee's injections are the first hopeful sign in their treatment. <v Nurse Practitioner>How are you today, Kev? And then have a seat right here.

<v Bill Kurtis>Kevin has been coming to see Dr. Lee for over a year. <v Nurse Practitioner>Visit uh in August. <v Kevin>Yes. <v Nurse Practitioner>Okay. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Hi there. How are you doing? Okay. <v Bill Kurtis>We can track Kevin's progress through pictures. <v Bill Kurtis>This 1 shows very thick scars, particularly between the eyes on his forehead. <v Bill Kurtis>9 months later, the scars are flatter and not nearly as prominent. <v Bill Kurtis>And another 4 months, there are even better results. <v Bill Kurtis>The side view gives you a closer look. <v Bill Kurtis>Look around the temples. Again, the same reductions over the past year. <v Bill Kurtis>Kevin needs injections into small, hidden areas. <v Bill Kurtis>So instead of the gun, Dr. Lee uses a hypodermic needle. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>This is a very fine needle. I doubt that you even noticed I'm doing this. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>If look the other way now I'm just gonna go ahead and inject right in the area near the <v Dr. Raphael Lee>labial fold okay? <v Kevin>Oh I hate this. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I know. Ready? <v Bill Kurtis>It's hard to watch, but Kevin endures the pain because of his intense desire

<v Bill Kurtis>to improve his appearance. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Actually it's softened up quite a bit. <v Kevin>I think I withstand of uh another 6 months before I give up [laughs]. <v Kevin>Ah, I quit! <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>I think there's a generally held belief that facial burns and hand burns <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>are particularly problematic with someone's body image, because that's sort of the <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>part that we put out to people and that relationships, you know, are- are important <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>to all of us. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Kathleen Kelley is the psychiatric consultant to the burn unit. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>That's greatly improved [fade out to background chatter]. <v Bill Kurtis>And deals with the emotional effects of scarring. <v Bill Kurtis>She's also married to Dr. Lee. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>Roller skating? <v Bill Kurtis>A close family, the Lees have 2 daughters. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley> We want to sit down here? <v Bill Kurtis>They make the most of their time together because Dr. Lee is out of town frequently <v Bill Kurtis>sharing his findings with colleagues. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>The job defines itself and you can't be a part-time physician. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>Okay, you want to warm up a little bit?

<v Bill Kurtis>Lee's father was also a doctor. <v Bill Kurtis>In fact, Lee is a fourth-generation physician, but he started out at engineering <v Bill Kurtis>before finally giving in and becoming a surgeon. <v Speaker>[music and background chatter]. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I found plastic surgery fascinating, anyway. I mean, it was- I love the technical aspects <v Dr. Raphael Lee>of it. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Um it's- it's a field where surgical precision uh <v Dr. Raphael Lee>is- is key and that I like. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>For- that, to me, is very enjoyable. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>You ready for this skating day? Alright, let's do it! <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I was fairly committed to <v Dr. Raphael Lee>making some contribution to that area. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>And so I picked an area where I thought I could really have an impact. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>It's a remarkable life living with Raphael. <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>There's been a number of times that he would come home and say we really <v Dr. Kathleen Kelley>made an important discovery today. <v Bill Kurtis>It's not as casual as it may sound.

<v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Lee is a modest man. <v Bill Kurtis>[music plays] With 2 children of his own, Dr. Lee is well aware of the pain parents can <v Bill Kurtis>feel when their children are injured and the guilt they have as scars develop. <v Speaker>[background chatter] <v Bill Kurtis>An early morning cup of tea. <v Bill Kurtis>A relaxing ritual for a grown-up, but disaster for a toddler. <v Nurse Practitioner>On your lap, okay?

<v Bill Kurtis> 14-month-old Jonathan found out just how disastrous <v Bill Kurtis>when he was scalded by a cup of hot tea. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Well, hello. <v Nurse Practitioner>Such a big boy. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Hello, pal. Good to see ya. <v Bill Kurtis>His father Tim got the call. <v Tim>It's a feeling I'll never forget. I've never felt so helpless in my life, you know? <v Jonathan's Mom>It really tore my heart out. <v Jonathan's Mom>He did. He really doesn't even mind [fade out to background]. <v Jonathan's Mom>You'd rather take his place any time. <v Jonathan's Mom>So it was really- it was very hurtful for me. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Yeah. That looks very good. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>These areas here are really doing very nicely. <v Bill Kurtis>With kids in mind, Dr. Lee is approaching the scar reduction problem from another <v Bill Kurtis>angle. 1 that's a lot less painful than injections: <v Bill Kurtis>skin temperature. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Well, it's pretty well known that temperature is an important regulator of scar <v Dr. Raphael Lee>formation. <v Bill Kurtis>Keeping a scar warm encourages the body to produce enzymes which <v Bill Kurtis>break down the scar tissue.

<v Dr. Raphael Lee>Saline. Go ahead and cover this again before it becomes painful. <v Nurse Practitioner>Let you see underneath your chin. Let me see [fade out] <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Lee uses a gel which is placed directly over scar to form a tight <v Bill Kurtis>seal and elevate the skin temperature. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>It's identical to jello in its makeup, but it doesn't come apart and it's much stronger. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Except that it's tightly ?inaudible? <v Dr. Raphael Lee>You're wonderful. <v Jonathan's Mom>Yay! <v Tim>That's it! <v Dr. Raphael Lee>You're really doing so well. <v Tim>All done. <v Jonathan's Mom>He said, I'm done. <v Tim>All done. [all laugh] <v Bill Kurtis>During the first month's gel treatment, Jonathan's scald burn showed improvement. <v Bill Kurtis>3 months later, the results are even more apparent. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Okay, okay. There it is. <v Jonathan's Mom>I've seen good results in such a short time. <v Jonathan's Mom>I just asked him um you know about when do you finally say, <v Jonathan's Mom>like, this is what the scar is going to look like? <v Jonathan's Mom>And he said anywhere from 6 months to a year. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Jonathan, that really is fantastic. Now, as long as we're making progress, we continue <v Dr. Raphael Lee>to treat. <v Nurse Practitioner>Oh, big boy. <v Nurse Practitioner>Big boy, here.

<v Dr. Raphael Lee>This scar is, I think, perfect for that it's so you <v Dr. Raphael Lee>can see there- <v Jonathan's Mom>It's very flat. It's really flat. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>And it's very vascular. <v Bill Kurtis>I've always thought that, well, you have to get air in there to aid in the healing <v Bill Kurtis>process. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Most of the oxygen delivered to the skin comes from the circulation. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>Wounds don't heal when there isn't good arterial circulation. <v Bill Kurtis>Jonathan is healing well. <v Bill Kurtis>Now 6 months after the accident, this little guy is back doing what little guys do <v Bill Kurtis>and his scars are still improving. <v Jonathan's Mom>There you go, baby. <v Tim>Good boy. <v Jonathan's Mom> He's gotten his arm- you know the range of motion back here again. <v Jonathan's Mom>It's a little tight but- <v Tim>He had a real hard time doing that. <v Jonathan's Mom>It's- it's getting better. And his color's really returning, you know, it's not as <v Jonathan's Mom>red like it used to be way over here. <v Tim>Yeah, it was-. <v Speaker>[both speaking, unintelligible] <v Jonathan's Mom>He's really getting his normal color back again.

<v Jonathan's Mom>And it's not as raised for um uneven. <v Tim> I was always bragging how perfect Jonathan was. <v Tim>It changed me just that I can appreciate him that much more, you know, 'cause seriously <v Tim>the- the burn was that bad where if he would've inhaled or something, we could've lost <v Tim>him. Okay, so you learn to appreciate what you have. <v Tim>And, you know, and even with the burns, like he's still perfect, you know? <v Tim>I just really appreciate him and love him. <v Bill Kurtis>We know that newborns heal better than young children, older children better than adults. <v Bill Kurtis>But do babies in the womb scar? <v Bill Kurtis>A team at the University of California in San Francisco decided to find out. <v Bill Kurtis>They discovered that mammals, including humans, do not scar at all in the early <v Bill Kurtis>stages of development in their mother's womb. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Scott Adzick. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>We were surprised. It was- it was just an observation. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>It was so different from what we were used to seeing as clinicians operating on little <v Dr. Scott Adzick>babies with problems, you know, they always scar at least some. <v Bill Kurtis>Since these discoveries, UCSF has vigorously pursued answers

<v Bill Kurtis>by studying sheep. <v Bill Kurtis>Its fetus is similar in size to humans. <v Bill Kurtis>To work on the research involves the wounding of a young lamb fetus and then checking for <v Bill Kurtis>scars 2 weeks later. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>Right. Now, you'll see here's the uh cute little hoof here, you see it? <v Dr. Scott Adzick>And a head. <v Doctor>It' still inside it of the course. <v Dr. Scott Adzick> We only bring part of the fetus out to do this. <v Doctor>There's no need to bring the entire fetus out. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Adzick makes a punch biopsy and leaves it open because he wants to see how fetal <v Bill Kurtis>wounds contract, how they heal. <v Bill Kurtis>He marks these wounds with India ink dye so he can find them when he looks at them later <v Bill Kurtis>underneath the microscope. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Adzick also transplants skin from the mother so he can see how the mother's <v Bill Kurtis>tissue, the adult tissue will heal when it's in the fetal environment. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>Because the- the big goal, of course, is- is to make adult wounds heal in <v Dr. Scott Adzick>a scar-free manner.

<v Dr. Scott Adzick>That's the home run. Okay. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>?inaudible? points [fade out] <v Bill Kurtis>The mother sheep, by the way, will be up and about eating and drinking an hour after <v Bill Kurtis>surgery. Now let's see how fetal wounds heal. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>Bring this little guy up. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>There we go. Okay. And this is a lamb who 2 weeks ago had a wound made right along <v Dr. Scott Adzick>here. You can barely make out where the wound was. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>See the heart- heartbeat of the fetus here. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>And you can see the mom's skin graft that was placed 2 weeks ago. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>And we've learned when you look at this underneath the mic- microscope, that there is <v Dr. Scott Adzick>scar on the adult side of this adult fetal tissue <v Dr. Scott Adzick>interface, whereas there is no scar on the <v Dr. Scott Adzick>fetal side of that interface. <v Dr. Scott Adzick>Now, it would be a- an absolutely wonderful thing and if- if we could get <v Dr. Scott Adzick>children and adults to- to heal like this with- without scar formation.

<v Dr. Scott Adzick>And perhaps we can sort of figure out what the blueprint ground rules are <v Dr. Scott Adzick>so we can make um folks after birth feel as well as they can <v Dr. Scott Adzick>before birth. <v Bill Kurtis>In the human fetus, scarring seems to begin at about 20 weeks into the pregnancy. <v Bill Kurtis>40 weeks is full term. <v Bill Kurtis>Why? They don't really know. <v Bill Kurtis>But one of the most promising leads may be growth factors. <v Bill Kurtis>By studying the makeup of wound fluids from both fetus and adult, <v Bill Kurtis>researchers are able to see substantial differences and learn more. <v Bill Kurtis>Scars go beyond the skin surface. <v Bill Kurtis>Rheumatic heart disease scars heart valves. <v Bill Kurtis>Cirrhosis scars the liver. <v Bill Kurtis>Tuberculosis scars the lungs. <v Bill Kurtis>If we can reduce or even eliminate the scarring process, the applications are limitless. <v Bill Kurtis>For Kevin, it's given him hope. <v Kevin>I don't blame God for what happened.

<v Kevin>I just thankful that I'm still livin'. <v Kevin>But uh I just have to <v Kevin>live life that I have now. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I think that we're at the beginning and not the end. <v Dr. Raphael Lee>I think it's pretty clear that if we can control scar, a major medical <v Dr. Raphael Lee>problem would have been significantly controlled. <v TV Announcer>Major funding for The New Explorers is provided by Amoco, celebrating

<v TV Announcer>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v TV Announcer>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc., providing recycling <v TV Announcer>and other waste services around the world. <v TV Announcer>And by Duracell embracing the power of science education, <v TV Announcer>the source of future technology and innovative growth. <v TV Announcer>Duracell, the copper top battery. <v TV Announcer 2>A videocassette and accompanying teacher's guide are available for each episode of The <v TV Announcer 2>New Explorers. To order call 1 800 6 2 1 0 6 6 0, or write The <v TV Announcer 2>New Explorers, 1 5 1 8 1, Route 58 South, Oberlin, Ohio, <v TV Announcer 2>4 4 0 7 4. <v PBS Announcer>This is PBS.