Protecting Black mothers before, during and after pregnancy
Key takeawaysAccording to the California Department of Public Health, the pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women in the state has long been  disproportionately high.Black women still experience pregnancy-related deaths at rates three to four times higher than those of their peers from other racial and ethnic groups.To discuss what ’s being done to address this crisis, the UCLA Center for Reproductive Science, Health and Education hosted a talk by L.A. County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell.The pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women in California has long been disproportionately high, according to the Ca...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 14, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

‘I feel like myself again’: UCLA clinical trial offers hope for lymphoma patients
In June 2018, actor Hirotaka Matsunaga was supposed to be two weeks away from opening night of “The Swords of Sorrow: BURAI II,” a play set in 1800s Japan. The 39-year-old had been cast as the lead. It was the big break he had been working toward since he moved to the U.S. from Japan more than 20 years ago to pursue his dreams.But his cancer diagnosis and an unsuccessful course of chemotherapy had shut down the play.“Around November 2017, I had acute pain in my stomach for weeks, and it got so bad that it became difficult to eat,” Matsunaga said.After a particularly agonizing dinner, he checked himself into a hosp...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 5, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

UCLA Samueli to lead $4 million cell research project funded by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Key takeawaysThe grant will fund a three-year collaboration among researchers at UCLA, USC and Caltech to advance cell and tissue engineering technologies.The project, led by UCLA ’s Dino Di Carlo, will engineer, manipulate and analyze cell-to-cell interactions that underlie complex multicellular systems in the body.Di Carlo said he aims for the collaboration to develop into a long-term partnership across institutions to advance biotechnology in Los Angeles.The Chan Zuckerberg Initiativetoday announced a $4 million grant to support research led by the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering that will examine cellular behavio...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 29, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

What prevents more Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans from seeking mental health care?
This report goes a lo ng way toward piecing the puzzle of AANHPI mental health by uplifting new data on mental health indicators, barriers to receiving care and recommendations to overcome them. We are incredibly grateful for key investments from the State of California, our partnerships with the UCLA Center for Health P olicy Research and California Health Interview Survey, and insights from community partners to produce research that is insightful, timely and solutions-oriented.”Ramakrishnan said that for decades, community leaders have noticed a dichotomy between low rates of self-reported mental health needs and the...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 29, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

UCLA Data Equity Center aims to provide data expertise to those who need it
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has launched theData Equity Center to help ensure that historically marginalized populations and their needs are more accurately represented in the vast pools of information government, business and philanthropy are using to make crucial decisions.The Data Equity Center will provide no-cost assistance to organizations and agencies across the United States by leveraging the experience, skills and knowledge of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research along with dozens of additional experts in survey and data science.“We’re going to provide consulting services to promote data e...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 26, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

UCLA receives $10 million to launch Howard and Irene Levine Family Center for Movement Disorders
Key takeawaysThe Howard and Irene Levine Family Foundation will provide the resources to endow four chairs and a research fund in the UCLA Department of Neurology to support basic research science on Parkinson ’s disease.The donations are meant to honor Dr. Jeff Bronstein, director of the  UCLA Movement Disorders Program and Clinic.In addition to their medical philanthropy, Howard and Irene Levine have been dedicated supporters of the UCLA Anderson School of Management and its Ziman Center for Real Estate.Donations totaling $10 million from longtime UCLA supporters Howard and Irene Levine and their family foundation wil...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 26, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

How to dim the consequences of global light pollution
Key takeawaysGlobal light pollution has increased sharply over the past three decades and rises about 10% more each year.  Light pollution disturbs human and animal health and behavior. Artificial light can disrupt humans ’ biological clocks and cultural traditions and increases hazards when driving and walking. Too much light at the wrong time can confuse animals and interfere with natural life cycles and patterns.A new report outlines measures that can preserve natural darkness and combat light impacts.Our ancestors could look up and see the Milky Way — our galaxy — as a large band of white light stretching across...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 20, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Stress during pregnancy can lead to early maturation of first-born daughters
Key takeawaysA UCLA-led research team found a correlation between certain aspects of early puberty in first-born daughters and high levels of prenatal stress in their mothers.The researchers did not find the same result in boys or in daughters who were not first-born.This early maturation may enable a first-born daughter to help her mother rear her other children successfully, according to UCLA anthropologist Molly Fox.A UCLA-led team of researchers has found a correlation between early signs of adrenal puberty in first-born daughters and their mothers ’ having experienced high levels of prenatal stress. They did not fin...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 20, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

WATCH: Great ape children poke and run from adults, like humans
In a study recently published in theProceedings of the Royal Society B, a UCLA-led team of scientists observed that much like human children, all species of great apes — orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas — engage in playful teasing and mildly harassing behavior to provoke a response in adults or attract their attention.“It was common for teasers to repeatedly wave or swing a body part or object in the middle of the target’s field of vision, hit or poke them, stare closely at their face, disrupt their movements, pull on their hair or perform other behaviors that were extremely difficult for the target to...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 16, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Super Bowl gambling: Does America have a problem?
In addition to very likely being one of the most-viewed sporting events in the world, Super Bowl LVIII is expected to be one of the largest sports betting events in U.S. history, with tens of millions of Americans expected to wager billions of dollars on Sunday ’s matchup.But experts say the advent and rapid expansion of legalized, online sports betting has led to an unprecedented accessibility to gambling and the problems that can arise from it.The American Gaming Association, a gambling industry organization,  estimated this week that a record 67.8 million American adults will bet on the matchup between the Kansas Ci...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 9, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

3 strategies to break down barriers to breastfeeding and lower women ’s risk of breast cancer
Key takeawaysEven though the Affordable Care Act requires coverage of “comprehensive lactation support” families are often unclear about what their insurance offers.Parental leave should be longer and paid for both parents, study participants said.Workplace owners, managers and employees should be better informed about family leave rights.When it comes to encouraging women in California to breastfeed, health care providers, insurance companies and employers need to be doing more, according to recommendations in anew report from theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research.Breastfeeding has been shown in studies tolower th...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 31, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Viral protein fragments may unlock mystery behind serious COVID-19 outcomes
Key takeawaysThere remains no clear explanation for why COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, can result in severe outcomes or death while other coronaviruses just cause common colds, or why COVID-19 symptoms persist after the coronavirus that causes it has been eliminated.A UCLA-led research team has shown that fragments of the coronavirus may drive inflammation by mimicking the action of specific immune molecules in the body.The findings could contribute to not only the understanding and treatment of COVID-19 but also efforts to detect coronaviruses with the potential to cause pandemics before they become widespread.There are ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 31, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Challenge accepted: Graduate students answer call to help boost health equity
Empowering people living in Watts to become their own environmental justice advocates by training them as citizen scientists who can gather data and map hazards and assets.Offering Asian youth in the San Gabriel Valley culturally sensitive mental health and well-being lessons   that combine teachings about nutrition, sleep and regular physical activity with traditional Chinese medicine practices.These ambitious and practical ideas to narrow or eliminate longstanding disparities in health care are among those proposed by the 15 finalists in the third annual Health Equity Challenge, which is sponsored by the UCLA Center for...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 12, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

ICYMI: UCLA to transform empty Westside Pavilion mall into UCLA Research Park
Chancellor Block, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and UC President Michael Drake announce the UCLA Research Park. Just a week ago, UCLA announced it had  acquired the former Westside Pavilion and will transform the empty shopping mall into the UCLA Research Park — an engine of scientific, technological, creative and economic growth for Southern California and beyond.Read the Newsroom story and view photos of the site.Plans for the massive research park were unveiled at a Jan. 3 press conference with Chancellor Gene Block, California Gov. Gavin Newsrom, UC President Michael Drake, representatives from Google, private donor...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 10, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

The UCLA Research Park: Immunology and immunotherapy
With the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA as an anchor tenant at theUCLA Research Park on the site of the former Westside Pavilion shopping mall, UCLA is poised to enter a new era of biomedical breakthroughs.A first-of-its kind effort in California, the nonprofit public-private partnership will leverage UCLA ’s existing strengths in clinical and biomedical scientific research across a range of disciplines. Top-flight scientists from UCLA and around the world will pursue new tools, treatments and vaccines to address a variety of pressing health challenges, including cancer, infectious diseases...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 3, 2024 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news