Well, I see it differently!
Why are we so sure that the way we see people, situations and politics is accurate, and the way other people see them is foolishly wrong?The answer, according to new research by UCLA psychology professor Matthew Lieberman, lies in a region of the brain he calls the “gestalt cortex,” which helps people make sense of information that is ambiguous or incomplete — and dismiss alternative interpretations.The research, based on an analysis of more than 400 previous studies,is published in the journal Psychological Review.People often mistake their own understanding of people and events as objective truth, rather than as...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 9, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA-led research shows majorities of both political parties support legal abortion
Regardless of race, ethnicity and even political party preference, two separate UCLA-led surveys reveal that majorities of people in each group support access to legal abortion in the United States.Recent large-scale surveys of voters and non-voters by UCLA political scientists Lorrie Frasure, Matt Barreto, Lynn Vavreck and Chris Tausanovitch took a pulse on a variety of policy issues, including abortion. These separate findings support previous research and literature that showsbroad support for legal abortion.Data from The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, led by Vavreck and Tausanovitch show broad support for a...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 8, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Public policy students take on a health care digital divide
When Sophia Li decided to apply to graduate school to pursue her interest in health policy, she could not have known that the field would soon be upended by a protracted global health emergency.Along with most of her peers in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs ’ master of public policy program, Li began her studies in September 2020, when COVID-19 had already taken more than 1 million lives worldwide and the arrival of vaccines was still months away.When the time came to embark on the public policy program ’s exacting capstone project, Li chose to focus on an inequity brought into sharp focus by the pandemic: As ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 6, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA psychologist looks for new ways to treat alcohol addiction
Lara Ray, professor of psychology at UCLA, has been studying alcohol use disorders since long before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2008, she established theUCLA Addictions Lab to research medications and other treatments for those who want to quit or reduce their drinking. But a spike in alcohol consumption during the pandemic has brought substance abuse back into the spotlight. Alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. rose 25% to nearly 100,000 in the first year of the pandemic, according to a study from the National Institutes of Health.UCLA Newsroom asked Ray, who today became president of the Research Society on Alcoholism, ab...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 1, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Biomarker panel could help predict gestational diabetes in early pregnancy
UCLA researchers have taken a step toward identifying a possible way to detect gestational diabetes mellitus earlier in pregnancy, which could improve diagnosis and treatment for the most common disorder of pregnancy.The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.Gestational diabetes causes blood sugar levels to rise, creating risks for baby and mother alike. It can lead to high blood pressure, risk of future diabetes and a higher chance of cesarean section in the mother as well as excessive birth weight, premature delivery and other issues in her baby. Diagnosing the condition currently relies on conventional scre...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 1, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Pregnant moms and depression: Study links rising symptoms to kids ’ behavioral issues
This study suggests that a pattern of increasing depression may adversely affect children,” said senior author Christine Dunkel Schetter, a distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA who had a lead role in study design and in interview development. She noted that not all of th ese kids are destined to experience problems but emphasized that “they are at higher risk of socio-emotional and behavioral issues and problems at school.”Children whose mothers consistently reported low symptoms of depression, she said, are not at risk.“Moms who experience depression or stress at multiple times should know ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 31, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Studying animal evolution to advance women ’s health
Breast cancer, osteoporosis and infertility don ’t just affect women — they also strike animals across the female tree of life.Yet many species have developed physical changes over millions of years that protect them from these conditions, begging the question: What if the key to preventing these and other disorders lies untapped in the animal king — er, queendom? That ’s the crux of a new UCLA paperpublished in PNAS Nexus that summarizes years of research measuring females ’ risk for common diseases across different species. The authors — a physician, an evolutionary biologist and a veterinarian — teamed...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 31, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Study assesses mental health effects of pandemic-related school closures
Data from 44 hospitals in 26 states show that suicide or self-injury and depressive disorders were the primary mental health reasons children received emergency department or hospital inpatient care after statewide school closures were enacted during the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic.A study published in the journal Psychiatric Services validated findings from earlier public health data, which suggested that a disproportionate increase in emergency department visits for suicide — especially among adolescents and females. But the new study went further to examine percentage changes in emergency room and hospital ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 27, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Q & A: What you need to know about monkeypox
Monkeypox burst into the headlines this month after cases were diagnosed in Africa, Europe, North America and Australia.In an interview,Anne Rimoin, the Gordon-Levin Professor of Infectious Diseases and Public Health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, offered insights about the disease, which she has studied for two decades. Rimoin has been director of theUCLA Center for Global and Immigrant Health and is the founder of the UCLA –DRC Health Research and Training Program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.In simplest terms, what is monkeypox?Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis, a virus that is transmitted from a...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 26, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA study identifies how the brain links memories
Our brains rarely record single memories. Instead, they store memories in groups so that the recollection of one significant memory triggers the recall of others that are connected chronologically. As we age, however, our brains gradually lose this ability to link related memories. Now, UCLA researchers have discovered a key molecular mechanism behind this memory linking. They ’ve also identified a way to restore this brain function genetically in aging mice — and an FDA-approved drug that achieves the same thing. Published today in the journal Nature, the findings suggest a new method for strengthening human mem...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 25, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA, Charles R. Drew University receive $11M grant to address inequities in HIV care, prevention
The UCLA–Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Center for AIDS Research has received a five-year, $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. A priority of the award is to fund research addressing health inequities that have fueled the spread of HIV in marginalized communities. The Center for AIDS Research will strengthen and amplify the impact of ongoing research at both UCLA and Charles R. Drew University, as well as forming new partnerships with community groups across Los Angeles and in nations that are severely affected by HIV. Its aim is to prevent new HIV infections, reduce deaths amon...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 23, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA ’s Vickie Mays explains why accurate COVID-19 death counts are important
Has the United States surpassed 1 million deaths from COVID-19? It depends whom you ask.According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard, yes. According to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no.Why the discrepancy? And why does it matter?While there are state and national standards for reporting disease mortality, not every data center receives information at the same time and not all of it is complete, according toVickie Mays, professor of psychology in the UCLA College and of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Healt...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 20, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Yes, COVID vaccine boosters for children are safe
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for children between the ages of 5 and 11 who received their second vaccine shot at least five months ago. So far, only the Pfizer –BioNTech booster has been authorized for those in this age group.“While it has largely been the case that COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children than adults,” said FDA commissioner Robert Califf in a statement, “the omicron wave has seen more kids getting sick with the disease and being hospitalized, and children may also experience longer-term effect s, even following initially mild dis...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 20, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Scientists devise method to prevent deadly hospital infections without antibiotics
A hospital or medical clinic might be the last place you ’d expect to pick up a nasty infection, but approximately 1.7 million Americans do each year, resulting in nearly 100,000 deaths from infection-related complications and roughly $30 billion in direct medical costs.The biggest culprits, experts say — accounting for two-thirds of these infections — are medical devices like catheters, stents, heart valves and pacemakers, whose surfaces often become covered with harmful bacterial films. But a novel surface treatment developed by a UCLA-led team of scientists could help improve the safety of t hese devices and ease ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 19, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
How Dr. Yalda Afshar became a trusted COVID spokesperson
When COVID-19 started to spread around the globe in 2020 along with the rampant rise in misinformation about the disease, Dr. Yalda Afshar knew just what to do — deliver the facts to the news media.A former reporter herself, the UCLA Health physician-scientist felt it was her duty to set the record straight about the disease ’s origins and treatments. That’s how Afshar, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the maternal fetal medicine division, emerged as a go-to expert about COVID-19 and pregnancy for news reporters.“I believe journalism is paramount to education, community empowerment and the d...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 9, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
