Does this number make me look fat?
Key takeawaysFootball players sometimes choose jerseys with lower numbers thinking that they ’ll look slimmer and faster. There’s a scientific basis for that belief, according to a new UCLA study.In two experiments, volunteers consistently said that images of players in jerseys numbered 10 to 19 looked thinner than players in jerseys numbered 80 to 89, even when the bodies were the same size.The finding suggests that people ’s previously learned associations between numbers and sizes influence their perceptions of body size.In 2019, an ESPN report explored the reasons so many football wide receivers prefer to wear...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 6, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Study could help explain why certain brain tumors don ’t respond well to immunotherapy
Key takeawaysImmunotherapy has been effective in treating certain types of cancer, including those that spread into the brain. But it has little effect in fighting glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer that originates in the brain.UCLA-led research revealed that immune checkpoint blockade, a type of immunotherapy, triggers a process that fights tumors more effectively in cancers that spread to the brain than it does in glioblastoma.The finding could help scientists develop strategies for more effective immunotherapy for treating brain cancers that originate in the brain, like glioblastoma.A study led by researchers at the UCL...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 1, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Immunotherapy drug combo helps extend lives of people with metastatic melanoma
A research team co-led by UCLA investigators has shown that an immunotherapy drug combination can be an effective second-line therapy for patients with an aggressive and deadly type of melanoma that is resistant to widely used immunotherapy drugs called PD-1 inhibitors.In clinical trials, the investigators found that the combination therapy could extend the amount of time patients live without their cancer worsening, known as progression-free survival, and that it helps overcome their resistance to prior immunotherapies — which would allow more people to benefit from the treatment.The study evaluated the use of the imm...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 18, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
New study identifies genes linked to high production of key antibody
Key takeawaysResearchers studying white blood cells identified an atlas of genes linked to high production and release of the most common type of antibody found in the human body, known as immunoglobulin G.The finding could be a step toward new antibody-based treatments and improvements in the effectiveness of cell therapies.The researchers used microscopic containers called nanovials, which were developed at UCLA, to capture the individual cells they studied.A collaboration led by UCLA and the Seattle Children ’s Research Institute has yielded new knowledge about the genes responsible for the production and release of i...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 14, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Machine learning models could improve suicide-risk predictions for children
Amid a nationwide youth mental health crisis, mental health providers are trying to improve their understanding of which children are at risk for suicide or self-harm so providers can intervene earlier.Many risk-prediction models that are designed to identify children who have a future risk are based on incomplete data, which limits their accuracy. Now, a study by UCLA Health researchers reveals that the typical ways health systems store and track data on children receiving emergency care miss a sizable portion of those who are having self-injurious thoughts or behaviors.The researchers tested several machine learning m...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 3, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Cost of translating documents could be a barrier to underrepresented groups in clinical trials
A UCLA study has found that cancer research centers conducting clinical trials could enroll more patients from underrepresented groups by relieving investigators of the costs of translating consent documents into languages other than English. The study was published in the journal Nature.“We identified a readily addressable weakness in the clinical trial process, and we believe that overcoming this barrier, as we have begun to do, will ensure better representation of trial participants from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, enabling researchers to provide mo re comprehensive, ‘generalizable’ ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 3, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
92% de los asistentes se sienten seguros en el programa de parques del condado de L.A.
Conclusiones clavesParks After Dark comenz ó en tres parques del condado de Los Ángeles en 2010, en parte para ayudar a reducir la violencia y fomentar la actividad física. Se ha expandido a 34 parques.Una encuesta de asistentes del 2022 encontr ó que el 92% se sintieron seguros en los eventos y el 94% estuvieron de acuerdo en que el programa les dio la oportunidad de pasar tiempo de calidad con sus familias.Los investigadores de UCLA concluyeron que, en el transcurso del programa, se han cometido 189 delitos menos en los vecindarios que llevaron a cabo los eventos de los que se hubieran esperado que ocurrieran, por lo...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - July 31, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
92% of attendees feel safe at long-running L.A. County parks program
Key takeawaysParks After Dark began at three Los Angeles County Parks in 2010, in part to help reduce violence and encourage physical activity. It has expanded to 34 parks.A survey of attendees from 2022 found that 92% felt safe at the events, and 94% agreed that the program gave them the chance to spend quality time with their families.UCLA researchers concluded that, over the course of the program, 189 fewer crimes have been committed in the neighborhoods hosting the events than could have been expected to occur otherwise.Leer en espa ñol.Ninety-two percent of people who attended a nighttime events program in Los Angele...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - July 31, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Often, consumers inadvertently give too much credit to products ’ ‘scientifically studied’ claims
Key takeawaysA new study finds that consumers often misremember if a product is labeled “scientifically studied” or “scientifically proven” — despite the significant difference in meaning between the two phrases.UCLA psychologists conducted an experiment with one group of college students and another group of older adults to determine whether they would accurately recall which claim was made in an advertisement for a dietary supplement. Only 26% of subjects correctly remembered which phrase was used, and the percentage who recalled the information accurately was roughly the same among both groups.Beingscientif...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - July 25, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Hardship affects the gut microbiome across generations
Key takeawaysA UCLA-led study has shown that hardship experienced by mothers during their own childhood or during pregnancy is reflected in the composition of their 2-year-old children ’s gut microbiome.It was previously understood that in rodents, prenatal stress affects microbiomes into adulthood, but how long after birth the effects lasted in humans was unknown.The changes to this community of microorganisms are likely among the ways that hardship affects a child ’s socioemotional development.Hardship experienced by mothers during their own childhood or during pregnancy is reflected in the composition of their 2-yea...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - July 21, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Program for Medi-Cal beneficiaries with complex health needs reduced emergency visits, hospitalizations
Key takeawaysCalifornia ’s Health Homes Program aimed to improve care and reduce costs for Medi-Cal beneficiaries with complex medical needs.From mid-2018 through the end of 2021, the program enrolled 90,000 people in 12 California counties.Program enrollees generally had fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations than Medi-Cal beneficiaries who weren ’t enrolled, saving the state an average of $1,113 per person per year.A California program for Medi-Cal beneficiaries with complex medical needs and chronic conditions reduced the number of emergency department visits and hospital stays among its enrollees, acco...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - July 11, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Multiracial Black adults more likely to need mental health services than monoracial Blacks
California adults who identify as Black and at least one other race are more likely to need mental health services than those who identify only as Black, according to astudy published today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.In five years of surveys, approximately 18% to 21% of multiracial Black adults reported having experienced serious psychological distress over the previous 12 months — nearly double the 11% for monoracial Black adults, researchers found.The study also found that among all California Black adults — both multiracial and monoracial — those who were born in the United States were twice as ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 28, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA psychiatrist adapts memoir about overcoming mental illness into opera
Dr. Kenneth Wells, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public health, has composed an opera based on the memoir of his friend, University of Southern California professor Elyn Saks, and her lifelong struggle with schizophrenia. This is Wells ’ second opera adapting Saks’ memoir,“The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.” At the end of the first, Saks’ character has taken the audience through episodes of psychosis during her studies at Yale Law School, hospitalization...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 15, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Dr. Kenneth Wells adapts memoir about overcoming mental illness into opera
Dr. Kenneth Wells, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public health, has composed an opera based on the memoir of his friend, USC professor Elyn Saks, and her lifelong struggle with schizophrenia. This is Wells ’ second opera adapting Saks’ memoir,“The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.” At the end of the first, Saks’ character has taken the audience through episodes of psychosis during her studies at Yale Law School, hospitalization and finally, graduating with ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 14, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA study shows less parent-child interaction during COVID-19
Child care challenges and financial stresses during the pandemic may have greatly diminished opportunities for California parents to interact with their youngest children, according to astudy published today by theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research.Parental involvement behaviors that contribute to a child ’s learning and development include reading and singing to the child and taking them to the park or playground. The UCLA study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents struggled to provide these kinds of experiences for children in the first five years of life. Young children thus had f ewer opportunitie...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - June 14, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
