How the secrets of the ‘water bear’ could improve lifesaving drugs like insulin
UCLA chemist Heather Maynard had to wonder: How do organisms like the tardigrade do it?This stocky microscopic animal, also known as a water bear, can survive in environments where survival seems impossible. Tardigrades have been shown to endure extremes of heat, cold and pressure — and even the vacuum of space — by entering a state of suspended animation and revitalizing, sometimes decades later, under more hospitable conditions. If she could understand the mechanism behind this extraordinary preservation, Maynard reckoned, she might be able to use the knowledge to improve medicines so that they remain potent longer ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 4, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Kindness is contagious and these videos can help kids catch the altruism bug
Key Takeaways:UCLA researchers creatd a video playlist that aims to get kids to spread kindness.The videos are based on Bedari Kindness Institute research that shows kindness is contagious.Some UCLA researchers think a simple, two-word message can help kids knock bullying off its feet: Be kind. The Center for Scholars& Storytellers, the Bedari Kindness Institute and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television are partnering with YouTube Kids ona series of videos that promote kind, caring behavior in everyday situations. The series is part of YouTube Kids anti-bullying programming scheduled for October, which is N...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 29, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Making lab-grown brain organoids ‘brainier’
Key takeaways:In recent years, mini –brain organoids have been used in the lab to model a variety of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to COVID-19.With no standard process for creating these organoids, some more accurately mimic thebrain ’s structurethan others, which can lead to inconsistent scientific findings.A new studyoffers guidelines and methods for consistently generating high-quality, well-structured organoids.By using stem cells to grow miniature brain-like organs in the lab, scientists have opened a new avenue for studies of neurological development, disease and therapies that can ’t be conducted in living peop...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 29, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Screening for pregnancy anxiety in the first and third trimesters can help reduce early births
Key takeawaysPregnancy anxiety is associated with shorter gestation times and earlier births.Screening during the first and third trimesters could help reduce early births.Latina women may experience higher levels of pregnancy anxiety than other groups.A new UCLA study has found anxiety specific to pregnancy and childbirth is associated with shorter gestation times and earlier births. One screening tool administered in the first trimester could reliably predict early birth. Screening for depression in pregnancy and postpartum is now a common part of maternal care; the authors suggest that adding an evaluation for anxiet...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 26, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
COVID-related hate incidents targeting Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders continued to rise
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has seen an alarming rise in hate incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, prompting the passing of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden in May 2021.Preliminary data released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research ’s California Health Interview Survey found that more than 1 in 12, or 8%, of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults in California experienced a hate incident due to COVID-19. Of those who experienced a hate incident, 84% said they sustained verbal abuse or ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 22, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA survey finds most teens reject glamorized lifestyles in entertainment media
Key takeaways:Changing aspirations. Few Gen Zers want to watch shows about glamorized lifestyles.Real-world issues matter. Teens prefer content that deals with family dynamics or social justice.Postive storytelling, please. They want to see more hopeful, uplifting stories about people.Not that long ago, teens binged on aspirational content, where the kinds of lives portrayed in “Gossip Girl” were what they wanted on their screens. But according to a recent study conducted by UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers, teens today resoundingly reject those kinds of stories. Only 4.4% in a survey of 662 diverse...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 20, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Newly identified small molecules break amyloid tangles that cause Alzheimer ’s
Key takeaways:In lab experiments, researchers observed a molecule called EGCG break up tau tangles extracted from Alzheimer ’s disease brain tissueEGCG does not, however, easily penetrate the human brainThey found two other molecules — CNS-11 and CNS-17 — that work like EGCG to stop tangles spreading cell to cell but are better leads for drugsScientists at UCLA have used a molecule found in green tea to identify additional molecules that could break up protein tangles in the brain thought to cause Alzheimer’s and similar diseases.The green tea molecule, EGCG, is known to break up tau fibers — long, multilayered...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 19, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
‘Glass bubble’ nanocarrier boosts effects of combination therapy for pancreatic cancer
Key takeaways:Improving drug delivery. Custom-designed nanoparticles that deliver drugs directly to tumors can avoid the toxicity of traditional chemotherapy.Crafting a ‘combo’ carrier. Researchers designed an innovative nanoparticle outfitted with both a chemotherapy drug and an immune system –boosting drug.Two are better. The two-drug nanocarrier was significantly better at shrinking pancreatic tumors and preventing metastasis than nanocarriers that delivered the drugs individually.Over the past 30 years, progress in early detection and treatment of cancer has helped reduce the overall death rate by more than 30%. ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 13, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA leads CDC-funded study on effectiveness of vaccines, boosters in ‘next phase’ of COVID
Key takeaways:A 2021 –22 study by the same researchers showed that vaccines were highly effective at preventing symptomatic infection among health care workers.The COVID-19 landscape has now changed, with more breakthrough infections, the emergence of new variants and the availability of variant-specific boosters.The current study, which will stretch into 2023, will offer insight on how to best protect health workers — and the public — in this new phase of the pandemic.The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has been awarded a $13.6 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Preve...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 13, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
These pesticides may increase cancer risk in children
Key takeaways:Higher cancer risk. Prenatal exposure to acephate and other pesticides can increase the risk of retinoblastoma, or eye cancer, in children.Environmental causes. Children with retinoblastoma are more likely to be born in neighborhoods near applications of specific chemicals.Past research has shown that pesticide exposure increases the risk of cancer. Now, UCLA-led research has exposed which specific pesticides increase the risk of retinoblastoma — a rare eye tumor — in children.Thestudy, published in the August International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, found that children prenatally expo...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 13, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Dental school to deliver oral health care services at long-term care facilities
Key takeaways:Care where it ’s needed. New program will provide mobile care for geriatric and special needs populations.Practical learning. UCLA dental students will have opportunities to train in community-based public health settings.The UCLA School of Dentistry will increase access to comprehensive oral health care among geriatric and special needs populations through a new program made possible by the support of theDelta Dental Community Care Foundation ’s largest-ever single gift to a dental school. The Community Care Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Delta Dental of California.With $1.67 million in funding t...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 7, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Cell therapy could improve bone marrow transplant safety
FINDINGSUCLA researchers report a step forward in the development of an “off-the-shelf” cell therapy that could reduce the severity of graft-versus-host disease in people receiving donor bone marrow transplants for the treatment of blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.The method utilizes rare and powerful immune cells called invariant natural killer T, or iNKT, cells, which can reduce and delay the transplanted cells ’ attacks on healthy tissue without compromising these cells’ cancer-fighting abilities. The iNKT cells are produced from blood-forming stem cells obtained from donated umbilical cord blood and ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 6, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA research helps guide public health response to ongoing monkeypox outbreak
Key Takeaways: Microsimulation modeling. Researchers can use analytics to model hypothetical scenarios to help policymakers make health-related decisions.Lobbying for change. UCLA ’s Ian Holloway and Alex Garner support changing monkeypox’s name in an effort to help reduce stigma.Curbing hate speech. Luskin researchers will document homophobic hate speech relating to the monkeypox outbreak to inform communication strategies.UCLA researchers are helping shape local and state health policy decisions in the wake of the monkeypox virus outbreak.Ian Holloway, director of theHub for Health Intervention, Policy and P...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - September 1, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Dangerous combination of extreme heat and smoke affected 16.5 million Californians
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are each hazardous to our health, but recent studies suggest that when we ’re exposed to both at the same time, the impact can be greater than their combined individual effects. Now, UCLA researchers and colleagues have determined just how often Californians experience this dangerous double whammy.In a studypublished this month in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, the research team found that during California ’s record-breaking 2020 fire season, roughly 16.5 million people — 42% of the state’s population — were exposed to a combination of extreme temperatures and high c...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 25, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Remote heart rate sensors can be biased against darker skin. A UCLA team offers a solution
Key takeaways:Engineering for equity. New engineering approaches like the one pioneered by UCLA researchers are needed to overcome the shortcomings of current health-related remote sensing technologies.Further fixes. The researchers say the new device is an initial step toward health diagnostics that are fair and accurate across a diverse set of attributes, including skin tone, body mass and gender.As telemedicine has grown more popular, so have devices that allow people to measure their vital signs from home and transmit the results by computer to their doctors. Yet in many cases, obtaining accurate remote readings for ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - August 24, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
