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
Course teaches students to provide better health care for people with disabilities
The students in nursing professor Lauren Clark ’s class sat rapt as guest speaker Susy Thiele described a recent frustrating visit to see a gynecologist.Thiele, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, was told prior to her appointment that there would be a lift to assist her onto the exam table. But when she got there, they could not accommodate her in her wheelchair.“It’s kind of wrong and sad that in our day and age, the technologies that they might have — you know, the simple things, there just in case — aren’t there,” Thiele said.Thiele and her caregiver, Mary Esquivel, were speaking to the s...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 5, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Affirmative action bans had ‘devastating impact’ on diversity in medical schools, UCLA-led study finds
New UCLA-led research finds that in states with bans on affirmative action programs, the proportion of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups in U.S. public medical schools fell by more than one-third by five years after those bans went into effect.The findings are particularly timely given medical schools ’ increasing emphasis on health equity, including a push to ensure greater diversity among physicians in the workforce.The study will be published May 3 in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine.“We know that a more diverse physician workforce leads to better care for racial- ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 2, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Facebook whistleblower and director of ‘The Social Dilemma’ talk about social media’s impact
Though Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels have connected relatives and long-lost friends, provided platforms for oppressed voices, helped people explore their identities and see perspectives and parts of the world removed from their day-to-day lives, there have also been negative consequences.Recently, two leading critics of social media sat down with Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, to explore the potential harms the popular platforms can cause. Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower who testified before Congress that the social media giant s...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 26, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Some long COVID-19 cases may be caused by abnormally suppressed immune system
A UCLA-led team of researchers studying the effect of the monoclonal antibody Leronlimab on long COVID-19 may have found a surprising clue to the baffling syndrome. Their finding, that an abnormally suppressed immune system may be to blame, contradicts their initial hypothesis, which was that a persistently hyperactive immune system could be the culprit.The study, which was funded by CytoDyn Inc., the manufacturer of Leronlimab, and it was conducted by researchers who are either employed by or consulting with the company. The findings are published online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.”While this was ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 25, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Reimagining the future of health and wellness in California
Will all Californians have a chance to enjoy good health in the coming 100 years? What steps can policymakers and health care leaders take to make that happen?These questions are tackled in a time-jumping research report released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and supported by a grant from California 100, a new statewide initiative focused on inspiring a vision and strategy for California’s next 100 years that is innovative, sustainable and equitable.“What health and wellness looks like for our great-grandchildren depends on what steps the state’s leaders take now and in the near future,...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 25, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Study shows how to lower divorce rate among poor Americans: Raise the minimum wage
A report by UCLA psychologists and RAND economists has identified an effective way to reduce the number of divorces among lower-income Americans: Raise the minimum wage.The study, which is published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, is the first to analyze the effects of states’ minimum wage increases on the rates of marriage and divorce among low-wage earners.“When policymakers think about ways of helping disadvantaged families, there has been a general tendency to try teaching them things like better communication or coping skills,” said UCLA psychology professor Benjamin Karney, the study’s lead author. ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 22, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Unexpected protein could play role in common brain disorder
Scientists have known for years that amyloid fibrils — fibrous, ropelike structures formed by closely linked protein molecules — are present in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and likely play a role in the progression of these disorders. Now, UCLA biochemists have discovered such fibrils in the brains of people with a form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration, or FTLD, the most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer ’s and Parkinson’s. But surprisingly, the type of protein they expected to find in these potentially harmful fibrils wasn’t there at all; instead, a l...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 19, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Citizenship, policy barriers limit access to health care for some California Latino, Asian immigrants
Two new studies by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research explore the link between citizenship status and access to health care among Latino and Asian immigrants in California. The studies are part of the center’s Research on Immigrant Health and State Policy Study, or RIGHTS, which analyzed the experiences of Latino and Asian immigrants in the state from 2018 to 2020.In the first study, researchers compared job opportunities and workplace conditions for immigrants based on whether they had ever had undocumented status.Among immigrants who had ever been undocumented, 49.5% said they had been unable to apply fo...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 13, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA-led team creates first comprehensive map of human blood stem cell development
UCLA scientistsand colleagues have created a first-of-its-kind roadmap that traces each step in the development of blood stem cells in the human embryo, providing scientists with a blueprint for producing fully functional blood stem cells in the lab.The research,published todayin the journal Nature, could help expand treatment options for blood cancers like leukemia and inherited blood disorders such as sickle cell disease, saidDr. Hanna Mikkolaof theEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, who led the study.Blood stem cells, also called hematopoietic stem cells, have the abilit...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 13, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Drug overdose deaths among adolescents rose exponentially during COVID pandemic
The rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers nearly doubled in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rose another 20% in the first half of 2021 compared with the 10 years before the pandemic, according to new UCLA research.The trend occurred even as overall drug use remained generally stable.It was the greatest increase in the drug death rate among teens in recorded history, said lead author Joseph Friedman, an addiction researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.Friedman, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate, said the increase is due to drugs becoming more dangerous, rather than to drug use becomin...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 12, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
L.A. ’s injury rate from e-scooters may exceed national rate for motorcycles
For a recent six-year period, the injury rate for riders of electric scooters in one section of Los Angeles was higher than the national rates for riders of motorcycles, bicycles and cars, and pedestrians, new UCLA research has found.The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, uses data from greater Los Angeles to highlight a risk that is likely to grow globally as e-scooters proliferate. According to a 2019 McKinsey report, around the world, shareable e-scooters, which can be rented on demand using a smartphone app, could in the coming years account for 1 in 10 trips shorter than 5 miles.“There are milli...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 7, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Levels of a certain hormone could predict or detect bone loss in premenopausal women
Physicians may be able to determine if menopause-related bone loss is already in progress or about to begin by measuring the level of a hormone that declines as women approach their final menstrual period, new UCLA research finds.The findings could help physicians determine when, and how, to treat bone loss in women as they age before that bone loss causes significant health issues, according to the study. Specifically, the study found that for women 42 and older who are not yet postmenopausal, levels of anti-Mullerian hormone, or AMH, can be used to determine if they are experiencing, or about to experience, bone loss rel...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 4, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
UCLA Health earns top score in Human Rights Campaign Foundation ’s measure of LGBTQ health care
Six locations within the UCLA Health system as well as the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center all received perfect scores and the designation of “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Healthcare Equality Index.The Human Rights Campaign Foundation calls the report “the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey of healthcare facilities on policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees.”“This designation is a testament to our commitment to fostering leading equity, diversity and inclusi...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 31, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
To fight diseases of aging, scientist makes aging itself the target
When Dr. Ming Guo says that she wants to reverse the aging process, she ’s not outlining a fantastical quest for the Fountain of Youth. She’s looking for ways to defeat incurable diseases.“If we could pause, delay or even reverse aging, we would make a significant impact against numerous diseases,” said Guo, professor of neurology, molecular and medical pharmacology at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.“I want to create a higher quality of life over a healthy life span, rather than just prolonging life.”Her particular approach to her research is inspired by her compassion for her patients who have Alzh...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 24, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
