UCLA scientists make strides toward an ‘off-the-shelf’ immune cell therapy for cancer
Immunotherapies, which harness the body ’s natural defenses to combat disease, have revolutionized the treatment of aggressive and deadly cancers. But often, these therapies — especially those based on immune cells — must be tailored to the individual patient, costing valuable time and pushing their price into the hundreds of thousa nds of dollars.Now, in a study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, UCLA researchers report a critical step forward in the development of an “off-the-shelf” cancer immunotherapy using rare but powerful immune cells that could potentially be produced in large quantities, st...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 16, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
43 UCLA scholars among most highly cited researchers for 2021
The world’s most influential researchers include 43 UCLA scholars.In its latest annual list, Clarivate Analytics names the most highly cited researchers — the scholars whose work was most often referenced by other scientific research papers in 21 fields in the sciences and social sciences. The researchers rank in the top 1% in their fields, based on their widely cited studies. The 2021 list is produced using research citations from January 2010 to December 2020.Current UCLA faculty members and researchers who were named to the list, and their primary UCLA research field or fields, are:Carrie Bearden, psychiatr...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 16, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Xist marks the spot: How an RNA molecule silences the X chromosome
In one of the mysteries of mammalian development, every cell in the early female embryo shuts down one of its two copies of the X chromosome, leaving just one functional. For years, the mechanics behind this X chromosome inactivation have been murky, but scientists from theEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLAhave now taken a major step forward in understanding the process.Their findings, based on research on mouse stem cells, upend previous assumptions about how X inactivation is initiated in female embryos and could lead to new ways to treat some genetic disorders, as well as...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 12, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
WWII veteran, 102, regains his hearing and social life, thanks to UCLA cochlear implant program
As a World War II pilot flying B-17 bombers behind enemy lines in Europe, Irvin Poff never backed down in the face of danger.In 1944, while he was flying in formation with a squadron of 28 other Army Air Force planes, an engine on Poff ’s plane failed five minutes before he was ordered to drop 6,000 pounds of explosives over an Austrian oil refinery. Knowing Nazi fighters liked to pick off solo flyers, he diverted full-throttle emergency power to his remaining three engines.“We were supposed to limit emergency power to six minutes to prevent the engines from overheating and exploding,” Poff recalled. “But I pushed ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 11, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Anne Rimoin named to new Gordon –Levin Chair in Infectious Diseases and Public Health
Anne Rimoin, an internationally recognized expert on emerging infections, global health, infectious disease surveillance systems and vaccinations who has been engaged in pandemic preparedness and response work for more than two decades, has been appointed to the newly established Gordon –Levin Endowed Chair in Infectious Diseases and Public Health at theUCLA Fielding School of Public Health.The chair was established by a $2 million gift from Tom and Edna Gordon and the Don S. Levin Trust to support the teaching and research activities of a faculty member with expertise in the epidemiology, transmission and control of inf...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 9, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
The American Dream is more attainable for TV characters than Americans
The American Dream may have faded, but it is unrealistically — and perhaps detrimentally — alive and well on teenagers’ favorite TV programs, according to areport published today byUCLA ’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers.The persistence in popular entertainment of that dream — that anyone, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, can achieve success through hard work and talent — ignores not only the stark economic realities of 21st-century America but the systemic inequities faced by people of color and the poor, say the report’s authors, who assessed th e ways in which characters on the 10 fic...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 9, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
In UCLA survey, most California Latino, Asian immigrants perceive racial discrimination at work
In reports published today by theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 70% of Latino and Asian immigrants said they perceived that immigrants in California experienced discrimination at work due to their skin color or accent.The survey of 2,000 immigrants living in California also found that 65% felt — incorrectly in some cases — that immigrants would be prevented from gaining legal U.S. immigration status if they used government benefits such as income assistance, health care, food programs and housing aid.The findings are laid out in two fact sheets: one focusing on immigrants ’ negativeperceptions of the immigra...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 8, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Discrimination increases risk for mental health issues in young adults, UCLA-led study finds
A UCLA study has found that young adults who have experienced discrimination have a higher risk for both short- and long-term behavioral and mental health problems.Researchers examined a decade ’s worth of health data on 1,834 Americans who were between 18 and 28 years old when the study began. They found that the effects of discrimination may be cumulative — that the greater number of incidents of discrimination someone experiences, the more their risk for mental and behavioral proble ms increases. They study also suggests that the effects of discrimination in young adults are connected with disparities in care for ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 8, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
‘I could be killed at any time’: The anguish of being wrongfully convicted of murder
Maurice Caldwell spent 20 years in prison before his wrongful conviction for a 1990 murder in San Francisco was finally overturned.Paul Abramson, a UCLA professor of psychology who was hired as an expert by Caldwell ’s legal team to assess the psychological harm Caldwell suffered, conducted 20 extensive interviews with Caldwell between 2015 and 2020, in addition to interviewing prison correctional officers and reviewing court hearings and decisions, depositions, psychological testing results and experts’ re ports.In a paper published in the peer-reviewed Wrongful Conviction Law Review, Abramson provides an overview...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 29, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
For people of color in L.A., misinformation, past injustices contribute to vaccine hesitancy
New UCLA research identifies several factors influencing how people of color in Los Angeles County are making decisions about COVID-19 vaccination.The study, published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, reveals that misinformation and politicization, awareness of past injustices involving medical research, and fears about the inequitable distribution of vaccines all contributed to people ’s hesitancy to be vaccinated.Racial and ethnic minority communities in Los Angeles County have had an exceptionally high risk for COVID-19 infection, severe illness and death. To prevent further disparities, the study ’s authors ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 27, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
In memoriam: Dr. Lissy Jarvik, 97, pioneer in the field of psychogeriatics
This study, still the only one of its kind, would evolve into her life ’s work, which focused on the mental changes that occur in both healthy and physically impaired people as they age, eventually helping guide the field of Alzheimer research. “What Lissy Jarvik accomplished in her lifetime is truly remarkable,” said Dr. Alex Young, interim chair of the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and interim director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience& Human Behavior at the medical school. “Her seminal contributions to the field of psychogeriatrics and Alzheimer’s research forged new territory...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 22, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
VR experiment with rats offers new insights about how neurons enable learning
Scientists have long understood that the region of the brain called the hippocampus is important for memory, learning and navigation.Now, scientists in a UCLA lab led by neurophysicist Mayank Mehta are gaining a deeper understanding of how the hippocampus works on a circuit level — that is, functions involving networks of millions of neurons. That knowledge could be an important step toward the development of treatments for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy, all of which are related to dysfunction in the hippocampus.In their latest study, published in the journal Nature, the...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 21, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Women are not receiving needed mental health care through state ’s public programs
Among women in California who have recently experienced mild to moderate psychological distress and are eligible for public health services, 4 out of 5 said they received no treatment, areport published today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows.Those who qualify for these public services — a third of all women over the age of 18 — were also more likely than their privately insured counterparts to have experienced moderate or serious psychological distress (31% vs. 21%), according to the study, which analyzed data from the center’sCalifornia Health Interview Survey from 2018 and 2019.The findings, th...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 20, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Three UCLA faculty members elected to National Academy of Medicine
Three faculty members of theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, among the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health.New members are elected by their peers through a process that recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.The honorees are:Dr. Helena Hansen, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences. She co-chairs the medical school ’s Research Theme in Health Equity and Translational Social Science, which cultivates research collaborations between social and biomedical scientists...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 19, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
End-of-life care program at UCLA benefited dying patients and loved ones despite COVID restrictions
A program offered by UCLA Health ’s intensive care units is providing meaningful and compassionate support for dying patients and their families, despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19. A study about the initiative, published in the journalCritical Care Explorations, is the first to show empirically that a palliative care program could be adapted — and even expanded — during the pandemic. It also could serve as a case study for improving end-of-life care during an era when visiting restrictions and infection control have introduced extraordinary new challenges for health care providers.Researchers analyzed...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 18, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
