Latest University of California, San Diego Stories

Animal models offer clues to similar neurodegenerative disorders in humans, such as Parkinson'sA team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have identified a key player in the dramatic loss of neurons in mice and fly models, a discovery that could help illuminate the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in human neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease.Writing in the June 24 issue of Neuron, principal investigator Albert La Spada, MD, PhD,...

Personal computers in enterprise environments save energy and money by "sleep-working," thanks to new software called SleepServer created by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego.Sleep-working enterprise PCs are accessible via remote connections and maintain their presence on voice over IP, instant messaging, and peer-to-peer networks even though the PCs are in low-power sleep mode. SleepServer can reduce energy consumption on enterprise PCs previously running 24/7...

Are new medical residents a threat to patient health? According to sociology professor David Phillips and his student Gwendolyn Barker from the University of California, San Diego, fatal medication errors peak in July in counties with teaching hospitals, which coincides with the yearly influx of new medical residents who are given increased responsibility for patient care.Their findings are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the official journal of the Society of General...

UCSD researchers say novel enzyme may provide new target for future anti-cancer therapiesScientists at the University of California, San Diego have identified a previously unknown kinase that regulates cell proliferation, shape and migration, and may play a major role in the progression or metastasis of cancer cells.The research will be published in the May 31 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Richard L. Klemke, PhD, professor of pathology at the UCSD...

Security researchers conducted an investigation into how computer systems used in modern cars are very susceptible to attack, and showed how a car's engine may be shut down, how brakes may be turned off so the car would not stop, and how instruments can be manipulated to give false readings, all done remotely. Despite the team's success, they argued that it would be quite hard for malicious attackers to reproduce their work. The team of researchers, led by Professor Stefan Savage from the...

BLUE BELL, Pa., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision Surgical Inc., a Skytron distributor, presents Mr. Tom Hamelin, Senior Vice President of Business Process Improvement, Awarepoint Corporation, at the upcoming Healthcare Materials Management Society of New Jersey (HMMS-NJ) meeting. In a case study format, Mr. Hamelin will lead an educational session and discuss the process of installation, implementation...

A tiny silicon chip that works a bit like a nose may one day detect dangerous airborne chemicals and alert emergency responders through the cell phone network.If embedded in many cell phones, its developers say, the new type of sensor could map the location and extent of hazards like gas leaks or the deliberate release of a toxin."Cell phones are everywhere people are," said Michael Sailor, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego who heads...

Survey identifies central, unifying characteristics -- and how wisdom differs from other traitsCompassion. Self-understanding. Morality. Emotional stability.These words would seem to describe at least some of the universal traits attributed to wisdom, each of them broadly recognized and valued. In fact, there is no enduring, consistent definition of what it means exactly to be wise. It is a virtue widely treasured but essentially unexplained, a timeless subject only now attracting rigorous,...

Findings help illuminate biochemical mechanisms that determine stem cell function and fateHuman embryonic stem cells (hESCs) possess remarkable properties of self-renewal and pluripotency, the ability to become almost any kind of cell within the body. And yet they share the same genome or set of genes with lineage-committed cells, cells fated to be or do one thing.Scientists have long suspected that the distinct properties of different cells were attributable to their particular epigenomes...

Using information provided by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) instrument teams, researchers at the University of California San Diego successfully pinpointed the location of a long lost light reflector on the lunar surface by bouncing laser signals from Earth to the Russian Lunokhod 1 retroreflector.The initial imaging of the two Russian rovers, Lunokhod 1 and 2 were made earlier this year by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team, led by Mark Robinson from Arizona...