Latest University of California, San Francisco Stories
SAN FRANCISCO, May 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The University of California, San Francisco has appointed Jaime Sepulveda, MD, MPH, DrSc, a world-renowned public health leader, as executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences. With broad international leadership experience in public health, Sepulveda currently is director of special initiatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he has played a central role in shaping global health strategy. At UCSF, he will...
The ongoing controversy surrounding the safety of using TASER® electrical stun guns took a new turn today when a team of cardiologists at the University of California, San Francisco announced findings suggesting that much of the current TASER®-related safety research may be biased due to ties to the devices' manufacturer, TASER International, Inc.In a research abstract presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, study...
Adults with post-traumatic stress disorder and a history of childhood trauma had significantly shorter telomere length than those with PTSD but without childhood trauma, in a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes that cap the ends of chromosomes and protect them from damage and mutations. Short telomere length is associated with an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and...
By asking a group of older adults to analyze videos of other people conversing -- some talking truthfully, some insincerely -- a group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has determined which areas of the brain govern a person's ability to detect sarcasm and lies.Some of the adults in the group were healthy, but many of the test subjects had neurodegenerative diseases that cause certain parts of the brain to deteriorate. The UCSF team mapped their brains using...
Recording people belting out an old Motown tune and then asking them to listen to their own singing without the accompanying music seems like an unusually cruel form of punishment. But for a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley, this exact Karaoke experiment has revealed what part of the brain is essential for embarrassment.The twist to the experiment was that most of the subjects had neurodegenerative diseases, which helped...
High levels of a protein associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation in the brain correlate with aspects of memory decline in otherwise cognitively normal older adults, according to a study led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco.The study is being reported in a poster session at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting on Wednesday, April 13, 2011.Inflammation is part of the body's natural immune response to tissue damage. However, chronic inflammation is...
The neurological connections in older people's brains have a harder time switching between activities than younger adults, making multi-tasking more difficult with age, researchers found in a study.Short-term memory, or "working" memory, is known by researchers to negatively affect both young and older adults. However, anecdotal accounts of "senior moments" "“ fleeting bouts of forgetfulness, especially in the midst of competing demands on attention "“ has a greater impact on older...
A new surgery for cervical disc disease in the neck may restore range of motion and reduce repeat surgeries in some younger patients, according to a team of neurosurgeons from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and several other medical centers that analyzed three large, randomized clinical trials comparing two different surgeries.More than 200,000 Americans undergo surgery every year to alleviate pain and muscle weakness from the debilitating condition caused by herniated...
Solving part of a medical mystery, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have established a link between molecules found in an inflamed pancreas and the early formation of pancreatic cancer "“ a discovery that may help scientists identify new ways to detect, monitor and treat this deadly disease.Scientists have known for many years that pancreatitis, a painfully inflamed pancreas, is a common risk factor for pancreatic cancer "“ along with things like smoking and...
Contrary to popular belief among physicians, frailty in elderly patients is not associated with an increased risk of adverse reactions to medications, according to a study led by Michael Steinman, MD, a geriatrician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.The study of 377 patients age 65 or older appears in the online Early View section of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society."There is a common, and reasonable, perception among clinicians that older people who are unable to carry out...
