In a finding that reveals a link between alcoholism and drug addiction,
scientists have discovered that a key step leading to alcohol addiction can be
blocked by preventing alcohol from gaining access to nerves in the brain
involved in learning.
Latest News
March 14, 2000
Researchers led by UCSF scientists are reporting that an experimental pain drug
known as a kappa-opioid brings pain relief to female rats but not males, a
finding that adds weight to a recent UCSF clinical finding, and highlights,
they say, the need to evaluate drugs by gender.
Traditionally, kappa-opioids have been dismissed as ineffective analgesics in
humans, though the drugs have shown mixed results in animal studies, depending
on how they have been administered.
March 13, 2000
Bones that refuse to heal may one day be set straight by a drug that stimulates
the growth of new blood vessels, according to new research from the University
of California, San Francisco. So far, however, the growth factor drug has been
tested only in mice, and it could be years before it is used in hospitals.
These results were presented at this week’s annual meeting of the Orthopaedic
Research Society, in Orlando, Florida.
March 13, 2000
All four UC San Francisco health science schools ranked among the top four
comparable institutions in the country in the 1999 fiscal year competition for
federal research dollars from the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
according to the most recent data obtained from the agency.
The UCSF schools received a total of $227.5 million in research grants,
training grants, contracts and fellowships during the 1999 federal fiscal year,
$2.8 million more than during the 1998 fiscal year.
March 13, 2000
A new agreement between UC San Francisco and a consortium of community-based
agencies establishes a comprehensive system to promote local hiring on all
major campus construction projects, including UCSF Mission Bay.
March 09, 2000
A genetic test to help pathologists identify melanoma, the most
common type of skin cancer, has been developed by researchers at University of
California, San Francisco, and may be available to pathology labs within a
year.
The test, which detects chromosomal abnormalities that characterize cancerous
skin cells, was described here, today (March 9), at the annual meeting of the
International Society of Dermatopathology.
March 08, 2000
A new network has been formed by linking the University of California, San
Francisco and four other academic medical centers to accelerate progress on
serious and life-threatening pediatric diseases.
March 07, 2000
Many women are being treated for osteoporosis with medications and their
progress is checked periodically with measurements of bone density. About one
out of five women taking these agents appear to lose bone density during the
first year of treatment, causing doctors to change the treatment. But this
loss may be misleading, according to a UC San Francisco study that showed women
with the greatest amount of bone density loss during the first year of
treatment for osteoporosis were the most likely to gain bone density when the
March 07, 2000
According to an article published in the February issue of The Gerontologist,
nurse staff levels in the nation’s nursing homes are, on average, too low to
assure quality care. Moreover, the authors report that residents of nursing
homes with limited nursing staff have a greater incidence of health problems.
The article stems from an expert panel on nursing home care convened by the
John A. Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, Division of Nursing at New
York University.
Methadone maintenance found to be more effective in treating heroin addiction than 180 day detoxific
March 07, 2000
Methadone maintenance is more effective in reducing heroin use among addicts
than a 180 -day detoxification program that included an array of counseling
services, a UC San Francisco study has found.
