Happiness in Early Adulthood May Protect Against Dementia
Research has shown that poor heart health can increase the risk for dementia, but a new study shows that poor mental health in early adulthood may increase odds by 73%.
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For Struggling Older Adults, Support from Paid Peers May Alleviate Loneliness, Depression
An initiative that paired paid visitors with racially diverse older adults, many of whom lived alone and struggled with taking care of their basic needs, resulted in reduced loneliness and plunging rates of depression.
AI Algorithm Matches Cardiologists’ Expertise, While Explaining Its Decisions
In a new study, an artificial intelligence algorithm exceeded the performance of a widely available commercial system in nearly all examined diagnoses.
Q&A: Building a Speech Prosthetic for a Paralyzed Man
Following groundbreaking work on a “speech neuroprosthesis” that enabled a paralyzed man to communicate using his brain signals, the lab team answered public questions about brain-computer interfaces and the limitations of translating brain signals into code.
Poison Frogs, Birds, Hold Clues to Antidotes for Deadly Toxins
A team of researchers at have uncovered some intriguing clues in the mystery of how some poison birds and frogs evade their own toxins.
UCSF to House COVID Tracking Project, a National Database Donated by The Atlantic
UCSF and The Atlantic have announced that the crowdsourced digital archive documenting the face of the pandemic in the United States will become part of the University’s permanent library collection and is accessible to researchers and the public.
Over 65 and Lonely? Don’t Talk to Your Doctor About Another Prescription
The proportion of seniors who had prescriptions for opioids and anti-anxiety medications and sedatives correlated with their degree of loneliness, according to the study.
“Neuroprosthesis” Restores Words to Man with Paralysis
Researchers at UC San Francisco have successfully developed a “speech neuroprosthesis” that has enabled a man with severe paralysis to communicate in sentences, translating signals from his brain to the vocal tract directly into words that appear as text on a screen.
Engineered Cells Successfully Treat Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease
Scientists at UCSF have shown that gene-edited cellular therapeutics can be used to successfully treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases in mice.
Beyond CAR-T: New Frontiers in Living Cell Therapies
Taking a page from computer engineers, biologists are trying their hands at programming cells – by building DNA circuits to guide their protein-making machinery and behavior.
Microbiome Medicine: Scientists Harness the Body’s ‘Bugs’ to Treat Asthma, MS and More
Plenty of probiotic yogurts, pickles and kombuchas claim to boost our digestive health with armies of microbes, but some scientists have more ambitious therapeutic plans for the “bugs” that colonize us. They hope to leverage these microbes as living therapeutics for a range of health conditions, including ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, eczema and asthma.
Mutation in Highly Infectious Alpha Variant May Help Coronavirus Evade Immune System
The B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant—also known as Alpha—may be more infectious because it contains mutations that make it better adapted to foil the innate immune system, at least for long enough to allow the virus to replicate and potentially find new hosts, according to a new study.
Older Women Who Are Socially Engaged More Likely to Be Emotionally Abused or Mistreated
For older adults, participating in social activities can protect against physical and mental signs of aging, but it may also pose risks, especially for women. A new analysis of national data led by
TED Talk: “Can We Create Vaccines that Mutate and Spread?”
The viruses that cause polio and COVID-19 mutate, but treatments for the diseases don’t. For over 20 years, UCSF and Gladstone Institutes scientist Leor Weinberger, PhD, has been thinking of ways to make vaccines work more efficiently by being adaptive, rather than static.