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UCSF scientists have used a novel cell-based strategy to treat motor symptoms in rats with a disease designed to mimic Parkinson’s disease. The strategy suggests a promising approach, the scientists say, for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, including epilepsy.
Delivering on a promise to the American people, President Barack Obama today signed into the law the Affordable Health Care for America Act, extending health care to 32 million more Americans.
Taking an innovative path toward personalized medicine, scientists for the first time will be able to eliminate – at an early point in a clinical trial — experimental drugs that show poor efficacy, dramatically shortening the time it takes to get the right medication to the right patient with breast cancer.
UCSF scientists have discovered how a mutated gene known as Kras is able to hijack mouse cells damaged by acute pancreatitis, putting them on the path to becoming pancreatic cancer cells.
People are paying close attention to pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig’s message that the obesity epidemic can be blamed on a marked increase in the consumption of a type of sugar called fructose.
A new study co-authored by a UCSF resident physician and published this week examines why low-income countries are making poor progress in meeting international health goals. Study researcher Sanjay Basu, MD, PhD, of the Department of Medicine at UCSF and Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital, said findings highlight the importance of looking at the entire health experience of a family, rather than just one or a few diseases.
A panel of experts appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom recently presented an action plan as the approaching “age wave may bring a potential crisis in Alzheimer’s and dementia care” to San Francisco.
A specific region of the hippocampus, a brain structure that is essential to memory, is significantly smaller in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder than in those without the condition, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF.
UCSF nephrologist Flavio Vincenti, MD, is the lead author of a paper in the March 2010 issue of the <i>American Journal of Transplantation</i> that reports results from a Phase III clinical trial for a new drug that selectively blocks immune suppression for kidney transplants. The drug, belatacept, is given to kidney-transplant recipients to prevent the immune system from rejecting the new organ. Vincenti and his co-investigators found that belatacept may be as effective as the commonly used anti-rejection drug cyclosporine, but with fewer side effects and superior kidney function after 12 months.
A UCSF team, led by bioethicist Bernard Lo, MD, recommends that the National Institutes of Health ethics guidelines for embryonic stem cell research be modified to better protect the rights of individuals donating egg or sperm to patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.
UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann today released a video message to the campus community explaining the need to focus on the University’s <em>advancing health worldwide mission™</em> to adjust to new fiscal realities.
Researchers, who are interested in taking their research from the bench to the bedside, are encouraged to apply for a catalyst award by March 1.
Among soldiers who served in Iraq, the act of taking a life in combat was a significant predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse, hostility and anger, and relationship problems, according to a study led by a psychologist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Scientists have determined that a new instrument known as PIB-PET is effective in detecting deposits of amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brains of living people, and that these deposits are predictive of who will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Between 2002 and 2008, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were newly diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder received the recommended course of care for their condition at VA health facilities, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF.
UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann outlines a vision for faster development of better, cheaper drugs to fight cancer.
Shinya Yamanaka, a scientist who reprogrammed adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells, has been chosen to receive the 2010 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology.
A UCSF analysis of published studies on the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and smoking indicates that smoking cigarettes is a significant risk factor for the disease.
Scientists have identified a gene family that plays a key role in one of the earliest stages of development in which an embryo distinguishes its left side from the right and determines how organs should be positioned within the body. The finding in mice likely will lead to a better understanding of how certain birth defects occur in humans.
Non-smokers with both long-term exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke and narrowing of the artery that brings blood to the brain had three times the risk of developing dementia than people without either of those risk factors, according to a study led by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Reducing salt in the American diet by as little as one-half teaspoon (or three grams) per day could prevent nearly 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths each year, according to a new study. Such benefits are on par with the benefits from reductions in smoking and could save the United States about $24 billion in healthcare costs, the researchers add.
Low vitamin D blood levels are associated with a significantly higher risk of relapse attacks in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who develop the disease during childhood, according to a study conducted by researchers from UCSF.
UCSF has launched online and print resources designed to help consumers make smarter decisions about substances that can harm general and reproductive health. A new brochure and web page include specific tips on reducing exposure to metals and synthetic chemicals in everyday life-- at home, at work, and in the community-- and provide links to other sources with more detailed information.
UCSF and Kaiser team up to beef up a powerful resource for use in identifying risks for disease and factors that promote healthy aging.
Scientists have identified a gene underlying a disease that causes temporary paralysis of skeletal muscle. The finding, they say, illustrates how investigations of rare genetic diseases can drive insights into more common ones.
UCSF studies of frontotemporal dementia may shed light on Thanksgiving and year-round overeating.
UCSF’s Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research, which finances creative, risky projects that have the potential to transform their fields, has had an impressive track record.
UCSF will offer a chance for people with colorectal cancer to meet with and learn from experts and fellow patients living with the disease at an event on October 31.
Molecular biologist Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD, 60, of the University of California, San Francisco, received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on December 10th, 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden.
