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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
UCSF and Kaiser team up to beef up a powerful resource for use in identifying risks for disease and factors that promote healthy aging.
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.
Telomeres — which are the DNA repeats that form the tips of chromosomes and are produced by the telomerase enzyme — play a crucial, and curious, role in the life of the cell.
Scientists have long thought that processes occurring during sleep were responsible for cementing the salient experiences of the day into long-term memories. Now, however, a study of scampering rats suggests that the mechanisms at work during sleep are also active while the animals are awake -- and that they encode events more accurately.
An effort led by UCSF’s Richard L. Abbott has prompted the Chinese government to adopt national standards for eye care—the first time China has mandated practice guidelines for any medical specialty.
Narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that can cause sufferers to suddenly lose muscle tone and start dreaming, is an autoimmune disease, a team led by UCSF and Stanford scientists finds.
Older women with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) –– the restriction or interruption of breathing during sleep –– are more likely to show cognitive impairment than women without SDB, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UC San Francisco.
A new study investigating the health effects of being overweight during adolescence projects alarming increases in the rates of heart disease and premature death by the time today's teenagers reach young adulthood.
Women who experienced cognitive decline over a 13 to 15 year period after age 65 were more likely to sleep poorly than women whose cognition did not decline, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).
American women are struggling to "do it all" and are sacrificing sleep to juggle their family and work responsibilities, according to a new survey led by a professor in the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco.
Exposure to hot baths or hot tubs can lead to male infertility, but the effects can sometimes be reversible, according to a new study led by a University of California, San Francisco urologist.
Scientists have shown in the past that psychological stress is linked to weight gain and fat storage -- especially added fat around the waistline, where it raises the risk of heart disease.
Sleeping pill sales have increased dramatically in the past year — in part due to hundreds of millions of dollars spent on direct advertising to consumers.
A new study suggests a sperm's life cycle is shorter than previously believed.
A study by researchers at the UCSF School of Nursing has found that women who have less sleep or severely disrupted sleep in late pregnancy are significantly more likely to have longer labors and are more likely to have cesarean births.
University of California, San Francisco researchers are reporting direct evidence that sleep in early life may play a crucial role in brain development.
Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, 55, today was named to receive the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering and characterizing an entirely new class of proteins, called prions, which cause several rare and fatal neurodegenerative diseases.