Gene Found in Sudden Sleep Disorder Implicates the Immune System
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.
University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFNarcolepsy, 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.
UCSF researchers have identified a correlation between higher levels of glutamate, which occurs naturally in the brain as a byproduct of metabolism, and greater disease burden in multiple sclerosis patients. The study is the first to measure glutamate toxicity in the brain over time and suggests an improved method for tracking the disease and predicting its course.
Researchers have identified a gene that controls the rapid production and differentiation of the stem cells that produce all blood cell types -- a discovery that could eventually open the door to more streamlined treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers, in which blood cells proliferate out of control.
Healthy patients age 70 and older who could benefit from colon cancer screening are not being adequately screened, while ill patients are being screened unnecessarily, according to a study of more than 27,000 veteran patients led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Researchers with the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a five-year, nationwide, longitudinal study of possible markers of Alzheimer’s disease, announced that a genomic analysis of the 800 participants in the study is more than 95 percent complete, and that the data will be shared with scientists around the world for further analysis.
Lung cancer research at UCSF is poised to leap forward, thanks to a big bank. No, not some teetering financial institution down the street. What UCSF has is an invaluable tissue bank.
Starting in January, a UCSF postdoctoral researcher will launch the first-ever study of the effects of prolonged nonuse on human cartilage.
A nationwide study of over 280,000 women showed that postmenopausal women who are overweight or obese have advanced breast cancer at significantly higher rates than women of normal weight or less than normal weight.
CT colonography (CTC), known as virtual colonoscopy, is as accurate at screening for colorectal cancers and pre-cancerous polyps as conventional colonoscopy, the current screening standard, according to the National CT Colonography Trial, a nationwide multi-center study that included the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Scientists have identified a pattern of gene activity that predicts which patients who experience the first clinical symptoms of multiple sclerosis – known as clinically isolated syndrome – are at high risk of converting to the full blown disease.
With the obesity epidemic now firmly established as the health crisis du jour, I don’t want to be accused of piling on. But I could not let pass this BBC News health story posted in mid-May, which seems to transform an interesting point into mean-spiritedness, not to mention point the finger in the wrong direction.
We learn to see with our eyes still closed...
A drug therapy currently used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis had a significant effect in treating the most common form of multiple sclerosis in a small, short-term clinical trial.
Children who are overweight have less range of motion in their elbows than their normal-weight peers, which could make it tougher for them to exercise in order to lose weight, the findings of a research study suggest.
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.
There's a new way to personalize drug therapy. It's pharmacogenetics - using information on genetic differences to tailor treatment.
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.
As America struggles under the growing weight of Alzheimer's and obesity, two UCSF scientists at the affiliated Gladstone Institutes demonstrate why basic science might be our best hope...
From the A-bomb to XP, James Cleaver has become an expert on DNA repair and the "fundamental derangement" we know as cancer...
Two new large-scale genomic studies have honed in on the main genetic pathway associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), while also uncovering new genetic variations in the disease and suggesting a possible link between MS and other autoimmune diseases.
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).
A smokeless cannabis-vaporizing device delivers the same level of active therapeutic chemical and produces the same biological effect as smoking cannabis, but without the harmful toxins, according to UCSF researchers.
Sleep disorder expert Tom Neylan explains what you lose if you don't snooze...
Macular degeneration is the major cause of vision loss in the United States. The disease, which kills photoreceptors that convey visual signals from the eye to the brain, often strikes the elderly. Its defining symptom is blurriness in the central visual field, a blurriness that robs many people of their ability to drive or read.