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<p>Medical geneticist Ophir Klein's studies of stem cells in tooth development and of stem cell changes in the gut may lead to new strategies for regenerating teeth and for treating craniofacial abnormalities.</p>
A large-scale national study suggests low to moderate use of marijuana is less harmful to users’ lungs than exposure to tobacco, even though the two substances contain many of the same components, according to a study led by UCSF and University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A group of scientists at UCSF and Columbia University estimates that slapping a penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages would prevent nearly 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes and 26,000 deaths every year.
<p>In a study published online in the <em>Journal of Obesity</em>, mastering simple mindful eating and stress-reduction techniques helped prevent weight gain without dieting.</p>
A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids – the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana – to an opiates-only treatment.
A large, international clinical trial led by doctors at UCSF indicates that a vaccine to prevent anal cancer is safe and effective, according to a study reported in the October 27, 2011 issue of New England Journal of Medicine.
During a decade of receiving mammograms, more than half of cancer-free women will be among those summoned back for more testing because of false-positive results, and about one in 12 will be referred for a biopsy.
<p>African American women have lower breast cancer survival rates than white women and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) scientists are studying why – as well as how to increase their life spans.</p>
<p>Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite transmitted from person to person by the bite of a mosquito. In the past two centuries, numerous research and public health efforts worldwide have sought to combat this ancient scourge as this timeline shows.</p>
UCSF researchers say their analysis of the age-specific, long-term effects of chemotherapy on women provides new insights that will help patients and clinicians make more informed decisions about future reproductive options, such as egg harvesting.
A UCSF-led pilot study in San Francisco has found the highest levels ever reported among pregnant women worldwide of banned chemicals used in flame retardants, a likely result, they believe, of California’s strict flammability regulations.
Scientists have known for years that when vampire bats tear through an animal’s skin with their razor-sharp teeth, their noses guide them to the best spots – where a precise bite will strike a vein and spill forth nourishing blood. But nobody knew exactly how bats knew where to bite – until now.
Researchers at UCSF and in Michigan, North Carolina and Spain have discovered how genetic mutations cause a number of rare human diseases, which include Meckel syndrome, Joubert syndrome and several other disorders.
<p>With years of sleep research under her belt, Lee has recently focused on helping parents — especially new and expecting mothers — get enough sleep. From these studies, Lee has found worrisome correlations between sleep deprivation during pregnancy and increased instances of Cesarean operations and length of labor. By educating families about proper sleep hygiene, she hopes to promote healthier home environments for mothers and babies.</p>
<p>Having developed an algorithm that discovered a large quantity of drug-producing bacteria in and on humans, Fischbach has turned his lab’s attention to studying their populations and interactions with each other. This, he posits, can greatly influence a person’s overall health and disease.</p>
<p>By understanding the underlying biological processes that allow teeth to continuously grow in rodents and other mammals, Klein’s research aims to apply those principles to regenerative medicine in humans. Klein predicts that one day patients will be able to replace their own lost teeth with living, biological replicas instead of the prosthetics oral surgeons implant today.</p>
A 10-month study of healthy honey bees by UCSF scientists has identified four new viruses that infect bees, while revealing that each of the viruses or bacteria previously linked to colony collapse is present in healthy hives as well.
<p>Experts at UCSF and Caltech are pushing the boundaries of creative problem solving to address important clinical problems with the hope that the talent pool at both institutions, combined with an entrepreneurial spirit, will advance health care innovation.</p>
Targeting a protein that leukemia cells use to stay alive may be the key to fighting drug-resistant leukemia, a discovery that may make cancer drugs more powerful and help doctors formulate drug cocktails to cure more children of leukemia, a team led by UCSF researchers reports.
<p>Yervoy, a new cancer drug that has been approved for the treatment of late-stage melanoma – and that is being used to treat other cancers in ongoing clinical trials – is based on a strategy for boosting the immune response developed and tested by scientists from UCSF and UC Berkeley.</p>
Men and women had starkly different immune system responses to chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, with men showing no response and women showing a strong response, in two studies by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.
Researchers exploring human metabolism at UCSF have uncovered a handful of chemical compounds that regulate fat storage in worms, offering a new tool for understanding obesity and finding future treatments for diseases associated with obesity.
UCSF pediatric endocrinologist Steve Gitelman leads type 1 diabetes clinical trials with the goal of halting beta cell destruction and thereby stopping the progression of disease soon after it is diagnosed.
Babies who undergo fetal surgery — pioneered at UCSF 30 years ago — to repair spina bifida while still in the womb develop better than babies who have corrective surgery after birth, according to findings from a UCSF-led trial.
UCSF researchers have developed a new approach to decoding the vast information embedded in an organism’s genome, while shedding light on exactly how cells interpret their genetic material to create RNA messages and launch new processes in the cell.