UCSF study offers insight into human circadian rhythms
Scientists have identified a gene and mutation within it that causes a rare sleep behavior, in which individuals have a "fast" biological clock. The gene's enzyme could lead to a therapeutic target for the disrupted sleep patterns seen in such groups as those facing jet lag or nighttime work shifts....... More broadly, the gene provides a probe for exploring the regulatory mechanisms of the body'...Sex habits of young women unchanged by morning after pill, UCSF study finds
Young, urban women showed no reduction in their use of contraceptives, nor any other changes in their sexual behavior when provided with easier access to the so-called "morning after pill," also known as emergency contraception (EC), according to UCSF researchers....... Rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were the same at the end of the six-month study regardless of whet...UCSF receives $21 million NIH contract for sexually transmitted infection research
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $21 million to the UCSF Women's Global Health Imperative to conduct clinical trials for new treatments as well as prevention and diagnostic products for non-HIV sexually transmitted infections (STI)....... The trials will cover a full range of treatments and products, including microbicides, which are pathogen-killing topical creams or gels, and vacci...Quality patient care not met by blanket screenings, warns UCSF/SFVAMC physician
Even as America's medical centers are being urged to use mathematical measures to describe quality care, a UCSF/San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center physician is warning against the "pitfalls" of confusing such measurement with actual quality, in an opinion piece appearing in the May 26 issue of ....... In the article, Louise Walter, MD, UCSF assistant professor of medicine in the geria...UCSF Medical Center palliative care experts mentor health care organizations in end-of-life care
UCSF has been named one of six leadership centers in the country for training health care professionals who want to start palliative care programs. These programs deliver high quality care to patients with chronic and terminal illness and their families.... ...Beginning this week, UCSF Medical Center palliative care experts will host health care professionals from California, Nevada, Arizona and...UCSF scientists show prion shape affects nature of infection
UCSF scientists have demonstrated for the first time that a change in the folded shape of a prion protein changes its infectious properties -- including the prion's ability to jump "species barriers."...... The research, based on studies of prion infectivity in yeast, solves one of the great puzzles about prions: If they are infectious proteins with no genetic material of their own and no ability...UCSF study: Pediatrician's judgment often better than clinical guidelines for treating infant fever
Pediatricians frequently use individual judgment in treating infants with fever, and according to a new study, this judgment is often as good as or better than following the current clinical guidelines on how to manage these cases....... Robert Pantell, MD, a pediatrician at UCSF Children's Hospital, is the lead investigator of "Management and Outcomes of Fever in Early Infancy," a study appearin...UCSF/Baylor team uses new method to measure bone loss in astronauts flying long mission
A team of NASA-funded researchers from UCSF and Baylor College of Medicine has used a new method to measure and characterize bone loss caused by prolonged spaceflight....... ....... The researchers used three-dimensional x-ray computed tomography [CT] to study the effect of prolonged weightlessness on the bone mineral density and structure of the hip in a group of 14 American and Russian crew mem...UCSF physicians publish groundbreaking book on medical mistakes
Nearly five years after an Institute of Medicine report put medical mistakes on the public's radar screen, two UCSF Medical Center physicians have published a groundbreaking discussion of why errors occur and what health care providers and leaders must do to cure this epidemic. ......The book, ......One of the authors, Robert M. Wachter, MD, chief of the medical service and chair of the patient...UCSF launches comprehensive HIV website in South Africa
Health care providers in South Africa will soon have speedier access to a vast trove of reliable information about HIV and its treatment, due to the collaborative effort of UCSF, the National Library of Medicine and a South African university.... ...In February, carbon copies of two comprehensive HIV/AIDS websites will be launched on an Internet server at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The two...UCSF vascular surgeons develop new technique to repair aortic arch aneurysm
A novel treatment developed by UCSF vascular surgeons has been used in a first-of-its-kind operation to repair a life-threatening aneurysm in the patient's aortic arch, which carries blood from the heart. ... ...In an aortic aneurysm the walls of the aorta, the primary blood vessels leading away from the heart, bulge out like a filling water balloon. ...Eventually it bursts, usually causing a fat...UCSF & SF Bay Area receive federal funds to expand breast cancer / environmental research
A new federally funded Bay Area center will bring together local health experts to investigate possible environmental links to breast cancer and the high incidence of the disease in some regional counties.... ...Announcement of the new Bay Area Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center was made today (October 14) by the National Institutes of Health. ...UCSF will serve as lead institution...HIVs assault on immune system explored at UCSF/Gladstone center for AIDS research symposium
A UCSF-Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) symposium titled, Immunology of HIV Infection will take place October 22 and 23, 2003. The symposium will feature world leaders in HIV immunology.... ..."Understanding how HIV disables the immune response is the platform on which HIV vaccine research relies," said Warner Greene, MD, PhD, director of the...UCSF begins study testing antiviral drug tenofovir to prevent HIV infection
UCSF researchers have been funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the antiretroviral drug tenofovir as a potential pre-exposure prophylaxis in Cambodia among high-risk, HIV-uninfected women. The research will look at safety and effectiveness of the drug in preventing the acquisition of HIV.... ..."With both a vaccine and a microbicide many years down the road, we are hoping that th...UCSF study finds no harm to HIV+ patients with short-term medical cannabis
UCSF researchers found no harmful changes in HIV virus levels in patients on combination antiretroviral therapy in a safety study looking at both smoked marijuana and dronabinol, an oral medical cannabinoid.... ..."People with HIV are a vulnerable population, so successfully addressing the safety concerns allows us to move on to effectiveness studies, three of which are currently underway here,"...UCSF-led team discovers possible cancer 'susceptibility' gene
A UCSF-led team has identified a common variant of a gene known as Aurora2 that may increase susceptibility to cancer development. The finding provides one of the first examples of an elusive type of "low penetrance" tumor susceptibility gene in humans....... The results, reported in the July 27 on-line version of Nature Genetics, support the emerging viewpoint that common variant forms of some g...UCSF study finds no cases of HIV transmission from receptive oral sex
No cases of HIV transmission through unprotected receptive oral sex were found by researchers at UCSF's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) in a new study. The study looked at men who have sex with men and who exclusively practice oral sex as the receptive partner.... ... "HIV infection through receptive oral sex is a very rare event--statistically our study showed a probability of zero--a...AIDS and cancer specimen bank at UCSF renamed and funded for five more years
The National Cancer Institute has funded for five additional years the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource centered at UCSF. AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ASCR) is the new name for the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Bank, a program that has been in existence nine years. ... ..."We have been operating as the country's leading nationwide, and soon international, multi-site collection program that inc...The CDC has awarded $4.5 million to UCSFS Institute for Global Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $4.5 million to UCSF's Institute for Global Health, in partnership with UCSF's AIDS Research Institute, to create the Center for International AIDS Support, Training, and Evaluation (CIASTE). The partnership also will include the University of Washington's Center for AIDS and STDs through its International Training and Education Center o...Macrophages from human lymphoma patients cause mouse lymphoma in mice, UCSF study finds
UCSF researchers have found that macrophages--literally "big eaters," normally key immune defense cells that engulf and devour bacteria and tumor cells--when taken from HIV-infected lymphoma patients and injected into mice, induced aggressive mouse T-cell lymphomas in the mice. Macrophages from healthy donors did not.... ..."This research establishes that macrophages can cause disease as opposed...Foundation funds UCSF research to test diaphragms as HIV prevention tool
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $28 million to test whether the diaphragm can prevent the transmission of HIV, to UCSF's Women's Global Health Imperative (WGHI), directed by Nancy Padian, PhD. The diaphragm will be the first physical barrier tested in a randomized, controlled trial for effectiveness in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV.... ..."The foundation is demonstrati...Suicide attempt rate high among urban gay men, UCSF study finds
UCSF researchers have found that twelve percent of urban gay and bisexual men have attempted suicide in their lifetime, a rate three times higher than the overall rate for American adult males....... "These rates are staggering, and highlight the cost of pervasive anti-gay stigmatization and victimization," said Jay Paul, PhD, a specialist at UCSF's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) and l...UCSF orthopedic surgeons test artificial back disc
UCSF Medical Center orthopedic surgeons are investigating the effectiveness of an implant that may replace damaged lower back discs. European patients who have received the stainless steel and plastic assembly in place of degenerated discs have reported significant improvement in back and leg pain after a minimum of seven years of follow-up, according to the UCSF investigators. ......"In Europea...Osteoporosis is costly for Californians, according to UCSF researchers
Costs for osteoporosis in California topped $2.4 billion in 1998, with hip fracture accounting for 64 percent of the burden, according to researchers in the UCSF School of Nursing Institute for Health & Aging. The study, the first to analyze cost of osteoporosis in California, appears in the June, 2002 issue of Osteoporosis International. ......According to the researchers, the disease impacts m...Prostate cancer is costly for Californians, according to UCSF researchers
Prostate cancer, which largely afflicts older men, is costly for Californians, accounting for more than $180 million in direct health care costs in 1998 and an additional $180 million in lost productivity resulting from premature death. Costs are likely to increase as life expectancy increases, according to UCSF researchers. ...... "Because prostate cancer is costly and common, it is critical to...UCSF health economists urge global AIDS fund to finance prevention first
Funding proven HIV prevention interventions in sub-Saharan Africa is 28 times more cost-effective than funding highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), even when HAART is priced extremely conservatively, according to UCSF researchers....... Focusing first on relatively inexpensive prevention efforts such as ensuring a safe blood supply, using antiretrovirals to prevent mother to child trans...UCSF, UC Davis establish joint pediatric heart center
Two top Northern California academic medical institutions have joined forces to establish a world-class pediatric heart center in Sacramento that will identify and treat infants and children born with congenital heart disease. ...... The new UCSF/UC Davis Pediatric Heart Center in Sacramento extends the reach of the Pediatric Heart Center at UCSF Childrens Hospital in San Francisco, which is nati...New treatment for spinal disorder proves effective in UCSF study
The pain and stiffness suffered by a quarter of a million people with the inflammatory spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis can be significantly relieved with a drug already approved for rheumatoid arthritis, according to results of a clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine....... A UCSF study showed that 80 percent of patients taking the immune-blocking drug etanercep...UCSF scientists may have found link to early childhood tooth decay
A two-year-old Latina childs mouth was aching and she was quietly crying herself to sleep. But the pain, disease and enormous costs of treatment for her tooth decay were all preventable, according to scientists at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. ...... In a recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry, clinicians and researchers teamed to...Testosterone aids older mens brains, UCSF study says
Older men with higher testosterone levels performed better on tests of cognition in a new study from UCSF researchers. The study suggests that older men who are prescribed testosterone supplements may reduce their risk of cognitive decline, a precursor state to Alzheimers disease, the researchers said.... ...Mens bodies tend to produce less testosterone as they age, and some doctors have begun pr...Cholesterol bad for brain too, UCSF study says
Higher cholesterol levels are not only bad for the heart and blood vessels, they increase the risk of cognitive impairment, the precursor to Alzheimers disease, according to a study of elderly women by UCSF researchers. ...... Also, women who used cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins scored higher on tests of basic cognitive skills, such as memory, attention, and language, according to le...UCSF study shows breast cancer screening programs that interpret the most mammograms
Accurate diagnoses are directly related to the number of mammograms interpreted by a physician, according to a UCSF study published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute....... The study was done to understand factors that affect quality in mammography. The participants were each given a set of 60 mammograms to interpret. From the U.S., 60 radiologists were divided...UCSF reports promising results for organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients
Seattle -- Early findings from a multi-site study led by UCSF investigators show that 95% of the HIV-infected patients in the study who received kidney transplants and 84% who received liver transplants in this era of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART), are surviving nearly one year post-transplantrates comparable to non-HIV-infected kidney and liver transplant recipients for the same...Hospitalist care destined to become dominant model of inpatient care in the US, say UCSF researchers
The rapidly growing hospitalist model of inpatient care has now achieved many of the attributes of other medical specialties and seems destined to become the dominant model of hospital care in the United States, according to a study published in the January 23, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). ...... The Hospitalist Movement Five Years Later, by researchers a...Americans leading healthier lives, reducing risk of death from heart disease, UCSF study finds
American adults are leading healthier lives and thus are significantly reducing their risk of heart disease mortality, according to a new University of California, San Francisco study recently published in The Journal of American College of Cardiology (October 1, 2001). ... ..."Reductions in heart disease risk factors, such as smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, represent a major publ...UCSF study finds shortage of California dentists in rural, poor, minority communities
A shortage of dentists in many communities may contribute to poor access to dental care for many California rural, low-income, and minority residents, according to a new study by UCSF researchers at the Center for the Health Professions. ...... We have a crisis in access to care in our state. The numbers of children with untreated dental decay is alarming, particularly in underserved communities...Uninsured patients don't manage chronic illness well, UCSF study finds
Compared to insured health care consumers, uninsured people are much less effective at managing their illnesses. Specifically, they have frequent health crises, difficulty getting medication and using it correctly, poor understanding of their illness and little knowledge about self-care or risk awareness, according to Gay Becker, PhD, professor of medical anthropology in the UCSF Institute for H...UCSF begins clinical trials for new bionic ear for profoundly deaf adults
...UCSF researchers in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery will begin clinical trials this month of the Clarion CII Bionic Ear cochlear implant to help adults with profound hearing loss to hear again.... The UCSF Douglas Grant Cochlear Implant Center is seeking patients eligible for the cochlear implant who are adults with severe-to-profound hearing loss and are unable to he...UCSF policy center presents Congress with road map for HIV vaccine development
...The AIDS Policy Research Center at UCSF's AIDS Research Institute issued to all 535 members of Congress today (Friday, May 11, 2001) a policy monograph detailing barriers to HIV vaccine development. The monograph also outlines possible actions that Congress could take to accelerate the development of a vaccine to prevent the spread of HIV.... "This monograph is the first time that someone ha...No evidence that large numbers of physicians are leaving California, say UCSF researchers
...Anecdotes abound about the tumultuous state of physician affairs in California. However, there is no objective evidence that large numbers of doctors are leaving California, according to a report released by the UCSF Center for Health Professions. ... ...In fact, the ratio of physicians to population has increased from 177 doctors for every 100,000 people in 1994 to 190 per 100,000 in 2000. T...