UCLAhealth.org Health News

Harley bikers celebrate 20th annual toy run at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA

2009-11-19T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

WHAT:

For the 20th consecutive year, approximately 100 motorcyclists and friends from the Southern California Anaheim-Fullerton H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) chapter will caravan on their bikes to deliver hundreds of holiday gifts for pediatric patients at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA. Hospital staff and young patients will greet the bikers and get a chance to see and even sit on the Harleys. Bikers will form a "love line" to unload hundreds of toys...

UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells

2009-11-18T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by researchers at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor.

These cells, known as circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, can provide critical information for examining and diagnosing cancer metastasis, determining patient prognosis, and monitoring the effectiveness of...

UCLA study shows brain's ability to reorganize

2009-11-18T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

Visually impaired people appear to be fearless, navigating busy sidewalks and crosswalks, safely finding their way using nothing more than a cane as a guide. The reason they can do this, researchers suggest, is that in at least some circumstances, blindness can heighten other senses, helping individuals adapt.

Now scientists from the UCLA Department of Neurology have confirmed that blindness causes structural changes in the brain, indicating that the brain...

UCLA Stroke Center to help launch new system of stroke-certified hospitals in Los Angeles

2009-11-16T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

The UCLA Stroke Center at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center will be part of a new stroke-certified hospital system that has the potential to greatly improve response times, treatments and overall outcomes for those who suffer a stroke in Los Angeles County.

The new Primary Stroke Center system, announced by the American Heart Association's American Stroke Association (ASA), involves the county's Emergency Medical...

NanoSystems Institute at UCLA to host global symposium on nanobiotechnology

2009-11-13T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

WHAT:

Nanotechnology has shown great promise for applications in the areas of energy, information technology and the environment. In the health and medicine fields, however, its promise has progressed beyond possibility to become reality. Nanoscale research has led to techniques and devices with the potential to revolutionize health care, including imaging tools that detect cancers at the atomic level, nanomachines programmed to release drugs within specific...

People entering their 60s may have more disabilities today than in prior generations

2009-11-12T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

In a development that could have significant ramifications for the nation's health care system, Baby Boomers may well be entering their 60s suffering far more disabilities than their counterparts did in previous generations, according to a new UCLA study. The findings, researchers say, may be due in part to changing American demographics.

In the study, which will be published in the January 2010 issue of the American...

Why can't chimps speak? Study links evolution of single gene to human capacity for language

2009-11-11T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

If humans are genetically related to chimps, why did our brains develop the innate ability for language and speech while theirs did not?

Scientists suspect that part of the answer to the mystery lies in a gene called FOXP2. When mutated, FOXP2 can disrupt speech and language in humans. Now, a UCLA–Emory University study reveals major differences between how the human and chimp versions of FOXP2 work, perhaps explaining why language is...

Statement by Gerald Levey

2009-11-04T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

Statement from Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor of medical sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, on the naming of his successor:

I believe the selection of A. Eugene Washington to serve as the next dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine and vice chancellor of health sciences at UCLA is an inspired choice and signals a strong commitment to the issues of greatest importance to academic medicine in the coming...

A. Eugene Washington appointed as dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences at UCLA

2009-11-04T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

Message to UCLA administrative officers, deans, department chairs, directors, vice chancellors and faculty of the medical echool and medical sciences from Scott Waugh, executive vice chancellor and provost:

Dear Colleagues:

I am very pleased to inform you that Chancellor Block and I have proposed for UC Regents’ approval the appointment of A. Eugene Washington as dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine...

Astellas, Medivation to develop, commercialize MDV3100 for treatment of prostate cancer

2009-11-04T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

Astellas Pharma Inc. of Japan and California's Medivation Inc. have announced a global agreement to develop and commercialize MDV3100, a chemical compound developed in UCLA science laboratories that is now Medivation's investigational drug for the treatment of prostate cancer.

MDV3100 is currently being evaluated in the Phase 3 AFFIRM clinical trial in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who were previously treated with docetaxel-based...

Statement on UCLA's organ transplantation program

2009-11-02T00:00:00.0000000-08:00

CBS's "60 Minutes" ran a story Sunday, Nov. 1, on the Japanese Yakuza that included numerous inaccuracies relating to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and organ transplants in general. Unfortunately, the program failed to air the complete statement provided by UCLA, which directly refuted a number of the segment's allegations.

The U.S. organ allocation system is completely transparent. In 2008, both federal legislative investigators and Centers for...

Kaiser Permanente gives $5.2 million to endow Center for Health Equity at UCLA

2009-10-29T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

The UCLA School of Public Health has received a $5.2 million gift from Kaiser Permanente to endow the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. The center, formerly known as the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, is dedicated to improving the health of underserved populations through research, community collaboration and leadership development.

"This generous funding from Kaiser Permanente will enable the center to expand...

Pediatric patients experience Halloween fun at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA

2009-10-27T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

WHAT:

Despite being in the hospital, pediatric patients at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA will still get to celebrate Halloween by dressing up in costumes, face-painting and watching a magic show. In addition, five canine teams from UCLA's People-Animal Connection (PAC), an animal-assisted therapy program, will don costumes and accompany the kids while they trick-or-treat through the hospital...

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center receives award for excellence in heart care

2009-10-21T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has been honored by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association for its commitment to and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients.

The medical center was one of only 121 hospitals nationwide to be recognized for achieving the aggressive goal of treating acute myocardial infarction patients with high compliance to levels of care outlined by these two leading national...

Feelings of stigmatization may discourage HIV patients from proper care, study finds

2009-10-21T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

The feeling of stigmatization that people living with HIV often experience doesn't only exact a psychological toll — new UCLA research suggests it can also lead to quantifiably negative health outcomes.

In a study published in the October issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers from the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that a large number of...

First-time Internet users find boost in brain function after just one week

2009-10-19T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

You can teach an old dog new tricks, say UCLA scientists who found that middle-aged and older adults with little Internet experience were able to trigger key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning after just one week of surfing the Web.

The findings, presented Oct. 19 at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, suggest that Internet training can stimulate neural activation patterns and could potentially...

Nearly all Californians would potentially be insured under national health care reform

2009-10-19T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

If national health care reform is enacted, 93 percent of California's non-elderly population would have access to health insurance — a nearly 13 percentage-point increase in statewide coverage — according to a new fact sheet released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

About 4...

Higher resource use at hospitals means reduced mortality among heart patients

2009-10-13T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Variations in how hospital resources are used across the United States have been a central component of the current discussion on health care reform. A new study by the University of California's five medical centers and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that examined variations in medical treatment, cost and patient outcomes between hospitals has some surprising new findings to add to the debate.

The study, "Looking...

UCLA gets $4.8M to create Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center

2009-10-13T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

The UCLA School of Public Health has received a major grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a center that will facilitate research to strengthen the ability of federal, state and local public health agencies to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and human-induced disasters, including terrorism.

The award, which totals $4.8 million over four years, will allow the school's Center for Public...

Breast tenderness during hormone replacement therapy linked to elevated cancer risk

2009-10-12T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Women who developed new-onset breast tenderness after starting estrogen plus progestin hormone replacement therapy were at significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer than women on the combination therapy who didn't experience such tenderness, according to a new UCLA study.

The research, published in the Oct. 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, is based on data from more than 16,000 participants in the Women's Health Initiative...

Cardiologist honored for research on effect of air pollution on heart health

2009-10-07T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Thanks to the work of Dr. Jesus Araujo, director of environmental cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, patients with high cholesterol and those at risk for heart disease may one day be told by their doctors to avoid not only fatty foods and smoking but air pollution too.

Araujo's ongoing research on the effect of air pollution on cardiovascular health has revealed that the smallest particles from...

Insured African Americans more likely to use emergency room than other insured groups

2009-10-07T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Health insurance, and the access it provides to a primary care physician, should reduce the use of a major driver of health care costs: the emergency room.

Yet in a policy brief released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, researchers found that in California, privately insured African Americans enrolled in HMOs are far more likely to use the ER and to delay getting needed prescription drugs than HMO-insured...

Shawn, Larry King to be honored at 'Party on the Pier' benefiting Mattel Children's Hospital

2009-10-07T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

CNN talk show host Larry King and his wife, Shawn, will be honored at the 10th annual Mattel Party on the Pier, which benefits Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA. The event takes Sunday, Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier.

The Kings will each be presented with an honorary white doctor's coat during a special ceremony. In addition, Mattel Inc. will present Shawn with a one-of-a-kind doll made in her image to recognize her...

Where religious belief and disbelief meet

2009-10-01T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

When it comes to religion, believers and nonbelievers appear to think very differently. But at the level of the brain, is believing in God different from believing that the sun is a star or that 4 is an even number?

While religious faith remains one of the most significant features of human life, little is known about its relationship to ordinary belief. Nor is it known whether religious believers differ from nonbelievers in how they evaluate statements of...

Half-million low-income elderly affected by sweeping cuts to state safety net

2009-10-01T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

An 81-year-old San Francisco woman with dementia, little money and an equally aged caregiver sister who is suffering from cancer.

A 72-year-old Riverside woman with Alzheimer's who cannot be left safely on her own, forcing her son to cut back his working hours to care for her.

A 78-year-old Los Angeles man with Alzheimer's whose daughter will have to quit her job to take care of him if day care services are...

Jonsson Cancer Researcher Appointed to Prestigious Pontifical Academy OF Sciences by Pope Benedict XVI

2009-10-01T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Dr. Edward De Robertis has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to a lifetime term on the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a 406-year-old organization of 80 scientists who work to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences.

Dr. Edward De Robertis

The UCLA School of Nursing is well on its way to fulfilling one of they key goals Dean Courtney Lyder set when he took the reins a year ago: enhancing the school's research structure. In 2008–09, the school received 26 research grants totaling more than $18 million — a 300 percent increase over the previous year.

Many of the grants, most of which come from the National Institutes of Health, are...

Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA presents 2009 holiday card collection

2009-09-24T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Young patients, plus celebrity designer, create meaningful cards

Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA announced the arrival of the 2009 holiday card collection created by pediatric patients at a kick-off event on Sept. 15.

Two Jonsson Cancer Center Researchers Win Prestigious NIH New Innovator Awards To Fund Leading-Edge Research

2009-09-23T00:00:00.0000000-07:00

Two researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have won prestigious New Innovator Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund their leading-edge research.