In a small, randomized Phase I/II clinical trial (SAT1), researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say a 100-year-old drug called suramin, originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, was safely administered to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who subsequently displayed measurable, but transient, improvement in core symptoms of autism.
Liver cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of mortality worldwide and approximately half of those deaths are due to alcohol abuse. Yet apart from alcohol abstinence, there are no specific treatments to reduce the severity of alcohol-associated liver disease. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) have linked intestinal fungi to increased risk of death for patients with alcohol-related liver disease.
On Sunday, May 21, the Student Run Free Clinic Project at UC San Diego was recognized by the American Psychiatric Association for excellence in caring for the community. For two decades, the Student-Run Free Clinic Project has helped people of all ages and circumstances access high-quality health care, regardless of their ability to pay.
Among 12- to 17-year-olds who have never used tobacco products, nearly half were considered receptive to tobacco marketing if they were able to recall or liked at least one advertisement, report researchers at University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center and Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center, in a new national study. Receptivity to tobacco ads is associated with an increased susceptibility to smoking cigarettes in the future.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators across the nation, have determined that magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can be an accurate, non-invasive tool to identify liver fibrosis in children. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in children, and scarring of the liver, known as fibrosis, is a major determinant of clinical outcomes.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Ecuador and Minnesota, have found altered short-term neurological behaviors in children associated with a peak pesticide spraying season linked to the Mother’s Day flower harvest. This study examined children who did not work in agriculture but who lived in agricultural communities in Ecuador.
Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego mined the FDA Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database for depression symptoms in patients taking ketamine for pain. They found that depression was reported half as often among the more than 41,000 patients who took ketamine, as compared to patients who took any other drug or drug combination for pain.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences announced today the membership election of Christopher K. Glass, MD, PhD, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine.
Pancreatic beta cells help maintain normal blood glucose levels by producing the hormone insulin — the master regulator of energy (glucose). Impairment and the loss of beta cells interrupts insulin production, leading to type 1 and 2 diabetes. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, mapped out pathways that regulate beta cell growth that could be exploited to trick them to regenerate.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) — a condition that can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer — isn’t typically detected until well advanced. Even then, diagnosis requires a biopsy. To more easily detect NAFLD, UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers and their collaborators report that the microbial makeup of a patient’s stool — gut microbiome — can be used to predict advanced NAFLD with 88 to 94 percent accuracy. The study is published May 2 in Cell Metabolism.
Scientists and physicians at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, working with colleagues at the U.S. Navy Medical Research Center – Biological Defense Research Directorate (NMRC-BDRD), Texas A&M University, a San Diego-based biotech and elsewhere, have successfully used an experimental therapy involving bacteriophages — viruses that target and consume specific strains of bacteria — to treat a patient near death from a multidrug-resistant bacterium.
The Amazonian Center of Excellence for Malaria Research, headed by Joseph Vinetz, MD, professor of medicine and tropical disease specialist at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, will receive up to approximately $8.3 million over seven years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
With April designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness month, a team of researchers at the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) program at University of California San Diego School of Medicine has released survey results describing the habits of senior drivers in California.
Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, with colleagues in China, have reprogrammed mutated rod photoreceptors to become functioning cone photoreceptors, reversing cellular degeneration and restoring visual function in two mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa.
Rock star drummer Rikki Rockett feels very lucky to be on tour with his band, Poison, this spring. A year ago, he didn’t know if he would survive tongue cancer. But after participating in an immunotherapy clinical trial at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, he was declared cancer-free in July 2016. To give back, Rockett is now asking concert-goers to join him in supporting immunotherapy at Moores Cancer Center.
The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates quality, safety and transparency in the U.S. health care system, has named UC San Diego Health to its biannual list of hospitals with the highest safety standards in the country. UC San Diego Health hospitals in Hillcrest and La Jolla were among just 823 health care facilities nationwide to receive a grade of A for excellence in safety and quality.
In a new paper, a large team of researchers led by senior author Kelly Frazer, PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a new collection of 222 systematically derived and characterized iPSC lines generated as part of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s NextGen consortium.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with a cohort of clinical collaborators from across the United States, have demonstrated the impact of low and high birth weights in developing Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a chronic disease that often leads to a need for organ transplantation.
Phase I clinical trial evaluating safety of neural stem cell transplantation being expanded to four more qualifying participants.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at Case Western University, Duke University, the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere, have identified three novel genomic loci — distinct stretches of genetic material on chromosomes — linked to Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), which often clusters in families and is roughly 39 percent heritable.
UC San Diego Health has again been named a “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization.
From virtual reality to crowdsourcing ideas, participants at UC Health Hack 2017 combined creativity and problem-solving to create projects addressing critical issues in health systems and global health. The 181 participants focused on one of two tracks: health care delivery or refugee health.
In a new paper, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, along with colleagues in Brazil and Spain, describe the phenotypic spectrum or set of observable characteristics of congenital Zika (ZIKV) syndrome, based upon clinical evaluations and neuroimaging of 83 Brazilian children with presumed or confirmed ZIKV congenital infections.
In a new study, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, University of Cyprus and Stanford University map the complex biological cascade caused by MIA: the expression of multiple genes involved in autism are turned up or down by MIA, affecting key aspects of prenatal brain development that may increase risk for atypical development later in life.
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and University of California San Francisco, has developed a novel genetic score that allows individuals to calculate their age-specific risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), based upon genetic information.
Standard antidepressant medications don’t work for everyone, and even when they do they are slow to kick in. In an effort to find better depression treatments, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine discovered that inhibiting an enzyme called Glyoxalase 1 (GLO1) relieves signs of depression in mice. Moreover, inhibiting GLO1 worked much faster than the conventional antidepressant Prozac.
Genetic mutations that cause cancer also weaken cancer cells, allowing researchers to develop drugs that will selectively kill them. This is called “synthetic lethality” because the drug is only lethal to mutated (synthetic) cells. Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Jacobs School of Engineering developed a method to search for synthetic-lethal gene combinations. The technique, published March 20 in Nature Methods, uncovered 120 new opportunities for cancer drug development.
An international research team, led by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, has created the first cellular model of anorexia nervosa (AN), reprogramming induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from adolescent females with the eating disorder.
Each year, at precisely the same moment — 12 p.m. on the East coast, 9 a.m. on the West — thousands of graduating medical school students across the country simultaneously tear open an envelope. The single sheet of paper inside informs each graduate where he or she will do their residencies — in other words, where each will spend the first several years of their careers as working doctors.
Larry Smarr needed surgery. His surgeon performed the procedure twice: the first time on his virtual self. A look at the possible future of surgery.
Patients with drug-refractory epilepsy have a new treatment option at UC San Diego Health. Instead of traditional surgery, patients may be eligible for a novel technique that allows surgeons to target the abnormal area of brain with laser technology. The MRI-guided laser ablation treatment is a new first-line therapy for patients diagnosed with epilepsy.
UC San Diego Health gastroenterologist and colorectal cancer screening expert offers advice on screening methods for colorectal cancer.
Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego are running a Diabetes Intensive Medical Management (DIMM) “tune up” clinic for complex type 2 diabetes patients. In a study published in the March 2017 issue of the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, the researchers report the clinic’s economic benefits, which include an estimated cost avoidance of $5,287 per DIMM clinic patient over three years.
University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers screened 10,000 colonies of bacteria found on the epidermis to determine how many had antimicrobial properties and at what rate these are found on healthy and non-healthy skin. In a paper published in Science Translation Medicine, the team reports isolating and growing good bacteria that produce antimicrobial peptides and successfully transplanting it to treat patients with the most common type of eczema, known as atopic dermatitis.
An international research team, led by principal investigator Elizabeth A. Winzeler, PhD, professor in the pediatric division of host-microbe systems and therapeutics at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues have received a three-year, $4.7 million supplemental grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance their development of improved therapies for malaria eradication and elimination.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterial scourge that is resistant to most common antibiotics and thus difficult to treat, particularly in children where it commonly causes complicated skin and skin structure infections. In a randomized, controlled clinical trial — the first of its kind — a multi-institution research team reports that daptomycin, part of a new class of antibiotics currently approved only for use in adults, is effective and well-tolerated in children.
A team of 18 University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center researchers has developed a new tool to analyze an often overlooked aspect of cancer genetics — an alteration that results in the loss or gain in a copy of a gene. This change, known as somatic copy-number alterations, may be key to disease progression and might offer new therapeutic approaches for ovarian cancer and other malignancies.
Sandra Horning, MD, Chief Medical Officer and executive vice president of global development for Roche and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has been named the 2017 recipient of the Duane Roth Memorial Award, which will be presented February 16 at the annual Industry/Academia Translational Oncology Symposium at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
A remembrance of Leon Thal, MD, an early giant of Alzheimer’s disease research and treatment by Howard Feldman, MDCM, current director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Think you have an idea that will change health care but need the means to bring your innovation to fruition? Register for UC Health Hack, a two-day interdisciplinary hackathon that will bring students, physicians, researchers, industry professionals and community members together to grapple with integrative medicine and global health issues in a fast-paced competition.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine and in London and Singapore, have conducted novel whole genome sequencing of a family in which two of four children were affected by Kawasaki disease. They have identified plausible gene variants that predispose some children to developing the disease.
UC San Diego Health and the San Diego Padres reached an agreement on a multi-year partnership to become the Major League Baseball team’s Official Health Care Provider.
Research conducted at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that current trends in diagnostic coding for patient risk scores will lead to Medicare overpaying Medicare Advantage (MA) plans substantially through 2026-likely to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
In a mouse study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein that inhibits the enzyme that breaks down bilirubin in newborns. Methods that block this inhibitor, and thus restore the enzyme’s activity, could provide a new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating severe newborn jaundice. The study is published February 6, 2017 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at University of California Davis have received a $2 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for a three-year study to look at the effectiveness of two treatment options for children with KD who are resistant to initial therapy.
In a new paper published this week in PNAS, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and SignalRx, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, describe a potential new class of anti-cancer drugs that inhibit two or more molecular targets at once, maximizing therapeutic efficiency and safety.
Having a loved one go through a critical illness is a stressful and traumatic experience that may have lasting effects months after the patient is discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU). To improve the well-being of both patients and family during this vulnerable time, a set of new guidelines has been released, providing physicians with evidence-based strategies to optimize outcomes for the critically ill and those at their bedside.
The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved a pair of $2 million awards to University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers to advance studies of new treatments for Zika virus infections and the use of stem cell-derived natural killer (NK) cells to target ovarian cancer and other malignancies.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that elderly women who sit for more than 10 hours a day with low physical activity have cells that are biologically older by eight years compared to women who are less sedentary.
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