By Heather Buschman, UC San Diego | March 3, 2021 In earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, before diagnostic testing was widely available, it was difficult for public health officials to keep track of the infection’s spread, or predict where outbreaks were likely to occur. Attempts to get ahead of the virus are still complicated by the fact that people can be infected and ... Continue Reading »
Health + Behavior
Novel drug prevents amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease
By Scott LaFee, UC San Diego | March 2, 2021 Amyloid plaques are pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) — clumps of misfolded proteins that accumulate in the brain, disrupting and killing neurons and resulting in the progressive cognitive impairment that is characteristic of the widespread neurological disorder. In a new study, published March 2, 2021 in ... Continue Reading »
Is this one protein responsible for weight gain?
By Wudan Yan, UC San Francisco | February 25, 2021 As obesity becomes a growing issue worldwide — nearly tripling over the last-half century — scientists are trying to gain a better understanding of the condition at the molecular level. Now, new research led by UC San Francisco scientists suggests that a single protein could play an outsized role in weight gain. As ... Continue Reading »
Poorer mental health smolders after deadly, devastating wildfire
By Scott LaFee, UC San Diego | February 09, 2021 In 2018, a faulty electric transmission line ignited the Camp Fire in Northern California, ultimately consuming 239 square miles and several communities, including the town of Paradise, which was 95 percent destroyed. At least 85 people died. Structures have been rebuilt, but some things are worse. In a paper published ... Continue Reading »
Latinx, Native Americans carry heavier pandemic burden, new poll reports
By Edward Lempinen, UC Berkeley | February 23, 2021 Voters of color in California — especially Latinx and Native American people — face disproportionate risks during the coronavirus pandemic and are far more worried than white voters about job and income loss and access to medical care, according to a new poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies ... Continue Reading »
Buyer beware: Massive experiment shows why ticket sellers hit you with last-second fees
By Morgan Foy, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley | February 9, 2021 There’s a reason that online ticket sellers hit you with those extra fees after you’ve picked your seats and are ready to click “buy.” Pure profit. A massive field experiment by Berkeley Haas Prof. Steven Tadelis with the online ticket marketplace StubHub concluded that so-called ... Continue Reading »
Partners help us stay connected during pandemic
J.D. Warren, UC Riverside | February 16, 2021 pair of UCR studies reveal that living with a romantic partner helps people feel more socially connected during COVID-19. But no other pandemic-era social dynamic carries notable benefits, the researchers found: not your kids, not kibitzing with your bestie on FaceTime, and not your adorable-adoring pets. “Research prior to ... Continue Reading »
Radioactive bone cement found to be safer in treating spinal tumors
UC Irvine | February 16, 2021 A radioactive bone cement that’s injected into bone to provide support and local irradiation is proving to be a safer alternative to conventional radiation therapy for bone tumors, according to a study led by University of California, Irvine researchers. The study shows that this brachytherapy cement can be placed into spinal bones to ... Continue Reading »
New test predicts tumors most likely to respond to radiation, chemotherapy
By Jeffrey Norris, UC San Francisco | February 12, 2021 Many cancer patients might respond better to treatments with the help of a new prognostic indicator based on a distinctive pattern of gene activity within tumor cells, according to a new study of human cancer data and experiments on human cancer cell lines grown in the lab. The new research, led by scientists ... Continue Reading »
The Odd Structure of ORF8: Scientists Map the Coronavirus Protein Linked to Immune Evasion and Disease Severity
Biologists used crystallography performed at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source to reveal the new virus’s unusual protein structure News Release Aliyah Kovner • January 12, 2021Share194TweetReddit16Share210SHARES A team of HIV researchers, cellular biologists, and biophysicists who banded together to support COVID-19 science determined the atomic ... Continue Reading »