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New technology developed at UC Berkeley is using wireless signals to provide real-time, non-invasive diagnoses of brain swelling or bleeding. The device could potentially become a cost-effective tool for medical diagnostics and to triage injuries in areas where access to medical care, especially medical imaging, is limited.
Health & medicine archive
Righting the SHIP
February 19, 2013: In a Daily Cal op-ed, three Berkeley administrators — Ron Coley, associate vice chancellor of business and administrative services; Harry Le Grande, vice chancellor of student affairs; and Andrew Szeri, dean of the Graduate Division — offer some recommendations “to ensure effective and efficient administration” of the UC Student Health Insurance Program, or SHIP.
New details on the molecular machinery of cancer
February 15, 2013: Chemist Jay Groves and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have used cutting-edge tools to reveal the workings of the epidermal growth factor receptor, which is screwed up in numerous cancers. Their picture of how the receptor changes structure when activated could help scientists understand other cancer triggers.
Check box on state tax return and help fund UC cancer research
February 15, 2013: File your California tax return and join the fight against cancer! By checking a box, the public can direct some of their tax payment to the California Breast Cancer Research Fund and the California Cancer Research Fund. Both are administered by UC for research on the diagnosis and treatment of all cancers and dissemination of information about cancer prevention and early diagnosis.
Study links air pollution to low birthweight babies
February 6, 2013: Pregnant women exposed to poor air quality are more likely to give birth to low birthweight babies, according to a study published today and described in the San Francisco Chronicle. UC Berkeley researchers and study co-authors Rachel Morello-Frosch and Bill Jesdale analyzed 1.7 million of the 3 million births in the study.
New research on AIDS transmission focuses on cheating spouses
February 6, 2013: Public-health policy for AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa underestimates the role that cheating spouses play in transmitting the virus, according to new research from UC Berkeley. For the new study, scientists created a highly detailed mathematical model to estimate whether HIV-positive individuals were infected during or prior to their current relationship.
Wellness? There’s a new Cal Rec Sports app for that
January 31, 2013: For anyone (everyone?) who makes New Year’s resolutions each year and lets them fall by the wayside, Cal Rec Sports has just the thing: a new, year-round health and wellness tool that is no further away than your computer or smartphone. The Daily Wellness Facebook app launched this week.
Endowing cells with a magnetic personality
January 31, 2013: Research News Brief: Taking a hint from magnetotactic bacteria, which make their own tiny bar magnets, UC Berkeley scientists are trying to endow other cells with internal magnets so that they can be tracked with MRI.
Nano-High: Feb. 2 talk aimed at local high school students
January 31, 2013: UC Berkeley sugar chemist Carolyn Bertozzi is the next speaker (Sat., Feb. 2, 10 a.m.) in the Nano-High series of talks sponsored by Berkeley Lab and held periodically this semester in Stanley Hall. Any high school student or teacher can sign up online and then drop in to hear about cutting-edge scientific issues of the day.
Discovery opens the door to a potential ‘molecular fountain of youth’
January 31, 2013: UC Berkeley researchers were able to turn back the molecular clock of blood stem cells of old mice by infusing them with a longevity gene. The experiment rejuvenated the aged stem cells’ regenerative potential, providing new hope for the development of targeted treatments for age-related degenerative diseases.
Research News Briefs
January 30, 2013: Research News Briefs: The star-nosed mole is helping researchers discover touch and pain receptors in humans. / The Keck Foundation is funding a project to insert tiny magnets into cells to make them easy to track with magnetic resonance imaging. / Feelings of awe make people more generous.
Poor sleep in old age prevents the brain from storing memories 
January 28, 2013: The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, UC Berkeley scientists have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory.
Public Health’s Potts: Educating women is the way to fight terrorism in the Sahel
January 25, 2013: Family planning and education for women are the best weapons to fight terrorism in Mali and the rest of Africa’s Sahel, according to an article by UC Berkeley public health professor Malcolm Potts, an obstetrician and reproductive scientist, published in the Los Angeles Times.
Public Health neuroscientist a winner of prestigious prize for dementia research
January 25, 2013: For his research on beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, Dr. William J. Jagust of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health has been named a winner of the 2013 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick’s, Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation. The $100,000 prize is an internationally recognized tribute for advancing dementia research.
Law school launches reproductive-rights center
January 17, 2013: As Roe v. Wade turns 40, Berkeley Law announces the formal launch of its new Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice. Founded by professor and Pulitzer Prize nominee Kristin Luker, it is one of the first centers to research the legal, economic and social impact of reproductive laws on women, families and communities.
Prize highlights young economist’s steady, bold trajectory
January 16, 2013: BERKELEY — UC Berkeley economist Ulrike Malmendier could have chosen any number of career paths. After all, she speaks six languages, is fascinated with Latin and Greek, and loves physics and math. While working on a Ph.D. in law, another focus of her eclectic interests, she took a modern-economics course and that changed everything. Malmendier set off to explore the [...]
Arsenic in your rice? The Wellness Letter reports
January 14, 2013: While it’s well known that many private water wells contain high concentrations of arsenic, the substance made headlines recently for its presence, as well, in rice. The UC Berkeley Wellness Report looks at recent research findings, and suggest ways to reduce arsenic consumption while still enjoying the popular grain.
Flu shots available Wednesday at Tang
January 14, 2013: It’s not too late to get a flu shot through University Health Services. Drop in this Wednesday, Jan. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., or make an appointment with the Tang Center’s Allergy/Travel Clinic.
Cheap and easy technique to snip DNA could revolutionize gene therapy
January 7, 2013: UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna discovered that an enzyme used by bacteria to defend against viruses makes a simple, precise and cheap method of cutting DNA in order to insert new genes. The technique, now proved to work in human cells, could revolutionize genome engineering and transform gene therapy.
Banguns initiative calls for change, accountability
December 21, 2012: UC Berkeley political scientist Steve Fish is helping to launch an initiative called Banguns in response to the Sandy Hook massacre. Those signing the initiative pledge to vote for, or financially support, only those elected officials who actively support effective new gun-control legislation
Big NSF grant funds research into training robots to work with humans
December 17, 2012: What if robots and humans, working together, were able to perform tasks in surgery and manufacturing that neither can do alone? That’s the question driving new cloud robotics research by UC Berkeley professors Ken Goldberg and Pieter Abbeel and colleagues from four other universities, who were awarded a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
To revert breast cancer cells, give them the squeeze
December 17, 2012: UC Berkeley researchers have found that compression can guide malignant breast cells back to a normal growth pattern. The findings, presented at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting, demonstrate the influence of mechanical forces on a cell’s destiny.
Mexican American toddlers lag in preliteracy skills, but not in their social skills, new study shows
December 11, 2012: Mexican American preschoolers fall behind their white counterparts in terms of early language and preliteracy skills, but the social competencies between the two groups are indistinguishable, according to a new UC Berkeley/UCLA study.
New gene found that turns carbs into fat, could be target for future drugs
December 6, 2012: UC Berkeley researchers have identified a gene that plays a critical role in converting dietary carbohydrates into fat. The gene, called BAF60c, could eventually be important in the development of treatments for such diseases as fatty liver and diabetes.
Sanjay Kumar wins Young Investigator Award for neural stem cell research
December 4, 2012: Dr. Sanjay Kumar, associate professor of bioengineering, has been named the winner of the Young Investigator Award by the journal Stem Cells for leading research into the microenvironmental regulation of neural stem cells. The $10,000 prize is awarded annually to a young scientist whose paper has been judged to be of worldwide significance by a global jury.
Blood drive at Pauley today
December 3, 2012: Blood Drives @ UC Berkeley provide much-needed blood to hospitals throughout the Bay Area. The final campus session of 2012 is Tuesday afternoon; make an online appointment with the American Red Cross.
Let there be clean light: Kerosene lamps spew black carbon, should be replaced, study says
November 28, 2012: Kerosene lamps, the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations, churns out black carbon at levels previously overlooked in climate warming estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The new findings result in a 20-fold increase to previous estimates of black carbon emissions from kerosene-fueled lighting. The good news is that affordable, cleaner alternatives exist.
New grant will accelerate job creation, economic development in East Bay
November 28, 2012: Bay Area Congressional leaders announced a $2.2 million investment by five federal agencies that will help create high quality regional jobs in bioscience and medicine manufacturing and make Northern California an epicenter for biotech careers and innovation.
Last fall flu-shot clinic Thursday
November 28, 2012: The Tang Center’s last fall-semester flu-shot clinic will be this Thursday, Nov. 29, from noon to 5:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary. The clinic is open to the campus and community, for those college age and above. The cost is $25, free for students with UC SHIP.
Study finds toxic or untested flame retardants in most furniture
November 28, 2012: A study by Arlene Blum, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, and colleagues at Duke University found that 85 percent of all couches tested contained flame retardants that are either toxic or lack adequate health information. They urge California and other states to revise laws so that toxic chemicals are not required in order to insure fire-safe furniture.
Are you ready for flu season?
November 26, 2012: Each year the flu puts more than 200,000 Americans in the hospital and causes between 3,000 and 49,000 deaths. Are you protected? The UC Berkeley Wellness Letter offers tips for arming yourself against this year’s flu bug.
