Skip to main content

News Archive

News Archive - Scott LaFee

Survey Finds E-Cigarette Online Market On Fire

June 16, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have completed the first comprehensive survey of e-cigarettes for sale online and the results, they believe, underscore the complexity in regulating the rapidly growing market for the electronic nicotine delivery devices.

Getting Rid of Old Mitochondria

June 16, 2014

It’s broadly assumed that cells degrade and recycle their own old or damaged organelles, but researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Kennedy Krieger Institute have discovered that some neurons transfer unwanted mitochondria – the tiny power plants inside cells – to supporting glial cells called astrocytes for disposal.

How Our Brains Store Recent Memories, Cell by Single Cell

June 16, 2014

Confirming what neurocomputational theorists have long suspected, researchers at the Dignity Health Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz. and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that the human brain locks down episodic memories in the hippocampus, committing each recollection to a distinct, distributed fraction of individual cells.

Simulator Evaluates How Eye Diseases Affect Driving

June 13, 2014

The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is the first ophthalmology department in the nation to feature a fully dedicated high-fidelity, highly realistic driving simulator for evaluating the effects of visual impairment on a person’s driving performance.

Lower Vitamin D Level in Blood Linked to Higher Premature Death Rate

June 12, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that persons with lower blood levels of vitamin D were twice as likely to die prematurely as people with higher blood levels of vitamin D.

A Key Step Toward a Safer Strep Vaccine

June 11, 2014

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified the genes encoding a molecule that famously defines Group A Streptococcus (strep), a pathogenic bacterial species responsible for more than 700 million infections worldwide each year.

Herpes Infected Humans Before They Were Human

June 10, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified the evolutionary origins of human herpes simplex virus (HSV) -1 and -2, reporting that the former infected hominids before their evolutionary split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago while the latter jumped from ancient chimpanzees to ancestors of modern humans – Homo erectus – approximately 1.6 million years ago.

HIV Transmission Networks Mapped to Reduce Infection Rate

June 5, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have mapped the transmission network of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in San Diego. The mapping of HIV infections, which used genetic sequencing, allowed researchers to predictively model the likelihood of new HIV transmissions and identify persons at greatest risk for transmitting the virus.

The Connection Between Oxygen and Diabetes

June 5, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the sequence of early cellular responses to a high-fat diet, one that can result in obesity-induced insulin resistance and diabetes. The findings also suggest potential molecular targets for preventing or reversing the process.

How to Erase a Memory – And Restore It

June 1, 2014

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have erased and reactivated memories in rats, profoundly altering the animals’ reaction to past events. The study is the first to show the ability to selectively remove a memory and predictably reactivate it by stimulating nerves in the brain at frequencies that are known to weaken and strengthen the connections between nerve cells, called synapses.
Category navigation with Social links