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News Archive - School of Medicine

New Mouse Model Replicates an Underlying Cause of Intellectual Disability

September 29, 2017

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed the first mice that lack the Upf3b gene, providing a new model for studying its underlying role in intellectual disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Shows Promise for Treating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

September 28, 2017

Using a form of low-impulse electrical stimulation to the brain, documented by neuroimaging, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) and collaborators elsewhere, report significantly improved neural function in participants with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Smart Molecules Trigger White Blood Cells to Become Better Cancer-Eating Machines

September 28, 2017

A team of researchers has engineered smart protein molecules that can reprogram white blood cells to ignore a self-defense signaling mechanism that cancer cells use to survive and spread in the body. Researchers say the advance could lead to a new method of re-engineering immune cells to fight cancer and infectious diseases. The team successfully tested this method in a live cell culture system.

Editing Genes One by One Throughout Colorectal Cancer Cell Genome Uncovers New Drug Targets

September 27, 2017

Cancers driven by mutations in the KRAS gene are among the most deadly. For decades, researchers have tried unsuccessfully to directly target mutant KRAS proteins as a means to treat tumors. Instead of targeting mutant KRAS itself, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine are now looking for other genes or molecules that, when inhibited, kill cancer cells only when KRAS is also mutated.

“Top Docs” Raise the Bar at UC San Diego Health

September 22, 2017

More than 100 physicians from UC San Diego Health were named “Top Docs” in the annual San Diego Magazine “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” annual survey. These physicians represent 45 diverse specialties, from infectious disease, surgery and oncology to obstetrics, cardiology and emergency medicine.

Exosomes are the Missing Link to Insulin Resistance in Diabetes

September 21, 2017

Chronic tissue inflammation resulting from obesity is an underlying cause of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. But the mechanism by which this occurs has remained cloaked, until now. In a paper, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified exosomes — extremely small vesicles or sacs secreted from most cell types — as the missing link.

Drug Combination May Improve Impact of Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

September 21, 2017

Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found a way to double down on immunotherapy’s effectiveness.

Researchers Develop New Tool to Assess Individual’s Level of Wisdom

September 20, 2017

Researchers at University of San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new tool called the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE) to assess an individual’s level of wisdom, based upon a conceptualization of wisdom as a trait with a neurobiological as well as psychosocial basis.

Brain Powered: Increased Physical Activity Among Breast Cancer Survivors Boosts Cognition

September 19, 2017

It is estimated that up to 75 percent of breast cancer survivors experience problems with cognitive difficulties following treatments, perhaps lasting years. Currently, few science-based options are available to help. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report in a pilot study of 87 female breast cancer survivors that an increase in physical activity more than doubled the women’s post-treatment mental processing speed.

People with Schizophrenia Left Out of Longevity Revolution

September 15, 2017

A team of researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System analyzed published longitudinal studies of mortality in schizophrenia that met their strict research criteria and found that the mean standardized mortality ratio – a measure of the mortality rate in schizophrenia – has increased 37 percent from pre-1970s studies to post-1970s studies.
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