Health & Behavior

Research

The Latest

More Anti-inflammatory Genes Mean Longer Lifespans for Mammals

We age in part thanks to “friendly fire” from the immune system — inflammation and chemically active molecules called reactive oxygen species that help fight infection, but also wreak molecular havoc, contributing to frailty, disability and disease. The CD33rSiglec family of proteins are known to help protect our cells from becoming inflammatory collateral damage, prompting researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to ask whether CD33rSiglecs might help mammals live longer, too.

What Is It About Yoga?

What is it about yoga that makes it such a healthful practice? Is it adding mindfulness to movement that does a body good, or adding movement to mindfulness?

Cigarette Smoke Makes Superbugs More Aggressive

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant superbug, can cause life-threatening skin, bloodstream and surgical site infections or pneumonia. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now report that cigarette smoke may make matters worse. The study, published March 30 by Infection and Immunity, shows that MRSA bacteria exposed to cigarette smoke become even more resistant to killing by the immune system.

Deconstructing Brain Systems Involved in Memory and Spatial Skills

In work that reconciles two competing views of brain structures involved in memory and spatial perception, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have conducted experiments that suggest the hippocampus – a small region in the brain’s limbic system – is dedicated largely to memory formation and not to spatial skills, such as navigation. The study is published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Open” Stem Cell Chromosomes Reveal New Possibilities for Diabetes

Cells of the intestine, liver and pancreas are difficult to produce from stem cells. Writing in Cell Stem Cell April 2, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that chromosomes in laboratory stem cells open slowly over time, in the same sequence that occurs during embryonic development. It isn’t until certain chromosomal regions have acquired the “open” state that they are able to respond and become liver or pancreatic cells.

Network News: Relationships Are Vital to School Reform

Alan Daly explores ecosystems. He also parses networks. But the former schoolteacher and school psychologist is neither a biologist nor a computer scientist. Daly is chair of education studies in the UC San Diego Division of Social Sciences who believes that the only way to improve schools is to understand the environment in which we’re trying to effect change.