University of California, San Francisco

Brain development is guided by 'junk' DNA that isn't really junk

(Medical Xpress)—Specific DNA once dismissed as junk plays an important role in brain development and might be involved in several devastating neurological diseases, UC San Francisco scientists have found.

Genetics created Apr 15, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers cure epilepsy in mice using brain cells

UCSF scientists controlled seizures in epileptic mice with a one-time transplantation of medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) cells, which inhibit signaling in overactive nerve circuits, into the hippocampus, a brain region associated ...

Neuroscience created May 05, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Communication by nerve cells shown to be more diverse than believed

A fundamental new discovery about how nerve cells in the brain store and release tiny sacs filled with chemicals may radically alter the way scientists think about neurotransmission – the electrical signaling ...

Neuroscience created Aug 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Resetting addicted brain: Laser light zaps away cocaine addiction

By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shown that they ...

Neuroscience created Apr 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify lynchpin to activating brown fat cells

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified the lynchpin that activates brown fat cells, which burn fat molecules instead of storing them, making them ...

Medical research created Oct 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Will cell therapy become a 'third pillar' of medicine?

Treating patients with cells may one day become as common as it is now to treat the sick with drugs made from engineered proteins, antibodies or smaller chemicals, according to UC San Francisco researchers. They outlined ...

Medical research created Apr 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study on multitasking reveals switching glitch in aging brain

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have pinpointed a reason older adults have a harder time multitasking than younger adults: they have more difficulty switching between tasks at the level of brain ...

Neuroscience created Apr 11, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Study links sinusitis to microbial diversity, suggests new approach for dealing with common ailment

A common bacteria ever-present on the human skin and previously considered harmless, may, in fact, be the culprit behind chronic sinusitis, a painful, recurring swelling of the sinuses that strikes more than one in ten Americans ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Sep 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New research shows mental illness common, linked to heart disease

(Medical Xpress) -- Mental illnesses -- led by anxiety disorders and depression -- now affect one-quarter of the US population according to new research. In Europe a similar proportion -- about 27 percent ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Enzyme might be target for treating smoking, alcoholism at same time

An enzyme that appears to play a role in controlling the brain's response to nicotine and alcohol in mice might be a promising target for a drug that simultaneously would treat nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse in people, ...

Medical research created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers: Societal control of sugar essential to ease public health burden

Sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health, according to a team of UCSF researchers, who maintain in a new report that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million ...

Health created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 2.9 / 5 (9) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Researchers describe genetic basis of rare human diseases

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and in Michigan, North Carolina and Spain have discovered how genetic mutations cause a number of rare human diseases, which include Meckel syndrome, ...

Genetics created Jul 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Anticipation of stressful situations accelerates cellular aging

The ability to anticipate future events allows us to plan and exert control over our lives, but it may also contribute to stress-related increased risk for the diseases of aging, according to a study by UCSF researchers.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Secrets of lung cancer drug resistance revealed

People with lung cancer who are treated with the drug Tarceva face a daunting uncertainty: although their tumors may initially shrink, it's not a question of whether their cancer will return—it's a question ...

Genetics created Jul 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Stem cell discoveries pace growing understanding of human brain's uniqueness

(Medical Xpress) -- Scientists are making great strides in figuring out how the human brain – with its expansive cerebral cortex and corresponding capacity for higher thinking – became one of nature’s ...

Neuroscience created Apr 28, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast