FYI…UCSF in the News is a daily summary of news stories published worldwide that highlight UCSF, its affiliated programs, and issues that affect the University.  To read the full news story, click the individual headlines listed below.

On the second Wednesday of each month, FYI…UCSF in the News includes an additional "Research Roundup" section that lists research papers authored by UCSF faculty and published in the journals Cell, Health Services Research, JAMA, Lancet, Nature, NEJM, Nursing Research, and Science.

UCSF PRINT AND ONLINE COVERAGE

  • Don't Put Me Back In, Coach (BusinessWeek)
    BusinessWeek reports: "A startup called BrainScope is developing a tool that may help inform doctors about which injured players should stay on the sidelines -- or be taken to a hospital. The Chesterfield (Mo.) company's handheld device determines the severity of concussions by reading the brain's electrical signals. ... 'This sounds like a promising tool, but who knows if it will be useful once it's put through its paces?' asks Howard Rosen, a neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco."
  • Atwater youth in battle of his life (Merced Sun-Star)
    The Merced Sun-Star reports: "Life is anything but normal for David Jeffrey, Jr. Afflicted with serious ailments off and on since birth, the Atwater youth now is in the battle of his life with lung cancer and isn't sure what the future holds. His doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, told him he has a year to live. A fundraising dinner-dance is planned Saturday for Jeffrey... ."
  • Delay noted in notifying lab workers about possible exposure (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "Dozens of contract workers were not informed that they may have inhaled particles of a metal that can cause an incurable lung disease until five months after routine tests at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory uncovered the substance, a lab spokeswoman confirmed. ... 'We definitely know that continued exposure is a risk factor for progression from sensitivity to the disease,' said UC San Francisco pulmonary physician John Balmes, who focuses on occupational and environmental lung disease. 'We just can't quantitate the risk.'"
  • Thumbs up, thumbs down (Fresno Bee)
    The Fresno Bee reports: "Thumbs up to Dominic Dizon, M.D., a faculty member with the University of California at San Francisco Fresno Medical Education Program, for receiving the volunteerism and community service award from the American College of Physicians, California Northern Region."
  • Hospitals cope with critical nursing shortage (Daily Breeze)
    The Daily Breeze reports: "A contentious law passed in 1999 required hospitals to gradually lower the number of patients assigned to nurses, now no more than five in most departments. The final phase of that legislation -- the first of its kind in the nation -- went into effect Jan. 1, further decreasing the number of patients per nurse in specialized surgical and cardiac units. The ratios could go even lower based on the severity of illnesses, something hospitals are now required to take into account when assigning personnel." -- A 2007 UCSF study on the increase in nursing graduates in California is mentioned.
  • PRIMARY VIEWS Marcus A. Conant -- Candidate: Barack Obama (San Francisco Chronicle)
    Dr. Marcus Conant, clinical professor emeritus at UCSF Medical Center, parallels his experience as a physician at SFGH in the begining of the AIDS epidemic, where inexperience with the mysterious disease and hope were the dominant paradigm, with his support for Barak Obama.
  • Hot Topic Hormones (East Bay Express)
    East Bay Express reports: "An advertising brochure for Zoloft is now a hot seller in local bookstores. How? Because it's cleverly packaged as a feminist pop-psych tome titled The Female Brain (Morgan Road, $24.95), by Cal grad Louann Brizendine. Now the director of UCSF's 'Women's and Teen Girls' Mood and Hormone Clinic.'"
  • For NASA, 'The Right Stuff' takes on a softer tone (USA Today)
    USA Today reports: "NASA is looking for those who can play well with others in the close quarters of the International Space Station. 'The old concept of The Right Stuff -- the rugged test pilot, the individualist -- is just not going to work,' says Jason Kring, who studies human-spacecraft interaction at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. ... Coping skills are crucial on a station mission, which lasts three to six months, compared with 11 to 15 days for a shuttle mission. 'Anybody can get along with anybody for a couple of weeks,' says psychiatry professor Nick Kanas of the University of California, San Francisco, who studies astronaut behavior."
  • Skin deep (The Guardian)
    The Guardian reports: "It's flesh-eating, drug resistant and highly contagious - USA300 is a deadly strain of MRSA that has been identified in San Francisco. But is this new superbug the nightmare public health hazard it's feared to be? And could it spread over here?" --- Mentioned: Dr. Binh An Diep, the lead author of the recent MRSA study published in the Annals of Medicine; Dr. Henry Chambers, one of Diep's co-authors and chief of San Francisco General's infectious diseases division; Diep's colleague and co-author, Francoise Perdreau-Remington, director of the hospital's molecular epidemiology lab and Dr. Joseph Guglielmo, chairman of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at UCSF, whose job it is to monitor the effectiveness of antibiotics used in San Francisco's public hospital system.
  • Some Campuses Decide Tobacco Company Money Is 'Tainted' (New York Times)
    The University of Texas business school has decided to refuse all grants from tobacco companies. The New York Times reports: "The California Board of Regents decided in September that rather than ban tobacco money, it would require research financed by tobacco companies to be approved by the chancellor on each campus. The origins of the movement to ban tobacco money are traced to Australia, where nearly 20 universities stopped accepting money from the industry during the 1990s, said Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco medical school. Dr. Glantz was among the prime proponents of a tobacco ban in the California university system."
  • Fighting for his life 3-year-old boy readies for third open heart surgery (Merced Sun-Star)
    Three-year-old Zakery Campodonica, from Ballico in Merced County, has been treated at UCSF Children's Hospital for congential heart disease, discovered when he was a fetus. The Merced Sun-Star reports: "Unfortunately, having a heart defect isn't rare in babies. Dr. David Teitel, a pediatric cardiologist at UCSF and chief of pediatric cardiology at the university, said that about one in 100 babies is born with heart problems."
  • Health tip: When baby is crying (Washington Post - Online)
    HealthDay News reports: "Young babies cry frequently, and it's often difficult for new parents to understand what they are fussing about. The University of California, San Francisco Children's Hospital offers this checklist to help you figure out what's bothering your baby, and ways to pacify her... ."

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • Should a 340-pound teen have gastric bypass? (The Oprah Winfrey Show)
    Dr. Diana Farmer surgeon in chief at UCSF Children's Hospital, was interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey Show today, discussing gastric bypass surgery for children. Dr. Farmer emphasized the importance of having an adult make this decision for the child. --- [This program aired this morning at 9 AM in Chicago, and will air nationwide on ABC this afternoon, at 4 PM PT.]

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