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

  • Ketchum Democrat gathers love on both sides of the aisle in recovery (Associated Press (AP))
    The AP reports: "Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett is finding plenty of support from both Democrats and Republicans as he battles brain cancer. The Democrat from Ketchum, ID had brain surgery January 29th and this week travels to the University of California, San Francisco to begin six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation."
  • UC to appeal union motion (Daily Bruin)
    The UCLA Daily Bruin reports: "Officials from the University of California said they will appeal a motion filed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Thursday to forbid the university from stopping union members from leafletting in certain areas at UC medical centers. The Alameda County Court granted AFSCME a temporary restraining order after UC San Francisco security allegedly threatened to arrest union members who were passing out union materials to passersby at the medical center on Feb. 5."
  • Voting favors nurse union (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
    The Inland Valley Bulletin reports: "Nurses at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center have voted to keep their union." --- Jean Ann Seago, associate professor of nursing at UC San Francisco, is quoted.
  • Get Your Sperm Moving (Newsweek)
    Newsweek reports: "Long overlooked, male infertility has become a fruitful field of research. Doctors now know that, when a couple fails to conceive, the problem lies with the man as often as with the woman. And as the Delaneys learned, recent advances have dramatically improved experts’ understanding of how to diagnose, treat and prevent the condition. 'Anything that makes the body unhealthy -- a disease, toxins, excessive alcohol -- will hurt fertility,' says UCSF urologist Paul Turek. “But most of these things that hurt fertility are reversible.'"
  • Esophogeal cancer took Lantos fast (Oakland Tribune)
    The Oakland Tribune reports: "U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos had none of the usual lifestyle risk factors for esophageal cancer, a relatively rare but aggressive malignancy that claims most of its victims within five years." --- Dr. Alan Venook, an oncologist with the University of California, San Francisco, is quoted.
  • Ecoerotic: Green sex toys? Yep (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
    The Bay Guardian reports: "The issue with sex toys -- one of the more recent industries to be examined through a green lens -- is twofold: disposal and toxicity. --- Tracey Woodruff, director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California at San Francisco, is interviewed.
  • New insight about asthma (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "After decades of breathtaking climbs in asthma rates in the United States, doctors are finally developing theories on what causes asthma, and how it can be prevented. 'Research for human diseases in general is really taking off. It's an exciting time,' said Dr. Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, an assistant professor at UCSF who studies the relationship between genetics and asthma rates, specifically how asthma affects different ethnic groups. 'Asthma is a complex story, meaning that it probably has genetic, environmental as well as social causes. It's not going to be one method that identifies all risk factors.'"
  • Beyond the bleachers (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "The Giants have joined one of four development groups that will be submitting proposals to the Port of San Francisco for a 75-year lease on that waterfront expanse of flat asphalt (currently the ballpark's Lot A) and an empty pier south of McCovey Cove. ... On the ballpark side of McCovey Cove, former brick warehouses have been thoroughly renovated into offices and live-work lofts. ... Across the cove, the cranes, trucks, hard hats, lumber piles and other harbingers of of prosperity from UCSF's Mission Bay's campus have moved within a long fly ball from Parking Lot A."
  • 12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement (Wall Street Journal)
    The Wall Street Journal reports: "Michael Merzenich, a neuroscience professor at UCSF and an inventor with more than 50 patents, and chief scientific officer at Posit Science Corp, is working to make 'brain exercise' as much a part of your routine in retirement as walking or jogging."

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • Wells Fargo makes record donations to Bay Area nonprofits (KTVU-TV CH 2 (FOX) San Francisco)
    KTVU reports: "Bay area nonprofit groups are benefiting by record donations made by Wells Fargo. It gave an average of $40,000 everyday, totaling $14.4 million, handing over more than 1800 grants to nonprofits such as Glide Memorial Church, San Francisco General Hospital and the Alameda Food Bank. Wells Fargo contributed $92 million to nonprofits across the country." --- Air Times: 5 and 6 AM
  • SF supervisors and healthcare professionals protest healthcare cuts today (KTVU-TV CH 2 (FOX) San Francisco -- Mornings on Two)
    KTVU reports: "San Francisco supervisors and health care professionals will rally on the steps of City Hall today to protest the city's dwindling health care efforts. They say health care cuts to places like San Francisco General Hospital are causing the city's health institutions to implode. San Francisco was viewed as a model of health care reform. State Senator Carol Migden will join in the protest." 00:33:16 -- Air Times: 5, 7 and 8 AM