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

  • Popular heart test questioned (Baltimore Sun)
    The Baltimore Sun reports: "Despite the test's appeal and popularity, many researchers say CT angiography has not been adequately studied. 'We have a technology that takes really nice pictures,' says Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. 'But we have absolutely no data on whether it actually helps patients.'"
  • William F. Ganong -- memorial service at UCSF (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "A memorial service for William F. Ganong, the longtime chairman of physiology at UCSF who brought international recognition to his department for its distinction in the neurosciences, will be held at 2 p.m. March 3 in the Lange Room of the medical center's main library in Parnassus Heights."
  • And now here is the virus forecast (The Economist)
    Nathan Wolfe, a virologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, is "attempting to create what he calls the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI)," reports The Economist. This is still a pilot project, with only half a dozen sites in Africa and Asia. But he hopes, if he can raise the $50m he needs, to build it into a planet-wide network that can forecast epidemics before they happen. ...He is collaborating with Eric Delwart and Joe DeRisi of the University of California, San Francisco, to screen this blood for unknown viral genes that indicate new species."
  • World Health Organization Smoking Could Kill 1 Billion People Over Next Century (WNBC-TV.com -- New York)
    "A grim report from the World Health Organization...charges that, unless governments fight the plague of smoking, one billion people will die over the next century from smoking-related diseases," reports NBC in New York. "Simultaneously, here in New York the state health commissioner, in an open letter to the film industry and various companies, demands that they stop putting out movies that lure youngsters into smoking by making it seem glamorous." --- A UCSF study on smoking in movies is mentioned. For more information see: http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/about.html.

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • Medical Mystery: When Sleep Doesn't Come, Death Does (ABC - National)
    Dr. Michael Geschwind, MD, PhD, professor in neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, was interviewed by ABC News about fatal familial insomnia (FFI). --- Air Time: 9 PM PT.
  • Insurance Wouldn't Cover SF Hospital Stay (CBS 5 Eyewitness News)
    CBS 5's Consumer Watch reports that JustHealth's John Metz was able to clear Keri Jappell's bill from San Francisco General Hospital after she survived a skateboarding accident. --- Air Time: 5 PM

UCSF HEADLINES

  • UCSF to Raise Awareness of Eating Disorders This Week (UCSF Today)
    Student Health Services, along with a few other departments, is sponsoring the week-long campaign on campus to raise awareness of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which begins today (Feb. 25).