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

  • Melatonin, light may aid people with Alzheimer's (Reuters)
    Dr. Glenna A. Dowling, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that "a morning-time dose of bright light coupled with an evening dose of melatonin may help normalize the sleep-wake cycle in elderly adults with Alzheimer's disease," said Reuters.
  • Hedge Funds Care and San Francisco 49ers Foundation (San Francisco 49ers)
    Hedge Funds Care and the San Francisco 49ers Foundation are holding the 7th annual West Coast 'Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit' at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Thursday, March 20th, at 4:30 p.m. The dinner and auctions will raise money for child abuse prevention charities. The UCSF Child Trauma Research Project was a beneficiary of last year's Hedge Funds Care fundraiser.
  • UCSF adds new vice dean to grow $1B operations (San Francisco Business Times)
    The San Francisco Business Times reports: "The University of California, San Francisco, has named Michael Hindery as vice dean for administration, finance and clinical programs at its School of Medicine. ... Hindery 'has the business skills necessary to help us continue growing the School of Medicine's excellent research, clinical and education programs,' said Dr. Samuel Hawgood, a neonatologist who is chair of UCSF's pediatrics department and interim medical school dean."
  • Laura Perez's experience as an immigrant groomed her for tending to others in desperate need (San Francisco Chronicle)
    "Laura Perez, a former undocumented immigrant herself, runs a clinic in Oakland that provides health and social services for immigrants and the poor. "She has flourished connecting with immigrant clients, and in October Perez went to Washington, D.C., to accept $125,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her role as executive director at the Fruitvale neighborhood clinic, Street Level Health Project," reports The Chronicle. --- UCSF is mentioned.
  • Will Feminists Again Attempt To Censor Science? (Town Hall)
    Town Hall.com reports: "Last week, Science Daily reported on a study from Northwestern University which proved 'that girls have superior language abilities than boys...and gender differences in language appear biological.' Through MRI scans, the researchers discovered that girls’ brains work harder and use more areas during language tasks than boys' -- leading them to conclude that 'boys’ and girls’ brains are different.'” This is bad news for feminists, who insist that men and women are really the same... ." --- Louann Brizendine, a neuropsychiatriast at the University of California San Francisco, is mentioned.
  • First-Ever Alzheimer's Rally Now Organizing (Yahoo! News -- Business Wire)
    To shine a spotlight on what has been described as “the public health crisis of the 21st Century,” the five California chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association, and its Sacramento-based California Council, today announced that volunteers and staff are organizing over 1,000 individuals from throughout California to turn up in Sacramento for a first-ever Alzheimer’s Rally on the Capitol Steps (North Side, L Street), Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 12:30pm to 2:00pm (11:30am attendees check-in). UCSF is mentioned as one of 10 Alzheimer’s Research Centers (ARCCs) in California that are facing cuts.

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • SFGH Worker's Comp Clinic closes today (NBC11 News: The Bay Area At 6)
    NBC 11 reports the worker's comp clinic at San Francisco General Hospital will shut down Friday as part of city's effort to fill-in a $28 million budget gap. Dr Brian Bast, DMD, MD at SF General Hospital, spoke to NBC about having to tell patients "we can't help you." --- Air Time: 6 PM, Duration: 00:18:25 [See http://www.seiu1021.org/Public_Health_Meltdown_in_SF.aspx for a list of proposed closures and reductions of SF public health services.]

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Give Me Some Space: A Conversation with Space Psychiatrist (Science Cafe)
    Will humans walk on other planets? UCSF psychiatrist Nick Kanas certainly hopes so. And if he has his way, these astronauts of the future won't be arguing about who goes first.
  • Tinkering with Cellular Circuits (UCSF Today)
    A team of UC San Francisco scientists, in work published in the March 14 issue of Science, have shown how a toolkit of modular molecular components and circuit boards can be used to engineer a wide variety of biochemical circuits in living cells, much as the old Heathkit electronic kits of the 1950s enabled students and hobbyists to assemble modular electronic parts into working radios and computers.
  • UCSF Children’s Hospital, de Young Museum Partner to Provide Teens Platform for Artistic Expression (UCSF Today)
    The UCSF campus community is invited to attend a performance by UCSF Children’s Hospital’s teen patients at the de Young Museum on Wednesday, March 19 at 3 p.m.