October 23, 2023 – A study led by UC San Francisco has found that people who are experiencing homelessness have a 16-fold higher rate of sudden death from heart attacks, as well as other causes. The study focused on San Francisco County, which has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of homeless people. It found […]
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Why wait times in the emergency room are so long in California
Explaining why wait times can be so lengthy in the emergency room, a new study by UC San Francisco reports that emergency department capacity hasn’t kept up with patient demand in California over the last decade. The researchers found that the number of emergency departments (EDs) decreased by nearly 4% in California, while the number […]
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Makers of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Covered up the Dangers
The chemical industry took a page out of the tobacco playbook when they discovered and suppressed their knowledge of health harms caused by exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), according to an analysis of previously secret industry documents by UC San Francisco (UCSF) researchers. A new paper published May 31, 2023, in Annals of Global […]
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Chemical Exposure May Raise Your Risk for Parkinson’s
Two years of heavy exposure to TCE, a liquid chemical that lingers in the air, water and soil, may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 70%. Previous research has linked TCE, or trichloroethylene, to certain cancers, but a new study publishing in JAMA Neurology on May 15, 2023, is believed to be the first […]
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Model Shows Where Women Lost Access to Abortion After Dobbs
A third of American women of reproductive age now face excessive travel times to obtain an abortion, according to a new geospatial analysis by researchers in San Francisco and Boston that is one of the first to model the effects of the Supreme Court’s recent Dobbs v. Jackson decision. Twice as many women must now travel more […]
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Hearing loss and tinnitus are common in cancer survivors
July 27, 2022 – While children receiving chemotherapy routinely undergo hearing tests, adults don’t, and a new study by UC San Francisco reports for the first time that significant hearing issues often occur among adult survivors of the most common forms of cancer. The researchers found that more than half the survivors in their study […]
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UCSF’s David Julius Wins Nobel Prize for Work on Pain Sensation
From spider venom to chili peppers, Julius explores all avenues to understand the neuroscience of pain David Julius, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine at UC San Francisco, has won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Julius, 66, received the prize […]
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Study Links Air Pollution to Nearly 6 Million Preterm Births Around the World
Air pollution likely contributed to almost 6 million premature births and almost 3 million underweight babies in 2019, according to a UC San Francisco and University of Washington global burden of disease study and meta-analysis that quantifies the effects of indoor and outdoor pollution around the world. The analysis, published September 28, 2021, in […]
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An Estrogen Receptor that Promotes Cancer also Causes Drug Resistance
Cancer cells proliferate despite a myriad of stresses—from oxygen deprivation to chemotherapy—that would kill any ordinary cell. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have gained insight into how they may be doing this through the downstream activity of a powerful estrogen receptor. The discovery offers clues to overcoming resistance to therapies like tamoxifen that are […]
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65+ and Lonely? Don’t Talk to Your Doctor About Another Prescription
Lonely, older adults are nearly twice as likely to use opioids to ease pain and two-and-a-half times more likely to use sedatives and anti-anxiety medications, putting themselves at risk for drug dependency, impaired attention, falls and other accidents, and further cognitive impairment, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco. The study found […]
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Frontline Health Workers Across U.S. Faced Unique Stressors During COVID
April 9, 2021 – During the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency department doctors, nurses and other frontline staff experienced unprecedented levels of stress and emotional exhaustion that included nightmares or insomnia, according to a UC San Francisco-led study of emergency departments across the country. study finds The study, among the first to assess […]
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Forest Fires, Cars, Power Plants Join List of Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease
November 30, 2020 – A new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco has found that among older Americans with cognitive impairment, the greater the air pollution in their neighborhood, the higher the likelihood of amyloid plaques – a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The study adds to a body of evidence indicating that pollution […]
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ICE detention centers saw sustained outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, says study
October 30, 2020 – More than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers experienced large, repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in the last three years, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. Between Jan. 1, 2017, and March 22, 2020, the researchers identified 1,280 cases of influenza, 1,052 […]
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UCSF Study: Soft Drink Companies Copy Tobacco Playbook to Lure Young Users
March 15, 2019 – Tobacco conglomerates that used colors, flavors and marketing techniques to entice children as future smokers transferred these same strategies to sweetened beverages when they bought food and drinks companies starting in 1963, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco. The study, which draws from a cache of previously […]
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A clearer view of past climate from tree rings
March 1, 2019 – To see where the Earth’s climate is headed, we have to see where it’s been — and a new San Francisco State University study could offer a clearer picture. The study outlines a way to use a basic law of plant growth to improve estimates of historical temperature and rainfall from […]
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Dementia Risk Doubles Following Concussion, UCSF Study Shows
May 7, 2018 – Dementia should join the expanding list of possible complications following concussion, even if the patient did not lose consciousness, say researchers from UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System. In their study, which tracked more than one-third of a million veterans, the likelihood of […]
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Imported Candy at Top of Contaminated Food List in California
October 26, 2017 – Following a state law mandating testing, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued more alerts for lead in candy than for the other top three sources of food-borne contamination combined, according to the first analysis of outcomes of the 2006 law by researchers at UC San Francisco and CDPH. For […]
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Soaring Medical Costs from Bicycle Accident
June 2, 2017 – Bicycle use has skyrocketed in popularity, but it’s also led to more accidents, with medical costs from non-fatal bike crashes climbing steadily by $789 million annually, according to a new study by UC San Francisco. Over a 17-year period, medical costs of bicycle injuries to adults in the United States, both fatal and […]
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‘Dense Breasts’ Eclipse All Other Known Breast Cancer Risk Factors
February 2, 2017 – Women whose breasts are composed largely of glandular tissue, rather than fat, have an amplified risk of breast cancer, which exceeds the impact of other widely known risks on a population level, including family history of the disease, personal history of benign lesions and first full-term pregnancy over age 30. In […]
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Killing in War Leaves Veterans with Lasting Psychological Scars, Study Finds
Dec. 9, 2016 – Killing in war often triggers a moral conflict in veterans that can damage their self-image, relationships and spirituality, according to a study by UCSF researchers at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. For many of these veterans—some of whom may already suffer from post-traumatic stress (PTSD)—the guilt, shame, anger […]