UCLA Headlines August 3, 2012

Thursday's Los Angeles Daily News featured an op-ed co-authored by Brian Taylor, director of UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies, about his research examining how the July 2011 shutdown of a major portion of the 405 Freeway affected traffic in Los Angeles.

An Examiner blog reported Thursday on a study led by Hanna Mikkola, UCLA associate professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology and a researcher with UCLA's Broad Stem Cell Research Center, showing that embryonic blood vessels that produce blood stem cells can also make heart muscle cells. Mikkola and UCLA postdoctoral fellows Amelie Montel-Hagen and Ben Van Handel were quoted.

 

A CNN.com article published today about the major electrical blackout that recently crippled large parts of India cites research by Miriam Golden, professor of political science and vice chair of graduate studies for the UCLA Department of Political Science, and colleagues demonstrating a link between electrical problems and electoral politics in India.

 

Live Science reports today on a study by an interdisciplinary team of UCLA researchers showing that the commonly prescribed antidepressant Prozac may have significant antiviral properties. Robert Damoiseaux, scientific director of the Molecular Screening Shared Resource at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and Paul Krogstad, UCLA professor of pediatrics and of molecular and medical pharmacology, are quoted.

Medwire reports today on research by Dr. Anne Coleman, professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, and colleagues showing that older patients who have their cataracts removed lower their risk of breaking a hip. Coleman is quoted.

 

The Huffington Post reported Thursday on a recent op-ed in the New York Times by Jared Diamond, UCLA professor of geography and physiology, questioning whether presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has cited Diamond's Pulitzer Prize–winning "Guns, Germs and Steel," has actually read the book.

 

Thursday's Contra Costa Times featured a Q&A about UCLA Extension's collaboration with Empowered Careers to offer new iPad-based classes for 10 Extension continuing-education certificate programs.

 

Fonarow, UCLA's Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science and director of the Ahmanson–UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, is quoted today in a HealthDay News article about research indicating that nearly half of American adults have at least one heart-disease risk factor.

Vavreck, UCLA associate professor of political science, is quoted today in a Voice of America article about how the U.S. unemployment rate may affect November’s presidential election.

Von Wachter, UCLA associate professor of economics, was quoted Thursday in a USA Today article about long-term jobless individuals whose extended unemployment benefits are about to end.