Health + Behavior

By combining, for the first time, "connectome" brain scans, extensive genomic screening and high-powered computing, scientists quickly zeroed in on a faulty gene.

Overlapping financial, cultural and communication barriers often prevent Latino men with prostate cancer from accessing the care they need, UCLA researchers say.

The encouraging results of Project Access, which involved 48 communities in Africa and Thailand, have "major health benefit implications," said UCLA's Thomas J. Coates.

Those who reported the greatest support also had the smallest increases in a pregnancy-related stress hormone that has been associated with depression after birth.

Long thought to be just genetic "garbage," mutant viruses can tag along with their normal cousins and, in some cases, increase disease transmission by up to 10 percent.

In findings that have implications for L.A.'s recent TB outbreak, researchers show that certain bacteria pretend to be viruses -- a tactic that allows them to hide out inside our cells.

Providers need to make sure patients with limited English proficiency have access to interpreters and translated materials to assure high-quality care, a UCLA report says.

UCLA researchers and colleagues have discovered that acne bacteria contain "bad" strains associated with pimples and "good" strains that may protect the skin.

Public health scholars and policymakers agree it is possible to get people to choose healthier options if they are engaged on several fronts, including enforcement by law. "Policy is not a dirty word," said Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Dr. Jonathan Fielding, a distinguished UCLA professor of health services and pediatrics.

By "grabbing" these cells, doctors can perform a "liquid" biopsy, allowing for earlier detection and better monitoring of cancer progression and treatment.

Unusually high calcium levels in the blood can almost always be traced to primary hyperparathyroidism, an undertreated, underreported condition that affects mainly women and the elderly, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.

Researchers found that scopolamine, often used for nausea and motion sickness, could boost the effectiveness of an anxiety treatment known as exposure therapy.

By combining a signaling molecule with a polymer, the team created a therapy that mimics the body's natural ability to heal itself and that can be shipped and stored safely.

A new "pill" created by UCLA engineers and colleagues mimics the action of the human liver, helping speed up the elimination of alcohol from the body.

Depressed seniors not being treated with antidepressants showed a weaker immune response to the shingles virus — and thus were less able to respond to the vaccine.

Researchers say that a new minimally invasive "keyhole" surgery to remove blood from the brain may benefit patients previously deemed lost causes.

The CH25H enzyme has broad virus-fighting properties and potentially could be used as a weapon against deadly pathogens that cause HIV, Ebola and Rift Valley Fever.

UCLA researchers found that gay and bisexual black and Latino men voluntarily used health-related Facebook groups to discuss HIV and request at-home testing kits.

The UCLA-developed polymer capsule delivers cell-destroying material to the nucleus of cancer cells, inducing their death while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Both nurtritional substances appear to boost the ability of critical immune cells to gobble up amyloid-beta and other waste products in the brain and body, UCLA researchers say.

A gene thought to express the so-called heat shock protein αB-Crystallin in all cells that experience stress instead expresses it only in certain cell types, researchers say.

Researchers found that the more food and soda ads there are in a given neighborhood, the higher the likelihood that the area's residents are overweight.

As part of the Human Brain Project, UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging will help aggregrate the world's data on the brain and reconstruct it in computer-based models.

The initiative, envisioned and supported by Jane and Terry Semel, will integrate health and wellness programs across UCLA to help make healthy living a natural part of campus culture.

Scientists have now pinpointed a tiny segment of the toxic amyloid-beta protein that they believe facilitates "clumping" and the subsequent death of brain cells.