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

  • News in brief: Body image workshop (Bay Area Reporter)
    UCSF AIDS Health Project's REACH program will hold "Body Image: Changing How We See Our Bodies" Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is a special daylong workshop that looks at how people struggle with body image, and how that can harm relationships and lead to isolation, HIV risk-taking, and increased drug use.
  • L.A. County Department of Public Health urges Hollywood to seriously address movies' smoking impact (Centre Daily Times)
    Today the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health marked the one-year anniversary of the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) pledge to address the impact of smoking in movies aimed at teen audiences by calling the MPAA's efforts lackluster. Public Health, joined by representatives from the California Medical Association, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Smoke-free Movies Project, Breathe California Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! Project, and the American Medical Association Alliance urged Hollywood to address the fact that smoking in movies is a powerful pro-tobacco influence on children. Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at UCSF, is quoted.
  • Around the valley: Workshop on dementia set (Fresno Bee)
    Calendar Entry: San Joaquin Gardens will host a half-day workshop featuring David Troxel, co-author of "The Best Friends Approach to Alzheimer's Care," and Dr. Linda Hewett, co-director of UCSF Alzheimer's and Memory Center, 8 a.m.-noon June 5. They will discuss new trends in dementia research, treatment and care.
  • Scripps awarded $20 million in NIH money to advance research into patient treatment (San Diego Business Journal)
    A highly competitive National Institutes of Health grant designed to accelerate the pace of moving basic science from the laboratory to the patient will give the Scripps Translational Science Institute access to $20 million over five years. UCSF is mentioned for having qualified for the program in the past.
  • High-level group to review UCSF's data security (San Francisco Chronicle)
    UCSF's chancellor has formed a top-level task force to review and improve security practices following two recent security breaches involving patient medical information. "Due to recent issues, I have decided that we must now conduct a comprehensive, expedited review of actions already taken and future actions needed to protect sensitive data," said Chancellor J. Michael Bishop in a statement. Dr. Samuel Hawgood is also quoted. (Also ran on KGO-TV)
  • Clinical guideline backs food, drink during labor (U.S. News & World Report)
    Drinking and eating during labor can provide women with the energy they need and should not be routinely restricted, says a new clinical bulletin from the American College of Nurse-Midwives. "It's important that we don't unnecessarily restrict a woman's ability to eat or drink during labor. In addition to providing hydration, nutrition and comfort, self-regulating intake decreases a woman's stress level and provides her with a feeling of control," Deborah Anderson, an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a prepared statement. (HealthDay story, also ran on msn.com)

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • Pleasant Valley freshman recovering (KHSL Noon News - KHSL-TV)
    Ashley Vosburg, a vibrant, active freshman at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, was airlifted to UCSF after an injury that broke her L-1 vertebrae. Doctors say if her recovery goes well, she could eventually live a normal life, but that's a long way down the road.

UCSF RADIO COVERAGE

  • Premature births on the rise (KCBS-AM)
    Premature Births on the Rise: A new report says this may be due to unnecessary C-sections. Patricia Robertson, professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at UCSF and a high-risk pregnancy doctor, was interviewed.

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Firefly project features live reading of letters from patients and their teenage pen pals on June 4 (UCSF News Office)
    Members of the public are invited to attend a live dramatic reading of letters written by adults coping with life-threatening illnesses and their healthy teenage pen pals at the annual Firefly Project Adaptation on Wednesday, June 4. The Firefly Project is part of Art for Recovery, a program of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since 1992, thousands of letters have been exchanged between teenagers and adult patients. "These letters reveal the deep and complex meanings of illness and loss," said UCSF Clinical Artist and Art for Recovery Director Cynthia Perlis, who created the project in 1992.
  • UCSF alerts patients about a security breach (UCSF News Office)
    The University of California San Francisco is alerting a group of patients that it has discovered a security breach involving a computer that held personal patient information. During routine monitoring of the campus computer network on January 11, 2008, UCSF discovered unusual data traffic on one of its computers. The computer was immediately removed from the network to prevent further access. UCSF conducted a thorough investigation into the incident to assess how this breach occurred and whether any patient information may have been compromised. The investigation was completed this month.
  • UCSF regional pediatric MS center celebrates family fun day (UCSF Today)
    UCSF’s Regional Pediatric MS Center and the Northern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society hosted 10 families from the Western United States on May 10 for their third annual Family Fun Day.
  • UCSF stem cell and cancer symposium (UCSF Today)
    Communication between cancer experts and stem cell experts is at an exciting, pioneering stage. An important moment in the evolution of this convergence happened last Thursday and Friday at the UCSF Mission Bay campus – a "Stem Cells and Cancer" symposium presented by the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, in association with the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine. The symposium brought together research leaders from around the world.