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

  • Change Lifestyle, Change Genes (CBS.com/WebMD)
    WebMD reports: "You can't get different genes, but how you act can change how your genes act, report Dean Ornish, M.D., and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). ... Ornish is joined by UCSF professor and chairman of urology Peter Carroll, M.D.; UCSF prostate-cancer geneticist Christopher Haqq, MD, PhD; and others."
  • Support Mike and Brain Research (John Battelle's Searchblog)
    John Battelle writes: "Earlier I posted about Mike Homer and his fight with CJD, a brain wasting disease. Yesterday the fight widened with the announcement of a YouTube channel in conjunction with UCSF, and more. Om has a nice writeup here."
  • Dr. Felix Kolb, endocrinologist and music lover, dies at 86 (Marin Independent Journal)
    The Marin IJ reports: "Dr. Felix Kolb, a prominent endocrinologist who published more than 160 medical papers and held leadership positions at the University of California at San Francisco, died at his Mill Valley home June 4 after suffering a heart attack several days earlier. He was 86. Dr. Kolb was a specialist in calcium metabolism, but preferred to call himself, with characteristic wit, 'Dr. Bones and Stones.'"
  • Teleconference for Media -- Crucial AIDS Bill Stalled in Senate (Marketwire/Global AIDS Alliance -- Press release)
    Paul A. Volberding, MD, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of California, San Francisco, was invited to participate in a teleconference with media at 1 pm today to provide information and support for the Lantos-Hyde US Global AIDS Leadership Act of 2008, scheduled for vote by the full Senate on June 27. The bill, passed by the House in April, increases funding for global AIDS, TB and malaria programs.
  • UCSF Nurse Feels Compelled to Help Overseas (Nurse.com)
    Nurse Magazine profiles Simin Marefat, a cardiac intensive care nurse at University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, who describes her experience working with AIDS patients as a volunteer nurse in Zambia. "Marefat has recently focused on raising money to send orphans to college in Rwanda," said Nurse.com. "Anyone interested in making a donation can visit www.orphansofrwanda.org."
  • Nebraska moves to stop coverage for erectile dysfunction (Sioux City Journal)
    The Sioux City Journal reports: "Poor Nebraskans seeking treatment for erectile dysfunction may soon be turned away by state government. State officials are proposing state Medicaid rules be changed so that the insurance program does not pay for penile implants." --- Dr. Ira Sharlip, professor of urology at the University of California, San Francisco, is quoted.

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Blog: Shower Curtains and Your Health (Science Cafe)
    Science Cafe editor Jeff Miller writes: "I hope you remember my Science Café interview with Tracey Woodruff, PhD, in 2007. An expert on the effects of environmental toxins on reproductive health, Woodruff spent considerable time discussing different classes of dangerous chemicals. Among them were phthalates. I mention phthalates again because of a story in the Los Angeles Times, based on a report by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, that revealed the presence of phthalates in softeners added to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic shower curtains."
  • Nursing School Praises Stellar Staff Member (UCSF Today)
    UCSF School of Nursing Kathy Dracup recently recognized assistant Fusaye (Fu) Kato as the recipient of the 2008 Helen Miaskowski Award for Outstanding Staff Performance.