A Sampling of Clips for April 19, 2010

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

21st Century Snake Oil
60 Minutes, CBS News, April 18 -- Today, quack medicine has never been bigger. In the 21st century, snake oil has been replaced by bogus therapies using stem cells. Stem cells may offer cures one day, but medical charlatans on the Internet are making outrageous claims that they can reverse the incurable, from autism to multiple sclerosis to every kind of cancer. (Quotes UC San Diego’s Larry Goldstein, one of the nation's leading researchers in stem cell treatment) More

Defect Keeps Mice Thin No Matter How Much They Eat
USA Today, April 16 -- There may be a reason Colorado has one of the nation's lowest rate's of diabetes. UC San Diego scientists who bred mice missing a gene -- which regulates response to low oxygen levels -- found they stay thin and healthy and avoid fatty livers and diabetes even when fed extremely high-fat diets. More

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Pulitzer Poet Revels in Words, and Life
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 18 – Rae Armantrout, a diminutive woman who speaks in bursts of wry, considered words, is thrilled. Thrilled by the Pulitzer, thrilled by her recent National Book Critics Circle Award, thrilled to be alive. Armantrout has been teaching at UC San Diego for almost three decades. More

Working at Home: Family-friendly?
USA Today, April 16 -- Our lives were supposed to be more flexible and family-friendly thanks to the technology at our fingertips. But in this age of BlackBerrys and recession pressures and working from home after hours and on weekends, family time may not be working out the way we thought. (Mentions research by UC San Diego’s Valerie and Garey Ramey) More

Face Cream 'Made From Breast Milk
Could Cure Teenage Acne', Study Claims
The Telegraph, U.K., April 17 – UC San Diego scientists found that a component of mother's milk, called lauric acid, which also is found in coconut oil, had acne-fighting qualities. They found the new treatment has no side effects because it comes from natural products unlike current available treatments which can cause redness and burning. More

Party Drug Could Ease Trauma Long Term
Nature, April 16 -- Ecstasy, a drug that is illegal in most countries, is showing increasing potential as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to clinical-trial results presented at a conference in San Jose, California, today. The effect seems to continue for years after the initial treatment. (Quotes Murray Stein, a psychiatrist at UC San Diego, who is director of a 10-site clinical consortium devoted to researching PTSD and traumatic brain injury) More

A State Microbe for Cheese-Crazed Wisconsin?
NPR, April 16, 2010 -- A bill to designate lactococcus lactis the official state microbe passed the Wisconsin Assembly yesterday, and now awaits action in the state senate. Lactococcus lactis is the bacterium used to make cheese, and Wisconsin makes a lot of cheese. For more on the microbe, Michele Norris talks with Elio Schaechter, a microbiologist and visiting scholar at UC San Diego. More

An Online Site is a Gathering Place for Grieving
Kansas City Star, April 19 -- Legacy.com is among the 100 most-visited website domains on the Internet, according to comScore, a leading Internet marketing research firm. The site gets nearly 800,000 monthly visitors who write notes to the dead. Legacy.com, which began in 1998 and is one of several similar sites, allows a deceased’s memorial to be posted free for 14 days and then charges a fee. (Mentions research by James Fowler, a UC San Diego professor, who co-wrote with Christakis a book titled “Connected,” which is about the power of social networking) More

Back Pain Nearly Drove Bill Walton to End It All
San Diego Union-Tribune, April  16 -- By his count, Bill Walton has undergone 36 orthopedic surgeries at various points on his 6-foot-11 frame. But if you know Walton, then you’re aware that he’s never needed an operation on his enthusiasm for life — until 14 months ago, when his pain had reached the point where he seriously wondered if he could go on. The turnaround began when Walton was introduced to Dr. Steven Garfin, chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics (specializing in the spine) at UC San Diego, a master and teacher of new, less-invasive surgical techniques. More

Earth Day at 40
San Diego Union-Tribune, April  19 -- The idea of a nationwide environmental rally intrigued the staff of UC San Diego’s campus newspaper as plans for the event spread in April 1970 against the backdrop of Vietnam War protests and civil-rights activism. More

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UCSD Keeping Hillcrest Hospital
San Diego Union-Tribune, April  19 -- After years of sending mixed messages about long-term plans for the UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, the university’s officials now say they will build a new hospital on the site by 2030, when the current tower must be replaced or retrofitted to meet seismic standards. More

Volcanic Cloud Grounds Flights
San Diego Union-Tribune, April  16 -- A tremendous cloud of volcanic ash drifted from Iceland across Northern Europe on Thursday and brought air travel across much of the continent to a halt. (Quotes Kim Prather, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Shortage of Primary Care Doctors Hard to Pin Down
North County Times, April 17 -- A national shortage of primary care doctors ---- expected to worsen under a new federal law guaranteeing health insurance to millions more Americans ---- may have already arrived here, depending on what part of the region you live in. (Quotes Dr. Gene "Rusty" Kallenberg, chief of the family medicine department at the UC San Diego School of Medicine) More

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