A Sampling of Clips for November 30^th, 2009

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

Autism Treatment Works in Kids as Young as 18 Mos.
The New York Times, Nov. 30 -- The first rigorous study of behavior treatment in autistic children as young as 18 months found two years of therapy can vastly improve symptoms, often resulting in a milder diagnosis. The study was small -- just 48 children evaluated at the University of Washington -- but the results were so encouraging it has been expanded to several other sites, said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of the advocacy group Autism Speaks. Dawson, a former University of Washington professor, led the research team. (Quotes Laura Schreibman, an autism researcher at UCSD) More

Similar stories in:
MSNBC
Boston Globe

'Hoarders' Digging up Drama, Helping Compulsive Pack Rats
USA Today, Nov. 30 -- Firing up another in a chain of Marlboros, Deborah nervously awaits a small army massing at her rural, wood-framed bungalow. Deborah, 49, is about to become the latest star of A&E Network's docu-reality hit Hoarders (second-season premiere tonight, 10 ET/PT). Exposing the overflowing homes and emotionally wrought lives of extreme pack rats like Deborah has made Hoarders A&E's most-popular series, averaging 2 million viewers a week. (Quotes Sanjaya Saxena, a UCSD School of Medicine psychiatrist who has studied compulsive hoarders for the past decade) More

Smart Phone Application Helps Illegal
Immigrants Navigate Safely Across Border
MSNBC, Nov. 30 -- San Diego research team is close to releasing a smart phone application to help illegal immigrants navigate safely across the border. The 'Transborder Immigrant tool' is a humanitarian tool designed to save lives, according to the application's creators at UCSD. Critics, including the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, are outraged and think the app's creators should be arrested. More

Similar stories in
XETV
North County Times

A Connected Life is a Great Gift
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 26 -- For most people, the holiday season means spending time with friends and family. We invite them to our Thanksgiving table. We send them cards. We kiss them under the stars to usher in the new year. But we also get angry at them, deal with their demands and endure their opinions of one another. Amid all this stress, we may be tempted to abandon some of our friends or disconnect from some of our family. But that would be a mistake. We need our connections, good and bad. Every one of them. (Written by Nicholas A. Christakis of the Harvard Medical School and James H. Fowler, political science professor at UCSD, coauthors of "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.") More

Kids and Dirt Are Healthy Companions
About.com, Nov. 27 -- Parents don't need to be obsessive about keeping their children away from dirt and grime. I already clued in that it was not a good idea to become overly vigilant at scrubbing away cruddies by over-sanitizing the skin. But... not all parents feel the same as I do. Allowing your kids' skin to be exposed to "good bacteria" is a good way to help build immunity. New science is backing up the hygiene hypothesis that was originally theorized in the 1980s. Debra Kain reports "research at the UCSD School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury." More

UCSD, Region Linked in Many Ways
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 27 -- Notable recent events – the announcement that the San Diego region has qualified for more than $150 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds for solar-energy initiatives, UCSD’s surpassing the $100 million mark in federal stimulus funds and a visit by Sen. Barbara Boxer to the campus’ Moores Cancer Center to see some of the benefits of stimulus funding – all remind us that the university and San Diego are partners who prosper when working together. We are proud of the success of the region’s recent application for federal support of solar projects. Our communities earned access to money to decrease energy costs and boost greener energy. (Written by Marye Anne Fox chancellor of UCSD and Arthur B. Ellis vice chancellor for research) More

Scientists Weigh In On
the Politics Of Climate Change
KPBS, Nov. 30 -- When climate scientists talked recently about their latest research on global warming, they also responded to questions about the politics surrounding climate change. Here's a glimpse into the scientists' take on the role politics plays in the climate change debate. The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a 60-page synthesis of recent research compiled and issued by 26 leading international climate scientists including Richard Somerville, a distinguished professor of meteorology at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. More

Carbon Dioxide Not the Only Climate Enemy: UCSD Scientists Focusing on Others
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 29 -- When it comes to climate change, carbon dioxide is seen by many as the biggest villain and the main target of a much-anticipated meeting next month in Copenhagen to fashion an international strategy on global warming. But two high-powered scientists at UCSD and their colleagues are trying to focus attention on a handful of other climate enemies that lurk in the shadows. By quickly arresting soot, methane, low-level ozone and hydrofluorocarbons, the researchers said the world can delay climate change by roughly 40 years — enough time to significantly trim emissions of carbon dioxide. More

H.M. Recollected: Famous Amnesic
Launches a Bold, New Brain Project at UCSD
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 30 -- As best he could remember, Henry Gustav Molaison never visited San Diego, spending his entire life on the East Coast. When he died late last year at the age of 82, Molaison was a man almost entirely unknown except by his initials H.M. and the fact that experimental brain surgery had erased his ability to form new memories. He forgot names, places, events and faces almost immediately. Half an hour after lunch, he couldn’t recall what he had eaten, or that he had eaten at all. His face in the mirror was a constant surprise because he remembered only what he looked like as a young man. Every question was new, even those asked just minutes before. (Quotes Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, a professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD at the time of Molaison’s death) More

In ‘Lilith’ Family You Start Young
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 29 -- Jonah Davis is only 12, but his parents don’t bat an eye when he sings about shooting someone in the head ... three times, a lyric from a song he has been practicing and honing for the past month at his family’s home in University City. “Jonah has perfect pitch, which I don’t,” said his proud mother, Cynthia-Aaronson Davis. “He learns music very fast and has an amazing ear,” added Anthony Davis, Jonah’s equally proud father, a music professor at UCSD for the past 11 years. More

No Easy Answers
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 29 -- Internationally known architect Léon Krier swept into San Diego this month to speak to a Balboa Park crowd that was yearning for easy answers to the tough job of reviving cities at the depths of a recession. Krier, who was born in Luxembourg, is a part-time lecturer at Yale and has been the favorite architect of Britain’s Prince Charles for years, had been here twice before. He complimented the locals on a job well done, particularly in cleaning up Balboa Park and redeveloping downtown. (Quotes UCSD visual arts professor Teddy Cruz, a nationally recognized local architect who specializes in infill redevelopment and sits on the downtown redevelopment board) More

Web Archives Developed
La Jolla Light, Nov. 26 -- UCSD librarians are part of a collaborative effort to build a series of Web archives on critical subjects such as the swine flu epidemic and the devastating California wildfires of 2007. The archives use a new web Archiving Service (WAS) developed by the UC's California Digital Library (CDL), which has enabled librarians to capture, curate and preserve Web sites for the benefit of researchers and the general public. More

Gates Foundation Grants Announced
Del Mar Times, Nov. 26 -- Funding for two research projects at the UCSD School of Medicine are among the 76 grants announced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the third funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations. The two $100,000 grants to UCSD will support novel research to help develop new weapons in the fight to eradicate malaria. Recipients of one grant are postdoctoral researcher Kailash Patra, Ph.D.; Joseph Vinetz, M.D., a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease; and Philip Felgner, Ph.D., professor and director of Protein Microarry Laboratory, UC Irvine. More

* Subscribe with In the News and receive our clips automatically