:: Home

Briefs online

Pluses and Minuses for Latinos’ Health

Los Angeles County suffers from an acute shortage of culturally competent doctors to treat the area's Latino community, compounding the problems Latinos experience accessing medical care, according to a UCLA study. Latinos make up the highest percentage of adults lacking health insurance. On the plus side, Latinos are becoming more physically active and have decreased their tobacco use in recent years, and continue to have lower rates of heart disease, cancer and stroke, according to the study from the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. The long‑term threat to this healthy Latino profile is an ominous increase in those overweight and obese youths and adults. The findings are part of a report sponsored by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles that also examines housing, education, economic development and public safety.

Who’s Prepared?

Just one-third of Los Angeles County residents have prepared for the aftermath of a terrorist attack, with the highest levels of preparation among African Americans and Latinos, according to a report issued by researchers from the RAND Corporation, UCLA and Los Angeles County. Few people have either stockpiled emergency supplies or developed a family response plan, even though nearly 60% of those surveyed expected the region to be struck by a terrorist attack in the year ahead, according to researchers from RAND Health, UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The study is in the January edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The findings are based on an analysis of data from the Los Angeles Health Survey directed by Los Angeles County.

Alzheimer defect traced 

A new UCLA/Veterans Affairs study implicates defects in the machinery that creates connections between brain cells as responsible for the onset of Alzheimer disease. The defect in PAK enzyme signaling pathways — vital to creation of these connections, or synapses — is related to loss of a synapse protein in certain forms of mental retardation, such as Down syndrome. The new finding suggests therapies designed to address the PAK defect could treat cognitive problems in both patient populations. The peer-reviewed journal Nature Neuroscience published the study online Jan. 15. “The emerging lesson is that cognitive problems in Alzheimer disease are related to defects in the machinery controlling neuronal connections, not the lesions observed by pathologists,” said principal investigator Greg Cole, professor of medicine and neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Alzheimer Disease Research Center at UCLA.  Cole is also with the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Health Care System and Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center.
A copy of the full study can be found at http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn1630.html.

Keep your Heart Healthy

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s a great time to take a look at the state of your heart. UCLA Medical Center will hold National Heart Failure Awareness Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, in the 200 Medical Plaza lobby. You’ll find exhibits with information about heart failure, drug and device therapy, heart disease risk factors, women’s heart disease, diet instruction and organ donation. “Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, the Eliot Corday Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and Science, professor of cardiology and director of the Ahmanson‑UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “However, healthy lifestyle habits, control of risk factors and the right therapies can help prevent disease and significantly improve a person’s quality of life.”

Nano-Motor

With NSF funding, chemists at Italy’s University of Bologna, UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute have designed and constructed a molecular motor that is powered only by sunlight. “The achievement … is the culmination of a research effort lasting a quarter of a century and involving hundreds of students and millions of dollars,” said Fraser Stoddart, UCLA’s Fred Kavli Professor of NanoSystems Sciences and director of the institute. The nano motor can work continuously without any external interference. Precisely how the light-powered nano motor will be used in the future is not yet clear, Stoddart said, but he listed possible areas for applications: nanoelectronics, molecular computers and nano valves that perhaps could be used for the delivery of anti-cancer drugs and other medications.