Using a recently developed biomarker of aging known as an epigenetic clock, UCLA researchers working closely with a German team of investigators have found for the first time that obesity greatly accelerates aging of the liver. This finding could explain the early onset of many age-related diseases, including liver cancer, in people who are obese. (more…)
Researchers at UCLA have created a nanoscale magnetic component for computer memory chips that could significantly improve their energy efficiency and scalability.
The design brings a new and highly sought-after type of magnetic memory one step closer to being used in computers, mobile electronics such as smart phones and tablets, as well as large computing systems for big data. The innovative asymmetric structure allows it to better exploit electrons’ spin and orbital properties, making it much more power efficient than today’s computer memory. (more…)
Researchers were able to improve walking and prolong survival in a mouse model by tweaking potassium levels
By boosting the ability of a specific type of cell to absorb potassium in the brain, UCLA researchers were able to improve walking and prolong survival in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease.
Their findings, published March 30 in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience, could point to new drug targets for treating the devastating disease, which strikes one in every 20,000 Americans. (more…)
A team of researchers from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a Google Glass application and a server platform that allow users of the wearable, glasses-like computer to perform instant, wireless diagnostic testing for a variety of diseases and health conditions.
With the new UCLA technology, Google Glass wearers can use the device’s hands-free camera to capture pictures of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), small strips on which blood or fluid samples are placed and which change color to indicate the presence of HIV, malaria, prostate cancer or other conditions. Without relying on any additional devices, users can upload these images to a UCLA-designed server platform and receive accurate analyses — far more detailed than with the human eye — in as little as eight seconds. (more…)
Black patients fare worst; Asians, Hispanics survive longest with disease
UCLA researchers have found that minority patients and those of lower socioeconomic status are far more likely to have advanced thyroid cancer when they are diagnosed with the disease than white patients and those in higher economic brackets.
In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, the UCLA team looked at nearly 26,000 patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer and analyzed the impact of race and socioeconomic factors on the stage of presentation, as well as patient survival rates. (more…)
Temperatures in central China are 10 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit hotter today than they were 20,000 years ago, during the last ice age, UCLA researchers report — an increase two to four times greater than many scientists previously thought.
The findings, published on May 14, 2013, in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help researchers develop more accurate models of past climate change and better predict such changes in the future. (more…)
FINDINGS:
Imagine how much you could save on your electricity bill if you could use the excess heat your computer generates to actually power the machine.
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have taken an important step toward harnessing that heat and converting it for practical use. The advance could lead to more energy-efficient appliances and information processing devices. (more…)
Opening the door to more sophisticated investigation of sperm locomotion and biophysics, researchers from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have identified previously unobserved swimming patterns in human and horse sperm cells.
This research, published in Scientific Reports, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group, could lead to a deeper understanding of how sperm move on their way to fertilization or other functions and how they react when encountering various toxins or chemicals. (more…)
