Health
State of Health
UCSF Initiative Links ‘Sugar Science’ to Your Health
A new initiative from UC San Francisco is spelling out the health dangers of sugar in clear terms. The “sugar science” project distilled mountains of research on the health impacts of added sugar and found links to three chronic illnesses. ...Read More
State of Health
State Issues ‘Tailored’ Quarantine Guidelines for Travelers from Ebola-Affected Countries
Gov. Jerry Brown met last week with state officials, including state health officer Dr. Ron Chapman, center left. (Brad Alexander/Office of the Governor) Joining other states across the country, California's health officer has now added guidelines for a “risk-based quarantine order” for people traveling to California from one of the three ...Read More
KQED Science
Berkeley Lab Tackles Global Vaccine Delivery Problem with Portable Solar-Powered Fridge
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a portable vaccine solar-power fridge designed to run without power for five days, so vaccines are still viable when they are delivered in remote countries.
KQED Science
‘Bionic Eye’ Allows Some Blind People to See Light
A California woman recently became the first person in the West to receive a new type of bionic eye, an implant that will help her see for the first time in nearly three decades.
State of Health
Vaccine Opt-Out Rate at Son’s School is 32% — ‘Should I Freak Out?’
(Jeff J. Mitchell: Getty Images) Statewide, there has been a dramatic increase in parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. The rate of parents opting out by filing what's called a “personal belief exemption,” or PBE, doubled over seven years. Parents check a school's test scores in advance. Why not vaccine rates? Earlier ...Read More
State of Health
Genetic Variant Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Rates in Latinas
(Getty Images) Researchers have long known that Latina women have lower rates of breast cancer compared to African-American and white women. They have mainly pointed to lifestyle and environmental factors to explain why –- Latinas tend to have more children, breast feed longer, and drink less alcohol, all factors that are ...Read More
State of Health
Ebola Is Not That Contagious, and 10 Other Quick Facts
Two nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas contracted Ebola from a patient they were treating, but 44 of 48 others who came in contact with the patient, including his fiancee, have completed their quarantine period and are cleared of the disease. The remaining four should complete their quarantine ...Read More
KQED Science
New Research Shows Targeted Antioxidants Help Mice Live Longer, Healthier Lives
While many of the benefits of antioxidants are undoubtedly oversold, we do know that if given at high enough levels and targeted to the right place, antioxidants can help a mouse live 10-20% longer. If this holds up in people, that is equivalent to an extra 7-14 years for people here in the U.S.
KQED Science
Drought-Stressed Crops May Be Better For You
Scientists in California's Central Valley are testing the nutrient content of fruits grown with less-than-normal amounts of water. And the findings so far are raising a question: will consumers buy fruits that are just as nutritional, or sometimes higher in antioxidants, if they aren't as pretty?
State of Health
Poll: More Than Half of Americans Worry About Ebola Outbreak in U.S.
A Harvard School of Public Health poll finds that more than a third of Americans (38 percent) are worried that Ebola will infect them or a family member over the next year.
QUEST
In Rare Sea Snail, Scientists Find Compound That Could Help Cancer Patients
PORT HUENEME — Frank Oakes is betting his future on a snail. Thousands are suctioned onto the walls of 19 outdoor aquaculture tanks behind his office in Port Hueneme, California, south of Santa Barbara. Shaped like oblong cinnamon rolls, the black, tan, and striped snails may live up to 60 ...Read More
State of Health
32 Myths — and Plenty of Facts — About the Flu Vaccine
KQED News social media editor Olivia Allen-Price gets her flu shot. (Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED) By Tara Haelle, NPR Brace yourselves: Flu season is coming. And along with the coughing, fevers and aches you can expect a lot of unreliable or downright wrong information about the flu vaccine. Flu kills more ...Read More
KQED Science
Do Wearables and Health Apps Belong in the Doctor’s Office?
Wearables and health apps made a multi-billion-dollar industry out of healthy peoples' desires to count calories and rack up steps. Now can this technology make the transition to a medical setting, to help people with chronic illnesses?
State of Health
Why Advocates Say Brown’s Veto of Livestock-Antibiotics Bill is a Good Thing
(iStock/Getty Images) By Joe Rubin Senate Bill 835 was crafted as a measure aimed at limiting antibiotic use in livestock. To those concerned about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, it might seem surprising that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill earlier this week. Yet advocates believe that in ...Read More
The California Report
California-Trained Doctor Helps Keep Liberian Hospital Open During Ebola Crisis
While many run from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, some brave souls are running toward the region to help. Dr. James Appel is one of those. Trained in the Inland Empire at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, he's been working for Adventist Health International at hospitals in ...Read More
KQED Science
MRI Research at UCSF Could Help Diagnose Dyslexia Even Earlier in Children
UCSF researchers aim to predict whether children will develop dyslexia before they show signs of reading and speech problems, using a variety of methods including MRI brain scans.
KQED Science
How Big Data Is Changing Medicine
Used to be that medical researchers came up with a theory, recruited subjects, and gathered data, sometimes for years. Now, the answers are already there in data collections on the cloud. All researchers need is the right question.
State of Health
Drought May Be Driving Increase in West Nile
A security guard walks the perimeter of the Almaden Reservoir in San Jose. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Public health experts say the state's historic drought is partly to blame for the recent rise in West Nile virus infections. Cases this year have more than doubled ...Read More
State of Health
California's Vaccine Opt-Out Rate Doubled in 7 Years
California law requires that children entering kindergarten be fully vaccinated against a range of diseases. But the rate of parents opting out of vaccines for their children has doubled since 2007. Look up information about schools here.
State of Health
By Richard Harris, NPR Ian Glomski thought he was going to make a difference in the fight to protect people from deadly anthrax germs. He had done everything right — attended one top university, landed an assistant professorship at another. But Glomski ran head-on into an unpleasant reality: These days, ...Read More
