http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/ Headlines from the University of California, Berkeley Steve McConnell - steve.mcconnell@berkeley.edu en-US http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/11/05_gatesgrant.shtml UC Berkeley researchers have received a five-year, $10.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to evaluate several interventions to combat diarrheal disease in developing countries. The goal of the new project is to determine how sanitation interventions, delivered alone or as part of combined intervention packages, impact child health and well-being. Published: 05 November http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/11/04_teen_insomnia.shtml After a late night of texting, instant-messaging or updating Facebook, it’s hardly surprising that many teenagers show up groggy for school. And, studies show, sleep deprivation can lead to poor academic performance, truancy and greater dropout rates, especially for those prone to depression. To address this troubling trend, UC Berkeley's Sleep and Psychological Disorders Laboratory – in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente, Oregon – has begun recruiting middle and high school students for a study to see if depression can be alleviated if they get enough sleep. Published: 04 November http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/10/26_natl_cancer_institute.shtml The National Cancer Institute is opening a new front in the war on cancer, funding 12 physical science-oncology centers across the country to see what engineers, mathematicians, chemists and physicists can learn about cancer cells. UC Berkeley's Jan Liphardt heads one center that will receive nearly $16 million over five years. Published: 26 October http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/10/15_cancer.shtml If susceptibility to cancer is the result of inherited genetic mutations, then all the body's cells should have these mutations. Since skin cells are easy to culture, argues cell biologist Harry Rubin, by observing the behavior of skin cells in a Petri dish it may be possible to detect those mutations that increase our cancer risk. Published: 15 October http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/30_muscle.shtml A study led by UC Berkeley researchers has identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle. By manipulating these pathways, the researchers were able to turn back the clock on old human muscle, restoring its ability to repair and rebuild itself. The findings provide promising new targets for stemming the debilitating muscle atrophy that accompanies human aging, the researchers say. Published: 30 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/29_athena.shtml UC Berkeley is one of six UC campuses participating in an unprecedented initiative to study and drive innovations in breast cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. The large-scale demonstration project, called the ATHENA Breast Health Network, was announced Tuesday, Sept. 29 by the University of California. Published: 29 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/21_healthreform.shtml"> <rssT>Whither healthcare reform? Policy experts at Berkeley offer insights and predictions on the debate</rssT> </a> </span><br /> <rssD>National healthcare reform continues to dominate the headlines, with Congress laboring over various proposals and President Obama making his case for reform to the public. To help shed light on where the debate stands today, and where it may be headed, the NewsCenter queried heathcare-policy experts at Berkeley for their insights — asking what they would like to see in a comprehensive healthcare plan, what compromises they expect from Congress, and what they predict will finally emerge.</rssD> <br /> <span class="date">(<rssDt>21 September</rssDt>)</span> </p> <p><span class="headline"> <rssL><a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/17_endurancetraining.shtml After menopause, decreased estrogen and changes in body composition affect women's metabolism. But does this affect women's response to exercise? A new UC Berkeley study shows that postmenopausal women benefit as much as younger women do from endurance training, improving both cardiovascular and respiratory fitness. Published: 17 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/16_optogenetics.shtml A new technique employing photoswitches and gene targeting is proving a boon to biologists because it allows researchers to non-invasively turn on small populations of cells as easily as flipping a light switch. Developed at UC Berkeley, the new and flexible technique has helped answer a long-standing question about the function of a class of enigmatic nerve cells in the spinal cord. Published: 16 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2009/09/10_H1N1.shtml Berkeley is preparing for an anticipated surge in flu cases this semester, with an interdepartmental effort aimed at limiting the disease's impact on students and campus operations. Published: 10 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/09/03_pathogens.shtml Most successful vaccines stimulate antibodies that attack and kill viruses as they scoot from one cell to another. But what about viruses and other pathogens that never leave the cell? A new theory of how the immune system recognizes pathogens suggests ways to make vaccines that trigger both antibodies and a T cell response, targeting extracellular as well as intracellular pathogens. Published: 03 September http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/08/20_ribosomes.shtml UC Berkeley researchers have captured elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work, shedding light on how these cellular factories take in genetic instructions and amino acids to churn out proteins. The achievement could eventually lead to significant advances in the fight against infectious diseases. Published: 20 August http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/08/06_africadocs.shtml Hiring the workers needed to eliminate the staggering shortage of health care professionals in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015 will cost $2.6 billion a year, or 2.5 times the annual funds currently allocated for health worker wages in the region, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley researchers. Published: 06 August http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/30_nanomachines.shtml Cell's have nanoscale protein machines that perform the first step in gene expression, gliding smoothly along the DNA and translating it into RNA. Or so scientists thought. A new study shows that the real process is replete with long pauses and backsliding as the machine tries to negotiate the tightly compacted DNA in the nucleus. Published: 30 July http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/21_cellscope.shtml UC Berkeley researchers have developed a cell phone microscope that not only takes color images of malaria parasites, but of tuberculosis bacteria labeled with fluorescent markers. The latest milestone moves a major step forward in taking clinical microscopy out of specialized laboratories into field settings for disease screening and diagnoses. Published: 21 July http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/20_lymphoma.shtml A study led by UC Berkeley researchers has identified a gene variant that carries nearly twice the risk of developing an increasingly common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a group of cancers that develop in the immune system's white blood cells. Published: 20 July