https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from University of California, Los Angeles Wearable technologies are starting to reshape how people manage health. Continuous glucose monitors that measure blood sugar levels in diabetes patients have already shown the power of tracking an important molecule in real time. The next leap is to track other medically important molecules. However, doing so is far more difficult because most of those molecules are present at much lower concentrations than glucose. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-skin-deep-microneedle-sensor-tracks.html Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:40:01 EDT news695650742 Geologists have solved the mystery of the disappearance from the geological record, millions of years ago, of one of North America's most important waterways: the Colorado River. A paper published in Science shows that the river flowed into an upstream lake over the course of a few million years, then likely flowed for the first time into the Grand Canyon. The moment marked the Colorado River's transition to a continental-scale river as it made its way down to the Gulf of California. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-colorado-river-geological-million-years.html Earth Sciences Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:03 EDT news695637782 UCLA researchers have identified a rogue population of immune cells that quietly accumulates in aging tissues and in the livers of people with fatty liver disease. Clearing these cells, they found, dramatically reduced inflammation and reversed liver damage in mice—even while the animals remained on an unhealthy diet. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hidden-army-zombie-immune-cells.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:14 EDT news695464057 The number of deportations within the United States increased by a factor of five in the first year under the current presidential administration, according to a new report by the Deportation Data Project. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deportations-street-risen-exponentially.html Political science Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news695292242 A new UCLA-led study of suicides in the U.S. has found that current national reporting on these deaths underestimates the extent of "emotional dysregulation," the emotional distress that occurs before suicide, which could provide a method to prevent future deaths. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-scans-suicide-emotional-distress.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news695040961 A national survey study led by UCLA Health and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has found significant disparities in how irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is diagnosed across sex and racial groups in the U.S., with men and Black patients considerably less likely than women and white patients to receive a formal diagnosis. The study is published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-sex-based-disparities-ibs-diagnosis.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news694967281 Self-employed Hispanic women report less high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, poor health, and binge drinking compared to Hispanic women working for salary or wages, new research suggests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-employed-hispanic-women-cardiovascular-disease.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:00:01 EDT news694929302 Unionization and working for a public employer are associated with significantly lower turnover among direct care workers (DCW), a group that provides daily care for older adults and those who are disabled and unable to care for themselves, UCLA-led research suggests. The findings on the role of DCW unionization, published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, apply to both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, suggesting that unionization can play a significant role in keeping DCWs in the workforce—and save the health care system $1.5 billion a year in turnover costs. It can also lead to improvements in care quality due to increased job satisfaction and lower stress. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-unions-play-key-role-workers.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:20:01 EDT news694860430 UCLA scientists have developed a simple and cost-effective blood test that, in early studies, shows promise in detecting multiple cancers, various liver conditions and organ abnormalities simultaneously by analyzing DNA fragments circulating in the bloodstream. The test, described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could offer a powerful and more affordable approach to early disease detection and comprehensive health monitoring. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-multiple-cancers-diseases-blood-sample.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:00:03 EDT news694429501 Physicians are less likely to provide preventive care such as conception counseling and some cancer screenings to women with diabetes than they do for women without the disease, a UCLA-led study suggests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-women-diabetes-screenings.html Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news694337386 When a person reaches across a table to pass the salt, their brain is doing something far more complex than recognizing a request and executing a movement. It is drawing on a lifetime of bodily experience—where their hand is in space, what a saltshaker feels like, the social awareness of who asked and why. In a fraction of a second, their body and brain are working as one. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-lack-fundamental-property-human.html Security Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:00:05 EDT news694252981 Dr. Donald Kohn has been developing gene therapies for rare pediatric immune disorders for over 30 years. This week, his role in a clinical trial has culminated in the first-ever U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved therapy for severe leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I—a genetic condition characterized by recurrent infections and, often, early death. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-fda-gene-therapy-severe-leukocyte.html Sat, 28 Mar 2026 11:30:02 EDT news693826909 A new study by UCLA Health published in Cell presents a major advancement in the future of personalized medicine by pinpointing new connections between people's genes, disease risk and medicine response by using a clinically well-characterized and diverse population-represented biobank. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-strong-patient-diversity-biobanks-reveals.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:00:09 EDT news693764402 Early results from preclinical studies and a clinical trial led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Stanford Medicine suggest that combining targeted radiation therapy with an experimental immune-boosting drug called BO-112 and anti-PD-1 therapy before surgery may help the immune system fight aggressive soft tissue sarcomas. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-triple-pre-surgery-therapy-boost.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:00:01 EDT news693809018 Hollywood loves a comeback story: a director who flopped and then returned with a masterpiece or the producer who went bust and bounced back with a winner. It's a narrative rooted in the business belief that failure is a great teacher. But what if, for certain teams, failure teaches nothing at all? https://phys.org/news/2026-03-hollywood-teams-dont-failure-reveal.html Economics & Business Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:00:04 EDT news693482809 UCLA researchers have uncovered a hidden weakness in some of the deadliest cancers, revealing a potential new strategy for targeting tumors that have long resisted treatment. Small cell neuroendocrine cancers, aggressive tumors that can arise in the lung, prostate, and ovary, grow rapidly, spread early, and remain extremely difficult to treat. A defining feature of these cancers is the loss of a protective gene called RB, which normally acts as a brake on cell growth. Without RB, cancer cells multiply rapidly and resist many targeted therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-genetic-weakness-deadly-small-cell.html Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:40:05 EDT news693499201 Researchers at UCLA have discovered a way to dramatically improve how electrical current enters perovskite semiconductors, an emerging class of materials with enormous potential for next-generation electronics. Their research is published in the journal Nature Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nanoscale-bottleneck-gen-electronics.html Nanophysics Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:00:01 EDT news693159121 UCLA and Stanford Medicine researchers, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Utah and Columbia University, have engineered a new class of supercharged T cells that are stronger, longer-lasting, and more precise at killing prostate cancer cells by fine-tuning how they physically interact with tumor cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-fishhook-bonds-cells-longer-prostate.html Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:02 EDT news693130082 Researchers at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability have developed the most high-resolution statewide maps of California's kelp forests to date, giving researchers, conservationists and community members unprecedented access to information essential to maintaining coastal ecosystems and the communities they support. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-deep-scientists-california-coastal.html Ecology Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:10:01 EDT news693070741 People may think of survival as an individual act—every animal (and person) for themselves. But a new study from UCLA suggests that when it comes to facing hardship together, social groups may function more like a unified system than a collection of separate individuals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-individual-brain-behavior.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:20:05 EDT news693064561 Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment by harnessing the body's own immune system to fight disease. But many engineered immune cells lose strength quickly after they enter the body, especially inside tumors that actively suppress immune activity. Researchers at UCLA have now developed an implantable device that acts like a support hub for these cells, helping them stay active and continue attacking cancer. A study demonstrating the platform's efficacy in human melanoma and lymphoma samples and laboratory cultures appears in Nature Biomedical Engineering. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-implantable-station-boosts-cancer.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:40:04 EDT news692982782 Two related studies published recently by international teams—including researchers with the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing—examined how diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses can stem from a combination of working conditions and lifestyle factors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-links-diet-chronic-illnesses.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:50:03 EDT news692959262 Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States and is one of the few cancers in which survival rates have steadily declined over the last few decades. The most aggressive subtypes are a significant driver of that trend: uterine papillary serous carcinoma accounts for just 10% of diagnoses but nearly 40% of deaths. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-universal-ready-immunotherapy-destroys-endometrial.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:20:03 EDT news692894221 A new study led by UCLA researchers suggests that a personalized counseling program can significantly help women who have survived cervical precancer or cervical cancer to quit smoking—and does so at a cost that researchers say represents good value for health care systems. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-personalized-cessation-cervical-cancer-survivors.html Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:00:20 EDT news692446681 People living with neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, and epilepsy face not only physical decline, but also profound questions about identity, purpose, and meaning. Yet physicians best positioned to address those concerns do not have the adequate training and tools to do so, a new paper states. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-patients-faith-neurologists-dont.html Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:20:03 EDT news692261906 Humans and animals share a remarkable capacity to sense when others are in distress and respond with comforting behavior. But the motivation for doing so, and why it sometimes breaks down, has been poorly understood. UCLA Health researchers sought to better understand this in a study published in Nature that uncovers the brain circuitry in mice linking two seemingly distinct social behaviors: caring for vulnerable offspring and comforting distressed peers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-empathy-roots-parenting-mice-reveals.html Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:00:01 EST news692026321 UCLA scientists have developed a next-generation CAR-T cell therapy that can overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, a protective shield that tumors use to weaken immune cells, block their attack, and fuel tumor growth. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-car-cells-block-key-protein.html Oncology & Cancer Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:06 EST news691754701 Although the topic of AI is seemingly inescapable, its stunning environmental impacts remain mostly hidden. New studies reveal a clearer picture—one that should spur us to take action this year. Evidence shows that AI's carbon emissions last year were equivalent to the entirety of New York City, and consumption of freshwater resources from 2025 alone exceeded the global consumption of bottled water. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-opinion-ai-destroying-planet-growth.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 04 Mar 2026 08:40:01 EST news691835642 While the number of Californians ages 12 and older who said they experienced a hate act increased in 2024, a new UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) study showed how someone's likelihood to experience a hate act was associated with race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity, disability and housing status. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-unveils-disparities.html Social Sciences Sat, 28 Feb 2026 10:00:03 EST news691247609 A new study led by UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators suggests that adding hormone therapy to postoperative radiotherapy may provide little survival benefit for most men with prostate cancer, especially for those with very low PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels before treatment. The researchers found that for men with low PSA levels prior to radiotherapy, adding hormone therapy, whether short-term or long-term, did not improve overall survival. Men with higher PSA levels before radiation may see modest improvements in survival and metastasis-free survival, suggesting hormone therapy may be beneficial primarily for this higher-risk group. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-hormone-therapy-benefit-men-radiotherapy.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:00:04 EST news691347061