A Report on Discoveries and Achievements at the University of California
Volume 6, Number 6, May 1998
The following is a glimpse of some recent achievements by the faculty,students and staff of the University of California
Physical Fellows . . . Fifteen UC scholars were elected Fellows of the American Physical Society, an organization of more than 41,000 physicists worldwide. Only one-half of 1 percent of its membership may be elected each year. Los Alamos National Laboratory had six; UCLA had four; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory had three; and UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara had one each.
Pulitzer Prize . . . UCLA physiologist Jared Diamond was awarded a 1998 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his 1997 book "Guns, Germs and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies." The prestigious $3,000 Pulitzers are presented annually by Columbia University.
Aging Eyes . . . Increasing numbers of baby boomers are likely to encounter a potentially blinding eye disease as they age, predicts neuroscientist Steven Fisher of UC Santa Barbara. Age-related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of new blindness in American adults older than 60, and it is more prevalent among women than men.
Constricting Smoke . . . Secondhand smoke almost immediately causes blood vessels to constrict abnormally, according to a research team led by UC San Francisco cardiologist William Parmley. The team also found that damage to cells lining blood vessels is likely to be a key contributor to heart disease in people chronically exposed to secondhand smoke.
Prenatal Visions . . . Ghost images that continually flit across the retina while we’re still in the womb are critical to setting up the visual system to make sense of the world when we finally open our eyes, according to a study by neuroscientists Anna Penn and Carla Shatz of UC Berkeley. The researchers found that blocking input from one eye disrupts the normal formation of layered structures in a part of the brain that relays signals from the eye to the visual cortex. The structures are apparently crucial to the ability to process visual information.
Filling the Gap . . . Los Alamos National Laboratory is helping to make sure that thousands of heart disease patients nationwide are able to receive diagnostic positron emission tomography scans. In order to make images of the heart, PET scanners need rubidium-82 -- but all three North American facilities that produce the material are shut down until June. In the meantime, Los Alamos is filling the gap by supplying strontium-82, the radioactive material that decays into rubidium-82, to all the cardiac care clinics offering PET imaging.
Acupuncture Points . . . A study by UC Irvine researchers Zang-hee Cho, Joie Jones and Edward Wong found that the brain may play a key role in the healing powers of acupuncture. The study revealed that when the vision-related "acupoint" located on the foot is stimulated, the occipital lobes in the brain are activated. The research may help explain how acupuncture works.
Fatal Errors . . . A study by a UC San Diego team found nearly a threefold increase in deaths between 1983 to 1993 from medication errors. The study found that deaths from officially acknowledged medication errors increased at a higher rate than any other cause of death except AIDS. The increase was highest -- 8.4-fold -- for outpatients. The study’s authors say their results show that quality of patient care may be decreasing with the switch to HMO-based medical care.
Medicaid and Smoking . . . Medicaid costs related to smoking total $12.9 billion a year, according to a study led by Leonard Miller, professor of social welfare at UC Berkeley. The researchers conclude that a proposed settlement whereby the tobacco industry would pay $368.5 billion to 40 states over 25 years will barely cover Medicaid claims and not provide money for other claims. The study gives the first detailed nationwide picture of the effects of cigarette smoking on Medicaid costs.
How Flies Fly . . . Biologist Michael Dickinson of UC Berkeley discovered how flies navigate so quickly as they fly: through organs called haltares, the evolutionary remnants of a second set of wings, which act as gyroscopes. This system allows a fly to change course within 30 milliseconds in response to a visual image -- such as that of a flyswatter.
Particulate Matters . . . For the first time ever, UC Riverside chemist Kimberly Prather and her colleagues directly measured the size and changing chemistry of individual particles in the air. The research team used a laser-based mass spectrometer invented by Prather to track the changing chemistry of sea salt particles as they moved inland through polluted areas. The findings offer promise in analyzing sick buildings, detecting biological warfare and identifying sources of particulate pollution.
A Bend In the Leech . . . New studies by biologists at UC San Diego uncovered the complete picture of the neural coding used by a leech as it bends after being touched. According to these studies, in analyzing which way to bend, the leech applies a formula that represents the basis for the coordinate system used in analytical geometry. The results offer the first detailed understanding of how information is processed for a simple behavior, from sensory input to motor response.
Kidney Gene . . . Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory teamed with international collaborators to pinpoint the location of a gene responsible for causing a deadly kidney disease called congenital nephrotic syndrome. Together, the three institutions -- Livermore, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Oulu in Finland -- discovered the gene on chromosome 19. The discovery has already resulted in the development of a diagnostic tool for the gene and for identifying parents who may be carriers of the disease.
Early Cancer Warning . . . An easily detectable protein may hold the key to more reliably warning women about cell abnormalities in the cervix before they get cancer, according to UC Irvine cancer researchers Eric J. Stanbridge and Shu-Yuan Liao. The researchers found that the presence of an antigen called MN/CA9 in cervical cell samples indicates irregularities in the cervix that are either cancerous or prone to turning into cancer. The researchers hope to develop a way to test for the presence of the antigen in ordinary Pap smears, and are awaiting final approval from the National Cancer Institute to begin clinical trials.
Internal View . . . A fast new way to compute three-dimensional models of internal organs and other anatomical features was developed by mathematicians Ravi Malladi and James Sethian of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The new method could help doctors pinpoint the size of a brain tumor, the thickness of a heart-chamber wall or the exact shape and volume of a liver.
Nicotine and Gender . . . A study at UC Irvine found nicotine was on par with morphine in increasing pain tolerance in men, but showed little effect on pain tolerance in women. The finding indicates that the "rewards" that reinforce smoking may be different for men and women, and points to new, possibly gender-based, treatment approaches for pain as well as nicotine addiction.
Kinder, Gentler Mosquitoes . . . UC Irvine researchers led by biologist Anthony James found a way to routinely introduce stable and inheritable foreign DNA into mosquitoes. By using mobile chunks of genetic material called transposons, the researchers can shuttle new bits of genes into a mosquito’s genetic code. The research aims to introduce into mosquitoes a new DNA fragment that would block the insects’ ability to pass malaria and other diseases to human beings. James and fellow researchers still must study the effects of introducing genetically engineered insects into the wild.
Lab on a Chip . . . A research team led by UC Davis chemical engineer Nicholas Abbot developed a new method that uses liquid chrystals, such as those used in wristwatches and computer displays, to make chemical analyses. Potentially, the "liquid chrystal assay" could replace slow, costly laboratory tests with a simple "lab on a chip" that would give results in minutes for less than a dollar, without electricity. It could be used for hundreds of chemical analysis jobs in medicine, industry and research.
Better Drug Delivery . . . A team led by UC Berkeley mechanical engineer Dorian Liepmann created a protoype of a credit-card size medication delivery system that can administer drugs through a needle no larger than a mosquito’s snout. Developed for use by the military to give medications in the field, the card could also be used to deliver insulin to diabetics in small, continuous doses in a way that would better mimic the body’s own insulin delivery system.
Look Before You Fish . . . The management of U.S. fisheries needs to be completely revamped to place the burden of proof regarding damage to the marine environment on commercial fisheries instead of government regulators, according to Paul Dayton, a marine ecologist at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dayton advocates that before being allowed to fish, fisheries should be required to complete environmental impact studies similar to those required of land developers.
Hazy Paradise . . . Migrating smog has started to pollute the once-pristine skies over oceans in the southern hemisphere, resulting in ground-level ozone levels near remote islands that would trigger a first-stage smog alert in Los Angeles, according UC Irvine Nobel laureate F. Sherwood Rowland. Rowland and colleague Donald Blake found significant ozone concentrations over locales such as the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island that can be traced back to the burning of woodlands and brush on distant continents. Rowland says ground-level ozone will be the major atmospheric problem in the 21st century.
Earth in 3-D . . . Using seismic wave data gathered from tens of thousands of earthquakes, seismologists Don Vasco and Lane Johnson of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory produced the first three-dimensional image of the earth’s entire structure, from the crust to the inner core. In creating their model, the researchers found evidence that the outer core is not homogeneous, as has been long hypothesized. The information could help understand the earth’s magnetic field.
Just a Nibble . . . UC Davis biology researcher Anurag Agrawal discovered that when plants are nibbled by leaf-munching insects such as caterpillars, their internal defense systems are "jump started," helping them to ward off more serious damage from later pests. Agrawal found that wild radish plants with caged caterpillars feeding on their leaves produced more seeds than plants that received no caterpillar damage and sustained less damage from other insect pests than did the control plants. The research may lead to new methods of non-chemical pest control for plants.
Initial Findings . . . People with initials such as ACE, JOY or WIN are likely to live longer and less likely to commit suicide or die in an accident than those whose names spell out words like DUD or RAT. The research, conducted by UC San Diego psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, drew upon 27 years worth of California death certificates and seems to support the idea that liking your name and liking yourself may be linked and that parents should be sensitive when naming children.
Children’s Disabilities . . . A study led by pediatrician Paul Newacheck of UC San Francisco found that 6.5 percent of American children, or 4.4 million children, have some degree of disability. Children from poor families, older children, boys and children from single-parent households had significantly higher percentages of disability. The study recommends that policies to prevent and rehabilitate childhood disabilities should target disadvantaged children.
Blame Joe Camel . . . UC San Diego cancer researchers led by John Pierce reported the first long-term evidence that cigarette advertising encourages teenagers to smoke. The researchers found that 34 percent of all teen experimentation with tobacco in California between 1993 and 1996 could be attributed to tobacco promotional activities, and that teens who had a favorite cigarette advertisement in 1993 were twice as likely to start smoking, or be willing to start, by 1996.
Alcohol and Violence . . . The number of bars and liquor stores in a neighborhood influences the rate of violent crime just as much as other factors such as income, age or gender, according to UC Riverside sociologist Robert Nash Parker. He concludes that local communities may be able to use their control over how and where alcohol is sold to prevent some kinds of violence.
Re-living Stress . . . Re-living in your mind a brief though stressful event -- like being cut off on the freeway or insulted by a stranger -- may prove beneficial for your mind and body, according to new studies by psychologists at UC San Diego. The results suggest that by forcing yourself to think about a negative experience, you can alter its impact from highly charged and emotional to something more abstract and less distressing.
Justice disabled . . . The criminal justice system is failing people with developmental disabilities or mental retardation, according to UC Irvine criminology professor Joan Petersilia. Her recent study revealed that their risk of becoming crime victims is four to 10 times that of nondisabled people; that when accused of crimes, they are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted and convicted; and that in prison, they are preyed upon by other inmates.
The War at Home . . . Recent war casualties that hit close to home most powerfully influence perceptions of war back on the homefront, according to a study led by political scientist Scott Sigmund Gartner of UC Davis. The study, which analyzed nine Vietnam War-era polls taken in California, found that residents of counties whose young men had recently been killed in combat at a high rate were less likely to support the war.
The Fall of Wages . . . Real wages in Russia have declined by 50 percent since the fall of communism in 1991, according to UC Berkeley sociologist Michael Hout and his former graduate student Theodore P. Gerber, now at the University of Oregon. At the same time, unemployment has increased from 1.1 percent 13 percent.
Diet and Cancer . . . The National Cancer Institute awarded a $13.3 million grant to the UC San Diego Cancer Center to study how diet might help prevent a recurrence of breast cancer. The eight-year study, called the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study, will follow 3,000 women who were previously diagnosed with breast cancer and who are currently free of the disease.
Autism Grants . . . UC Irvine physicians M. Anne Spence and Pauline Filipek and psychology and social behavior professor Wendy Goldberg received grants totaling $5.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue their ground-breaking studies of autistic youngsters. In previous studies, the researchers found that autistic children have larger-than-average brains, with excessive white matter.
Steinmann Medal . . . Wolfgang Berger, director of the California Space Institute at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, received the Gustav Steinmann Medal. The award, honoring Berger's career-long leadership in paleoceanographic research, is the highest honor bestowed by the Geologische Vereinigung, Germany’s largest geologic association.
Honorary Doctor . . . One of Europe’s oldest universities, the 650-year-old Charles University of Prague, the Czech Republic, presented Pavel Machotka, UC Santa Cruz professor emeritus of art and psychology, with its highest honor, the degree of Doctor of Education honoris causa. He received the degree for his lifelong contributions to the psychology of art and empirical aesthetics.
ACE Fellow . . . Jacqueline M. Mimms, UC Riverside assistant vice chancellor for campus relations, was named a 1998-99 American Council on Education Fellow, one of only 34 selected nationwide. The prestigious ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising faculty, staff members and administrators for upper leadership positions in college and university administration.
Computing Fellow . . . P. Venkat Rangan, a professor of computer science and engineering at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, an 80,000 member information technology advocacy group. Rangan was recognized for founding the pioneering Multimedia Laboratory, which has become one of the premier centers for research in video-on-demand and media synchronization technologies.
Compiled by Communications Services, Office of the President, Larissa.Branin@ucop.edu