UC Science Today

When and how often women eat may play a role in breast cancer risk. Those were the findings of a new study published by researchers at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Lead author Catherine Marinac says they found that an increase in overnight fasting reduced a woman’s glucose levels and that may reduce the overall risk of breast cancer.

"There’s a lot of recent literature on various fasting regimens in human health and many of these aren’t backed by rigorous scientific evidence, so this is building on that knowledge base."

Now, Marinac says they’re working on a study looking into how the length of the nighttime fasting may affect cancer outcomes in a population of breast cancer survivors.

"So, we have a cohort of women that were followed longitudinally that had breast cancer at one time point and we’re looking at whether fasting might improve their cancer outcomes, so reduced risk of breast cancer or improved mortality."

Nutrition and exercise are often among the nation’s leading public health concerns. But a growing body of research suggests that sleep is just as important. Dr. Aric Prather of the University of California, San Francisco says that insufficient sleep can affect both short-term and long-term health.

"Chronically, this seems to put people at risk for things like coronary heart disease, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, obesity, as well as premature mortality. Of course it also puts people at risk for things like automobile accidents, things that can have incredible consequences. And then there’s even some growing literature suggesting that short sleep may even put people at risk for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than a quarter of Americans are not getting enough sleep, while nearly 10 percent experience chronic insomnia. Prather says it’s an issue we can all address.

"Sleep is a very tractable health behavior, and it could have an incredible effect on population health beyond just the individual."

Nutrition and exercise are often among the nation’s leading public health concerns. But a growing body of research suggests that sleep is just as important. Dr. Aric Prather of the University of California, San Francisco says that insufficient sleep can affect both short-term and long-term health.

"Chronically, this seems to put people at risk for things like coronary heart disease, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, obesity, as well as premature mortality. Of course it also puts people at risk for things like automobile accidents, things that can have incredible consequences. And then there’s even some growing literature suggesting that short sleep may even put people at risk for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than a quarter of Americans are not getting enough sleep, while nearly 10 percent experience chronic insomnia. Prather says it’s an issue we can all address.

"Sleep is a very tractable health behavior, and it could have an incredible effect on population health beyond just the individual."

Nutrition and exercise are often among the nation’s leading public health concerns. But a growing body of research suggests that sleep is just as important. Dr. Aric Prather of the University of California, San Francisco says that insufficient sleep can affect both short-term and long-term health.

"Chronically, this seems to put people at risk for things like coronary heart disease, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, obesity, as well as premature mortality. Of course it also puts people at risk for things like automobile accidents, things that can have incredible consequences. And then there’s even some growing literature suggesting that short sleep may even put people at risk for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than a quarter of Americans are not getting enough sleep, while nearly 10 percent experience chronic insomnia. Prather says it’s an issue we can all address.

"Sleep is a very tractable health behavior, and it could have an incredible effect on population health beyond just the individual."

With a quick flip of the carton, you soon may be able to detect the freshness of milk using a 3D-printed “smart cap.” An international study led by the University of California, Berkeley produced the wireless smart cap by printing basic electrical components including inductors and capacitors. Senior author Liwei Lin says that the circuit detects changes in the electrical signals that accompany increased levels of bacteria.

"This inductor and capacitor forms an electrical circuitry that actually could detect the electrical property of milk. So if the milk is, say spoiled, after you place it in room temperature for, in our case, 36 hours, we can actually see the electrical signal change from the output."

Lin says this technology could eventually be made cheap enough to provide food safety alerts in grocery stores.

"We envision in the future, you can use, potentially, your cell phone to read out the signal."

With a quick flip of the carton, you soon may be able to detect the freshness of milk using a 3D-printed “smart cap.” An international study led by the University of California, Berkeley produced the wireless smart cap by printing basic electrical components including inductors and capacitors. Senior author Liwei Lin says that the circuit detects changes in the electrical signals that accompany increased levels of bacteria.

"This inductor and capacitor forms an electrical circuitry that actually could detect the electrical property of milk. So if the milk is, say spoiled, after you place it in room temperature for, in our case, 36 hours, we can actually see the electrical signal change from the output."

Lin says this technology could eventually be made cheap enough to provide food safety alerts in grocery stores.

"We envision in the future, you can use, potentially, your cell phone to read out the signal."

With a quick flip of the carton, you soon may be able to detect the freshness of milk using a 3D-printed “smart cap.” An international study led by the University of California, Berkeley produced the wireless smart cap by printing basic electrical components including inductors and capacitors. Senior author Liwei Lin says that the circuit detects changes in the electrical signals that accompany increased levels of bacteria.

"This inductor and capacitor forms an electrical circuitry that actually could detect the electrical property of milk. So if the milk is, say spoiled, after you place it in room temperature for, in our case, 36 hours, we can actually see the electrical signal change from the output."

Lin says this technology could eventually be made cheap enough to provide food safety alerts in grocery stores.

"We envision in the future, you can use, potentially, your cell phone to read out the signal."

Those of us who use personal hand sanitizers may not want to hear this, but no matter how much you use, you’re still going to be covered in bacteria. In fact, Rob Knight, a leading expert of the study of microbes at the University of California, San Diego, says we have more bacterial cells and bacterial genes than we have human cells and genes.

"So, sometimes it freaks people out to think, oh, I’m covered in bacteria or that I have bacteria inside me. But the good news is that the vast majority of the bacterial that are associated with us are harmless or beneficial."

Knight, who co-founded the American Gut Project, says dog owners share similar microbial populations with their pooches, which raises questions about how one’s dog may affect their health.

"Can you see consistent microbial changes that are involved with things like improvements in cardiovascular properties? Improvements in stress levels, mental health? Where surprisingly, all of those things have been linked to the microbiome, so there might be some direct microbial mediators of some of those effects. It’s not that we think that microbes do everything, but it would be very interesting if we could find that microbes play a specific role in some of those health benefits, of having a pet."

Those of us who use personal hand sanitizers may not want to hear this, but no matter how much you use, you’re still going to be covered in bacteria. In fact, Rob Knight, a leading expert of the study of microbes at the University of California, San Diego, says we have more bacterial cells and bacterial genes than we have human cells and genes.

"So, sometimes it freaks people out to think, oh, I’m covered in bacteria or that I have bacteria inside me. But the good news is that the vast majority of the bacterial that are associated with us are harmless or beneficial."

Knight, who co-founded the American Gut Project, says dog owners share similar microbial populations with their pooches, which raises questions about how one’s dog may affect their health.

"Can you see consistent microbial changes that are involved with things like improvements in cardiovascular properties? Improvements in stress levels, mental health? Where surprisingly, all of those things have been linked to the microbiome, so there might be some direct microbial mediators of some of those effects. It’s not that we think that microbes do everything, but it would be very interesting if we could find that microbes play a specific role in some of those health benefits, of having a pet."

Those of us who use personal hand sanitizers may not want to hear this, but no matter how much you use, you’re still going to be covered in bacteria. In fact, Rob Knight, a leading expert of the study of microbes at the University of California, San Diego, says we have more bacterial cells and bacterial genes than we have human cells and genes.

"So, sometimes it freaks people out to think, oh, I’m covered in bacteria or that I have bacteria inside me. But the good news is that the vast majority of the bacterial that are associated with us are harmless or beneficial."

Knight, who co-founded the American Gut Project, says dog owners share similar microbial populations with their pooches, which raises questions about how one’s dog may affect their health.

"Can you see consistent microbial changes that are involved with things like improvements in cardiovascular properties? Improvements in stress levels, mental health? Where surprisingly, all of those things have been linked to the microbiome, so there might be some direct microbial mediators of some of those effects. It’s not that we think that microbes do everything, but it would be very interesting if we could find that microbes play a specific role in some of those health benefits, of having a pet."