UC Science Today

There’s been increasing research supporting that comprehensive palliative care, which is focused on improving quality of life for those with serious chronic illness, can significantly improve a patient’s daily life and in many cases, prolong it. Dr. Steve Pantilat directs the Palliative Care Program at the University of California, San Francisco, which was one of the first hospital-based programs of its kind when founded in 1999.

"Historically, we’ve only thought about palliative care as being for people who are at the end of life and so we’ve said, “oh, you know if you’re not at the end of life, you don’t need palliative care.” But what we understand and what we have seen in studies and in practices, the palliative care is both for people with serious illness and people that are at the end of life."

Now, UCSF’s School of Nursing has expanded their training to include a minor in palliative care.

"Their Master’s and PhD level nurses can get a minor in palliative care and study that as a focus. So, we’re recognizing this is an important area for training healthcare professionals."

Strength and toughness are two structural properties that tend to be mutually exclusive. Strong materials are usually brittle while tough ones are usually weak. But materials scientist Robert Ritchie of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that teeth combine both properties surprisingly well.

"If the whole tooth were made of enamel it would break very quickly. So there’s an underlying tougher layer called dentin. And we looked at how cracks which form in the enamel never make it to the dentin because they get blunted out. And that’s how armor works. You need a hard layer to stop a bullet for example but if it was all made of that it would just shatter so you have got to have something underneath to absorb the energy. It is not as hard but it’s tougher."

That’s how teeth are able to withstand strong bite forces and millions of mastication cycles without shattering.

Strength and toughness are two structural properties that tend to be mutually exclusive. Strong materials are usually brittle while tough ones are usually weak. But materials scientist Robert Ritchie of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that teeth combine both properties surprisingly well.

"If the whole tooth were made of enamel it would break very quickly. So there’s an underlying tougher layer called dentin. And we looked at how cracks which form in the enamel never make it to the dentin because they get blunted out. And that’s how armor works. You need a hard layer to stop a bullet for example but if it was all made of that it would just shatter so you have got to have something underneath to absorb the energy. It is not as hard but it’s tougher."

That’s how teeth are able to withstand strong bite forces and millions of mastication cycles without shattering.

For some time, civil engineers have wondered if embankment dams – some built half a century ago – could fail days or weeks after an earthquake. Now, thanks to a new study co-led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers have demonstrated that design standards for dams are effective for seismic events. Mechanical and civil engineer, Lee Glascoe explains.

"We used multi-scale modeling, which means we modeled to different scales; down to the soil grain and we modeled all the way up to the dam and we scaled between the two. The good news is that we showed that the design criteria that was used in the past is good and that it is sufficient."

The Lab collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers using the Lab’s robust 3-D computer modeling and did physical experiments using the Army’s centrifuge – the most powerful one in the world.

"What’s really exciting is that such knowledge that we’ve learned in infrastructure resiliency for embankment dams can be extended for looking at levies, dikes, dams."

For some time, civil engineers have wondered if embankment dams – some built half a century ago – could fail days or weeks after an earthquake. Now, thanks to a new study co-led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers have demonstrated that design standards for dams are effective for seismic events. Mechanical and civil engineer, Lee Glascoe explains.

"We used multi-scale modeling, which means we modeled to different scales; down to the soil grain and we modeled all the way up to the dam and we scaled between the two. The good news is that we showed that the design criteria that was used in the past is good and that it is sufficient."

The Lab collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers using the Lab’s robust 3-D computer modeling and did physical experiments using the Army’s centrifuge – the most powerful one in the world.

"What’s really exciting is that such knowledge that we’ve learned in infrastructure resiliency for embankment dams can be extended for looking at levies, dikes, dams."

It’s no secret that sugar is one of the leading causes of obesity. But how we consume sugar also matters. Cindy Leung of the University of California, San Francisco says that taking in calories from sugary beverages has a different metabolic response than eating those same calories in food.

"Usually if we were to eat 200 calories of a sugary food, like a piece of cake or a doughnut, our body would tell us that we’re full and we would eat less at the next meal. What we are seeing with sugary beverages is that it is not happening. People drink the soda. It overrides our satiety signals. We don’t register that we’re full. So we end up eating more at the next meal or at the same meal we’re drinking a soda than if we were to eat those same calories from sugar."

Leung says that the rapid influx of carbohydrates from drinking soda can also lead to other diseases.

"Diabetes has been linked with soda consumption, as has coronary heart disease and stroke. So there’s many health outcomes that are linked with soda, not just obesity."

It’s no secret that sugar is one of the leading causes of obesity. But how we consume sugar also matters. Cindy Leung of the University of California, San Francisco says that taking in calories from sugary beverages has a different metabolic response than eating those same calories in food.

"Usually if we were to eat 200 calories of a sugary food, like a piece of cake or a doughnut, our body would tell us that we’re full and we would eat less at the next meal. What we are seeing with sugary beverages is that it is not happening. People drink the soda. It overrides our satiety signals. We don’t register that we’re full. So we end up eating more at the next meal or at the same meal we’re drinking a soda than if we were to eat those same calories from sugar."

Leung says that the rapid influx of carbohydrates from drinking soda can also lead to other diseases.

"Diabetes has been linked with soda consumption, as has coronary heart disease and stroke. So there’s many health outcomes that are linked with soda, not just obesity."

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station typically add water to their meals before they eat. But a new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that bringing these types of food will be heavier to ship on longer flights such as missions to Mars. Study leader Amor Menezes says that synthetic biology could be the answer.

"What we're advocating is for dry food. So basically we would take these bioreactors. The microbes will produce, for example, Spirulina, which is basically kind of this nutritious biomass. It's got almost all of the nutrients that you would possibly require. And you would consume biomass instead of eating this kind of wet food."

Menezes says that this method could reduce the mass of food shipment by 38 percent. But it can also improve the taste.

"Where synthetic biology can go with respect to food in space is specifically to improve the quality of taste and texture and mouth feel, that kind of thing, for this particular biomass."

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station typically add water to their meals before they eat. But a new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that bringing these types of food will be heavier to ship on longer flights such as missions to Mars. Study leader Amor Menezes says that synthetic biology could be the answer.

"What we're advocating is for dry food. So basically we would take these bioreactors. The microbes will produce, for example, Spirulina, which is basically kind of this nutritious biomass. It's got almost all of the nutrients that you would possibly require. And you would consume biomass instead of eating this kind of wet food."

Menezes says that this method could reduce the mass of food shipment by 38 percent. But it can also improve the taste.

"Where synthetic biology can go with respect to food in space is specifically to improve the quality of taste and texture and mouth feel, that kind of thing, for this particular biomass."

The ability to accurately predict how cancer patients will respond to chemotherapy before treatment could mean a future of personalized cancer medicines. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California, Davis, are working on such a test. Mike Malfatti, a biomedical scientist at the lab, says they’re doing this using their accelerator mass spectrometer, or AMS.

"What we do here at the lab with AMS is a technique that can measure rare isotopes at very low levels and what that gives us an advantage of is we can actually do human studies and be able to trace compounds in humans, which can’t be done very many other places because they don’t have the technology that we have here."

The goal is to develop a test that can predict how a patient will react to a particular drug.

"If you give a drug to someone and they’re not responding to it, but they’re getting the bad side effects, that’s not good. The population that might not respond, you can go and prescribe a different drug."