UC Science Today

This week on Science Today, we talked about how children who suffer from emotional or physical abuse are at higher risk of developing health problems. Psychiatrist Nicole Bush of the University of California, San Francisco says scientists are unclear about how to reverse the harmful effects, so she is focusing on this in a study.

"One of our goals was to look across a variety of systems to see, for example, whether we can improve immune functioning, cortisol stress hormone level, telomere length, DNA methylation profiles."

DNA methylation is essential for normal development– if the process goes awry, it can be linked to health issues like cancer or cardiovascular disease. So Bush his hoping to improve this and other functions like immune functioning and telomere length using psychotherapy, which studies have proven have been effective for mental and physical health. On the subject of health, we hope you're starting a healthy and happy New Year. This time of year there’s a higher risk of what’s called ‘holiday heart syndrome’. Cardiologist Gregory Marcus, also at UCSF, tells us that it’s basically a link between excessive alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation.

"Those who drank more alcohol tended to have larger left atritum, those with large atrium this has long been known, are more prone to atrial fibrillation – the most common abnormal heart rhythm that we see. And it is very important because of stroke."

So while occasional drinking can lift your holiday spirit and do no harm, Marcus warns that excessive alcohol consumption is never good for anyone. And finally, we stuck around UCSF to better understand the origins or asthma and allergies. Susan Lynch, a gastroenterologist there, may have narrowed it down to one molecule. She and her collaborators at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit found a metabolite, which is a product of metabolism, can trigger these diseases.

"There was a specific lipid called 12, 13 diHome and this really stood out to us because this specific lipid is an established biomarker for asthma in adults and we are finding it in the heightened concentration in neonates who go on to develop asthma in childhood."

Lynch explains that it actually suppresses the T-cells that are necessary to dampen down allergic inflammation. To hear about more University of California research – and not just at our San Francisco campus - subscribe to Science Today on iTunes. You can also follow us on Facebook or Soundcloud. Thanks for tuning in, until next time, I’m Larissa Branin.

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Researchers may have narrowed down the origins of asthma and allergies to just one molecule. Susan Lynch, a gastroenterologist at the University of California, San Francisco and her colleagues at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit have found a metabolite - a product of metabolism - that can trigger the diseases.

"There was a specific Lipid called 12, 13-diHome. This specific lipid is an established biomarker for asthma in adults, and we are finding it in the heightened concentration in neonates who go on to develop asthma in childhood".

The researchers have also discovered how this molecule affects babies' immune systems.

"That specific lipid actually suppresses the critical cell type, the T- regulatory cells that are necessary to dampen allergic inflammation".

Lynch explains that the weakening of these cells is one of the most critical immune dysfunctions that underlie allergies.

Age matters when it comes to spotting the warning signs of memory decline and other thinking skills. Kristine Yaffe, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, has been studying a group of young adults from 18 to 30 years old, until they've reached midlife. And in doing so, Yaffe observed some of their weakening brain activity.

"If you just study people when they are in their eighties and nineties with dementia, that's very helpful in terms of trying to come up with better treatment and better care of patients, but it's not very helpful if you are trying to prevent or really try to intervene early. For that you have to back up the time, probably by decades and really get a better understanding of some of the early signs and the early risk factors."

Yaffe found other factors, like alcohol use, depression and poverty, also contribute to mental decline. The good news is, it’s not too late – that changes in lifestyle may help these people prevent dementia later in life.

Hopefully you made it through the holiday season safely and in good health. According to Gregory Marcus, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, there is something called ‘holiday heart syndrome’ – basically, a link between excessive alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation.

"Those who drank more alcohol tended to have larger left atrium, those with large atrium are more prone to atrial fibrillation. Atiral fibrillation is the most common abnormal heart rhythm that we see, it affects millions of individuals and it is a very important cause of stroke."

But there’s evidence that has shown moderate consumption of alcohol could help prevent heart attacks. Such conflicting studies confuse patients, who often ask their doctor ...

"Should I drink alcohol, should I avoid alcohol, and frankly - we still really don't know. Different patients respond differently to alcohol."

One thing is clear to all researchers: while occasional drinking can lift your holiday spirit and will do no harm, excessive alcohol consumption is never good for anyone.

Children who suffer from emotional or physical abuse are at higher risk of developing health problems, but scientists are unclear about how to reverse these harmful effects. So, this is the focus of a new study by Nicole Bush, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco.

"One of our goals was to look across the variety of systems to see for example whether we can improve immune functioning, cortisol stress hormone level, telomere lengths and DNA methylation profiles."

Bush hopes to achieve this with psychotherapy, which could be very effective for mental and physical health. And studies have proven just that.

"There has been a recent meta-analysis that suggests we can improve children's cortisol functioning through intervention after adversity and we can get them to return to normal levels."

And less stress means fewer health problems in the future, including obesity, depression and diabetes, which is widespread among young Americans.

It’s a New Year and that means, lots of new stories are in the hopper! First up, do you have trouble sleeping at night? And if you do, how many of you spend time propped up on your pillows, scrolling through your smartphone or tablets before getting some sleep? Our guess is, probably many of you do this, as it turns out 70% of Americans keep their phones on their bedside table. We spoke to cardiologist Gregory Marcus of the UC San Francisco about this. In case you’re wondering why a cardiologist is talking about sleep, he explains that a lack of Zzz’s can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, arrhythmia and strokes.

"Poor sleep quality is not simply an issue of feeling tired the next day, we recognize now that sleep is extremely important to mood, to brain function, cognition."

Marcus adds that he’s not trying to demonize technology. Instead, he suggests vigilance and putting the phone away at least an hour before sleep. Give it a try. Meanwhile, at UC Berkeley, researchers took a cue from nature to create Salto. Roboticist Duncan Haldane says Salto can jump higher and faster than any other robot out there.

"Salto is inspired by a galago, which is a bushbaby. Biologists have found animals adapted specifically for jumping had this kind of super crouch posture. The longer they stay in a crouch, the more energy they can transfer into the tendons and the more energy they can return for jumping."

The team is hoping Salto’s novel locomotive abilities can be used in search and rescue efforts. And finally, we meet UCLA neuroscientist Adriana Galván to discuss the adolescent brain. You may have thought people become adults at 18, but from a neuroscience perspective, the brain keeps growing and developing beyond that age and current literature suggests that it’s around age 25 that the brain finishes the period of adolescence.

"The majority of what we call ‘plasticity’ or sensitivity to the environment changes around the mid-twenties and so that means that although the brain can keep changing in response to new experiences or learning something new, the majority of that development has ended."

To hear these and other episodes about the latest University of California research, subscribe to Science Today on iTunes or follow us on Soundcloud. Thanks for listening, I’m Larissa Branin.

Smarter T-cells that can effectively fight cancer may be the key to successful immunotherapy. Molecular scientist Wendell Lim of the University of California, San Francisco, has engineered synthetic receptors, called syn-Notch receptors, that can not only recognize tumors, but also produce molecules that can suppress cancerous microenvironments in the body.

"The syn-Notch receptors are kind of a universal sensing platform that allows us to program the T-cells with many kinds of input/output responses. So it really allows us to treat the T-cell much like the way you would program a robot that can sense whether there are obstacles in front of it."

Lim says scientists are testing these highly efficient multi-pronged T-cells in labs, but they may be available for patients within the next couple of years.

"I think we can really transform what cancer therapy is like."

Lim also hopes that smart T-cells will target cancers that can’t currently be treated with immunotherapy.

Asthma and allergies begin in our guts. Susan Lynch, a gastroenterologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has made this discovery while studying stool samples from newborn babies. Lynch found that certain types of bacteria that healthy infants usually have, were missing in the group she tested.

"Perhaps, microbial metabolism in the gut is reprogrammed in this high risk group that lacks these bacteria."

Lynch explains that microbes in the guts of unhealthy children were digesting amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids - the building blocks of our bodies - in an abnormal way. And that’s something scientists were not able to prove before.

"This was the first time we could show definitely that the products associated with the microbiota in the gut drive immune dysfunction."

This bacterial disruption put children at higher risk of developing allergies at age 2 and asthma at age 4.

People are considered adults when they turn eighteen, but from a neuroscience perspective, the brain keeps growing and developing beyond that age. Dr. Adriana Galván, director of the UCLA Developmental Neuroscience Lab, explains that current literature suggests it's around age 25 that the brain finishes the period of adolescence.

"But the majority of what we call 'plasticity' or sensitivity to the environment, changes around the mid-20s and so that means that although the brain can keep changing in response to new experiences or learning something new, the majority of that development has ended."

One of Galván's studies found that in comparison to adults, the adolescent brain is more excited by positive feedback.

"And so this is good evidence for us that there is something very unique about the reward system in the adolescent brain that is distinct from that of childhood as well."

And since the reward center of the brain is linked to learning, understanding these differences may have broader implications in the classroom and beyond.

Sometimes the best ideas are found in nature. At the University of California, Berkeley, researchers at the Biomimetic Millisystems Laboratory have long looked to insects and animals for inspiration in their robotic designs; from cockroaches to lizards. Now, roboticist Duncan Haldane says their latest creation called Salto took a cue from nature and it can jump higher and faster than any other robot out there.

"Salto is inspired by a galago, which is bushbaby. Biologists have found animals adapted specifically for jumping had this kind of super crouch posture. The longer they stay in a crouch, the more energy they can transfer into the tendons and the more energy they can return for jumping."

Now that Salto is jumping as well as these small primates, they’re looking to humans to explore different behaviors.

"The closest model for what we’re trying to do is human parkour. You have these people that excel at running over buildings, bouncing off of all these crazy obstacles like a wall as a feature to help yourself move."