News

By Erica Ho, Senior Research & Education Associate

April 16, 2021

On Friday April 16, Dr. Amy Waterman spoke at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s virtual public webinar, “A Fairer and More Equitable, Cost-Effective, and Transparent System of Donor Organ Procurement, Allocation, and Distribution”. This webinar was held to educate the public on two important aspects of the current state of deceased donor organ transplantation in the country. The morning session comprised of medical leaders from around the world sharing their own countries’ experiences with navigating fair and timely organ transplantation processes. Learning about these different approaches from other countries will undoubtedly help the United States devise new policies and methods to improve its own organ procurement and distribution systems. Dr. Waterman was a guest speaker in the second half of the webinar as part of a panel of experts in identifying and mitigating inequalities patients face during the referral, evaluation, and waitlisting stages of their deceased donor organ transplant journey.

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April 14, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – Quantum dot technology is a subject of interest for big television manufacturers, who are incorporating this technology into building their liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions.  Quantum dots are tiny nanocrystals which have a special power: when exposed to light, they become luminous and give off a very pure and precise color depending on their size.  The desired color can be fine-tuned by adjustment of the quantum dot’s size; using the dots in an LCD television enhances the colors on the screen and results in a better picture.  Quantum dot technology can also be used in other ways, such as in solar panels and for medical uses.

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March 16, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – Every year, about 805,000 Americans have a heart attack and of these about 1 in 5 is a silent heart attack where the person is not even aware of it. During a heart attack, there is a period in which the heart is without a sufficient supply of oxygen.  As a result, there may be damage to some cardiac tissues.  Following the event, there may be enough damage in the heart to show long-term symptoms as chest pains, arrhythmia and a weakened ability of the heart to pump blood.  In severe cases, there may be significant blood pressure changes or the heart can fail completely. 

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March 11, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide. It is found in 30% of people in developed countries and occurs in approximately 25% of people in the United States. Risk factors for the disease include obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and poor eating habits, although this does not exclude individuals without these risk factors.

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March 8, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – Recent advances in technology have opened many possibilities for using wearable and implantable sensors to monitor various indicators of patient health. Wearable pressure sensors are designed to respond to very small changes in bodily pressure, so that physical functions such as pulse rate, blood pressure, breathing rates and even subtle changes in vocal cord vibrations can be monitored in real time with a high degree of sensitivity.

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March 8, 2021

(Los Angeles) — Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has joined the OneLegacy Foundation and other like-minded organizations from around the country to help create an important public service announcement and website encouraging people to consider being a living kidney donor. The #BeLikeGina campaign launches this week in conjunction with National Kidney Month and is connected to CBS’s highly-acclaimed BPositive program.

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February 22, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – Although one may think of psychedelic pharmaceuticals as being dangerous and detrimental, scientists have been conducting experiments and clinical trials on some of them and have obtained positive results when testing them for medical use. Research has shown that drugs such as MDMA (a type of methamphetamine), LSD and psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) can be of benefit in treating severe pain, anxiety, depression and certain mental illnesses. Successful outcomes have been achieved when using psychedelics for treating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions to alcohol and smoking, for example. In many cases, these treatments have benefited individuals who had unsuccessfully tried to treat their conditions by other methods.

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February 1, 2021

(LOS ANGELES) – There are many mechanisms by which the body responds to foreign invaders.  One of these involves the T-cells of the immune system, which have a number of different proteins on their surface called “checkpoint proteins.”  These checkpoint proteins bind to proteins on the surface of other cells and can result in either stimulation or suppression of T-cell activity.  Normally, surface proteins on foreign or invading cells will produce a stimulation of T-cell activity against these cells, while T-cell suppression is a built-in mechanism to prevent the immune system from attacking the body’s own normal cells.  

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