UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
How to be alone | Vox
Steve Cole, a researcher at the University of California Los Angeles, studies interventions designed to help people cope with loneliness. He’s found that the ones that work tend to focus not on decreasing loneliness but on increasing people’s sense of purpose. Recalling one pilot program that paired isolated older people with elementary school kids whom they’re asked to tutor and look out for, Cole told Vox, “Secretly, this is an intervention for the older people.”
California faces two years of high unemployment | Los Angeles Times
California’s job market is plunging and is not likely to recover soon, a new UCLA forecast predicts. As the economic effects of the coronavirus worsen, the state’s unemployment rate may peak at 16.4% in the second quarter of this year, then gradually slacken. That would dwarf the 12.3% jobless rate in 2010, in the depths of the financial crisis. But California’s unemployment will register double digits through 2021, Jerry Nickelsburg, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, said Friday. (Also: NPR, MyNewsLA, KABC-TV)
Coronavirus survivor credits artificial antibody treatment | KCBS-TV
Mottet was on a ventilator in the ICU, where doctors tried two treatments that didn’t work. That’s when her doctor and family approached Dr. Otto Yang, a professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, who is leading a clinical trial of a drug called leronlimab.... Yang said leronlimab is an artificial antibody that works against the second phase of the COVID-19.
Many more Americans say the economy is getting worse | USA Today
As unemployment numbers continue to rise during the coronavirus pandemic, Americans’ perceptions of the economy are worsening and almost a quarter say they’ve had difficulty paying rent or their mortgage, according to a new survey. Sixty-five percent of Americans say the economy is getting worse – a 40-percentage-point jump from four weeks earlier, when 25% said it was getting worse, according to the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project with USA Today.
Coronavirus diaries are a research gold mine | Los Angeles Times
Sean Young, an associate professor at UCLA and UC Irvine who studies digital behavior and prediction technology, said such social media sharing is to be expected during a health crisis like this, especially when there’s distrust of leaders and the healthcare system. “When the government is inconsistent in their messaging, then that creates confusion, fear and chaos,” Young said.
60-year-old computer language is in the COVID-19 spotlight | Fast Company
“There’s really no good reason to learn COBOL today, and there was really no good reason to learn it 20 years ago,” says UCLA computer science professor Peter Reiher. “Most students today wouldn’t have ever even heard of COBOL.”
How did COVID-19 come about? | KTLA-TV
“This is always a point of speculation. Is this something that is a naturally occurring event? Is it an accidental or is it an intentional event? And there have been several studies that have been looking into this,” said UCLA’s Anne Rimoin.
Dispelling false claims on coronavirus cures | KABC-TV
“There is no miracle here, this is basic bleach and it’s a bad idea,” says Dr. Mark Morocco of the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Dr. Morocco is screening and treating patients for coronavirus every day. He says it’s no surprise that con artists are trying to take advantage of the pandemic. “Sort of like predators who come out when they smell blood in the water,” says Dr. Morocco. “We are here to tell you what you can do and not do to lessen that anxiety and to prevent yourself from being injured by some of these, frankly, snake oil quack, crazy things that are popping up online.”
With added production of ventilators, will they be needed? | Los Angeles Daily News
Dr. Angelique Campen, an emergency medicine specialist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said if hospitals face shortages of breathing machines, “we would use those. But we’re not at that point and no one is predicting that we will get to that point.”
California air quality has improved | CALmatters
Citing data aggregated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor Yifang Zhu said average levels of tiny airborne particles known as PM2.5 dropped from about 16 micrograms per cubic meter to about 12 in the four-county Los Angeles basin after the stay at home orders. She characterized that 25% reduction as “significant.” “We don’t need a pandemic to breathe clear air,” said Zhu. “This should be the air we breathe every day.” (Also: Forbes)
There’s a hole in Biden’s coronavirus plan | Daily Beast
“Anything that reduces the amount of time that people have to spend together particularly indoors and in close contact would be valuable in preventing COVID-19 transmission,” said Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and of Medicine. (Brewer is also quoted in a separate Daily Beast story.)
Are herbs good for your health? | Consumer Reports
What’s more, polyphenols — compounds that give herbs their unique flavors — have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and other healthful properties, says Dana Hunnes, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., senior dietitian at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
