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.
Shaming smokers can backfire | Wall Street Journal
Research from UCLA’s psychology department shows that stigmatizing smokers not only fails to keep them from lighting up, it increases their urge to smoke. “This study provides evidence suggesting that messages intended to reduce and prevent negative behaviors by stigmatizing them could backfire,” says study co-author Clarissa Cortland, who was a Ph.D. student in psychology at UCLA when the research was conducted and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Insead.
What happens when police aren’t glorified on TV | Washington Post
“One of the reasons why you’ve seen this glorification of police is because of the people telling the stories,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences and a professor of sociology and African American studies at UCLA. “People who may be more sensitive to the impact of racial profiling and police brutality on bodies of color usually aren’t in the room to help tell the story. And when they are in the room, generally the stories are different.”
Immunity doctrine often shields police from lawsuits | Wall Street Journal
In practice, qualified immunity leads many judges to dismiss suits unless prior cases have found nearly identical conduct by an officer was unconstitutional, said Joanna Schwartz, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The evolving definition of clearly-established law has been more and more difficult to overcome.”
UCLA launches voter education initiative for student-athletes | Los Angeles Times
Now, UCLA athletics hopes to make a change at the ballot box. The department launched a Voting Matters Initiative on Tuesday, focusing on voter education and registration among student-athletes. Head coaches have agreed to dedicate time for voting education sessions for each of the school’s 25 NCAA-sanctioned sports.
Executive order could let agencies shirk environmental responsibility | Popular Science
“It’s the quintessential ‘look before you leap’ law in environmental policy,” says Cara Horowitz, an environmental law professor at the University of California Los Angeles. “It requires federal agencies — before they take actions that can significantly affect the environment — to understand what those effects will be, and to publicize those effects so that the public understands them.”
Coronavirus is changing hotel practices | Los Angeles Times
Fogging was used on airplanes during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, said Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. But he said fogging hotel rooms is not necessary for the coronavirus as long as a housekeeper wipes down high-touch surfaces such as toilets and door handles. “I don’t think there is any reason you have to disinfect the walls and ceilings,” he said, adding that the virus usually doesn’t live on surfaces for more than several hours.
Asymptomatic versus pre-symptomatic spread of COVID-19 | CNN
“When you speak, sometimes you’ll spit a little bit,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health. “You’ll rub your nose. You’ll touch your mouth. You’ll rub your eyes. And then you’ll touch other surfaces, and then you will be spreading virus if you are infected and shedding” the virus. (Rimoin was also quoted in another CNN story.)
Controlling COVID-19 spread | KCAL-TV
“Every epidemic is local. So you really cannot make any generalizations, you know, based on time… In California, we have… some counties with very few cases. And in those counties with few cases, you can go to large gatherings and the risk is going to very low, because the likelihood you’re going to come in contact with someone with the infection is going to be very, very low,” said UCLA’s Dr. Jeffrey Klausner.
More people eating plant-based protein during COVID-19 | Healthline
Dana Hunnes, PhD, MPH, RD, a senior dietitian at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, said that while she would like to believe the increased interest in plant-based protein is tied to “open-mindedness,” the realist in her “thinks it is likely more related to access and availability of meat options.” “I suppose that from an optimistic point of view, people are at home more, maybe have been cooking more, and so it is possible they have become more open-minded to trying out new flavors that are also healthier for them.”
California should provide more telehealth for low-income patients | CalMatters opinion
(Commentary co-written by UCLA’s Arturo Vargas Bustamante) The increased use of virtual care, or telehealth, has proven successful amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and its ongoing use offers long-term solutions as uncertainty remains over potentially multiple waves of COVID-19 and the timeline for a vaccine. It’s time to consider telehealth as a solution to improve medical and behavioral health access for low-income communities that have been hard hit by the pandemic.
Tear gas, pollution, wildfires: A triple threat to your lungs | Climate Central
Michael Jerrett, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, is among the scientists racing to understand relationships between various types of air pollution and COVID-19 as the disease continues to spread. “You have to be cautious in interpreting what we’re finding, but I think what we’re seeing in a series of very rapidly developing studies is evidence that air pollution does make people more susceptible to COVID,” Jerret said. “The wildfires are likely to exacerbate the existing symptoms.”
What will your baby be like? | Parents
The fact is, most babies will grow to their genetically predisposed size, regardless of their early measurements. “A baby’s size at birth doesn’t necessarily correlate with his size as an adult,” says Negar Ghafouri, MD, a pediatrician at the UCLA Medical Center, in California. “It’s more a factor of uterine size and of the kind of nutrition a baby got in the womb.”
