Gene therapy, image by Natali _ MisCalifornia launched a $111 million research program last week aimed at developing genetic tools and treatments to help the millions of persons afflicted with mental disorders ranging from autism to schizophrenia. Dubbed ReMIND, it is the largest such concerted effort in the nation.
Personnel at UCSF's facility in Fresno, which may benefit if Proposition 14 is approved. (Photo: UCSF)Proposition 14, the fall ballot measure to save California’s stem cell agency from financial extinction, contains much, much more than the $5.5 billion that it is seeking from the state’s voters. Added to the agency’s charter would be research involving mental health, “therapy delivery,” personalized medicine and “aging as a pathology.“ That is not to mention a greater emphasis on supporting “vital research opportunities” that are not stem cell-related.
A homeless man in Oceanside. (Photo: David Little)With news this week that California’s tax revenues came in $6-$8 billion stronger than previous estimates, California now has an undeniable choice: a high road that lifts up all our people and strengthens our state, or a low road that ignores the nearly one in four residents who live below the poverty line in the wealthiest state in the nation.
A child getting vaccinated. (Photo: Thinkstock, Dimitry Naumov)The Kaiser study found that, on an individual level, under-immunization—where a child misses one or more of the required doses before age 3—was higher in neighborhoods with more families in poverty as well as those with more graduate degrees. But even after adjusting for factors such as race and income, the study still found statistically significant geographic clusters of under-immunization.
California may think it’s saving big money by transferring children from Healthy Families to Medi-Cal, but it is missing the big picture.
In October 2012, the state announced that it would shift some 860,000 children from Healthy Families, California’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, to Medi-Cal, which reimburses physicians at lower rates. The move has