Jason Hooper, physical therapist, frequently helps rock climbers overcome hand, finger and ankle injuries. As a climber himself, he speaks their language. And since rehabilitation and physical therapy services moved into the new Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion last year, Hooper has enjoyed using state-of-the-art equipment, including a hang board and pneumatic harness, to help climbers regain their strength and safely get back to the sport they love.

When JanLaree De Julius, 64, walked onto the helipad atop UC San Diego Medical Center-Hillcrest, a flood of emotions and memories came back to her. More than 30 years earlier, she had been transported to the same exact spot. In 1988, she was traveling on a boat from Mexico to California when a category 1 hurricane hit, leaving her adrift in the open sea for 66 hours. Three decades later, De Julius returned to meet the medical staff and tour the hospital, closing a choppy chapter in her life.

Summer is in full sting, so here's the question: Where's the most painful place to get stung? A scientist sacrificed himself (and quite a few honeybees) to find out, using a pain scale to rank their stings to 25 different spots on his body. The most agonizing wasn't necessarily the most obvious, though that was still pretty bad.

One in 9 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. UC San Diego Health offers a minimally invasive, outpatient treatment called cryotherapy for select men with low-risk disease. It involves freezing cancer cells to limit potential side effects from more invasive options.

The hardest substance in your body is the enamel covering your teeth, which consists mostly of minerals, in particular an inorganic calcium compound called hydroxyapatite. Bones are composed of hydroxyapatite too, but not to the degree of tooth enamel, which is why teeth are often the only remaining fossils found.

"What I love most about being a midwife is walking a woman through the journey into motherhood," said Erica Vu, certified nurse-midwife. The midwives at UC San Diego Health are dedicated to providing low-risk patients with personal attention and a birth experience the family desires. Midwives support women with a vaginal birth in our holistic birth center or the traditional labor and delivery environment, including vaginal births after Cesarean sections and the use of an epidural. Learn more at UC San Diego Health.

Taking good care of your mouth, teeth and gums can prevent bad breath, tooth decay, gum disease and can help you keep your teeth as you get older. Oral health is also connected to your overall health, so it's important to know how to best take care of those choppers. Learn what Alex Luli, PharmD, assistant clinical professor in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego, recommends for consumers.

Autism diagnoses prove highly stable as early as 14 months; men taking medications for enlarged prostate face delays in prostate cancer diagnosis; physical and mental health of seniors linked to optimism, wisdom and loneliness; herbicide linked to human liver disease; multiple brain regions moderate and link depressive mood and pain; early life exposure to nicotine alters neurons, predisposes brain to addiction later in life; slow-evolving elephant shark offers new insights into human physiology.

We talk to Mary Hackim and Jan Hebert about their 37-year nursing careers at UC San Diego Health. They served in a variety of roles in Women & Infant Services, specializing in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Hear about personal experiences, challenges and all the technological advancements made over the years that are now giving babies born less than a pound the chance to survive.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are the last and most important step before scientific discoveries can be delivered to patients in the form of new medicines and therapies. Each year, UC San Diego Health researchers and doctors, including those at Moores Cancer Center, conduct hundreds of such trials involving a vast array of diseases, disorders and conditions. Among studies currently recruiting participants are:

Study examining binge eating disorder treatment in veterans

Utilization of a device to prevent kidney injury in heart failure patients

Study of experimental medication in adults with NASH and liver cirrhosis

Alzheimer's caregiver coping: mental and physical health

Managing mild traumatic brain injury in military personnel