Robotic surgery is expensive but its long-term health benefits might pay off in the long run. Chris Childers, a general surgery resident at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, analyzed financial statements of Intuitive Surgical, a leading surgery robot manufacturer, to evaluate how cost-effective robotic surgery is. Read more...

Photo: Erik Dutson, a general surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said he thinks robots reduce complications in surgery and make up for cost. (MacKenzie Coffman/Assistant Photo editor)

Poor sleep among the elderly may be a result of declining brain cell growth and development, according to UCLA researchers. Researchers in the lab of Noor Alam, an adjunct professor of medicine at UCLA and a research physiologist in the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, described how declining neural development may cause difficulty falling asleep or staying awake in aging individuals in a study published February. Read more...