Coronapod: Ivermectin, what the science says
Ivermectin is a cheap, widely available, anti-parasitic drug that has been proposed by many as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Dozens of trials have been started, but results have been far from clear, with inconsistent results further confused by high profile paper retractions. Nonetheless many countries have recommended the use of Ivermectin, despite WHO advice to the contrary.Now a group of researchers have found suspect data in another influential paper which claimed a Ivermectin caused a 90% reduction in fatality. The paper, published at the end of 2020, has since been withdrawn pending investigation. In this episod...
Source: Nature Podcast - August 6, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
New hope for vaccine against a devastating livestock disease
A vaccine candidate for a neglected tropical disease, and calls to extend the 14-day limit on embryo research.In this episode:00:46 A vaccine candidate for an important livestock diseaseAfrican animal trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease that kills millions of cattle each year, affecting livelihoods and causing significant economic costs in many sub-Saharan countries. Developing a vaccine against the disease has proved difficult as the parasite has a wealth of tricks to evade the immune system. This week however, a team of researchers have created a vaccine candidate that shows early promise in mice.Research Arti...
Source: Nature Podcast - May 26, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
New hope for vaccine against a devastating livestock disease
A vaccine candidate for a neglected tropical disease, and calls to extend the 14-day limit on embryo research.In this episode:00:46 A vaccine candidate for an important livestock diseaseAfrican animal trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease that kills millions of cattle each year, affecting livelihoods and causing significant economic costs in many sub-Saharan countries. Developing a vaccine against the disease has proved difficult as the parasite has a wealth of tricks to evade the immune system. This week however, a team of researchers have created a vaccine candidate that shows early promise in mice.Research Arti...
Source: Nature Podcast - May 26, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 742: De-fusing COVID-19
TWiV reviews a drug screen for inhibitors of syncytium formation, the fusing of cells caused by SARS-CoV-2, which reveals that the process is regulated by a calcium-activated ion channel and scramblase that is inhibited by the anti-parasite drug Niclosamide. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode TMEM16 inhibitors block SARS-CoV-2 driven syncytium formation (Nature) Letters read on TWiV 742 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – COVID-19: a disaster five years in the m...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - April 11, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
COVID, 2020 and a year of lost research
The pandemic's unequal toll on the research community, and a newly discovered mitochondria-like symbiosis.In this episode:00:48 The pandemic's unequal toll on researchersAlthough 2020 saw a huge uptick in the numbers of research papers submitted, these increases were not evenly distributed among male and female scientists. We look at how this could widen existing disparities in science, and damage future career prospects.Editorial: COVID is amplifying the inadequacy of research-evaluation processes09:18 Research HighlightsHow a parasite can make viral infections more deadly, and the first known space hurricane.Research Hig...
Source: Nature Podcast - March 3, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
COVID, 2020 and a year of lost research
The pandemic's unequal toll on the research community, and a newly discovered mitochondria-like symbiosis.In this episode:00:48 The pandemic's unequal toll on researchersAlthough 2020 saw a huge uptick in the numbers of research papers submitted, these increases were not evenly distributed among male and female scientists. We look at how this could widen existing disparities in science, and damage future career prospects.Editorial: COVID is amplifying the inadequacy of research-evaluation processes09:18 Research HighlightsHow a parasite can make viral infections more deadly, and the first known space hurricane.Research Hig...
Source: Nature Podcast - March 3, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 675: Forget what you've herd about immunity
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then we discuss Bill Foege’s letter to CDC director Robert Redfield, the false promise of herd immunity for COVID-19, secret blueprints for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials released, and neuropilin-1 as a possible entry protein for the virus. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Guest: Daniel Griffin Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, emailBecome a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Excess COVID-19 Deaths by Age and Race and Ethnicity (MMWR) Excess COVID-19 deaths (JAMA) SARS-CoV-2 transmission (C...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - October 25, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 673: Wake up and smell the pandemic
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, we debunk the Great Barrington Declaration, and discuss smell and taste changes as early indicators of the pandemic, vascular disease and thrombosis in SARS-CoV-2 infected humans and rhesus macaques, and the ability of the swine pathogen SADS-CoV to infect human respiratory tract cells. Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Daniel’s COVID-19 testing strategy calculator (and medRxiv preprint) US COVID-19 mortality rates (JAMA) Final remdesivir report (NEJM) Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 (NEJM) Te...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - October 18, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 671: Prizes, polio, and a pandemic puzzle
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then Amy joins us to discuss the 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize for gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9, continuing circulation of poliovirus in Afghanistan, inborn errors of interferon in patients with severe COVID-19, and listener questions. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit Guests: Daniel Griffin and Amy Rosenfeld Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode ASH guidelines on anticoagulants in COVID-19 patients (ASH) Followup of adults with noncritical COVID-19 (Clin Micr Inf) Tocilizumab in...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - October 11, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
03 October 2019: Leapfrogging speciation, and migrating mosquitoes
This week, how new species may form by sexual imprinting, and a previously unknown way for mosquitoes to migrate.In this episode:00:43 New species by sexual imprinting?A Central American frog chooses mates resembling its parents, a possible route for new species to form. Research Article: Yang et al.; News and Views: Leapfrog to speciation boosted by mother’s influence09:58 Research HighlightsA light-based pacemaker, and the mathematics of the best place to park. Research Article: Mei et al.; Research Highlight: Maths tackles an eternal question: where to park?11:43 Gone with the w...
Source: Nature Podcast - October 2, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
03 October 2019: Leapfrogging speciation, and migrating mosquitoes
This week, how new species may form by sexual imprinting, and a previously unknown way for mosquitoes to migrate.In this episode:00:43 New species by sexual imprinting?A Central American frog chooses mates resembling its parents, a possible route for new species to form. Research Article: Yang et al.; News and Views: Leapfrog to speciation boosted by mother’s influence09:58 Research HighlightsA light-based pacemaker, and the mathematics of the best place to park. Research Article: Mei et al.; Research Highlight: Maths tackles an eternal question: where to park?11:43 Gone with the w...
Source: Nature Podcast - October 2, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
"Prawn Stars" -- The Discovery Files
New research provides a roadmap for how entrepreneurs can harness freshwater prawns' voracious appetite for snails to reduce the transmission of parasites that cause schistosomiasis -- the second most devastating parasitic disease worldwide, after malaria -- while still making a profit selling the prawns as food. The study shows how small-scale farming of freshwater prawns -- also known as aquaculture -- could be a win-win for communities in emerging and developing economies where schistosomiasis is common. (Source: The Discovery Files)
Source: The Discovery Files - August 8, 2019 Category: Science Authors: National Science Foundation Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 485: Fishing with defective flies
The TWiV posse considers viral insulin-like peptides encoded in fish genomes, and insect antiviral immunity by production of viral DNA from defective genomes of RNA viruses. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode ASM Microbe 2018 Insulin-like peptides in Iridovirus genomes (PNAS) Dicer-2 dependent generation of cvDNA from defective genomes (Cell Host Micr) Carla Saleh on insect antiviral immunity (TWiV 301) RNAseIII ancient antiviral RNA platform (TWiV 450) cvDNA precursor to EVEs (TWiV 482) Image credit: Paul Young L...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - March 18, 2018 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
How humans survived an ancient volcanic winter and how disgust shapes ecosystems
When Indonesia ’s Mount Toba blew its top some 74,000 years ago, an apocalyptic scenario ensued: Tons of ash and debris entered the atmosphere, coating the planet in ash for 2 weeks straight and sending global temperatures plummeting. Despite the worldwide destruction, humans survived. Sarah Crespi talks with O nline News Editor Catherine Matacic about how life after Toba was even possible—were humans decimated, or did they rally in the face of a suddenly extra hostile planet? Next, Julia Buck of the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins Sarah to discuss her Science commentary piece on landscape s of disgust....
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - March 15, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Science Tags: Scientific Community Source Type: podcasts
