'Future Humans, Human Futures' to explore humanity in the age of intelligent machines
(Virginia Tech) In the spirit of such exploration, the Henry Luce Foundation's Theology Program has awarded the Center for Humanities a $500,000 grant to support 'Future Humans, Human Futures,' a project that combines religion, ethics, and technology to tackle fundamental questions of what it means to be human in a technological age. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - August 25, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Partnership receives $23 million NSF grant to accelerate research on glycomaterials
(Virginia Tech) 'The GlycoMIP project is very timely given the current COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the role of glycans in the ability of the coronavirus to reach and enter the cells in the lungs could hold the key to developing effective vaccines and protective materials.' - Maren Roman (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - July 29, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
NSF CAREER award to study microstructures of starfish skeletons
(Virginia Tech) The $520,000 five-year award will support Li's research of the design and formation of biomineralized starfish skeletons. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - July 27, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Researchers use cell imaging and mathematical modeling to understand cancer progression
(Virginia Tech) Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, a team of researchers from the Virginia Tech Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute are beginning to unravel the mechanisms that lie behind tetraploidy - a chromosomal abnormality that is often found in malignant tumors. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - July 24, 2020 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news
Droplet biosensing method opens the door for faster identification of COVID-19
(Virginia Tech) In Cheng and Zhou's method, all of the contents of a sampling droplet can be detected, and there is no extraction or other tedious procedures. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Virginia Tech researchers discover that mouth bacterium may cause colon cancer to spread
(Virginia Tech) Virginia Tech researchers have discovered that one of these common bacteria can leave the mouth and potentially cause existing cancer cells in other parts of the body to spread. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - July 21, 2020 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news
Doctoral student awarded Fulbright to study diseases in migratory birds
(Virginia Tech) Krisangel Lopez, a first-year Ph.D. student in Jonathan Auguste's lab at Virginia Tech, received a Fulbright Fellowship to research how migratory birds can transmit diseases and which pathogens they may carry. When it's safe to travel again, she will spend a year at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - July 17, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Grant studies community response to early warnings on safe drinking water in Bangladesh
(Virginia Tech) " By getting people to load an app on their cell phone, we'll see if people will respond to the information provided, " Boyle said. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - July 16, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
In one hour, surface coating inactivates virus that causes COVID-19
(Virginia Tech) A chemical engineering professor at Virginia Tech has developed a surface coating that, when painted on common objects, inactivates SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - July 15, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Converting female mosquitoes to non-biting males with implications for mosquito control
(Virginia Tech) " Nix has great potential for developing mosquito control strategies to reduce vector populations through female-to-male sex conversion, or to aid in the Sterile Insect Technique, which requires releasing only nonbiting males, " said James Biedler, a research scientist in the Tu lab. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 14, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Preliminary study suggests tuberculosis vaccine may be limiting COVID-19 deaths
(Virginia Tech) While a direct correlation between BCG vaccinations and a reduction in coronavirus mortalities still needs to be understood more fully, researchers hold hope that the BCG vaccine might be able to provide at least short-term protections against severe COVID-19, particularly for front-line medical workers or high-risk patients. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 8, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
The WHO Says Airborne Coronavirus Transmission Isn ’t a Big Risk. Scientists Are Pushing Back
For months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said COVID-19 spreads mainly via direct contact with large respiratory droplets, like those expelled in a sick person’s cough or sneeze. In a letter published this week in Clinical Infectious Diseases, 239 scientists say the agency may be wrong.
It’s only the latest chapter in an ongoing tug of war between the WHO and the rest of the public-health world. “This is one in a series of many miscues,” says Dr. Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. “It’s really unfortunate how the WHO has led to all...
Source: TIME: Health - July 7, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Virginia Tech researchers developing new strategy to thwart Alzheimer's
(Virginia Tech) With a new, five-year, $2.8 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded to Harald Sontheimer, a glial neurobiologist at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, scientists are probing changes caused by aging in the circulatory system in the normal brain and Alzheimer's disease brain. The hope is they will discover something completely unsuspected -- a protein or a signaling pathway that no one had thought about -- that could then be potentially targeted to develop a therapy for Alzheimer's disease (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 7, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Quilted Fabric And Cone-Style Masks Better Than Bandanas, Study Says
(CNN) — Wearing face masks and coverings is recommended, or in some places mandatory, in public spaces to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
But what kind of DIY face covering offers the best protection?
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University have experimented with different materials and styles of non-medical masks and found that a well-fitted stitched mask made from two layers of quilting fabric was the most effective in stopping the spread of droplets from emulated coughs and sneezes.
They also compared a loosely folded homemade face mask, such as one you could make with a handkerchief or T-shirt, a bandana-sty...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - July 1, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Health – CBS Boston Tags: Boston News Covid-19 Boston, MA Health Healthcare Status Syndicated CBSN Boston CNN Coronavirus Source Type: news
Virginia Tech scientists confirm usually harmless virus attacks the heart's electrical system
(Virginia Tech) Virginia Tech researchers studying how a usually benign virus attacks the human heart with sometimes fatal consequences determined that the virus disrupts the heart's electrical system -- and with dual impacts not previously recognized. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 22, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
