Zika Virus Blogs This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

ASHA Issues a Statement About Reports of Federal Ban on Words
The Washington Post—along with several other reputable news outlets—recently reported that federal government administrators banned the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from using certain words and phrases in 2019 budgeting documents. The article lists the seven forbidden words and phrases: “evidence-based,” “science-based,” “diversity,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “entitlement” and “vulnerable.” ASHA issued an official statement in response to the word ban, expressing concern about the action and the resulting effects on health care and on the supporting research. AS...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - December 27, 2017 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Advocacy Audiology News Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: blogs

Immune 3: Two epitopes, four serotypes, and a partridge in a pear tree
Cindy, Steph, and Vincent discuss recent problems with dengue virus vaccine, and a bi-specific monoclonal antibody against Zika virus. Click arrow to play Download Immune 3 (48 MB .mp3, 79 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS...
Source: virology blog - December 16, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Immune ADE antibody dependent enhancement antibody therapy bispecific antibody dengue virus Dengvaxia immunology monoclonal antibody passive vaccine zika virus Source Type: blogs

BioethicsTV (12/11-13): Confidentiality, Cost, Religious Objection
Chicago Med (Season 3; Episode 4) Confidentiality: A husband comes into the ER with his wife who is experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. He does not look well so Dr. Halstead gives him an examination. Tests results are inconclusive for Zika virus. The patient says he was in Buffalo, NY and has not traveled anywhere known to have the virus. When Halstead says that he is going to have to test the wife for the virus because of its potential negative effects on the fetus, the husband informs Halstead that he was in Aruba with a “lady friend” and he’s not about to lose his marriage: “Did they teach you about patient...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - December 13, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Craig Klugman Tags: BioethicsTV Featured Posts Institutions, Centers, Funding Privacy Public Health #ChicagoMed Religious objection Zika Source Type: blogs

2017 Nanopore Community Meeting: An Incomplete Summary
The 2017 Nanopore Community Meeting was over a week ago back in New York City, so I ' m grossly overdue in cobbling together some observations and opinion based on the tweet stream (I had a critical day job meeting at the same time and wasn ' t in New York). I diddash off the bit about SmidgION being potentially like the early Macs (though I got wrong the nomenclature, the original was the Mac 128K -- Mac Classic was a later model that resembled it). Oxford also deviated this autumn from the pattern of public information they had seemingly established, with major news at London Calling and smaller updates at th...
Source: Omics! Omics! - December 10, 2017 Category: Bioinformatics Authors: Keith Robison Source Type: blogs

A Clinical Trial By Any Other Name …
By ARTHUR CAPLAN and KELLY McBRIDE FOLKERS Mosquito borne illnesses pose a significant threat to human health. In the past several years, drug makers have begun developing vaccines for viruses like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, all of which pose unique risks to billions across the globe. One of them just went terribly, terribly wrong. Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi, has the problem. In a press release distributed last Wednesday, Sanofi reported that new analysis of long-term safety data for its dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia®, revealed that the vaccine may not be safe ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 7, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Dengue Source Type: blogs

WMD Video w/ @edyong209: Wolbachia of Male Destruction adapted for fighting dengue, Zika
Another video from Tangled Bank Studios -------- This is from the "Tree of Life Blog" of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter. -------- (Source: The Tree of Life)
Source: The Tree of Life - November 30, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs

TWiV 468: Zika by the slice
Amy Rosenfeld joins the TWiV team to talk about her career and her work on Zika virus neurotropism using embryonic mouse organotypic brain slice cultures. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 468 (66 MB .mp3, 107 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - November 19, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology brain development glial cell microcephaly neurotropism organotypic brain slice culture vimentin viral virus viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs

Zika virus blocks the neuron road
Written with Amy Rosenfeld, Ph.D. By infecting organotypic brain slice cultures from embryonic mice, we have shown that Zika virus has always been neurotropic. The same culture system provides information on how Zika virus infection of the developing brain might lead to microcephaly. The small heads observed in microcephalic children reflect a physically smaller brain – specifically, the neocortex is thinner than in a normal brain. The neocortex, only found in mammals, is the largest part of the cerebral cortex of the brain. It is composed of six distinct layers of neurons, which is established during embryonic devel...
Source: virology blog - November 9, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information cortex glial cell microcephaly neocortex neuronal migration organotypic brain slice culture vimentin viral virus viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs

Zika virus has always been neurotropic
Written with Amy Rosenfeld, Ph.D. Zika virus has been infecting humans since at least the 1950s (and probably earlier), but epidemics of infection have only been observed in the past ten years and congenital Zika syndrome in the last two. Two hypotheses emerged to explain this new pattern of disease: evolution of the virus, or random introduction into large, immunologically naive populations. Results from our laboratory show that one component of these disease patterns – neurotropism, the ability to infect cells of the nervous system – has always been a feature of Zika virus. If evolution has selected for Zika...
Source: virology blog - November 2, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information congenital zika syndrome flavivirus microcephaly neuroinvasion neurotropism organotypic brain slice culture viral zika virus Source Type: blogs

A Connection Between the Zika Virus and Curing Brain Cancer?
Not long ago, Zika virus was dominating headlines. A new infection was hardly ever heard about before then, yet is now affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Latin America, causing disfiguration and microcephalia in new-born babies. Microcephalia is caused by severe delayed and abnormal development of the brain, resulting in the range of intellectual disability, dwarfism, poor motor functions and speech. With no cure or even preventive vaccination available, many women in the most affected regions were reportedly considering postponing any planned pregnancies. The virus was actually discovered back in 1947 in Zika fo...
Source: World of Psychology - October 28, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Staff Tags: Brain and Behavior Brain Blogger Health-related Publishers Research brain cancer Delivery glioblastoma Immune System microcephalia Pregnancy Sexual Contact stem cells Zika virus Source Type: blogs

Rapid Phone-Based Test for Multiple Infectious Pathogens
Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Washington at Tacoma have partnered to develop a compact, portable, and easy to use system for simultaneously detecting a variety of bacteria and viruses that cause disease. The system provides results in about a half an hour, which are nearly as accurate as laboratory equipment, and the technology can be used in the field and at the point-of-care. The technology revolves around a microfluidic chip that contains loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reagents. Each of the chip’s parallel channels is loaded with reagents design...
Source: Medgadget - October 23, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Pathology Public Health Source Type: blogs

Improved Brain Organoids for Zika Virus Research
Researchers at UCLA have developed a method to produce improved brain organoids, or “mini brains,” that they claim mimic the structure of the human brain more closely than previous attempts. The investigators used the organoids to study how the Zika virus infects and destroys brain tissue, and identify potential treatments, but the mini brains could also be useful in studying neurological/neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. Brain organoids have been covered by Medgadget previously. However, what sets the new organoids apart is the researchers’ claims that they more closely mimic...
Source: Medgadget - October 13, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Genetics Neurology Source Type: blogs

Have a methyl with your viral RNA
Chemical modification of RNA by the addition of methyl groups is known to alter gene expression without changing the nucleotide sequence. The addition of a methyl group to adenosine has been found to regulate gene expression of animal viruses, and most recently of plant viruses. The illustration shows a methyl (CH3-) group added to the sixth nitrogen of the purine base adenine. The entire molecule, with the ribose, is called N6-methyladenosine (m6A). The m6A modification is found in multiple RNAs of most eukaryotes. It has also been found in the genome of RNA animal viruses. The modification is added to RNAs by a multi-pro...
Source: virology blog - October 13, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information alfalfa mosaic virus Arabidopsis cucumber mosaic virus demethylase gene expression HIV-1 methylation N6-methyladenosine plant virus RNA viral viruses Source Type: blogs

Digital Maps Help Fight Epidemics
Have you ever thought that it would be possible to monitor drug overdoses, Zika cases or the spread of the flu in real time? Have you ever imagined that satellites wouldbe able to tell how and where a malaria epidemic will happen months before the actual outbreak? It is mind-blowing how, in the last years, digital maps developed to a level where they serve as effective tools for evaluating, monitoring and even predicting health events. That’s why I decided to give a comprehensive overview of digital maps in healthcare. John Snow, cholera and the revolution of maps in healthcare Before Game of Thrones monopolized John Sn...
Source: The Medical Futurist - October 12, 2017 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Future of Medicine Healthcare Design Mobile Health digital health digital technology epidemics epidemiology gc4 Innovation interactive maps Source Type: blogs

The Insufficiency Of Medicaid Block Grants: The Example Of Puerto Rico
Medicaid block grants have been a centerpiece of Republican health proposals for more than a decade. Proponents, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), argue that giving states a fixed amount of money through a block grant or per-person limit with few strings attached gets Washington out of the way and allows for state innovation. Although the most recent block grant legislation did not reach the Senate floor, proponents have promised to continue to push for it. But one need look no further than the growing health crisis in Puerto Rico to understand why capped federal money and state flexibility will not solve serious h...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 12, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Vikki Wachino and Tim Gronniger Tags: Medicaid and CHIP block grants disaster relief Puerto Rico Source Type: blogs