Their Second Date ‘Sealed It’

When asked if there was a seminal moment when he knew he wanted to marry Claire Christine Galiette, Harold William Strunk, otherwise known as Billy, did not hesitate. “Honestly, our second date sealed it for me,” he said. “You bring in playoff baseball, beer, all-you-can-eat hot dogs and great conversation, and you have me pretty…

Ice Cream Topped with Easy Conversation

Martin MacLachlan (left), and George Kapelos first met in 2012 at an ice cream emporium in Toronto, where both live, and their attraction was immediate. Mr. Kapelos arrived on his bicycle, and ordered cardamom. Mr. MacLachlan showed up in shorts and had chocolate. Mr. Kapelos didn’t neglect to admire Mr. MacLachlan’s legs. “I noticed his…

Brought Together by a Friendly Cupid

Erica Ann Fugger and Viswanaath Gowri Sanker like to joke that they owe their relationship to a friend who played Cupid. After matching on Tinder in 2014, Mr. Gowri Sanker, 31, who goes by Vish, realized he and Ms. Fugger, 29, shared a mutual friend, Shreyas Khandate. He asked Mr. Khandate about Ms. Fugger, but…

In Quarantine, Their Romance Blossomed

Anne Huntington met Sam Sharma through a mutual friend in Manhattan in December 2019 and married him on Sept. 7, a mere nine-month blip on the whirlwind radar screen. “Ours was a Covid-inspired romance,” said Ms. Huntington, 36, who graduated from Colgate and is the president of the Huntington Learning Center, a nationwide tutoring and…

Defying the Family Cycle of Addiction

I am the mother of four, but addiction is my ever-present extra child. My grandparents died of alcoholism. My father-in-law did, too. My 43-year-old brother died of a heroin overdose in May. He became addicted after taking prescribed OxyContin following an appendectomy. When my 13-year-old daughter needed hernia surgery as my brother was hitting rock…

Sutter receives funding for collaboration of care

Rebecca Sutter, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, received $62,500 from Action in the Community Through Service (ACTS) for: “ACTSPWC – GMU Collaboration of Care.” As part of this project, ACTS will co-host five social work interns with the Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinic in Manassas, Virginia. Additionally, MAP Clinic staff will provide six in-service behavioral…

Most homemade masks are doing a great job, even when we sneeze, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Studies indicate that homemade masks help combat the spread of viruses like COVID-19 when combined with frequent hand-washing and physical distancing. Many of these studies focus on the transfer of tiny aerosol particles; however, researchers say that speaking, coughing and sneezing generates larger droplets that carry virus particles. Because of this, mechanical…

After developing CRISPR test, UConn researchers validate clinical feasibility for COVID-19 testing

In March, researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering– a shared department in the schools of Dental Medicine, Medicine, and Engineering–began to develop a new, low-cost, CRISPR-based diagnostic platform to detect infectious diseases, including HIV virus, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Today, the method is one step closer to being a cutting-edge diagnostics technology for rapid…

Mosquito-borne viruses linked to stroke

A deadly combination of two mosquito-borne viruses may be a trigger for stroke, new research published in the The Lancet Neurology has found. University of Liverpool researchers and Brazilian collaborators have been investigating the link between neurological disease and infection with the viruses Zika and chikungunya. These viruses, which mostly circulate in the tropics, cause…

Artificial intelligence and fractal dimension for monitoring ataxia

Exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) to develop tools for improving the monitoring of treatment of rare, progressive, and highly debilitating diseases such as Friedreich’s (FRDA) and spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA). This is the goal of the new research project led by Professor Stefano Diciotti from the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering at the University of…