Before the pandemic, Aya Raji’s days were jam-packed. She woke up at 6:30 a.m. and took the subway to school. At night, she practiced kick-flips with her skateboarding club and hosted “Twilight” movie nights for friends. Once her school in Brooklyn turned to remote learning, starting last spring and continuing this fall, the days grew…
Measles deaths worldwide swelled to their highest level in 23 years last year, according to a report released Thursday, a stunning rise for a vaccine-preventable disease and one that public health experts fear could grow as the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt immunization and detection efforts. The global death tally for 2019 — 207,500 —…
In mid-June, Timothy Wannier tested positive for the coronavirus. Within 48 hours of receiving his jarring result, he felt almost certain there had been a mistake. “The evidence was overwhelmingly obvious,” said Dr. Wannier, a geneticist at Harvard University. At the time, case numbers were down in Massachusetts, where he, his wife and two young…
MIT chemists have determined the molecular structure of a protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This protein, called the envelope protein E, forms a cation-selective channel and plays a key role in the virus’s ability to replicate itself and stimulate the host cell’s inflammation response. If researchers could devise ways to block this channel, they…
For years, researchers have known through numerous studies that hearing and other sensory systems of adults and children who have autism differ from children or adults without autism. Now, University of Miami and Harvard Medical School researchers who explored responses to the standard hearing test administered to millions of newborns around the world, are closing…
Women who experience sexual violence combined with other forms of intimate partner violence suffer greater damage to their health and are much more likely to attempt suicide, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Primary Care published today [12 November] in the International Journal of Epidemiology .…
Irvine, CA – November 12, 2020 – A new study, led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine, has deepened the understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in tumorigenesis and revealed a previously undetected repertoire of cancer driver genes. The study was published this week in Science Advances. Using a new prediction algorithm, called DORGE (Discovery…
The current dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2, containing a D614G substitution in the spike protein, appears to have evolved to enhance transmissibility, according to a new study in human cells and animal models. Its results address concerns that have been raised about how this emergent mutation could enhance transmissibility, antigenicity, and/or pathogenesis, with implications for therapies…
Exposure to COVID-19 could pose a risk to the health and aging of individuals who aren’t even born yet, according to a newly published analysis by USC researchers. In the article, University Professors Eileen Crimmins and Caleb Finch of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and Keck School of Medicine neonatology fellow Molly Easterlin…
Little is understood about how cilia, the tiny hairlike organelles that in humans are often the first lines of defense against pathogens in our lungs and respiratory tracks and even help push sperm along, move in coordination. New research from USC scholars identifies the mechanisms in play for cilia to work effectively and productively to…