A Penn State College of Medicine research team found that playing a simple conversation game may encourage African Americans to make plans for their end of life care. Researchers say the game may be a useful tool in addressing the disparities in end-of-life care in African American communities. Dr. Lauren Van Scoy, an associate professor…
The fatal disease smallpox is older and more widespread than scientists so far have proved. A new study by an international team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge shows that the Vikings also suffered from smallpox. Through the ages, the highly infectious disease smallpox has killed hundreds of millions…
BOSTON – New genome-editing technologies developed by researchers in J. Keith Joung’s laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have the potential to help understand disease-associated genetic mutations that are based on C-to-G (cytosine to guanine) single base changes. The new base editors are also designed to minimize unintended (“off-target”) mutations that could potentially cause…
A team of Brazilian and European scientists has determined the transmission rates and out-of-country origins of predominant SARS-CoV-2 strains currently circulating in Brazil, which harbors one of the fastest growing COVID-19 epidemics in the world. Although the researchers show that non-pharmaceutical interventions initially reduced viral transmission, the continued increases in both cases and deaths in…
A team of scientists has engineered the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – a critical component of potential COVID-19 vaccines – to be more environmentally stable and generate larger yields in the lab. By solving problems with protein instability that have held back vaccine research, the new spike protein design could accelerate the development…
Cancer’s knack for developing resistance to chemotherapy has long been a major obstacle to achieving lasting remissions or cures. While tumors may shrink soon after chemotherapy, many times they eventually grow back. Scientists once thought that unique genetic mutations in tumors underlay this drug resistance. But more and more, they are casting their eyes on…
The anecdotes are alarming. A woman in Los Angeles seemed to recover from Covid-19, but weeks later took a turn for the worse and tested positive again. A New Jersey doctor claimed several patients healed from one bout only to become reinfected with the coronavirus. And another doctor said a second round of illness was…
WASHINGTON — As nations around the world race to lock up coronavirus vaccines even before they are ready, the Trump administration on Wednesday made one of the largest investments yet, announcing a nearly $2 billion contract with Pfizer and a German biotechnology company for 100 million doses by December. The contract is part of what…
Most Americans recovering from Covid-19 can come out of isolation without further testing to show they no longer carry the coronavirus, federal health officials said on Wednesday. Instead, patients may be judged to have recovered if 10 days have passed since they first felt ill; they no longer have any symptoms, such as shortness of…
Listen to This Article Computer-generated audio recording When the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed to prohibit employment discrimination based on disability, it was supposed to protect disabled people and ensure their rights in the United States. “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States,” Section 504 of that law reads, “shall,…