A new way to create proteins that can sneak through HIV’s protective coating may be a step toward understanding the key components needed for developing a vaccine for the virus, according to researchers. Using computational modeling, a team of researchers led by Penn State designed and created proteins that mimicked different surface features of HIV.…
URBANA, Ill. – Until the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015 provided federal recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States, individual state laws varied. Some states were clear on whether or not they would recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, and others were in an uncertain flux, in some instances legalizing,…
A team of biologists has uncovered a mechanism that determines faithful inheritance of short chromosomes during the reproductive process. The discovery, reported in the journal Nature Communications, elucidates a key aspect of inheritance–deviation from which can lead to infertility, miscarriages, or birth defects such as Down syndrome. The research centers on how short chromosomes can…
ANN ARBOR – Having a family member with persistent opioid use may be a risk factor for young adults continuing prescriptions long after their own surgeries, a new Michigan Medicine study suggests. The presence of one or more family members using long-term opioids before a procedure was associated with a higher likelihood that adolescents prescribed…
The latest battle in the nation’s continuing war over abortion involves a federal bill called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Senate Democrats this week blocked the bill from reaching a vote, and President Trump responded with an angry tweet. Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children. The…
Doctors start calculating pregnancy from the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period. For this reason, women are not actually pregnant in the first week of pregnancy, and they may not be pregnant during the second week either. Instead, in the first 2 weeks of pregnancy, the body is preparing for possible conception. Often,…
Pregnancy can have a significant effect on a woman’s sex drive. Increases and decreases in libido are both normal, and arousal levels can change at different stages of pregnancy. Some women have higher levels of arousal and more intense orgasms during pregnancy, while other women notice the opposite. Although every woman’s experience is unique, there…
The placenta is an organ that grows in the uterus during pregnancy to supply the fetus with oxygen and nutrients. An anterior placenta is one that attaches to the front of the uterus. The placenta may attach itself in any of the following positions: posterior (at the back of the uterus) anterior (at the front…
A DEXA scan usually assesses or measures bone density. It may also have uses in determining body composition, such as the percentage of lean muscle and fat. The dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan uses two low-energy X-ray beams, which doctors direct toward the bones. Using dual energy levels separates the images into two components, including…
Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC), Queen’s University (Ontario) and Duke University have developed a new tool that can screen children for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) quickly and affordably, making it accessible to more children in remote locations worldwide. The tool uses a camera and computer vision to record patterns in children’s…