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Drastic population collapse in Central Africa was caused by prolonged disease epidemic, indicates study

A new study published in the journal Science Advances shows that Bantu-speaking communities in the Congo rainforest underwent a major population collapse from 1600 to 1400 years ago, probably due to a prolonged disease epidemic, and that significant resettlement did not restart until around 1000 years ago.

16 Feb 2021

Predicting future mamalian hosts of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers at the Beijing Computational Science Research Center and Peking University analyzed sequences of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) proteins from 16 mammals and predicted the structures of ACE2- receptor-binding domain (RBD) complexes.

4 Feb 2021

Biden’s covid challenge: 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days. It won’t be easy.

It's in the nature of presidential candidates and new presidents to promise big things. Just months after his 1961 inauguration, President John F. Kennedy vowed to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade.

20 Jan 2021

Near-universal adoption of masks along with public health measures could eliminate disease spread

Research published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that near-universal adoption of nonmedical masks in public, combined with complementary public health measures, could reduce spread to essentially zero.

18 Jan 2021

Black women find healing (but sometimes racism, too) in the outdoors

It would be the last hike of the season, Jessica Newton had excitedly posted on her social media platforms.

6 Jan 2021

At risk of extinction, black-footed ferrets get experimental COVID vaccine

In late summer, as researchers accelerated the first clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for humans, a group of scientists in Colorado worked to inoculate a far more fragile species.

23 Dec 2020

Researchers use fruit fly model to understand COVID-19-related neurological complications

Researchers claim to have reproduced disease mechanisms due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the fruit fly, Drosophila, while also providing proof of the efficacy of one drug against these disease processes. If validated, these findings represent a new understanding of how the virus causes neurological symptoms that could help develop more effective therapies.

23 Dec 2020

New alliance seeks to tackle the plague of falsified medical products

COVID-19 has spawned a "stark rise" in the global circulation of fake medical products relating to the pandemic, experts warn as they launch an alliance aimed at tackling the scourge.

14 Dec 2020

Oxford University podcast's third season to take listeners on a journey through historical pandemics

The University of Oxford's CASE Gold Award winning podcast, Futuremakers, will return for its third season at the end of October.

30 Nov 2020

Discovery of novel hidden gene in SARS-CoV-2

A team of researchers from Germany, Taiwan, and the United States has identified and characterized a new hidden gene in SARS-CoV-2 that is also present in Guangxi pangolin coronaviruses – though, curiously, absent in closely related pangolin and bat coronaviruses.

11 Nov 2020

New Zealand case study shows room for improvement in genomic sequencing of COVID-19 outbreaks

Researchers in New Zealand, the United States and Australia have demonstrated the effectiveness of real-time genomic sequencing at tracking the re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in New Zealand, in August this year.

5 Nov 2020

Novel approach for modeling spread of infectious disease

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 across the world despite the early shutdown of borders and the cessation of international travel has sparked interest and given rise to changes in knowledge regarding the spread of infections.

4 Nov 2020

Terror groups exploit the mayhem during COVID-19 for spinning a plethora of sinister schemes

The uncertainty and confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is being "widely exploited by terror groups for spinning a plethora of sinister schemes", which could lead to a new tide of violence against people and governments.

30 Oct 2020

High dose of radiation eliminates brain tumors in mice without key side effects

Treating cancer without debilitating side effects has long been the holy grail of oncologists, and researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and Switzerland's Lausanne University Hospital may have found it.

28 Oct 2020

New DNA-cutting tool could advance gene editing for novel treatments

Gene editing for the development of new treatments, and for studying disease as well as normal function in humans and other organisms, may advance more quickly with a new tool for cutting larger pieces of DNA out of a cell's genome, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists.

21 Oct 2020

Plague News and Research

Drastic population collapse in Central Africa was caused by prolonged disease epidemic, indicates study

Predicting future mamalian hosts of SARS-CoV-2

Biden’s covid challenge: 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days. It won’t be easy.

Near-universal adoption of masks along with public health measures could eliminate disease spread

Black women find healing (but sometimes racism, too) in the outdoors

At risk of extinction, black-footed ferrets get experimental COVID vaccine

Researchers use fruit fly model to understand COVID-19-related neurological complications

New alliance seeks to tackle the plague of falsified medical products

Oxford University podcast's third season to take listeners on a journey through historical pandemics

Discovery of novel hidden gene in SARS-CoV-2

New Zealand case study shows room for improvement in genomic sequencing of COVID-19 outbreaks

Novel approach for modeling spread of infectious disease

Terror groups exploit the mayhem during COVID-19 for spinning a plethora of sinister schemes

High dose of radiation eliminates brain tumors in mice without key side effects

New DNA-cutting tool could advance gene editing for novel treatments

Scientists find striking acceleration in medieval plague transmission over 300 years

"Brain fog" after COVID -19 recovery may indicate post-traumatic stress disorder

India and Denmark to benefit from NTNU COVID-19 tests

Silk face masks could provide better protection against COVID-19

New book gives overview of viruses and how they emerge to cause pandemics

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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