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American Thoracic Society calls for moratorium on tear gas use during COVID-19 pandemic

The American Thoracic Society calls for a moratorium on the use of tear gas and other chemical agents deployed by law enforcement against protestors participating in demonstrations, including current campaigns sparked by the death of George Floyd.

15 Jun 2020

Study shows how combining two drugs may be an effective treatment for HLH

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals and Baylor College of Medicine are investigating how to best treat hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare immune disorder.

12 Jun 2020

Health workers resort to Etsy, learning Chinese, shady deals to find safety gear

A nursing home worker in New Jersey rendezvoused with "the parking lot guy" to cut a deal for gowns. A director of safety-net clinics in Florida learned basic Chinese and waited outside past midnight for a truck to arrive with tens of thousands of masks.

12 Jun 2020

WVU researchers develop new diagnostic and antibody tests for COVID-19

COVID-19 tests are in short supply. The companies that make the necessary chemicals--called reagents--can't keep up with demand. But researchers at West Virginia University are developing new tests on their own to identify who has COVID-19 now and who had it in the past but recovered.

11 Jun 2020

The egg decides which sperm fertilizes it

There is ample evidence to show that as millions of human sperm cells swim towards a waiting ovum or egg, only one gets to fertilize it. Now, a new study shows that even though the fastest and most capable sperms reach the ovum first, it is the egg that has the final say on which sperm fertilizes it. The study titled, "Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans," is published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

11 Jun 2020

New method uses human embryonic stem cells to generate 3D assembly of cells

Scientists from the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands, have developed a new model to study an early stage of human development, using human embryonic stem cells.

11 Jun 2020

Federal help falters as nursing homes run short of protective equipment

Around the country, nursing homes trying to protect their residents from the coronavirus eagerly await boxes of masks, eyewear and gowns promised by the federal government. But all too often the packages deliver disappointment — if they arrive at all.

11 Jun 2020

Females mount stronger T-cell response to SARS-CoV-2

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020 shows that immune cells, antibody levels, cytokine levels, and viral loads contribute to the sex difference seen in response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

10 Jun 2020

Unique antiviral action of cholesterol 25-hydroxylase against SARS-CoV-2

A new study by U.S. and Chinese researchers, currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, demonstrates how cholesterol 25-hydroxylase and its enzymatic product 25-hydroxycholesterol can inhibit membrane fus

10 Jun 2020

The 2019 3Rs prize awarded to two pieces of novel research

The 2019 3Rs prize has been jointly awarded to Dr Francesca Nunn and Dr Marta Shahbazi for papers describing research that reduces the number of chickens and mice respectively. The 3Rs prize is awarded by the NC3Rs and sponsored by GSK.

10 Jun 2020

DARPA awards Meritorious Public Service Medal to Umass Amherst AI expert

Nearly 100 colleagues recently joined an online celebration to honor Professor Hava T. Siegelmann of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) as she received the rarely awarded Meritorious Public Service Medal from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

10 Jun 2020

Exposure to flame retardant impacts paternal reproduction

A new study from the University of Georgia has shown that exposure to a now-banned flame retardant can alter the genetic code in sperm, leading to major health defects in children of exposed parents.

9 Jun 2020

Residential proximity to oil and gas operations linked with preterm birth risk

Living in close proximity to oil and gas operations may increase the risk of preterm birth, according to new research on births in California's primary oil-producing region.

9 Jun 2020

Halogenated flame retardant pose health risks to children

Harmful flame retardants may be lurking on your hands and cell phone, according to a peer-reviewed study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

9 Jun 2020

Scientists create 3D-printable material that mimics cartilage, biological tissues

Biological tissues have evolved over millennia to be perfectly optimized for their specific functions. Take cartilage as an example. It's a compliant, elastic tissue that's soft enough to cushion joints, but strong enough to resist compression and withstand the substantial load bearing of our bodies: key for running, jumping, and our daily wear and tear.

8 Jun 2020

Monocytes could be critical in dysregulated immunity in COVID-19

A new study by Spanish researchers as part of the GEN-COVID Project, and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in June 2020, suggests that monocytes are primarily involved in triggering the hyperinflammatory immune response that may underlie severe COVID-19 infection.

8 Jun 2020

Creating hair-bearing human skin becomes a reality

For more than 40 years, scientists and commercial companies have been recreating human skin in laboratories around the world. Yet all of these products lack important aspects of normal skin--hair, nerves, and fat.

5 Jun 2020

Volcanic glass spray effective in controlling mosquitoes

An indoor residual spray made by combining a type of volcanic glass with water showed effective control of mosquitoes that carry malaria, according to a new study.

5 Jun 2020

Tear-gassing protesters during an infectious outbreak ‘a recipe for disaster’

In nationwide demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd in police custody, protesters have been frequently pepper-sprayed or enveloped in clouds of tear gas.

5 Jun 2020

New advance in wearable sensing could detect and quantify many biological conditions

Researchers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have developed biomaterial-based inks that respond to and quantify chemicals released from the body (e.g. in sweat and potentially other biofluids) or in the surrounding environment by changing color.

5 Jun 2020