COVID-19 and the Future of Education

The year 2020 hasn’t just been one for the history books: It’s made quite an impact on K-12 grade books as well. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on into another school year, the school playground has instead become a battleground for adults — teachers, parents, school administrators, public health officials, lawmakers — rowing over the future of education: Should schools reopen? Is remote learning just as effective as in-person classes, and is the technology available to ensure equity for all students? For schools that open, is enough funding available to effectively protect teachers and students from COVID-19? For those that don’t, what about parents’ need to return to work despite the need for at-home teaching? For answers, we turned to Bradley Marianno, a UNLV College of Education professor and expert on teachers’ unions.

UA Little Rock receives $300,000 grant to create statewide economic recovery plan

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The two-year project will include the creation of an economic recovery plan as well as the development of a history of the economic impact of COVID-19 on the state.

Genetic mutations may be linked to infertility, early menopause

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identifies a specific gene’s previously unknown role in fertility. When the gene is missing in fruit flies, roundworms, zebrafish and mice, the animals are infertile or lose their fertility unusually early but appear otherwise healthy. Analyzing genetic data in people, the researchers found an association between mutations in this gene and early menopause.

Summer Students Tackle COVID-19

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many students had to rejigger summer plans. Internships they’d expected to be in-person moved to all-virtual formats. For more than 30 students participating in virtual summer programs at the Brookhaven Lab, that disruption presented an opportunity—a chance to engage in research related to the virus responsible for the upheaval.

Is 43 Too Young for Colon Cancer? UC San Diego Health Experts Available to Talk About Colorectal Cancer

With the recent death of actor Chadwick Boseman, many may be wondering how a seemingly healthy adult is diagnosed with a disease often thought of as illness of older adults. Although colorectal cancer is most often diagnosed in people 50…

Fallout from hurricanes, wildfires will hit immigrants hard

Hurricane Laura devastated parts of Louisiana and Texas last week with high winds and flooding, as communities in California battle severe wildfires. Federal government programs intended to help communities in the aftermath of disaster face additional challenges this year due…

AERA Selects William F. Tate IV to Deliver 2020 Brown Lecture in Education Research

William F. Tate IV, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of South Carolina, and a leading expert on the intersections between education, society, and public health, has been selected by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to present the 2020 Brown Lecture in Education Research. This public lecture will take place virtually on Thursday, October 22.

True holographic movie is within grasp

Holographic movies, like the one R2D2 projected of Princess Leia in the Star Wars: A New Hope, have long been the province of science fiction, but for most of us, the extent of our experience with holograms may be the dime-sized stamps on our passports and credit cards.

People with Lower Biological Response to Standard Stress Task Showed More PTSD Symptoms After COVID-19 Crisis Began

People who did not have a large heart rate response to a stress task surprised researchers later — after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — when they showed more symptoms of PTSD related to the crisis than others who also did the stress task and COVID-19 stress ratings.

UW breaks ground on the future of health sciences education and improving our health

Deans of the UW Health Sciences schools — Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Social Work — and Washington State legislators celebrated construction of the Health Sciences Education Building on the UW’s Seattle campus with a small, physically distanced groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 27.

SLAC researchers find evidence for quantum fluctuations near a quantum critical point in a superconductor

Theory suggests that quantum critical points may be analogous to black holes as places where all sorts of strange phenomena can exist in a quantum material. Now scientists say that they have found strong evidence that QCPs and their associated fluctuations exist in a cuprate superconductor.

University of Miami Health System researchers publish overview of evidence that COVID-19’s impact affects much more than the lungs

Studies suggest COVID-19 patients may at first present with atypical neurologic, gastrointestinal, cardiac and musculoskeletal imaging findings, which are more likely to go undiagnosed, according to the paper “Clinical Characteristics and Multisystem Imaging Findings of COVID-19: An Overview for Orthopedic Surgeons,” published August 17 in HHS Journal: the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery.

Once infected, twice infected

A key to surviving in the wild is fighting off infection — and not just once. In plants as in humans, one infection may or may not leave a plant with lasting immunity. In fact, an early infection might make things worse. New research from an international team including an assistant professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis shows that infection actually makes a plant more susceptible to secondary infection — in experiments and in the wild. The findings are published Aug. 31 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Study provides insight on how to build a better flu vaccine

Repeated exposure to influenza viruses may undermine the effectiveness of the annual flu vaccine. A team of researchers led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has developed an approach to assess whether a vaccine activates the kind of immune cells needed for long-lasting immunity against new influenza strains. The findings could aid efforts to design an improved flu vaccine.

Heavy-drinking Rodents Enhance Understanding of Problematic Alcohol Use Patterns

New study findings in mice suggest that repeated binge drinking increases the motivation to consume alcohol to excess. In humans, the pattern of drinking (as well as quantity consumed) can be an important indicator of future drink problems; in adolescents, for example, a binge-drinking pattern can predict development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Studies using laboratory animals that have been selectively bred to drink alcohol (ethanol) in large amounts can provide valuable insights on problematic drinking patterns, using experimental approaches that would be impossible or unethical to apply in humans. Indeed, many important findings on responses to alcohol have been gained from animal studies, conducted to strict welfare guidelines. The latest study, reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, examined two behaviors in mice that reflect their motivation to experience alcohol’s rewarding effects on the brain.

Diane Santa Maria named dean of Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth

Diane M. Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, has been appointed dean of the Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), effective Tuesday, Sept. 1. In this role, Santa Maria will serve as the Jane and Robert Cizik Distinguished Chair and the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair in Nursing Education Leadership.

UM School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology Recruits Top HIV/AIDS Epidemiologist Shenghan Lai Along with Team of Researchers

IHV announced today that Shenghan Lai, MD, MPH and Hong Lai, PhD, MPH, in addition to three staff members, and two more to add, have joined the Institute of Human Virology. The faculty began their positions on April 1 with Professor and Associate Professor academic appointments in the UMSOM’s Department of Epidemiology & Public Health.

Humans’ construction ‘footprint’ on ocean quantified for first time

In a world-first, the extent of human development in oceans has been mapped. An area totalling approximately 30,000 square kilometres – the equivalent of 0.008 percent of the ocean – has been modified by human construction, a study led by Dr Ana Bugnot from the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has found.

Strokes in babies are surprisingly common. Here’s how the body rushes to the rescue.

New research is shedding light on the development of the brain’s immune defenses – and how those defenses respond to strokes that strike one in 4,000 babies in the first month of life.