CDC: Alarming Rise in Serogroup Y Meningococcal Disease
Clinicians should be alert for invasive serogroup Y meningococcal disease in at-risk populations and those with unusual symptoms amid the highest annual number of cases reported since 2014, according to a new CDC health advisory. Sequence type (ST) 1466, a strain of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup Y, is fueling the majority of cases seen so far […]
Pragmatic Trials May Help Increase Minority Participation in MS Research
Pragmatic trials may offer one way to increase minority populations in multiple sclerosis (MS) studies, investigators for the DELIVER-MS trial suggested. Race and ethnicity did not appear to influence decisions to participate in either the randomized or observational cohorts of the pragmatic DELIVER-MS study, or in treatment choices, reported Sarah Planchon, PhD, of the Cleveland […]
Organic farming or flower strips: Which is better for bees?
How effective environmental measures in agriculture are for biodiversity and wild bee populations depends on various factors and your perspective. This is shown by agroecologists from the University of Göttingen, Germany and the Centre for Ecological Research in Vácrátót, Hungary. The research team found that when assessing the effectiveness of different measures, whether in the […]
HIV Self-Tests Reached High-Risk Populations
Direct-to-consumer HIV self-testing helped to reach underserved populations in areas at high risk for HIV infection, a researcher said. In an ordering portal set up by the CDC, over 56,000 people placed an order for HIV self-tests, and according to a follow-up survey, about a quarter (26%) of those had never been tested for HIV, […]
Microplastic pollution aids antibiotic resistance: Engineers at Rice lead study of how polystyrene contributes to crisis
The Styrofoam container that holds your takeout cheeseburger may contribute to the population’s growing resistance to antibiotics. According to scientists at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, discarded polystyrene broken down into microplastics provides a cozy home not only for microbes and chemical contaminants but also for the free-floating genetic materials that deliver […]
CDC Staff Floats ‘Risk-Based Approach’ to Potential Booster Doses
A risk-based booster dose strategy for COVID-19 vaccines could target populations at risk of severe disease and those critical to the public health infrastructure, CDC staff said at a meeting of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Monday. Though FDA has yet to review data on booster doses for COVID-19 vaccines among the […]
Humans managed shellfish and their predators for millennia
Due to their protected status, sea otter populations have rebounded across the Pacific Northwest Coast following their near elimination during the historic maritime fur trade. But the recovery of these shellfish predators and the federal laws now protecting them challenge local Indigenous communities who hold constitutionally protected rights to harvest those same shellfish but who […]