Saturday, December 6

Tag: trying

While the US is reeling from COVID-19, the Trump administration is trying to take away health care
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

While the US is reeling from COVID-19, the Trump administration is trying to take away health care

The death toll from COVID-19 keeps rising, creating grief, fear, loss and confusion. Unfortunately for us all, the pain only begins there. Other important health policy news that would ordinarily make headlines is buried under the crushing weight of the coronavirus. Many have not had time to notice or understand the Trump administration’s efforts to wreck health care coverage. We are both professors at Boston University School of Public Health who study health insurance, one using economics and statistics and the other focusing on law and policy. We have researched the big picture of COVID-19’s impact on the safety net and the details of how our federalist system, with states having considerable control over policy, has made a coordinated response to the pandemic more difficult. Here, w...
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Why are scientists trying to manufacture organs in space?
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Why are scientists trying to manufacture organs in space?

Gravity can be a real downer when you are trying to grow organs. That’s why experiments in space are so valuable. They have revealed a new perspective into biological sciences, including insights into making human tissues. Gravity influences cellular behavior by impacting how protein and genes interact inside the cells, creating tissue that is polarized, a fundamental step for natural organ development. Unfortunately, gravity is against us when we try to reproduce complex three dimensional tissues in the lab for medical transplantation. This is difficult because of the intrinsic limitations of bio-reactors used on Earth. I am a stem cell biologist and interested on brain health and evolution. My lab studies how the human brain is formed inside the womb and how alterations in this proces...
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Lawyers are trying to scare you with Facebook ads
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Lawyers are trying to scare you with Facebook ads

Some ads can be more than misleading – they can put your health at risk. Last year, ads paid for by law firms and legal referral companies started cropping up on Facebook. Typically, they linked Truvada and other HIV-prevention drugs with severe bone and kidney damage. But like a lawsuit, these assertions do not always reflect the consensus of the medical community. They also do not take into account the benefit of the drug or how often the side effects occur. On Dec. 30, Facebook said it disabled some of the ads after more than 50 LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS groups signed an open letter to Facebook condemning them for “scaring away at-risk HIV negative people from the leading drug that blocks HIV infections.” Based on our research involving televised drug injury ads, advocacy groups are right ...
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Code-Switching Surviving White Culture Not Trying to Fit in to It
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IMPACT

Code-Switching Surviving White Culture Not Trying to Fit in to It

The voice that sprung from my throat was unfamiliar as I introduced myself to a classroom of White students. Its tone was high-pitched and enthusiastic—a far cry from my naturally soft raspiness. It wasn’t the first time I was unsettled by being the sole Black person in a room, but these moments had a profound effect on me. Without thought, I’d shifted my demeanor and speech. My thoughts were calculated, quickened, and in search of the “right” things to say. The words poured from my mouth pointed and stiff. I enunciated each consonant and vowel, and stressed each syllable. The production of it all, though a departure from my normal self, was seamless. It was the first time I noticed I had code-switched. Admittedly, I was later ashamed for abandoning my native tongue—African American Ver...
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