Month: September 2018

  • Wolbachia is ready for prime time!

    Wolbachia is ready for prime time!

    Despite advances with the development of a vaccine, dengue continues to be a major mosquito-borne viral infection in many parts of the world, impacting 100 million people per year. A new paper popped up recently on Gates Open Research, the open peer review/preprint website of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that provides evidence of…

  • What do we know about migraine? Mechanisms, treatment and the future

    What do we know about migraine? Mechanisms, treatment and the future

    Migraine’s primary symptom is sudden and intense headache usually on one side of the head. The brains of migraineurs are different in both their structure and function. Migraineurs who experience more migraines have more structural abnormalities including decreases in grey matter and lesions in white matter. The functioning of the migraine brain is also atypical.…

  • The effects of public pre-kindergarten attendance on first grade literacy achievement: a district study

    The effects of public pre-kindergarten attendance on first grade literacy achievement: a district study

    This post has been crossposted form the SpingerOpen blog. Achieving universal preschool in the United States requires a significant change from the current model of providing targeted pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) only to children who qualify, mostly for low-income reasons. Targeted Pre-K programs are often underfunded, meaning they do not reach all the children who qualify, and…

  • Do you like reading? Promoting reading attitudes of girls and boys

    Do you like reading? Promoting reading attitudes of girls and boys

    (Image via Pixabay, CC0 Creative Commons) This post has been crossposted from the SpringerOpen blog. In the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2016), 85% of Fourth-grade students in 50 countries and 11 benchmarking entities worldwide liked reading very much or at least somewhat. A large number of studies have shown that positive attitudes…

  • Modeling a pulmonary tuberculosis infection

    Modeling a pulmonary tuberculosis infection

    This post has been cross-posted from the SpringerOpen blog. Tuberculosis accounts for over 1 million deaths each year and this happens in spite of the fact that effective treatments for TB have existed for decades. The current standard treatment regimen is 6 months of multiple-drug chemotherapy. This lengthy duration presents a problem: adherence to the…

  • Aging and the intricacies of the immune system

    Aging and the intricacies of the immune system

    Mouse – © unoL / Getty Images / iStock; B Cell – © Science Photo Library / mauritius images Thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and lifestyle conditions, lifespan has doubled over the course of a couple of centuries. A baby girl born in 1841 could expect to live to 42: a baby girl born…

  • Adjusting to a new life after forced migration: how are young refugees faring in Australia?

    Adjusting to a new life after forced migration: how are young refugees faring in Australia?

    © Mike_Kiev / Getty Images / iStock The forced migration journey is an arduous and risky one for individuals and families fleeing war and persecution, and for those who find new hope in a different country, there are acculturative challenges that test even the most resilient of individuals. What is it like adjusting to a…

  • Health systems and gender: what do we need to know and why does it matter?

    Health systems and gender: what do we need to know and why does it matter?

    The evidence is clear and unequivocal: societies with higher levels of gender equality are safer and more prosperous. Better places for everyone to live. But what role does the health sector play in the promotion of such equality? Do health systems help or hinder progress? And what is the responsibility of the health system to…

  • Lego bricks, program coding and text editing: how metaphors in the press shape the perception of science

    Lego bricks, program coding and text editing: how metaphors in the press shape the perception of science

    Synthetic biology represents a relatively young field of research closely linked to biotechnology, systems biology and metabolic engineering. Based on the scientific rationale of designing and constructing new biological parts, devices and systems, it has raised public awareness and concern since the development of Craig Venter’s bacterium Mycoplasma Mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. Framing the DNA in terms…

  • Hormonal contraceptives in migraine: threats and opportunities

    Hormonal contraceptives in migraine: threats and opportunities

    © kieferpix / Getty Images / iStock What are the latest breakthroughs and challenges in migraine treatment? It is a great moment for migraine treatment because we have new drugs for the prevention of acute attacks. The first of those new drugs, erenumab, is already available in the USA and hopefully it will soon become…