Category Archives for disease

The Chan-Zuckerberg initiative: end all disease by 2100 #YAAAAS

THIS IS AWESOME! Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have launched the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative where they will be giving $3 billion to prevent, cure, or manage ALL disease by the end of this century. Their mission:

We want every child to grow up in a better world. Our hopes for the future center on two ideas: advancing human potential and promoting equality. We’ll focus first on personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities. We will make long-term investments over 25, 50 or even 100 years because our greatest challenges require time to solve.

It is a beautiful thing when very wealthy people spend their money on scientific research and innovation. YAAAAAS.

Measles and Pertussis outbreaks tied to vaccine refusal @NIHDirector #science

Parents have a responsibility not only to their own children, but to their communities—it’s only by achieving a very high level of population immunity that outbreaks can be prevented. Vaccination is particularly crucial for children with cancer and other diseases that cause immunosuppression. They cannot be vaccinated safely, but are at high risk of severe consequences if they are infected—and, thus, they depend on the community’s so-called “herd immunity” for protection against a potentially fatal illness.

While some parents continue to express concern about a possible link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders, the original report claiming this connection has been debunked and retracted.  A large number of carefully designed follow up studies have been carried out, and the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence shows no evidence for such a link. That’s why it continues to be so important to get the word out to parents: Have your kids vaccinated.

WHO update on Zika Virus – Focus on neurological disorders

whoCheck out the latest on Zika virus from the World Health Organization – including new information on the potential association of Zika with neurological disorders. WHO has called for intensified research into these associations. See the link for the full report.

The second meeting of the Emergency Committee (EC) convened by the Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR 2005) regarding clusters of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders in some areas affected by Zika virus was held by teleconference on 8 March 2016, from 13:00 to 16:45 Central European Time.

The WHO Secretariat briefed the Committee on action in implementing the Temporary Recommendations issued by the Director-General on 1 February 2016, and on clusters of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) that have had a temporal association with Zika virus transmission. The Committee was provided with additional data from observational, comparative and experimental studies on the possible causal association between Zika virus infection, microcephaly and GBS.

New case of #Ebola virus in Liberia- deadly outbreak continues.

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Liberia was declared ebola free in September, and earlier this week I posted about the recovery of the last ebola case in Guinea. However, a new case of ebola has been reported in Liberia, stressing the difficulty of ending the most deadly ebola outbreak in history. Above is an image from WHO from earlier in the week, showing the difference a year can make, although the graphic does not capture this new ebola case in Liberia.

A new case of Ebola emerged in Liberia on Friday in a setback for the country declared free of the disease on Sept. 3 and for the region, which is struggling to end an epidemic that has killed around 11,300 people.

The patient is a 10-year-old boy who lived with his parents and three siblings in Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia, said Minister of Health Minister Bernice Dahn.

All six family members, as well as other high risk contacts, were in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Dahn said.

Treating asthma by targeting the immune system? – T cells take my breath away! #science #twinning

A new connection between asthma and T cells in the immune system!! Props to my twin brother – one of the authors, and the featured scientist in the NIH video below! More info from the NIAID here – paper in Science Translational Medicine here, and featured summary –  T cell types that take your breath away.

A new study has shown that targeting two immune cells—Th2 and Th17—and their downstream, inflammatory effects is better than targeting just one pathway in the context of asthma. The researchers also show that blocking the Th2 pathway, which is a target of commonly-prescribed corticosteroid drugs, may unexpectedly boost conditions for Th17-driven inflammation. These results clarify how immune cells and their products contribute to asthma, and the work may enable researchers to design and test therapies that target both pathways. The study appears in the August 19, 2015, edition of Science Translational Medicine and included scientists from NIAID, the University of Leicester, and Genentech.

[tweet https://twitter.com/CauseScience1/status/634077807853862912]

Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? Wonder where the $$$ went?? #TBT

Around this time last year, all of your news and social media feeds were probably covered with people doing or talking about the ALS ice bucket challenge (Throwback Thursday to CauseScience challenges). What ever happened to the hundreds of millions raised for ALS awareness and research?? CNN.com reports this week on what at least one ALS charity, ALS Association, has done with its millions of dollars.

One summer later, the ALS Association says about 40% of the ice bucket money, $47.1 million, has been spent or budgeted toward specific purposes. In time, it says the plan is to pour all $115 million back into five main spending buckets.

Bucket #1: $77 million for ‘research’

Bucket #2: $23 million for ‘patient and community services’

Bucket #3: $10 million for ‘public and professional education’

Bucket #4: $3 million for ‘fund-raising’

Bucket #5: $2 million for ‘external processing fees’

Check out the CNN article for more of a description for each spending category, especially the research section! Overall, it is truly amazing how much money was raised, not to mention the awareness of having this tragic disease all over news, media, and social sites!

Check out this ALSA video while you’re at it!