UCLA researchers using a model of airway tissue created from human stem cells have pinpointed how smoking cigarettes causes more severe infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the airways of the lungs. The study, led by scientists at the Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and published...
Betial Asmerom, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California-San Diego, didn’t have the slightest interest in becoming a doctor when she was growing up. As an adolescent, she helped her parents — immigrants from Eritrea who spoke little English — navigate the health care system in Oakland, California. She saw physicians who were...
In a controlled study of smokers, nonsmokers, and e-cigarette users, University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers found that e-cigarette users exhibited significantly altered immune responses to a model of influenza virus infection, suggesting increased susceptibility to disease. The findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, show that vaping changes...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, political ideology has been perhaps the strongest predictor of consumers’ perceptions of the coronavirus’ threat. According to a new study from Lehigh University’s College of Business, the differences between conservative and liberal responses to COVID-19 are mitigated when people perceive the virus itself to have agency — the ability to control...
In addition to enabling us to communicate with others, languages are our instrument for conveying our thoughts, identity, knowledge, and how we see and understand the world. Having a command of more than one enriches us and offers a doorway to other cultures, as discovered by a team of researchers led by scientists at the...
A new national survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds that although a majority of Americans plan to take precautions at holiday gatherings, such as social distancing and asking those with COVID symptoms not to attend, many will also put themselves at risk. Nearly two in five report they will likely attend a...
Young adults may be less susceptible to the serious adverse health effects of COVID-19, but they have not been absolved from economic and employment downturns — and there has been little research on how employment insecurity has affected them. New research now shows a strong association between employment insecurity and common symptoms of anxiety and...
African Americans who attend Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) may be at lower risk for health problems later in adulthood compared to African Americans who attend predominantly white institutions, a new study suggests. The research showed that Black adults who had enrolled in an HBCUs had a 35% lower probability of developing metabolic syndrome...
As the holiday season nears, thoughts of pumpkin pies, roasted chestnuts and turkey dinners fill our dreams and our grocery shopping lists. While visions of holiday food may be pleasing to the eyes and tantalizing to the palate, it would be a mistake to conclude that pretty food is healthier than other food. Yet consumers...
During the first two months of the pandemic lockdown, Americans dramatically reduced their use of preventive and elective health care, while increasing use of telemedicine — but the switch was not enough to offset reductions in in-person care, according to a new study. The analysis, one of the first to quantify the cuts in elective...
