Is a single shot enough to protect against Ebola? A study of Feldmann’s research in the United States and other health care settings
The constant evolution of immune-evadingvariants is less of a concern for Pardi than the rapid evolution of coronaviruses, which are almost as fast. But it’s not clear whether a single mRNA shot can provide robust protection against infection with Ebola, says Feldmann. The current ebola vaccine has to be stored in cold climates which can make it difficult to distribute.
“Public health in Africa would benefit from further options,” says Heinz Feldmann, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Laboratory of Virology in Hamilton, Montana, whose research contributed to the development of the existing Ebola vaccines.
It would be beneficial to have a vaccine that protects against multiple filoviruses, like the Marburg virus, instead of having many separate vaccines, says the University’s Alex Bukreyev. It would be easier to give vaccine in poor and rural areas because they wouldn’t have to pay for new campaigns.
The vaccine technology used in both the current and the past uses another active virus that limits who can receive them. Ervebo is only approved for use in people over 18 and the side effects can be unpleasant. Johnson & Johnson’s regimen can be offered to people one year old and up, but it must be given in two doses, eight weeks apart, which is not ideal in a rapidly growing outbreak, Bukreyev says.
In order to find out whether the vaccine works in animals, a three years of research will be needed, and then human trials will be required, according to a colleague who worked on the study.
Climate Change, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development: What Do We Need to Know to Stand Up for the Future of the World? An Analysis of the Global Heatwaves Conundrum
An analysis of the economic consequences of heatwaves estimates that the global economy lost between US$5 trillion and $29 trillion from 1992 to 2013, as a result of human-driven global warming. The effect was worst in low-income tropical nations, leading to a 6.7% reduction in their national income on average. High-income countries experienced a 1.5% average decrease.
I will be covering the event in Egypt for Nature News. We would like to hear your views about climate change, the summit and how science plays into the political process. It’s possible that your comments could be used to shape our coverage. I would be happy to mail you at [email protected].
The world leaders agree that GDP is the world’s main measure of prosperity, and should no longer be used. We could include a dashboard of indicators on the economy, health, ecosystems, climate and more. This would be the biggest change in the measurement of GDP since it began over 70 years ago. The UN secretary-general wrote that GDP increases when there is an increase in fishing or burning fossil fuels. We think that nature is being destroyed, but we still think that it is an increase in wealth.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03661-0
Naturalist Thomas Henry Huxley and his Evolutionary Biologist Julian Bashford — Two Very Long-Lived Men in the United States
The United States has long been a top destination for international early-career researchers to do their PhD or postdoctoral training, but numbers have been dropping. According to researchers who spoke to Nature, their concerns include affordability, immigration, health care, and racism as reasons why they chose not to pursue positions in the United States.
Alison Bashford wrote a biography of the Huxley family, which had a strong influence on science and society. The central figures in this intergenerational study are the nineteenth-century naturalist Thomas Henry Huxley, an early promoter of Darwin, and his grandson Julian Huxley, the evolutionary biologist who in 1942 codified the modern evolutionary synthesis by combining population genetics, inheritance and natural selection. Bashford suggests that the similarities between the two may make them thought of as one very long-lived man.