SciPod

Orthodox Christians often use tactile gestures during acts of religious devotion. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, such gestures had the potential to increase the spread of the virus. Dr Timothy Carroll, Dr Nicholas Lackenby and Ms Jenia Gorbanenko at University College London undertook an ethnographic study focused on how Orthodox Christian communities responded to public health advice that conflicted with their long-standing sacred practices.

Lights and sirens on ambulances are used in emergencies to accelerate the transport of critical patients to hospital but unfortunately, can increase the risk of motor vehicle collisions. Emergency medical service personnel are those most commonly injured during these collisions and the general public account for the majority of fatalities. Shane Urban at UC Health University of Colorado Hospital, USA, set out to develop a novel, prehospital triage tool that can determine when best to use lights and sirens during the transport of trauma patients.

In many African countries, attitudes towards gender and sexual minorities are overwhelmingly negative. This could be partly due to religious norms and beliefs. However, empirical studies examining how religious leaders in Africa view such minority groups are still scarce. David Kuria Mbote of the Kuria Foundation for Social Enterprise and researchers from Saint Paul’s University in Kenya and institutes in the U.S. have been conducting research aimed at better understanding the attitudes of religious leaders in Kenya towards gay men, lesbian women, transgender people, and other marginalised groups.

The pH inside our cells is constantly changing, but also carefully controlled within certain limits. Dynamic intracellular pH (pHi) is essential for normal cell behaviours, but when it becomes dysregulated, it can enable an array of diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Dr Diane Barber from the University of California San Francisco has carried out extensive research into how normal pHi dynamics regulate cell behaviours and the impact that dysregulated pHi can have in different diseases.

The relatively new field of paediatric pharmacovigilance aims to improve the clinical care of children by understanding and appropriately managing the risks of medicines administered to this group of patients. Dr Beate Aurich is an established expert in this field, and with colleagues, has published an article on the practical aspects of paediatric pharmacovigilance. She notes that the assessment of the benefit-risk balance of available treatment options should be based on multidisciplinary efforts and include both children and their families.

As the strains of bacteria that are not killed by antibiotics proliferate, increasing numbers of people are at risk of severe illness and even death. Dr Rogier Hopstaken from Star-shl Diagnostic Centres in the Netherlands has shown that a simple, yet effective technique may be the answer to antibiotic over-prescription. A C-reactive protein test at primary points of care can indicate whether a patient with a respiratory tract infection has a severe (bacterial) infection and thus, whether antibiotics are required. This test may be our best tool yet to help combat antibiotic resistance in primary care.

In 2009, the US National Research Council Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community published a report highlighting the need to estimate the validity of expert opinions in forensic disciplines. These include the opinions of firearm examiners, who are trained to identify firearms and other weapon-related evidence during criminal investigations. Dr Susan Vanderplas at the University of Nebraska Lincoln has recently introduced a new unifying approach for accurately calculating the error associated with firearm analyses. Her method could be applied in forensic laboratories worldwide, to improve the reliability of forensic evidence in criminal investigations.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder affecting the blood. Recently, promising new treatment strategies have emerged involving gene editing therapies and the administration of stem cells directly into the developing foetus in the womb. Along with his colleagues, Dr Panicos Shangaris at Kings College London, has conducted a comprehensive review of the available evidence to support this novel approach.

For decades, linguists and psychologists have been trying to understand the fascinating ways in which humans communicate with each other in different real-world settings. Overall, spoken communication involves a mixture of words, facial expressions, and gestures. Dr Holly Keily, a researcher at the University at Buffalo, has recently carried out a study specifically exploring how speakers explain events to partners who will need to identify them, particularly focusing on their use of gestures.

The greatest challenge for ageing populations is that vaccines can be less protective for the elderly due to the age-related decline of the immune system. This means that improving the efficacy of vaccines in the ageing population is crucial to public health. Dr Lei Jin [lā] [jin] and colleagues from the University of Florida set out to develop a novel strategy to directly address this key issue.