University students still being asked to pay for accommodation despite lockdown
Some 74% of students are still being charged rent despite the majority no longer being able to live in their university halls or student accommodation, according to a study by Student Hut.
University Challenge star Bobby Seagull revealed to have a 'smaller than average' sized brain
Tonight's Horizon: The Great British Intelligence Test on BBC Two revealed University Challenge star Bobby Seagull, 26, from London, has an 'extremely average' size brain.
University of Edinburgh orders ALL students on year abroad in Egypt to return after two arrests
Both third-year students were detained by Egyptian authorities in Cairo and later released. The university said all nine of students in the city have either now returned or are 'in the process of leaving'.
Fasting for 14 hours a day may cut risks for diabetes, heart disease
University of California, San Diego, researchers put 19 people at risk for the three chronic disease on a schedule that let them eat whatever they wanted, but only in a 10-hour window for 12 weeks.
Twitter data could have been a source of Kremlin intelligence during the 2014 Ukraine conflict
University of California experts showed that location-tagged tweets by Ukraine residents could have been used to map out sentiments towards Russia in real-time.
University women's team 'kicked Odion Ighalo off their training pitch'
Odion Ighalo angered a student football team while he was participating in a solo training session over the winter break, according to The Sun.
London Tube is as loud as a 'rock concert'
University College London researchers have mapped the 10 loudest journeys on the network in zones one and two, with the Victoria line shown to be the worst offender.
Zika virus suppresses a pregnant woman's immune system
University of Southern California researchers found that the Zika virus works by suppressing a pregnant woman's immune system, enabling the virus to spread and harm an unborn baby.
Calls for Rio Olympics to be postponed, cancelled or moved over Zika virus fears
University of Ottawa's Amir Attaran recently wrote an article in the Harvard Public Health Review, saying the Olympics should be moved from Rio to prevent a 'full-blown global health disaster'.
Rio Olympics and Zika Virus could spark 'a full-blown global health disaster'
University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran has accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) of putting unborn children at risk by letting August's Olympics go ahead as planned.
University Professor Required in Canada | Australia
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location: Australia, Canada
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University and college campuses are working toward Zero Waste
The Post-Landfill Action Network, launched at the University of New Hampshire, challenges campuses across the continent to start tackling waste seriously.
University Installs Solar and Electric Car Charging. "Environmentalists" Get Mad.
Western Michigan University is installing solar-powered electric car charging. But it has to chop down nine trees to do it.
University of New Hampshire is First School in US to Run Off Landfill Gas
A few months back we heard about Middlebury College's efforts to green their electricity and heating. Well, over at the University of New Hampshire they're
University-industry partnerships can help tackle antibiotic resistant bacteria
An academic-industrial partnership published last January in the prestigious journal Nature the results of the development of antibiotic teixobactin. The reported work is still at an early preclinical stage but it is nevertheless good news. Over the last decades the introduction of new antibiotics has slowed down nearly to a halt and over the same period we have seen a dangerous increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Such is the magnitude of the problem that it has attracted the attention of the U.S. government. Accepting several recommendations presented by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in their comprehensive report, the Obama Administration issued last September an Executive Order establishing an interagency Task Force for combating antibiotic resistant bacteria and directing the Secretary of Human and Health Services (HHS) to establish an Advisory Council on this matter. More recently the White House issued a strategic plan to tackle this problem.
Etiology of antibiotic resistance
Infectious diseases have been a major cause of morbidity and mortality from time immemorial. The early discovery of sulfa drugs in the 1930s and then antibiotics in the 1940s significantly aided the fight against these scourges. Following World War II society experienced extraordinary gains in life expectancy and overall quality of life. During that period, marked by optimism, many people presumed victory over infectious diseases. However, overuse of antibiotics and a slowdown of innovation, allowed bacteria to develop resistance at such a pace that some experts now speak of a post-antibiotic era.
The problem is manifold: overuse of antibiotics, slow innovation, and bacterial evolution.
The overuse of antibiotics in both humans and livestock also facilitated the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Responsibility falls to health care providers who prescribed antibiotics liberally and patients who did not complete their prescribed dosages. Acknowledging this problem, the medical community has been training physicians to avoid pressures to prescribe antibiotics for children (and their parents) with infections that are likely to be viral in origin. Educational efforts are also underway to encourage patients to complete their full course of every prescribed antibiotic and not to halt treatment when symptoms ease. The excessive use of antibiotics in food-producing animals is perhaps less manageable because it affects the bottom line of farm operations. For instance, the FDA reported that even though famers were aware of the risks, antibiotics use in feedstock increased by 16 percent from 2009 to 2012.
The development of antibiotics—perhaps a more adequate term would be anti-bacterial agents—indirectly contributed to the problem by being incremental and by nearly stalling two decades ago. Many revolutionary innovations in antibiotics were introduced in a first period of development that started in the 1940s and lasted about two decades. Building upon scaffolds and mechanisms discovered theretofore, a second period of incremental development followed over three decades, through to 1990s, with roughly three new antibiotics introduced every year. High competition and little differentiations rendered antibiotics less and less profitable and over a third period covering the last 20 years pharmaceutical companies have cut development of new antibiotics down to a trickle.
The misguided overuse and misuse of antibiotics together with the economics of antibiotic innovation compounded the problem taking place in nature: bacteria evolves and adapts rapidly.
Current policy initiatives
The PCAST report recommended federal leadership and investment to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria in three areas: improving surveillance, increasing the longevity of current antibiotics through moderated usage, and picking up the pace of development of new antibiotics and other effective interventions.
To implement this strategy PCAST suggested an oversight structure that includes a Director for National Antibiotic Resistance Policy, an interagency Task Force for Combating Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria, and an Advisory Council to be established by the HHS Secretary. PCAST also recommended increasing federal support from $450 million to $900 million for core activities such as surveillance infrastructure and development of transformative diagnostics and treatments. In addition, it proposed $800 million in funding for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to support public-private partnerships for antibiotics development.
The Obama administration took up many of these recommendations and directed their implementation with the aforementioned Executive Order. More recently, it announced a National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria to implement the recommendations of the PCAST report. The national strategy has five pillars: First, slow the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria by decreasing the abusive usage of antibiotics in health care as well as in farm animals; second, establish national surveillance efforts that build surveillance capability across human and animal environments; third, advance development and usage of rapid and innovative diagnostics to provide more accurate care delivery and data collection; forth, seek to accelerate the invention process for new antibiotics, other therapeutics and vaccines across all stages, including basic and applied research and development; finally, emphasize the importance of international collaboration and endorse the World Health Organization Action Plan to address antimicrobial resistance.
University-Industry partnerships
Therefore, an important cause of our antibiotic woes seems to be driven by economic logic. On one hand, pharmaceutical companies have by and large abandoned investment in antibiotic development; competition and high substitutability have led to low prices and in their financial calculation, pharmaceutical companies cannot justify new developmental efforts. On the other hand, farmers have found the use of antibiotics highly profitable and thus have no financial incentives to halt their use.
There is nevertheless a mirror explanation of a political character.
The federal government allocates about $30 billion for research in medicine and health through the National Institutes of Health. The government does not seek to crowd out private research investment; rather, the goal is to fund research the private sector would not conduct because the financial return of that research is too uncertain. Economic theory prescribes government intervention to address this kind of market failure. However, it is also government policy to privatize patents to discoveries made with public monies in order to facilitate their transfer from public to private organizations. An unanticipated risk of this policy is the rebalancing of the public research portfolio to accommodate the growing demand for the kind of research that feeds into attractive market niches. The risk is that the more aligned public research and private demand become, the less research attention will be directed to medical needs without great market prospects. The development of new antibiotics seems to be just that kind of neglected medical public need. If antibiotics are unattractive to pharmaceutical companies, antibiotic development should be a research priority for the NIH. We know that it is unlikely that Congress will increase public spending for antibiotic R&D in the proportion suggested by PCAST, but the NIH could step in and rebalance its own portfolio to increase antibiotic research. Either increasing NIH funding for antibiotics or NIH rebalancing its own portfolio, are political decisions that are sure to meet organized resistance even stronger than antibiotic resistance.
The second mirror explanation is that farmers have a well-organized lobby. It is no surprise that the Executive Order gingerly walks over recommendations for the farming sector and avoid any hint at an outright ban of antibiotics use, lest the administration is perceived as heavy-handed. Considering the huge magnitude of the problem, a political solution is warranted. Farmers’ cooperation in addressing this national problem will have to be traded for subsidies and other extra-market incentives that compensate for loss revenues or higher costs. The administration will do well to work out the politics with farmer associations first before they organize in strong opposition to any measure to curb antibiotic use in feedstock.
Addressing this challenge adequately will thus require working out solutions to the economic and political dimensions of this problem. Public-private partnerships, including university-industry collaboration, could prove to be a useful mechanism to balance the two dimensions of the equation. The development of teixobactin mentioned above is a good example of this prescription as it resulted from collaboration between the university of Bonn Germany, Northeastern University, and Novobiotic Pharmaceutical, a start-up in Cambridge Mass.
If the NIH cannot secure an increase in research funding for antibiotics development and cannot rebalance substantially its portfolio, it can at least encourage Cooperative Research and Development Agreements as well as university start-ups devoted to develop new antibiotics. In order to promote public-private and university-industry partnerships, policy coordination is advised. The nascent enterprises will be assisted greatly if the government can help them raise capital connecting them to venture funding networks or implementing a loan guarantees programs specific to antibiotics. It can also allow for an expedited FDA approval which would lessen the regulatory burden. Likewise, farmers may be convinced to discontinue the risky practice if innovation in animal husbandry can effectively replace antibiotic use. Public-private partnerships, particularly through university extension programs, could provide an adequate framework to test alternative methods, scale them up, and subsidize the transition to new sustainable practices that are not financially painful to farmers.
Yikun Chi contributed to this post
More TechTank content available here
Authors
- Walter D. Valdivia
- Michael S. Kinch
University of Phoenix Settles False Claims Act Lawsuit for $67.5 Million
University of Phoenix has agreed to pay the United States $67.5 million to resolve allegations that its student recruitment policies violated the False Claims Act.
University-Industry Partnering at BIO Convention Webinar by AUTM June 16, 3-4PM
Get the inside information on what industry does and does NOT want from their academic counterparts: Join us June 16, 3-4 p.m. EDT for Insider’s Guide to Effective Partnering at BIO 2011, a FREE AUTM webinar to help you prepare for the BIO convention in Washington, DC, June 27-30.
University of Glasgow issues plea for acetate sheets to help produce plastic visors
Engineers from the University of Glasgow are responding to the coronavirus pandemic by producing up to 1,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) each day.
University Challenge quizmaster Brandon Blackwell's exclusive 20-question test
Gone quiz-crazy in lockdown? University Challenge quizmaster Brandon Blackwell shares his top tips for triumph
University of Washington wins NASA grant to create spacey contest for Artemis Student Challenges
NASA has awarded the University of Washington a $499,864 grant to develop a competition that calls on students to turn a simulated lava tube into a habitat suitable for harboring humans on the moon or Mars. The exploration and habitation skills competition will be funded as part of NASA's Artemis Student Challenges program, which plays off the themes of the Artemis moon program to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers. The competition will involve navigating a rover through a facsimile lava tube and surface structures, generating maps, identifying valuable resources and deploying an airtight barrier to seal the… Read More
University students more anxious than excited about starting careers due to Covid-19, study finds
University students have told how they are more anxious than excited about starting their careers after graduation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
University College London medics don 'lockdown costumes' for online graduation ceremony
Medical students from University College London who were fast-tracked onto the NHS coronavirus frontline donned "lockdown costumes" for an online graduation ceremony.
University of Hong Kong study finds eyes are ‘important route’ for coronavirus, up to 100 times more infectious than Sars
The eyes are an important route for the coronavirus into the human body, according to University of Hong Kong research which found the strain was up to 100 times more infectious than severe acute respiratory syndrome and bird flu in two facial orifices tested by the public health experts.Laboratory tests revealed the “virus level” of SARS-Cov-2 – the strain of coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease – was far greater than for Sars in the upper respiratory airways and conjunctiva, the cells…
University develops replaceable filter for homemade masks
Prague Daily Monitor
The Liberec Technical University has created a replaceable filter which can be used in the homemade masks people are sewing. The masks are worn to comply with laws designed in preventing the spread of Covid-19. The Nano-material is 70-90% effective in stopping the coronavirus cells. The university with the help from the Liberec region and the private sector is now producing 100,000 filters a day. The price per one should not exceed CZK 10.
Researchers Work to Clone Strong, High-quality Forest Trees
University of Georgia researchers are working to produce faster-growing sweetgum trees by growing embryogenic sweetgum cultures in bioreactors, computer-operated systems used for growing cells under controlled conditions.
University Spin-off’s Small Packets Are a Big Deal for Energy Industry
It’s been a whirlwind year for Packetized Energy, the Vermont-based clean energy sector start-up spun off from a U.S. Department of Energy project in 2016 by three University of Vermont electrical engineering faculty, Paul Hines, Mads Almassalkhi and Jeff Frolik.
University of Notre Dame breaks ground on 2.5-MW hydroelectric generation facility
The University of Notre Dame and South Bend’s Venues Parks & Arts have broken ground on a 2.5-MW hydroelectric generation facility at an existing city-owned dam on the St. Joseph River in downtown South Bend, Ind.
University of Delaware Provost Dr. Robin Morgan honored for service to agriculture
Dr. Robin Morgan was recognized Thursday evening at the 48th Delaware Agricultural Industry Dinner with the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service to Delaware Agriculture for her commitment to agriculture through education, research, and encouraging the next generation of agriculturalists.
Delaney earns appointment as police commander at University Park
University Police and Public Safety Deputy Chief Stephanie Delaney has been appointed as the district commander at the University Park campus, according to UPPS Assistant Vice President Charlie Noffsinger.
University-wide criminal investigation unit under development
Penn State University Police and Public Safety Deputy Chief Tom Sowerby was recently appointed as the commander of a new University-wide Criminal Investigation Unit, to better serve 22 Penn State campuses where University Police and Public Safety provides police services.
University offers support, advice for off-campus students
Throughout the pandemic Penn State has been active in offering support and advice to all of its students, including those who normally reside off campus.
Visits to campus landmarks discouraged; Lion Shrine to close for maintenance
University officials, who have discouraged visits to campus and campus landmarks due to COVID-19, are increasing signage and social distancing guidance around the sites, as visitors continue to seek photographs in those areas and appear to be ignoring health care recommendations.
Smartphones Dumb You Down
University of Texas at Austin researchers find that the presence of your mobile phone in the room is all it takes to crater overall brain power. Here's how to use that to your advantage.
University of Texas Press
Delivery platform that provides online access to the full text of individual University of Texas Press journals. The Wellcome Library offers access to selected titles from this publisher.
University of Pittsburgh coaches, city's pro teams donate $800K toward coronavirus vaccine research
The university’s Center for Vaccine Research is working to create a coronavirus vaccine.
University of Washington School of Dentistry appoints Dr. Gary Chiodo as dean
The University of Washington School of Dentistry announced March 26 that Dr. Gary Chiodo, its interim dean since August 2018, will now serve a full five-year term as dean.
University of Minnesota dental school appoints Dr. Keith A. Mays as interim dean
The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry announced March 19 that it named Dr. Keith A. Mays, Ph.D, as its interim dean for two years beginning May 15.
University of Tennessee extension forester named 2020 Forester of the Year
(University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture) David Mercker, an Extension forestry specialist with the University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, has been named 2020 Extension Forester of the Year by the Forest Landowners Association (FLA). FLA is a national organization that promotes and protects the interests of private forest landowners and bestows this award annually as determined by its board of directors.
University of Houston researcher developing device to treat babies with blood disorders
(University of Houston) A University of Houston biomedical researcher is developing a new device to treat babies with blood disorders, because current technology is designed for adults. The ability to perform lifesaving leukapheresis safely and effectively in these most vulnerable pediatric patients will significantly increase their access to highly effective cell-based therapies.
University spinouts: processes, benefits and risks of the system
Spinout founders, investors and insiders give their tips on turning academic research into successful businesses
University statement regarding new Title IX regulations
Princeton University is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming educational and working environment for everyone — an environment in which sex or gender discrimination, including sexual misconduct such as sexual harassment and sexual assault, stalking, and intimate partner violence, is not tolerated.
University evaluating teaching and research plans, campus operations for next academic year
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton is evaluating scenarios for campus operations next academic year. While no decisions have been made yet, the Academic Year 2021 Coordinating Committee is preparing for a number of options based on federal and state health guidelines.
University of Melbourne selects IBM to deliver advanced cooling technology
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the University of Melbourne, a world class research university, has selected IBM to design and install a high efficiency, high density cooling solution to support new IT initiatives such as Cloud and Research computing, in its new data centre, Data Hall 2.
University of Melbourne joins as founding member of IBM Q Network Hub to Accelerate Quantum Computing
IBM Q Network to explore practical applications of quantum computing for business and science with University of Melbourne, JPMorgan Chase, Daimler AG, Samsung, JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Oxford University.
University of Canterbury adopts IBM enterprise storage solution to enhance user experience
The University of Canterbury (UC) is upgrading its centralised IT storage system with the IBM XIV and SONAS network attached storage arrays, to protect valuable research data and better meet user long term needs, while reducing operational costs.
International Symposium on Pavement, Roadway, and Bridge Life Cycle Assessment*
University of California Pavement Research and National Center for Sustainable Transport have postponed the International Symposium on Pavement Life Cycle Assessment from June 3-6, 2020 to January 13-15, 2021 in Sacramento, CA. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this event. The symposium will focus on the implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for pavements. The workshop address the implementation of LCA in pavement operations at the network and project levels.
University of California v. Broad Institute, Inc.
(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed a judgment of no interference-in-fact in a patent case involving the CRISPR-Cas9 system for the targeted cutting of DNA molecules. The Federal Circuit found no error in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's conclusion of no interference-in-fact, in this case pitting the Broad Institute, Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others against the University of California, the University of Vienna, and others.
University of California v. Broad Institute, Inc.
(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed a judgment of no interference-in-fact in a patent case involving the CRISPR-Cas9 system for the targeted cutting of DNA molecules. The Federal Circuit found no error in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's conclusion of no interference-in-fact, in this case pitting the Broad Institute, Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others against the University of California, the University of Vienna, and others.