African-Americans and the toll of AIDS

HIV-AIDS is the third leading cause of death among African-American men and women between the ages of 35 and 44. Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which aims to lower that tragic statistic through education, testing, involvement and treatment of the disease.

African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV of all racial groups in the United States. They disproportionately represent both new infections and fatalities, says Drenna Waldrop-Valverde, an investigator with Emory's Center for AIDS Research, and a professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

"Unfortunately, in this country, race and socio-economic status are very closely tied together," says Waldrop-Valverde. She is conducting an NIH-funded study of the effects of health literacy on drug compliance in African Americans living with HIV-AIDS.

"Taking medications just as the doctor tells you to take them, day in and day out, can have a greater benefit on the health of those with HIV than nearly any other factor," Waldrop-Valverde says.

How is HIV/AIDS affecting your community? Click here to see an interactive AIDS map of the United States.

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Chemist recalls history of AIDS drugs
AIDS: From a new disease to a leading killer

On the trail of black flies and river blindness

The parasite that causes river blindness, Onchocerca volvulus, is transmitted through the bite of the black fly. In the above photo, the parasite can be seen emerging from the antenna of a black fly. (Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture.)

Onchocerciasis, better known as “river blindness,” is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the world. More than 18 million people suffer from river blindness, the vast majority of them in Africa.

The disease is caused by parasitic worms that are spread to humans through the bite of the black fly. The symptoms include itching so severe that those infected have been known to claw their skin off – or even commit suicide. The disease can also harden the eye tissue, leading to permanent blindness.

A documentary called “Dark Forest Black Fly” is tracking the efforts of the Carter Center and its partners to wipe out river blindness in Uganda. If successful, Uganda may become the model for eliminating river blindness Africa-wide. (Watch the film's trailer, below.)

The filmmakers and scientists involved will describe their on-the-ground experiences of this historic public health effort on Tuesday, February 7, at the Carter Center in Atlanta. The program will include exclusive footage from “Dark Forest Black Fly,” to be completed this year. Click here for details of the event.

And click here to visit the Science Scene, where you can learn about more great science events at Emory and in metro Atlanta.

Brace yourself for tornado season

Downed trees at the Emory law school, following a 2011 windstorm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated February 6-10 Severe Weather Awareness Week for Georgia. Do you have a plan for what to do in case of severe winds or a tornado? If not, it’s time to get one. Click here for guidance from Emory’s Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response.

Severe weather is common in Atlanta, where large trees make heavy winds especially dangerous. Last year, a windstorm took down 40 trees on the Emory campus alone.

Tornadoes have been reported throughout the year, but they are most likely to occur from March to May. Georgia lies within what is referred to as “Dixie Alley,” where tornado activity is on par with the better-known “Tornado Alley.” Tornadoes can spawn with very little warning. In Georgia, tornadoes are more likely to strike at night, tend to stay on the ground longer, and are often hard to see as they are wrapped in areas of rain and hail.

Below is video of a 2008 tornado as it approached downtown Atlanta.



Related:
Windstorm reshapes Atlanta forests

Chinese war secrets: Beyond 'Guns, Germs and Steel'

Emory historian Tonio Andrade explains why he wrote his latest book, “Lost Colony: The Untold Story of China’s First Great Victory over the West,” in this column for Rorotoko.com:

"In 1997, Jared Diamond published his wonderful book, 'Guns, Germs, and Steel,' which asked why it was that some societies become rich and powerful and others don’t. His explanation was geographical—it depended on where those societies were located and what ecological resources they had available to them. Eurasians (that is the people of Europe and Asia) were unusually blessed just because of where they lived, and so they developed techniques and technologies that enabled them to expand around the world.

"It’s a great book, but it leaves open an important question: why did Europeans rather than other Eurasians become so powerful on the world stage in modern times—i.e., after around 1500? After all, Asians—most notably the Chinese—had been world leaders in science and technology for centuries. What accounted for the sudden leap in European power vis-à-vis Asia in recent centuries?

"Historians and sociologists have been vehemently debating this question, but with little progress.

"It seemed to me that one way to help answer it was to look at warfare between Europeans and Chinese. So I did. And the war that I describe in this book is a fascinating and exciting one. It really is an 'untold story'—the first ever major conflict between western European and Chinese forces, and the last one until the famous Opium War of the 1800s.

"The Chinese lost the Opium War. They won the Sino-Dutch War. Why? How? Technology, weather, and leadership."

Read the whole article in Rorotoko.com.

Laura Finzi: A physicist's view of life

Physicist Laura Finzi runs one of a handful of labs using single-molecule techniques to study gene transcription.

By Carol Clark

Have you ever had to remove a tiny speck of glass from your foot with a pair of tweezers? Imagine if that speck of glass was microscopic.

Emory physicist Laura Finzi uses magnetic tweezers and minuscule metal beads to tug on individual DNA molecules. Her lab studies the mechanics of DNA transcription, the first step in the expression of a gene, a process that is partly regulated by the bending and uncoiling of DNA. Protein-mediated loops in DNA operate like genetic switches. Often, when a loop is closed, transcription is “off” and when the loop is open, transcription turns “on.” In other cases, the loops connect proteins to turn on transcription. Identifying the physical and mechanical parameters of this process could lead to a better understanding of the causes, and potential treatments, for many diseases.

A native of Italy, Finzi is married to Emory biophysicist David Dunlap who has his research group in the cell biology department. In the interview below, Finzi tells eScienceCommons about her Italian roots, and why she became a physicist.

What makes your lab unique?

We are one of only a handful of physics labs using single-molecule techniques to study DNA transcription, and we combine three of these methods in our studies: Tethered particle motion, magnetic tweezers and atomic-force microscopy. In TPM, when you see the tethered plastic microspheres wiggle and shake, it’s like seeing the molecular world in action. With a tethered magnetic bead, a pair of magnets over the microscope stage becomes a pair of tweezers that we can use to twist and stretch the DNA precisely. In AFM, we see the macromolecules like bumps on an atomically flat surface.

Another thing that makes my lab unique is the gender balance: Five women and three men.

What was it like growing up in Italy?

My mother was a pianist and my father was a harbor engineer. We lived in Ravenna and Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, and later in Bologna. I have two elder sisters. My father always said that we needed to get married. But he also said that we had to be well-educated and have jobs that made us independent. He combined a traditional and a modern view.

What inspired you to become a physicist?

My father really wished that we all would have become engineers, and both of my sisters did. But as the youngest, I thought that they would have always told me, “Listen to us, we have more experience,” so I was eager to strike out in another direction.

Before graduating from college, I met a brilliant biophysicist, Carlos Bustamante, now a member of the American National Academy of Science. He offered me a position in his lab as a graduate student. He had a charming personality and was full of enthusiasm. He was always throwing fascinating challenges at his students. He’s the reason I became a biophysicist.

How did you and David Dunlap meet?

We were both graduate students at the University of New Mexico. David was very different from anyone I’d seen before and impossible not to notice. He’s very tall and often had mismatched, brightly colored socks. Given an Italian sense of fashion, I could not help but notice his bizarre taste. He thinks out of the box, and is a very creative and happy person.

What do you like to do for fun?

I enjoy downhill skiing, it’s like a ballet, very elegant and gentle and harmonic. And I love the white of the snow and the scenery above the tree line. It’s enchanting.

I like sports in general and being in shape. It feels good. We live near campus and I either walk or ride my bike to work. David and I have two wonderful and smart teenagers. The four of us, and Spark the dog, go for hikes and canoeing.

Do you cook Italian?

Yes, we like to cook at home, and we prefer a Mediterranean diet. My chocolate salami, an Italian dessert, is well-appreciated by my colleagues at Emory.

Related:
Undersea cables add twist to DNA research
Epigenetics zeroes in on nature vs. nurture