(Press release) The Science Policy Initiative at UVA and the non-profit Cville Comm-UNI-ty ask that 5th District candidates learn more about the key local scientific issues. Science is interwoven with almost all aspects of our lives and scientific evidence should be considered when making policy.

“Although clinical criteria such as family or personal history of cancer can be helpful in narrowing down patients who might be at risk for colon or uterine cancer in Lynch syndrome, our study and others have found this less helpful in upper tract urothelial cancer,” study co-author Helen Cathro, head of UVA’s Division of Renal Pathology, said. “This is why we are suggesting that relatively inexpensive immunohistochemical testing be performed on these tumors, which can be followed up with molecular testing if positive.”

After months of Trump rallies and millions raised and spent, the fundamentals have not changed: Democrats are counting on a fired-up base still seething over the 2016 election to push their candidates over the edge. Republicans note that Democrats are playing defense, with 10 incumbents fighting to survive in states Trump won big. "All things considered, not that much has changed," said Larry Sabato, director of UVA's Center for Politics. "This is one of the worst maps, if not the worst map, that Democrats have ever faced since the beginning of popular elections."

At this point, most analysts are still projecting a shift of up to two dozen or so seats in the House of Representatives to the Democrats, thereby giving them control of that house. Barely. Typical of this is the highly regarded UVA political scientist Larry Sabato’s latest comment in which he wrote: “A race-by-race analysis of Democratic House targets shows the party is close to winning the majority, but they do not have it put away, in our judgement, with Election Day less than three weeks away.”

As Jennifer L. Lawless, a UVA professor who has written extensively about women in politics, put it, “It will be the ‘Year of the Woman’ when we’re not talking about it.”

"Democrats have lots of opportunities in the House, but not really the Senate," said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of a nonpartisan political newsletter at the UVA Center for Politics. "The House and the Senate always seemed likely to produce somewhat differing outcomes, which complicates a 'blue wave' narrative."

More than 1,000 people are getting ready for Saturday's Walk to End Alzheimer's at the Ix Art Park in Charlottesville. This year, the UVA Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Care Clinic has organized a team in support of the patients they work with on a daily basis. 

Some students in UVA’s Darden School of Business are getting ready for a weekend full of hard work to help nonprofits in the Charlottesville community. The Building Goodness in April Foundation will do a fall build day Saturday. More than 70 student volunteers will partner with skilled Building Goodness Foundation volunteers and contractors to transform spaces inside of Computers4Kids and Foothills Child Advocacy Center.

Up to 30 percent of children in low-resource countries suffer from stunted growth. Inadequate nutrition and diarrhea have long been blamed, but scientists have, until now, been unable to explain a large percentage of stunting cases. Two new studies, however, show that a tremendous number of children with no signs of diarrhea are carrying harmful infections. These infections ultimately prevent them from reaching their full potential and perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty. "If we're just targeting diarrhea, that may not be enough.