Federal and Virginia health officials said it is important to note only six cases of severe reaction to the J&J shot have been identified out of nearly 7 million doses administered in the U.S. “This is literally a less than a one-in-a-million chance of getting this complication,” Dr. Patrick Jackson, assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UVA Health, said.
(Written by professor Benjamin Converse, Gabrielle Adams, Andrew H. Hales and Leidy Klotz) Most people who are now adults learned to ride a bike by first plugging along on tricycles and then wobbling around on bikes with training wheels. Thanks to Ryan McFarland, our kids have it better.
(Commentary by Mark Edmundson, professor of English) Walt Whitman did all he could to advance the fortunes of his own book, “Leaves of Grass.” He reviewed it himself, not once but three times.
UVA researchers say Medicare may need to reconsider how it compensates providers for home care. According to a release, the recent growth in the number of health care workers who provide home care for Medicare patients is “small and inadequate” compared to the increase in demand.
CBD oil used to curb seizures in a 2-year-old with epilepsy may be linked to the boy developing signs of a very early puberty, a British case study reports. An outside expert who reviewed the case study cautioned that the murky circumstances surrounding the case make it hard to draw firm conclusions. “This boy undoubtedly had central precocious puberty by clinical and laboratory findings,” said Dr. Alan Rogol, a UVA professor emeritus of pediatrics and endocrinology.
The University of Virginia’s Miller Center is spearheading an effort to create an analysis of lessons learned during the coronavirus pandemic.
What Nazi Germany can teach us about confronting the Confederacy? Drawing from her decades of research, Jewish American philosopher Susan Neiman shed light on these critical lessons during a virtual discussion, sponsored by the UVA Democracy Initiative’s Memory Peroject, with journalist Michele Norris on Wednesday afternoon.
Highlights from 10 years of Vinegar Hill Newsletter/Magazine include Vinegar Hill being approached by the Special Collections Department at the University of Virginia in 2015 to have the issues archived as permanent historical records.
Cardinal Education, previously known as the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program, has selected the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center to manage and coordinate its centralized student support and enrollment services. Cardinal Education is a distance learning graduate engineering program that includes of six Virginia universities, including UVA.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month, observed in April, is a national campaign initiated by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center that seeks to educate communities about sexual violence. The campaign, started in 2001, shifted from awareness to the inclusion of prevention in 2009. Local organizations, such as SARA and the University of Virginia’s Take Back the Night, observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a number of initiatives and events.
(Commentary by Ashon Crawley, associate professor of religious studies and African-American and African studies) Fear was the air we breathed. There was talk of joy, too, of course: There was music, and dance, and “getting happy.” But there was also fear, always the fear. And I didn’t know I didn’t have to be afraid.
UVA researchers predict another surge in COVID-19 cases will strike Charlottesville and the surrounding health district at the end of April and continue through May. The main driver is the arrival of the new U.K. variant of the virus that is far more contagious than the original strain.
If you’re not ready to roll up your sleeve for a dose just yet, Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton, a UVA associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, has this advice: “Talk to persons who can give you the scientific data. We know there is a lot of information that circulates around social media that simply is ungrounded. If you see a post that says something that claims these reactions to vaccines or reactions that they’ve seen with people with COVID-19 and saying it’s a hoax, ask them for the data.”
(Commentary by Jason Oliver Evans, Ph.D. student in religious studies) Early on April 4 morning, the following message appeared on the Twitter account of the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the newly elected U.S. senator from Georgia: “The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.” He later deleted the tweet, but not before strong reaction from both conservative and progressive Christians.
A team from the University of Virginia was awarded the top prize in the 2021 ASTC-USITT Venue Renovation Challenge competition on 9th April, 2021. The ASTC Edgar L. Lustig Award of $2,000 was presented to the University of Virginia team during a live YouTube video broadcast for their proposed renovation of the McIntire Amphitheater on the UVA campus. The theoretical project transformed a limited use outdoor amphitheatre into a venue that can support a large variety of performing arts events along with additional functional support spaces.
Dr. Bruce Greyson, professor emeritus in psychiatry at the University of Virginia, also believes that the life of human beings is not confined to the physical body. “I am convinced now, after doing this for 40, 50 years, that there is more to life than just our physical bodies. I recognize that there is a non-physical part of us. Is that spiritual? I'm not sure. Spirituality usually involves a search for something greater than yourself, for meaning and purpose in the universe. Well, I certainly have that,” said Greyson.
Renzo Figari, a neurologist with a Parkinson’s specialty at UVA Health, wrote on his Twitter account that no family should be subject to what Dorys’ family has gone through. “I know we should find a cure for Parkinson’s, but this should never happen. Health is a right for everyone,” Figari said. “How did we end up as a society in a situation that a family has to sell their house to get the standard of care? It makes me so sad.”
Meredith Clark, assistant professor in UVA’s Department of Media Studies, defends cancel culture as "an expression of agency, a choice to withdraw one's attention from someone or something whose values, (in)action, or speech are so offensive, one no longer wishes to grace them with their presence, time, and money," she wrote in the journal Communication and the Public in October 2020.
In Virginia, 83% of vaccines supplied to the state have been used – but the number of people getting shots differs sharply from city to city. That difference is especially stark in Charlottesville and Lynchburg, separated by a mere hour’s drive on U.S. 29 past vineyards and open farmland. “Virginia is sort of a microcosm of the country,” said Costi Sifri, director of epidemiology at UVA Health. “We’re going to have this same type of challenge played out in every state in the country. How do we close the vaccine gaps that are going to occur geographically?”
Critical care physician Dr. Ebony Hilton says the quick pause should give people faith that any vaccine will only be given if it continues to prove its safety. “Now we know in the United States that if there’s an issue with any of the vaccines that there is an agency in charge of saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to pause, reflect, look at the data’” she said. Hilton says this level of transparency is proof that safety is top of mind among government, scientists, and vaccine companies. UVA’s Dr. Dan Engel, a professor of microbiology, echoes Hilton’s praise. “Any kind of news like this is understandab...