Finding Connections Between Religion and Science

Current debates about the relationship between religion and science often present these traditions and practices as ways of understanding the world that are hostile toward or disconnected from each other. By primarily looking into the works of Daniel Dennett and William James, we investigate ways in which religion and science exhibit both rational and irrational characteristics, particularly morality. Going further, new speculative arguments open up new possible connections between religion and science, including ways their conversations can add to each other. Two of these areas are faith and the soul, which indicate potential common interests for religion and science. As a consequence, they may not only be coexistent but constructively connected

Gene synthesis and expression of human torque teno virus VP3: Exploring the cancer-killing potential of an apoptin homolog

Torque teno virus (TTV) is a small, non-enveloped animal virus that contains a single-stranded, circular DNA genome of 3.8 kb. Related to chicken anemia virus (CAV), TTV's ORF 3 may express a 105 residue protein which is homologous to CAV VP3 (apoptin)--a protein shown to multimerize and trigger apoptosis in cancer cells via a mechanism that involves nuclear translocation. Using gene synthesis, we generated the TTV ORF3 and expressed the gene fused to GFP. Here we demonstrate that TTV VP3 localizes to the cytoplasm of H1299 lung cancer cells and shows evidence of cytoplasmic aggregation. This aggregation is strikingly similar to CAV apoptin and may indicate a similar multimerization capacity for TTV VP3. However, an altered localization pattern may suggest a different mechanism of action

A Sustainable Science Laboratory Program for Rural Thailand

In rural Thailand, students had fewer educational opportunities than their urban counterparts. The goal of our project, sponsored by the Office of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorns Projects, was to develop an engaging, educationally valuable, sustainable laboratory program for lower-secondary school students in Sakon Nakhon. The goal was achieved in three stages: initial program development, program testing, and program refinement. The result was a science laboratory program that contained the developed experiments as well as supplementary materials for teachers

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

Azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Background Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatory actions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once per day by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatment groups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment and were twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants and local study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to the outcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936. Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) were eligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was 65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall, 561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days (rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median 10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days (rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, no significant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilation or death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24). Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restricted to patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication. Funding UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research