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Petrie Dish

English, Sciences, 1 season, 132 episodes, 1 day, 22 hours, 47 minutes
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A weekly explainer on the coronavirus and its ripple effects with science journalist Bonnie Petrie from Texas Public Radio.
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Petrie Dish: Using artificial intelligence to solve medical mysteries

Millions of Americans are suffering from undiagnosed illnesses. Many are told their symptoms are imagined. Could artificial intelligence change the game, figuring out how to diagnose rare and difficult to diagnose diseases, leading to better understanding of their causes and better treatments? One San Antonio researcher thinks so.
9/16/202429 minutes, 22 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Relaxing excited neurons may lead to more effective treatments for schizophrenia

A new medication to treat schizophrenia has been developed by scientists who discovered that a neuron that inhibits the activity of other cells may be in short supply in those with the disorder.
9/8/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Petrie Dish: Another mpox emergency

The World Health Organization is again warning the world about mpox, declaring an outbreak in central Africa.
8/30/202422 minutes, 32 seconds
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Science & Medicine: LAUNCHing kids into literacy

UT Health San Antonio Speech-Language Pathology program graduate students are helping local kids at risk for developing a language disorder through a program called LAUNCH. Angela Kennedy, SLP-D, CCC-SLP, is the director of clinical education and an assistant professor for the Speech-Language Pathology program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
8/25/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: An app for detecting dementia decades early

A digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze speech patterns could help doctors detect dementia in patients when other signs and symptoms are not perceptible.
8/18/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: A hopeful time for people with epilepsy

Up to two percent of Texans have epilepsy. Dr. Charles Szabo at UT Health San Antonio has developed an epilepsy surgery program and is leading groundbreaking research and clinical trials that offer hope to those with the siezure disorder who don't respond to existing medications.
8/11/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Beneficial effects of a keto diet can be enhanced by intermittent breaks

People who eat a strict keto diet are at risk for an accumulation of aged cells in their organs, but taking intermittent breaks from the diet can prevent these detrimental effects.
8/4/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Anti-aging drug shows promise in marmosets

Adam Salmon, PhD, studies aging in marmosets. He and his team recently concluded that an immunosuppressant called rapamycin extends the lifespan of marmosets. This has significant implications for the study of aging in humans.
7/28/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Petrie Dish: UTSA developing AI tool to expedite patient care in trauma emergencies

At the scene of an emergency, a flurry of decisions must be made. A new AI tool called the iRemedyAct could expedite processes of care during health emergencies.
7/26/202424 minutes, 57 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Studying stressed out rats to understand PTSD in humans

David Morilak, PhD, a professor of pharmacology and director of the Center for Biomedical Neuroscience at UT Health San Antonio, studies rats in an effort to understand the characteristics of stressful events that can lead to PTSD in humans.
7/21/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Developing new medications to manage cancer pain

Shivani Ruparel, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio, and her team are working on potential analgesics to help mitigate cancer pain.
7/14/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Exercise affects men and women differently

Physical exercise impacts every type of tissue in the body and affects males and females differently. Data gathered at UT Health San Antonio. It’s part of a nationwide, multi-site study on exercise and the human body.
7/7/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Petrie Dish: Defining long COVID

UT Health San Antonio Professor and Chair of Rehabilitation Medicine Dr. Monica Verduzco-Guttierrez, has helped craft a universal definition for long COVID, a cluster of sometimes disabling symptoms that occur after someone has recovered from COVID-19.
7/5/202422 minutes, 58 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Help for women's pelvic health disorders

Pelvic health disorders can disrupt women's quality of life. The conditions might be considered common and inevitable, but they should not be ignored.
6/29/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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What you need to know about COVID FLiRT variants

New COVID variants have emerged as dominant strains as summer begins. They're called FLiRT variants because of their unique mutations.
6/25/202421 minutes, 34 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Bridging the rural health divide

The Rural Cohort Study is bringing the lab right to the often isolated communities they want to research.
6/23/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Plants-2-Plate

Plants-2-Plate is a six-month program that helps people adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
6/16/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Why you should be prepared but not scared of the bird flu

How do we do that with a virus that can change as rapidly as the flu?
6/10/202423 minutes, 2 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Bringing health innovation to market

For months, we’ve been sharing with you all the ways that scientific discoveries at UT Health San Antonio have and will change lives. Now the university has added a team member it hopes will increase that impact.
6/9/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Cognitive deficits from concussions can linger

People with concussions get checked out pretty thoroughly by their doctors, but for some, there are cognitive changes and deficits that doctors don’t pick up.
6/2/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Hope for patients with the deadliest cancers

'Most people think carcinomatosis is a death sentence, but there are different treatment modalities that I offer to patients. And that's something that is pretty unique to UT Health San Antonio,' said Dr. Mio Kitano, a surgical oncologist.
5/26/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Caring for veteran caregivers

Caregivers for members of the military and veterans experience depression at a higher rate than any other group in the nation and that can be lethal.
5/19/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Be Well, Texas

Be Well Texas is revolutionizing how substance use disorder is treated in Texas.
5/12/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Improving trauma care on the battlefield and at home

TRC4 is a collaborative at UT Health San Antonio in partnership with the Department of Defense and the entire UT System to address an urgent need for improved trauma care both on the battlefield and at home.
5/6/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Exploring what the 'NOVIDs' can teach us

It’s been more than four years since COVID changed our lives, and scientists are still trying to figure out why this novel coronavirus makes some people so sick, and others never get it.
4/26/202433 minutes, 45 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Improving knee replacement outcomes

Blood flow restriction ahead of surgery could be key.
4/21/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Whole blood ambulances

For the last five years, first responders all over the world have been watching San Antonio.
4/14/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: APOBECs and the fight against cancer

One of the handiest tools in our immune system is an enzyme called apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide — better known as APOBECs.
4/7/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Targeting lung cancer

UT Health San Antonio oncologist Josephine Taverna envisions a revolution in lung cancer treatment.
3/30/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Fighting Alzheimer's at the eye doctor

Imagine going to the eye doctor and getting a cheap, non-invasive test that could help you fight dementia. A doctor at UT Health San Antonio is working on it.
3/24/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Tooth pain with a purpose

Anibal Diogenes, D.D.S., Ph.D., is an endodontist, the branch of dentistry that deals with the innermost part of the tooth called pulp, a connective tissue that has immunological, reparative functions.
3/16/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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What we can learn from Congressman Joaquin Castro's cancer treatment

The journey began with the story of the Spanish boar that saved Castro’s life.
3/12/202434 minutes, 17 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Strengthening your teeth

Imagine one day your child bites down on something and the enamel on one of their teeth starts to crumble. That can happen in a condition called molar incisor hypomineralization — otherwise known as chalky teeth.
3/10/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Taking on America's number one killer

More than six-million American adults are experiencing heart failure right now.
3/3/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Cancer's silver tsunami

Cancer care is about to experience a silver tsunami.
2/25/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Eat your pain away

If you’re experiencing chronic pain, adjusting your diet might help.
2/18/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: A Crisis of Loneliness

Loneliness and social isolation can make you as sick as obesity or 15 cigarettes a day.
2/11/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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The winter wave of 2024

COVID’s winter wave has blanketed the nation, along with flu. After a brief decline, hospitalizations for both COVID and flu have increased again in Texas.
2/6/202427 minutes, 49 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Go to the dentist

When people think about things they can do to stay healthy, they don’t think about their teeth nearly enough.
2/4/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: When you clamp the cord matters

It’s a big moment, when someone — often dad — cuts a newborn’s umbilical cord. But before you cut it, you clamp it to stop blood flow, and UT Health San Antonio is involved in a study that’s trying to determine whether when you clamp the cord matters in babies with congenital heart disease.
1/28/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Communicating with Aphasia

When Bruce Willis, an action movie star known for his way with words, started to lose his language skills, it made news. He had aphasia.
1/21/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: The Avanzando Caminos Hispanic cancer survivor study

“No study had been funded to really look at the needs of our Latino cancer survivors. We're the first study to be doing this," said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, chair of Population Health Sciences at UT Health San Antonio. "And they are so grateful to us because they said, 'nobody's bothered to ask me about my cancer journey.'”
1/14/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Swallowing ‘workout’ for people with early Parkinson’s

Do you ever think about all that’s involved in just swallowing a bit of breakfast taco or a sip of coffee?
1/7/20242 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Spinal cord injury and walking again

Selina Morgan holds a doctorate in physical therapy, a board certification in neurological physical therapy, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at UT Health San Antonio. She believes that there are thousands of people out there in wheelchairs who don’t have to be.
12/31/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Should you take the plunge? Diving into the science behind cold exposure therapy

What does the science say about ice baths and cold plunges? TPR's Bioscience and Medicine reporter Bonnie Petrie 'dives in'
12/29/202327 minutes, 22 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Thriving with congenital heart disease

Dr. Ginnie Abarbanell is chief of pediatric cardiology at UT Health San Antonio. She takes care of all kinds of kids, ranging from little ones with heart murmurs to children with congenital heart disease – which is more common than you might think.
12/24/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Early screening to prevent congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease can often be detected at the mid-pregnancy ultrasound, which dramatically improves outcomes. But too many people don’t get adequate prenatal care.
12/17/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Alzheimer's and the inflammatory trigger

A UT Health Science Center San Antonio researcher has discovered something really interesting about Alzheimer’s disease.
12/10/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: The next Ozempic?

Ozempic isn’t the only exciting diabetes medication out there on the market. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitorshave a multitude of potential health benefits.
12/3/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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CDC wants to fortify corn masa flour with folic acid to prevent birth defects

For the last 25 years, the U.S. has required that grain and cereal products be fortified with folic acid — and the CDC is now urging manufacturers of products made using corn masa flour to add the B vitamin to minimize the risk of birth defects in the Latino population.
11/25/202321 minutes, 35 seconds
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Science & Medicine: The Brain Bank

At the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the brain bank is accepting deposits.
11/19/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Counter Long COVID with pacing

Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, chair of rehabilitation medicine at UT Health San Antonio, teaches her patients to practice what she calls pacing and other techniques to conserve energy.
11/12/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Omega 3 fatty acids to fight Alzheimer’s

If you’re in your 40s or 50s, there may be something you can do right now to fight Alzheimer’s disease. It involves omega 3 fatty acids – the good stuff in fatty fish and fish oil, which has been linked to lower rates of dementia for a while.
11/5/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Using AI for brain health diagnoses

We’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence lately, and some of it is unsettling. But AI also has great potential to improve and even save lives.
10/28/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Brain healthy diets

Researchers have suspected that foods which cause inflammation speed up brain aging and cognitive decline, but UT Health San Antonio's Debora Melo van Lent wanted evidence.
10/20/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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Science & Medicine: Long COVID and the road to recovery

Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, professor and chair of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has been running two long COVID clinics since early in the pandemic, and she says every case is different.
10/6/20232 minutes, 10 seconds
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'The bugs are winning' — Researchers are fighting drug-resistant tuberculosis

The antibiotics that only 80 years ago turned TB from a voracious killer of an estimated 1 billion people to a treatable disease just don’t work anymore.
9/30/202320 minutes, 47 seconds
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Inside America’s last remaining tuberculosis hospital

Did you know there is still one tuberculosis hospital in the United States? There is just one: The Texas Center for Infectious Disease in San Antonio. Host Bonnie Petrie takes us there.
9/14/202320 minutes, 40 seconds
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Summer ends in the shadow of new COVID-19 threat

COVID cases have been increasing for weeks nationwide, but a COVID expert says not to call it a surge just yet.
8/29/202324 minutes, 51 seconds
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Thousands of Afghans suffer from PTSD. Advocates are trying to find culturally competent ways to help

“We've seen women who have not gone outside the door in six months," said Margaret Constantino, executive director of the Center for Refugee Services in San Antonio. "How does anybody stay healthy in that kind of environment?”
6/24/202320 minutes, 28 seconds
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Reclaiming Henrietta Lacks

Family members of a woman who changed modern medicine — without her knowledge and certainly without her permission — spoke at a gathering of scientists in San Antonio recently about ethics and equity in science and medicine.
6/9/202315 minutes, 44 seconds
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COVID-19 emergency declarations expire, and individuals bear the costs of fighting the virus

While there are still tests, treatments like paxlovid, and vaccines in the national stockpile, those should remain easily accessible. Once the stockpile is depleted, though, all those things may become more costly to the consumer and more difficult to get.
5/5/202327 minutes, 21 seconds
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How misinformation became the leading cause of death in the U.S. and what can be done about it

Medical misinformation is killing people, according to the head of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Robert Califf blames misinformation and disinformation about public health for the fact that life expectancy in the United States is between three and five years lower than it is in other high-income countries.
4/21/202316 minutes, 14 seconds
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Killer fungi may not be the last of us but scientists are concerned

Can it turn us into murderous zombies? No, but it has killed between 30 to 60 percent of those it has infected.
4/7/202322 minutes, 45 seconds
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Could Ozempic be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease?

Some are calling it the Kim Kardashian weight loss drug. Ozempic related videos have more than 1 billion views on TikTok. The medication is taken to help control blood sugar levels in type two diabetes, and it has taken off for an off-label use — as a treatment for obesity. Now, Ozempic is being studied for yet another potential use — as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
3/24/202323 minutes, 52 seconds
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San Antonio researchers revive 1979 Heart and Mind Study

San Antonio researchers are getting the band back together, in a way. They’re reaching out to people who participated in a groundbreaking 1979 study on heart disease and diabetes in the Latino population to see if they’d like to enroll in a new study.
3/11/202328 minutes, 23 seconds
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Marmoset microbiomes, human microbiomes, and the fountain of youth

One of humanity's great quests made microscopic in the aging intestines of tiny monkeys.
2/20/202324 minutes, 33 seconds
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The reality of long COVID in 2023

Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez runs two long COVID clinics in San Antonio, is known for running marathons, and she partners in running a home as a mom to two children. But after recovering from COVID-19, she couldn’t walk around a mall. Host Bonnie Petrie speaks with Dr. Gutierrez about the realities of long COVID for millions of people three years into the pandemic.
2/4/202336 minutes, 39 seconds
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How an old, rarely prescribed antidepressant was repurposed to treat breast cancer

The idea that there may be medicines already out there, safe and approved by the FDA and just waiting to be rediscovered is tantalizing for scientists, doctors, and patients.
1/20/202315 minutes, 50 seconds
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Is immunity debt or immunity theft to blame for children's respiratory virus spike?

Kids seem to be catching everything and getting sicker as the pandemic enters its third winter, leaving physicians and researchers to figure out what's going on.
1/6/20235 minutes, 37 seconds
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The truth about SSRI antidepressants

Tens of millions of Americans take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — SSRIs — to treat depression by addressing what was believed to be a chemical imbalance in the brain. While new research debunks this theory, there are a number of factors people should consider before getting off these medications.
12/17/202234 minutes, 30 seconds
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Peter Hotez on the 'tridemic' and how to protect your family

Flu. RSV. COVID-19. This three car collision of respiratory viruses as winter approaches is causing some health experts to worry about what they’re calling a "tridemic."
11/25/202225 minutes, 13 seconds
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Welcome to the golden age of the genome

Whole genome sequencing is now becoming cheap enough that doctors will be able to order it for everyone if they want. That could lead to truly personalized medicine. But it could be even bigger than that.
11/4/202237 minutes, 5 seconds
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Uvalde prompted Texas to start taking mental health in schools more seriously. Is it enough?

The phrase 'mental health' has been used repeatedly in politics to avoid the gun control debate. But there was a significant lack of access to mental health care in Uvalde prior to the shooting.
9/26/20221 hour, 4 seconds
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Can telehealth solve America's mental health crisis in schools?

The kids are not alright. A CDC analysis released earlier this year found that in 2021— the second year of the pandemic — more than 37% of high school students reported experiencing poor mental health, and 44% reported they felt persistently sad or hopeless throughout the year. Before the pandemic, mental health was already getting worse — according to previous studies from the CDC. Bonnie Petrie guest hosted TPR's The Source to talk to experts about this issue and the telehealth program in Texas that hopes to help solve the mental health crisis.
9/17/202239 minutes, 2 seconds
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Petrie Dish returns in September

When Petrie Dish returns in September, we'll continue to bring you the latest on COVID-19 and also explore other topics with in-depth interview and reporting ... like a new study on depression that has people asking their doctors about their SSRI's ... or the idea that sequencing your genome may soon be affordable for almost everyone. Should you do it? And yes, we’ll dive into that other fast spreading virus: monkeypox. That’s all on Petrie Dish when we return in September.
8/9/20222 minutes, 6 seconds
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'It turns the amplifier on' — The impact of long COVID

As waves of omicron and its extremely contagious subvariants burn through previously uninfected populations, it has become clear that people with mild or asymptomatic cases aren’t immune from long COVID. Host Bonnie Petrie talked to reporter Pablo De La Rosa about his experience with long COVID over the past two years, along with Dr. Monica Verduzco Gutierrez, professor and distinguished chair of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. They discussed what we know about post-COVID syndrome and what we need to do to prepare for the decades of disability that may remain long after the pandemic is in the rear view.
5/17/202232 minutes, 8 seconds
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Wastewater testing could help control COVID's spread. Why isn't it happening across America?

COVID-19 testing clinics around the country are closing, and federal funding for free clinical testing is drying up. But wastewater surveillance could step in to play a crucial role in keeping track of where the virus is and just how much is really circulating out there. In this episode, host Bonnie Petrie takes us to a wastewater treatment plant in Converse, Texas and talks to scientists trying to build a surveillance and sequencing program in South Texas.
4/21/202227 minutes
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COVID and Pregnancy: Delivering a baby on heart-lung bypass

Ashley Savidge Hernandez, a Marine Corps spouse and mother of five, delivered a baby while critically ill with COVID-19. How did she and her healthy son Kyzon survive the worst that COVID has to offer?
3/12/202227 minutes, 28 seconds
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Peter Hotez on the Texas-made COVID vaccine that could help billions

Dr. Peter Hotez has become one of the faces of the pandemic. The bow-tied Texas scientist has been all over radio and television — and on this podcast, too — explaining viruses generally and COVID-19 specifically. Now Hotez and his partner, PhD scientist Maria Elena Bottazzi, have developed a vaccine that would be cheap and easy to produce.
1/28/202227 minutes, 20 seconds
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Ask the experts: Long-haul COVID

In this episode, Bonnie Petrie guest hosts The Source on Texas Public Radio to put listener questions about long-haul COVID to two leading experts
1/15/202250 minutes, 4 seconds
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The other Texas drought: Rural hospital closures

Texas has had 24 rural hospital closures since 2005, the most in the country, and the problem is being felt by the most vulnerable.
12/20/202151 minutes, 32 seconds
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Omicron: The escape mutant

New research out of South Africa and the UK have found that the omicron variant dramatically reduces vaccine effectiveness in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. However, there are ways to minimize omicron's impact in the United States.
12/15/202122 minutes, 26 seconds
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Parents' COVID vaccine questions, answered

Children between 5 and 11 are now eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Is the vaccine safe for people in this age group? Does it work? What are the potential side effects? We ask an epidemiologist and a pediatrician those questions and much more.
11/15/202137 minutes, 27 seconds
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Introducing: When You Become Your Parent's Parent

A new podcast from Texas Public Radio explores the confusion, heartbreak, and joy of moving back home to care for an aging relative. It's hosted by longtime NPR journalist Kitty Eisele, who chronicles her journey caring for her dad and the conversations she has with friends and experts along the way. You can listen to the first five episodes of "Demented" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
10/28/20211 minute, 55 seconds
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What you need to know about vaccine booster shots

On this episode of Petrie Dish, host Bonnie Petrie speaks with Dr. Tracey Baas of Texas Biomedical Institute about timing, mixing and matching, who should be getting the booster and more.
10/21/202126 minutes, 6 seconds
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Delta And Disinformation: The COVID Surge We Chose

The emergence of the delta variant has presented a daunting challenge in the fight against the COVID virus, made worse by a pandemic of bad information. Much of that bad information is being spread intentionally by people who know it's false; it's disinformation. People across the country consume that disinformation and — believing it's true — pass it on. In this episode of Petrie Dish, we explore the medical misinformation and disinformation that are fueling anti-mask and anti-vaccine beliefs that are driving the delta surge.
9/21/202152 minutes, 19 seconds
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Pregnancy During A Pandemic Is Scary — The Delta Variant Is Making It Worse

COVID-19 and pregnancy are not a good mix. In this episode of Petrie Dish, Bonnie Petrie explores the risks associated with getting COVID during pregnancy and why doctors are recommending that people who are pregnant get a COVID vaccine.
8/20/202128 minutes, 48 seconds
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Going Back To School Safely During The Delta Surge

In this episode of Petrie Dish, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor outlines steps those who are around unvaccinated children can take to keep them safe.
7/30/202129 minutes, 49 seconds
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South Texas ICU Doctor Says COVID Numbers Are ‘Trending In The Wrong Direction’

In this week's Petrie Dish, we follow up with Hidalgo County’s health authority about the increasing number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the area.
7/16/202120 minutes, 6 seconds
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'A Pandemic Within A Pandemic': Expert Urges People To Get Vaccine To Combat New Delta Variant

An increasing number of cases of the delta variant in the United States has many experts urging caution.
6/28/202115 minutes, 1 second
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An Expert Answers Teens' Questions About The Pfizer Vaccine

The director of the Centers for Disease Control urged adolescents aged 12 and up to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after a recent increase in COVID hospitalizations for that age group. Many adolescents have questions about the vaccine. Petrie Dish asked an expert for the answers.
6/8/202132 minutes, 33 seconds
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The State Of The Pandemic

As of May 13, nearly 120 million Americans are fully vaccinated, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance saying anyone who is fully vaccinated can take off their masks in most situations, outside and inside.For many in the United States it can feel like the pandemic is over, but many people across the country remain unvaccinated and COVID surges are still happening across the globe. This week's Petrie Dish takes a look at the state of the pandemic.
5/14/202157 minutes, 53 seconds
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One In A Million: What You Need To Know About The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have asked vaccine administrators to stop using the Johnson & Johnson one-dose COVID-19 vaccine. The federal agencies called for this pause after six women experienced dangerous blood clots after getting the J&J shot. Dr. Ruth Berggren is an infectious diseases doctor and the director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at UT Health San Antonio. She says this recommended pause is appropriate, but stresses that the reports of blood clots in those who’ve received the J&J shot are exceedingly rare.
4/20/202127 minutes, 9 seconds
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How Can We Help Children Recover From The Trauma Of The Pandemic?

The pandemic has not been easy on children. TPR's Bonnie Petrie spoke with a renowned pediatrician about how to help them overcome the individual and collective trauma of the last year.
4/5/202134 minutes, 38 seconds
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One Year Later: Postcards From The Pandemic

People who've been working on the front lines of the pandemic reflect on the one year milestone and the loss of 500,000 Americans.
3/16/202154 minutes, 40 seconds
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'Petrie Dish' Host Receives COVID-19 Vaccine, But Why Are Other Texans Missing Out?

This week's Petrie Dish is personal: Host Bonnie Petrie receives her first dose of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine.
2/15/202125 minutes, 42 seconds
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He's Been Dubbed 'The Fauci Of The Border' — Why Dr. Cigarroa Is Fighting For Laredo

Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa is a cardiologist in Laredo. He descends from a line of doctors in the city who have been serving patients there for 100 years.
2/9/202134 minutes, 25 seconds
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Can We Get Vaccinated Before The Mutant COVID-19 Takes Over? The Race Is On.

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist at UT Health’s School of Public Health in Dallas. She said there are about 12,000 strains of SARS-CoV-2 circulating around the world right now. One of them — the UK variant — is likely to become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.
2/2/202131 minutes, 26 seconds
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Overcoming Grief In The Worst Year Of Our Lives

The pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, but it's also stolen our normal lives and our sense of security. How do we go on when pressed under the weight of so much personal and collective pain? This week's Petrie Dish explores pandemic grief and also considers ideas about how to transform that pain into resilience.
1/20/202153 minutes, 29 seconds
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A Disease Expert Explains The New COVID Mutation That's Shut Down Britain

Dr. Ricardo Carrion, a virologist at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, leads us on a deep dive into coronaviruses, this mutation, and what it may mean for the newly developed coronavirus treatments and vaccines.
1/5/202120 minutes, 30 seconds
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Overwhelmed And Understaffed: Rural Hospitals Struggle With Texas' Worst COVID-19 Surge

Texas hospitals are struggling under the weight of the state's worst COVID-19 surge yet. This month the state has seen single-day records for the first, second and third most confirmed daily cases. Hospitalizations have reached the highest level since July. And the situation is likely to get worse. Rural parts of Texas are being hit especially hard.
12/22/202049 minutes, 50 seconds
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This Mathematician Projects Up To 1.2 Million COVID-19 Deaths In US By March

A San Antonio mathematician who has modeled this pandemic since the beginning says more than 1 million people could die of COVID-19 by spring.
12/15/202023 minutes, 19 seconds
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Vaccine Expert Says There Isn't A 'Better' COVID-19 Immunization; Suggests Taking 1st Option

Dr. Peter Hotez expects two COVID-19 vaccines to be approved before the end of the year, and possibly a half dozen by this time next year. He says he has no preference among the early offerings and will get the first one that's made available to him.
12/8/202024 minutes, 14 seconds
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A Conversation With A Doctor From Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board On Their Plans To Fight The Pandemic

Dr. Céline Gounder is on President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board. She said tracking the virus’ progression through the country as the number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths rise is extremely difficult.
11/23/202029 minutes, 57 seconds
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'It's Nonstop' — Texas Reaches 1 Million COVID-19 Cases And 20,000 Deaths

Recent surges in El Paso, Armarillo and Lubbock have pushed Texas’ total case count over 1 million with about 20,000 deaths.How did Texas get here, and what lies ahead?
11/17/202053 minutes, 49 seconds
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Former CDC Director Explains What Joe Biden Should Do To Fight The COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control, has advice for Americans about how to get through the holidays safely. He also has tips for President-elect Joe Binden on how to fight the pandemic going forward.
11/10/202030 minutes, 15 seconds
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The Long Haul: A Conversation With Diana Berrent

Diana Berrent lives on Long Island. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early March and was among the first group of Americans infected with the novel coronavirus. She fought off the infection at home, treating herself with Tylenol and Gatorade.After 18 days in self isolation, she was fine, she thought.Turns out, like many people infected with COVID-19, she’s a long-hauler.
10/27/202029 minutes, 16 seconds
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Small And Rural Cities Reaching Hospital Capacity Could Cause Another COVID-19 Surge

COVID-19 numbers across Texas and country are now being driven by areas outside the big population centers. What might that mean for the coming months?
10/19/202046 minutes, 20 seconds
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Trump's FDA Commissioner Discusses COVID-19 Vaccine, Tensions With The President

On this week’s Side Dish featuring extended interviews, Host Bonnie Petrie goes one-on-one with FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn.
10/13/202023 minutes, 22 seconds
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Outbreaks And Open Campuses: Are Universities Able To Manage COVID-19?

On this week’s Petrie Dish, we take a look at what universities are doing to accommodate COVID-19, how students are responding and how local communities are affected.
10/5/202051 minutes, 58 seconds
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Two People Who Lost Parents To COVID-19 Are Advocating For Other Grieving Families

On this week's episode of “Side Dish,” TPR Bioscience Medicine reporter Bonnie Petrie speaks with Kristin Urquiza and Fiana Garza Tulip, each of whom lost a parent to COVID-19.
9/23/202020 minutes, 43 seconds
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FLUVID: Flattening The Flu Curve During A Coronavirus Pandemic

The worst time of the year for viruses is at our doorstep. During the winter there are surges in adenoviruses, respiratory syncytial viruses — more commonly known as RSV — mild coronaviruses that cause colds, basically all the cold and flu-like illnesses you’d expect when the weather turns cold. And, of course, the actual flu, which can be an efficient killer in its own right.
9/8/202040 minutes, 23 seconds
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The Impact Of Hurricane Laura Overflowed In States Already Facing COVID-19 Disasters

On this week’s Petrie Dish, we explore what happened in Louisiana and Southeast Texas when Hurricane Laura landed — and what other hurricane hotspots like Florida, Alabama and Mississippi can learn from the deadly storm.
8/31/202045 minutes, 34 seconds
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The COVID-19 Vaccine: Inside America’s Race For An Answer

On this week’s Petrie Dish, we dive into the COVID-19 vaccine. First we answer: what is a vaccine? We've all gotten them, but have you ever wondered how they protect you from disease? Vaccine expert Joanne Turner gets into the nitty gritty of how vaccines work and walks us through the history of the first-ever vaccine, which treated another vicious virus that ravaged the world.
8/18/202050 minutes, 14 seconds
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Fighting A Depressive Pandemic

This week on Petrie Dish we talk with experts about why you feel how you feel, and what happens inside your body when you start to feel overwhelmed.
8/11/20201 hour, 2 minutes, 59 seconds
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COVID-19 And Reopening Schools: No Easy Answers

There's a lot of confusion and conflicting information about how COVID-19 affects kids and what that may mean for the safe reopening of schools. The lead researcher on a large study on how children experience COVID joined the show to sort out fact from fiction.
8/4/202050 minutes, 41 seconds
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Tragedy In The Rio Grande Valley: A 'Perfect Storm' For A COVID-19 Outbreak

Texas is in the midst of a COVID-19 surge, but one area is in crisis. Hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley are near or at capacity, and EMS crews are stretched thin.
7/27/202049 minutes, 24 seconds
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'Why Can't I Breathe?' How Systemic Racism Makes COVID-19 Worse For Communities Of Color

COVID-19 has exposed all Americans to an increased risk, even while doing the most mundane things: shopping at the grocery store, going to work, and taking walks. But it’s also exposed how communities of color are largely defenseless in the fight against an enemy that does not discriminate, but rather reveals to us our own discrimination.
7/15/202048 minutes, 29 seconds
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The COVID-19 Surge In Texas And Its Hotspots

In the last two weeks, some Texas counties implemented new face mask orders and Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all bars to shut down — before eventually issuing his own statewide mask order.
7/3/202021 minutes, 37 seconds
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Is COVID-19 A Vascular Disease?

At first, COVID-19 appeared to be primarily a respiratory disease. But patients have reported a much wider range of symptoms than most viral diseases, leading some researchers to wonder if COVID-19 might, in some cases, also be a vascular disease. On this episode of Petrie Dish, TPR's podcast about the science of the pandemic, we explore the evidence for this and hear from coronavirus survivors experiencing the vascular side effects of the disease.
6/27/202028 minutes, 44 seconds
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Did Texas Reopen Too Soon?

As restaurants reopened and businesses relaxed mask-wearing rules, coronavirus hospitalizations have spiked in parts of the country that previously escaped the worst of the pandemic. This week on Petrie Dish, Texas Public Radio's podcast on the science of the pandemic, we take stock of one such state, Texas, and ask whether reopening the economy worked the way it was supposed to.
6/19/202024 minutes, 53 seconds
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Life After COVID-19: What Survivors Face After Beating The Virus

Covid-19 survivors must adjust to a wide array of lingering symptoms — could those side effects last a lifetime? This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's podcast about the science of the pandemic, two survivors tell their stories of halting recovery, and experts weigh in on what we know — and don't know — about the impact of the coronavirus on the body.
6/10/202038 minutes, 44 seconds
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Meet The Army of Disease Detectives Tracking COVID-19

To rein in the invisible spread of the virus, a special branch of science has exploded: Contact tracing. It's the careful, sometimes intimate task of figuring out where the coronavirus might have spread in a community, and who is at risk. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's podcast about the science of the pandemic, we hear from the disease detectives who are tracking down possible Covid-19 carriers before they even get sick. We also dig into state-by-state plans to ramp up contact tracing to safely restart the economy, and compare U.S. contact tracing efforts with those across the world.
5/18/202040 minutes, 24 seconds
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Clocking in: Meet the Essential Workers Whose Jobs Never Stopped, Despite the Risks

A huge swath of the American workforce is unable to work from home, and the repercussions of a crowded workplace, rather than one that is social-distanced, are gradually becoming clear. This week on Petrie Dish, Texas Public Radio's explainer podcast about the coronavirus, we hear from essential workers about their worries on the job and their struggle to stay safe.
5/11/202031 minutes
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What COVID-19 Means for Pregnancy

In past viral outbreaks, pregnant women have been at heightened risk of severe symptoms, sometimes leading to birth defects and complications during delivery. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's weekly explainer on the coronavirus, we ask what COVID-19 means for pregnancy, and how women are adjusting to the new uncertainties this pandemic has created.
5/4/202035 minutes, 34 seconds
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Inside the Scramble to Treat Coronavirus

Creating a brand-new drug is painstaking and tricky — under normal circumstances. In the age of coronavirus, drug researchers are working in overdrive. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's explainer podcast about the virus pandemic, we hear from the experts trying to balance safety and speed in their search for a cure, and from a woman who suffered the side effects from that search.
4/27/202033 minutes, 53 seconds
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Nurses: On The Front Lines of COVID-19

If you’re diagnosed with COVID-19, one of your first conversations will likely be with a nurse. And during your journey to recovery, nurses will be stationed at your side every step of the way. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's weekly show on the coronavirus, nurses describe how they're adjusting to this sudden new role in the front lines of the crisis.
4/20/202040 minutes, 56 seconds
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The Hidden Consequences of Flattening the Curve

Almost overnight, "flatten the curve" became a national motto. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's weekly podcast about the coronavirus, we unpack the origins of that phrase with a public health expert who helped popularize it. And, we hear from reporters across Texas about some of the negative consequences of quarantine, from a spike in domestic violence reports to the relocation of migrants in camps along the U.S.-Mexico border.
4/13/202031 minutes, 55 seconds
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Beyond Capacity: A Closer Look at America's Ventilator Shortage

In the span of a few weeks, a medical device most of us have never seen or used became a national concern, the signature shortage in our response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This week on Petrie Dish, TPR's explainer podcast about the coronavirus pandemic, we explore how the coronavirus affects the lungs and how our government, our hospitals, and industrious YouTubers are responding to the vast shortage of ventilators.
4/6/202023 minutes, 15 seconds
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What Exactly Is the Coronavirus, Anyway?

The virus sweeping across the planet right now is frightening, in part, because there is so much we don't know about it. In the first episode of Petrie Dish, TPR's explainer podcast about the coronavirus pandemic, Bonnie Petrie talks to a virologist about what exactly the coronavirus is and how scientists are studying it.
3/30/202014 minutes, 35 seconds
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Petrie Dish

Stay tuned for a new podcast about how the coronavirus is changing our world, with Texas Public Radio Bioscience-Medicine reporter Bonnie Petrie.
3/26/202045 seconds