Padma Nagappan
San Diego
Health + Life Science communications & public relations. Avid hiker. Formerly: SciComm @SDSU, health + science journalist. She/her; Views my own;
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Articles by Padma Nagappan
5 Vitamins and Minerals to Keep an Eye On When You Have Crohn’s Disease
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Five tips to consider when dating goes wrong
The first blush of romance is usually filled with heady excitement. That likely will not last. Many long and healthy relationships can settle into a more routine give-and-take over time. What it should not evolve into is fear and pain. Yet many dating relationships take a wrong turn that can become mean, ugly or scary. If this happens to you, do something. Reaching out for help can offer a needed lifeline, notes Maya Ragavan.
New institute uses artificial intelligence to develop next-gen food systems
Country United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth...
NewsCenter | SDSU | Ben’s Words: Showing Children How to Produce Sounds and Speech
Ben, a client of the speech language clinic at SDSU's School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Student clinicians with the SDSU Speech-Language Clinic help children in the community who have difficulty speaking learn to speak. The Zoom screen lights up when Ben pops in for his thrice weekly speech therapy session with Amber Postert. They greet each other and Ben begins working on the sound he’s been practicing — “lz” — and repeats words like “pulls” and “falls” over and over again.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Making Bilingual Speech Language Therapy More Accessible
Elise Ramirez is an undergraduate researcher in the School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Elise Ramirez is a senior helping to promote telepractice to assess one’s native language. By Delaney Weidner and Padma Nagappan Undergrad Research Spotlight: This is part of a series on undergraduate research opportunities at SDSU and the programs that help support a future pipeline of scientists from diverse and underrepresented groups.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Head Start to Microbiology Research as a Rising Sophomore
Microbiologist Nick Shikuma with rising sophomore researcher Sama Rakin Michael. Sama Rakin Michael began as a teaching assistant and is now working on genetically modifying bacteria in the lab.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Fast Track to Machine Learning Research via MESA
James Bunnell, a computer engineering senior, has had the opportunity to work on machine learning research in professor Sam Kassegne's nanofabrication lab. Senior James Bunnell will have co-published five scientific papers when he graduates in the fall with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Poor Hit Hardest By Extreme Heat and Ozone
Extreme heat combined with ozone from vehicle pollution leads to increased hospitalizations for respiratory issues, especially in the poorer ZIP codes. On hot days, the recurring combination increases hospitalizations in low-income ZIP codes more than other areas. From May to September, many parts of California experience extreme heat, often combined with higher ozone pollution from vehicle traffic. This leads to increased hospitalizations for respiratory issues.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Ancient Baleen Whales Had a Mouthful
3D digital reconstruction of the skull of Aetiocetus weltoni, an ancient whale that is the evolutionary 'cousin' of modern baleen whales. Video: Eric Ekdale, Image: C. Buell CT scans of a 25 million year-old fossil skull show the Aetiocetus weltoni had both teeth and baleen, unlike modern whales. A strange phenomenon happens with modern blue whales, humpback whales and gray whales: they have teeth in the womb but are born toothless.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Martha Garcia: A Story of Courage and Conviction
Alumna Martha Garcia ('99, on the left), the first Latina superintendent and president of Imperial Valley College, with an SDSU graduate student at commencement 2019. How one of SDSU Imperial Valley’s biggest success stories overcame early disadvantages. “If SDSU was not here, where would our students go to continue their bachelor’s degrees?
Report urges California to act to protect marine ecosystems against microplastics
A report by leading environmental scientists urges California to act to protect the marine ecosystem against microplastic pollution. Credit: San Diego State University Roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, and the U.S. is one of the top contributors to plastic pollution. It's been found in the seafloor and surface water, on beaches and shorelines.
NewsCenter | SDSU | New Approach to Identify Genetic Boundaries of Species Could Impact Policy
Evolutionary biologists have developed a new computational approach to genomic species delineation that improves upon current methods and could impact policy in the future. Evolutionary biologists model the process of speciation, which follows population formation, improving on current species delineation methods. A new approach to genomic species delineation could impact policy and lend clarity to legislation for designating a species as endangered or at risk.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Report Urges California to Act to Protect Marine Ecosystems Against Microplastics
A report by leading environmental scientists urges California to act to protect the marine ecosystem against microplastic pollution. Leading environmental scientists including SDSU’s Eunha Hoh assessed the risks of the ocean pollution. Roughly 8 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, and the U.S. is one of the top contributors to plastic pollution. It’s been found in the seafloor and surface water, on beaches and shorelines.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Soil Microbes and Carbon Emissions: The Weather Factor
Ecologist Xiaofeng Xu and colleagues found that seasonal fluctuations in temperature lead to a corresponding fluctuation in microbial populations in the soil, and increased carbon emissions. From forests to deserts, ecologists find seasonal fluctuations in temperature affect microbial population and increase carbon emissions. As humans, the weather where we live influences our energy consumption.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Diets Higher In Acidic Foods Hurt Cancer Survivors, Especially Past Smokers
Diets higher in acidic foods such as meats and certain cheese can increase the risk for cancer survivors, especially if they smoked. Image credit: Alkalife.com. Meat and cottage cheese are highly acidic and can increase breast cancer recurrence and mortality among past smokers. Fresh and processed meats, cheese, eggs, sugary food, soft drinks, and grains are acid-producing foods.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Improving the Nexus of Mind, Machine and Motor in Construction Robotics
Civil engineering professor Reza Akhavian will work on improving worker safety in construction zones. Civil engineer Reza Akhavian received a prestigious NSF CAREER award to improve coordination between construction workers and robots. Construction robotics is a fairly new field researchers are still exploring.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Resilient Restoration: Helping Southern California’s Tribal Nations Adapt to Climate Change
Photo credit: Lluvia Flores-Renteria, Megan Jennings and Ana Lutz-Johnson. Video by Melissa Porter. SDSU and UC Riverside ecologists are working with tribal partners to preserve culturally significant ecosystems and species. For the past few months, Megan Jennings and Lluvia Flores-Renteria have been collecting acorns from Indian reservations, storing them at home in their refrigerators to keep them fresh and germinating them in greenhouses.
A tale of two brothers
July/August 2014 California Bountiful magazine Story by Padma Nagappan Photos by Paul Savage Farm's reach now includes city stores When Josephina Fennessey walks into Stehly Farms Market in the urban San Diego neighborhood of Bay Park, she is greeted with the aroma of farm-fresh oranges, pears and strawberries and eye-catching displays of carrots, butter lettuce, frisee and other produce. Brothers Noel, left, and Jerome Stehly are third-generation farmers operating retail stores in San Diego.
Ecologists working with tribal partners to preserve culturally significant ecosystems and species
Credit: CC0 Public Domain For the past few months, Megan Jennings and Lluvia Flores-Renteria have been collecting acorns from Indian reservations, storing them at home in their refrigerators to keep them fresh and germinating them in greenhouses. These efforts are part of the Resilient Restoration project involving San Diego State University ecologists working in lockstep with tribal nation partners and the Climate Science Alliance (CSA).
NewsCenter | SDSU | School of Public Health: 40 Years of Serving the Community
The School of Public Health celebrates 40 years this week. Its alumni represent 75% of the public health workforce in San Diego County. Photo of Hardy Memorial Tower: Jim Brady Alumni represent 75% of the public health workforce in San Diego County, and interest from new students is soaring.
NewsCenter | SDSU | SDSU Ecologists Lead Climate Adaptation Project Lauded as a Model
SDSU ecologists Megan Jennings, Rebecca Lewison and colleagues lead a climate adaptation project that has been lauded as a model for the southwestern U.S. The Connecting Wildlands and Communities project will be featured at the Southwest Adaptation Forum this week. A tremendous amount of planning goes into mitigating wildfire risk, supporting sustainable water sources, and protecting communities and biodiversity.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Inside SDSU's Community COVID-19 Efforts
When COVID-19 began, SDSU pivoted to serve the community by launching critical programs for contact tracing, mobile testing and vaccine roll out efforts. Photos: Frank Villalpondo, Eric Zentmyer. From contact tracing to testing and vaccine rollout, researchers pivoted quickly, launching critical programs to help San Diego’s hardest hit groups.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Virtual Reality: Immersive Learning In Class and the Lab
SDSU faculty tap virtual reality to bring subjects alive for students in the classroom and lab. Video editing: Soleil Sandoval-Colmenero; Narration: Martin Bridges Faculty find creative ways to boost student engagement and research.
NewsCenter | SDSU | SDSU Joins Nationwide Study of COVID-19 Risk and Severity
Health researchers at SDSU's South Bay Latino Research Center will join a nationwide study that aims to determine what causes COVID-19 risk and disease severity in diverse communities. Friday, February 19, 2021 The large study of 50,000 people aims to determine what causes disease severity and long-term impacts.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Who Gets It When — Bioethics of Vaccine Distribution
Vaccine distribution and how it's prioritized for different groups of people has been hotly debated. SDSU bioethicist Joseph Stramondo weighs in on the ethical issues involved. Bioethicist Joe Stramondo on things to consider about prioritizing, underserved community concerns and rationing decisions. Since last March when COVID-19 restrictions changed life as we know it, Dr. Stephanie Brodine has taken every precaution.
How Docent Health Navigates Maternity Patients to Better Outcomes
Maria Torres, a patient navigator employed by Docent Health, stays in touch with Bakersfield area clients by text messages and phone calls. Photo: Rodney Thornburg Lupita was six months pregnant with triplets when her water broke. The quiet 36-year-old farmworker suddenly had to leave her four children and enter Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for three months so doctors could watch over her during an unpredictable third trimester.
NewsCenter | SDSU | COVID-19: What to Expect in 2021
Epidemiologists Eyal Oren and Corinne McDaniels-Davidson with the SDSU School of Public Health weigh in on what to expect in 2021 with COVID-19. Tuesday, January 12, 2021 As the pandemic continues to surge in San Diego and across the U.S., public health experts weigh in on the year ahead.
Western Innovator: Studying manure-methane link
For the past 20 years, Deanne Meyer has led workshops helping farmers determine the optimal herd size for manure and nitrogen management on California’s 1,300 dairy farms. The livestock waste management specialist who is with the Department of Animal Science at the University of California-Davis focuses on environmental stewardship in line with the state’s greenhouse gas reduction target. “Every project I work on these days is about reducing methane and emissions,” Meyer said.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Why Our Bodies Upsize During the Holidays
The holidays bring tempting food cues and weight gain for many. Obesity researcher Surabhi Bhutani studied this phenomenon and offers insights. Monday, December 14, 2020 Holiday weight gain happens to many. Obesity researcher Surabhi Bhutani studied why this happens and how to prevent it. For many, it’s a familiar but unwelcome situation every year during the holidays — weight gain from eating rich, heavy food.
How the TB bacterium develops rapid resistance to antibiotics
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For a slow-growing microbe that multiplies infrequently, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (TB) has long puzzled researchers as to how it develops resistance to antibiotics so quickly, in a matter of weeks to months.
Western Innovator: Scion of farming family blazes new trail
Alysha Stehly is one of the Stehlys of San Diego County, a large family of growers with deep roots in farming and diversified interests. She is the winemaker for her family’s vineyards. She is the only child of the oldest Stehly brother, Al Stehly, who with his wife, Lisa, grows citrus fruits, avocados and wine grapes. She works at Stehleon Vineyards and a second operation, Vesper Vineyards, that she began with her husband, Chris Broomell.
COVID-19 awareness and understanding among the public has increased, while skepticism declined, researchers report
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain When sweeping lockdowns changed nearly every aspect of daily life in March, the world sat up and took notice of the novel coronavirus. Since then, terms such as social distancing, aerosols, asymptomatic, and superspreaders have become common parlance. And the general public has begun paying attention to news about testing and vaccine development and trusting science and scientists much more than the pre-COVID-19 era, a 3M report on the state of science found.
What San Diego's Hepatitis A outbreak can teach us during COVID-19
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In an age when many people get their news from social media, ensuring health information is communicated accurately and understood clearly is critical, especially during infectious disease outbreaks. When the San Diego region experienced a hepatitis A outbreak in 2017 that spread rapidly through its homeless population, eventually sickening nearly 600 people and claiming 20 lives, it fell to public health officials to contain it.
COVID-19 COULD ACTIVATE LATENT TUBERCULOSIS
Up to 13 million people may have latent TB in the U.S, which could be activated by COVID-19. It worries an SDSU researcher and TB expert. By Padma Nagappan, SDSU News Center September 24, 2020 (San Diego) - For most of us in the United States, our only awareness of tuberculosis (TB) may be the skin patch test required to work or volunteer in schools or health care facilities. But that could change during the pandemic.
COVID-19 could activate latent tuberculosis
Credit: CC0 Public Domain For most people in the United States, the only awareness of tuberculosis (TB) may be the skin patch test required to work or volunteer in schools or health care facilities. But that could change during the pandemic. TB is considered a disease caused by a bacterium—Mycobacterium tuberculosis—that usually attacks the lungs, but can attack any part of the body.
Online COVID-19 Self-Assessment Eases Burden on Southern California’s Safety Net
Michael Hochman, MD, a former FQHC internal medicine physician in Los Angeles who spearheaded development of the triage tool. Photo: Nick Agro A sore throat or cough is always annoying. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be an especially worrisome development. Yet many hesitate to call a doctor or line up at a testing site.
Children Outgrow Food Allergies: You Need to Retest
Our children have been allergic to peanuts since they were babies, breaking out in hives when there were even trace amounts in any food they ate. So we’ve listed their allergy in all the forms we fill out each year for the school, and avoided bringing peanuts into our home. Then one child brought home a form that asked us to provide the school with an EpiPen, or get documentation from a doctor that showed he did not need it.
NewsCenter | SDSU | He/She/They: Why Gender Pronouns Matter and What it Means to be Non-Binary
He/She/They: Why pronouns matter and what it means to be non-binary. Image: Stock image. Thursday, November 7, 2019 Understanding personal preferences will help us become mindful and inclusive and find ways to show solidarity. “Show solidarity by greeting people with "hello everyone," "y'all," or "folks" instead of "ladies and gentlemen" or "you guys."” We often use pronouns based on a person’s appearance or name, but such assumptions can be wrong.
NewsCenter | SDSU | Hot or Cold, Venomous Rattlesnakes Still Quick to Strike
SDSU ecologist Rulon Clark and doctoral candidate Malachi Whitford researched how cold temperatures affect the strike speed of rattlers, in collaboration with Tim Higham at UC Riverside. Researchers find colder temperatures barely slow down striking rattlers. In nature, how quickly a creature moves can mean the difference between life and death. Venomous rattlesnakes defend themselves by uncoiling and striking out when faced with predators or prey.
To repair a damaged heart, three cells are better than one
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Cell therapy for cardiac regeneration, while promising, has been hampered by issues with long-term survival of the transplanted cells. Now, a technique that combines three different types of cells in a 3-D cluster could improve its efficacy in reducing scar tissue and improving cardiac function after a heart attack.
Navy Veteran Leads a COVID-19 Battlefield at a Border Hospital ICU Original
Intensive care units are somewhat like business hotels in that they have a constant turnover of patients. They were not intended for extended stays, like hotels with kitchenettes. But this spring, that changed dramatically. COVID-19 patients are landing in intensive care for as long as 28 days or more. Before the pandemic, a typical ICU stay usually lasted three to four days.
New guidelines for phage preparation can accelerate lifesaving treatment
San Diego State University microbiologist Dwayne Roach's phage lab has developed new guidelines to prepare phage that will accelerate the time to therapy while streamlining the process. Credit: SDSU Roach Lab When clinicians resort to phage therapy for patients who don't respond to antibiotics, the patients are usually very ill and time is of the essence. But the average time for labs to produce therapeutic phages is more than a month.
How community paramedics are helping San Diego protect its homeless population from COVID-19
“Community paramedics hold a unique skill set to address the overlapping mental, medical and social conditions that homeless individuals may be presenting” By Padma Nagappan If you walk into the cavernous lower level of the San Diego Convention Center, you’ll find more than 1,300 people, but they aren’t there for a conference.
How community paramedics are helping San Diego protect its homeless population from COVID-19
“Community paramedics hold a unique skill set to address the overlapping mental, medical and social conditions that homeless individuals may be presenting” By Padma Nagappan If you walk into the cavernous lower level of the San Diego Convention Center, you’ll find more than 1,300 people, but they aren’t there for a conference.
COVID-19: “It’s Been the Most Challenging Incident in a 40-Year Career”
Chris Heiser, deputy chief of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and incident commander for Operation Shelter to Home, stands inside the convention center where more than 1,000 people experiencing homelessness are taking shelter during the pandemic. (Tara Grimes/City of San Diego) Chris Heiser compares himself to eHarmony.com because he brings people together and makes things click.
NewsCenter | SDSU | ‘Little Brain’ or Cerebellum Not So Little After All
Neuroscientist Martin Sereno, director of the SDSU MRI Imaging Center, and his collaborators discovered the cerebellum is much larger than previously understood, enabling future advances in research. High-res imaging shows the cerebellum is 80% of the area of the cortex, indicating it has grown as human behavior and cognition evolved. “The ‘little brain’ is quite the jack of all trades.
'Little brain' or cerebellum not so little after all
Credit: CC0 Public Domain When we say someone has a quick mind, it may be in part thanks to our expanded cerebellum that distinguishes human brains from those of macaque monkeys, for example. Sometimes referred to by its Latin translation as the '"little brain"', the cerebellum is located close to the brainstem and sits under the cortex in the hindbrain. New research at San Diego State University, however, calls the "little" terminology into question.
Researchers find colder temperatures barely slow down striking rattlers.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain In nature, how quickly a creature moves can mean the difference between life and death. Venomous rattlesnakes defend themselves by uncoiling and striking out when faced with predators or prey. Most cold-blooded creatures tend to move more slowly when the temperature drops—but striking rattlers appear to be an exception. Cold weather barely slows them down and they still strike fairly quickly.
Western Innovator: Fine-tuning dairy economics
Herd management is a delicate balance between doing what is best and what makes economic sense, and that’s where Fernanda Ferreira makes a difference for the dairy farmers she works with in California.
In the Arctic, spring snowmelt triggers fresh carbon dioxide production
Ecosystem ecologist and post-doctoral fellow Kyle Arndt checking on the measurement equipment set up by SDSU in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Credit: San Diego State University Studies have shown the Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and its soil holds twice the amount of carbon dioxide as the atmosphere.
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