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3 Medical Breakthroughs in Rhode Island – Rhode Island Monthly

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3 Medical Breakthroughs in Rhode Island – Rhode Island Monthly


Pressure Point

Brown scientists have discovered a key driver of preeclampsia, which causes high blood pressure during pregnancy. By Dana Laverty

Photograph: Getty Images/Petrunjela.

Researchers at Brown University have identified a protein in cerebrospinal fluid that’s a driver in preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy condition that affects between 5 to 8 percent of pregnancies and is a leading cause of maternal and fetal death.

Research led by Surendra Sharma and Sukanta Jash at Brown University and Kun Ping Lu and Xia Zhen Zhou at Western University in Canada found the protein, cis P-tau, in the blood and placentas of people with preeclampsia. They also found that depleting cis P-tau prevented mice from developing the condition. 

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“Our study identifies cis P-tau as a culprit and biomarker for preeclampsia,” says Sharma, who until recently was a Brown professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and professor of pediatrics. “It can be used for early diagnosis of the complication and is a crucial therapeutic target.” (Sharma is now a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.)

Preeclampsia is a complication that results in high blood pressure during pregnancy. Untreated, it can lead to serious complications for both the mother and baby, and often leads to preterm labor and birth. 

The protein cis P-tau has mainly been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injuries and stroke. Lu and Zhou discovered the association in 2015.

Screening tests for the cis P-tau biomarker, combined with therapies involving the cis P-tau antibody, could change the outlook for pregnant people with preeclampsia, Jash says. The root cause of preeclampsia has so far remained unknown, Sharma says, and without a known cause there has been no cure.

The team at Brown is currently working on developing a lab test that can detect preeclampsia.

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Bridging the Gap

Researchers from Brown University and Lifespan are partnering on a device that could restore function for individuals with a spinal cord injury. By Lauren Clem

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A clinician works with a participant in the trial. Photo courtesy of Lifespan

In an unassuming building on Allens Avenue in Providence, research is underway that could change the future of spinal cord injury treatment.

The Intelligent Spine Interface, led by researchers from Brown University and surgeons from Rhode Island Hospital, aims to restore limb motor function, sensation, autonomic function and bladder control for individuals paralyzed following a spinal cord injury. According to principal investigator David Borton, an associate professor of engineering and brain science at Brown University and biomedical engineer with the Department of Veterans Affairs, no technology currently exists to bridge the gap created by such an injury.

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“There’s no tool or a magic fix that we have for someone who has a complete spinal cord injury,” he says. “There’s nothing available to help them regain functions that they have lost.”

Working with Dr. Jared Fridley, director of the Spinal Outcomes Laboratory at Lifespan and an associate professor of neurosurgery at Brown, the team is creating a device that would carry signals across the injury site and restore the connection between brain and limbs. The device uses artificial intelligence to interpret signals from the spinal cord and adapt to the needs of the wearer over time.

“These devices enable the person’s spinal cord and nervous system to modulate over time to hopefully recover function,” Fridley says. “For most people, we’re talking about weeks to months of rehabilitation, plus the device, to see if there’s recovery of function.”

Demodays

David Borton and Dr. Jared Fridley, right, present their research to Yunyan “Jennifer” Wang and Jean-Paul Chretien of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of DARPA.

The study, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Providence VA Medical Center, has the potential to restore movement to those with spinal cord injuries, including veterans paralyzed in combat situations. A clinical trial is underway at Lifespan’s Center for Innovative Neurotechnology for Neural Repair, where the researchers have enlisted two individuals to participate in phase one of the trial.

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“This is a first in human clinical study for this type of technology,” Borton says. “No one’s ever done this before.”

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Vasectomy Victor

There may be a faster and easier way to perform a vasectomy. By Jamie Coelho

Imagine if men could get a vasectomy in five seconds. There may be a new, minimally invasive way to conduct the procedure in our near future. On the heels of its five-year anniversary, Providence-based Signati Medical earned FDA approval for clinical trials for a study of a minimally invasive surgical device to perform a sealed vasectomy procedure (SVP). 

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Photo courtesy of Signati Medical.

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Signati Medical is a medical device company working to advance men’s health. Signati CEO William Prentice says the study kicked off this April with its first patient at Louisiana State University Medical Center, and they plan to have an additional seven people undergo the procedure by the end of the month. The device obstructs the vas deferens by sending a shock through the skin that seals the tubes, rather than a surgeon cutting and fusing. 

Prentice wants to undergo SVP on live TV to gain support, but he must wait until the procedure is fully approved. “I agreed to do it,” he says. “We should be doing this for women. There’s no reason women need to go in for tubal ligations and have major surgery, take birth control pills or get IUDs. Men think because they have a vasectomy, they are not going to get an erection. It really shouldn’t be that way.” 

Prentice says this is the first innovation in vasectomy in more than twenty years. 

“About twenty years ago, one thing changed and that was that they went from scalpel to no scalpel,” he says. “This procedure takes about five seconds. Bipolar sealing in the body is the best sealing you can get.” signatimed.com 





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Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others

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Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others


A man has died after a shooting in Cranston, Rhode Island, and investigators say a suspect was later involved in a car crash in Swansea, Massachusetts, that killed two other people.

The shooting victim was found Thursday on Legion Way, shot multiple times in the chest, Cranston police told NBC affiliate WJAR-TV. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he later died. His name has not been released.

The suspect initially fled on foot, setting off a shelter-in-place order while investigators searched the area.

Police said Friday that investigators identified a suspect vehicle, which was later spotted by Massachusetts State Police. A trooper followed the car down Route 6 and Interstate 195, but stopped when it crossed back into Rhode Island. The car was later involved in a crash on Route 136 in Swansea, Mass.

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Swansea police say that crash on Route 136 (James Reynolds Road) resulted in the deaths of two other people.

According to the Swansea Police Department, two officers saw a white Infinity G37 speed past them around 12:18 a.m. Friday on Route 6, otherwise known as Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Moments later, officers observed that the vehicle had crashed into the side of a blue Subaru Ascent that had been traveling southbound on Route 136.

Both vehicles sustained catastrophic damage, police said.

The vehicle that was struck was fully engulfed in flames. First responders and bystanders tried to extinguish the fire, but both occupants — a man and a woman — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their names have not been released.

The 28-year-old Infinity driver, who struck the victims’ Subaru, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries and later into custody by Cranston Police. They have not been publicly identified at this time.

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Swansea police said they are aware that the Infinity was the subject of a police pursuit, and know the driver was wanted in connection to the Rhode Island homicide investigation. While Swansea police had been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle, however, they say they were not involved in the pursuit and were not pursuing the vehicle at the time of the deadly crash.

The crash in Swansea is under investigation by Massachusetts authorities, including state police and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, Cranston police said they would give an update on their investigation around 1 p.m.



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RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know

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RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know


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  • Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced a new package of housing legislation.
  • Highlights include allowing property owners to divide single-family lots and legalizing single-staircase, four-story apartment buildings.
  • The package also seeks to expand the Homeless Bill of Rights and streamline the creation of emergency shelters.

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is once again taking aim at the regulations he says are stifling new homebuilding.

The Warwick Democrat unveiled his sixth annual suite of housing legislation on Thursday, Feb. 26, a few weeks after announcing he would not be running for governor this year.

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“We are still trying to play catch-up for all the years that Rhode Island was dead last in the country for new housing starts,” Shekarchi said. “While Rhode Island remains a relatively affordable option for people moving here from other states, our own residents are too often priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in.”

The legislative text of the nine-bill housing package, and with it the specifics of how it would work, were not available for Thursday’s news conference.

But highlights of the package, according to summaries, include:

  • Infill housing. Allow property owners to divide lots in single-family zoning districts, creating multiple dwellings instead of one, provided they have water and sewer service.
  • Parking maximums. Put new limits on how much off-street parking communities require for new apartment buildings.
  • Homeless Bill of Rights. Expand the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights to require 15-day notice to the occupants of encampments before local authorities clear them.
  • Emergency shelters. Let communities build temporary shelters, such as the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence, during a state of emergency.
  • Stairs. Legalize the construction of four-story apartment buildings with a single staircase.
  • Affordable housing taxes. Overhaul the tax system for income-restricted housing covered by the state’s “8 Law.”

Is land-use reform working?

Since Shekarchi was elected speaker in 2021, the General Assembly has passed dozens of bills he backed that tweaked state land-use statutes or streamlined the process for building.

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How successful this approach has been is subject to debate.

Many local elected officials wary of development in their communities continue to rail against efforts to erode their power over construction.

Others in the growing Yes In My Back Yard movement see Rhode Island’s piecemeal approach as inadequate in comparison with the scale of the affordability problem and what other states are doing.

As evidence that his changes are making a difference, Shekarchi said Rhode Island saw a 70% increase in building permits in 2023 and a more modest increase in 2024. (Statistics for last year were not immediately available.)

Gov. Dan McKee’s 2030 plan calls for 15,000 new housing units built by that year.

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Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes is slated to roll out her housing plan on Monday.

It is expected to include a millionaires tax to fund affordable housing, a revolving fund and target of 20,000 new homes.

What would the new laws do?

Letting property owners put multiple homes on a plot of land is one of the most direct ways that lawmakers can encourage the construction of more homes, but it is also one of the most controversial.

That’s especially true in areas zoned for large lots and single-family homes.

How far the new bill allowing lots to be subdivided in single-family zones goes is unclear. It is sponsored by Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket.

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Legislation setting maximum parking requirements for new developments, introduced by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, D-Central Falls, would apply to areas accessible by public transit.

Critics of off-street parking requirements say they make it harder to build new apartments and make the units that are built more expensive.

Shekarchi proposed the emergency shelter bill last year. It passed the House and died in the Senate.

It was the result of how long it took state officials to navigate Rhode Island’s building code and open the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence.

The staircase bill, sponsored by Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat and chair of the House’s home affordability study commission, follows a wave of cities and states relaxing rules on how many exits are required in new construction.

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Currently, the state building code requires two stairways in buildings with more than three stories, and fire officials have opposed all efforts to change that.

Speakman’s bill would allow four-story buildings with a maximum of 16 units with a single staircase.

Supporters of single-stair buildings say they allow development of small sites that would otherwise sit vacant and allow family-sized units with more light and better ventilation.

A previous Rhode Island single-stair bill would have allowed six stories, but it died in committee.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in mid-February to study the idea.

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One of Africa’s soccer giants will be based in Rhode Island for the World Cup – The Boston Globe

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One of Africa’s soccer giants will be based in Rhode Island for the World Cup – The Boston Globe


Providence has positioned itself as an alternative to Boston, one of the official host cities for the 2026 competition. Located just 30 miles away from Gillette Stadium — or “Boston Stadium” as it will be known during the World Cup — Rhode Island’s leaders have been touting the tiny state as more-affordable for fans and closer to the action. Seven matches, including a quarterfinal, are scheduled to be played in Foxborough.

“Today we announce that Ghana will be staying in Providence and we’d also like to extend an invitation to the fans and families to come to our city,” said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in a statement on Thursday. “We are committed to being a festive destination for soccer fans from around the world.”

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Bryant University athletes work out inside the Bulldog Strength and Conditioning Center, seen on February 5, 2026. Bryant University in Smithfield, RI will serve as home training base for Ghana’s men’s soccer team as they prepare for matches in the World Cup. Lane Turner/Globe StaffLane Turner/Globe Staff

The news has created excitement among the local Ghanaian community in the state.

Kwame Larbi, the president of the Ghana Association of Rhode Island, said Ghana’s decision will be a chance for people to celebrate the West African country’s culture through its soccer team and an opportunity to see what successful Africans look like on a grand stage.

“The Black Stars represent everything Ghanaian. They are Ghana’s pride and joy, our strength, perseverance, and freedom,” he said. “Hosting the Black Stars at Bryant would mean so much for our community. More specifically, our youth. Representation is everything.”

Larbi said the local community plans to show out for the team with traditional Ghanaian dances at Foxborough when they face England on June 23.

“We will all be in our Ghana T-shirts, Ghana flags and our drums,” he said. “I just came from Ghana. My shirts are ready.”

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This is the fifth time that Ghana has qualified for the World Cup. Their best showing was in 2010, when they reached the quarterfinal after defeating Team USA only to be eliminated when Uruguay prevented them from scoring in extra time with an intentional handball on the goal line. The team boasts some world-class talent who compete in top leagues around the world, such as star players Mohammed Kudus, who plays for the English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur, and Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City.

Larbi is bullish about Ghana’s chances at this year’s tournament.

“We are going to beat England. It’s a big name, but we have hope. We are going to surprise everyone, and with the spirit of brotherhood and all, we are going to be successful,” he said.

A “Ted Lasso” sign in the locker room, inside the Navigant Credit Union Field House, seen on February 5, 2026. Ghana’s men’s soccer team has chosen Bryant University in Smithfield as a site for their training during the World Cup. Lane Turner/Globe StaffLane Turner/Globe Staff

Rhode Island Congressman Gabe Amo said his father, who hails from Ghana, is excited about the team being based in the state.

“The first thing he texted back to me upon the announcement was ‘Nice. Exclamation point. Buy me a ticket,‘” he said. “There’s a lot of immigrants and immigrant kids who are going to feel some special feelings across the weeks that Ghana has us as their home base.”

Amo said he hopes Ghanaian fans from places such as Worcester, Mass., and New York City will join their compatriots in Rhode Island and create a vibrant atmosphere in the state.

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“This is a big deal for our state. We get to showcase all the things that make us special — our food, our amazing Rhode Island summer and our people — to Ghana,” he said. “So it’s going to be great soccer … and it’s going to be a great setting for the World Cup.”

State officials say that the team’s training sessions will be closed to the public, but the country’s football association was planning some events with young players in the state.

“We’re working hard to ensure that the FIFA World Cup leaves behind a legacy of passion for the sport and a commitment to growing the game of soccer in Rhode Island. Partnering with the Black Stars will fuel these young players’ passion,” said Jonathan Walker, executive director of the Rhode Island Sports Commission.

For Larbi, he said Rhode Island’s Ghanaian community is ready to prepare some jollof rice for the team. He has lived in Rhode Island for more than 40 years and he never thought that he would see his country’s national team be based in the state for such a huge tournament.

“It has never occurred to us that one day the Ghana Black Stars will be based in Rhode Island…competing for the World Cup,” he said. “It’s not only Ghanaians, but it’s for the whole of Africa.”

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Omar Mohammed can be reached at omar.mohammed@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter (X) @shurufu.





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