Rhode Island
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.
“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
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.
“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.”
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.
“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).
Photo courtesy of Signati Medical.
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
Rhode Island
Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting
Police bodycam footage shows the moments officers arrived to the scene of a deadly mass shooting in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The shooting on Feb. 16 at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena killed Rhonda Dorgan and Aidan Dorgan, the ex-wife and son of the shooter, who died by suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
Gerald Dorgan, Rhonda’s father, died from his injuries this week. His wife, Linda Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Geruso remain hospitalized.
Around five minutes after the first officer arrives, he beings helping paramedics with a man who identifies himself as Aidan. Twelve minutes in, Aidan Dorgan is transported to the hospital, where he would later die from his injuries.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
For the last 10 minutes of the footage, the officer then begins helping paramedics transport the other three gunshot victims.
The video ends with police prepping witness interviews.
The shooting rocked the Pawtucket community. Chris Librizzi, head coach of the Blackstone Valley Schools hockey team impacted by the shooting, said the players and coaching staff “are devastated over the events that took place at Lynch Arena on Monday and intimately affected one of our teammates.”
As authorities continue investigating the shooting in Pawtucket, three patients remain in critical condition.
“We will lean on each other and support one another, as we have always done as a team,” he added.
Pawtucket police said two handguns were found at the scene after the shooting, a Sig Sauer P226 and Glock. Other weapons have been seized at the suspect’s storage unit in Maine.
Investigators continue reviewing all video evidence from before, during and after the shooting, including surveillance footage from the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, police body-worn camera footage and other records — a high school sports livestream captured the shooting from a distance — police said.
Rhode Island
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.
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.
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.
Rhode Island
RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know
House Speaker Shekarchi unveils 2026 RI housing legislative package
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s nine-bill package for 2026 seeks to cut red tape and relax rules on parking, dividing lots and staircases.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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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