“A genetically modified strain of rice might one day be used to prevent life-threatening rotavirus infections among children in the developing world, according to researchers,” the Los Angeles Times’ “Science Now” blog reports. “A study published Thursday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation concluded that genetically modified rice seeds helped to prevent and treat rotavirus-induced diarrhea in young lab mice,” according to the blog. “While traditional vaccines are used to fight rotavirus infection in the Western world, they have proved much less effective in poor nations, where vaccine refrigeration and purification can be difficult,” the blog notes, adding researchers, who call the product MucoRice, still must determine the product’s proper human dosage and show its efficacy in clinical trials (Morin, 8/8).