In a world flooding with media coverage of global events, there tend to be many positive news stories that go unnoticed, depriving people of the opportunity to get a well-needed boost of serotonin. From a possible Human Immunodeficiency Virus vaccine to Guy Fieri’s 25 million dollar relief fund, here are some of this week’s positive news.

Possible H.I.V. Vaccine

In February, the International Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome Vaccine Initiative announced that there were positive results from their first phase of a human clinical trial done to look for a Human Immunodeficiency Virus vaccine. This vaccine was successful in producing immune cells that are needed to create antibodies against the virus. Of those who received the vaccine, 97 percent showed the targeted response.

“It is honestly about time that a vaccine for H.I.V. comes out. I am so glad it is finally happening,” sophomore Matteo Rocha-Chavez said.

Scientists at IAVI have shown that targeted stimulation can be highly effective in humans to fight against viruses and believe that it could be the key to other vaccines, not just H.I.V. The strategy used with this vaccine is actually being theorized that it might help many other viruses too, like Zika, malaria, influenza and hepatitis C. This promising vaccine is a significant advancement considering the fact that more than 38 million people are affected by the HIV virus worldwide.

Video Game Increases Cognitive Skills for Patients With Dementia

Dementia is an impaired ability to do everyday things like remember things, make decisions or even just to think. Around 50 million people have dementia around the world, yet so far, there is no cure for it. Every attempt so far to cure dementia has failed and there are no current preventative measures to be taken, either. However, an international team of researchers have just proved that cognitive motor training does help fight against dementia and can slow the process.

In Belgium, a clinical study was held to test this. While it has been proven before in a 2015 study that training the mind and body improves cognitive performance, it was only proven on healthy patients. This new study shows training could have a positive effect on those with dementia.

For the experiment, there were two groups of patients — those who trained with Senso for eight weeks and those who did not train at all. The ones who did not train showed deterioration and the ones who trained showed significant improvement. This study gives hope to all those struggling with dementia for a chance for improvement.

Guy Fieri’s 25 Million Dollar Relief Fund

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countless families have faced financial struggles. To counter this, celebrity chef Guy Fieri partnered with the National Restaurant Association last spring and launched the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. Fieri understood that the restaurant industry is full of employees who are not in the best financial states and thus knew that he wanted to help them.

So far, because of the fund, over 43,000 workers all over the U.S. have received 500 dollar grants. Over 15,000 individual donations have been made to the fund so far and that number will only increase and continue to help people.

Though the regular news may not be filled with positive news like this on the daily, uplifting stories like these do still exist and are going on all the time. Just reading a few good things a day can be sure to improve moods and put a smile on people’s faces. Guy Fieri has helped struggling families with his relief fund, trials for an HIV vaccine have shown promising results and new studies done for dementia have proven that cognitive training helps patients improve.