Text nudges can increase uptake of COVID-19 boosters– if they play up a sense of ownership of the vaccine
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Mar-2024 02:08 ET (19-Mar-2024 06:08 GMT/UTC)
Text nudges encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which had proven effective in prior real-world field tests, are also effective at prompting people to get a booster. The key in both cases is to include in the text a sense of ownership in the dose awaiting them.
Generation of a stable long-lived plasma cell (LLPC) population is the sine qua non of durable antibody responses after vaccination or infection. We studied 20 individuals with a prior coronavirus disease 2019 infection and characterized the antibody response using bone marrow aspiration and plasma samples. We noted deficient generation of spike-specific LLPCs in the bone marrow after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Furthermore, while the regression model explained 98% of the observed variance in anti-tetanus immunoglobulin G levels based on LLPC enzyme-linked immunospot assay, we were unable to fit the same model with anti-spike antibodies, again pointing to the lack of LLPC contribution to circulating anti-spike antibodies.
One of the largest studies on wildlife activity—involving more than 220 researchers, 163 mammal species and 5,000 camera traps worldwide—reveals that wild animals react differently to humans depending on where the animals live and what they eat. Bigger herbivores—plant-eating animals like deer or moose—tend to become more active when humans are around, while meat-eaters like wolves or wolverines tend to be less active, preferring to avoid risky encounters.
The new study, a collaboration across researchers from 161 institutions, used data from before and during the COVID-19 lockdowns to examine wildlife behaviour amid changing human activity levels.
“COVID-19 mobility restrictions gave researchers a truly unique opportunity to study how animals responded when the number of people sharing their landscape changed drastically over a relatively short period,” said lead author Dr. Cole Burton, an associate professor of forest resources management at UBC and Canada Research Chair in Terrestrial Mammal Conservation. “And contrary to the popular narratives that emerged around that time, we did not see an overall pattern of ‘wildlife running free’ while humans sheltered in place. Rather, we saw great variation in activity patterns of people and wildlife, with the most striking trends being that animal responses depended on landscape conditions and their position in the food chain.”
Prostate cancer diagnoses in 20,000 men could have been missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new study from the University of Surrey and the University of Oxford. Increased waiting times and changes in people’s behaviour in seeking medical attention during the pandemic could be responsible for missed diagnoses.
Professor Seung-Woo Lee’s team at the POSTECH identifies novel drug candidates with efficacy against multiple respiratory viruses.
Researchers have discovered a potential way to predict which patients with severe COVID-19 are likely to recover well and which are likely to suffer “long-haul” lung problems. That finding could help doctors better personalize treatments.
Research from the journal Risk Analysis, examined the likelihood of COVID-19 emerging from an unnatural origin (i.e. from a laboratory.)
This study introduces a novel in vivo strategy for CAR-T cell production. Specifically, a virus-mimetic fusogenic nanovesicle (FuNV) pre-immobilized with anti-CD19 (αCD19) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) is designed to fuse with T cells through CD3 recognition. This process effectively transfers the CAR molecule onto the T cells, resulting in the potent generation of CAR-T cells in vivo.
Globally, the number of people living with, or dying from, neurological conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and meningitis has risen substantially over the past 30 years due to the growth and ageing of the global population as well as increased exposure to environmental, metabolic, and lifestyle risk factors. In 2021, 3.4 billion people experienced a nervous system condition, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021, published in The Lancet Neurology journal.
**Note: the release below is a special early release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April). Please credit the congress if you use this story**
Long COVID appears to manifest as a post-viral syndrome indistinguishable from seasonal influenza and other respiratory illnesses, with no evidence of increased moderate-to-severe functional limitations a year after infection, according to new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April).
Coronavirus envelope protein is a drug target for new platform for the identification and optimization of peptides against SARS-CoV-2
Their findings indicate that participants’ perception of transmission risk was most influenced by the NPI attributes of mask-wearing and outdoor meetings and the least by NPI attributes that focus on physical distancing, meeting duration, and meeting size.
Antibody responses to new SARS-CoV-2 variant infections and vaccinations are powerfully shaped by prior exposures to earlier SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have been racing to develop effective treatments and preventatives against the virus. A recent scientific breakthrough has emerged from the work of researchers aiming to combat SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Led by Jin Kim Montclare and her team, the study focuses on the design and development of a novel protein capable of binding to the spike proteins found on the surface of the coronavirus. The goal behind this innovative approach is twofold: first, to identify and recognize the virus for diagnostic purposes, and second, to hinder its ability to infect human cells.
Viral infections trigger more cases of intussusception, the common cause of bowel blockages in young children, than previously thought, according to a new study.