First real-world study gives detailed new insights into when people with COVID-19 are infectious
Peer-Reviewed Publication
A new study of 57 people with mild COVID-19 estimates how long people are infectious for and when they can safely leave isolation.
Scientists have developed improved methods for generating micro-organospheres (MOS) and have shown that they can be used as patient avatars for studies involving direct viral infection, immune cell penetration and high-throughput therapeutic drug screening - something that is not obtainable with conventional patient-derived models.
India’s agricultural system is largely based on input-intensive monocropping of staple crops. A study publishing August 18th in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation by Lindsay Jaacks at The University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, United Kingdom, Abhishek Jain at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, New Delhi, India and colleagues suggests that while COVID-19 disrupted agricultural labor, supply chains, and farmers’ access to credit and markets, the pandemic did not significantly push Indian farmers to adopt more sustainable cultivation practices.
About The Study: The results of this survey of health departments suggest that the annual incidence rate of COVID-19 was lower among people experiencing homelessness than in the general population at state and local levels. A national estimate and the extent of under- or overestimation of the incidence rate remain unknown.
About The Study: This analysis at a large urban hospital found a severe decline in surgical procedure volumes across a multitude of subspecialties during the COVID-19 peak and that after the peak and vaccine release periods the overall volume did not fully recover, with inconsistent recovery rates across subspecialties. Further research and hospital-level changes are needed to address the backlog of surgical services.
The widely available diabetes drug metformin reduced serious outcomes by more than half if started within 4 days of COVID symptoms in a large, randomized, double blind controlled trial, the University of Minnesota announced today. The results were published Aug. 18 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Led by the University of Minnesota Medical School and School of Public Health, researchers have found that metformin lowers the odds of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, or death due to COVID-19 by over 40 percent; and over 50 percent if prescribed early in onset of symptoms.
A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI 10.29026/oea.2022.210130 addresses scientific and technical advances in the field of Microchip Imaging Cytometry (MIC) and shows the applications of microchip imaging cytometry that may bring more economical, easy-to-use, and accessible healthcare to the public.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a key vulnerability across all major variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the recently emerged BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants. The weakness can be targeted by neutralizing antibodies, potentially paving the way for treatments that would be universally effective across variants.
A large number of people are currently contracting COVID-19. Fortunately, most of them are experiencing only mild symptoms, largely thanks to the high vaccination rate. However, in some individuals the disease takes a much more severe cause and our understanding about the underlying reasons is still insufficient. The human genome may hold a key to why COVID-19 is more serious for some people than others. A team of scientists from the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) together with colleagues from the United Kingdom and Canada have found genes and proteins that contribute to a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Their findings have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Three natural compounds present in foods like green tea, olive oil and red wine are promising candidates for the development of drugs against the coronavirus. In a comprehensive screening of a large library of natural substances at DESY's X-ray source PETRA III the compounds bound to a central enzyme vital for the replication of the coronavirus. All three compounds are already used as active substances in existing drugs, as the team headed by Christian Betzel from the University of Hamburg and Alke Meents from DESY reports in the journal Communications Biology. However, if and when a corona drug can be developed on the basis of these compounds remains to be investigated.
Severe breathlessness in COVID patients with co-morbidities should be used as a signal for quicker referral for palliative care to help manage their symptoms sooner, new research has found.
Vaccination against covid-19 during pregnancy is not associated with a higher risk of preterm birth, small for gestational age at birth, or stillbirth, concludes a large study from Canada published by The BMJ today.
An Oregon Health & Science University-led team of researchers is exploring why people are at higher risk for developing obesity and diabetes after they get COVID-19. OHSU has been awarded a two-year, $2.5-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a nonhuman primate study that will evaluate how the body may change the way it processes fat and sugar after being sick with COVID-19.
Patients with prior COVID may be twice as likely to have unhealthy endothelial cells that line the inside of the heart and blood vessels, according to newly published research from Houston Methodist. This finding offers a new clue in understanding COVID-19’s impact on cardiovascular health. In a new study published today in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, Houston Methodist researchers examined the coronary microvasculature health of 393 patients with prior COVID-19 infection who had lingering symptoms. This is the first published study linking reduced blood flow in the body and COVID-19.