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Reducing the airborne transmission risk for SARS-CoV-2

Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 (RR:C19), an open-access overlay journal published by the MIT Press that accelerates peer review of COVID-19-related research preprints, is currently soliciting reviews of the following COVID-19 preprints.

6 Nov 2020

App-delivered computerized brain-training helps prevent alcohol relapse

A recent study has shown that it may be possible to dampen the workings of the subconscious brain to prevent alcohol relapse, the results leading to a world-first trial of a personalised smartphone app called "SWiPE".

4 Nov 2020

Psilocybin may be effective in patients suffering from major depression

In a small study of adults with major depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms, with most participants showing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the four-week follow-up.

4 Nov 2020

Vitamin D supplements ease symptoms of severe atopic dermatitis in children

Vitamin D supplementation eased the symptoms experienced by children with severe atopic dermatitis, or eczema, in a recent randomized controlled trial published in Pharmacology Research & Perspectives.

4 Nov 2020

Study identifies new cause of COVID-19 blood clots

Blood clots continue to wreak havoc for patients with severe COVID-19 infection, and a new study explains what may spark them in up to half of patients.

2 Nov 2020

UIC enrolls people into phase 3 monoclonal antibody clinical trial

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are now enrolling people into a phase 3 clinical trial that will test if a monoclonal antibody treatment -- administered as a series of four shots -- will help protect uninfected individuals from acquiring or getting sick from COVID-19 after someone in the household tests positive for COVID-19.

30 Oct 2020

UH and CWRU announce Phase 3 trial of Astrazeneca's investigational COVID-19 vaccine

University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University announced today that UH Cleveland Medical Center has been selected as a clinical trial site for the Phase 3 global study of an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, sponsored by AstraZeneca.

29 Oct 2020

New therapeutic approach brings hope for treating psoriasis

Disruptive innovations in psoriasis are leading the way at EADV's 29th Congress, EADV Virtual. New data published today shows the first clinical evidence of modulating systemic inflammation by oral delivery of a non-living single strain commensal microbe.

29 Oct 2020

Glucose-lowering drug can protect the kidneys in patients with type 1 diabetes, study shows

A glucose-lowering drug commonly used in patients with type 2 diabetes, can protect the kidneys in patients with type 1 diabetes. According to results shown in a new study published in the Lancet.

28 Oct 2020

Readers and tweeters shed light on vaccine trials and bias in health care

In the piece about the AstraZeneca vaccine trial subject who suffered severe spinal cord inflammation, that person was repeatedly referred to as a "patient" ("NIH 'Very Concerned' About Serious Side Effect in Coronavirus Vaccine Trial," Sept. 14).

28 Oct 2020

Research: Sick vampire bats socially distance themselves from groupmates

New research shows that when vampire bats feel sick, they socially distance themselves from groupmates in their roost - no public health guidance required.

28 Oct 2020

Powerful drug used in chemotherapy could alleviate hallucinations in Parkinson's patients

A world-first double-blind clinical trial, will investigate if a powerful drug used to treat nausea in chemotherapy patients, could alleviate hallucinations in people with Parkinson's.

27 Oct 2020

Tocilizumab fails to affect COVID-19 disease outcomes in Boston trial

Researchers from the various Massachusetts hospitals performed the Boston Area COVID-19 Consortium (BACC) Bay Tocilizumab Trial using tocilizumab administered early in the disease course to determine if early IL-6 receptor blockade limits progression of COVID-19 to hypoxemic respiratory failure or death. Their work is published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Oct 2020

High-impact clinical trial results could improve kidney-related medical care

The results of numerous high-impact clinical trials that could affect kidney-related medical care will be presented online during ASN Kidney Week 2020 Reimagined October 19-October 25.

23 Oct 2020

Investigational drug offers benefits for patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes

The findings, simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2020 conference, show the investigational drug finerenone had tangible renal and cardiovascular benefits for patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.

23 Oct 2020

Preventive antimalarial treatments drastically reduce malaria infections among school children

With nearly half of the world's population at risk for life-threatening malaria infections, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers and their colleagues identified an important public health measure to control the disease.

23 Oct 2020

First antiviral treatment for COVID-19 receives FDA approval

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) for use in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.

22 Oct 2020

Novel MRI-based approach can help optimize patient-clinician interactions

The potential impact of the patient-clinician relationship on a patient's response to treatment is widely accepted. But until now, little was known about which parts of the brain may play a role in that interaction and which specific behaviors can influence the clinical response, which is critically important to optimizing patient-clinician interactions for clinical benefit.

22 Oct 2020

Hydroxychloroquine does not prevent COVID-19 in health care workers, trial shows

University of Minnesota Medical School physician researchers studied hydroxychloroquine as a treatment to prevent COVID-19 for those with high-risk for exposure to the virus - health care workers.

21 Oct 2020

Low‐dose ketamine does not alter a healthy human's tolerance to blood loss

A low dose of ketamine, administered intravenously, does not alter a healthy human's tolerance to blood loss. In other words, if someone was given ketamine to kill pain associated with a battlefield injury, they would be able to tolerate blood loss just as well as someone who did not received this pain killer.

21 Oct 2020