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Which vitamins and minerals help with COVID?

A study published in the journal Inflammopharmacology reviewed recent data related to the role of vitamins and minerals in treating COVID-19 patients. The primary goal of the review is to highlight the possible therapeutic role of vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K, and micronutrients as immunity boosters in COVID-19 patients.

18 Jun 2021

Cinnamon compound could be useful supplement to dexamethasone in COVID-19 treatment

Researchers in Germany and the United States have conducted a study showing that supplementing dexamethasone treatment with Ceylon cinnamon in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may allow dexamethasone to be administered at lower doses, thereby avoiding the side effects that occur with high doses of the steroid.

17 Jun 2021

Research may lead to rapid, accurate, point-of-care testing for COVID

A team of scientists headed by SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research) at Osaka University demonstrated that single virus particles passing through a nanopore could be accurately identified using machine learning.

17 Jun 2021

New insight into SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine breakthrough infections

In the current study, vaccine breakthrough infections were noted in 24 people who had previously received COVID-19 vaccines.

17 Jun 2021

Could wastewater epidemiology help track the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

In a new study, released as a preprint on the medRxiv* server, researchers from Germany, Italy and Netherlands demonstrated the utility of integrating genomic and wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) to provide unprecedented insight into the abundance of SARS-CoV-2 and the profile of the mutations associated with the VOCs (i.e., B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and B.1.617.2) in the wastewater samples.

17 Jun 2021

Different comorbid conditions in COVID-19 patients can impact outcomes of positive PCR test results

New study results indicate that different comorbid conditions affecting individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 may impact how long they continue to receive positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results.

17 Jun 2021

New computational topology strategy to identify existing medicines for treating COVID-19

Researchers from the ESI International Chair of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) and ESI Group have just published in scientific journal Pharmaceutics a new computational topology strategy to identify existing medicines that could be applied to treat COVID-19 without waiting for the research and clinical trial phases required to develop a new medicine.

16 Jun 2021

A study on SARS-CoV-2 proteins for the development of COVID-19 drugs

The authors of the review have grouped the virus proteins into three categories, (a) host-entry, (b) self-acting, and (c) host-interacting. Additionally, individual SARS-CoV-2 proteins are evaluated to be either directly targeted by drugs or block virus-host interactions.

16 Jun 2021

CDC study looks at SARS-CoV-2 testing among returning cruise ship travelers

In a recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv*, a group of researchers discusses the RT-PCR results and symptoms experienced by the travelers to illustrate the viral dynamics during asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 infection.

15 Jun 2021

How to vaccinate nations against SARS-CoV-2

The researchers examined the effect of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign on 250 different Israeli cities with distinct demographic and ethnic characteristics.

15 Jun 2021

Could urine tests predict kidney injury and mortality in COVID-19?

A team of scientists from the Columbia University, New York, has recently identified a potential biomarker to predict acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients. By analyzing urine samples of 444 COVID-19 patients, they have revealed that the urinary level of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) can be used to determine the severity and duration of acute kidney and tubular injuries, as well as to predict the risk of mortality in acute COVID-19 patients.

15 Jun 2021

Alkaloids show potential as treatments for COVID-19

To further study these organic compounds, researchers from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile, reviewed the role of alkaloids as a potential antiviral, specifically against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). They presented the chemistry, plant sources, and antiviral effects of alkaloids and their anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect.

15 Jun 2021

Analysis of COVID-19 patients with repeatedly positive SARS-CoV-2 tests

New research published on the medRxiv preprint server provides a detailed analysis of COVID-19 patients who had repeated positive PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection in a large US COVID-19 electronic health record (EHR) database.

15 Jun 2021

South African and Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 variants overtake UK variant in French regions

Researchers have found that the variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that were initially identified in South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P.1) appear to be spreading more quickly in some areas of France than the previously dominant UK variant B.1.1.7.

14 Jun 2021

COVID-19 PCR tests can withstand freeze-drying process

In fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it's not just the vaccines that require complicated cold supply chains and refrigerated storage. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests -- often considered the "gold standard" of testing -- also have enzymes and reagents that need to be frozen.

14 Jun 2021

Can rapid antigen tests help screen for COVID-19?

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by the high proportion of asymptomatic and very mild infections, allowing people to move around and engage in public activity normally. There are many modeling studies that suggest that large-scale screening for the presence of this virus can help curb transmission at this point, from people with few or no symptoms. A new study points out the accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests for this purpose when used at the point-of-care.

14 Jun 2021

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants contain mutations that interfere with genomic sequencing

A recent study by researchers in Canada shows how mutations in newly emerging lineages of SARS-CoV-2 may disrupt the sequencing process and thus interfere with this important area of research.

14 Jun 2021

High single-dose efficacy of Pfizer vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in older adults

In British Columbia (BC), Canada, vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began with the Pfizer/Moderna mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines began with nursing home residents and frontline healthcare workers. These are known to have a high protective efficacy of 92-93% after a single dose, but this data comes from younger and healthy adults, for the most part.

11 Jun 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection detected in a poodle living with a COVID-19 positive family

Researchers in Italy identified a case of reverse zoonosis wherein animals contract the virus from humans. The team detected SARS-CoV-2 in a healthy poodle living with four family members who had COVID-19.

11 Jun 2021

Study shows how XRCC1 gene untangles proteins that trigger cancerous tumors

Even on a good day, DNA is constantly getting damaged. Nicks, scratches, breaks: the delicate strands that carry life's genetic code take a beating as they jumble about in the course of their work. If left untreated, errors accumulate, with fatal consequences -- such as cancerous tumors -- for the cell and the organism.

11 Jun 2021