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Study shows how toxic protein leads to neuronal death and dementia

Toxic versions of the protein tau are believed to cause the death of neurons of the brain in Alzheimer's disease.

29 May 2020

SwRI receives $1.9 million to identify potential treatments for COVID-19

Using Department of Defense supercomputers, Southwest Research Institute is virtually screening millions of drug compounds to search for and test possible treatment options for the novel coronavirus 2019.

29 May 2020

5-day Remdesivir dose works as well as the 10-day dose in COVID-19, study finds

With more than 5.8 million people infected with the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the search is on for an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine or drug to treat COVID-19 disease.

28 May 2020

Clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine starts in Australia

Over 100 candidate vaccines are being explored as a means of ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight of these have already made it to clinical trials in humans, and another 94 are in the pre-clinical evaluation stage.

27 May 2020

USAMRDC receives FDA marketing approval for severe malaria treatment

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for Artesunate for Injection, an initial treatment for severe malaria.

27 May 2020

Target trials provide an ethical way to collect drug exposure data for pregnant people

Out of concern for fetal safety, pregnant people have typically been excluded from drug trials. And when human health is on the line, drug studies assessing fetal safety in animal models may be viewed as far from definitive.

27 May 2020

Researchers are taking inventory of drugs used to treat COVID-19

With doctors and researchers around the world searching for effective treatments for COVID-19, many drugs approved to treat other diseases are being used in hopes that they'll be effective against the virus, a use that's known as "off-label."

27 May 2020

Study: High level of anxiety is linked to depression

Led by King's College London in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and published in The Lancet's EClinicalMedicine journal, the research examined a group of people with depression in Zimbabwe and found that people are nearly three times more likely to suffer this illness long-term if they also have a high level of anxiety.

27 May 2020

Investigational antiviral superior to standard of care for treating COVID-19 patients

The investigational antiviral remdesivir is superior to the standard of care for the treatment of COVID-19, according to a report published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

27 May 2020

Simulated sunlight kills SARS CoV-2 on surfaces in 7 to 14 minutes

Simulated sunlight could effectively kill severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is responsible for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

26 May 2020

A key player in hepatitis A virus infection discovered

How hepatitis A virus manages to enter liver cells called hepatocytes and initiate infection had remained a mystery for fifty years until now.

26 May 2020

COVID-19 in cats and dogs is likely acquired directly from infected humans

A recent study from Japan available reveals how almost all cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among domestic animals can be linked to their owners infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

26 May 2020

Montefiore and Einstein evaluate a new drug combination to fight COVID-19

Montefiore Health System Albert Einstein College of Medicine have begun the next stage of the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT), to evaluate treatment options for people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infection.

26 May 2020

‘We miss them all so much’: Grandparents ache as the COVID exile grinds on

Back home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Richard and Denise Victor would get to see their four grandchildren almost every day.

26 May 2020

EKF secures COVID-19 novel sample collection kit manufacturing and supply contracts

EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces it has secured new contracts for the manufacture and supply of a novel, patented sample collection device which allows COVID-19 samples to be rapidly inactivated in the collection tube, avoiding contamination and preserving RNA without need for refrigeration.

From EKF Diagnostics 26 May 2020

Challenges of diagnosing Lyme disease in the absence of classic symptoms

Lyme disease can have unusual presentations. Physicians and the public should be aware of its different manifestations, as people spend more time outside in the warmer weather and as the areas in Canada where the black legged tick is found expand.

26 May 2020

Rats on the rampage as leftovers from closed restaurants become scarce, warns CDC

The Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) has warned that as restaurants are closed due to social distancing and lockdowns owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, rats are resurfacing en masse. The CDC warns that these rats are becoming aggressive as they are deprived of their usual source of food.

25 May 2020

How 'superspreaders' impact COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reflects the need to rethink and selectively impose lockdown on some but not all social activities, in the light of the impact of superspreaders on disease transmission.

24 May 2020

Computational immunology paves the way for SARS-CoV-2 peptide cocktail vaccine candidate

By employing an immunoinformatics approach, a new study available on the preprint server bioRxiv* shows how the combination of peptides designed from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid phosphoprotein and spike glycoprotein may trigger an improved immunological response with respectable safety profile, informing, in turn, further vaccine development.

21 May 2020

Analysis: Get ready for the vaccine — they’re never simple

If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines.

21 May 2020