Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

New LNP-based mRNA vaccine candidate protects against lethal SARS-CoV-2 in preclinical trials

A new study, published in Nano Letters, describes an effective new COVID-19 vaccine candidate based on a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) platform.

28 May 2021

New SARS-CoV-2 lineages continue to threaten pandemic control in England, suggests genomic study

A new study shows the pattern of the rise of various strains in the UK, as shown by the data collected by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium. This allows the rise and fall of 62 different viral lineages to be traced through over 300 local authorities from September 2020 to April 2021.

28 May 2021

Loss of gut epithelial barrier responsible for COVID-19-related MIS-C in children, suggests study

A new paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reports that this condition is due to damage to the gut, mediated by a decrease in the protein called zonulin, which is responsible for the integrity of the gut epithelial barrier. Reduced zonulin levels are found in several inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.

28 May 2021

Glycosylation a significant element in SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccine design, says study

A new study by researchers from Taiwan and the US suggests that the removal of unnecessary glycans from spike glycoprotein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exposes highly conserved sequences and opens the door for the development of broadly protective vaccines against the virus and its variants.

28 May 2021

Study supports single-dose COVID-19 vaccine strategy for previously infected individuals

Researchers in the Netherlands have provided evidence that a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is sufficient to protect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among people who have already been infected with the virus.

28 May 2021

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 epitopes targeted by current vaccination could help improve future vaccines

Researchers in the United States have identified antibody-inducing epitopes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that could be used for future diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccine design.

28 May 2021

Achieving Equality for Women's Health and Beyond

In recognition of the International Day of Action for Women's Health, we spoke to Dame Claire Bertschinger about what changes need to made to achieve gender equality.

28 May 2021

Will emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants affect T cell immunity? A meta-analysis

New research by a team of scientists at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology sheds light on the epitopic targets of SARS-CoV-2 by T cells in COVID-19 convalescents. The team’s findings suggest that the epitopes targeted by T cells during infection may not be affected by the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

28 May 2021

Study links barotrauma to COVID-19 in younger patients

To better understand the possible relationship between severe infection and poor in-hospital outcomes, researchers from the Internal Medicine, and the Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine, Rutgers University, Newark, USA, presented a case series linking barotrauma to COVID-19 in younger patients.

28 May 2021

Opioids like ‘lean’ permeate hip-hop culture, but dangers are downplayed

Nykerrius Williams knows about the close relationship between hip-hop and opioid use. Williams, 27, an independent rapper from Gibsland, Louisiana, who goes by the name Young Nyke, took oxycodone pills for the first time when he was 16 and has continued patterns of misuse of those pills, as well as Lortabs, Xanax and codeine cough syrups, until recently. To him, it's part of the business.

28 May 2021

In California, nursing home owners can operate after they’re denied a license

The pandemic has highlighted poor care in America’s nursing homes, where nearly 175,000 people have died of covid-19 — a third of all deaths from the disease nationwide.

28 May 2021

COLCORONA study shows that colchicine can reduce complications in certain COVID-19 patients

The Montreal Heart Institute announces that the COLCORONA study results are published today in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

28 May 2021

WHO and Swiss Confederation launch Biohub facility to improve sharing and analysis of viruses

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Swiss Confederation today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch the first WHO BioHub Facility as part of the WHO BioHub System, which was announced in November 2020. This facility will enhance the rapid sharing of viruses and other pathogens between laboratories and partners globally.

28 May 2021

Researchers take a different perspective to mitigate the spread of COVID-19

While earlier research has mostly looked into factors such as fear, perceived risk, age and political views to determine what makes individuals and societies more or less willing to drastically change their lifestyle and support government-imposed strict restrictions, in order to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists at the University of Zurich Charlotte Kukowski, Katharina Bernecker and Veronika Brandstätter took a different perspective.

28 May 2021

Researchers discover cross-reactive coronavirus antibody triggered during COVID-19 infection

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, most people in the United States already had been sick with a coronavirus, albeit a far less dangerous one.

28 May 2021

New tool will help identify the most promising protein molecules for drug development

A cutting-edge digital tool that will make it cheaper, safer and faster for pharmaceutical companies to predict protein stability - a vital step in the development of new medicines - is being rolled out by scientists from the UK's University of Bath through their spin-out company, BLOC Labs.

28 May 2021

New article discusses health and economic inequalities in Latin America and Caribbean

More than 500,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean, demonstrating the health and economic inequalities throughout the region.

28 May 2021

Corning launches HepGo Assay-ready 3D liver spheroid kit

Corning Incorporated today announced the launch of its HepGo™ Assay-ready 3D liver spheroid kit, the first plug-and-play solution to include 96 pre-plated primary human hepatocyte (PHH) spheroids in a single-spheroid microplate (one uniform spheroid per well) and HepGo Hepatocyte companion cell culture media.

28 May 2021

Researchers use genomic sequencing technique to detect presence of various microbes

About 12,000 bacteria and viruses collected in a sampling from public transit systems and hospitals around the world from 2015 to 2017 had never before been identified, according to a study by the International MetaSUB Consortium, a global effort at tracking microbes that is led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

27 May 2021

New favipiravir derivative is a potent SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor

In a new study recently published in Chemical Papers by Dr. Amgad Rabie (May 16th, 2021), a high potency derivative of favipiravir towards SARS-CoV-2 is engineered and investigated.

27 May 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

New LNP-based mRNA vaccine candidate protects against lethal SARS-CoV-2 in preclinical trials

New SARS-CoV-2 lineages continue to threaten pandemic control in England, suggests genomic study

Loss of gut epithelial barrier responsible for COVID-19-related MIS-C in children, suggests study

Glycosylation a significant element in SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccine design, says study

Study supports single-dose COVID-19 vaccine strategy for previously infected individuals

Identifying SARS-CoV-2 epitopes targeted by current vaccination could help improve future vaccines

Achieving Equality for Women's Health and Beyond

Will emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants affect T cell immunity? A meta-analysis

Study links barotrauma to COVID-19 in younger patients

Opioids like ‘lean’ permeate hip-hop culture, but dangers are downplayed

In California, nursing home owners can operate after they’re denied a license

COLCORONA study shows that colchicine can reduce complications in certain COVID-19 patients

WHO and Swiss Confederation launch Biohub facility to improve sharing and analysis of viruses

Researchers take a different perspective to mitigate the spread of COVID-19

Researchers discover cross-reactive coronavirus antibody triggered during COVID-19 infection

New tool will help identify the most promising protein molecules for drug development

New article discusses health and economic inequalities in Latin America and Caribbean

Corning launches HepGo Assay-ready 3D liver spheroid kit

Researchers use genomic sequencing technique to detect presence of various microbes

New favipiravir derivative is a potent SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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