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.

Study explores real-time personal and employee safety experiences during COVID-19 pandemic

A new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, explores real-time personal and employee safety experiences and perspectives of school nutrition professionals ranging from frontline staff to state leadership across the United States during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

8 Jan 2021

Study examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dental students' career plans

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted dental education and training. The study "COVID-19 and Dental and Dental Hygiene Students' Career Plans," published in the JDR Clinical & Translational Research (JDR CTR), examined the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental hygiene and dental students' career intentions.

7 Jan 2021

Virtual care during COVID-19 delivers impressive benefits for cancer patients, clinicians

Patients and healthcare providers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre rated virtual care during COVID-19 as highly satisfactory overall for quality of care and convenience, while at the same time saving patients millions in costs.

7 Jan 2021

Patients taking immunosuppressive drugs did not have worse COVID-19 outcomes

People taking immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ transplant rejection or to treat inflammatory or autoimmune diseases do not fare worse than others on average when they are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

7 Jan 2021

Link between fever, diarrhea, severe COVID-19, and persistent anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

A new preprint research paper appearing on the medRxiv server describes a link between the persistence of neutralizing antibodies against the virus, disease severity, and specific COVID-19 symptoms.

7 Jan 2021

Gut and oral microbiomes predict COVID-19 severity

One question that continues to remain unanswered during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been why is there a distinctive hit-and-miss pattern when it comes to severe disease? An interesting new study that appears on the medRxiv* preprint server pinpoints one highly relevant risk factor: the state of the oral and gut microbiomes.

7 Jan 2021

High-affinity SARS-CoV-2 RBD drives mutation spread, forms basis of new COVID-19 inhibitor

Now, an intriguing recent study appeared on the bioRxiv * preprint server describes the use of in vitro evolution to elicit affinity maturation of the viral receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein to bind the host cell angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) with greater affinity.

7 Jan 2021

Credible fact checking can effectively reduce vaccine misinformation on social media

Social media misinformation can negatively influence people's attitudes about vaccine safety and effectiveness, but credible organizations -- such as research universities and health institutions -- can play a pivotal role in debunking myths with simple tags that link to factual information, University of California, Davis, researchers, suggest in a new study.

7 Jan 2021

Potential role of chitinase 3-like-1 in severity of COVID-19

Now, an intriguing preprint research paper on the bioRxiv server reports the identification of an enzyme called chitinase 3-like-1 (CHI3L1) that mediates this age-dependent impact of the virus and could serve as a powerful therapeutic approach in mitigating the severity of COVID-19 in this high-risk group.

7 Jan 2021

Antibodies and inflammatory markers are pervasive in colostrum of SARS-CoV-2 infected women

A recent study, currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server, is among the first to reveal the presence of antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in colostrum and to demonstrate elevated cytokine levels in colostrum from women exposed to the virus.

7 Jan 2021

Study addresses how to mitigate the mental health impact of Covid-19 lockdown

The Covid-19 pandemic is impacting people's mental health. But what helps and hinders people in getting through a lockdown? A new study led by researchers at the University of Basel addressed this question using data from 78 countries across the world.

7 Jan 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Georgia turns the Senate blue

Surprise Democratic victories in Georgia's two runoff elections this week will give Democrats control of the Senate, which means they will be in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2010.

7 Jan 2021

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of older adults? A UK case study

A team of researchers at University College London, UK, recently explored how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of older adults across Britain.

7 Jan 2021

Males at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality in Indian case study

A new US-based study by researchers at Dartmouth College, the Development Data Lab, IDFC Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Chicago shows that the infection fatality rate (IFR) could be twice as high for men compared to women and increases much less at older ages compared to high-income countries.

7 Jan 2021

Which strain should SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates target?

A researcher at Clemson University, USA, has recently explored how governments might effectively combat the pandemic through strategic vaccination as new variants and strains of the virus emerge. The study suggests that vaccine candidates should target the fast-spreading variant, even when the initial prevalence is much lower.

7 Jan 2021

San Francisco wrestles with drug approach as death and chaos engulf Tenderloin

In early 2019, Tom Wolf posted a thank-you on Twitter to the cop who had arrested him the previous spring, when he was homeless and strung out in a doorway with 103 tiny bindles of heroin and cocaine in a plastic baggie at his feet.

7 Jan 2021

In Los Angeles and beyond, oxygen is the latest covid bottleneck

As Los Angeles hospitals give record numbers of covid patients oxygen, the systems and equipment needed to deliver the life-sustaining gas are faltering.

7 Jan 2021

Illinois is first in the nation to extend health coverage to undocumented seniors

As a nurse manager for one of Chicago's busiest safety-net hospitals, Raquel Prendkowski has witnessed covid-19's devastating toll on many of the city's most vulnerable residents — including people who lack health insurance because of their immigration status. Some come in so sick they go right to intensive care. Some don't survive.

7 Jan 2021

Covid-19 project receives government funding to expand globally

Supercomputing facilities set up to track the spread and evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic have received £1.2M in government funding to expand globally.

7 Jan 2021

Severe COVID-19 recovered patients do not display long-lasting adaptive immune responses, finds study

A team of scientists from the University of Valencia and INCLIVA Health Research Institute, Spain, has recently investigated the durability of immune responses specifically developed against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

7 Jan 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Study explores real-time personal and employee safety experiences during COVID-19 pandemic

Study examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dental students' career plans

Virtual care during COVID-19 delivers impressive benefits for cancer patients, clinicians

Patients taking immunosuppressive drugs did not have worse COVID-19 outcomes

Link between fever, diarrhea, severe COVID-19, and persistent anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

Gut and oral microbiomes predict COVID-19 severity

High-affinity SARS-CoV-2 RBD drives mutation spread, forms basis of new COVID-19 inhibitor

Credible fact checking can effectively reduce vaccine misinformation on social media

Potential role of chitinase 3-like-1 in severity of COVID-19

Antibodies and inflammatory markers are pervasive in colostrum of SARS-CoV-2 infected women

Study addresses how to mitigate the mental health impact of Covid-19 lockdown

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Georgia turns the Senate blue

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of older adults? A UK case study

Males at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality in Indian case study

Which strain should SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates target?

San Francisco wrestles with drug approach as death and chaos engulf Tenderloin

In Los Angeles and beyond, oxygen is the latest covid bottleneck

Illinois is first in the nation to extend health coverage to undocumented seniors

Covid-19 project receives government funding to expand globally

Severe COVID-19 recovered patients do not display long-lasting adaptive immune responses, finds study

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Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

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