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Impaired air quality associated with children's absences from school

In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it's not just in times of high pollution or "red" air quality days--even days following lower levels of pollutions saw increased absences.

9 Oct 2020

Study examines ways to improve prone positioning for severe ARDS during COVID-19 pandemic

A new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines ways to increase the use of prone positioning for patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and develops specific implementation strategies that can assist in clinicians' response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

9 Oct 2020

86 percent of the UK's COVID-19 patients have no symptoms

Many people who contract the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), develop only mild and moderate symptoms. A small fraction of those infected develop severe symptoms, which usually occur in people who are at higher risk due to comorbidities.

9 Oct 2020

Clear and unequivocal evidence we should washing our hands during COVID-19

The study shows that Americans are washing their hands much more they did before the coronavirus pandemic. However, the groups who are less likely to remember to wash their hands on multiple occasions were white people, men, and those between the ages of 18 and 24.

9 Oct 2020

Mass production of SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 protein using a chemical-inducible system in tobacco BY-2 cells

Researchers from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and Ishikawa Prefectural University, Japan, recently attempted to synthesize the ORF8 protein with the help of a chemical-inducible protein production system using tobacco BY-2 cells. This study has been published demonstrated in the preprint server, bioRxiv.

9 Oct 2020

NIH clinical trial to test a combination treatment regimen for COVID-19

A clinical trial to test the safety, tolerability and efficacy of a combination treatment regimen for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) consisting of the antiviral remdesivir plus a highly concentrated solution of antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has begun.

8 Oct 2020

Long-term exposure to urban air pollution may make COVID-19 more deadly

As the pandemic persists, COVID-19 has claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States and damaged the public health system and economy.

8 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 survives on human skin for 9 hours

Japanese researchers have now studied the survival possibilities of the flu virus and the SARS-CoV-2 on human skin. Their study titled, "Survival of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus on the human skin: Importance of hand hygiene in COVID-19," was published in the latest issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

8 Oct 2020

Severe COVID-19 during pregnancy associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes

Pregnant women with severe or critical COVID-19 and their unborn infants face increased health risks before and after delivery, a Rutgers study finds.

8 Oct 2020

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral persistence in built environments

In a recent paper in an open-access journal, mSystems, published by The American Society for Microbiology, Ceth W. Parker et al. show challenges in recovering the virus, change in infectivity, and the case of viral persistence in built environments.

8 Oct 2020

Scientists refine SARS-CoV-2 protein structures

An international team of scientists has developed computational models to re-analyze and validate experimentally-derived publicly available macromolecular structures of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

8 Oct 2020

Face masks far more protective against COVID-19 than face shields, CDC experts

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have conducted a study showing that face masks and neck gaiters appear to be much more effective than face shields at reducing the expulsion of respiratory aerosols that could potentially transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

8 Oct 2020

Neutralizing responses to infection relatively common in COVID-19

A new study has shown that severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with unique B cell receptor (BCR) signatures and multiclonal neutralizing responses against the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

8 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a promising method to stop COVID-19 infection

While the world waits eagerly for a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infections from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers also are focusing on better understanding how SARS-CoV-2 attacks the body in the search for other means of stopping its devastating impact.

8 Oct 2020

Study estimates lower herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S.

A new study shows that recognizing the differences in the population composition, connectedness and distribution, as well as inter-individual differences in immunity, susceptibility and infectivity, are crucial to estimating the herd immunity attained as a result of natural severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) more accurately.

8 Oct 2020

Vitamin D deficiency may predict COVID-19 seroconversion

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 reports the potential contribution of vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk of COVID-19 in a subset of health care workers in the UK.

8 Oct 2020

Experimental Chinese SARS-CoV-2 vaccine appears safe in early trials

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 reports the findings of a phase I trial of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, demonstrating that it can elicit a potent immune response without significant adverse reactions.

7 Oct 2020

Plasma ABO protein is a causal risk factor for severe COVID-19

Researchers used an integrative genomics approach to find the genes responsible for COVID-19 and its severity.

7 Oct 2020

Anosmia and ageusia may be useful as COVID-19 surveillance case definitions

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 reports the utility of alterations in taste and smell to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 among contacts and in a community that lacks unlimited testing resources.

7 Oct 2020

Transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in two Indian states

Indian and American researchers collaborated to study the trends of transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in two Indian states – Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Their study titled, “Epidemiology and transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in two Indian states,” was published in the latest issue of the journal Science last week.

7 Oct 2020