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.

‘Press 1 for English’: Vaccination sign-ups prove daunting for speakers of other languages

In late February, a week after Virginia launched a centralized website and call center for covid-19 vaccine preregistration, Zowee Aquino alerted the state to a glitch that could prove fatal for non-English speakers trying to secure a shot.

23 Mar 2021

Under new cost-cutting Medicare rule, same surgery, same place, different bill

A cost-saving change in Medicare launched in the final days of the Trump administration will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures while potentially raising costs and confusion for patients.

23 Mar 2021

Indiana school goes extra mile to help vulnerable kids weather pandemic

After Covid-19 forced Olivia Goulding's Indiana middle school to switch back to remote learning late last year, the math teacher lost contact with many of her students.

23 Mar 2021

Democrats eye Medicare negotiations to lower drug prices

Democrats, newly in control of Congress and the White House, are united behind an idea that Republican lawmakers and major drugmakers fiercely oppose: empowering the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices of brand-name drugs covered by Medicare.

23 Mar 2021

COVID-19 antibodies can protect against reinfection for at least eight months

A new study offers hope that recovered patients from COVID-19 are largely immune to reinfection for at least eight months.

23 Mar 2021

Study suggests SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk are robust, neutralizing and durable

A new study addresses the issue of passive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 for newborns via breast milk.

23 Mar 2021

Dandelion extract inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

An exciting new study describes a specific inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 found in an extract of the common dandelion that could provide a new and fruitful avenue of drug research.

23 Mar 2021

New review of post-acute COVID-19

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of millions of people around the world but has also left hundreds with lingering symptoms or completely new symptoms weeks after recovery.

23 Mar 2021

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer returned to near-normal levels by July 2020

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer dropped dramatically during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, but use of the procedures returned to near-normal levels by the end of July 2020, according to a new study.

23 Mar 2021

Study may help develop effective biosensors for non-invasive diagnosis of prostate cancer

The efficacy of biosensors used in clinical tests depends critically on the surface of the device on which the biorecognition molecules are immobilized.

23 Mar 2021

Study reveals heightened mortality and racial disparities for cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19

The COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) published new findings in the Annals of Oncology, showing heightened mortality and racial disparities for patients with cancer diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

23 Mar 2021

Widening ideological gap in the U.S. may contribute to challenges in medical research

The lightning speed with which scientists developed and tested the COVID-19 vaccine is a true scientific triumph -- one that would not have been possible without the more than 70,000 volunteers who participated in clinical trials of the vaccine.

23 Mar 2021

Ai helps identify critical interactions for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2

Recently, researchers from the US employed multiple-µs molecular dynamic simulations to compare the relative dynamics, stabilities, and energy differences between the SARS-CoV receptor-binding domain (RBD)-ACE2 and SARS-CoV-2 RBD-ACE2 complexes. The study is published on the preprint server, bioRxiv.

23 Mar 2021

Swiss research shows clusters of SARS-CoV-2 infection are rare within school classes

Researchers from Switzerland recently presented the results of a longitudinal cohort study they conducted in the city of Zurich. The prospective cohort study's key objective was to analyze the longitudinal changes in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and assess the clustering of seropositive children in school classes from June to November 2020 in Zurich, Switzerland.

23 Mar 2021

Survey of smokers and vapers in the U.S. during COVID

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital aimed to understand the changes in cigarette and e-cigarette use behaviors among adults in the United States. They found that a third of cigarette smokers and a quarter of vape or e-cigarette users increased their use during the pandemic, mainly due to stress.

22 Mar 2021

B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant significantly more dangerous

Now, researchers at the University of Exeter, the NHS Foundation Trust, report a significant increase in mortality risk due to the B.1.1.7 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant.

22 Mar 2021

Iron-binder DFX improves the effect of new TB antimicrobial, research shows

Although Tuberculosis, or TB, killed nearly as many people as COVID-19 (approx. 1.8 million) in 2020, it did not receive as much media and public attention.

22 Mar 2021

Crisis standard of care guidelines may not exacerbate racial inequities

There are two simultaneously occurring pandemics in the U.S.: Racism and COVID-19. "These mutualistic pandemics have thrown into stark focus the separate and unequal systems through which people access health care," explained corresponding author Emily Cleveland Manchanda, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

22 Mar 2021

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions reduced light activity related to socializing and work

A study which looked at activity levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic has found lockdown restrictions significantly reduced light activity associated with socializing and work.

22 Mar 2021

10% of older adults have got a new pet during the pandemic, poll shows

A lot of the attention around "pandemic pets" has focused on families with children getting a cat, dog or other pet in 2020, during a time when many people were learning or working from home.

22 Mar 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

‘Press 1 for English’: Vaccination sign-ups prove daunting for speakers of other languages

Under new cost-cutting Medicare rule, same surgery, same place, different bill

Indiana school goes extra mile to help vulnerable kids weather pandemic

Democrats eye Medicare negotiations to lower drug prices

COVID-19 antibodies can protect against reinfection for at least eight months

Study suggests SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk are robust, neutralizing and durable

Dandelion extract inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

New review of post-acute COVID-19

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer returned to near-normal levels by July 2020

Study may help develop effective biosensors for non-invasive diagnosis of prostate cancer

Study reveals heightened mortality and racial disparities for cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19

Widening ideological gap in the U.S. may contribute to challenges in medical research

Ai helps identify critical interactions for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2

Swiss research shows clusters of SARS-CoV-2 infection are rare within school classes

Survey of smokers and vapers in the U.S. during COVID

B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant significantly more dangerous

Iron-binder DFX improves the effect of new TB antimicrobial, research shows

Crisis standard of care guidelines may not exacerbate racial inequities

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions reduced light activity related to socializing and work

10% of older adults have got a new pet during the pandemic, poll shows

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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