SARS CoV 2 News and Research

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Study may help develop effective therapeutic strategies against COVID-19

People have different susceptibilities to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, and develop varying degrees of fever, fatigue, and breathing problems -- common symptoms of the illness. What might explain this variation?

22 Oct 2020

Researchers use molecular dynamics simulations to identify secrets of SARS-CoV-2 virus

The virus wreaking havoc on our lives is an efficient infection machine. Comprised of only 29 proteins (compared to our 400,000), with a genome 1/200,000 the size of ours, SARS-CoV-2 is expertly evolved to trick our cells to contribute its machinery to assist in its propagation.

22 Oct 2020

Studies examine impact of COVID-19 on neonatal intensive care units

Two studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) found the prevalence of COVID-19 in NICU infants is low, yet many hospitals at the start of the pandemic put in place strict parental visitation policies and scaled back NICU services such as lactation support and therapy.

22 Oct 2020

Researchers assess molecular basis of SARS-CoV-2 severity and poor outcomes in lung disease

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in October 2020 shows that in patients with chronic lung disease, the pattern of gene expression in the different types of cell changes such that the lung epithelium is prepared to tackle SARS-CoV-2 infection. Also, the altered gene programs have an impact on the immune response.

22 Oct 2020

Non-pharmaceutical interventions can reduce spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as voluntary shelter-in-place, quarantines, and other steps taken to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus can reduce the peak number of infections, daily infection rates, cumulative infections, and overall deaths, a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has found.

22 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 mutations dictate severity of COVID-19 disease

A recent study by researchers from Semmelweis University and Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary, published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020, shows the relationship of specific mutations on the disease's outcome.

22 Oct 2020

COVID-19 containment measures affecting other seasonal respiratory viruses

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 indicates that so far, the containment measures put in place to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have effectively prevented the transmission of many other respiratory viruses.

21 Oct 2020

Brain metabolic changes associated with loss of smell in COVID-19

A recent study detailed in a preprint paper published in medRxiv, researchers from Belgium, discuss how they investigated possible central nervous system (CNS) involvement in COVID-19 patients with a sudden loss of smell using a hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (PET-MR).

21 Oct 2020

Dietary supplement represents an innovative strategy to help in the fight against SARS-CoV-2

SPIN (SPermidin and eugenol INtegrator for contrasting incidence of coronavirus in EU population) is a European project powered by EIT Food that is currently developing a dietary supplement supporting the function of the immune system in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 infections in population at high risk.

21 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 mutations possibly making virus less virulent

In their bioRxiv* preprint paper, the researchers focus on mapping the clade-specific mutations' effects on the protein structures' conformation and stability. They identified the mutations in the set of seven proteins - orf8, nsp2, nsp4, nsp6, nucleocapsid protein (N), and Spike protein (S).

21 Oct 2020

New research projects to focus on drone-based medical deliveries

Cranfield University is participating in two new research projects that focus on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for medical delivery purposes.

21 Oct 2020

"Immunological imprinting" could influence antibody response to COVID-19

Researchers in the United States and Spain have shown that prior exposure to seasonal coronaviruses may influence antibody responses to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

21 Oct 2020

Trump says he saved 2 million lives from COVID. Really?

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed to have saved 2 million lives from COVID-19 through his actions to combat the disease.

21 Oct 2020

More than 2.5 million person-years of life lost in US due to COVID-19

In a recently published study, researcher Stephen Elledge from Harvard Medical School has described converting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) death toll from individual deaths to “person-years” lost in order to provide a more accurate picture of the pandemic’s toll on the population.

21 Oct 2020

Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus identifies and binds neuropilin-1 on human cells to infect them

Helping to explain what makes SARS-CoV-2 so capable of infecting human cells, researchers in two independent studies discovered that the virus's spike protein recognizes and binds a protein on the human cell surface called neuropilin-1.

21 Oct 2020

Study indicates the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral infection and diabetes

It has recently been described that infection by some enteroviruses - a genus of viruses that commonly cause diseases of varying severity - could potentially trigger diabetes, although its direct effect 'in vivo' as well as its mechanism of action at the molecular level were unknown.

21 Oct 2020

Researchers conduct review on viral shedding of SARS-CoV-2

A review of dozens of studies by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon State University suggests that people may shed virus for prolonged periods, but those with mild or no symptoms may be infectious for no more than about 10 days.

21 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 hijacks mitochondria

An important phase of the viral protein translation relies on the mitochondrial translation machinery. Towards this goal, the molecular mechanism involved in the SARS-CoV-2 entry into human cells is studied by Zhenguo Cheng et al.

21 Oct 2020

Study shows ssRNA encapsidation results in stabilization of the Ebola virus nucleocapsid

The Ebola virus causes a serious infection with a mortality rate between 50% and 90%. Nucleoproteins in the virus assemble into a helical arrangement and encapsulate a single stranded RNA genome, ssRNA, to form a rodlike complex known as a nucleocapsid, which is critical to the function of the virus.

21 Oct 2020

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 uses a receptor to efficiently infect human cells

To efficiently infect human cells, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is able to use a receptor called Neuropilin-1, which is very abundant in many human tissues including the respiratory tract, blood vessels and neurons.

21 Oct 2020