covid 19 News and Research

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Conspiracists during the COVID-19 pandemic

A researcher from the University of Pennsylvania has commented on how conspiracy theories misrepresent scientific data and advice.

8 Nov 2021

Identification of a candidate effector gene at COVID-19 risk locus

A new study focuses on developing a comprehensive platform to decode the effects of sequence variation identified by GWAS.

8 Nov 2021

Do traumatic brain injuries in pregnant mothers impact fetal development?

In this interview, we spoke to Dr. Jonathan Lifshitz about his latest research into traumatic brain injuries and how they can affect an unborn child's development.

8 Nov 2021

COVID-19 vaccination and deaths amongst US veterans

A new study studies the vaccine effectiveness and death in the Veterans Health Administration.

8 Nov 2021

A review of antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19

Scientists conducted a systematic review of the use cases and performance of Ag-RDTs for detecting SARS-CoV-2.

8 Nov 2021

Reproduction number of COVID-19 in Africa

Scientists used a SEIR model and a Bayesian inference framework to estimate the basic reproduction number of COVID-19 across Africa.

8 Nov 2021

Study highlights the importance of reducing air pollution to prevent heart attacks

Reduced air pollution in the U.S. during the COVID-19 shutdown initiated in March 2020 was linked to fewer severe heart attacks, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2021.

8 Nov 2021

As constituents clamor for ivermectin, Republican politicians embrace the cause

When state senators in South Carolina held two hearings in September about covid-19 treatments, they got an earful on the benefits of ivermectin — which many of the lawmakers echoed, sharing experiences of their own loved ones.

8 Nov 2021

Texas providers see increased interest in birth control since near-total abortion ban

In September, when Texas' near-total abortion ban took effect, Planned Parenthood clinics in the Lone Star State started offering every patient who walked in information on Senate Bill 8, as well as emergency contraception, condoms and two pregnancy tests. The plan is to distribute 22,000 "empowerment kits" this year.

8 Nov 2021

Childhood kidney cancers continue to be diagnosed at later stages in the UK and Ireland

Children with kidney cancers continue to be diagnosed with larger and more advanced tumours in the UK and Ireland than in other Western European countries, according to research presented at the NCRI Festival.

8 Nov 2021

Study looks at how lupus genetics intersects with COVID-19

The study “Interferon pathway lupus risk alleles modulate risk of death from acute COVID-19” was recently published on the preprint medRxiv* server.

8 Nov 2021

Georgia study finds increase in pediatric COVID-19 cases

Led by Sarita Shah of Emory University, a new study shows low COVID-19 testing in children, suggesting the results are an underestimation of the true burden of disease.

8 Nov 2021

More than 10 million people in the UK receive COVID-19 booster jabs

More than 10 million people have now received their COVID-19 booster or third jabs, the latest figures show, ensuring the vital protection they have secured from their first two doses is maintained over the winter months.

8 Nov 2021

Researchers explain why decaying SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in blood are not a problem after vaccination

A new study published in the preprint bioRxiv* server suggests vaccination helps to inflate the number of somatic hypermutations acquired by B cells. The increase in somatic hypermutations allows for an accumulation of highly matured bone marrow plasma cells.

8 Nov 2021

Rapid antibody response induced by mRNA COVID vaccines in mice

A new study posted in the bioRxiv* preprint server used mouse models to investigate how mRNA vaccines elicit a rapid antibody response. Their findings show two different mRNA vaccines successfully boost antibody levels — IL-5, IL-6, and MCP-1 —5 days after administration.

7 Nov 2021

Highly-sensitive PCR-based method to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants

A team of UK-based scientists has recently developed an allele-specific probe polymerase chain reaction method that can accurately detect different variants/lineages of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in respiratory samples. Furthermore, the method can detect viral variants even in samples with low viral RNA or degraded viral RNA. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

7 Nov 2021

Pacific oyster as a weapon against SARS-CoV-2

According to an article published in the journal Reviews in Medical Virology, the effectiveness of mollusc-derived antiviral agents has been proven in many different laboratory and animal studies, while its efficacy against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has also been proposed by recent in silico studies.

7 Nov 2021