Respiratory News and Research

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These front-line workers could have retired. They risked their lives instead.

Sonia Brown’s husband died on June 10. Two weeks later, the 65-year-old registered nurse was back at work. Her husband's medical bills and a car payment loomed over her head.

20 Nov 2020

MMR vaccine could protect against COVID-19

The number of reported global infections of SARS-CoV-2 stands at 56.88 million as of 19 November 2020, and this number continues to rise.

20 Nov 2020

Move to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars could benefit the health of professional drivers

As the Government announced today it will bring forward a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars by five years to 2030, new research shows professional drivers would benefit from improvements to their respiratory health, reducing their risks of cancers caused by their work.

20 Nov 2020

Researchers solve the mystery of silent hypoxia caused by COVID-19

More than six months since COVID-19 began spreading in the United States, scientists are still solving the many puzzling aspects of how the novel coronavirus attacks the lungs and other parts of the body.

19 Nov 2020

Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate triggers immune response

Now, Sinovac Biotech's candidate vaccine, CoronaVac, has been found to induce an immune response in healthy adults aged 18–59 years, 28 days post-vaccination. However, the level of antibodies generated was lower than in people who had recovered from the illness.

19 Nov 2020

Texas Heart Institute to participate in a study to treat ARDS in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Texas Heart Institute has been selected as one of up to 60 sites in the world to participate in an international investigative study seeking to aid COVID-19 patients who develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

19 Nov 2020

Researchers identify CLCN6 as disease gene for severe lysosomal neurodegenerative disorder

A mutation in the CLCN6 gene is associated with a novel, particularly severe neurodegenerative disorder. Scientists from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie and the Max Delbrück Center für Molekulare Medizin, together with an international team of researchers, have now analyzed the effect of a point mutation that was found in three unrelated affected children.

19 Nov 2020

Mosaic RBD nanoparticles elicit neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

The researchers show that the mice immunized with homotypic or mosaic nanoparticles produced broad binding and neutralizing responses, in contrast to plasma antibodies elicited in humans by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The RBD nanoparticles induced cross-reactive IgG responses in the immunized mice.

19 Nov 2020

Swiss data shows COVID-19 three times more deadly than the flu

Despite this, COVID-19 is often downplayed to be only a seasonal flu by many. This may be because both influenza and COVID-19 have a similar initial presentation, and it is tough to distinguish between the two based on just the clinical presentation.

19 Nov 2020

Cannabis use disorder may increase risk of COVID-19 hospitalization

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study suggesting that genetic vulnerability to a psychiatric syndrome called cannabis use disorder (CUD) may increase the risk of developing severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that requires hospitalization.

19 Nov 2020

New findings support current and planned clinical trials of Janssen SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Researchers from the United States and The Netherlands have conducted a pre-clinical study supporting the initiation of a Phase 3 trial to test a two-dose regimen of the Janssen Ad26.COV2.S vaccine candidate among adult and elderly individuals.

19 Nov 2020

Study warns elderly individuals less able to reduce contacts during COVID-19 lockdown

In a rigorous medRxiv* preprint paper, a group of researchers demonstrate shifts in age structure and clinical characteristics of individuals affected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after social and economic reopening in three US states and show how elderly individuals were less able to reduce contacts when compared to the younger ones.

19 Nov 2020

Seroprevalence meta-analysis predicts 643 million already infected by SARS-CoV-2 globally

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by a team of international scientists reveal low seroprevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in the general population.

19 Nov 2020

Pregnant women with COVID-19 have low risk of developing severe symptoms

Pregnant women who test positive for COVID-19 and their newborn babies have a low risk of developing severe symptoms, according to a new study from UT Southwestern.

19 Nov 2020

Detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies 120 days post-infection in Chicago case study

In a recent study, a team of researchers at Northwestern University, USA, had found that nearly 20 percent seroprevalence in the United States metropolitan site, Chicago, over the summer, during a period when lockdown restrictions were eased. They found that three-quarters of seropositive individuals retained detectable antibodies for at least 120 days or four months.

19 Nov 2020

Study shows link between COPD and the gut microbiome

Research led by the Centenary Institute, the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Queensland has shown for the first time a link between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an often fatal lung condition, and the gut microbiome.

19 Nov 2020