Respiratory News and Research

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Study sheds new light on how respiratory virus breaks into cells to cause infection

New research from University of Alberta microbiologists has shed new light on how the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)--one of the most common viral infections--breaks into our cells to cause infection.

3 Jun 2020

Researchers design new microfluidic device to help detect blood clots

Researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University are working on an entirely new way to detect blood clots, especially in pediatric patients.

3 Jun 2020

Showers, toilets and washbasins may act as SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs despite low environmental transmission

In their new research paper currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server, scientists from the University of Bonn in Germany demonstrated that indirect environmental transmission most likely plays only a minor role in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, certain potentially neglected viral reservoirs have to be taken into account when introducing epidemiological measures.

3 Jun 2020

Patients with ARDS, COVID-19 experience severe financial toxicity

It begins with shortness of breath. And for approximately one-third of patients, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, ends in death. For those who survive, their lives are often turned upside-down.

3 Jun 2020

Octapharma extends support for COVID-19 study following promising preliminary data

Following positive preliminary data, Octapharma USA is extending funding for an investigator-initiated study (IIS) focused on treating the most critical patients at the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, those experiencing hypoxia and who are at the highest risk of requiring mechanical ventilation.

3 Jun 2020

Blood group type may affect susceptibility to COVID-19 respiratory failure

A group of over 120 researchers from various institutions across Europe has performed the first genome-wide association study to reveal host genetic factors that may contribute to respiratory failure in cases of coronavirus disease 209 (COVID-19).

3 Jun 2020

COVID-19 patients exhale millions of viral particles per hour

An international team of researchers reports that patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) release thousands of viral particles directly into the air simply though breathing.

3 Jun 2020

Teen vaping study identifies stomach issues and history of substance abuse

A study of teens diagnosed with the vaping-linked respiratory disease EVALI revealed that most also had gastrointestinal symptoms and a history of psychosocial factors, including substance abuse, UT Southwestern researchers found in one of the first clinical reviews of its kind.

3 Jun 2020

Silent hypoxia and its role in COVID-19 detection

News-Medical speaks to Dr. Albert Rizzo about silent hypoxia and how it is occurring in individuals that are suffering from COVID-19.

3 Jun 2020

Scientists map how SARS-CoV-2 infects the airways

Now, in a significant scientific study, a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina Health Care (UNC) have mapped how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), infects the nasal cavity, the airways, and down to the lungs.

3 Jun 2020

Siemens receives FDA approval for SARS-CoV-2 antibody test

Siemens Healthineers has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued an Emergency Use Authorization for its total antibody test to detect the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies, including Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the blood.

3 Jun 2020

Does smoking increase COVID-19 risk?

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to smolder and smoke in many parts of the world, with over 100,000 cases, and more than 3,000 deaths reported every day. Many factors are responsible for the higher risk of infection in certain specific population subgroups are known.

2 Jun 2020

Study shows Sofosbuvir alleviates COVID-19-related neurological symptoms

A group of researchers has studied the effects of an antiviral drug Sofosbuvir on human brain organoids infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

2 Jun 2020

Is it safe for SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers to breastfeed?

Even as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus continues to cause thousands of cases every day, with many deaths, life continues to move on regardless. Births occur as usual, and in many countries, mothers prefer to breastfeed their babies, at least for the first few months of life.

2 Jun 2020

Study looks at delirium in critically ill COVID-19 patients

A new study published on the online preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports on the high incidence of delirium in COVID-19 patients in intensive care. This highlights the urgent need to predict, prevent, and manage delirium and to cut it short in patients with COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

A vectored vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2

The current pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus similar to that which caused the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV earlier. Scientists are pursuing therapeutic drugs and vaccines to counter the relentless spread of the virus, but so far, none has been established to be effective. However, several are in clinical trials in various parts of the world.

2 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can adversely affect cardiac cells and heart function

A research group from Germany demonstrated a direct toxic effect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on cardiac cells in their paper published on the bioRxiv* preprint server. The finding warrants an in-depth analysis of cardiac tissue in certain coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, as well as close monitoring for any direct cardiomyocyte injury.

2 Jun 2020

Study maps genes essential for metabolic function of two common bacteria

A study in Cell Reports maps genes essential for the metabolic function of M. agalactiae and M. pneumoniae, two common bacteria that infect livestock and humans respectively.

2 Jun 2020

Cats resistant to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection

Researchers at Colorado State University have made important discoveries about domestic cats infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that could address concerns about human-to-animal transmission and the role domestic pets might play in spreading the virus.

2 Jun 2020

Ozone disinfection of respirator masks for front-line workers coping with COVID-19

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and collaborators have successfully used ozone to disinfect the respirator masks used by healthcare workers to protect against respiratory diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

2 Jun 2020