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.

Lower diagnostic threshold for fever in older people may help detect COVID-19 cases earlier

Researchers have explored heritable factors, age and body mass on temperature variation between humans. One notable finding is that the current threshold for detecting fever in older adults may be too high, precluding the ability to detect COVID-19 early on

2 Feb 2021

Researchers develop new modeling to map SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in UK

Using a modified version of the susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model to include effects of prevention measures, researchers show patterns in the increase and decrease of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the UK.

2 Feb 2021

VirtaMed launches surgical gynecology simulation suite

VirtaMed has the world leading validated simulator for hysteroscopy training, and an innovative solution for the acquisition of laparoscopic skills.

From VirtaMed 2 Feb 2021

Game theory used to model the impact of earlier stockpiling and increased PPE storage during COVID-19

Kingston University London researchers have used a mathematical model known as a game theory to explore how the challenge of securing sufficient levels of vital personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic could have been mitigated.

2 Feb 2021

Could ultra-low dose radiotherapy treat COVID-19-related pneumonia?

Researchers at the Department of Radiation Oncology, La Milagrosa Hospital, GenesisCare, Madrid, Spain, showed the potential benefit of treating COVID-19 pneumonia with ultra-low doses of radiotherapy.

2 Feb 2021

Differences in immune response to SARS-CoV-2 determine disease severity, study finds

Researchers investigate host responses to SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza virus (IV) in the nasal mucosa in children and adults.

2 Feb 2021

Albumin: The Natural Choice for Diagnostic Tests

The availability of established diagnostic kits has enabled researchers to plug-and-play in the design of COVID-19 diagnostics. Such technologies took decades to optimize, but they are now playing an important role in identifying and managing the spread of COVID-19. Recombumin® provides an enhanced solution as part of this toolbox for dealing with this disease

From Albumedix Ltd. 2 Feb 2021

ZyCoV-D DNA vaccine immunogenic against SARS-CoV-2 in animal models

In the absence of effective therapeutics or preventives, vaccines have become the focus of attention. Though over 170 vaccines are in preclinical and about 60 in clinical development, very few are based on plasmid DNA technology. However, a new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv* server reports the immunogenicity of a DNA vaccine candidate.

2 Feb 2021

Elevated ACE2 and inflammation levels increase risk for pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2

Among the hundred million or so cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that have occurred since the pandemic began, pregnant women have been a conspicuous risk group. However, the exact nature of the risk they and their fetuses face, and the mechanism by which it operates, is far from clear.

2 Feb 2021

Application radar COVID detects twice as many contacts of people infected with SARS-Cov2

The application Radar COVID detects twice as many close contacts of people infected with the virus SARS-Cov2 as the manual tracing system. This is the conclusion of the first scientific study that was carried out to assess the application in a trial carried out last summer on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

2 Feb 2021

Evidence that Long COVID-19 impacts children

The ongoing coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused over one hundred million reported infections, with over 2.23 million deaths worldwide. While most cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are asymptomatic or mild, some patients report long-haul symptoms, often severely debilitating in nature. However, it is unclear how many children are affected similarly.

2 Feb 2021

Researchers investigate ski resorts to assess risk of COVID-19 infection

Where do the greatest risks of infection lurk? How can you protect yourself and others even better? Scientists all over the world are working to expand knowledge about Covid-19 – including at Empa.

2 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 triggers development of new-onset IgG autoantibodies in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is associated with several clinical features common in autoimmune diseases as myalgias, arthralgias, fatigue, and rashes. COVID-19 patients also exhibit less common autoimmunity manifestations such as myositis, thrombosis, myocarditis, encephalitis, vasculitis, and arthritis.

1 Feb 2021

Characteristics of each district impact the spread of COVID-19, shows study

Per capita income, population volume and density, the structure of cities, transport infrastructure or whether districts have their own schools are all factors that can affect the spread of COVID-19.

1 Feb 2021

Study: People spend 40% of time on video chatting services looking at their own image

Most people wouldn't sit in front of a mirror for hours a day, checking themselves out, but the COVID-19 pandemic has found many doing just that.

1 Feb 2021

New protein acts as trickster to neutralize COVID-19 infection in human kidney organoid

Decoy protein intercepts spike of coronavirus. Virus prevented from infecting human cells. Protein may be a new way to treat and prevent COVID-19.

1 Feb 2021

Urinary shedding of spike protein in COVID-19 patients

A team of scientists from the United States has recently revealed that about 25% of people with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection develop renal complications and that the viral spike protein can be detected in the urine samples of these patients. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

1 Feb 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Lower diagnostic threshold for fever in older people may help detect COVID-19 cases earlier

Researchers develop new modeling to map SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in UK

VirtaMed launches surgical gynecology simulation suite

Game theory used to model the impact of earlier stockpiling and increased PPE storage during COVID-19

Could ultra-low dose radiotherapy treat COVID-19-related pneumonia?

Differences in immune response to SARS-CoV-2 determine disease severity, study finds

Albumin: The Natural Choice for Diagnostic Tests

ZyCoV-D DNA vaccine immunogenic against SARS-CoV-2 in animal models

Elevated ACE2 and inflammation levels increase risk for pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2

Application radar COVID detects twice as many contacts of people infected with SARS-Cov2

Evidence that Long COVID-19 impacts children

Researchers investigate ski resorts to assess risk of COVID-19 infection

SARS-CoV-2 triggers development of new-onset IgG autoantibodies in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Characteristics of each district impact the spread of COVID-19, shows study

Study: People spend 40% of time on video chatting services looking at their own image

New protein acts as trickster to neutralize COVID-19 infection in human kidney organoid

Urinary shedding of spike protein in COVID-19 patients

Study demonstrates link between housing insecurity and sleep outcomes

By July of 2020, 16.8 million people in the US infected with SARS-CoV-2 and didn’t know it

Increased access to testing, treatment has reduced hepatitis C in low- and middle-income countries

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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