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Cyanobacterial blooms in Florida waters release multiple toxins detrimental to human health

In 2018, cyanobacteria from nutrient-rich waters in Lake Okeechobee were released down the Caloosahatchee river at the same time that red tides were gathering along the Florida west coast, potentially exposing coastal residents to a mixture of toxins.

20 Jul 2020

COVID-19 vaccine displays protective traits in nonhuman primates

A replicating RNA vaccine, formulated with a lipid-based nanoparticle emulsion that goes by the acronym LION, produces antibodies against the COVID-19 coronavirus in mice and primates with a single immunization. These antibodies potently neutralize the virus.

20 Jul 2020

Involvement of nicotine receptors in COVID-19

Researchers from the University of Bristol, Oxford Brookes University and the University of California San Diego neatly demonstrated how the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exhibits high affinity for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), with significant implications for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pathology and infectivity. Their findings are published on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

20 Jul 2020

New assay improves detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

Researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz have developed a new assay for the detection of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that they say provides significant advantages over the techniques currently used.

20 Jul 2020

Immunotherapy does not worsen complications for patients with both COVID-19 and cancer

Preliminary data from researchers at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center show that immunotherapy doesn't necessarily worsen complications for patients with both COVID-19 and cancer.

20 Jul 2020

Premature babies are exposed to high noise levels in the incubator, shows study

What do premature babies hear while lying in an incubator? That is the question addressed by an interdisciplinary team from the Medical University of Vienna, led by Vito Giordano (neuroscientist at the Division of Neonatology, Pediatric Intensive Care and Neuropediatrics at the Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics (CCP) of Medical University of Vienna) and by music physiologist Matthias Bertsch from the University of Music and the Performing Arts in the recent study "The Sound of Silence", published in the journal "Frontiers in Psychology".

20 Jul 2020

As coronavirus patients skew younger, tracing task seems all but impossible

Younger people are less likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID-19 than their elders, but they circulate more freely while carrying the disease, and their cases are harder to trace. Together, these facts terrify California hospital officials.

20 Jul 2020

Australian researches detect SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater from planes and cruise ships

Previous reports have shown that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been found in untreated wastewater. While the data is limited, there are no reported cases of a person becoming infected with the virus due to exposure to contaminated water.

20 Jul 2020

Oxford University and AstraZeneca to publish eagerly-anticipated COVID-19 trial results today

The coronavirus pandemic is still rapidly spreading across the globe, infecting more than 14.44 million people. With more than 188 countries and territories affected, scientists are racing to develop a vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

19 Jul 2020

Hydroxychloroquine is not indicated for COVID-19 under any circumstances

The drug Hydroxychloroquine has long been studied as a treatment for malaria and autoimmune diseases. When the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe, many countries resorted to using the drug in the hopes that it would improve outcomes of hospitalized patients affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

19 Jul 2020

Researchers determine how SARS-CoV-2 inhibits protein synthesis

Researchers from Munich and Ulm have determined how the pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 inhibits the synthesis of proteins in infected cells and shown that it effectively disarms the body's innate immune system.

19 Jul 2020

Hybrid fungus involved in lung infections discovered

Aspergillus latus, a species of fungus previously found only in soil or plants, has been found for the first time in a hospital environment by an international group of researchers.

19 Jul 2020

Type 1 interferon deficiency as a biomarker for detecting patients at risk of severe COVID-19

Approximately 5% of people with Covid-19 progress to a severe or critical form, including the development of severe pneumonia that progresses to acute respiratory distress syndrome.

17 Jul 2020

Pesticide use can speed the transmission of schistosomiasis

Widespread use of pesticides and other agrochemicals can speed the transmission of the debilitating disease schistosomiasis, while also upsetting the ecological balances in aquatic environments that prevent infections, finds a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

17 Jul 2020

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody among blood donors in China

Now, a study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in July 2020 reports on the low seroprevalence of antibodies to the virus, now designated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), among blood donors in Wuhan, the Chinese city it all started in, and two other equally large cities in China.

17 Jul 2020

Game-Changer: A SARS-CoV-2 serological test for 50-cents per sample!

A recent study published in the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 shows that this is indeed possible. The development of this inexpensive but reliable and sensitive test could change the face of preventive measures for COVID-19 in low-resource settings.

17 Jul 2020

Rapid genomic surveillance of healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2

The researchers from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge United Kingdom have published their findings in a study titled, “Rapid implementation of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing to investigate cases of healthcare-associated COVID-19: a prospective genomic surveillance study,” in the latest issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

16 Jul 2020

New insight into the SARS-CoV-2 infection process

Canadian researchers from the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, have found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may be using a unique method to gain entry into the cells.

16 Jul 2020

Study shows fused lung cells are pervasive in severe COVID-19

In a recent bioRxiv paper, scientists from Institut Pasteur and other research centers in France demonstrated how pathological effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are modulated by cellular proteins that can either inhibit or facilitate cell fusion and subsequent syncytia formation.

16 Jul 2020

NCI funds researchers to investigate how antibody responses affect COVID-19 outcomes

A $328,000 National Cancer Institute grant will enable researchers at Dartmouth's and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) to investigate one of the mechanisms that may be responsible for the body's inability to fight COVID-19.

16 Jul 2020