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What affects the case fatality rate of COVID-19? Analysis of top 50 affected countries

Ever since the beginning of the international spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease, researchers have been trying to identify the risk factors that increase the chances of infection. Now, a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 discusses various potential factors and reports the observed associations.

27 May 2020

Study offers new insight into how cells fuse

Scientists have known for a decade that cells that fuse with others to perform their essential functions - such as muscle cells that join together to make fibers - form long projections that invade the territory of their fusion partners.

26 May 2020

Research could help identify disturbances in the body's copper metabolism

In biology it is well-known that every living organism is triggered by the hereditary material or DNA that encodes various protein molecules, which in turn perform all the necessary biological functions and it might seem that nothing else is needed to sustain the life of an organism.

26 May 2020

Lymph node and distant metastases develop through different evolutionary mechanisms, study shows

The evolutionary processes underlying metastasis-the development of secondary malignant growths away from the primary tumor site-in human patients are still incompletely understood.

26 May 2020

UVA researchers discover essential key to hearing sensitivity in the inner ear

New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine is shedding light on the biological architecture that lets us hear – and on a genetic disorder that causes both deafness and blindness.

26 May 2020

Study shows antihypertensive drugs do not raise serum levels of ACE2

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* by researchers from Iceland and the U.S. shows how treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) does not raise angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) levels in human serum – and cautions against the discontinuation of these drugs among patients affected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

26 May 2020

New technique offers high-resolution 3D view inside tumors

Malignant tumors consume nutrients and oxygen faster than healthy cells. To do so, they recruit blood vessels in their environment. Depending on tumor type and genetic profile, there are differences on how tumors look internally.

26 May 2020

Dana-Farber nurse-scientists receive more than $1.3 million for two research projects

Nurse-scientists from the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute received more than $1.3 million dollars in funding for two separate research projects.

26 May 2020

New study reveals complex role of immune-system molecule in Huntington's disease

More than a decade before people with Huntington's disease show symptoms, they can exhibit abnormally high levels of an immune-system molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which has led many researchers to suspect IL-6 of promoting the eventual neurological devastation associated with the genetic condition.

26 May 2020

Antimalarial drug shows promise as potential therapy for aggressive brain cancer

Glioblastoma multiforme is an aggressive form of cancer in the brain that is typically fatal. But new findings by VCU Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers could help increase the effectiveness of the most common current treatments with the addition of lumefantrine, an FDA-approved drug used to treat malaria.

26 May 2020

Women with Neandertal gene have increased fertility

One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals - a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages.

26 May 2020

Study paves way to better understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia

There is an extremely high probability that individuals with 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome - a rare genetic disorder - will develop schizophrenia together with one of its most common symptoms, auditory hallucinations.

26 May 2020

New AI tool could predict risk of lung cancer recurrence

Computer scientists working with pathologists have trained an artificial intelligence tool to determine which patients with lung cancer have a higher risk of their disease coming back after treatment, as part of Cancer Research UK’s landmark TRACERx study.

26 May 2020

Researchers identify genetic mechanisms that produce radioresistance in cancer cells

Cancer stem cells are a cell type that was previously little known. They are resistant to irradiation and prevent the effective treatment of many types of cancer. A research group from Innsbruck has now identified two genetic mechanisms that produce this radioresistance.

26 May 2020

Genes associated with dementia doubles the risk of developing severe COVID-19

Having a faulty gene linked to dementia doubles the risk of developing severe COVID-19, according to a large-scale study.

26 May 2020

Researchers identify 29 genetic variants linked to problematic drinking

A genome-wide analysis of more than 435,000 people has identified 29 genetic variants linked to problematic drinking, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine, and colleagues report May 25 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

26 May 2020

Inherited genetic variations can alter progression of melanoma, indicates study

Sometimes cancer stays put, but often it metastasizes, spreading to new locations in the body. It has long been suspected that genetic mutations arising inside tumor cells drive this potentially devastating turn of events.

26 May 2020

Newly identified gene may have contributed to rapid evolution of COVID-19

An international team of researchers has identified a previously uncharacterized gene within the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome that may be important in understanding the origins and evolution of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

25 May 2020

New study pinpoints ideal antiviral targets within the SARS-CoV-2 viral cycle

A specific biophysical model for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) shows how potential drugs inhibiting both viral transcription and translation would be particularly effective against coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The model was developed by University of Minnesota researchers and described in their recent publication available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

25 May 2020