Pandemic News and Research

RSS

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.

Analysis: ‘Don’t be afraid of COVID’? Not buying it, unless businesses do job right

As stores, restaurants, airlines and offices try to lure clients back, this is what they need to do to earn my business: Make me feel safe — no, make me be as safe as possible. As I've begun to explore old haunts, some are doing a fabulous job. Others are not.

6 Oct 2020

Easier-to-use coronavirus saliva tests start to catch on

As the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the country, health care providers and scientists relied on the standard method for detecting respiratory viruses: sticking a long swab deep into the nose to get a sample. The obstacles to implementing such testing on a mass scale quickly became clear.

6 Oct 2020

Campus dorm resident assistants adjust to a new role: COVID cop

Breaking up parties, confiscating booze and answering noise complaints — being a resident adviser has always required a willingness to be the "bad guy" and uphold university policy despite the protests of friends and peers.

6 Oct 2020

Antibiotics might be a feasible treatment option for appendicitis, shows study

Henry Ford Health System surgeons involved in the study say patients should choose the best option in consultation with their physician.

6 Oct 2020

Supercharged "clones" trigger the re-emergence of scarlet fever

A University of Queensland-led team of international researchers says supercharged "clones" of the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes are to blame for the resurgence of the disease, which has caused high death rates for centuries.

6 Oct 2020

SARS-COV-2 traveled from China to West Africa directly or via Europe

With the onset of COVID-19, the focus of medical research has been on tracing the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which was first reported in China’s Wuhan city.

6 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in England “Higher than at any time from May 2020.”

The UK was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the numbers of patients requiring hospitalization high during the first wave of the infection.

6 Oct 2020

Plasma ACE2 concentration associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular events

A team of scientists at the Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, and McMaster University, Hamilton, in Ontario, Canada, revealed that increased plasma ACE2 levels in the blood could indicate a higher risk of major cardiovascular events. The study is published in the journal The Lancet.

6 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 and anti-COVID-19 drugs activate Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* aimed to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on people with various illnesses. Specifically, the researchers at the Rockefeller Cancer Institute, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences wanted to see the effects of COVID-19 on patients with cancer and other infectious diseases.

6 Oct 2020

COVID-19 increases flu vaccine acceptance in the U.K., study finds

In the United Kingdom, a team of researchers at Imperial College London has found that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has increased vaccination acceptance among the study participants. The research is published on the preprint server medRxiv.

6 Oct 2020

New study expands treatment options for parents of autistic children

Training parents of children with autism spectrum disorder virtually about early behavioral intervention is an accessible and effective approach during the coronavirus pandemic or in other instances when in-person instruction is not possible, according to a Rutgers researcher.

6 Oct 2020

Researchers show the effectiveness of incorporating virtual driving assessment system into driver's licensing process

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center have demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating a virtual driving assessment system into the driver's licensing process in Ohio.

6 Oct 2020

Programs known to reverse the negative effects of poverty are being widely neglected, shows report

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread harm to the health and well-being of already vulnerable children and adolescents in the U.S., particularly those in low-income households and children of color.

6 Oct 2020

Antibiotic treatment is as good as appendectomy for a majority of adults with appendicitis

Seven of 10 adults with appendicitis can safely avoid surgical removal of their appendix (appendectomy) for at least several months by receiving a course of antibiotics, according to early results of a U.S. study that is the largest to compare use of these drugs alone versus an operation for appendicitis treatment.

6 Oct 2020

Chronic illnesses promote active SARS-CoV-2 infection via suppressed mucosal immunity

A recent paper published in the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020 discusses the “clinically relevant variation in the expression of COVID-19-related genes”, which is associated with the host and environmental factors, as well as host genetic factors.

6 Oct 2020

Production of six monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Youjia Guo et al. in a recent bioRxiv preprint paper demonstrate the robust performance of mouse anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike monoclonal antibodies in immunoassays, including western blotting, ELISA, immunofluorescence, and immunoprecipitation and also neutralizing activity in vitro against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

5 Oct 2020

Development of a coarse-grained model of SARS-CoV-2 virion

A team of scientists of the University of Chicago and the University of California San Diego has developed a coarse-grained (CG) model of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virion. The model can be used as a valuable resource to perform multiscale simulations of the SARS-CoV-2 virion. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

5 Oct 2020

Eli Lilly's LY-CoV555 antibody shows potential as COVID-19 treatment

Researchers in the United States and Canada have discovered a monoclonal antibody that potently neutralizes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

5 Oct 2020

Study confirms SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein promotes a hyper-inflammatory immune response

A group of researchers from Australia and China recently demonstrated how SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein subunit 1 can induce a pro-inflammatory signaling pathway (leading to cytokines deployment and epithelial damage in human bronchial epithelial cells), but also highlighted the potential of peptide-based antivirals in tackling this novel coronavirus.

5 Oct 2020

Less than 10% of US adults have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

A new study by researchers at Stanford University and Ascend Clinical Laboratory and published in the journal The Lancet in September 2020 reports the prevalence of antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus in a dialysis patient population in the US.

5 Oct 2020

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Analysis: ‘Don’t be afraid of COVID’? Not buying it, unless businesses do job right

Easier-to-use coronavirus saliva tests start to catch on

Campus dorm resident assistants adjust to a new role: COVID cop

Antibiotics might be a feasible treatment option for appendicitis, shows study

Supercharged "clones" trigger the re-emergence of scarlet fever

SARS-COV-2 traveled from China to West Africa directly or via Europe

SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in England “Higher than at any time from May 2020.”

Plasma ACE2 concentration associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular events

SARS-CoV-2 and anti-COVID-19 drugs activate Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus

COVID-19 increases flu vaccine acceptance in the U.K., study finds

New study expands treatment options for parents of autistic children

Researchers show the effectiveness of incorporating virtual driving assessment system into driver's licensing process

Programs known to reverse the negative effects of poverty are being widely neglected, shows report

Antibiotic treatment is as good as appendectomy for a majority of adults with appendicitis

Chronic illnesses promote active SARS-CoV-2 infection via suppressed mucosal immunity

Production of six monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Development of a coarse-grained model of SARS-CoV-2 virion

Eli Lilly's LY-CoV555 antibody shows potential as COVID-19 treatment

Study confirms SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein promotes a hyper-inflammatory immune response

Less than 10% of US adults have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Latest News