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.

New model provides district-based forecast of COVID-19 infections

Neuroinformatics scientists at Osnabrück University and data specialists at Forschungszentrum Jülich are releasing new model results daily to forecast COVID-19 infections.

23 Sep 2020

Health education could benefit neurotic college students

College students are under a lot of stress, even more so lately due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on certain personality types, especially neurotic personalities, college health courses could help students develop a more positive stress mindset, according to research from faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

23 Sep 2020

Most people with COVID-19 develop symptoms, study says

A new study by researchers at the University of Bern and published in the journal PLOS Medicine reports that while some people never experience any symptoms, most of those infected with the novel coronavirus do develop symptoms.

23 Sep 2020

Elegant, efficient way to find recombinant SARS-CoV-2 viruses from >85,000 genomes

The low divergence of near-identical genomes that are sequenced in short periods presents a statistical challenge that is not addressed by methods available currently. In a recent bioRxiv** paper, Ales Varabyou et al. from John Hopkins University present an efficient method designed to detect recombination and reassortment events between clades of viral genomes – a new algorithm called ‘Bolotie’.

23 Sep 2020

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia provides relief

Insomnia causing sleepless nights, daytime fatigue and poor health outcomes is a cycle worth busting, experts say, with depression, anxiety and stress a common co-occurrence.

23 Sep 2020

How families are keeping Halloween from turning into a COVID nightmare

For Laura Stoutingburg and her family, Halloween has always been a monthlong celebration of corn mazes, pumpkin patches and, of course, trick-or-treating in their suburban Denver neighborhood.

23 Sep 2020

Study on domestic cats and dogs in COVID-19+ households

A recent survey conducted by a team of scientists from France reveals that pets living with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have a high prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

23 Sep 2020

No discernable difference in SARS-CoV-2 viral loads of young children versus older children and adults

Sharline Madera et al. , in a recent medRxiv* preprint paper, show a detailed investigation of viral nucleic acid among young children and adults, involving over 5,000 cases confirmed by RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase – Polymerase Chain Reaction) assay.

23 Sep 2020

Bat and pangolin coronavirus structure sheds light on SARS-CoV-2 evolution

Researchers at Tsinghua University, Beijing, have conducted a study providing possible new insights into the evolution and cross-species transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

23 Sep 2020

UV-C irradiation rapidly inactivates SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces

Researchers at University Hospital Tübingen, Germany, have shown that ultraviolet C (UV-C) irradiation effectively inactivates surface-dried preparations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

23 Sep 2020

Study documents mental health of informal carers during COVID-19 lockdown

The challenges faced by informal carers - usually mothers - of children and adults with intellectual disability have been largely overlooked during the coronavirus crisis.

23 Sep 2020

Researchers develop a cheaper, faster and accurate COVID-19 test

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a method for fast, cheap, yet accurate testing for COVID-19 infection. The method simplifies and frees the testing from expensive reaction steps, enabling upscaling of the diagnostics.

23 Sep 2020

'Silent' wave of neurological consequences may be on its way due to COVID-19

Is the world prepared a wave of neurological consequences that may be on its way as a result of COVID-19? This question is at the forefront of research underway at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

23 Sep 2020

You're invited to join BGI/MGI's COVID-19 webinar series!

Join Erik Bogaard as he explains how the BGI/MGI COVID-19 Clinical Lab Partnership Program has helped population-level testing to fight the pandemic.

From MGI 23 Sep 2020

UEA researchers put virtual reality rehabilitation for stroke survivors to the test

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have been putting virtual reality rehabilitation for stroke survivors to the test.

23 Sep 2020

Bioinformatics analysis reveals genes and pathways shared in COVID-19 disease and comorbidities

Using bioinformatics approaches, researchers have identified genes and pathways shared among patients with comorbidities and having severe COVID-19. The research is published on the preprint server bioRxiv in September 2020.

23 Sep 2020

Infants born to women with COVID-19 show few adverse outcomes

Infants born to women with COVID-19 showed few adverse outcomes, according to the first report in the country of infant outcomes through eight weeks of age.

23 Sep 2020

Study examines the mental health of adolescents before and after the pandemic lockdown

The COVID-19 crisis has taken a psychological toll on people of all ages, but one group especially affected is teenagers. School closures and enforced social distancing have cut off many teens from major means of psychological support, putting them at higher risk of developing anxiety and depression.

23 Sep 2020

New method eliminates false counts of COVID-19 cases

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, some locations have experienced decreasing numbers of cases followed by an increase.

23 Sep 2020

Shielding strategy could be ineffective in reducing COVID-19 prevalence and mortality

With the recognition that certain subgroups of the population seemed to have a higher risk of developing severe disease following infection, some countries put shielding policies into place to protect them from infection.

23 Sep 2020