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.

Convalescent plasma therapy improves outcomes in majority of COVID-19 patients

First peer-reviewed publication on US trial results from Houston Methodist published in The American Journal of Pathology

3 Jun 2020

Survey shows 80% of U.S. adults will be more mindful of practicing self-care post-pandemic

The vast majority of U.S. adults (80%) say they will be more mindful about practicing self-care regularly once the pandemic is over, according to a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Samueli Integrative Health Programs.

3 Jun 2020

Siemens receives FDA approval for SARS-CoV-2 antibody test

Siemens Healthineers has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued an Emergency Use Authorization for its total antibody test to detect the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies, including Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the blood.

3 Jun 2020

Does smoking increase COVID-19 risk?

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to smolder and smoke in many parts of the world, with over 100,000 cases, and more than 3,000 deaths reported every day. Many factors are responsible for the higher risk of infection in certain specific population subgroups are known.

2 Jun 2020

Study looks at delirium in critically ill COVID-19 patients

A new study published on the online preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports on the high incidence of delirium in COVID-19 patients in intensive care. This highlights the urgent need to predict, prevent, and manage delirium and to cut it short in patients with COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

A vectored vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2

The current pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus similar to that which caused the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV earlier. Scientists are pursuing therapeutic drugs and vaccines to counter the relentless spread of the virus, but so far, none has been established to be effective. However, several are in clinical trials in various parts of the world.

2 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can adversely affect cardiac cells and heart function

A research group from Germany demonstrated a direct toxic effect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on cardiac cells in their paper published on the bioRxiv* preprint server. The finding warrants an in-depth analysis of cardiac tissue in certain coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, as well as close monitoring for any direct cardiomyocyte injury.

2 Jun 2020

Cats resistant to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection

Researchers at Colorado State University have made important discoveries about domestic cats infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that could address concerns about human-to-animal transmission and the role domestic pets might play in spreading the virus.

2 Jun 2020

Study reveals how a fat cell's immune response worsens obesity

When obesity occurs, a person's own fat cells can set off a complex inflammatory chain reaction that can further disrupt metabolism and weaken immune response--potentially placing people at higher risk of poor outcomes from a variety of diseases and infections, including COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

New advance addresses a big challenge with using CRISPR in cancer patients

A mutation unique to certain cancer tumors is a potential homing beacon for safely deploying CRISPR gene editing enzymes to disarm DNA that makes cancer cells resistant to treatment, while ignoring the gene in normal cells where it's critical to healthy function, according to a new study from ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute in the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

2 Jun 2020

Ozone disinfection of respirator masks for front-line workers coping with COVID-19

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and collaborators have successfully used ozone to disinfect the respirator masks used by healthcare workers to protect against respiratory diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

2 Jun 2020

Scientists to develop device to identify neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infection

A Texas A&M University team of scientists and engineers is leading the development of a device that can be used to rapidly identify antibodies produced by human B cells that can neutralize infection by SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infected patients who undergo surgery experience worse postoperative outcomes

Patients undergoing surgery after contracting coronavirus are at greatly increased risk of postoperative death, a new global study published in The Lancet reveals.

2 Jun 2020

Behaviors and certain traits may have pervasive influence on social status

Beyond fame and fortune, certain traits and behaviors may have pervasive influence in climbing the social ladder, according to a study by evolutionary psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.

2 Jun 2020

Rapid patient identification could help combat COVID-19

In a peer-reviewed commentary published in npj Digital Medicine, experts from Regenstrief Institute, Mayo Clinic and The Pew Charitable Trusts write that matching patient records from disparate sources is not only achievable, but fundamental to stem the tide of the current pandemic and allow for fast action for future highly contagious viruses.

2 Jun 2020

Digital technology helps maintain clinical research operations during COVID-19 pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many routine medical services and discretionary surgical procedures, little attention has been paid to its impact on clinical research.

2 Jun 2020

A new tool to help biomedical scientists better understand COVID-19 virus

Biomedical scientists working with COVID-19 have a new tool to help them better understand the virus and feel confident about the structural models they are using in their research.

2 Jun 2020

Could the next pandemic be 100 times worse than COVID-19?

As the world tries to cope with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Dr. Michael Herschel Greger has claimed that worse could be yet to come. The American nutrition expert has claimed in his latest book that the next pandemic could be due to virus emanating from poultry farms.

2 Jun 2020

Report illuminates health and socioeconomic disparities in the District of Columbia

Approximately three quarters of the deaths associated with COVID-19 in the nation's capital have been among the African American community.

2 Jun 2020

Data provides a baseline understanding of the eating habits of older adults before COVID-19

Most people in their 50s and older were capable home cooks just before COVID-19 struck America, but only 5% had ordered groceries online, according to a new national poll.

2 Jun 2020