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.

Doctors now must provide patients their health data, online and on demand

Last summer, Anna Ramsey suffered a flare-up of juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune condition, posing a terrifying prospect for the Los Angeles resident: She might have to undergo chemotherapy, further compromising her immune system during a pandemic.

18 May 2021

Aiding her dying husband, a geriatrician learns the emotional and physical toll of caregiving

The loss of a husband. The death of a sister. Taking in an elderly mother with dementia.

18 May 2021

ErbB inhibitor lapatinib exhibits potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity

A team of scientists from the USA and Belgium has recently revealed that the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases play a vital role in regulating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lifecycle in host cells and that inhibition of these receptors can protect against SARS-CoV-2-induced acute and chronic lung injuries and inflammation.

18 May 2021

A possible human-to-canine transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Now, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified a case of human to animal transmission when SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a healthy poodle dog living with four family members who had COVID-19.

18 May 2021

COVID-19 public health interventions reduced other respiratory infections

Wearing masks and quarantining while sick has helped mitigate the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). An indirect benefit of these efforts appears to be a decrease in flu cases and other respiratory infections. New research led by Lisa G. Winston of the University of California, San Francisco, confirmed COVID-19 public health interventions helped decrease the number of airborne viruses.

18 May 2021

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine elicits six-month antibody responses to variants

Researchers in the United States have demonstrated the long-term durability of the antibody responses elicited by Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine against variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

18 May 2021

Stabilizing mutations in SARS-CoV-2 immunogens improve vaccine design

Researchers in the United States have developed stabilized immunogens presenting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that may improve the scalability of RBD-based coronavirus vaccines.

18 May 2021

Stair-climbing routines provide cardiovascular and muscular benefits to heart patients

A team of McMaster University researchers who studied heart patients found that stair-climbing routines, whether vigorous or moderate, provide significant cardiovascular and muscular benefits.

18 May 2021

Sotagliflozin reduces adverse cardiovascular events across patients with diabetes, heart failure

Patients with both diabetes and heart failure who were treated with sotagliflozin, a novel investigational drug for diabetes, for a median of nine to 16 months experienced reductions of 22% to 43% in the risk of death or worsening heart failure compared with similar patients who were treated with a placebo

18 May 2021

Milder COVID-19 in children may be due to higher memory B cells responses to SARS-CoV-2

A new research paper published in the journal Science explores the differences in coronavirus-specific B memory cell repertoires in children versus adults, as well as the functional importance of this discovery.

18 May 2021

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought untold devastation in its wake, with its rapid and asymptomatic spread to hundreds of millions of people the world over. Vaccines have been hailed as the way out of this situation, and a dozen or so are being rolled out in many different countries.

18 May 2021

Breastfeeding safe and beneficial in SARS-CoV-2 infection

\With the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hundreds of millions of people became infected worldwide, including thousands of pregnant women near term. The question of vertical transmission to the infant via the placenta or breast milk was very real, leading to a near-total ban on breastfeeding in this group.

17 May 2021

Study shows how Swedish people perceive information about COVID-19

Swedes' confidence in government officials varies greatly depending on their political leanings. Politicians are perceived as more in agreement when it comes to their views on how the corona pandemic is being handled in Sweden.

17 May 2021

Homicides surge in California amid Covid of schools shutdowns, youth programs

Amid a pandemic that left law enforcement agencies stretched thin and forced shutdowns that left young men with little to do, California registered a devastating surge in homicides in 2020 that hit especially hard in Black and Latino communities.

17 May 2021

‘Kicking you when you’re down’: Many cancer patients pay dearly for parking

For cancer patients, the road from diagnosis to survivorship feels like a never-ending parade of medical appointments: surgeries, bloodwork, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, scans.

17 May 2021

Employment for frontline healthcare workers should be conditional on COVID-19 jab, argue ethicists

Employment for frontline healthcare workers should be conditional on COVID-19 vaccination, and unless they have a valid medical reason for not getting the jab, persistent refusniks should be temporarily redeployed to protect their colleagues and patients, argue ethicists in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

17 May 2021

Patients embrace telehealth-supported access to health care during the pandemic

The expansion of telehealth-supported access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic was roundly embraced by general practice patients, according to new Flinders University research.

17 May 2021

New insights into how AI will lead to developments in assisted reproductive technology

The 10th Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) has provided exciting insights into likely developments and future possibilities in assisted reproductive technology including artificial intelligence.

17 May 2021

Survey: 40% of people with liver disease have been worried about mental health impact of the pandemic

A survey by the British Liver Trust in March 2021 has revealed that 40% of people with liver disease have been worried about their mental health during the pandemic.

17 May 2021

Most COVID-19 patients have neurological symptoms

In a new study, published in the journal JAMA Network, University of Pittsburgh researchers for the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 found that neurological manifestations were prevalent among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The patients were also at a higher risk of in-hospital mortality.

17 May 2021