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Asthma Awareness: Fighting Asthma in 2021

In light of World Asthma Day, News-Medical interviewed Dr. Samantha Walker from Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation about fighting asthma in 2021.

5 May 2021

Mechano-immunological response to SARS-CoV-2

In a recent study, researchers demonstrated a human organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) microfluidic model of the lung alveolus (Alveolus Chip) - that recapitulates the human alveolar-capillary interface with an air-liquid interface (ALI) and vascular fluid flow to understand the local triggers in the lung in vitro.

5 May 2021

Risk prediction model does not accurately identify lung cancer risks in diverse population

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. and the leading cause of cancer death, with about 80% of the total 154,000 deaths recorded each year caused by cigarette smoking. Black men are more likely to develop and die from lung cancer than persons of any other racial or ethnic group, pointing to severe racial disparities.

5 May 2021

Stem cell therapy for COVID-19 and ARDS

In a review paper recently uploaded to the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy by Mahendiratta et al. (May 2021) the applicability of stem cells in treating severe SARS-CoV-2 infection is investigated, with regard to ARDS therapy.

5 May 2021

Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines induce T-cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in the United States have shown that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines are effective at generating T-cell immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

5 May 2021

HEPA filters reduce respiratory aerosols produced during intense exercise

A pair of Mayo Clinic studies shed light on something that is typically difficult to see with the eye: respiratory aerosols. Such aerosol particles of varying sizes are a common component of breath, and they are a typical mode of transmission for respiratory viruses like COVID-19 to spread to other people and surfaces.

5 May 2021

Pan-COVID-19 vaccine protects mice against SARS-CoV-2 variants

Researchers in the United States have identified short peptide sequences in the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that are immunogenic in a mouse model and may provide protection against viral variants.

5 May 2021

Study reveals no negative effect of SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccination on male fertility

Researchers analyzed the sperm parameters of males undergoing fertility treatment and found no effect from the BNT162b2 mRNA severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine.

4 May 2021

Can the absence of evidence of in-school SARS-CoV-2 transmission be taken as evidence of absence?

Research by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, the Santa Fe Institute, and Fractal Therapeutics suggests infection rates in the surrounding community are not a reliable measure for estimating the level of risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in schools.

4 May 2021

Study uncovers protein 'signature' of severe COVID-19

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have identified the protein "signature" of severe COVID-19, which they describe in a new study published in Cell Reports Medicine.

4 May 2021

New testing technology can accurately differentiate between viral and bacterial infections

When patients complain of coughing, runny nose, sneezing and fever, doctors are often stumped because they have no fundamental tool to identify the source of the respiratory symptoms and guide appropriate treatments.

4 May 2021

Wyss Institute licenses nasal swab collection technology to Massachusetts-based startup

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Massachusetts-based startup Rhinostics announced today that the University's sample collection swab and high-throughput automation technologies have been licensed to Rhinostics.

4 May 2021

Researchers identify mechanism of platelet hyperactivation in COVID-19 patients

A recent study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA, has revealed the mechanism of platelet hyperactivation in critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

4 May 2021

ATS publishes new clinical practice guideline on community-acquired pneumonia

In its latest clinical practice guideline on community-acquired pneumonia the American Thoracic Society's guidelines panel addresses the use of nucleic acid-based testing for non-influenza viral pathogens.

4 May 2021

What happens in the first few days of SARS-CoV-2 infection?

New research, published in PLOS Biology, has evaluated SARS-CoV-2 infection in primary cultures of well-differentiated cells to determine how the virus affects the body and how the infection starts. Answers to these questions are essential to forming a general understanding of viral pathogenesis, which helps us develop effective prevention and treatment strategies for COVID-19.

4 May 2021

Can SARS-CoV-2’s impairment of endothelium cause vascular disease?

The study, published in the journal Circulation Research, suggests that COVID-19 is not only a respiratory disease but also a vascular disease. It highlights how the virus attacks the vascular system, causing endothelial impairment.

4 May 2021

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine makes it on WHO Emergency Use Listing

Moderna has announced Emergency Use Listing granted by the World Health Organization for its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

4 May 2021

COVID-19 in pregnancy does not significantly increase respiratory illness in newborns, says study

A new study published in the journal JAMA offers reassuring evidence that infants born to mothers with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), or even asymptomatic infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have little increase in respiratory symptoms over babies born to uninfected mothers.

4 May 2021

Could in vitro glycoengineering help produce better SARS-CoV-2 spike candidates for vaccine research?

A vexing problem in the development of vaccines has been the need to achieve the right glycosylation profile for the viral antigens. A new study, recently released as a preprint on the bioRxiv* server, shows how a sequential cell-free approach produced complex N-glycans from simpler types, in a one-pot reaction.

4 May 2021

Rapid and sensitive SARS-CoV-2 detection from saliva using CRISPR

In a paper recently uploaded to the preprint server medRxiv by Edward Málaga Trillo et al. (April 29th, 2021), these methods are tested in combination with CRISPR-Cas detection in the field, demonstrating a sensitivity and specificity of 93.8% and 99%, respectively.

4 May 2021