covid 19 News and Research

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Tocilizumab improves survival in COVID-19 patients with ARDS

The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2), has already nearly 4.8 million confirmed cases and more than 318,000 deaths.

18 May 2020

Testing is lifesaving, concludes US study

One of the most critical steps in controlling a pandemic disease, which has a significant mortality rate, is testing for the disease. Though this may appear relevant and obvious, its ability to forecast mortality in the current COVID-19 pandemic has not been tested.

18 May 2020

Latest styrene gas-leak tragedy in India — A Bhopal redux

What is disconcerting to India's environment ministry about the 7 May styrene gas-leak tragedy, that killed 13 and over 1,000 hospitalised, is the inconvenient fact that it happened amidst plans to dilute the country's environment impact assessment regime to favour existing and new industrial and infrastructure projects.

18 May 2020

Global study to test whether antimalaria drug can prevent COVID-19 in health-care workers

With $9 million in philanthropic support, an international group of physicians and scientists is establishing a research network to evaluate promising therapies for COVID-19.

18 May 2020

Local variations in climate not likely to drive early COVID-19 pandemic

Local variations in climate are not likely to dominate the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Princeton University study published May 18 in the journal Science.

18 May 2020

Study reports on clinical course of COVID-19 and risk factors in IBD patients

In an upcoming study to be published in Gastroenterology, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine report on the clinical course of COVID-19 and risk factors for adverse outcomes in a large cohort of patients with IBD collected through an international registry.

18 May 2020

Potential new treatment approach to fatal COVID-19

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Pathways Bioscience in the United States have found that activating a transcription factor involved in oxidative stress regulation, antiviral activity, and inflammation may serve as a new treatment approach to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

18 May 2020

SMART researchers awarded NMRC funding to develop rapid paper-based COVID-19 tests

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, has received a grant from the National Medical Research Council COVID-19 Research fund for the acceleration of research and development of rapid paper-based serological and diagnostic tests for COVID-19.

18 May 2020

Schools can create predictable screen-free time for children

The latest screen-time related research from Dr. Pooja Tandon, a child health and development expert at Seattle Children's Research Institute, was inspired by her oldest son.

18 May 2020

Novel insights on SARS-CoV-2 cell entry may inform further vaccine and treatment development

A research group from Harvard Medical School reported two cryo-electron microscopy structures derived from a single preparation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein in their paper available on the preprint server bioRxiv. Understanding the nuances of prefusion and postfusion conformations shed light on viral cell entry and may, in turn, guide the development of vaccines and drugs.

18 May 2020

Cigarette smoke spurs the lungs to make more SARS-CoV-2 receptors

New research from CSHL scientists suggests that cigarette smoke spurs the lungs to make more ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2), the protein that the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 grabs and uses to enter human cells.

18 May 2020

Cross-neutralization of SARS and COVID-19 coronaviruses by a monoclonal antibody

An antibody first identified in a blood sample from a patient who recovered from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 inhibits related coronaviruses, including the cause of COVID-19.

18 May 2020

Asthma linked to longer intubation time in younger COVID-19 patients

New data suggest that asthma is associated with longer time on ventilators for hospitalized younger patients with COVID-19.

18 May 2020

HDR UK announces £3.4m health data initiative to benefit patients

Health Data Research (HDR) UK has announced a £3.4m innovative data initiative in the North of England that will benefit patients across the UK and help address some of the most challenging health issues facing patients and the NHS.

18 May 2020

Study aims to identify markers that predict how COVID-19 affects patients

COVID-19 is the UK's largest public health crisis since World War II. There is an urgent need to identify why some patients with the virus do very well whereas others need to be admitted to intensive care and may die from the disease.

18 May 2020

‘An Arm and a Leg’: Angst and advice from a health insurance insider

After hearing the story of Anna Davis Abel's fight with her insurance company over testing related to COVID-19, we heard from a listener who has worked for a health insurance company for decades.

18 May 2020

Tourists, beware: Foreign visitors’ travel health insurance might exclude pandemics

It was evident that the fever, nausea and loss of appetite Vlastimil Gajdoš felt on his wedding day was not a mere case of cold feet.

18 May 2020

University of Valencia files patent application for COVID-19 vaccine

The University of Valencia has filed a patent application for a vaccine candidate against COVID-19, developed by a research team from the Department of Microbiology

18 May 2020

Drugmakers tout COVID-19 vaccines to refurbish their public image

Johnson & Johnson researchers working on a vaccine against the coronavirus are "just like the heroes in the hospitals" fighting to save patients, J&J CEO Alex Gorsky said on the "Today" show a few weeks ago.

18 May 2020

COVID-19 may lead to thrombosis in the lungs and subsequently multi organ failure

COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, not only may lead to severe pneumonia but also to thrombosis in the lungs and, subsequently, to multi organ failure involving kidneys, liver and pancreas.

18 May 2020