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Cats, ferrets more vulnerable to COVID-19 than dogs

A recent Chinese study published on the preprint server BioRxiv finds that cats and ferrets appear to be extremely vulnerable to the virus, but dogs, pigs, and poultry do not seem to contract it. As preprints, papers are not yet peer-reviewed, undergoing only basic scientific screening.

12 Apr 2020

Lasers turn metal surfaces into bacteria killers

Purdue University researchers have discovered a laser treatment to texture metals that can potentially transform almost any metal surface into one that quickly eliminates any bacteria that come into contact with it.

12 Apr 2020

New Vietnamese enterovirus C4 strains possibly more virulent than B5 strains

A new study published in January 2020 in the journal Scientific Reports reports the presence of a new lineage of enterovirus responsible for the hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). They think this could be more virulent than the earlier B5 subtype.

12 Apr 2020

First detailed map of transcriptome and epitranscriptome for novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

A team of researchers has come out with the first detailed map of the transcriptome and epitranscriptome of the virulent SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 disease, the illness that has become a pandemic ravaging both developed and less developed countries of the world. The study, published in the journal Cell in April 2020, may assist in the development of new vaccines and therapeutics.

12 Apr 2020

Promising COVID-19 drug treatments identified with new screening strategies

As scientists across the world race to find a pharmacological cure for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an international research group has analyzed more than 10 thousand different compounds and identified six potential candidates, publishing their results in the leading scientific journal Nature.

12 Apr 2020

New computer model can screen drugs for unintended cardiac side effects

UC Davis Health researchers have developed a computer model to screen drugs for unintended cardiac side effects, especially arrhythmia risk.

12 Apr 2020

Risks and benefits of separating infants from COVID-19-positive mothers

In a new commentary, Alison Stuebe, MD, President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, addresses the risks and benefits of separating infants from COVID-19-positive mothers following birth.

12 Apr 2020

PARP inhibitor drugs can be structurally modified to better kill tumor cells

A prospective "PARP inhibitor" drug that has struggled to show effectiveness in clinical trials against cancers can be structurally modified to greatly increase its power to kill tumor cells, researchers from Penn Medicine report this week in Science.

12 Apr 2020

Vaccine skeptics may process information differently than people

In 2000, the measles virus was declared eliminated from the United States. Despite cases coming in from outside the country, there were few outbreaks because most people were vaccinated against measles. And then 2019 happened.

12 Apr 2020

Hair surface engineering using functional nano containers

"Hair surface engineering: modification of fibrous materials of biological origin using functional ceramic nano containers", a project headed by Rawil Fakhrullin, is supported by the Russian Science Foundation.

12 Apr 2020

Researchers identify new risk gene for Parkinson's disease

Screening DNA of Parkinson's patients in the Christine Van Broeckhoven laboratory (VIB-UAntwerpen Center for Molecular Neurology) identified a new risk gene for Parkinson's disease. Mutations in ATP10B resulted in loss of ATP10B protein.

12 Apr 2020

Where cancers spread can give specific insights on disease traits

Kidney cancers that metastasize to the pancreas have a fundamentally different biology from those that metastasize elsewhere, with characteristics that can influence successful treatment, a study led by investigators with the UT Southwestern Kidney Cancer Program suggests.

12 Apr 2020

UCSF surgeons formulate operation-triage plan for handling COVID-19 outbreak

Within a month of the University of California San Francisco Health treating its first patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Feb. 3, UCSF surgeons began formulating a plan to respond to the pandemic and help manage the health care system's available resources.

11 Apr 2020

Many of Washington State’s illicit drug users want to reduce use

A new survey of people who inject illicit drugs in the state of Washington yields positive and important findings for policy makers as the world struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, said authors of the survey by the University of Washington and Public Health-Seattle & King County.

11 Apr 2020

World-famous psychological experiment dismissed as not fit-for-purpose

A world-famous psychological experiment used to help explain the brain's understanding of the body, as well as scores of clinical disorders, has been dismissed as not fit-for-purpose in a new academic paper from the University of Sussex.

11 Apr 2020

Study demonstrates the benefits of genomic risk assessment in preventing common diseases

A new Finnish study demonstrated the benefits of large-scale genomic information in estimating the risk of onset for cardiac diseases, diabetes and common cancers.

10 Apr 2020

Effect of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on long-term health

Dr. Caitlin Notley speaks to News-Medical about her research into the effect of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on long-term health.

10 Apr 2020

UofL researchers use computers in schools across Kentucky to identify drugs for COVID-19

The novel coronavirus may have K-12 students in Kentucky's school districts learning at home, but researchers at the University of Louisville are using the computing power of thousands of computers in classrooms across the state to identify drugs to treat COVID-19.

10 Apr 2020

New €4.5 million collaborative project to develop cold plasma therapies for orthopedic infection

A University College Dublin researcher, Professor Paula Bourke, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, is principal investigator on a €4.5 million collaborative project to develop new therapies to treat an orthopedic infection with antibiotic-resistant microorganisms using cold plasma.

10 Apr 2020

Tiny sensors reveal how oxygen transfer is altered in diseased lung tissue

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed tiny sensors that measure oxygen transport in bovine lung tissue.

10 Apr 2020