Medical Science News

RSS

Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot may offer better immunity than a two-dose regimen

A new study suggests that the immune response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is greater with a three-dose regimen than a two-dose regimen.

24 Dec 2021

New study provides a mutational analysis of SARS-CoV-2

A new study investigates mutational waves in structural and non-structural protein evolutions of SARS-CoV-2 to better understand the virus’s evolution and epidemiology.

24 Dec 2021

Children with pre-existing immunity to common cold demonstrate better protection against COVID-19

New data shows that, compared to adults, children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) preferentially activate pre-existing acquired immunity to prevalent common cold coronaviruses that cross-react with SARS-CoV-2 and protect them from severe disease.

24 Dec 2021

Are our bowel habits written in our DNA?

In this interview, News-Medical talks to Dr. Mauro D’Amato about how there could be clues about the regularity of bowel movements within our genes.

24 Dec 2021

Powerful new device monitors the electrical activity inside heart cells

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a powerful new tool that monitors the electrical activity inside heart cells, using tiny "pop-up" sensors that poke into cells without damaging them.

23 Dec 2021

Cryo-EM of Omicron variant reveals antibody evasion by spike-ACE2 complex

Researchers compare the obtained binding affinities to wild-type and Delta spike proteins to determine the impact of Omicron mutations.

23 Dec 2021

Allele-specific RT-qPCR assay to identify SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater

Researchers develop a new allele-specific RT-qPCR to detect the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater.

23 Dec 2021

Omicron has enhanced infectivity that is only weakly neutralized by vaccination or prior infection

Scientists used virus-like particles and found that Omicron showed increased infectivity, relative to the B.1 and B.1.1 strains, which was similar to the Delta variant.

23 Dec 2021

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Researchers find that vaccine-mediated protection against SARS-CoV-2 is significantly reduced against the Omicron variant.

23 Dec 2021

Blocking function of a blood-clotting protein may help prevent or treat periodontal disease

Blocking function of a blood-clotting protein prevented bone loss from periodontal (gum) disease in mice, according to research led by scientists at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health.

23 Dec 2021

Spatiotemporal patterns of Delta variant progression and its associated health interventions

In a new study, researchers adopted a prospective space-time scan method to conduct spatiotemporal analysis at the district level in the seven selected countries in SEA from June 2021 to October 2021.

23 Dec 2021

Impact of the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Southern Africa

A new study has focused on the genomic profile and early transmission dynamics of Omicron. This study revealed the dominance of the Omicron variant in regions with high levels of population immunity.

23 Dec 2021

Exploring why children have milder COVID-19 infections compared to adults

A new study has revealed that an activated pre-exposure innate interferon response in airways together with significantly reduced systemic interferon-stimulated populations are associated with relatively milder severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in children.

23 Dec 2021

Exploring immunity and severe disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study describes the findings of a seroprevalence survey intended to establish the infection rates and the incidence of severe COVID-19 through December 15, 2021, in Gauteng, a crowded province that compresses a quarter of the country’s people into less than 2% of its area.

23 Dec 2021

Pain science education can help people to recover from chronic pain

Outwit, outplay, outlast. Just like the motto on television show Survivor, a three-pronged approach to learning about pain could improve the lives of people experiencing chronic pain, according to new research from the University of South Australia.

23 Dec 2021

Assessing the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A recent preprint examines the proportion of Omicron infection and the risk of severe disease with this variant of SARS-CoV-2.

23 Dec 2021

Pediatric hospital admissions rise with omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant

A new study examines the impact of the Omicron variant on hospitalizations among children in South Africa.

23 Dec 2021

Mapping access to HIV care

In this interview, we speak to Professor Diego Cuadros about his latest research in which he mapped individuals' access to HIV care in Africa.

23 Dec 2021

Study reports that children develop sustained cross-reactive adaptive immunity against coronaviruses

A new study shows that both antibody and cellular arms of the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2 are displayed strong, sustained, and cross-reactive against other coronaviruses, in young children than the immune responses in adults.

23 Dec 2021

The transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV2 Omicron variant

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers developed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) model-inference system in South Africa to determine transmission dynamics and immune evasion associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

22 Dec 2021