Coronavirus Disease COVID 19 News and Research

Latest Coronavirus Disease COVID 19 News and Research

A novel method for predicting promising antiviral drug or vaccine targets

A novel method to predict the most promising targets for antiviral drugs or vaccines is based on the conformational changes viral glycoproteins go through during the process of recognition and binding to the host cell.

20 Apr 2020

EMBL-EBI and partners launch new COVID-19 Data Portal

EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute and partners today launched the COVID-19 Data Portal, which enables the sharing and analysis of data related to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

20 Apr 2020

Penn Medicine launches convalescent plasma therapy trial for COVID-19 patients

Convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients -- an experimental approach of giving a transfusion of plasma collected from a donor who has recovered from COVID-19 to a patient with an active infection -- is the focus of a new two-part research initiative at Penn Medicine.

20 Apr 2020

Artificial 'candy canes' block viral entry and infection

Viruses are part of the human experience throughout our lives. They cause lots of different illnesses with the current coronavirus pandemic as just one example.

20 Apr 2020

Screen time for babies linked to higher risk of autism-like symptoms later in childhood

Sitting a baby in front of a screen and less parent-child play time, are associated with ASD-like symptoms later in childhood.

20 Apr 2020

New data supports role of nitrogen dioxide in the high number of Covid-19 deaths

Elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air may be associated with a high number of deaths from Covid-19. A new study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) provides concrete data that back this assumption for the first time.

20 Apr 2020

Wavelength Pharmaceuticals expands supplies of key drug ingredients for critically ill COVID-19 patients

Wavelength Pharmaceuticals, a leading supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients, today reported that it has greatly expanded production of APIs for certain pharmaceutical products needed to manage respiratory critical care patients.

From Wavelength Pharmaceuticals 20 Apr 2020

Before ‘tidal wave’ of illness, nursing home thought it had COVID-19 contained

More than 20 patients have died. Dozens more are still hospitalized. And residents who had already been sent back to a nursing home in Gallatin, Tennessee, have turned up with new cases of COVID-19.

20 Apr 2020

How climate change is putting doctors in the hot seat

A 4-year-old girl was rushed to the emergency room three times in one week for asthma attacks.

20 Apr 2020

Amid pandemic, FDA seizes cheaper drugs from Canada

The Food and Drug Administration in the past month has stepped up seizures of prescription drugs being sent to American customers from pharmacies in Canada and other countries, according to operators of stores in Florida that facilitate the transactions.

20 Apr 2020

New high-throughput approach yields libraries of probes for immunological assays

An immunological test known as a "tetramer assay" can detect T cells in a blood sample that recognize a specific antigen.

20 Apr 2020

Remdesivir prevents COVID-19 progression to severe pneumonia, animal study shows

A team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has tested the efficacy of remdesivir, a nucleotide analog prodrug with a broad antiviral activity, as a COVID-19 treatment.

20 Apr 2020

Smoking doubles risk of severe COVID-19 disease

The fatality rate among infected people increases among the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. Now, a new study published as a pre-print on medXriv, links smoking to the progression of COVID-19 disease, suggesting that the odds of disease progression is more than double in smokers.

20 Apr 2020

Poorer regions in the Philippines have more COVID-19 cases

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has dramatically affected European countries and the United States, reporting the highest number of confirmed cases. In Asia, though the number of infections gradually increases, some countries have reported high death rates, including Indonesia and the Philippines.

20 Apr 2020

Remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients using AI device

Massachusetts' Institute of Technology (MIT) at its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has developed a device that can monitor patients with the highly infective COVID-19 remotely and thus prevent the spread of the infection to healthcare workers.

19 Apr 2020

How are the interventions against COVID-19 working in Sweden?

In a new study, Swedish researchers speculate the effects of the present intervention strategies on the healthcare system as the COVID-19 pandemic affects the nation. Their study titled, “Intervention strategies against COVID-19 and their estimated impact on Swedish healthcare capacity,” has not been published yet; however, the findings are available as pre-peer-reviewed study at medRxiv.

19 Apr 2020

Novel coronavirus mutation could spell trouble for vaccine development

New research shows that the novel coronavirus is undergoing mutations that could make it challenging to develop a vaccine against. There are a few vaccine candidates that are in the making to prevent COVID-19. With a potential for mutation, the vaccines that are being developed now may not work against the emergent mutated strains worry Taiwanese and Australian researchers. The study is titled, “Analysis of the mutation dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 reveals the spread history and emergence of 2 RBD mutant with lower ACE2 binding affinity.”

19 Apr 2020

Scientists unveil novel coronavirus variants in India

The global coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the world, affecting 185 countries and territories and infecting 2.4 million people. Now, a team of scientists aims to shed light on the variants of the novel coronavirus strains in India, showing how changes correspond to its transmission and how it causes disease.

19 Apr 2020

Research suggests Nelfinavir and Cepharanthine as potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents

A new study published in the journal bioRxiv in April 2020 reports the identification of a promising multidrug treatment against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for causing COVID-19 disease. The team predicts that this combination will prevent the virus from reproducing, hence both halting the transmission and progress of the disease.

19 Apr 2020

Scientists estimate fatality ratio across full spectrum of COVID-19 disease

A team of researchers from Imperial College London has conducted a study aimed at calculating a reasonably accurate case fatality ratio and infection fatality ratio, which is based on Chinese data as well as international reports. The research is published on the pre-print server MedRxiv.

19 Apr 2020