Medical News

RSS

Study finds synthetic neutralizing/enhancing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 reports the discovery of some antibody molecules that have powerful enhancing or neutralizing activity against the virus, in a library of synthetic antibodies. These hold the promise of being useful for the prevention or treatment of this illness.

30 Jul 2020

Partial loss of MYLPF gene can cause distal arthrogryposis, shows study

Jared Talbot is part of a 32-member international research team that identified a gene that, when altered, can cause bent fingers and toes, clubfoot, scoliosis, and short stature.

30 Jul 2020

COVID-19 pandemic is "one big wave" says WHO

The COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world has to date infected over 16.95 million individuals and taken more than 665,000 lives. Now the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that this pandemic could cause a Tsunami of cases, and there is no scope for complacency in regions where numbers have declined.

30 Jul 2020

Medieval medicine to tackle antibiotic resistance

Biofilm-associated infections are notoriously difficult to treat, and they also play a role in antibiotic resistance as more antimicrobials are urgently needed to treat biofilm-associated infections. These biofilms act as protective layers that prevent the antibiotics from reaching and destroying the targeted bacteria.

29 Jul 2020

Relatives of SARS-CoV-2 may pose a health threat for years to come

Coronaviruses are zoonotic viruses that jump from animals to humans and cause infection. There are many types of common human coronaviruses, which usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold. Most people get infected with one or more of coronavirus types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1 at some point in their lives.

29 Jul 2020

FDA posts new template for over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic tests

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted a new template for commercial developers to help them develop and submit emergency use authorization requests for COVID-19 diagnostic tests that can be performed entirely at home or in other settings besides a lab, such as offices or schools, and that could be available without a prescription.

29 Jul 2020

Social distancing in the United States varies strongly by income

Wealthier communities went from being the most mobile before the COVID-19 pandemic to the least mobile, while poorer areas have gone from the least mobile to the most mobile, according to a study by the University of California, Davis.

29 Jul 2020

Antioxidant-rich foods may increase risk for bowel cancers, study finds

It is a fact that has long baffled doctors: Cancer in the small intestine is quite rare, whereas colorectal cancer, a neighboring though much smaller organ, is one of the leading causes of cancer death for men and women. What is it about the colon that seems to "attract" cancer?

29 Jul 2020

The toll that COVID-19 takes on the heart

Now, two new studies describe the toll that COVID-19 takes in the heart, increasing the risk of long-term damage even after patients recover. These studies also show that heart damage can even occur in people who did not have severe illness that required hospitalization.

29 Jul 2020

Loss of smell in COVID-19 explained by scientists

Now, a team of researchers at Harvard Medical school says they have found the reason why some people who get COVID-19 experience loss of smell.

29 Jul 2020

New approach shows promise for treating shoulder pain in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury

Researchers in regenerative rehabilitation conducted a pilot study of a new approach to the treatment of treatment-resistant shoulder pain in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI) and rotator cuff disease.

29 Jul 2020

Iota-carrageenan from red seaweed inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory conditions

In a recent bioRxiv paper, a research group from the Marinomed Biotech biopharmaceutical company in Austria showed that a sulfated polysaccharide iota-carrageenan has the propensity to inhibit cell entry of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by using an in vitro neutralization assay.

29 Jul 2020

Experts caution against routine use of current GEP tests for melanoma patients

A consensus statement published today in JAMA Dermatology by an international group of melanoma researchers evaluates the use of prognostic genetic expression profile (GEP) testing to guide clinical management of patients with melanoma.

29 Jul 2020

Pimavanserin reduced psychotic symptoms in people with dementia in phase 3 study

A large-scale trial has found a treatment with pimavanserin substantially reduced psychotic symptoms and reduced risk of relapse of those symptoms compared to placebo in people with dementia, a condition for which no treatments are currently licensed.

29 Jul 2020

Unexpected neurologic complication identified in severe COVID-19

Physicians working at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have reported that a significant proportion of patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who required intensive care developed unanticipated disabling neurological deficits that were related to a mononeuritis multiplex.

29 Jul 2020

People with SARS-CoV-2 most infectious in days 0-5, no evidence of transmission after day 9

A study conducted by researchers in the UK and Italy suggests that individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are probably at their most infectious during the first week of illness.

29 Jul 2020

FDA issues warning letters to companies for illegally selling hangover remedies

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it has issued warning letters to seven companies for illegally selling unapproved products labeled as dietary supplements that claim to cure, treat, mitigate or prevent hangovers, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).

29 Jul 2020