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Survey of smokers and vapers in the U.S. during COVID

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital aimed to understand the changes in cigarette and e-cigarette use behaviors among adults in the United States. They found that a third of cigarette smokers and a quarter of vape or e-cigarette users increased their use during the pandemic, mainly due to stress.

22 Mar 2021

B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant significantly more dangerous

Now, researchers at the University of Exeter, the NHS Foundation Trust, report a significant increase in mortality risk due to the B.1.1.7 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant.

22 Mar 2021

Most cancer patients with COVID-19 produce antibodies at a rate comparable to general population

Most people with cancer who are infected by the novel coronavirus produce antibodies at a rate comparable to the rest of the population--but their ability to do so depends on their type of cancer and the treatments they've received, according to a new study by researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

22 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection is circadian

An international team of researchers has found that angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) levels in lung cells vary over the day, affecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The virus entry and replication in the lung cells also have a rhythmic cycle, suggesting circadian processes can affect the virus's life cycle.

22 Mar 2021

RedHill provides opaganib treatment under compassionate use exemption for Swiss COVID-19 patients

RedHill Biopharma Ltd., a specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has acted on a request to provide opaganib treatment on an outpatient basis under compassionate use exemption for several Swiss patients suffering from COVID-19 pneumonia.

22 Mar 2021

Anti-androgen drugs may help disarm coronavirus spike protein, stop progression of COVID-19

Hormone drugs that reduce androgen levels may help disarm the coronavirus spike protein used to infect cells and stop the progression of severe COVID-19 disease, suggests a new preclinical study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in Cell Press's iScience.

22 Mar 2021

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine protects against symptomatic disease

Results from a large clinical trial in the United States and South America indicate that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, is well-tolerated and protects against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, including severe disease or hospitalization.

22 Mar 2021

Researchers develop new method for measuring immunity to coronavirus

Igor Stagljar made his career building molecular tools to combat cancer. But when the pandemic hit last March, he aimed his expertise at a new adversary, SARS-CoV-2.

22 Mar 2021

Can SARS-CoV-2 still be transmissible once symptoms have subsided?

Researchers based at the University of Missouri, in partnership with U.S. government science facilities in Maryland, have reported that individuals severely infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be able to continue shedding infectious viral RNA for over three weeks after the symptomatic infection has passed.

22 Mar 2021

A green tea compound shows anti-SARS-CoV-2 properties in vitro

Researchers show the antiviral potential of a green tea compound against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

22 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 variants develop resistance against type I interferons

A study conducted at the University of Colorado and National Institutes of Health, USA, has revealed that the resistance developed by newly emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 against host interferon responses could serve as a potential driving force for viral evolution.

22 Mar 2021

Prediction of antibody responses in recovered COVID-19 patients remains unclear

It is crucial to gain a better understanding of how an antibody response is developed against SARS-CoV-2, and how long it lasts. This will determine the antibody titers and duration that protect against reinfection by the virus. A new preprint on the medRxiv* server shows this to be still a distant goal.

22 Mar 2021

Male fertility and androgen production may be impacted by COVID-19

An interesting new study has appeared online in the journal Hormones that discusses the effects of COVID-19 on the male and female gonads.

22 Mar 2021

What are the chief predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children?

A new study seeks to explore the factors associated with the diagnosis in children. The ability to rapidly diagnose COVID-19 in this age group is essential not only for monitoring progressive disease in individual children, but to avert further transmission chains.

22 Mar 2021

The hype has faded, but don’t count out convalescent plasma in Covid battle

Six months after it was controversially hailed by Trump administration officials as a "breakthrough" therapy to fight the worst effects of Covid-19, convalescent plasma appears to be on the ropes.

22 Mar 2021

Could nanoparticle vaccines offer broad protection against sarbecoviruses?

To understand the ability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-elicited antibodies to neutralize and protect against emerging variants (that are pathogenic) and other sarbecoviruses, a large team of researchers studied immunity by receptor-binding domain nanoparticle vaccines. They showed that a clinical-stage multivalent SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain nanoparticle vaccine (SARS-CoV-2 RBD-NP) protected mice from the SARS-CoV-2-induced disease.

22 Mar 2021

Preventing future pandemics by ending the wildlife trade

In this News-Medical interview, we spoke to Professor Diana Bell about the illegal wildlife trade and how we could prevent future pandemics by stopping it.

22 Mar 2021

Asymptomatic individuals the biggest problem in COVID battle

The researchers noted in a study published in the journal Science, that asymptomatic cases are those that do not manifest symptoms for the infection duration. In contrast, presymptomatic cases develop symptoms later in the course of infection.

21 Mar 2021

Clofazimine inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, study finds

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong found that Clofazimine, a lipophilic antimicrobial riminophenazine dye used in combination with agents like rifampicin and dapsone to treat leprosy, inhibits coronaviruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

21 Mar 2021

Hearing loss, other auditory problems strongly linked with Covid-19

Hearing loss and other auditory problems are strongly associated with Covid-19 according to a systematic review of research evidence led by University of Manchester and NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) scientists.

21 Mar 2021