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Study reveals a novel trick employed by MRSA superbug to thwart the immune response

New research has uncovered a novel trick employed by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus to thwart the immune response, raising hopes that a vaccine that prevents deadly MRSA infections is a little closer on the horizon.

25 Jun 2021

An “analytical chronicle" of COVID-19 crisis in India

The initial spread of the coronavirus in India led to the introduction of a national lockdown in March 2020. After the first wave of the pandemic had subsided and a nationwide vaccination campaign had begun, a mutation of the virus in the spring of 2021 caused infection and mortality rates to rise steeply again.

25 Jun 2021

New analysis of U.S. COVID-19 deaths reveals bigger drop in average life expectancy, disparities

An updated analysis of American COVID-19 deaths throughout 2020 reveals an even bigger drop in average life expectancy as well as still-substantial disparities by race and ethnicity.

25 Jun 2021

Remdesivir caused dangerously low heart rate in COVID-19 patients

After beginning treatment with remdesivir for COVID-19, a patient experienced significant bradycardia, or low heart rate. Her physicians used a dopamine infusion to stabilize her through the five-day course of remdesivir treatment, and her cardiac condition resolved itself at the end of the treatment.

25 Jun 2021

Study investigates difficulty swallowing in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Researchers from Clinica Luganese Moncucco and Bellinzona Regional Hospital in Switzerland investigated the prevalence of swelling disorders in severely ill COVID-19 patients and reported their results in a paper posted to the medRxiv* preprint server.

25 Jun 2021

Nanobodies with drug-like properties can prevent COVID-19 infection

Discovering and engineering nanobodies with properties suitable for treating human diseases ranging from cancer to COVID-19 is a time-consuming, laborious process.

25 Jun 2021

Overcrowding and multigenerational housing arrangements increase SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk

Researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College aimed to determine the role of overcrowded households as a risk factor for COVID-19. The study's objective, which appeared in the medRxiv* pre-print server, was to examine the link between overcrowded and multigenerational households and COVID-19 in New York City.

25 Jun 2021

Researchers decode humans’ survival from historical coronavirus outbreaks

An international team of researchers co-led by the University of Adelaide and the University of Arizona has analyzed the genomes of more than 2,500 modern humans from 26 worldwide populations, to better understand how humans have adapted to historical coronavirus outbreaks.

25 Jun 2021

Renowned scientists recover deleted SARS-CoV-2 data from Wuhan

Renowned evolutionary researcher, Jesse Bloom from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has conducted a phylogenetic analysis suggesting that the early severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequences that were obtained from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, are not fully representative of the viruses circulating in the city at the time of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

24 Jun 2021

Study shows how SARS-CoV-2 virus enters cells to cause infection

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists identified how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, gets inside cells to cause infection.

24 Jun 2021

Phenomenological model describes and regularizes COVID-19 data

The COVID-19 epidemic, which began late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread throughout the world, was accompanied by unprecedented releases of reported case data. Now, researchers propose combining phenomenological descriptions with epidemiological dynamics for an entirely new perspective on these data.

24 Jun 2021

Pronation maneuvers for critically ill COVID-19 patients - multidisciplinary management reduce complications

A recent study aimed to determine the efficacy of pronation maneuvers by the ICU physiotherapy team when used on critically ill COVID-19 patients.

24 Jun 2021

Mask-wearing reduces COVID-19 transmission significantly, study finds

Researchers from the University of Bristol found that an entire population that wears masks in public leads to a reduction in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by almost 26%.

24 Jun 2021

Care home staff burdened by increased workload caused by COVID-19 pandemic

A recent group of researchers aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the working practices of care home staff, particularly those caring for people with dementia.

24 Jun 2021

Scientists predict driver mutations of future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

A team of scientists from the USA has recently predicted the driver mutations that may appear in future variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The prediction is based on currently available genetic surveillance data on amino acid mutations present in SARS-CoV-2 variants. A detailed description of the study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

24 Jun 2021

Is COVID-19 more severe in pregnancy?

A new study, released as a preprint on the medRxiv* server, indicates that pregnant women are more likely to develop severe disease following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

24 Jun 2021

WHO, COVAX partners work with South African consortium to build COVID-19 vaccine technology transfer hub

The World Health Organization and its COVAX partners are working with a South African consortium comprising Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish its first COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub.

24 Jun 2021

Could polio vaccines induce cross-reactive antibodies that target SARS-CoV-2?

A new preprint released on the medRxiv* server explores a link between immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the earlier SARS-CoV, and childhood poliovirus vaccination. Almost 90% of the world’s people have received this vaccine, but antibodies elicited by it reduce over time and are almost absent at the end of adolescence.

24 Jun 2021

SARS-CoV-2 causes ER-stress-activated unfolded protein response leading to cell death

A new study describes the varying ways in which the virus co-opts the machinery of the host cell following infection to evade or modulate the host immune response, alter the pattern of translation of viral proteins, and the release of new viral particles.

24 Jun 2021

New tablet-sized device can profile multiple COVID-19 antibodies and biomarkers simultaneously

Biomedical engineers at Duke University in the USA have developed a device that detects coronavirus disease (COVID-19) antibodies as well as biomarkers that distinguish between antibodies produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 and four other coronaviruses with complete accuracy.

24 Jun 2021