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Scientists reveal host pathways hijacked by three lethal coronaviruses

Seeking to inform development of drugs effective against multiple pathogenic human coronaviruses, David E. Gordon and colleagues compared host interactions of MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, uncovering host pathways commonly hijacked by all three.

16 Oct 2020

Sexually active students more likely to use STI self-testing services

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at record levels in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting recent "steep and sustained" increases.

16 Oct 2020

Sanofi Translate Bio MRT5500 COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in preclinical trials

The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to come back in greater intensity during the winter and fall. Faced with this threat, vaccine development efforts are entering a phase of renewed focus, attempting to identify antigens capable of eliciting protective levels of neutralizing antibodies. A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in October 2020 reports on a novel mRNA vaccine candidate's performance in two animal models.

16 Oct 2020

Study aims to understand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian veterans and their spouses

Lawson Health Research Institute and the Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are partnering with a population at high risk of mental illness - Canadian Veterans and spouses of Canadian Veterans - to study how they have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

15 Oct 2020

Should Australia re-open international borders?

Australian scientist Jessica Liebig from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), along with fellow researchers at the Queensland University of Technology and the University of New South Wales, studied the risks involved in re-opening the international borders for travelers to Australia.

15 Oct 2020

Mendelian randomization helps evaluate impact of circulating proteins in COVID-19

Researchers identify circulating proteins influencing COVID-19 susceptibility and severity by employing a large-scale two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study.

15 Oct 2020

COVID-19 can cause sudden permanent hearing loss in rare cases

Many complications have been reported, including heart disease and prolonged respiratory issues in a group of people called “long-haulers.” Now, a new worrying finding shows that COVID-19 can cause sudden and irreversible hearing loss in patients.

15 Oct 2020

News coverage contributes to drug shortages in COVID-19

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital in the U.S. have reported that the recent shortage of medicines used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be due to extensive news media coverage that results in individual hoarding or institutional stockpiling of medicines.

15 Oct 2020

Previous infections with seasonal coronaviruses might protect against SARS-CoV-2

Seasonal coronaviruses, which generally cause mild respiratory illness and symptoms of the common cold, belong to the same viral family as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes COVID-19.

15 Oct 2020

New guidance for "Long COVID" patients

“Long Covid,” which affects around 10% of patients, refers to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that is still causing symptoms beyond 3 to 4 weeks.

15 Oct 2020

Blood purification outside the body in COVID-19 patients

Rodney Rosalia et al., in a recent medRxiv preprint research paper, study the longitudinal variation of parameters involved with systemic inflammation in critically ill COVID-19 patients upon EBP treatment.

15 Oct 2020

Study links SARS-CoV-2 seasonality to increased spread at lower temperatures

In a recent paper available on the bioRxiv preprint server, US researchers show that individual particles of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) undergo structural destabilization at relatively mild but elevated temperatures – strengthening the case for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) resurgence in the winter.

15 Oct 2020

Researchers identify potential drugs that could be repurposed as pan-coronavirus treatments

A large international consortium of almost 200 researchers from 14 leading institutions in six countries has studied three different coronaviruses - SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV - with the aim of finding vulnerabilities shared by these three pathogens.

15 Oct 2020

Experts review contribution of Task Force in prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

On 24 September 2020, the Friends of the Task Force met in the margins of the high-level segment of the 75thsession of the United Nations General Assembly. Participants included Member States, UN agencies and non-State actors.

15 Oct 2020

INRS invests $1 million in COVID-19 research to address society's urgent needs

Quebec is particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than 50 years, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has placed research at the service of the development of society, focusing its efforts on strategic issues.

15 Oct 2020

Cloud-based tool can rapidly detect and track emerging pathogens

Published today in the journal GigaScience is a new open source, cloud-based tool called IDseq that makes it possible to rapidly detect, identify, and track emerging pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2.

15 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can infect brain cells and damage neurons

Researchers have found that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can infect the brain cells, mainly the astrocytes, and negatively affects cognition and neuronal cells.

15 Oct 2020

Digital environmental tools can help track and predict effects of COVID-19

A digital sprint, featuring a series of hackathons, led by Cranfield University and the Natural Environment Research Council has seen multiple projects awarded prizes for innovation and use of digital technology.

15 Oct 2020

Obese persons have greater risk of developing severe COVID-19

The probability that an obese person will develop severe COVID-19 is high regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, and the presence of co-morbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart or lung disease, according to a study by Brazilian researchers published in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice.

15 Oct 2020

Capillary blood microsampling could prove a breakthrough in SARS-CoV-2 serosurveillance

As COVID-19 seems to be making a comeback in many areas of the world, including Japan, a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 shows the relevance of microsamples of blood in serosurveillance of this disease.

15 Oct 2020