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Scientists isolate powerful SARS-CoV-2 -neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patients

A new study has shown that potent antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could help protect against COVID-19 infection. Preliminary results in animal studies have so far proven successful. The study titled, "Isolation of potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and protection from disease in a small animal model," was published in the latest issue of the journal Science.

17 Jun 2020

CSIRO study on the effects of COVID-19 on weight and well being

The CSIRO, Australia's federal government agency responsible for scientific research, has come up with a study looking at the emotional well being and weight loss or gain associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the forced stay-at-home measures.

16 Jun 2020

Antibiotic X-206 effective against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

The current study published on the preprint server bioRxiv aims to understand how these compounds affect SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark examined 11 natural PEIs, with a single synthetic analog, screening them for inhibitory activity against the CPE of SARS-CoV-2 infecting cultured cells with overexpression of TMPRSS2, a serine protease that is instrumental in cleaving the spike protein of the virus.

16 Jun 2020

Study: One in five adults experienced a decrease in their sexual behavior early in the pandemic

One in five adults in the United States report they have experienced change - mostly a decrease - in their sexual behavior during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.

16 Jun 2020

How antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in convalescent patients

A new study by researchers from the United Kingdom and Taiwan and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in June 2020 describes the structural basis for the neutralizing effect of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody on the virus. This also indicates a possible therapeutic molecule by identifying its binding epitope as possibly a major neutralizing site.

16 Jun 2020

TERAVOLT tracks outcomes of people with thoracic cancers affected by COVID-19

New data from TERAVOLT, a global consortium that tracks outcomes of people with thoracic cancers affected by COVID-19, offers clues as to why they experienced a high death rate of 33% when the coronavirus swept across Europe.

16 Jun 2020

A new, daily home-monitoring program for patients presumed COVID-19 positive

How do you monitor patients who have COVID-19 symptoms but are not ill enough to come to the emergency department? And how do you help those patients feel cared about and less frightened while convalescing at home?

16 Jun 2020

Scientists evaluate SARS-CoV-2 infection risks in livestock, poultry, pets and wildlife

A large-scale single-cell screening endeavor on a wide variety of animals showed that cells targeted by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are most abundant in cats, but are also found in other animals – unveiling a valuable resource for controlling the ongoing disruptive coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

16 Jun 2020

Key factors to "flattening the curve": Western Washington state's COVID-19 experience

Despite having the first confirmed case of coronavirus and the first major COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, the state of Washington implemented a response plan that kept its death rate the lowest among all states that have had major outbreaks.

16 Jun 2020

Severity of COVID-19 linked to heparanase activity and heparan sulfate levels

Researchers at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands reported an increase of heparanase activity and heparan sulfate levels in the plasma of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was also associated with the severity of the condition – suggesting, in turn, potential treatment utility of low molecular weight heparins. The paper is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

16 Jun 2020

Georgia Tech professor donated 7,000 gallons of redesigned sanitizer to fight COVID-19

So many people Seth Marder spoke to didn't see the hand sanitizer crisis brewing. The country was going to run dangerously short if someone did not act urgently.

16 Jun 2020

Toilet flushing can create a cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets

Researchers used a computer simulation to show how a flushing toilet can create a cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets that is large and widespread and lasts long enough that the droplets could be breathed in by others.

16 Jun 2020

Study highlights vulnerability of people in refugee camps to COVID-19

A COVID-19 outbreak in a refugee settlement will likely overwhelm the available healthcare capacity and infrastructure and spread through nearly the entire settlement population if left unchecked, according to a new study published June 16 in PLOS Medicine by Paul Spiegel of Johns Hopkins University, United States, and colleagues.

16 Jun 2020

How novel coronavirus affects children

New insights into the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could facilitate early identification and intervention in suspected patients, according to a study publishing on June 16, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Xihui Zhou of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China and colleagues.

16 Jun 2020

All of Us Research Program launches initiatives to seek new insights into COVID-19

The All of Us Research Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced that it is leveraging its significant and diverse participant base to seek new insights into COVID-19--through antibody testing, a survey on the pandemic's impacts and collection of electronic health record information.

16 Jun 2020

Researchers receive federal funding to rapidly repurpose FDA-approved drugs for COVID-19

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine will be partnering on an agreement funded by the federal government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to rapidly test hundreds of drugs, approved and marketed for other conditions, to see whether any can be repurposed to prevent or treat COVID-19.

16 Jun 2020

Antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) suppresses replication of SARS-CoV-2

A study conducted by researchers at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg has shown that the antidepressant agent fluoxetine may be an effective drug for the early treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among at-risk groups.

16 Jun 2020

Multi-institutional study examines neuroimaging findings in COVID-19 patients

A new multi-institutional study published in the journal Radiology identifies patterns in abnormal brain MRI findings in patients with COVID-19.

16 Jun 2020

Repeated coughing adversely affects filtering efficiency of face masks

Face masks are thought to slow the spread of viruses, including the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but little is known about how well they work.

16 Jun 2020

Antibody cocktail with potential to treat COVID-19 identified

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) evaluated several human antibodies to determine the most potent combination to be mixed in a cocktail and used as a promising anti-viral therapy against the virus that causes COVID-19.

16 Jun 2020