Reading Aloud without a Mask, Olfactory Bulbs, Omega Variant
Conclusion and recommendation:" Ineligibility because of age and lack of vaccination contribute to persistent elevated risk for outbreaks in schools, especially as new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge. However, implementation of multiple prevention strategies within schools can mitigate this risk. "Olfactory Bulbs Speaking of smell,over 20 papers show MRI signal abnormalities in the olfactory bulbs of COVID-19 patients with anosmia (loss of smell). This isn ' t new, but anosmia has been reported inbreakthroughcasesas well. The images below show some resolution in a patient from time 1 to time 2.Magnetic Resonance Imaging Al...
Source: The Neurocritic - August 31, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
More coronaviruses in rodents
This week President Biden received the report he commissioned on the origin of SARS-CoV-2. As I predicted three months ago, nothing was learned, because to find the origin of the virus it is necessary to conduct extensive wildlife surveys. Consequently this week I would rather write about a new study that identified coronaviruses in rodents. […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - August 27, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology bats coronavirus COVID-19 furin cleavage site pandemic rodents SARS-CoV-2 spillover viral viruses zoonotic pathogen Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 23rd 2021
In this study, we used the UK Biobank (n = 440,185) to resolve previous ambiguities in the relationship between serum IGF-1 levels and clinical disease. We examined prospective associations of serum IGF-1 with mortality, dementia, vascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer, finding two generalized patterns.
First, IGF-1 interacts with age to modify risk in a manner consistent with antagonistic pleiotropy; younger individuals with high IGF-1 are protected from disease, while older individuals with high IGF-1 are at increased risk for incident disease or death. Second, the association between IGF-1 and risk ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 22, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Impact of Viral Infection on Microglia and the Aging of the Brain
A growing school of thought sees persistent viral infection as an important contributing factor in age-related neurodegeneration. The widely varying burden of infection that is present in the population could help to explain the puzzling epidemiology of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, in that only some of the people with evident risk factors in fact go on to develop dementia. A simplistic view of the role of viral infection, particularly by persistent herpesviruses, is that it produces chronic inflammation in brain tissue, and that inflammation contributes to the many forms of molecular pathology observed in neurod...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 20, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Are COVID-19 vaccine boosters needed?
The US Centers for Disease Control have concluded that a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be needed for protection against disease, but the science says otherwise. A review of the immune responses to infection will help explain why vaccine boosters are not needed. The graph below shows the relative concentrations of antibody and T […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - August 20, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine vaccine booster viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Estimate of infectiousness during COVID-19
Understanding the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is complicated by the large numbers of presymptomatic, asymptomatic, and mildly symptomatic (PAMS) patients. The reproductive number, R0, is a measure of population-level dynamics, but it cannot provide information on infectiousness of different groups such as PAMS subjects; when peak infectiousness occurs; and the effect of intrinsic properties of the […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - August 13, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology alpha variant coronavirus COVID-19 infectiousness pandemic SARS-CoV-2 transmission variant of concern viral viral RNA load viruses Source Type: blogs
CRISPR-Based Spit Test Detects SARS-CoV-2 and Variants
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute and MIT have developed an inexpensive at-home test for SARS-CoV-2 and several variants, which does not require nasal swabs. The test uses a simple spit sample, and provides results that can be read using a smartphone app within an hour. With access to a 3D printer and commonly available components, the device can be created for approximately $15, and the researchers hope that it could provide a viable testing option for countries without easy access to centralized laboratories.
While vaccination campaigns have made a dent in the spread of COVID-19 in many countries, the need for...
Source: Medgadget - August 10, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Genetics Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
COVID ’s lab leak theory obscures zoonosis and progression
Even as COVID-19 is found in apes, big cats, minks, domestic cats, other small mammals, and now in U.S. deer, some don ’t want to let go of the insultingly simplistic “lab leak” theory. Do they really think the 1918 influenza and AIDS pandemics (or Ebola, MERS, and SARS ) needed lab mendacity to exist? WeRead more …COVID’s lab leak theory obscures zoonosis and progression originally appeared inKevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 7, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/martha-rosenberg" rel="tag" > Martha Rosenberg < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs
Low-Cost Nanobodies from Alpacas are Highly Potent Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, engineered mini-antibodies, called nanobodies, against SARS-CoV-2. The team’s nanobodies are stable up to 95 degrees Celsius (203 F) and are cheaper and less complex to produce than conventional antibodies. So far, the nanobodies have shown impressive efficacy against the virus and its variants in the lab, and the researchers are preparing to conduct a clinical trial to see if they could be a viable treatment for COVID-19 patients.
Two of the newly developed nanobodies (blue and magenta) binding to the receptor-binding domain (gr...
Source: Medgadget - August 5, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Nanomedicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Heterologous Vaccine Regimens Might be Better
A heterologous vaccine regimen consisting of a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine induces a stronger immune response than a regimen consisting of two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - August 5, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Gertrud U. Rey Tags: Basic virology Gertrud Rey antibodies AstraZeneca ChAdOx IgA IgG memory B cell neutralizing antibody Pfizer mRNA vaccine SARS-CoV-2 T cells vaccines variant Source Type: blogs
Anti ‐Vaxxers Turn to Big Government
Thomas A. FireyCOVID-19hospitalizations anddeaths are rising in the United States as the highly infectious Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has becomethe dominant strain in the country. These serious cases arealmost entirely limited to people who are not vaccinated against the virus; for the vaccinated,infection rates are much lower and nearly all infections are no more troublesome than a cold or — at worst – a bout of the flu, and often go unnoticed altogether.COVID-19 causedat least11 percent of all U.S. deaths in 2020, making it thethird leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. So far in 20...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 2, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas A. Firey Source Type: blogs
Star Power Helps Students Identify Learning Goals | TAPP 98
Students often ignore publishedlearning objectives, but we often use subtleclues to help them understand what they need to know. In this episode, Kevin Patton discusseshow to be less subtle about that, while also teaching our students how to spot important clues. Thatelephant in the room? It's thetextbook.Cilia are amazing andvital. InCOVID-19, we see howcilia damage can kill us. Did you know thatcells make soap? Listen and learn why.00:00 | Introduction00:54 | The Appearing Elephant Trick06:05 | Sponsored by AAA07:26 | COVID-19 and Cilia Damage10:54 | Soapy Cell Defense15:04 | Sponsored by HAPI16:35 | The Star S...
Source: The A and P Professor - August 2, 2021 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Why would nasally-transferred coronavirus only affect the left side of the brain?
WE GET QUESTIONS!Q– “I survived a mild case of COVID. Should I be worried about the volume of gray matter in olfactory-related structures in the left hemisphere of my brain?”A– Most of what you ' ve read on social media may be overstated.One of the scariest things aboutSARS-CoV-2 (other than possible death) is that it affectsmultiple organs, including the brain. The vast majority of studies have compared measures in COVID survivors to those obtained from participants without COVID. Thesecross-sectional studies cannot determine whether pre-existing differences can account for disease-related ' changes ' .An importan...
Source: The Neurocritic - July 31, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
T cells will save us from COVID-19, part 3
In the two previous installments (one, two) of what has now become my praise of T cells, I explained that the SARS-CoV-2 protein sequences recognized by T cells do not change, likely explaining why vaccines prevent serious disease and death caused by any variant. Today I will explain that virus-specific T cells appear a week […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - July 30, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology antibody B cell coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 T cell vaccine viral viruses Source Type: blogs
