Archives: 2020-03-17

Oxford University experts provide evidence for a coronavirus mobile app for instant contact tracing

A team of medical research and bioethics experts at Oxford University are supporting several European governments to explore the feasibility of a coronavirus mobile app for instant contact tracing. If rapidly and widely deployed, the infectious disease experts believe such an app could significantly help to contain the spread of coronavirus.  The Oxford University team has provided

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Melbourne researchers have mapped immune responses from one of Australia’s first novel COVID-19 patients, showing the body’s ability to fight the virus and recover from the infection.

Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) were able to test blood samples at four different time points in an otherwise healthy woman in her 40s, who presented with COVID-19 and had mild-to-moderate symptoms requiring hospital admission. Published today in Nature Medicine is a detailed report of how the patient’s immune system

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Worst-case coronavirus scenario published by disease modelers of CDC: 214 million Americans infected, 1.7 million dead

The worst-case figures are what would happen if no action is taken to slow the virus, which spreads person to person. Disease modelers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention project that as much as 65% of the American population could eventually be infected by the new coronavirus, according to the New York Times.

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Why patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus and ibuprofen usage could be at increased risk for COVID-19 infection?

A letter, recently published on Lancet, suggests that ACE inhibitors, ARBs and ibuprofen results in upregulation of ACE2 receptors. Human pathogenic coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus [SARS-CoV] and SARSCoV-2) bind to their target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is expressed by epithelial cells of the lung, intestine, kidney, and blood vessels. The

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Infectious Disease Experts Recommend Using Antibodies from COVID-19 Survivors as Stopgap Measure to Treat Patients and Protect Healthcare Workers

INFUSIONS OF ANTIBODY-LADEN BLOOD HAVE BEEN USED WITH REPORTED SUCCESS IN PRIOR OUTBREAKS, INCLUDING THE SARS EPIDEMIC AND THE 1918 FLU PANDEMIC Countries fighting outbreaks of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 should consider using the antibodies of people who have recovered from infection to treat cases and provide short-term immunity—lasting weeks to months—to critical health care

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Pluristem and Charité University of Medicine Berlin Join Forces Targeting Potential Treatment for Respiratory and Inflammatory Intratissue Complications Caused by COVID-19

 Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., a leading regenerative medicine company developing a platform of novel biological products, today announced it has signed a collaborative agreement with the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapy (BCRT) and the Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charite’ University of Medicine Berlin to expand its existing framework and research agreement and conduct

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‘Smart’ wound-healing patch: DARPA awards $22 million grant

Team combining AI, bioelectronics, regenerative medicine to regrow muscle tissue Rice University neuroengineers and bioengineers are part of a national team that’s developing “smart” technology that combines artificial intelligence, bioelectronics and regenerative medicine to regrow muscle tissue for wounded soldiers. Rice neuroengineers and bioengineers are part of a national team that’s developing REPAIR, an electronic

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362 cell and gene therapies in US pipeline, finds report

New research has found that there are 362 cell and gene therapies in clinical pipelines in the US, an increase from 2018. A new report from America’s Biopharmaceutical Companies has revealed that there are 362 cell and gene therapies in development in the US. Roughly a third of the therapies, 132, are potential treatments for rare diseases.  The research

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