Archives: 2020-08-17

Quick and affordable saliva-based COVID-19 test developed by Yale scientists receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization

A saliva-based laboratory diagnostic test developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health to determine whether someone is infected with the novel coronavirus has been granted an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The method, called SalivaDirect, is being further validated as a test for asymptomatic individuals through

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Regenerative Medicine & Advanced Therapies Sector Thriving Despite COVID-19 following a new report by ARM

In the early days of COVID-19, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) was unsure how the pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn would affect the cell and gene therapy space. “It was a really specific time when the world and the markets were clearly reeling from the first appreciation for the seriousness of COVID-19,” Janet

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Addressing Challenges Associated with Operationalizing a CSC Protocol for the Covid-19 Pandemic

The imminent threat of a Covid-19 surge overwhelming available resources for critically ill patients prompted many state-level public health officials to rapidly develop triage protocols for scarce resources, known as Crisis Standards of Care (CSC). It is important, however, for health care organizations to develop their own local CSC plans to address unique staff and

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Pharmacological activation of NRF2 could be a way to combat Acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by SARSCoV2.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by SARS-CoV-2 is largely the result of a dysregulated host response, followed by damage to alveolar cells and lung fibrosis. Exacerbated proinflammatory cytokines release (cytokine storm) and loss of T lymphocytes (lymphopenia) characterize the most aggressive presentation. A multifaceted anti-inflammatory strategy, based on pharmacological activation of nuclear factor erythroid

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Important paper published on Cell by Morens and Fauci on Emerging Pandemic Diseases: How We Got To COVID-19

Infectious diseases prevalent in humans and animals are caused by pathogens that once emerged from other animal hosts. In addition to these established infections, new infectious diseases periodically emerge. In extreme cases they may cause pandemics such as COVID-19; in other cases, dead end infections or smaller epidemics result. Established diseases may also re-emerge, for

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Defined the role of neutrophil extracellular traps in COVID-19 vascular occlusion. Efficacy of desamethasone, heparin and convalescent plasma.

Two papers recently published on EBioMedicine confirm that the excessive NET formation drives immunopathology in severe COVID-19 associated disseminated pulmonary intravascular coagulopathy. Coronavirus induced disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be complicated by severe organ damage leading to dysfunction of the lungs and other organs. The processes that trigger organ damage in COVID-19 are incompletely understood. Samples

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Robust T cell immunity in convalescent individuals with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19

Important study on T cells in SARSCoV2 published in Cell from Marcus Buggert et al. CIM Sweden Karolinska Institute. SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells will likely prove critical for long-term immune protection against COVID-19. In this paper are systematically mapped the functional and phenotypic landscape of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses in unexposed individuals, exposed family members,

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