Archives: 2021-12-16

HKUMed researchers find Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better than Delta in human bronchus but with less severe infection in lung

A study led by researchers from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) provides the first information on how the novel Variant of Concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2, the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infect human respiratory tract. The researchers found that Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infects and multiplies 70 times faster than the Delta variant

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Universal Coronavirus Vaccines: an Urgent Need. Global coronaviral approach requested by Fauci and NIH researchers

A growing body of scientific evidence, considered together with ecological reality, strongly suggest that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect bats and other animal reservoirs and potentially emerge to pose a pandemic threat to humans. To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three

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Blockade or deletion of IFN-gamma reduces macrophage activation without compromising CAR T function in hematologic malignancies

Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, has published a research article demonstrating a novel approach that may reduce a serious adverse effect associated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, a form of immunotherapy. This research was presented at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

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Fostering experimental and computational synergy to modulate hyperinflammation in severe Covid-19

An international collaboration between researchers from the Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE, Bilbao), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourgand and the Department of Immunology of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Kanneganti Lab, Memphis) highlights how fostering synergies between computational and experimental studies can lead to important

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Dual-vector gene therapy restores cochlear amplification and auditory sensitivity in a mouse model of DFNB16 hearing loss

Scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital have successfully used gene therapy to reverse a form of genetic hearing loss in mice. The team corrected a gene mutation that affects sensory hair cells in the inner ear, and the new jigsaw-like method could help improve gene therapy for other disorders. The target of the new treatment was

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Risks of myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmias are more likely associated with Covid-19 infection than with vaccination

Led by the University of Oxford, a team of UK-based researchers have today reported results of the largest ever study to compare the risks of cardiovascular events, such as myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmia, between different vaccines and COVID-19 infection, and the first to investigate the association between cardiac events and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. While

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NIH National Eye Institute researchers identify potential AMD drugs with stem-cell based research tool

Model replicates features of complex disease and provides platform for screening existing drugs Using a stem-cell-derived model, researchers have identified two drug candidates that may slow dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness for which no treatment exists. The scientists, from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of

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FDA issued an EUA for New Long-Acting Monoclonal Antibodies for Pre-exposure Prevention of COVID-19 in patients with moderate to severely compromised immune systems or a history of severe adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for AstraZeneca’s Evusheld (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab and administered together) for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19 in certain adults and pediatric individuals (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kilograms [about 88 pounds]).  The product is only authorized

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