Over the past three years, it has become clear that, for many people, the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection persist long after an initial case of COVID-19 wanes. Like primary COVID-19, the affliction, known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) or long COVID, has highly variable duration, symptoms and severity. And as data accumulates, it appears
A new report has highlighted the consequences of misinformation, including loss of trust in public institutions, delayed action on pressing issues such as climate change, and the financial toll on healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ‘Fault Lines’ report involved a panel of international experts, including leading cognitive scientist Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, from the University of
People hospitalized with COVID-19 may have an increased risk for heart damage, but not so much the type of inflammation previous research suggested, according to a new study. Early in the pandemic, several studies suggested many COVID-19 survivors experienced heart damage even if they didn’t have underlying heart disease and weren’t sick enough to be hospitalized. The
A booster (third) dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was associated with a 90% reduction in death in people with multiple health conditions compared to 2 doses, according to a new study from Hong Kong published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221068. “We found a substantially reduced risk of COVID-19–related death in adults with multimorbidity who received a
Serotonin can impact the mitral valve of the heart and potentially accelerate a cardiac condition known as degenerative mitral regurgitation, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University’s Department of Surgery in collaboration with the Pediatric Heart Valve Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the University of Pennsylvania, and the Valley
Identified in 2020, VEXAS syndrome is a rare, genetically linked disorder with a high death rate. VEXAS syndrome is a disease that causes inflammatory and hematologic (blood) manifestations. The syndrome is caused by mutations in the UBA1 gene of blood cells and acquired later in life. Patients do not pass the disease to their children. The syndrome
NIH biobank study suggests vaccinations against viruses may also reduce risk of neurological disorders Some viral illnesses may increase a person’s chances of later developing Alzheimer’s disease or another neurodegenerative disorder. Though a causal link cannot be confirmed, an NIH study in which researchers mined the medical records of hundreds of thousands of people in
Can gene therapy trials for vision loss, hemophilia, and melanoma break through in 2023? fter another turbulent year in gene therapy development, all eyes are on five major trial readouts set for H1 2023. The clinical studies target rare blood disorders, inherited retinal diseases, and metastatic melanoma—each of which poses distinct trial design challenges. First, two small
COVID-19 is associated with higher risks of cardiovascular disease and death in the short- and long-term, according to a study in nearly 160,000 participants published today in Cardiovascular Research, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Compared to uninfected individuals, the likelihood of COVID-19 patients dying was up to 81 times higher in
A review of 9 studies suggested that plasma therapy may work in a group of immunocompromised people During the first months of 2020, when the coronavirus was spreading around the world, it was not known what the routes of transmission were and what medications could be beneficial to treat COVID-19 . Among other options, it began to be postulated that the blood plasma
