Researchers of Harvard Medical School, Boston have devised a way to decontaminate N95 respirators using household supplies: glass containers, mesh from produce bags, a rubber band, and a microwave. The paper by Zulauf KE, Green AB, Nguyen Ba AN, Jagdish T, Reif D, Seeley R, Dale A, Kirby JE has been published on mBio 11:e00997-20.
University of Oxford’s RECOVERY trial published its much anticipated preprint paper on the drug’s effect on Covid-19. The paper states that the drug cuts deaths in ventilated patients by one third and deaths in other admitted patients receiving oxygen by only one fifth. The headline findings of the trial were reported by the investigators on 16
Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators have found investigational convalescent plasma to be safe following transfusion in a diverse group of 20,000 patients. The findings — from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Expanded Access Program for COVID-19 — are reported in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The safety report assessed the seven days following transfusion for hospitalized patients between April
Many people who contract COVID-19 have only a mild illness, or sometimes no symptoms at all. But others develop respiratory failure that requires oxygen support or even a ventilator to help them recover [1]. It’s clear that this happens more often in men than in women, as well as in people who are older or
The host immune system produces a variety of regulatory molecules, including interferons (IFNs), during a response to viral infection. Although previously considered beneficial, these proteins may actually cause life-threatening inflammation, according to an article published in Science on June 11. IFNs are a group of signaling proteins that are made and released by host cells in response
Review encourages medical personnel to develop personalized treatment based on patient’s pathophysiology A new review details three distinct phases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and urges medical professionals to consider an individualized treatment approach based on the disease phases and each patient’s symptoms. The reviewis published ahead of print in Physiological Reviews.
Donated convalescent plasma may be beneficial to patients with severecoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to boost their ability to fight the virus. What Is Convalescent Plasma?Most people who recover from COVID-19 develop antibodies (proteins that the immune system produces in response to infection) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2). Antibodies are found in plasma,
A new systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies using mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) led by a team at the Mayo Clinic, and including researchers from Emory, Duke, Case-Western, and the University of Miami, shows a trend toward improved outcomes and reduced mortality for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)—a major complication for patients with COVID-19.
Lockdown measures may have averted 3.1 million deaths from covid-19 across 11 European countries, including 470 000 in the UK, a new modelling study indicates. However, the researchers warn that European countries are very far from achieving herd immunity, as less than 4% of their populations were infected with SARS-CoV-2 up to 4 May, when lockdowns
A study on children suffering from severe inflammatory symptoms shows the condition is new and distinct from Kawasaki disease. In April, researchers in the UK and several European countries with high numbers of COVID-19 cases recognised a new inflammatory syndrome in children that was similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare syndrome known to affect young
