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New questions are at the forefront as a study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology from nine children's hospitals finds that most asymptomatic children who tested positive for COVID-19 had relatively low levels of the virus compared to symptomatic children. The authors caution that the reason for this finding is unclear and more questions need to be answered. Were the asymptomatic children generally tested later in their disease, and were their viral loads potentially higher closer to the beginning of their infections?
Boston - A medication frequently used to treat diabetic macular edema, which is the most common cause of blindness in people with diabetes, is less effective when used to treat the condition in Black patients, new study results show. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center, the study demonstrated that Black patients were significantly less likely than white patients to show short-term visual improvement after both a single injection and a series of three injections with the drug bevacizumab (Avastin), the most common treatment in the U.S. for diabetic macular edema.
An international team of researchers has identified a direct molecular link between meat and dairy diets and the development of antibodies in the blood that increase the chances of developing cancer. This connection may explain the high incidence of cancer among those who consume large amounts of dairy products and red meat, similar to the link between high cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.
The coronavirus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has one official name--SARS-CoV-2. But according to virologists, mutations lead to hundreds of genetically-distinct versions of the virus. Scientists at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have used these viral signatures to reveal transmission patterns, which show the effectiveness of early safety measure policies.
BOSTON - A young woman who had been hospitalized for three months straight due to debilitating, recurrent infections with no apparent underlying cause was finally able to go home thanks to a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) team who put their heads together, discovered a root of the problem, and developed a novel treatment strategy just for her.
University of Alberta scientists have identified the mechanism of action behind a new type of precision cancer drug for blood cancers that is set for human trials, according to research published today in Nature Communications.
A team of researchers in the US and Australia have developed a way of testing potential drugs for children's cancers so as to take account of the wide genetic diversity of these diseases.
Vaccines are being hailed as the solution to the covid-19 pandemic, but the vaccine trials currently underway are not designed to tell us if they will save lives, reports Peter Doshi, Associate Editor at The BMJ today.
Several covid-19 vaccine trials are now in their most advanced (phase 3) stage, but what will it mean exactly when a vaccine is declared "effective"?
Many may assume that successful phase 3 studies will mean we have a proven way of keeping people from getting very sick and dying from covid-19. And a robust way to interrupt viral transmission.
BOSTON - The drug tocilizumab (Actemra) does not reduce the need for breathing assistance with mechanical ventilation or prevent death in moderately ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19, according to a new study led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), casts doubt on earlier research suggesting that tocilizumab, which is commonly prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other conditions, might be an effective treatment for patients with worsening cases of COVID-19.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- People have different susceptibilities to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, and develop varying degrees of fever, fatigue, and breathing problems -- common symptoms of the illness. What might explain this variation?
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, and University of Southern California may have an answer to this mystery.
In this Perspective, Marc Lipsitch and Natalie Dean consider what would happen if a COVID-19 vaccine offers little to no protection in high-risk groups, like the elderly and those with comorbidities, yet is able to reduce infection or infectiousness in younger adults. In such a case, they say, an indirect protection strategy - whereby those in contact with high-risk individuals are vaccinated to reduce transmission -could be preferred once vaccine supplies become large enough.
BOSTON - The potential impact of the patient-clinician relationship on a patient's response to treatment is widely accepted. But until now, little was known about which parts of the brain may play a role in that interaction and which specific behaviors can influence clinical response, which is critically important to optimizing patient-clinician interactions for clinical benefit.
Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.
1. Down Syndrome associated with a 10-fold increased risk for COVID-19-related death
DALLAS, October 21, 2020 --The recovery phase following cardiac arrest continues long after hospitalization and is now included as a key link in the Chain of Survival, a widely adopted series of critical actions that work to maximize the chance of someone surviving cardiac arrest, according to the "2020 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care," published today in the Association's flagship journal, Circulation.
What The Viewpoint Says: The need for collaborative care among health care professionals to meet mental health demands in the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed in this Viewpoint.
Authors: Andrew D. Carlo, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3216)