Body
An innovative cell-based treatment for cancer has been found promising for the control of infections caused by fungi. A study published in the journal Cytotherapy reports that the use of CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cells programmed to “recognize” Cryptococcus spp. fungi was effective in combating infection in vitro and in mice.
With a relatively minor genetic change, a new treatment developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University appears to stop replication of both flu viruses and the virus that causes Covid-19. Best of all, the treatment could be delivered to the lungs via a nebulizer, making it easy for patients to administer themselves at home.
What The Study Did: This randomized clinical trials reports that among adults with mild COVID-19, a five-day course of ivermectin, compared with placebo, didn't significantly improve the time to resolution of symptoms. The findings don't support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand the effects of ivermectin on other clinically relevant outcomes.
Authors: Eduardo López-Medina, M.D., M.Sc., of the Centro de Estudios en Infectología Pediátrica in Cali, Colombia, is the corresponding author.
What The Article Says: This Viewpoint proposes ways to maximize vaccine efficacy and allocation given the rise of coronavirus variants and authorization of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, including reserving the latter for younger healthier populations, boosting it with a single-dose messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination and single mRNA immunization of people with prior documented SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Authors: John P. Moore, Ph.D., of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, is the corresponding author.
NEW YORK, NY (March 4, 2021)--Inflammatory heart disease is a rare finding among professional athletes with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection, a large-scale study has found.
The study, led by Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in collaboration with the major North American sports leagues and their respective players' associations, was published online today in JAMA Cardiology.
Athletes and COVID-19
PHILADELPHIA (March 4, 2021) - Equitable implementation of COVID?19 vaccine delivery is a national and global priority, with a strong focus on reducing existing disparities and not creating new disparities. But while a framework has been recognized for equitable allocation of COVID?19 vaccine that acknowledges the rights and interests of sexual and gender minorities (SGM), it fails to identify strategies or data to achieve that goal.
The drug nusinersen is approved for the treatment of 5q spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now examined in an early benefit assessment whether the drug offers an added benefit for patients in comparison with the appropriate comparator therapy.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine show that analysis of the proteomics, or all the protein data, from aggressive human cancers is a useful approach to identify potential novel therapeutic targets. They report in the journal Oncogene, the identification of "proteomic signatures" that are associated with clinical measures of aggressive disease for each of the seven cancer types studied. Some signatures were shared between different types of cancer and included cellular pathways of altered metabolism.
Parkinson's disease has always been considered a brain disorder. However, new research reveals a close link between the disease and certain immune cells in the blood.
Researchers from Aarhus University have taken the first step on a path which can lead to new ways of understanding and, in the long term, possibly treating this widespread disease that affects not only motor functions but also cognition and emotions.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (March 4, 2021) - Many new mothers with infants want very much to breastfeed as it is the gold standard for early nutrition. What to do when you find out your young child has a food allergy, and you are breastfeeding? A new study in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), found that more than 28% of the women were given no guidance on whether they could eat the same food their breastfeeding child was allergic to.
A detailed analysis of mental health treatment trends during the COVID-19 pandemic found a 7% increase in visits during the initial shelter-in-place period in 2020, compared with the same 3-month period in 2019.
The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry March 3, examined patient visits for psychiatric diagnoses among members of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California.
For women who had participated in both of their previous two screening examinations, the incidence of breast cancers proving fatal within 10 years of diagnosis was 50 per cent lower than in women who did not attend either of the last two screening examinations. Compared with women who attended only one of the two previous screens, women who attended both had a significant 22-33 per cent reduction in breast cancer mortality.
New research shows that people diagnosed with a genetic condition, called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), are far more likely to stop smoking and therefore prevent the development of lung disease.
The study, led by researchers from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science, is published in COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
PITTSBURGH, March 3, 2021 - Women who experience an accelerated accumulation of abdominal fat during menopause are at greater risk of heart disease, even if their weight stays steady, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health-led analysis published today in the journal Menopause.
SALT LAKE CITY - Utah researchers report significant new insights into the development of blood cancers. In work published today in Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, scientists describe an analysis of published data from more than 7,000 patients diagnosed with leukemia and other blood disorders. Their findings provide new clues about mutations that may initiate cancer development and those that may help cancer to progress.