Year: 2020

Categories : COVID LungTags : Leave a comment

MRI Scans Reveal Post-COVID Extent of Lung Damage

On By ModernMedia

A study of non-hospitalised individuals who had recovered from COVID but still experienced breathing difficulties had revealed lung damage where other tests were unable to.

To investigate post-COVID lung damage, Prof Fergus Gleeson led a study involving 10 participants aged 19 to 69, of whom eight had been experiencing breathing difficulties three months after a COVID infection. They had not been hospitalised for their COVID, and conventional scans had not been able to detect any abnormalities with their lungs.

The patients’ lungs were imaged using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with xenon present in the lungs. Xenon, a noble gas, is non-toxic Xenon has a long history of use as a contrast agent, and is soluble with pulmonary tissue, allowing for investigation of specific lung characteristics that are connected to gas exchange and alveolar oxygenation, at the level of small airways where pulmonary function tests (PFTs) cannot provide information.

The scans revealed that there was indeed lung damage preventing alveolar oxygenation – and it was unexpectedly severe.

Prof Gleeson said, “I was expecting some form of lung damage, but not to the degree that we have seen.”

The findings help to explain the phenomenon of “long COVID”, where patients who have recovered from COVID continue to experience fatigue and breathing difficulties months after the original infection has ended.Based on the findings, Prof Gleeson will undertake a study with a further 100 participants based on the same criteria.

Source: BBC News 

Categories : HIV PoliticsTags : Leave a comment

UNAIDS Calls for Renewed Action and Sets 2025 Targets

On By ModernMedia

In a press release, UNAIDS reflects on the current state of the fight against HIV and AIDS, and notes that while there are numerous setbacks, it is possible to renew the fight.

It notes that the global response to HIV was already flagging before the advent of the COVID pandemic, and this has only pushed back the effort further. According to the agency, projections show 123 000 to 293 000 additional new HIV infections, along with 69 000 to 148 000 additional AIDS-related deaths between 2020 and 2022.

The agency strongly criticised the lack of political commitment which has led to this combined blow.  Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS  said, “The collective failure to invest sufficiently in comprehensive, rights-based, people-centred HIV responses has come at a terrible price. Implementing just the most politically palatable programmes will not turn the tide against COVID-19 or end AIDS. To get the global response back on track will require putting people first and tackling the inequalities on which epidemics thrive.” 

By proposing bold new targets for 2025, UNAIDS believes that the world can successfully meet its goal of ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030. The goals include reducing discrimination against HIV sufferers, removing punitive laws and combating gender inequality and gender-based violence. However, not all is negative: countries such as Botswana and eSwatini have already exceeded their 2020 targets. There are other positive spots, such as the infrastructure used to fight HIV/AIDS being leveraged in the fight against COVID.

Source: UNAIDS

Categories : HIV Immune SystemTags : Leave a comment

HIV Vaccine Search is a Marathon

On By ModernMedia

While COVID vaccines have appeared in a record-breaking short time, an HIV vaccine is still yet to arrive – though not without good reasons, as The Daily Maverick reports.

Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a US-based HIV advocacy organisation explained: “There is still no conclusive research on what type of immune response an HIV vaccine should be trying to trigger.”

“With HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature,” continued Warren. “With a Covid-19 vaccine, the jab merely has to do what nature is doing already — in the form of an immune response — just faster. But with HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature because your body isn’t able to successfully fight off the virus.”

HIV mutates quite rapidly, to the point where there are now two distinct strains, HIV-1 and HIV-1, complicating the process. SARS-CoV-2 on the other hand uses a process called proofreading when it replicates, ensuring a lower rate of mutations.

There are currently three vaccines in development; HPX2008/HVTN 705: Imbokodo and HPX3002/HVTN 706: Mosaico both use adenoviruses to deliver protein fragments of the HIV virus to train the immune system to respond to it. The “Imbokodo” is being trialled with young women, and “Mosaico” is being trialled with transgender men and men who have sex with men, and expected to end in 2022 and 2024 respectively. 

The PrEPVacc vaccine uses DNA inserted into plasmids, which induce the body to produce the virus’ proteins, but not the virus itself. The two shots contain a cocktail of proteins and the plasmids to train the immune system. The trial is expected to end in 2023

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COVID DNA of White House “Superspreader Event” Analysed

On By ModernMedia

On September 26, numerous high-profile individuals, contracted COVID at a large official White House gathering. This White House “superspreader event” as it was known became something of a case study in how COVID can spread in large groups of people.

Although President Trump contracted the virus, it is not known if this was a result of attending that event. The event, which had over a dozen guests, resulted in 34 individuals including White House staff testing positive for COVID by October 7.

Whilst contact tracing is difficult with COVID, genome sequencing offers a chance for insights into its development and spread. The researchers analysed SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nasal swabs taken from the patients at the White House superspreader event, and analysed it, looking for mutations. They found two variants, WH-2 and WH-2. They determined that these viruses descended from those widely in circulation in Florida, New York, Texas, Connecticut, and Washington – as well as certain countries such as  New Zealand.

Source: News-Medical.Net

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Hypertension at Night Raises Cardiovascular Disease Risk

On By ModernMedia

An eight year long study conducted in Japan added to the evidence that hypertension during the night raises cardiovascular disease risk, especially compared to the daytime. 

Hypertension levels are usually assessed during the day, and do not give an accurate snapshot of a person’s circadian rhythm.  According to lead author of the study, Kazuomi Kario, MD, PhD, hypertension at night, especially when blood pressure is lower during the day, raises cardiovascular disease risk and is increasingly being recognised as a risk factor. Kario said, “This study provides much more in-depth information about the cardiovascular risk associated with high nighttime blood pressure and different nighttime blood pressure phenotypes than have been reported previously.”

The Japan Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Prospective (JAMP) study enrolled 6359 patients and measured daytime and nighttime levels using an at-home, wearable, ambulatory monitor. They were told to conduct their daily routine as normal, and to rest or sleep during the night. The results showed that elevated blood pressure during the night compared to the day was a significant indicator of raised cardiovascular disease risk. Patients who were hypertensive and then had a large dip in systolic pressure had a greater risk for stroke.

“Results indicate that nighttime systolic blood pressure was a significant, independent risk factor for cardiovascular events,” said Dr Kario. “The study highlights the importance of including nighttime blood pressure monitoring in patient management strategies and will hopefully encourage physicians to ensure that antihypertensive therapy is effectively lowering blood pressure throughout the 24-hour dosing period.”

Source: Medical Xpress

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Research Suggests Vitamin C Beneficial for Severe COVID

On By ModernMedia

According to Associate Professor Anitra Carr of Otago University in New Zealand, research provides evidence that large doses of Vitamin C is beneficial for severe COVID. A 2019 study previously showed that giving Vitamin C to patients with Acute Respiratory Distress reduced mortality rates.

“A recent study that came out of the US showed that patients with coronavirus in ICU with Covid-19 also had very low vitamin C levels,” Carr said. “That’s because the body chews through a lot more of it when you get an infection – and your requirements increase significantly. But the standard doses given in the intensive care unit aren’t enough to compensate, given a severe case of the disease comes with a huge inflammatory response and oxidative stress.”

 Carr said that delivering the drug intravenously was critical to supplying the high levels of Vitamin C needed. One study from Wuhan, China showed Vitamin C conferred a survival benefit to placebo, though Carr noted that many more studies are needed and will come throughout the next year.

However, besides its normal dietary role, there was little research to show that Vitamin C had much of a preventative role. Carr said, “Some research has shown that, if you’re under enhanced stress, your risk for infection increases, so in those people vitamin C may decrease the risk of getting it. But in the general everyday population, who aren’t under extreme physical stress, it may not decrease your chances of catching the disease.”

Source: NZ Herald

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Rights Group Supports No Patents for COVID Vaccines

On By ModernMedia

Business Live reports on the recent call by South Africa and India for COVID vaccines not to be patented. Human Rights Watch added its support by stating that vaccines obtained by public funding should be shared as widely as possible, and their intellectual property status waived.

Some 44 vaccine candidates are being trialled around the world. Wealthy countries have placed orders in order to secure stockpiles of the vaccines. South Africa has no vaccine scheme of its own and is instead has expressed interest in (without signing up to) the global Covax scheme, which involves the World Health Organization and which aims to have two billion doses to be shipped out by the end of 2021.

HRW researcher Margaret Wurth said, “You can’t fight a global pandemic by allowing publicly funded vaccines to go to the highest bidder, at whatever price pharmaceutical companies set. When a safe and effective vaccine is found, it should be available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”

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Breast Cancer Patients in Public Healthcare System Face Great Obstacles

On By ModernMedia

In an in-depth article, the Daily Maverick reports on the huge challenges that breast cancer sufferers face in obtaining treatment from the public healthcare sector in South Africa.

A diagnosis might take up to six months, whereas one can be obtained in a space of weeks in private healthcare. Breast reconstructions are not available under public healthcare, forcing the survivor to find some way of hiding the disfigurement. The critical drug trastuzumab is classed as an unfunded mandate even in the Western Cape. Yet in the private sector, it is a prescribed minimum benefit. There are language barriers for patients, and a lack of palliative care medicines upon discharge. They also are not connected online, and cannot engage with initiatives such as Pinktober. In a country beset by gender-based violence and inequality, women’s health often is not a priority.

The remedy still lags very far behind. Since its inception in 2017, The Breast Cancer Control Policy has not been implemented anywhere in South Africa. In order to implement this policy, registered nurses have their job descriptions updated to include a primary modality of breast cancer screenings.

The COVID pandemic has set back progress even further, with care being postponed and many hospices being forced to close.

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Chinese Doctors Imprisoned for Illicit Organ Trade

On By ModernMedia

In China, doctors were among six people jailed for illegally harvesting organs in the country’s Anhui province. 

The liver and kidneys of 11 people were removed, after tricking the families of the deceased into thinking they were performing approved organ donations. Organs for transplant in China are in extremely short supply, especially after the practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners was ended following global criticism and concerted effort in 2015.

Shi Xianglin, son of one the deceased whose organs had been removed, became suspicious when examining the paperwork and local records. He alerted the authorities, and the six were sentenced in July. The case only came to light when Mr Shi spoke to the media about it.

Source: BBC News

Categories : Cancer Lab Tests and ImagingTags : Leave a comment

New Multi-cancer Blood Test Offered by NHS

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A new blood test developed by the California-based Grail company tests for DNA methylation, and is supposedly able to screen for over 50 cancer types this way.

The NHS is to offer the test to 165 000 people from the middle of next year, with 140 000 screened through their medical records and the remaining 25 000 through referrals from suspected symptoms. It is hoped that widespread screening and early detection will drastically improve cancer survival rates, consequently easing pressure on healthcare services.

Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology, at Warwick University, said the Galleri test was one of several novel blood tests being developed to spot cancer early on. “A publication from the Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas consortium examining the Galleri test in 6 689 participants has generated very encouraging results in more than 50 different cancers at different stages of development.”

However, there was disagreement from some cancer experts regarding Galleri’s  potential effectiveness. Paul Pharoah, a professor of cancer epidemiology, at Cambridge University, said that it was premature for the NHS to embrace an unproven test. He said, “The Galleri blood test is a test that might be able to detect cancer in the blood in individuals with early cancer, though the evidence that it does this effectively is weak,” Pharoah said. According to him, only a single published paper on the tests was available, wherein they detected a mere 25% of early-stage cancers and under half of late-stage cases.

Source: The Guardian