Tag: 4/11/20

Categories : UncategorizedTags :

New COVID Lineages Found in SA

On By ModernMedia

To study the spread of COVID in South Africa, an interdisciplinary team called the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) was formed with members from SA, the UK and Brazil. Analysing 1365 genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers found 16 new COVID lineages which emerged in SA, which account for 42% of the country’s infections.

As could be expected, the bulk of introductions occurred before the advent of the lockdown and travel bans. Whether these new COVID lineages have any superior attributes relative to the original strains is as yet unknown, although the infectivity appears the same.

The study shows that, despite the lockdown, new strains emerged in localised outbreaks. Nosocomial outbreaks were also studied; in one case an outbreak in a hospital in KZN which went on to infect 16% of the population was brought under control, partly as a result of the investigation.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Categories : UncategorizedTags :

New Earwax Cortisol Test Lauded for Measuring Stress Levels

On By ModernMedia

A new way to gauge cortisol levels has been tested that involves testing a sample of earwax obtained using a cotton bud with a simple brake to prevent it penetrating too far into the ear.

Although blood, urine or saliva can be tested, they only measure short-term levels of cortisol, which can be highly variable, even from the stress of the sample being taken. Earwax samples can provide estimates of stable long-term levels of cortisol.

Lead researcher Dr Andres Herane-Vives, of University College London’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience said, “Cortisol sampling is notoriously difficult, as levels of the hormone can fluctuate, so a sample might not be an accurate reflection of a person’s chronic cortisol levels. Moreover, sampling methods themselves can induce stress and influence the results.

“But cortisol levels in earwax appear to be more stable, and with our new device, it’s easy to take a sample and get it tested quickly, cheaply and effectively.”

This new earwax cortisol test, which proved faster and yielded more cortisol than one taking samples from hair, has the potential to be very cheap and can be conducted at home. The technology could even be adapted to measure other biomarkers, and potentially test for COVID.

Source: The Guardian

Categories : UncategorizedTags :

Improved Treatment Results in 18% Fall in COVID Death Rates

On By ModernMedia

In a piece for The Conversation, Professor Monica Gandhi at the University of California, writes how, thanks to improved treatment as a results of experience gained, survival rates for COVID patients have dramatically risen.

In three New York hospitals, out of 1724 patients hospitalised for COVID in March, 430 died. In August, 134 hospitalised and five died. However, this may have been due to more vulnerable patients being infected. Therefore, to avoid bias, the researchers accounted for age of patients at hospitalisation, race, amount of oxygen support individuals needed on arrival and such risk factors as being overweight, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, lung disease. Even so, they found that patients were three times as likely to survive when admitted in August as compared to March, which indicates that this is due to improved treatment resulting from research into and experience with the disease.

A similar study in the UK looked at COVID patient survival rates in high-dependency units (HDU) and ICU, and found a continuous improvement in survival rates of 12.7% per week in the HDU and 8.9% per week in ICU.

Prof Gandhi attributes this to a better understanding of the disease, and the regular use of remdesivir and dexamethasone as treatments.

Source: The Conversation

Categories : UncategorizedTags :

New Book on CRISPR Gene-editing Technology

On By ModernMedia

A new book, “Editing Humanity: The Crispr Revolution and the New Era of Genome Editing”, by Kevin Davies lays out the story that led to developing the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing technology.

It describes the development of the technology involved clearly and succinctly, from the beginnings of gene sequencing to the 2012 discovery that an ancient bacterial immune system could be adapted and become the basis of the CRISPR gene-editing technology.

It also describes the misuse of the technology, such as with early gene therapy being done outside of the US on girls and young women to avoid US oversight. And despite a 2015 consensus that human sperm, eggs or embryos should not be edited, a scientist announced in 2018 that he had used gene editing on a pair of twin girls to confer HIV protection. 

The book however does not address how ethical issues should be resolved, such as releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes into the environment to suppress malaria.

Source: Nature

Categories : UncategorizedTags :

Inflammatory Foods Raise Cardiovascular Risk

On By ModernMedia

A pair of studies have examined the effect that the dietary inflammatory index has on cardiovascular health, and found that inflammatory foods increase cardiovascular risk.

It is known that inflammatory biomarkers such as interleukins, chemokines and adhesion molecules are associated with atherosclerosis, and proinflammatory foods such as red meats are also associated with cardiovascular risk. The study examined 210 000 participants over 32 years, who filled out a dietary survey every four years, and controlled for variables such as overweight.

“Using an empirically-developed, food-based dietary index to evaluate levels of inflammation associated with dietary intake, we found that dietary patterns with higher inflammatory potential were associated with an increased rate of cardiovascular disease,” said Jun Li, MD, Ph.D., lead author of the study and research scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Our study is among the first to link a food-based dietary inflammatory index with long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.”

The other study looked at the beneficial effects of walnuts, which have a strong anti-inflammatory effect. Participants who were assigned to eat 30-60gm of walnuts a day showed significantly reduced inflammation in 6 of 10 biomarkers used.

“The anti-inflammatory effect of long-term consumption of walnuts demonstrated in this study provides novel mechanistic insight for the benefit of walnut consumption on heart disease risk beyond that of cholesterol lowering,” said Montserrant Cofán, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.

Source: Medical Xpress