UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Deaths from COVID-19 will have a ripple effect causing impacts on the mental health and health of surviving family members. But the extent of that impact has been hard to assess until now. Every death from COVID-19 will impact approximately nine surviving family members, according to a study.
In a study of kinship networks in the United States, the researchers said that approximately nine surviving close family members will be affected by each death from the virus in the country. For example, if the virus kills 190,000 people, 1.7 million will experience the loss of a close relative, said Ashton Verdery, associate professor of sociology, demography and social data analytics, and an affiliate of the Population Research Institute and Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, Penn State.
A kinship network includes grandparents, parents, siblings, spouses and children.
According to Verdery, the multiplier could serve as an indicator to help raise awareness about the scale of the disease and the ripple effects that the disease may have on a community, as well as prepare officials and business leaders to manage those effects.
"It's very helpful to have a sense of the potential impacts that the pandemic could have," said Verdery. "And, for employers, it calls attention to policies around family leave and paid leave. At the federal level, it might inform officials about possible extensions for FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act). There could also be some implications for caretaking. For example, a lot of children grow up in grandparent-led houses and they would be impacted."
https://www.eurekale...s-anf071320.phphttps://www.eurekale...c-fec071320.phpAntibody and immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, varied substantially among convalescing patients, a small study found.
The plasma of 41 patients in Australia recovering from COVID-19 showed antibodies, memory B cells, and circulating follicular helper T cells against the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, but there was a range of certain B and T cell responses and frequency among individuals, reported Stephen Kent, PhD, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues, writing in Nature Medicine.
Why is this important for vaccine development? Because, Kent's group said, "neutralization activity in the plasma ranges widely" despite the qualitative detection of major immune response markers.
"B and T cell responses targeting the [receptor-binding domain], and in particular the ACE2 interaction site, were markedly less frequent than total responses to [spike protein], to the point of being undetectable in some individuals," they wrote.
And because the goal of a vaccine is to elicit neutralizing antibodies targeting the spike protein of the virus, which would prevent it from binding to ACE2 in human cells, this could have implications for "spike-based vaccine prototypes," as it has been unclear how these models would work in humans, the authors added.
https://www.medpaget...e/covid19/87544French researchers have identified a unique signature in the most critically ill COVID-19 patients - a combination of deficiency in a response of a particular interferon, as well as exacerbated inflammation, according to a new study published Monday in Science magazine.
The researchers studied a cohort of 50 COVID-19 patients with various disease severity. They propose this signature, which may be a hallmark of severe COVID-19, provides a rationale for therapeutic approaches that combine interferon supplementation with neutralization of inflammatory signaling.
COVID-19 is characterized by distinct patterns of disease progression depending on the patient, which implies patients exhibit different immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the study.
So far, studies suggest some 5 to 10 percent of patients progress to severe or critical disease. However, little is known about the immunological features involved in COVID-19 severity, according to the study.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...zt5331857.shtml Critically ill COVID-19 patients who received a single dose of a drug that calms an overreacting immune system were 45% less likely to die overall, and more likely to be out of the hospital or off a ventilator one month after treatment, compared with those who didn't receive the drug, according to a new study by a team from the University of Michigan.
The lower risk of death in patients who received intravenous tocilizumab happened despite the fact that they were also twice as likely to develop an additional infection, on top of the novel coronavirus.
The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases after being available as a preprint last month.
It suggests a benefit from timely and targeted efforts to calm the "cytokine storm" caused by the immune system's overreaction to the coronavirus. Tocilizumab, originally designed for rheumatoid arthritis, has already been used to calm such storms in patients receiving advanced immunotherapy treatment for cancer.
https://www.eurekale...u-dlt071320.phphttps://labblog.uofm...-19-patients-on Combined with the disruption already created in the health service by COVID-19, a backlog of patients needing NHS assessment and treatment, and the possibility of a flu epidemic, this poses a serious risk to health in the UK.
These new pressures are in addition to the challenge winter usually presents to the NHS, when other infectious diseases are more common and conditions such as asthma, heart attack, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke tend to worsen.
The ‘Preparing for a challenging winter 2020/21’ report stresses that ‘intense preparation’ is urgently needed throughout the rest of July and August to reduce the risk of the health service being overwhelmed and to save lives this winter. This includes:
- Minimising transmission of coronavirus in the community, with a public information campaign for all, as well as advice tailored to individuals and communities at high risk.
- Reorganising health and social care staff and facilities to maintain COVID-19 and COVID-19-free zones, and ensure there is adequate PPE, testing and system-wide infection-control measures to minimise transmission in hospitals and care homes.
- Increasing capacity of the test, trace and isolate programme to cope with the overlapping symptoms of COVID-19, flu and other winter infections.
- Establishing a comprehensive, near-real-time, population-wide surveillance system to monitor and manage a winter wave.
- Guarding against the worst effects of flu with a concerted effort to get people at risk, and health and care workers safely vaccinated.
The Academy has also released a ‘Peoples perspective’ report, written by patients and carers that calls for these actions to be developed through engagement with patients, carers and the public to ensure services, guidelines and communications work for people, rather than focusing plans on individual medical conditions.
Research suggests that COVID-19 is more likely to spread in winter with people spending more time indoors and the virus able to survive longer in colder, darker winter conditions.
The report notes there is a high degree of uncertainty about how the COVID-19 epidemic will evolve in the UK over the coming months, but suggests a ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’ to prepare for is one where the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to (Rt value) rises to 1.7 from September 2020 onwards.
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https://acmedsci.ac....edical-sciencesvia
https://www.technolo...edical-experts/ Philadelphia, July 14, 2020 – In a retrospective study, investigators from New York University Langone Health found that the quantity of SARS-CoV-2 (viral load) collected from patients in the emergency department is significantly higher in patients with fewer or milder symptoms who did not require hospitalization—the opposite of what might be expected. Reporting in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, they also found that a patient’s history of cancer and cardiovascular disease is associated with higher viral loads even after adjusting for age.
The study was designed to determine possible associations between the viral load measured in patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 and their clinical parameters including severity of symptoms, hospital admission vs direct discharge, length of hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit, length of need for oxygen support, and overall survival.
"It appears that the viral load peaks in the early stages of the disease. Although it is not associated with the duration of symptoms, their severity or outcome, it appears that the viral load is an important epidemiological surrogate marker of infectivity in mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic non-hospitalized patients, explained co-lead investigator Paolo Cotzia, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, and Assistant Director, Center for Biospecimen Research and Development, NYU Langone Health, New York City, NY, USA.
https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/195156say goodbye to the herd immunity idea
Researchers believe that the findings, based on the clinical records of 90 people, are virtually "a nail in the coffin" for so-called herd immunity theories, which suggest coronavirus flare-ups could be dealt with as soon as the lion's share of the world's population experiences the contagious disease.
People who have recovered from COVID-19 may not stay immune to the novel virus for long, according to new research by British scientists, suggesting people could contract it more than once and even repeatedly, year after year, like colds and flu, The Guardian wrote. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed before its official publication.
Blood tests that were looked into at King's College in London revealed that while 60% of people boasted the maximum "potent" antibody response during the peak of their battle with the infection, around three weeks after the its onset, only 17% retained the same indexes three months later.
The research was conducted on 90 patients and volunteering healthcare workers at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust.
"People are producing a reasonable antibody response to the virus, but it’s waning over a short period of time and depending on how high your peak is, that determines how long the antibodies are staying around", noted Dr Katie Doores, lead author on the study at King's College London.
https://sputniknews....ths-study-says/COVID-19 has resurrected single-use plastics – are they back to stay?
https://theconversat...-to-stay-1403288 summer activities to promote kids’ healthy development during COVID-19
https://theconversat...covid-19-141174Russia successfully complete human trials of COVID-19 vaccine
http://www.afghanist...vid-19-vaccine/COVID-19 threatens to set aid to education back by six years, warns UNESCO
https://en.unesco.or...rs-warns-unescoBrazil's President Bolsonaro Wants to Double-Check Covid-19 Diagnosis as He 'Can't Stand' Isolation
https://sputniknews....tand-isolation/Tokyo health officials appealed on Tuesday for more than 800 theatregoers to get tested for the novel coronavirus after a production starring Japanese boy-band members was found to be the source of at least 20 cases
https://cnalifestyle...d-show-12931688Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha apologised to the public on Tuesday (Jul 14) for lapses in the disease control measure, following the detection of
two imported cases that could have spread the virus in the countryhttps://www.channeln...asures-12931702"The UK is on track to record the largest decline in annual GDP for 300 years, with output falling by more than 10per cent in 2020 in all three scenarios"
https://www.channeln...rs-say-12931412Latin America death toll from coronavirus now exceeds North America
https://en.mercopres...s-north-america Seventeen U.S. states and the District of Columbia sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to reject the federal government's recent rule stripping foreign students of their visas if the institution they are enrolled in only offers online teaching this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Led by the Massachusetts attorney general's office, the lawsuit came exactly one week after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released guidelines vowing to invalidate foreign students' F-1 and M-1 visas if the educational institution they are enrolled in switches to online-only courses, possibly depriving them of their legal status of stay in the United States.
"The Trump Administration didn't even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston, sought an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect, accusing the federal government of engaging in a "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States."
Joining Massachusetts in the lawsuit are the attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...zt5331837.shtmlCalifornia to close most of indoor businesses amid surging COVID-19 cases
http://www.ecns.cn/n...zt5331851.shtmlSquirrel tests positive for bubonic plague in U.S. state Colorado
http://www.ecns.cn/n...zt5332140.shtmlDrone Video Reportedly Zooms in on Packed Missouri Independence Day Party Linked to COVID-19 Cluster
https://sputniknews....ed-to-covid-19/
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