Canadians are updated daily on the multi-faceted devastation caused by SARS-CoV-2 and on the results of COVID-19 testing from across the country. Few people may be aware that these tests are based on a method innovated by the first-ever biotech company, Cetus, co-founded in California by Canadian-born and educated Ron Cape. He was Cetus's first president in 1971, and then chairman and CEO.
Biotech was nonexistent before this. Cape obtained his Ph.D. at McGill in 1967 with John Spencer as his supervisor, who was one of the pioneers in DNA biochemistry. At the same time, Cape was president of the Professional Pharmaceutical Corporation in Montréal.
The method used globally to test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is known as the polymerase chain reaction or PCR. This revolutionary innovation was developed at Cetus by in-house scientist Kary Mullis. Awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1993, Mullis received the only Nobel Prize for a discovery made by a biotech company.
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The genes in the SARS-CoV-2 virus are stored as RNA, not DNA. The standard testing protocol is to take a deep nasal swab from a patient. To detect the virus by PCR-based tests, the RNA of the virus is copied into DNA using another enzyme called reverse transcriptase. It is this copied DNA which is used for PCR amplification.
The urgency for a cure for COVID-19 has made science discoveries move at an accelerated pace. On Jan. 11, the gene sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was made openly available from scientists in China. By Jan. 24, the World Health Organization made available PCR-based protocols to test for SARS-CoV-2.
The legacy of Montréaler Ron Cape and the first biotech company is the PCR test we use to detect COVID-19 disease.
https://medicalxpres...an-biotech.html
For this study, researchers conducted an online survey of 90 people who identified as healthcare workers. While most respondents were physicians, nurses and medical technicians, some held roles such as hospital administrators. The researchers also surveyed a control group of 90 people who did not work in healthcare, but matched the age and sex of the healthcare workers. The study ran from March 20 through May 14. Study participants came from 35 states.
The survey included demographic questions, as well as questions aimed at capturing various aspects of mental health and well-being.
Healthcare workers reported higher levels of stress, anxiety and tiredness, as well as lower feelings of control over their lives.
"We also found that the healthcare group averaged a depressive symptoms score that would qualify as clinical depression," Neupert says. "It was approximately 30% higher than the depressive symptoms score for the control group. You don't expect to see an entire workforce score like that on a depression diagnostic tool."
The researchers also found that the healthcare workers were less likely to engage in "proactive coping," meaning they were doing less to prepare themselves for future stresses or adverse events.
https://medicalxpres...re-workers.html
Caltech postdoctoral scholar Christopher Barnes is one of these researchers. In the laboratory of Pamela Björkman, the David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, Barnes usually studies how the human body produces immune cells and specialized proteins called antibodies that can fight against the countless different strains of HIV. For the last few months, however, he has led the laboratory's COVID-19 research team and refocused the techniques used to study HIV on the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Now, Barnes and his team have captured the first-ever images of antibodies, purified from the blood plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19, latching onto a key protein on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In addition, visualization of one exemplary antibody interacting with this protein has allowed the team to identify sites on the virus's surface that are particularly vulnerable to attacks from the immune system. A paper describing this research will be published in the journal Cell and is now available online.
https://phys.org/new...ovid-virus.html
Temporary loss of smell, or anosmia, is the main neurological symptom and one of the earliest and most commonly reported indicators of COVID-19. Studies suggest it better predicts the disease than other well-known symptoms such as fever and cough, but the underlying mechanisms for loss of smell in patients with COVID-19 have been unclear.
Now, an international team of researchers led by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School has identified the olfactory cell types in the upper nasal cavity most vulnerable to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Surprisingly, sensory neurons that detect and transmit the sense of smell to the brain are not among the vulnerable cell types.
Reporting in Science Advances on July 24, the research team found that olfactory sensory neurons do not express the gene that encodes the ACE2 receptor protein, which SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter human cells. Instead, ACE2 is expressed in cells that provide metabolic and structural support to olfactory sensory neurons, as well as certain populations of stem cells and blood vessel cells.
https://hms.harvard....uses-loss-smell
A study led by Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) shows that some healthy individuals possess immune cells capable of recognizing the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The reason for this might be found in prior infections with 'common cold' coronaviruses. Whether or not this cross-reactivity has a protective effect on the clinical course in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 will now be addressed by the 'Charité Corona Cross' study.
Why is it that some people develop severe symptoms following infection with the novel coronavirus, while others hardly notice the infection? The answer to this question is multilayered and is the subject of intensive research. One potentially crucial factor has now been identified by a team of researchers from Charité and the MPIMG: prior exposure to harmless 'common cold' coronaviruses. This insight is based on research involving T-helper cells, a type of specialized white blood cell which is essential to the regulation of our immune response. The researchers found that one in three people with no prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 nonetheless have T-helper cells capable of recognizing the virus. The likely reason for this is that SARS-CoV-2 shares certain structural similarities with coronaviruses which are responsible for the common cold.
https://www.eurekale...b-cpe072920.php
Scientists Just Released a DIY Coronavirus Vaccine Under a Creative Commons License
https://www.vice.com...commons-license
The United States failed to recognize the coronavirus threat from Europe in time, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said.
Since the country's COVID-19 epidemic broke out, the United States has reported over 4.4 million confirmed cases and over 150,000 deaths.
"The introduction from Europe happened before we realized what was happening," Redfield said in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday.
"By the time we realized (the) Europe threat and shut down travel to Europe, there was probably already two or three weeks of 60,000 people coming back every day from Europe," he said.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...tt8794869.shtml
Unions Are Suing the USDA Over Unsafe Conditions in Meat Plants
https://www.eater.co...lant-conditions
Gohmert Says He Will Take Hydroxychloroquine For COVID-19, Flouting FDA Warning
https://talkingpoint...ing-fda-warning
https://www.marketwa...very-2020-07-30
The Small Business Administration's Inspector General said Tuesday the office found likely examples of pervasive fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided more than $500 billion in mostly forgivable loans to small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic
https://www.business...watchdog-2020-7
For 99 days, Vietnam seemed to have defeated the coronavirus. There wasn’t a single reported case of community transmission. Not a single death. A handful of cases were caught and isolated at the border, but otherwise people were returning to their normal lives. The country of 96 million people was hailed globally as a standout success.
But then a week ago, an outbreak began that has now grown to 43 cases in six parts of the country, including three of the largest cities, and forced authorities to reimpose restrictions many thought they had put behind them. And experts worry the outbreak could be much larger than currently known.
The outbreak began last Thursday in the picturesque coastal city of Da Nang, where thousands of tourists were taking their summer vacations on golden beaches. A 57-year-old man was hospitalized with a fever and tested positive. His condition soon worsened and he was put on a ventilator.
Health authorities swung into action. But the man’s case was puzzling. He hadn’t left his hometown for over a month and tests on his family and 100 other possible contacts all came back negative.
Then health workers found three other infections in Da Nang over the weekend. And then on Monday, another 11. All of those were other patients or health workers at the Da Nang Hospital, where the man remains in critical condition.
etc
https://thediplomat....-haunt-vietnam/
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Had to go for an in-person Dr's appointment for which a mask was mandatory... then I went to the nearby Lab so they could drain my circulatory system. They left me just enough to walk home. A mask wasn't required at the Lab but I wore it anyway since I had it on me.
