Public Health Archives - Page 37 of 52 - Dr Amin Azhari

Genes could be key to new Covid-19 treatments

Genetic evidence is second only to clinical trials as a way to tell which treatments will be effective in a disease. Existing drugs that target the actions of the genes reveal which drugs should be repurposed to treat Covid-19 in clinical trials, experts say.

Genes involved in two molecular processes – antiviral immunity and lung inflammation – were pinpointed. The breakthrough will help doctors understand how Covid-19 damages lungs at a molecular level.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh made the discovery by studying the DNA of 2,700 patients in 208 intensive care units (ICUs) in the UK.

Nature

Release date: 15 December 2020
Source: University of Edinburgh

Research strongly suggests COVID-19 virus enters the brain

More and more evidence is coming out that people with COVID-19 are suffering from cognitive effects, such as brain fog and fatigue.

And researchers are discovering why. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like many viruses before it, is bad news for the brain. In a study published Dec.16 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers found that the spike protein, often depicted as the red arms of the virus, can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.

This strongly suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, can enter the brain.

The spike protein, often called the S1 protein, dictates which cells the virus can enter. Usually, the virus does the same thing as its binding protein, said lead author William A. Banks, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Healthcare System physician and researcher. Banks said binding proteins like S1 usually by themselves cause damage as they detach from the virus and cause inflammation.

Release date: 16 December 2020
Source: University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine

Young people who go to bed later drink and smoke more due to their impulsivity

Young people who prefer to stay up late are more impulsive than their peers who go to bed earlier, which makes them more likely to drink alcohol and smoke, a new study in the journal Chronobiology International, reports.

In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey and Brunel University London investigated how being an evening type (someone who prefers to stay up late and functions better in the evening) links to impulsivity, anxiety, and substance use. Young people often prefer to stay up late, and those who do are known to be at higher risk of mental health issues and problematic substance use.

To better understand why this is, researchers recruited 191 participants aged between 18-25 years old. Participants were surveyed on their sleeping preference (morning or evening types), their sleep quality, levels of anxiety and impulsivity, and asked about how many cigarettes they smoked and how much alcohol, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks they consumed.

Release date: 14 December 2020
Source: University of Surrey

Fast Walking in Narrow Corridors Can Increase COVID-19 Transmission Risk

Computational simulations have been used to accurately predict airflow and droplet dispersal patterns in situations where COVID-19 might be spread. In the journal Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, results show the importance of the shape of the space in modeling how virus-laden droplets move through the air.

The cough-generated droplets from a walking individual disperse differently in a narrow corridor and an open space. In an open space, the droplets are dispersed in a large range attached to the person; in narrow corridors, the droplets are concentrated in a small bubble and are left further behind. CREDIT: Xiaolei Yang

If a person walking in a corridor coughs, their breath expels droplets that travel around and behind their body, forming a wake in the way a boat forms a wake in water as it travels. The investigation revealed the existence of a “re-circulation bubble” directly behind the person’s torso and a long wake streaming out behind them at approximately waist height.

Release date: 15 December 2020
Source: American Institute of Physics

Coronavirus spread during dental procedures could be reduced with slower drills

Dental procedures can pose a high risk of viral transmission because the tools that are used often produce aerosols, which can contain high numbers of Coronavirus.

The aerosols are generated when saliva mixes with water and air streams used in dental procedures. As a result, access to routine dentistry continues to be limited during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

They found that using air turbine drill types, which are the most common type of dental drill, creates dense clouds of aerosol droplets that spread as fast as 12 metres per second and can quickly contaminate an entire treatment room. Just one milliliter of saliva from infected patients contains up to 120 million copies of the virus, each having the capacity to infect.

They tested a different type of drill, known as high torque electric micromotor, with and without the use of water and air streams. They found that using this drill type at low speeds of less than 100,000 rpm without air streams produced 60 times fewer droplets than air turbine drill types.

In addition, they found that aerosol concentration and spread within a room is dependent on the positioning of the patient, presence of ventilation systems, and the room’s size and geometry. It is also influenced by the initial direction and speed of the aerosol itself, which can be affected by the type of cutting instrument (burr), and the amount and type of cooling water used.

Release date: 17 December 2020
Source: Imperial College London

Business closures, partial reopenings due to COVID may cost the US $3-$5 trillion in GDP over 2 years

Business closures partial reopenings due to COVID may cost the US in GDP - تعطیلی های کرونا برای تولید ناخالص ایالات متحده هزینه دارد

Among highlights of the study, the researchers projected:

54 million to 367 million work days would be lost due to people getting sick or die from COVID.
2 million to nearly 15 million work days would be lost due to employees staying home to care for sick loved ones.
Job losses could range from 14.7% to 23.8%, and in the worst case affect an estimated 36.5 million workers.
Demand for health care has risen with COVID infections. Medical expenses due to COVID-19 from March 2020 to February 2022 could range from nearly $32 billion to $216 billion.
A loss in demand for some services — such as the use of public transit and school attendance, restaurant dining and travel — as people avoid public places and services to reduce their risk of exposure.
An uptick in demand for communication services, as many employees during this pandemic have had to work from home.
An increase in pent-up demand since consumers are unable to spend money on big-ticket items such as cars, as well as travel, restaurants, hotels, merchandise, fitness, sporting events and concerts during the closures, and, to a lesser extent, during the phased reopenings.

Economics of Disasters and Climate Change

Release date: 30 November 2020
Source: University of Southern California

SARS-CoV-2 mutations do not appear to increase transmissibility

None of the mutations currently documented in the SARS-CoV-2 virus appear to increase its transmissibility, according to a UCL-led study.

The analysis of virus genomes from over 15,000 Covid-19 patients from 75 countries is published today as a pre-print on bioRxiv and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The findings build on a peer-reviewed study published in Infection, Genetics and Evolution earlier this month that characterised patterns of diversity emerging in the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19 disease. Nature Communications

Release date: 22 November 2020
Source: University College London

Covid-19

COVID-19 affects the eyes

The study found that sore eyes was significantly more common when the participants had COVID-19, with 16% reporting the issue as one of their symptoms. Just 5% reported having had the condition beforehand.

While 18% of people reported suffering from photophobia (light sensitivity) as one of their symptoms, this was only a 5% increase from their pre-COVID-19 state.

Of the 83 respondents, 81% reported ocular issues within two weeks of other COVID-19 symptoms. Of those, 80% reported their eye problems lasted less than two weeks.

The most common reported symptoms overall were fatigue (suffered by 90% of respondents), a fever (76%) and a dry cough (66%).

Release date: 08 December 2020
Source: Anglia Ruskin University

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Significant increase in depression seen among children during first lockdown

The first lockdown led to a significant increase in symptoms of depression among children, highlighting the unintended consequences of school closures, according to a new study from the University of Cambridge.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government implemented a national ‘lockdown’ involving school closures and social distancing. There has been widespread concern that these measures would negatively impact child and adolescent mental health. To date, however, there is relatively little direct evidence of this.

To test whether changes in emotional wellbeing, anxiety and depression symptoms occurred during lockdown since their initial assessment, a team at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, examined data from mental health assessments on 168 children (aged 8-12 years) before and during the UK lockdown. These assessments included self-reports, caregiver-reports, and teacher-reports.

“Put differently, if you randomly selected a child from the sample there is a 70% chance that their depression symptoms were worse during lockdown than before the pandemic.”

The results of their study are published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Release date: 08 December 2020
Source: University of Cambridge

COVID-19: persistent symptoms in one third of cases

A total of 669 people were followed (mean age 43 years, 60% female, 25% of healthcare professionals and 69% without underlying risk factors that could be related to complications from COVID-19). At 6 weeks from diagnosis, nearly a third of participants still had one or more symptoms related to COVID-19, mainly fatigue (14%), shortness of breath (9%) and loss of taste or smell (12%). In addition, 6% reported a persistent cough and 3% reported headaches. Dr. Mayssam Nehme, Senior Resident in Professor Guessous’s team and first author of this work, also explains how these patients felt: “In addition to the physical distress of their symptoms, many were very worried: how much longer would it last? Were some after-effects irrecoverable? Even without a clear medical answer, in the current state of knowledge, it is important to accompany concerned patients and to listen to them,” she adds. With this in mind, the HUG has set up a specific consultation for long COVID patients in order to improve their care and guide them through the health system.

These results, which can be seen in the Annals of Internal Medicine, call for better communication, particularly with patients and with the physicians who follow them, and for ongoing messages to the general public, reminding them that SARS-CoV-2infection is not trivial.

Release date: 08 December 2020
Source: Université de Genève