Patients with mild COVID-19 infections experience a significantly increased longer lasting reduced sense of taste and smell; this is also the case for long-term shortness of breath, although relatively few people are affected.
Patients with mild Covid-19 infections experience a significantly increased longer lasting reduced sense of taste and smell. This is also the case for long-term shortness of breath, although relatively few people are affected. And women and the elderly are particularly affected. This is shown by new research findings from Aarhus University Aarhus University Hospital and Regional Hospital West Jutland
The last 14 months have taught us that there are different symptoms and outcomes of Covid-19. However, the vast majority of people who fall ill with Covid-19 experience mild symptoms and get over the disease in two to three weeks.
These are precisely some of the people who have been the subject of a new study from AUH, HEV and AU. In the study, researchers have compared symptoms on a daily basis for up to 90 days in 210 healthcare workers who had tested positive and 630 with a negative test.
Each day, the participants received a link to a questionnaire on whether they had experienced one of the following symptoms within the last 24 hours: coughing, sore throat, headaches, fever, muscle pain, shortness of breath and reduced sense of taste and smell.
The scientific article can be read in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Release date: 29 Jun 2021
Source: EurekAlert
Maternal diets rich in Omega-3 fatty acids may protect offspring from breast cancer
According to researchers at Marshall University, a maternal diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids protects from breast cancer development in offspring. In a new study recently published by Frontiers in Cell and Development Biology, researchers noted a significant difference in mice from mothers that were fed a diet rich in canola oil, compared with mothers fed a diet rich in corn oil. A maternal Omega 3-rich diet affected genome-wide epigenetic landscape changes in offspring and potentially modulated gene expression patterns.
Release date: 28 Jun 2021
Source: Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
COVID-19: Reduced sense of taste and smell lingers
Patients with mild COVID-19 infections experience a significantly increased longer lasting reduced sense of taste and smell; this is also the case for long-term shortness of breath, although relatively few people are affected.
Patients with mild Covid-19 infections experience a significantly increased longer lasting reduced sense of taste and smell. This is also the case for long-term shortness of breath, although relatively few people are affected. And women and the elderly are particularly affected. This is shown by new research findings from Aarhus University Aarhus University Hospital and Regional Hospital West Jutland
The last 14 months have taught us that there are different symptoms and outcomes of Covid-19. However, the vast majority of people who fall ill with Covid-19 experience mild symptoms and get over the disease in two to three weeks.
These are precisely some of the people who have been the subject of a new study from AUH, HEV and AU. In the study, researchers have compared symptoms on a daily basis for up to 90 days in 210 healthcare workers who had tested positive and 630 with a negative test.
Each day, the participants received a link to a questionnaire on whether they had experienced one of the following symptoms within the last 24 hours: coughing, sore throat, headaches, fever, muscle pain, shortness of breath and reduced sense of taste and smell.
The scientific article can be read in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Release date: 29 Jun 2021
Source: EurekAlert
New face mask prototype can detect Covid-19 infection
The sensor technology could also be used to create clothing that detects a variety of pathogens and other threats.
Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a novel face mask that can diagnose the wearer with Covid-19 within about 90 minutes. The masks are embedded with tiny, disposable sensors that can be fitted into other face masks and could also be adapted to detect other viruses.
The sensors are based on freeze-dried cellular machinery that the research team has previously developed for use in paper diagnostics for viruses such as Ebola and Zika. In a new study, the researchers showed that the sensors could be incorporated into not only face masks but also clothing such as lab coats, potentially offering a new way to monitor health care workers’ exposure to a variety of pathogens or other threats.
Release date: 28 Jun 2021
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
When did the first COVID-19 case arise?
Evidence is building that its origin as a zoonotic spillover occurred prior to the officially accepted timing of early December, 2019. The first case of Covid likely arose between early October and mid November 2019 in China, earlier than officially reported.
The origins of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic remain unclear. The first officially identified case occurred in early December 2019. Yet, this research published by PLOS Pathogens supports growing evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic arose sooner and grew more rapidly than officially reported.
Release date: 25 Jun 2021
Source: University of Kent
Unhappy Birthdays
New analysis reveals link between birthdays and COVID-19 spread during the height of the pandemic.
In counties with already high COVID-19 infection rates, birthday bashes may have fueled infection spread during the peak months of the pandemic, according to a new analysis led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation.
The report, published in JAMA Internal Medicine , shows that in counties with high rates of COVID-19, households with recent birthdays were 30 percent more likely to have a COVID-19 diagnosis, compared with households with no birthdays. The analysis is based on data from health insurance claims.
Release date: 21 Jun 2021
Source: Harvard Medical School
Childhood trauma can make people like morphine more
People who have experienced childhood trauma get a more pleasurable “high” from morphine, Addiction Biology suggests.
University of Exeter scientists compared the effects of morphine on 52 healthy people – 27 with a history of childhood abuse and neglect, and 25 who reported no such experiences in childhood.
Those with childhood trauma liked morphine (an opioid drug) more, felt more euphoric and had a stronger desire for another dose.
Those with no childhood trauma were more likely to dislike the effects and feel dizzy or nauseous.
Release date: 22 Jun 2021
Source: University of Exeter
Stress Does Turn Hair Gray
Hair that has already grown out of the follicle does not change color from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is the first to offer quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people.
And while it may seem intuitive that stress can accelerate graying, the researchers were surprised to discover that hair color can be restored when stress is eliminated, a finding that contrasts with a recent study in mice that suggested that stressed-induced gray hairs are permanent.
The study, published in eLife.
Release date: 22 Jun 2021
Source: Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Personality traits relate to being a morning or evening person at both the phenotypic and genetic level
· The relationship between personality, genes and chronotype (sleep patterns) has been studied by researchers at the University of Warwick and the University of Tartu, Estonia
· People high in Conscientiousness and low in Openness are rather morning people; lower-level personality traits such as self-discipline, excitement-seeking, and straightforwardness have also been linked to chronotype
· It is partly due to genetic factors, but there is scope to change your sleep patterns if you wanted to become a morning person but are currently an evening person for example
The link between the different hierarchies of personality, sleep patterns and even genetics has been discovered by researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick.
A typical example of a morning person is thought to be someone who wakes up naturally at 6am, goes for a jog, showers, has breakfast and is ready for a productive day at work by 9am. Whereas an evening person struggles to get up in the morning and feels more productive in the evening.
Published in the Journal of Personality.
Release date: 22 Jun 2021
Source: University of Warwick
Sports: Men and women react differently to a missing audience
Without an audience, men run slower and women faster: The lack of spectators during the coronavirus pandemic appears to have had a noticeable effect on the performance of athletes at the 2020 Biathlon World Cup, a new study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in “Psychology of Sport and Exercise” shows. According to the new analysis, women also performed better in complex tasks, such as shooting, when an audience was present while men did not.
Release date: 22 Jun 2021
Source: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
In many cases, multiple sclerosis starts long before the diagnosis
Years before they are diagnosed, persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) make significantly more visits to doctors and hospitals than others. Specialists have recently discussed whether this might represent a preliminary phase of MS – known as a prodrome. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now published results of a study suggesting that, in many cases, the complaints may relate to unrecognized early clinical MS events.
Persons suffering from the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis can develop various neurological symptoms caused by damage to the nervous system. Especially in early stages, these may include sensory dysfunction such as numbness or visual disturbances. In most patients, MS starts with recurring episodes of neurological disability, called relapses or demyelinating events. These clinical events are followed by a partial or complete remission. Especially in the beginning, the symptoms vary widely, so that it is often difficult even for experienced doctors to interpret them correctly to arrive at a diagnosis of MS. Neurology
Release date: 21 Jun 2021
Source: Technical University of Munich (TUM)