Article trying to answer the matter of whether we will get good meds before vaccines.
As the world waits for a vaccine, another race is underway for a COVID-19 ‘cure’. What are the most promising treatments? And could a tablet stop you getting infected in the first place?
It is now possible to use a cheap, lightweight and smartphone-powered DNA detector to identify DNA in blood, urine and other samples, on the spot.
At the moment, testing to identify DNA is usually done in laboratories using expensive, specialised equipment. To make this process faster and cheaper, Ming Chen at the Army Medical University in China and his colleagues developed a portable DNA detector made of 3D-printed parts that attach to a standard smartphone.
As NASA tackles the coronavirus pandemic with the rest of the nation, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine urges and warns space enthusiasts to stay home for next month’s historic launch.
For a few years now, scientists at Washington University have been working on techniques to turn stem cells into pancreatic beta cells as a way of addressing insulin shortages in diabetics. After some promising recent strides, the team is now reporting another exciting breakthrough, combining this technique with the CRISPR gene-editing tool to reverse the disease in mice.
The pancreas contains what are known as beta cells, which secrete insulin as a way of tempering spikes in blood-sugar levels. But in those with diabetes, these beta cells either die off or don’t function as they should, which means sufferers have to rely on diet and or regular insulin injections to manage their blood-sugar levels instead.
One of the ways scientists are working to replenish these stocks of pancreatic beta cells is by making them out of human stem cells, which are versatile, blank slate-like cells that can mature into almost any type of cell in the human body. The Washington University team has operated at the vanguard of this technology with a number of key breakthroughs, most recently with a cell implantation technique that “functionally cured” mice with diabetes.
The system destroys the #coronavirus in a room in up to half an hour and without causing harm to any of the patients. #GoFigure
The system is built on ultraviolet light which gives off a specific wavelength that has been found to be deadly to the coronavirus, not cancerous and safe for use in close proximity to patients, including those suffering from pulmonary problems.
Boston Dynamic’s robotic dog Spot is helping healthcare workers treat coronavirus patents remotely. Spot is fitted with an iPad and two-way radio so both can communicate in real-time.
Francesca colavita, phd; daniele lapa, phd; fabrizio carletti, phd; eleonora lalle, phd; licia bordi, phd; patrizia marsella, phd; emanuele nicastri, MD; nazario bevilacqua, MD; maria letizia giancola, MD; angela corpolongo, MD; giuseppe ippolito, MD; maria rosaria capobianchi, phd; concetta castilletti, phd
Francesca Colavita, PhD
National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” IRCCS, Rome, Italy (F.C., D.L., F.C., E.L., L.B., P.M., E.N., N.B., M.L.G., A.C., G.I., M.R.C., C.C.)
Dirty air increases risk of respiratory problems that can be fatal for coronavirus patients.
This is the truth of the looming “hunger pandemic,” which has the potential to engulf over a quarter of a billion people whose lives and livelihoods will be plunged into immediate danger, unless urgent and effective action is taken to keep commercial and humanitarian goods flowing, support communities with humanitarian assistance and provide governments with the additional health interventions required to control the spread of the virus.
If we can’t reach these people — if we can’t give them the lifesaving assistance they need because our funding has been cut or borders where we move our food have been closed — WFP’s analysis shows that 300,000 could starve to death every single day for the next three months.
When you consider that already, despite our best efforts, 21,000 people die of hunger every single day, the scale of the potential death toll is heart-rending. We could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries. In 10 countries, we have more than a million people who are on the verge of starvation as we speak.
The BARDA investments could go to waste, but ramping up Covid-19 vaccine production will help avoid delivery delays if a vaccine is approved.
