Many people with long COVID feel that science is failing them. Neglecting them could make the pandemic even worse. While watching the scientific community grapple with long COVID, I have thought a lot about a scene in The Lord of the Rings. Faced with impending doom, the hobbits Merry and Pippin ask the powerful treelike ents [...]
As a team of South African researchers we have identified a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. A lineage represents a genetically distinct virus population with a common ancestor. This virus may be designated as a variant in future, based on significantly altered properties, but first we need to understand it better. Our findings so far are [...]
Citing the possibility of another serious pandemic, the Biden administration on Friday laid out a plan to transform the nation’s ability to respond to major biological threats. As staggering as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, the next one will likely be very different – and could be far worse, officials warn. “We need better capabilities,” [...]
How doctors can predict which patients are more likely to die of COVID Several studies have come out about the COVID prognosis. As a result, we now have a powerful way to predict which patients with COVID pneumonia are more likely to die and require longer stays in the hospital. We already know [...]
Though Delta continues to be the dominant COVID-19 strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) now says there's a new variant to keep your eye on. The B.1.621 variant, also called Mu, has just been listed by the WHO as a new "variant of interest" as of August 30. © Provided by Health.com New COVID Variant [...]
Being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 not only cuts the risk of catching it, but also of an infection turning into long Covid, research led by King's College London suggests. It shows that in the minority of people who get Covid despite two jabs, the odds of developing symptoms lasting longer than four weeks are [...]
Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research directly comparing immune responses to the inoculations. A study of almost 2,500 workers at a major Belgium hospital system found antibody levels among individuals who hadn’t been infected with the coronavirus [...]
A coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa 'could be more infectious' than other mutations and have the potential to 'evade vaccines', scientists have said. The C.1.2 strain, which is linked to 'increased transmissibility', is more mutations away from the original virus seen in Wuhan, experts at South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation [...]
The mutation rate of SARSCoV2 is at least 50% higher than previously thought. The virus mutates about once a week—significantly higher than the rate estimated previously. UK findings suggest new variants could emerge sooner than earlier estimated. Owing to a lag between a deleterious mutation’s appearance and its selective removal, gold-standard methods for mutation [...]
An artificial neural network (AI) designed by an international team involving UCL can translate raw data from brain activity, paving the way for new discoveries and a closer integration between technology and the brain. The new method could accelerate discoveries of how brain activities relate to behaviors. The study published today in eLife, co-led by [...]
