The team focused on cytokines, small proteins released in the body in response to inflammation. They concentrated on the most elevated cytokines in COVID-19 patients and found one duo that stood out.
Turns out, the drugs to treat these cytokine reactions, or cytokine storms, already exist.
When tried on mice, the medication protected them from COVID-19 death and from sepsis, a deadly infection of the blood.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) — Scientists at St. Jude may have figured out how COVID-19 kills, and more importantly, how to stop it.
I have to admit, they really sound “alien-like” if you ask me. 😃
Just when we thought octopuses couldn’t be any weirder, it turns out that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly every other organism on the planet.
In a surprising twist, in April 2017 scientists discovered that octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt to their environment.
This is weird because that’s really not how adaptations usually happen in multicellular animals. When an organism changes in some fundamental way, it typically starts with a genetic mutation — a change to the DNA.
Dr. Nicole Prause, PhD is an American neuroscientist researching human sexual behavior, addiction, and the physiology of sexual response. She is also the founder of Liberos LLC, an independent research institute and biotechnology company.
Dr. Prause obtained her doctorate in 2007 at Indiana University Bloomington, with joint supervision by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, with her areas of concentration being neuroscience and statistics. Her clinical internship, in neuro-psychological assessment and behavioral medicine, was with the VA Boston Healthcare System’s Psychology Internship Training Program. Her research fellowship was in couples’ treatment of alcoholism was at Harvard University.
Dr. Prause became a tenure track faculty member at Idaho State University at the age of 29. After three years there, she accepted a position as a Research Scientist at the Mind Research Network, a neuro-imaging facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In 2012, Dr. Prause was elected a full member of the International Academy of Sex Research and accepted a position as a Research Scientist on faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles in the David Geffen School of Medicine. While there, she was promoted to Associate Research Scientist in 2014.
Dr. Prause founded Liberos LLC in 2015 and she continues to practice as licensed psychologist in California.
“While myocarditis is a rare condition—affecting roughly 22 out of every 100000 people each year—it is nevertheless a recognized cause of death among professional athletes, even in the absence of previous heart trouble. A 2015 study found that among NCAA athletes who died of a sudden cardiac event, 10 percent experienced myocarditis, and a Myocarditis Foundation report found that the condition causes 75 deaths per year in athletes between the ages of 13 and 25. ESPN reports that COVID-19 has been linked with myocarditis at a higher frequency than other viruses have been, based on limited studies and anecdotal evidence. A recent study of 100 patients in Germany found that 60 percent suffered from myocarditis following their COVID-19 diagnoses, independent of pre-existing conditions. To assess the presence of myocarditis in college athletes that have recovered from COVID-19, the authors selected 26 students at Ohio State University, including men and women. None of the participants, who played football, soccer, lacrosse, basketball, or track, had previous heart conditions before being tested.”
Images of the players’ hearts showed signs of inflammation consistent with myocarditis, a rare but potentially fatal condition.
AP Exclusive: The Chinese government is tightly controlling all COVID-19 research under orders from President Xi Jinping, internal documents obtained by The AP show. As a result, China’s search for the origins of the virus has been cloaked in secrecy. In a sign of how sensitive research has become, police stopped scientists and confiscated their samples at a mineshaft where the closest known relative of the COVID-19 virus was found.
MOJIANG, China (AP) — Deep in the lush mountain valleys of southern China lies the entrance to a mine shaft that once harbored bats with the closest known relative of the COVID-19 virus.
The area is of intense scientific interest because it may hold clues to the origins of the coronavirus that has killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide. Yet for scientists and journalists, it has become a black hole of no information because of political sensitivity and secrecy.
A bat research team visiting recently managed to take samples but had them confiscated, two people familiar with the matter said. Specialists in coronaviruses have been ordered not to speak to the press. And a team of Associated Press journalists was tailed by plainclothes police in multiple cars who blocked access to roads and sites in late November.
HIAS is an open-source Hospital Intelligent Automation System designed to control and manage an intelligent network of IoT connected devices. The network server provides locally hosted and encrypted databases, and a secure proxy to route traffic to the connected devices.
But instead of the immune system’s response to COVID-19, this new system built by the medical testing platform startup Healthvana would show whether someone had been vaccinated, likely a more robust indicator that they’re no longer infectious.
After vaccination, you’d be able to take out your smartphone and show you’d been inoculated “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to whoever needs it,” Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani told Bloomberg.
Matthew W., a nurse at two different local hospitals, said in a Facebook post on December 18 that he had received the Pfizer vaccine, telling the ABC News affiliate that his arm was sore for a day but that he had suffered no other side-effects. Six days later on Christmas Eve, he became sick after working a shift in the COVID-19 unit, the report added. He got the chills and later came down with muscle aches and fatigue. He went to a drive-up hospital testing site and tested positive for COVID-19 the day after Christmas, the report said.
Between Tesla, SpaceX (Starship & Starlink), 5G, mRNA vaccines and more, 2020 has been an eventful year full of breakthroughs all set to make our lives better, and ushering in a sci-fi future quicker than ever…so I brought them all together in one video to celebrate the great people working tirelessly to make our future better.
If you want a feel good boost, why not drop by and spend a few mins revelling in the positive stories of 2020.
Have an awesome New Year!!
In Looking Back At 2020 I want to review the year to show that for all the bad, there was still some amazing good and positive stories that refused to take a back seat.
Here I will look at Tesla and their battery technology breakthroughs, their full self driving (Level 5 autonomy) breakthroughs, the Starship by SpaceX and also their starlink technology, the roll out of 5G, the amazing mRNA vaccine and all the others, developed in with amazing speed, and fully tested to get us vaccinating already, and the breakthroughs in homeworking that show it can be done, a boon for those with mobility challenges and other commitments that mean all day, every day at a specific office location is not the only option. What are your highlights? Here’s to an amazing 2021.
And why not have a look at the amazing technology that will change this decade in ways most cannot even imagine yet…exciting time to be alive.
