COVID-19 News and Discussions

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned us into homebodies

Thu 31 Oct 2024 at 1501 AEDT

People are staying home far more since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to US researchers who say urban planning should adapt to this new normal. The researchers surveyed 34,000 Americans about their activity from 2019 to 2023, and say many of the stark reductions in out-of-home activity and increases in home activities that occurred when COVID-19 first hit have remained, with respondents spending just under an hour less on average outside the home each day compared to 2019. The researchers say if this trend continues, urban planners may need to consider repurposing some office and retail real estate that no longer suits the lives we're living.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/the-cov ... homebodies

[Lilymoon]

It is strange how first two years of the pandemic there was lots of talk into anti viral drugs and now there is no talk at all.

I just check wikipedia under treatment every month and I don’t see any new anti viral drugs. Not even experimental drugs and treatments.

Has founding for covid really dried up now?

[caltrek]

Study Details Surprising Biological Mechanisms Underlying Severe COVID-19
December 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Severe COVID-19 arises in part from the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s impact on mitochondria, tiny oxygen-burning power plants in cells, which can help trigger a cascade of organ- and immune system-damaging events, suggests a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, along with other members of the COVID-19 International Research Team.

Severe COVID-19 has been considered an inflammatory “cytokine storm” condition in which the immune response to a viral infection becomes excessive, flooding the bloodstream and tissues with immune signaling proteins at levels that cause lung-impairing inflammation and other signs and symptoms.

The new study, published Nov. 27 in PNAS, extends the scientific understanding of the molecular pathways driving this storm. By using RNA sequencing and other laboratory techniques on patient and animal model tissue samples, the investigators were able to examine these processes in great detail. Weill Cornell Medicine researchers, led by Dr. Robert Schwartz, associate professor of medicine, provided much of the deidentified patient material, including nasopharyngeal swabs and autopsied organ samples, as well as COVID-19 animal models, and contributed to their analysis.

The teams’ findings show that SARS-CoV-2 virus infection can cause significant damage to mitochondria in infected cells—damage that activates the immune system, contributing to the storm of inflammatory and other responses.

Prominent among these responses, the researchers noted, is the overactivation of a blood-pressure-regulating system called the renin-angiotensin-activation-system (RAAS). The overactive RAAS is associated with abnormal blood clotting—a striking feature of severe COVID-19—and, the researchers noted, with scarring-like abnormalities in lymph nodes, and dysfunctions of the immune cells found within them. The latter, the researchers say, may account for the impaired immune function that is also seen in severe COVID-19.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066757

For a technical presentation of study results as published in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2401968121

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Revealed: How COVID-19 Variants Hijack Human Cells
December 9, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Scientists at University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland and University of Turku are investigating the intricate ways in which various SARS-CoV-2 variants, like Delta and Omicron, interact with human cells to hijack their functions. This research is critical as it aims to uncover how these variants manipulate host cell processes, providing essential insights that could lead to the development of targeted antiviral therapies. Such knowledge is pivotal in the ongoing battle against COVID-19 and in preparing for future viral threats.

The research team has successfully mapped what they call the "hijackome", detailing how SARS-CoV-2 variants exploit specific cellular pathways.

“We discovered specific ways the virus controls human cells to spread and avoid our immune defenses. Each variant has unique tricks, and our research shows exactly how these work. This comprehensive mapping of viral tactics is important because it shows where we can develop drugs to stop the virus from spreading in our bodies. Knowing these details helps in creating treatments that work for different variants of the virus”, says Professor Markku Varjosalo from University of Helsinki.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1067666

For a technical presentation of study results as published in Cell Discovery: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1067666

[caltrek]

A Dial for Tuning the Immune System: Discovery Sheds Light on Why COVID Makes Some Sicker than Others

December 12, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert)Why does the COVID-19 virus make some people sicker than others?

For years, scientists have looked to a critical piece of immune system machinery - known as the interferon pathway - for answers. There, when our cells sense an infection, they release a protein known as interferon, which warns other cells to fight the virus.

Studies show that when this signaling goes awry and leads the body to under or overreact, people are more likely to develop severe or Long COVID. Glitches in this pathway have also been implicated in autoimmune diseases and cancer.

But little is known about what, precisely, drives these immunological misfires.

A new CU Boulder study, published Dec. 12 in the journal Cell, sheds light on the subject by identifying what the authors describe as an “immune system tuning dial,” which originated as a bug in the genetic code tens of millions of years ago.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1068114

For results of the study as published in Cell: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S009 ... ll%3Dtrue

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Covid smell loss eased by injecting blood cells into the nose

Just three nasal injections of blood cells called platelets helped people whose smell was affected by covid-19 identify new odours

27 January 2025

People who had lost their sense of smell after catching covid-19 partly regained it following the injection of blood cells called platelets into their noses, which could help to improve their quality of life.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste has been considered a common covid-19 symptom.

“The SARS-CoV-2 virus enters cells in the nose, causing inflammation that can damage neurons, the cells that detect smells,” says Zara Patel at Stanford University in California. But the symptom has become less common with newer variants, she adds.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/24 ... -the-nose/

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

COVID returning as a threat was not on my bingo card

[wjfox]

Probably a good idea to mask in crowded shops, etc. until the current wave passes. Remember that Covid can damage your immune system.

[caltrek]

Inhaled COVID Vaccine Begins Recruitment for Phase-2 Human Trials
March 10, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Researchers at McMaster University have started a phase-2 clinical trial on a next-generation, inhaled COVID-19 vaccine.

The AeroVax study, supported by $8M in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), will test needle-free vaccines developed to provide protection from SARS-CoV-2.

Led by Fiona Smaill and Zhou Xing, members of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) at McMaster, the multi-centre trial will evaluate the new vaccine in a broad study group, while also confirming safety.

Findings from pre-clinical studies and the soon-to-be-published data from the phase-1 trial indicate that McMaster’s inhaled vaccine is more effective at inducing immune responses than traditional injected vaccines are, because it directly targets the lungs and upper airways — where the virus first enters the body.

“While the current, needle-based COVID-19 vaccines have prevented a tremendous amount of death and hospitalization, they haven’t really changed a lot of people’s experience with getting recurrent infections,” says Smaill, a professor in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine. “So, we’re looking to change that by providing robust protection directly at the site of infection.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1076396

[firestar464]

[caltrek]

Long COVID Pathobiology Grants Restored
March 28, 2025

Introduction:

(The Sick Times) This is a developing story. We will update it with further information and comments as they become available.
Long COVID research grants from the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER program will be restored following news stories about their abrupt cancellations and advocacy to restore the funding, according to patient representatives in the initiative.

The Sick Times and Chemical & Engineering News reported on Thursday that up to 45 grants to study Long COVID’s underlying biology, awarded in 2022 and 2023, had been rescinded, along with upcoming grants focused on studying the disease in children. On Friday, the NIH went back on this order, restoring the funding.

“Good news! Today, the NYU business office received a notice from the NIH Office of Extramural Research stating that funding for Pathobiology awardees (first round) has been fully reinstated,” wrote RECOVER investigator and New York University pediatrician Rachel Gross in an email shared with The Sick Times.

This restoration will allow vital research into the causes for Long COVID symptoms and connections with other chronic diseases to continue. Some scientists had told The Sick Times that their studies were nearing completion and soon to share findings; see our full story from yesterday https://thesicktimes.org/2025/03/27/rec ... directive/ for more details.

Read more here: https://thesicktimes.org/2025/03/28/up ... restored/

[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[firestar464]