COVID -19 Coronavirus

11 Jul

Posted at 13:28h in COVID -19 Coronavirus, Mental Health Research

Mental Health Notice: If you are experiencing significant stress, anxiety, or low mood, please speak with a qualified healthcare professional. You can contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 (24/7), or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. In a life-threatening situation, call 911.

The COVID-19 pandemic didn't just come and go. It disrupted our way of life, and its impact on mental health care can still be felt. The pandemic changed how people viewed stress, anxiety, and emotional support. Before 2020, you probably didn't like discussing your mental health issues for fear of being judged. Most people believed they should handle mental health issues alone.

Lockdowns, uncertainty, grief, and isolation made those struggles harder to ignore. As millions faced similar challenges, mental health became a public conversation rather than a private concern. In this article, we'll explain how the pandemic made mental health care more acceptable and why demand has remained strong.

[caption id="attachment_74956" align="aligncenter" width="500"]covid mental health care Photo by Alex Green on Pexels[/caption]

28 Apr

Posted at 14:27h in COVID -19 Coronavirus, Hematology, Infections
apheresis-center.png Most people with COVID-19 got sick, recovered, and moved on. A subset did not. Months in — sometimes over a year — they are still exhausted after climbing a flight of stairs, still losing words mid-sentence, still waking up as tired as when they went to bed. This is Long COVID, and by some estimates it now affects somewhere between 10 and 30% of those who contracted the virus. The numbers are staggering. The biology behind it is stranger than most people expect. Here is what makes Long COVID different from typical post-viral fatigue: the immune response does not resolve. It just keeps going.

03 Apr

Posted at 14:48h in COVID -19 Coronavirus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jamie I Forrest PhD, MPH Scientific Director, Health Equity & Resilience Observatory (HERO) Faculty of Applied Science University of British Columbia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We’ve known since early in the pandemic that many people don’t fully recover after COVID-19. Fatigue is one of the most persistent and disabling symptoms, and it significantly reduces quality of life — affecting people’s ability to work, care for their families, and participate in daily life. Until now, there have been very few treatment options backed by solid evidence. Doctors have largely focused on supportive care — helping patients manage their symptoms through rest, pacing, and multidisciplinary teams — because no medication had been shown to work in a well-designed clinical trial. Several smaller or uncontrolled studies had suggested certain drugs might help, but robust randomized controlled trial evidence was scarce. Interestingly, metformin had previously been shown to reduce the risk of developing Long COVID when taken during the acute phase of infection. Our study asked a different question: can these drugs help people who already have established Long COVID? Long COVID — also called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, or PASC — is a condition where people continue to feel sick for months or even years after recovering from a COVID-19 infection. The most common and debilitating complaint is fatigue: a profound, persistent exhaustion that doesn’t get better with rest and can make even simple daily activities feel impossible. Despite affecting an estimated tens of millions of people worldwide, there are almost no proven treatments. We wanted to test whether two existing, widely available, and affordable medications could help. The first was fluvoxamine — an antidepressant that also has potent anti-inflammatory effects and acts on brain pathways involved in fatigue. The second was metformin — a common diabetes medication that reduces inflammation and may support cellular energy production. Both had biological reasons to think they might work against Long COVID fatigue, but neither had been rigorously tested for this purpose in a proper clinical trial.

09 Sep

Posted at 12:39h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_70576" align="alignleft" width="200"]Thao-Ly Phan, MD, MPH Medical Director, Nemours Children's Health Professor of Pediatrics Thomas Jefferson University Dr. Thao Ly Phan[/caption] Thao-Ly Phan, MD, MPH Medical Director, Nemours Children's Health Professor of Pediatrics Thomas Jefferson University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been extensively studied in adults, but there has been limited exploration of its effects on children and adolescents. While several studies have described weight gain trends in children during the pandemic, less is known about how having a diagnosis of COVID-19 contributed to these trends. Our study drew on the NIH’s National Clinical Cohort Collaborative database, a real-world database of electronic health data from over 90 institutions across the country.  We used this dataset’s unique features to compare a diverse group of more than 11,000 children diagnosed with COVID-19 to a matched cohort of children without a diagnosis of COVID-19.

30 Nov

Posted at 20:08h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Mental Health Research, Pulmonary Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_65216" align="alignleft" width="200"]Sean B. Fain, Ph.D.Professor and  Vice Chair for Research Department of Radiology Affiliate Appointments BME and ECE University of Iowa Iowa City, IA Dr. Fain[/caption] Sean B. Fain, Ph.D. Professor and Vice Chair for Research Department of Radiology Affiliate Appointments BME and ECE University of Iowa Iowa City, IA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This study uses MRI to investigate connections between lung and brain function. We employ an advanced MRI technique that uses hyperpolarized xenon gas as a contrast agent. This approach allows us to image which parts of the lung are effectively inhaling xenon gas and which parts are not (i.e. ventilation). Additionally, xenon provides insights into lung gas exchange (i.e. oxygen transfer into and out of the blood), as it freely diffuses into alveolar tissue and binds to red blood cells. Using this technology, we hypothesized that the severity of lung injury in individuals with Long COVID would correlate with the degree of cognitive dysfunction and brain imaging.

16 Oct

Posted at 18:03h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA, OBGYNE, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_64046" align="alignleft" width="200"]Eleni G. Jaswa, MD, MScAssistant Professor, Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Science UCSF Dr. Jaswa[/caption] Eleni G. Jaswa, MD, MSc Assistant Professor, Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Science UCSF MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Some infections during pregnancy have been associated with abnormal neurodevelopment in children. This is likely due to the infection itself, or the maternal immune system response to infection. We sought to determine whether maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy, a now common occurrence, was associated with changes in children's neurodevelopment out to 24-months-old, compared to control children not exposed to maternal COVID-19 in utero.

10 Oct

Posted at 11:29h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_63906" align="alignleft" width="160"]Stanley Hazen, MD, PhDChair, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences  Lerner Research Institute CoSection head, Preventive Cardiology & Cardiovascular Rehabilitation  Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute Cleveland Clinic Dr. Hazen[/caption] Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD Chair, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences Lerner Research Institute CoSection head, Preventive Cardiology & Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute Cleveland Clinic MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  One of the unique features of COVID is that in some subjects, there unfortunately appear to be long term adverse effects that can occur following resolution of the acute infection.  These studies add to the growing body of data showing that COVID-19 infection can enhance risk for experiencing adverse cardiac events (heart attack, stroke, and death) over time.

07 Jun

Posted at 10:54h in COVID -19 Coronavirus, Vaccine Studies
COVID-19 is a virus that devastated the healthcare systems around the globe. The main reason for this devastation was the speed of the spreading. Because it was spreading so fast, hospitals weren’t able to accommodate so many patients. We needed to figure out a better approach to dealing with the pandemic. So, this is where most of the people on Earth stood together by being apart. We were in lockdown, but our scientists and governments collaborated more on finding the right solution.

What Was the COVID-19 Impact on Research Priorities?

One of the major impacts of the pandemic was the speed of research. Because of the urgency and the need for a quick response, research was focused on the COVID-19 virus and therapy and vaccine development for it. The development of vaccines was heavily prioritized, but this does not imply that it is not being done presently. Epidemiology and therapeutic regimens continue to see some initiatives. However, research remains a priority with ongoing trials on many things you can participate in (link to site). This required a lot of funding and resources, so governments, private sectors, and international organizations collaborated and helped out the research process. We’ve proven that we can adapt in no time, and respond to great threats effectively and swiftly.

25 Apr

Posted at 00:45h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA, Technology, UCSD, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John W. AyersJohn W. Ayers, PhD MA Vice Chief of Innovation | Assoc. Professor
Div. Infectious Disease & Global Public Health University of California San Diego Since the World Health Organization declared an ‘infodemic’ of misinformation, there have been surprisingly few achievements to celebrate. X's Community Notes have emerged as an innovative strategy to address misinformation as reported in the latest issue of JAMA.
Before the inception of Community Notes, social media companies employed various tactics to tackle misinformation, including censoring, shadowbanning (muting a user or their content on a platform without informing them), and adding generic warning labels to problematic content. However, these efforts were typically undisclosed meaning their effectiveness could not be studied.

In late 2022, X introduced Community Notes. This novel approach empowers volunteer, independent, anonymous, and ideologically diverse contributors to identify posts containing misinformation and to rectify misinformation by appending informative "notes" to suspect posts. The process is controlled by the public, instead of decision-makers at the company. Most importantly the system is open-sourced so it can be studied by external scientists.

14 Mar

Posted at 18:42h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Infections, NYU/NYMC
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_61434" align="alignleft" width="150"]Mukundan G. Attur, PhDAssociate Professor, Department of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine Dr. Attur[/caption] Mukundan G. Attur, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  The study investigates the potential protective effects of a genetic variant of IL1RN against inflammation and severe outcomes, particularly in COVID-19. Previous research indicates that carriers of this genetic variant may experience less severe radiographic knee osteoarthritis and decreased inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Given the emergence of cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 patients, the researchers sought to understand whether the same genetic variant could offer protection against inflammation and potential death in COVID-19 cases.

29 Feb

Posted at 01:16h in Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Imperial College, NEJM
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_61356" align="alignleft" width="150"]Prof. Adam Hampshire Ph.D.Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences Professor in Restorative Neurosciences Imperial College London Prof. Hampshire[/caption] Prof. Adam Hampshire Ph.D. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences Professor in Restorative Neurosciences Imperial College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cognitive symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are well-recognized. Whether objectively measurable cognitive deficits exist and how long they persist are unclear.

01 Nov

Posted at 11:07h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Environmental Risks
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60971" align="alignleft" width="132"]Prof. Asai Takeshi Prof. Takeshi[/caption] Prof. Takeshi Asai Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Japan Faculty of Physical Education, International Pacific University Okayama, Japan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact and droplet transmission were considered the main routes of infection. However, it was later demonstrated that airborne transmission is an important route. Therefore, accumulating real-world data on airborne transmission was deemed crucial.

01 Nov

Posted at 10:32h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60929" align="alignleft" width="150"]Anna Rosemarie Yousaf MDCDC: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Yousaf[/caption] Anna Rosemarie Yousaf MD CDC: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare but serious complication following SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 illness in children characterized by fever and multiple organ inflammation. This study looks at data from children with MIS-C reported to CDC’s national MIS-C surveillance system and compares the characteristics of children who died to children who survived.

26 Oct

Posted at 15:07h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60954" align="alignleft" width="200"]Neeraj Sood, PhDVerna and Peter Dauterive Hall University Park Campus University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Dr. Sood[/caption] Neeraj Sood, PhD Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall University Park Campus University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We conducted this study to inform school COVID-19 policies. The main findings are that the median duration of infectivity after a positive COVID-19 test in children is 3 days. The median duration of infectivity does not vary with vaccination. 

03 Aug

Posted at 10:03h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ayesha Lavell MD Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Internal Medicine, Amsterdam Institute for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam, the Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Nose picking is so common in the overall population (91% in a survey study in the US, performed in 1995), maybe people find it hard to refrain from such a common behavior.  We were really curious whether this particular behavior would be more prone to infection spread, as it entails literally putting a potentially contaminate finger against the nasal mucosa. Also, previous research has shown us that nose picking is associated with nasal carriage of S. Aureus bacteria and volunteers have shown to be able to infect themselves with a common cold virus (Rhinovirus) by rubbing the virus inside their nose (laboratory based research in the early seventies). Therefore, it is surprising (given the amount of literature on SARS-CoV-2) that the relationship between nose picking and COVID-19 has not been studied before. And especially since health care workers are at increased risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2, we wanted to know more about common behavioral features that may contribute to this risk.

27 Jul

Posted at 21:25h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Environmental Risks
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Thomas Deliberto, PhD, DVM, APHIS Wildlife Services One Health Coordinator
  Dr. Thomas Deliberto, PhD, DVM, APHIS Wildlife Services One Health Coordinator     MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? deer-covidResponse: In 2021, USDA launched a plan to investigate exposure of wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to SARS-CoV-2, a zoonotic virus and the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers found that 40% of the blood samples tested had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. This initial study suggested that SARS-CoV-2 could be transmitted from humans to deer, and that deer could potentially serve as a reservoir for the virus. To better understand the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer, a team of researchers conducted a larger study to collect and analyze respiratory samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer in the United States.  The study identified SARS-CoV-2 sequences in white-tailed deer across nearly half of the states in the U.S. The researchers also found that deer could be infected with multiple SARS-CoV-2 lineages, and that these lineages could be transmitted from deer to deer. In addition, the researchers found three cases of potential virus transmission from white-tailed deer back to humans.  This raises concerns about the potential for the virus to continue to evolve in an animal reservoir, and the possibility of future spillover events.

19 Jul

Posted at 04:49h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Tommy Dickey Ph.D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus Geography Department University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA covid-sniffing-dogs-tom-trainingMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  I became interested in dog's sense of smell several years ago while doing therapy dog demonstrations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles during a special traveling exhibit "Dogs! A Science Tail." (Now at the Orlando Science Center).  I did a lot of research on this topic and taught children about it through the Los Angeles Public Library using my Great Pyrenees therapy dogs. Then, COVID broke out and I expanded my research into any work being done to possibly utilize scent dogs for screening and testing for COVID.  I found only a few such studies.  However, I fortuitously met Heather Junqueira of BioScent, Inc. (in Florida) online and she was beginning to successfully teach her beagles to detect COVID-related odors.  She agreed to co-author a peer-reviewed review paper with me.  That led to our first paper - Dickey, T, Junqueira, H. Toward the use of medical scent dogs for COVID-19 screening. J Osteopath Med 2021;1(2): 141-148. https://doi.org/10.1515/jom-2020-0222 When the COVID pandemic began to wane at the beginning of this year, I felt that it would be the perfect time to do this comprehensive follow-up review to see how far COVID scent dog research had progressed. To our amazement, research efforts had increased by almost tenfold and involved over 400 scientists using over 31,000 samples (including sniffings) from over 30 countries and that 29 peer reviewed papers had been published. Heather’s inspiration for doing scent dog work came when her father contracted cancer and she wanted to find better diagnostics.  She has since been successful in detecting non-small cell lung cancer with her trained beagles as well as COVID.

10 Jul

Posted at 23:09h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60595" align="alignleft" width="128"]Fernanda Lessa, MD, MPHChief, CDC’s International Infection Control Program Co-author of the paper Dr. Lessa[/caption] Fernanda Lessa, MD, MPH Chief, CDC’s International Infection Control Program Co-author of the paper MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Data from low- and middle-income countries on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic use among outpatients are sparse. This study evaluated the changes in prescribing rates of antibiotics commonly prescribed for respiratory tract infections by outpatient providers among adults in Brazil. We observed increases during the pandemic in outpatient prescriptions of azithromycin and ceftriaxone of up 360% and 90%, respectively, based on age and sex.

24 Apr

Posted at 11:16h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Herpes Viruses, HIV, HPV, Infections, STD
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60333" align="alignleft" width="146"]Manoj Gandhi, MD PhDSenior Medical Director of Genetic Testing Services, Thermo Fisher Scientific. Dr. Gandhi[/caption] Manoj Gandhi, MD PhD Senior Medical Director of Genetic Testing Services, Thermo Fisher Scientific. Dr. Gandhi has been working to advance the quality of medical care globally. Using his knowledge of Clinical Medicine and Molecular Biology/Pathology, he is focused on bridging these two fields and bringing innovative solutions that help advance science, the practice of medicine with the ultimate goal of impacting patient lives, whether it be in Infectious Diseases or Oncology or Personalized Medicine. This approach allows him to explore creative ways to utilize technology to help better identify diseases and improve the direction and value of treatment. MedicalResearch.com: What are the most common STIs prevalent in the US and worldwide today? Response: By far, the most common STIs in the US and worldwide is Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer in women and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) that is the cause of genital herpes. Outside of these two major causes of STI, the others that are very common are Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Trichomoniasis and Syphilis. It is important to note that the reported cases represent only a subset of the individuals with an infection as many may be asymptomatic and could be spreading these STIs to others. HIV is another STI that is common but usually rests in its own category due to its impact.

18 Apr

Posted at 19:08h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Diabetes, JAMA

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60303" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Zafar Janjua[/caption] Naveed Zafar Janjua, MBBS, MSc, DrPH Executive Director, Data and Analytic Services BC Centre for Disease Control Provincial Health Services Authority Clinical Professor, School of Population and Public Health University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Ongoing research suggests that COVID-19 may...

07 Mar

Posted at 20:07h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Electronic Records, Health Care Systems, Race/Ethnic Diversity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60140" align="alignleft" width="112"]Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P.Director of Policy Dissemination Physicians Foundation Center for Physician Practice and Leadership Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Economics Weill Cornell Medicine, NYC Dr. Khullar[/caption] Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P. Director of Policy Dissemination Physicians Foundation Center for Physician Practice and Leadership Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Economics Weill Cornell Medicine, NYC   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: From prior research, we know that there are racial/ethnic differences in the acute impact of COVID-19, including higher rates of hospitalization and death among Black and Hispanic individuals compared to white individuals. Less is known about whether there are differences in the rates or types of long COVID by race and ethnicity.

28 Feb

Posted at 13:43h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Nature, OBGYNE, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60097" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr Jessica Miller, PhDMurdoch Children’s Researcher Professor David Burgner, Murdoch Children’s Group Leader, Infection and Immunity Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Victoria Australia Dr. MIller[/caption] Dr Jessica Miller, PhD Murdoch Children’s Researcher and Professor David Burgner, Murdoch Children’s Group Leader, Infection and Immunity Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Victoria Australia   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Early reports following the initial COVID-19 lockdowns showed huge variation in changes to preterm birth and stillbirth rates, deeming it difficult to understand the pattern worldwide. It was uncertain if the observed variations were due to differences in study design and methodology, immediate impacts of lockdowns or changes in health service utilization. Previous reports from single populations or facilities were unlikely to be representative of the population and could not be compared across populations. Lockdowns affected health, social and economic factors that could lead to reductions in preterm birth rates. Changes in hygiene practices and abruptions to traffic following lockdown led to alterations in non-COVID infections and air pollution, which are known to trigger inflammation and contribute to preterm birth. Given the uncertainty in the earlier reports, we aimed to conduct a rigorous, standardised analysis using high-quality, total-population data from across the world in order to summarize and compare rates across countries. Our large global study included 52 million births between 2015-2020 from 26 countries and represents one of the first large-scale analyses of birth outcomes during the early months of COVID-19.

10 Feb

Posted at 19:33h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60007" align="alignleft" width="125"]Kenya Colvin, MBSDepartment of Medical Education Scranton, PA Kenya Colvin[/caption] Kenya Colvin, MBS Department of Medical Education Scranton, PA MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Vaccine hesitancy is a major driver of COVID-19 vaccination disparities between minority and non-Hispanic White communities. Our goal was to understand what factors influenced vaccine hesitancy among individuals in Eastern Pennsylvania to identify more effective ways to promote vaccine uptake within minority communities.

07 Feb

Posted at 18:27h in Addiction, Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Opiods
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_56276" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr-Brian-Piper Dr. Piper[/caption] Brian Piper, PhD MS Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Center for Pharmacy Innovation & Outcomes Geisinger School of Graduate Education MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Methadone is an evidence-based treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) and pain. However, this Schedule II opioid can also cause respiratory depression, which can result in lethality. The need for supervised administration is a long-standing source of frustration in the U.S. for many opioid use disorder (OUD) methadone patients. However, there was an accommodation in early 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This involved extending the take-home supply to up to 28-days for stable patients and 14 days for less stable patients. Prior research found that the implementation of supervised administration in England greatly reduced methadone overdoses [1]. The primary objective of this study [2] from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine was to determine if the relaxation of the take-home rules resulted in more methadone overdoses.

17 Nov

Posted at 20:51h in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, COVID -19 Coronavirus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_59739" align="alignleft" width="150"]Amy S. Lee, Ph.D.Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine USC/Norris Cancer Center Los Angeles, CA 90033 Dr. Lee[/caption] Amy S. Lee, Ph.D.Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular MedicineUSC/Norris Cancer CenterLos Angeles, CA 90033 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Trying to find stable host cell targets to combat SARS-CoV-2 instead of chasing after the ever-mutating virus.    MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: When SARS-CoV-2 infects the host cell, it creates stress leading to higher production of GRP78. Blocking GRP78 reduces the ability of the virus to multiple and infect other cells.   

04 Nov

Posted at 20:21h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, PLoS, Rheumatology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Tim Vyse Professor of Molecular Medicine and Dr David Morris Non Clinical Lecturer in Molecular Genetics Guy’s Hospital, London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We observed a correlation between the genetic associations with severe COVID-19 and those with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, Lupus), and aimed to discover which genetic loci were shared by these diseases and what biological processes were involved. This resulted in the discovery of several genetic loci, some of which had alleles that were risk for both diseases and some of which were risk for severe COVID-19 yet protective for SLE. The locus with most evidence of shared association (TYK2) is involved in interferon production, a process that is important in response to viral infection and known to be dysregulated in SLE patients.  Other shared associated loci contained genes also involved in the defense response and the immune system signaling. These results add to the growing evidence that there are alleles in the human genome that provide protection against viral infection yet are risk for autoimmune disease.

26 Sep

Posted at 12:41h in Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Allison Witman PhD Assistant Professor of Economics Economics & Finance Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Yu Wang PhD Assistant Professor Congdon School of Supply Chain, Business Analytics, & Information Systems Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina Wilmington David Cho PhD Assistant Professor of Management California State University, Fullerton

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The COVID-19 pandemic placed tremendous financial pressure on hospitals. Beginning in March of 2020, hospitals cancelled outpatient and elective procedures to accommodate surges in demand from COVID-19 patients. As these procedures account for more than 60% of an average hospital’s revenue, cancellation posed serious challenges to the financial health of hospitals. Revenue from COVID-19 patients may have partially offset these effects, but the American Hospital Association estimated a total loss of $202.6 billion by American hospitals between March and June 2020. In response, the U.S. government created large federal assistance programs aimed to stabilize hospitals’ financial situation as their ability to maintain operations was critical to the health of the nation. Due to differences in hospital characteristics, certain hospitals such as rural hospitals and those serving a higher share of Medicaid and uninsured patients (e.g., safety net hospitals) may have been more financially susceptible to the effects of the pandemic. These hospitals that serve vulnerable patient populations historically have had lower profit margins and were candidates for targeted COVID relief funding (e.g., Safety Net Hospitals Payments, a $10 billion component of the Provider Relief Fund).

03 Aug

Posted at 17:32h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_59400" align="alignleft" width="150"]Lisa A. Cosimi, MD Division of Infectious Diseases Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Cosimi[/caption] Lisa A. Cosimi, MD Division of Infectious Diseases Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Response: Current CDC COVID-19 isolation guidance allows for ending isolation after day 5 for non-immunocompromised individuals if they are afebrile and with improving symptoms, or if the individual is asymptomatic from the start. It has been proposed that rapid antigen tests (RATs) may assist in determining when individuals are no longer infectious. Specifically, a negative test would be potentially reassuring for an individual not being transmissible, while a positive test could be suggestive of continued infectiousness.  However, there is little data about use of RATs in this particular setting and how they may correlate with ongoing risk of transmission as they were developed to be used during the initial diagnosis of infection, not in the later phase.

02 Aug

Posted at 19:12h in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_59384" align="alignleft" width="160"]Dr Emma Wall Senior Clinical Research Fellow, UCLH-Crick Legacy study Consultant Infectious Diseases UCLH Dr. Wall[/caption] Dr Emma Wall Senior Clinical Research Fellow, UCLH-Crick Legacy study Consultant Infectious Diseases UCLH MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Since April 2022, both the UK and US have changed their COVID-19 isolation and testing policies. The impact these changes in the guidance and vaccination on community-acquired COVID-19 caused by recent SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) has not been fully tested, including infections with BA.2. We aimed to characterise both symptoms and viral loads over the course of COVID-19 infection in otherwise-healthy, vaccinated, non-hospitalised adults, to assess whether current guidance remains justified. All participants were included in the UCLH-Crick Legacy study, a prospective, observational cohort study of otherwise healthy adults who have been taking part in regular workplace testing for SARS-CoV-2 in London We sent swabs by same-day courier every other day to all adults who reported a positive PCR or lateral flow test to the study team up to day 10 after the start of each infection. We confirmed which variant caused the infection by PCR and sequencing. All participants completed linked symptom diaries. We compared symptoms and changes in the amount of virus detected in the nose and throat during infection between study participants reporting COVID-19 caused by VOCs Delta and Omicron BA.1 and BA.2. We then analysed how many of our participants would meet current UK/US isolation guidelines.