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showing posts for 'infection'

Discovery of a structural class of antibiotics with explainable deep learning.

One of the challenges with deep learning (neural networks) is that although they find patterns the reasoning disappears into an endless detail of numbers. In this paper the researchers built an 'explainable' AI to discover antibiotics instead of such a 'black box'. "The discovery of novel structural...
Source: nature.com

Life-threatening infections on the rise due to drug-resistant bacteria, new WHO report reveals 

Over 50 per cent of life-threatening bacterial infections are becoming resistant to treatment, a new World Health Organization (WHO) report published on Friday reveals. 
Source: news.un.org

The Impact of Mask Distribution and Promotion on Mask Uptake and COVID-19 in Bangladesh

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that face masks can protect against COVID-19. There is, however, limited rigorous evidence on the extent to which mask-wearing is effective in reducing COVID-19 in a real-life situation with imperfect and inconsistent mask use. In Bangladesh, researchers...
Source: poverty-action.org

New Delta strain believed to have emerged among 53,000 revellers at Boardmasters festival

Almost 5,000 infections have been linked to the Boardmasters festival in Cornwall, and with half a million music lovers at even larger events over the Bank Holiday, officials fear revellers are being hit by a new strain of the Delta variant
Source: inews.co.uk

U.S. employers get religion with vaccine mandates

As coronavirus infections rise again, U.S. companies mandating vaccinations are confronting an uncomfortable question rarely asked by an employer - what is an employee's religious belief?
Source: reuters.com

Cats Are Better Than Dogs (at Catching the Coronavirus)

Cats and dogs can be infected by the coronavirus — but cats are more susceptible to infection, a new study suggests.
Source: nytimes.com

England's 'freedom day' marred by soaring cases and isolation chaos

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England was marred on Monday by surging infections, warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation.
Source: reuters.com

Innovators in Japan are Developing New Technologies to Counter Coronavirus

As the global coronavirus pandemic continues, the world is searching for new measures that will minimize the risk of infection while allowing essential institutions such as hospitals, government, and schools to continue to function.
Source: reuters.com

Eeek! or E484K mutation and the coronavirus pandemic

Rupert Beale · Eeek! · LRB 19 February 2021: "Uncontrolled spread – as we knew it would – led to an even greater wave of infections, hospitalisations and deaths than last spring. Children were sent to school for one day before the necessary ‘lockdown’ was reimposed. The impulse to keep schools...
Source: lrb.co.uk

Clinical Trials Overlook Diseases of Low-Income Countries

Conditions like respiratory infections, tuberculosis, and enteric infections that disproportionately affect low-income countries are consistently understudied in clinical trials, according to a recent study. Bridget M. Kuehn. JAMA.
Source: jamanetwork.com

France and Germany thrust into lockdown as second COVID-19 wave sweeps Europe: French President Emmanuel Macron and German

France and Germany thrust into lockdown as second COVID-19 wave sweeps Europe: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries back into lockdown on Wednesday, as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter.
Source: reuters.com

Facial Masking for Covid-19

"Facial Masking for Covid-19 — Potential for “Variolation” as We Await a Vaccine | NEJM: Facial Masking for Covid-19 Increasing the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections that are asymptomatic with the simple public health measure of universal masking might reduce the severity of disease and ensure...
Source: nejm.org

Robust T cell immunity in convalescent individuals with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19

"Our collective dataset shows that SARS-CoV-2 elicits robust, broad and highly functional memory T cell responses, suggesting that natural exposure or infection may prevent recurrent episodes of severe COVID-19."
Source: doi.org

SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity is seen in cases of COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity in cases of COVID-19 and SARS, and uninfected controls: Memory T cells induced by previous pathogens can shape the susceptibility to, and clinical severity of, subsequent infections1. Little is known about the presence of pre-existing memory T cells in humans with...
Source: nature.com

COVID-19 infections and deaths among Connecticut nursing home residents

COVID-19 infections and deaths among Connecticut nursing home residents: facility correlates: Objective To determine the associations of nursing home registered nurse (RN) staffing, overall quality of care, and concentration of Medicaid or racial and ethnic minority residents with COVID-19 ... Yue...
Source: wiley.com

Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (hCoV-19)

"This phylogeny shows evolutionary relationships of HCoV-19 viruses from the ongoing novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. All samples are still closely related with few mutations relative to a common ancestor, suggesting a shared common ancestor some time in Nov-Dec 2019. This indicates an initial human...
Source: nextstrain.org

Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.

“Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.” “By tracking mutations to the virus as it spreads, scientists are creating a family tree in nearly real time, which they say can help pinpoint how the infection is hopping between countries.” This demonstrates how the use of...
Source: technologyreview.com

Tick-borne encephalitis virus detected in ticks in the UK.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus detected in ticks in the UK: Surveillance detects tick-borne encephalitis virus in 2 parts of England for the first time. "Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) has been detected for the first time in ticks in the UK. The findings are part of ongoing research by Public Health...
Source: www.gov.uk

Development of new antibiotics encouraged with new pharmaceutical payment system: The NHS will test the world's first ‘subscription’

Development of new antibiotics encouraged with new pharmaceutical payment system: The NHS will test the world's first ‘subscription’ style payment model to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for resistant infections. "The new trial will be led by the National Institute for...
Source: www.gov.uk

Testing blood procalcitonin levels to decide when to start and stop antibiotics in adults with acute respiratory tract infections

Testing blood procalcitonin levels to decide when to start and stop antibiotics in adults with acute respiratory tract infections | Cochrane
Source: cochrane.org