People who recover from mild COVID-19 have bone-marrow cells that can churn out antibodies for decades, although viral variants could dampen some of the protection they offer. Many people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 will probably make antibodies against the virus for most of their lives. Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime (May 26, 2021) In …
COVID-19 is a global pandemic with significant case fatality, often due to respiratory failure. Few treatments have improved morbidity, and the only pharmacologic intervention reported to improve survival is use of glucocorticoids in hospitalized COVID-19 patients requiring supplemental oxygen. The National Institutes of Health recommends maintaining oxygen saturation levels at 92%-96 for COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 patients often have unrecognized hypoxemia …
“All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus’ properties. However, some changes may affect the virus’ properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of vaccines, therapeutic medicines, diagnostic tools, or other public health and social measures. WHO, in collaboration …
In a study published in JAMA Network Open, the question raised was “what were the hospital discharge rates, demographic factors, and outcomes of hospitalization associated with COVID-19 pandemic among U.S. patients with ischemic stroke (IS) in 2020?” After the emergence of COVID-19, studies reported a decrease in hospital encounters among patients with ischemic stroke (IS). This decrease was contrary to …
During 2020, mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 largely depended on non-pharmaceutical interventions such as physical distancing, hand hygiene, universal masking, isolation, and quarantine. Contact tracing and quarantine of exposed contacts are intended to limit the number of infected contacts and lessen the risk of transmission. Contact tracing is a resource-intensive, multi-step process with many potential steps at which persons with COVID-19 or …
Effective vaccines against COVID-19 are urgently needed to control the global pandemic. More than 280 candidate vaccines are in development worldwide, 23 of which are already in phase 3 trials using different platforms. In this phase 3 randomized trial in adults, 2 whole-virus inactivated vaccines showed efficacy of 72.8% and 78.1% against symptomatic COVID-19 cases. The 2 vaccines had rare …
MedPage Today reported on Erika A. Petersen, MD, of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock speaking at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology’s virtual meeting in May. Dr. Petersen discussed the use of a spinal cord stimulation device for relieving diabetic neuropathy pain. “This is the largest randomized controlled trial evaluating spinal cord stimulation for refractory …
An estimated 47 million people worldwide were living with dementia in 2015, while in the United States, around 5.7 million people have Alzheimer’s dementia. Modifiable risk factors, including hypertension, hearing loss, depression, diabetes, and smoking, account for around 35% of dementia cases. Anticholinergic drugs are another potentially modifiable risk factor. This broad group of drugs acts by blocking the neurotransmitter …
In an article published in Medpage Today, they discuss the differences between brain age and chronological age. We have all heard about doing crossword puzzles and sudoku assists in maintaining a younger mind, but is it true? According to a recent study, two independent data sets showed that cognitive age, assessed by a novel tool as a “cognitive clock,” predicted …
What do we already know about this topic? “Counties with higher levels of social vulnerability have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Disparities in county-level vaccination coverage by social vulnerability have increased as vaccine eligibility has expanded, especially in large fringe metropolitan (areas surrounding large cities, i.e., suburban) and nonmetropolitan counties. By May 1, 2021, vaccination coverage among adults was lower …
