New study reveals mechanisms that result in lethal COVID-19
A new study is drawing the most detailed picture yet of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lung, revealing mechanisms that result in lethal COVID-19, and may explain long-term complications and show how COVID-19 differs from other infectious diseases.
Led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, the study found that in patients who died of the infection, COVID-19 unleashed a detrimental trifecta of runaway inflammation, direct destruction and impaired regeneration of lung cells involved in gas exchange, and accelerated lung scarring.
Though the study looked at lungs from patients who had died of the disease, it provides solid leads as to why survivors of severe COVID may experience long-term respiratory complications due to lung scarring.
Date Time
Study reveals a cause of heart damage in COVID-19 patients
The heart damage seen in many severely ill COVID-19 patients results in part from infection-activated immune cells called macrophages, which infiltrate the heart and secrete cell-damaging chemicals, according to a study co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai and Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The research identifies new potential treatments for COVID-19 patients as well as describes a model system for further studies and drug screening. Dr. Liuliu Yang/Weill Cornell Medicine
Confocal image of heart autopsy sample of a COVID-19 patient. The image shows the damaged structure of cardiomyocytes (red) and increased expression of chemokine, CCL2 (green), which recruits macrophages that further damage heart tissue.
Study reveals a cause of heart damage in COVID-19 patients cornell.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cornell.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Diet and Cancer: Part III By Alfred I. Neugut | April 22, 2021
We previously discussed the wide discrepancy in cancer rates between the U.S. and Japan, and considered that the differences in dietary fat intake might be responsible in part for it.
If we go back to the 1970s when these hypotheses were being formulated and discussed, the average U.S. intake of fat was 40% of calories. In Japan, the average intake of fat was close to 20%, a huge difference. Indeed, it is likely that this low fat intake was responsible in part for the reduced height of the Japanese relative to their Western counterparts when Japanese migrated to the West, not only did they acquire the cancer rates of the West, they also increased in height.
American Heart Association
Scientific research teams in California and Texas have been awarded nearly $1.4 million in grants to study ways to improve pediatric heart transplant outcomes.
These first two research awards mark the initial investment of the joint $3 million funding initiative between American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary health organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular disease, and Enduring Hearts, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding innovative research aimed at improving the lives of children living with transplanted hearts.
The announcement comes during National Pediatric Transplant Week, April 18-24, 2021. According to Enduring Hearts, more than 450 children undergo a heart transplant in the U.S. each year. Although medical advances have improved over the years, many of these children and their families still face a lifetime of challenges. More than one in four pediatric heart transplants will fail within five years, largely d