AFP
13 APRIL 2021
The English variant of the novel coronavirus does not increase the severity of COVID-19 compared to other strains, according to research published Tuesday that also confirmed its increased transmissibility.
The variant, known as B117, is now the dominant viral strain across much of Europe, and previous studies had shown it was linked to a higher likelihood of death than normal variants.
But two studies published in
The Lancet Public Health journals found no evidence that people with B117 experience worse symptoms or a greater risk of developing long COVID than those infected with different variants.
The research found however that the variant was associated with a higher viral load and reproduction rate than normal variants.
Urging American lawmakers to pass a legislation that ends the archaic per country quota for legal permanent residency in the US, a group of frontline Indian-American healthcare professionals, stuck in the 150-plus-year Green Card backlog, held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Capitol. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the country. In a joint statement on Monday, the Indian-American doctors said that they are in a 150-plus-year Green Card backlog due to archaic country caps that allows no nation to get more than seven per cent of employment-based green cards.
Stroke Foundation is thrilled to announce the finalists for this year's national Stroke Awards. Finalists include an author who wrote a novel from her.
Weizmann Institute of Science
Our brain has On and Off switches for all its activities, and maintaining a balance between the two is crucial for our health and well-being. For instance: Epileptic seizures occur when the On signals run amok in the cortex, while people with Parkinson’s disease have difficulty using their muscles because of an excess of Off signals in the brain’s motor regions. In memory circuits, an overzealous On can force irrelevant memories upon us, as in posttraumatic stress disorder, whereas an overly active Off can prevent us from remembering anything at all.
In a new study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Tübingen, have revealed how the brain keeps the On-Off balance steady. They discovered that this balance is programmed into the basic mechanisms through which individual neurons connect with one another.