A team of researchers at the University School of Medicine recently published an article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry regarding their study of HIV fusion to cell membranes using cryo-electron microscopy. The study determined the initial steps of HIV infection in cells — information that can be applied to understanding the infection process of other viruses including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to COVID-19 infection.
STEM CAMPAIGN
HOPE IN SIGHT: A team of scientists from Dundee, the University of Texas and the City of Hope Cancer Center in LA will look to build on recent discoveries. AN acclaimed academic from the University of Dundee is set to benefit from a new million-dollar international award to help find more effective treatments with fewer side effects for Ewing’s sarcoma – a rare type of cancer that mainly affects children and young people. Professor Kevin Hiom, from the University’s School of Medicine, will jointly lead a transatlantic team of scientists who were awarded a Paediatric Cancer New Discoveries Challenge award of almost $1million, approximately £770,000.
Dec 23, 2020
A team of scientists at the University of Nevada-Reno are investigating how cattle microRNAs and the genes they influence affect the human body and health. MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules involved in the regulation of gene expression that convert DNA code into proteins that carry out cellular functions, such as development, differentiation, growth, and metabolism.
The interdisciplinary team of researchers is seeking to understand how feeding cattle different diets will affect the microRNA profile in beef; how microRNAs may be used as biomarkers for meat quality; and how these small molecules may affect human health, specifically chronic diseases.
The team will identify microRNAs in cooked and digested beef that may be absorbed by the intestines and further regulate pathways associated to cancer, coronary artery disease, apoptosis of cardiac cells, repression of breast cancer, inflammatory diseases and diabetes.
Managers at New Jersey s veterans homes where more than 190 residents have died from COVID-19 not only barred employees from wearing protective masks during the first weeks of the outbreak, they devised a series of penalties with the help of Gov. Phil Murphy s office against nurses who wore the homes’ masks without permission.
Emails obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com show that at least one worker had to return home because management wouldn t let him wear a mask, even though he had a doctor s note saying he suffered from asthma.
Managers at the Paramus and Menlo Park homes were so opposed to mask-wearing at the start of the pandemic that they pushed back against letting outside vendors and ambulance crews wear them at the veterans homes as they transported residents, the emails show.
A Covid Nose-Irrigation Primer Over the counter nasal irrigation is being use to manage cold symptoms Thorsten Frenzel - Pixabay
A common-sense question: If the coronavirus travels via respiratory droplets; if it can hang around in the breathable air, and under the right conditions (bad ventilation, for example) travel more than 6 feet; then is it reasonable to assume washing out the nostrils with the right product would temper the virus’ activity? Could someone flush the Covid-19 virus out before it makes them sick?
Using the right stuff, say povidone-iodine, at the right concentration ( 1.25% or even less ) can inactivate the virus. Ethanol takes longer to do the same job; the WHO reminds us that ethanol is toxic. The WHO also says that rinsing the nose with saline won’t save people from contracting the virus either. Ah, these devilish details.