Author of the article: Sophie Ash • Special to National Post
Publishing date: Jan 15, 2021 • January 15, 2021 • 4 minute read Dr. Robert Koenekoop has spent the past 25 years studying all of the genes responsible for IRDs, pictured here at his Montreal clinic, pre-COVID. SUPPLIED
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We often think of genetics in terms of the characteristics we inherit from our birth parents – brown hair, freckles, artistic talent, and so on. But there’s a whole other set of genetic inheritance that can be much more serious.
Inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs) are diseases caused by mutations in over 270 different genes that can be passed down through generations. Individuals with an IRD experience progressive loss of vision and may become blind. The vision loss that occurs in IRDs is a result of genetic mutations that interfere with the way the eye would normally function.
A new study published January 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine, led by Drs. Todd Lee and Emily McDonald from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), confirms the efficiency of saliva testing for COVID-19. This follows a study published earlier in the week by another RI-MUHC team showing that saliva samples for COVID-19 testing are as good as nasopharyngeal swabs, but cheaper. These findings could rapidly influence global public health policy for testing strategies.
âPrevious studies on the performance of saliva tests showed mixed results, but most of them compared saliva tests to the standard nasal swab test, as if it was a perfect test. Interestingly, there are no perfect tests for COVID-19,â says Dr. Guillaume Butler-Laporte, first author of the study released today.
Quebec doctors could soon have to make hard life-and-death decisions for COVID-19 patients and others in intensive care, deciding based on age group and how likely they are to survive, among other factors. Some say the province needs to do more to avoid entering this stage.
At a time when the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is putting the health care system at risk, and governments are imposing new restrictions on the population, researchers at
Posted: Jan 15, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 15
Paramedics transport a patient to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto on Thursday. With hospitals in Montreal under strain from COVID-19, doctors in Quebec and Ontario are now reviewing triage protocols that will help them to decide who gets access to critical care if there is a shortage of beds.(Evan Mitsui/CBC)