COVID-19 May Lead to Cardiac Injury
Razi Berry COVID-19 can have fatal consequences for people with underlying cardiovascular disease and cause cardiac injury even in patients without underlying heart conditions, according to a review published today in JAMA Cardiology by experts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). COVID-19 can have fatal consequences for people with underlying […]
Microbiome’s Connection to HPV-related Cervical Cancer
Razi Berry Gardnerella bacteria in the cervicovaginal microbiome may serve as a biomarker to identify women infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) who are at risk for progression to precancer, according to a study published March 26 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Robert Burk and Mykhaylo Usyk of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, […]
Pufferfish Toxin to Replace Opioids?
Razi Berry In Japan, pufferfish is considered a delicacy, but the tickle to the taste buds comes with a tickle to the nerves. Fugu contains tetrodotoxin, a strong nerve toxin. In low doses, tetrodotoxin is shown in clinical trials to be a replacement for opioids in relieving cancer related pain. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, […]
Breathing is Less Rhythmical in the Brain Than You May Think
Razi Berry Breathing propels everything we do — so its rhythm must be carefully organized by our brain cells, right? Wrong. Every breath we take arises from a disorderly group of neurons — each like a soloist belting out its song before uniting as a chorus to harmonize on a brand-new melody. Or, in this […]
CDC’s COVID-19 Self-Checker
Razi Berry The COVID-19 pandemic has been overwhelming to the healthcare system globally. Many countries are finding it difficult to keep up with increasing infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched an online triage tool to assist with this burden. Individuals will be able to use the online tool to […]
Alcoholics Anonymous May be Most Effective Treatment for Those Wishing to Stop Alcohol Use
Razi Berry Alcoholics Anonymous, the worldwide fellowship of sobriety seekers, is the most effective path to abstinence, according to a comprehensive analysis conducted by a Stanford School of Medicine researcher and his collaborators. Alcoholics Anonymous may be most effective path to abstinence After evaluating 35 studies — involving the work of 145 scientists and the […]
Babies Know Grammar at 8 Months
Razi Berry Even before uttering their first words, babies master the grammar basics of their mother tongue. Thus, eight-month-old French infants can distinguish function words, or functors — e.g. articles (the), personal pronouns (she), or prepositions (on) — from content words — e.g. nouns (rainbow), verbs (to drive), or adjectives (green). Functors are frequently encountered […]
Risk Factors Associated with Death in Hospitalized COVID-19 Adults
Razi Berry Being of an older age, showing signs of sepsis, and having blood clotting issues when admitted to hospital are key risk factors associated with higher risk of death from the new coronavirus (COVID-19), according to a new observational study of 191 patients with confirmed COVID-19 from two hospitals in Wuhan, China, published in […]
COVID-19 Less Severe in Children
Razi Berry As outbreaks of COVID-19 disease caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues worldwide, there’s reassuring evidence that children have fewer symptoms and less severe disease. That’s among the insights provided by an expert review in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, the official journal of The European Society for […]
COVID-19 Not Transmitted to Fetus, Study Suggests
Razi Berry Finally, some good news! Finally, some good news has emerged about the novel coronavirus that has spread to about 50 countries across the world. Chinese professors report in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics that it doesn’t appear that the viral infection is transmittable from pregnant mothers to newborns at birth. Second study out […]