The world’s doctors have been at the forefront of the pandemic response. Already overstretched by workforce shortages, they have carried exhaustion, uncertainty, and risk, redeploying to unfamiliar specialties, learning at speed, and adopting different ways of working and new technology, while all the time fearing for their patients, their families, and themselves. For many there has
Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) with thrombocytopenia, a rare and serious condition, has been described in Europe following receipt of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca), which uses a chimpanzee adenoviral vector. A mechanism similar to autoimmune heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) has been proposed. In the US, the Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine (Janssen/Johnson & Johnson), which uses a
In recent years, the interest in adipose tissue mesenchymal cell–derived extracellular vesicles (AT-MSC-EVs) has increasingly grown. Numerous articles support the potential of human AT-MSC-EVs as a new therapeutic option for treatment of diverse diseases in the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems, kidney, skin, and immune system, among others. This approach makes use of the molecules transported
Researchers have found that a natural molecule can effectively block the binding of a subset of human antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The discovery may help explain why some COVID-19 patients can become severely ill despite having high levels of antibodies against the virus. In their research, published in Science Advances today (22 April 2021), teams from the Francis
The National Institutes of Health has made significant updates to its guidelines on treating people with COVID-19. What’s New in the Guidelines Last Updated: April 21, 2021 The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Treatment Guidelines is published in an electronic format that can be updated in step with the rapid pace and growing volume of information regarding the
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy can induce side-effects such as cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), which often require intensive care unit admission. The aim of the study, published in The Lancet Haematology was to describe management of critically ill CAR T-cell recipients in intensive care. An international, multicentre, observational
Research has shown that people with red hair perceive pain differently than others. They may be more sensitive to certain types of pain and can require higher doses of some pain-killing medications. However, studies suggest that their general pain tolerance may be higher. People with red hair also respond more effectively to opioid pain medications,
COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, has changed human behavior patterns since it became a global pandemic. To date, more than 136 million people have suffered from the disease and, of these, more than 2.9 million have lost their lives. The symptoms of the infection vary widely, from individuals who show no clinical symptoms to those who
Cases of unusual thrombosis and thrombocytopenia after administration of the ChAdOx1 nCoV‐19 vaccine (AstraZeneca) have been reported. The term vaccine‐induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) was coined to reflect this new phenomenon. In vitro experiments with VIPIT patient sera indicated that high dose intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) competitively inhibit the platelet activating properties of ChAdOx1 nCoV‐19 vaccine induced
In a paper recently published on Cell, an emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant was identified by viral whole-genome sequencing of 2,172 nasal/nasopharyngeal swab samples from 44 counties in California, a state in the Western United States. Named B.1.427/B.1.429 to denote its 2 lineages, the variant emerged in May 2020 and increased from 0% to >50% of sequenced
