Novel mesenchymal stem cell therapy approach proves effective in treating COVID-19

An international team of researchers has advanced a new therapeutic approach using stem cells to treat COVID-19. Despite many advances in treating the COVID-19 virus there remains no specific cure for patients with infection. This is especially the case with hospitalised patients who end up in the ICU requiring mechanical ventilation support. Key members of

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A prospective cohort study on the long term effects of COVID-19: new disability, functional outcomes and return to work at 6 months

A recent Monash University study has found six months after recovering from COVID-19 critical illness, one in five people had died, and almost 40 per cent of survivors had a new disability. Led by Professor Carol Hodgson, the study looked at COVID-19 critical illness across Australia between March 6 and October 4, 2020, measuring mortality, new

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BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine in Children 5 to 11 Years of Age evaluation paper published in NEJM

Safe, effective vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are urgently needed in children younger than 12 years of age. A phase 1, dose-finding study and an ongoing phase 2–3 randomized trial are being conducted to investigate the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine administered 21 days apart in children 6

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Pfizer’s novel COVID-19 oral antiviral protease inhibitor reduced risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in interm analysis of Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR study

PAXLOVID™ (PF-07321332; ritonavir) was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% compared to placebo in non-hospitalized high-risk adults with COVID-19 In the overall study population through Day 28, no deaths were reported in patients who received PAXLOVID™ as compared to 10 deaths in patients who received placebo Pfizer plans to submit the data as

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Oxford University researchers uncover gene that doubles risk of death from COVID-19

Scientists at Oxford University have identified the gene responsible for doubling the risk of respiratory failure from COVID-19. Sixty percent of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk genetic signal, partly explaining the excess deaths seen in some UK communities, and the impact of COVID-19 in the Indian subcontinent. Previous work has already identified

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Breakthrough Infection Study Compares Decline in Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness and Consequences for Mortality

A new study in the leading journal Science reviewed COVID-19 breakthrough infections among 780,225 Veterans, finding that vaccine protection declined from 87.9% to 48.1% during the 2021 Delta surge in the U.S. The researchers from PHI, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center found a dramatic decline in effectiveness

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Serine protease inhibitor Nafamostat may be beneficial in the treatment of high-risk COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen treatment: results of a randomised Phase II clinical trial published in EClinical Medicine.

Nafamostat, a serine protease inhibitor, has been used for the treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation and pancreatitis. In vitro studies and clinical reports suggest its beneficial effect in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. This phase 2 open-label, randomised, multicentre, controlled trial evaluated nafamostat (4.8 mg/kg/day) plus standard-of-care (SOC) in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (i.e.,

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Long-term persistence of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody responses after Covid-19 infection: levels conferring 50% protection are maintained for around 990 days post-symptom onset.

In a paper published on The lancet researchers of University of Hong Kong used 50% plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) antibody titre data from 115 sera collected longitudinally from 90 to 386 days after onset of symptoms or first RT-PCR confirmation from 62 RT–PCR confirmed SARS-CoV infected individuals, to estimate that PRNT antibody will remain

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