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Neuroscience

How neuro-knowledge can help us find happiness and improve mental health – ABC News

Happiness doesn't just happen.

Neuroscience tells us happiness is like a muscle that needs to be exercised, tested and toned if we are going to make the most of it.

In troubled and uncertain times, like many have experienced through the coronavirus pandemic, that means making opportunities to put your happiness muscles through their paces.

Advice from experts in personal brain training can also help break down the science and psychology behind mental health challenges.

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Practice uncertainty and seek out moments of joy

Set up schedules or daily routines theyre your secret weapon against worry and uncertainty.

A daily gratitude journal is an easy way to help identify and lock in your positive emotions.

"Fear of the unknown is perhaps the fundamental worry that underlies all our very human anxieties in 2020, many of us have been scrambling to find ways to cope with emotional turmoil," neuroscientist Sarah McKay said.

"We vary in our tolerance to uncertainty; some people are OK with not knowing what the future holds, others struggle to deal with even the smallest degree of doubt.

"The good news is tolerance to uncertainty is like a muscle and it can be strengthened."

Dr McKay is an educator and author who uses her neuro-knowledge to offer practical advice on better mental health and wellbeing.

She said taking small, positive steps was critical in a year of bushfires and now COVID-19 that has tested our collective sense of security and wellbeing.

"Control what you can, so set up schedules or daily routines they're your secret weapon against worry," she said.

"Secondly, now, more than ever, it's important to find joy in the small things and to wallow in moments of pleasure.

"Schedule indulgences that you can look forward to. People who do this experience more motivation, sense of purpose and most importantly, improved mood."

Dr McKay said keeping a daily gratitude journal was one easy way to help identify and lock in positive emotions.

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Get connected

Humans are social creatures who rely on each other for survival. We're wired to connect but it can take a conscious effort to make it happen.

We thrive when we're together and we are happier and healthier when we make the time to connect.

Since long before the arrival of COVID-19, Danielle Einstein has been researching our intuitive responses to uncertainty.

She is a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment and prevention of anxiety.

While Dr Einstein agrees that positive psychology is important, she said understanding the cycle of negative thoughts would also help when learning how best to flex your happiness muscles.

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Smell the roses or sample a sunset

Moving your body through the natural world is one of the easiest ways to improve mood or even lift depression.

Make time for nature during your week visit the beach in the morning, do a bushwalk on the weekend, or just spend time in the garden.

"When we experience uncertainty in an area that is important to us, at the back of our mind we have thoughts about the worst possible outcome," she said.

"I call these types of thoughts uncertainty bombs they circle around and bother us.

"We can't help it, it's our tendency to look out for danger to protect ourselves."

Dr Einstein said she believed knowledge was the key to defusing uncertainty bombs or at least to limit their damage.

"Learning how uncertainty bombs derail us and how we have the power to recognise, manage and step out of the what-if spiral, will help lower anxiety levels."

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Breathe, just breathe

Minimising stress is a crucial step, and something simple we can all learn is how to use our breath to regulate the body's response to tension.

A simple exercise is the double inhale: take one breath through the nostrils, then a second ... now, slowly exhale.

Health experts say connecting with friends and community is one of the most important ways to improve your mental health, particularly in times of COVID-19 with so much forced isolation.

Dr McKay said spending time with other people, thinking about what they were thinking, feeling what they were feeling, even holding a conversation, was one of the most cognitively important functions of the brain.

"Humans are first and foremost social creatures who rely on each other for survival," she said.

"We're wired to connect, but it can take a conscious and determined effort to make it happen.

"We thrive when we're together and we are happier and healthier when we make the time to connect."

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Sleep well, eat well

Modern humans are chronically sleep deprived, which can impact cognition, mood, memory and learning, so a regular good-night's sleep should be a priority, not a luxury.

Studies by Deakin University are also helping us better understand the important relationship between the food we eat, our brain, gut and mental health.

Sunshine, light and fresh air are nature's ways of helping us chill out and gain perspective.

Moving your body through the natural world is one of the most practical ways to improve mood or even combat depression.

Dr McKay said new research suggested looking at panoramic vistas such sunsets, horizons, gazing out to sea or at mountain ranges, also regulated our stress responses and triggered happiness reflexes.

"Not only do sunrises and sunsets look beautiful, the colours are an important part of signalling when it's daytime and nightfall and when it's time to sleep, which builds resilience to stress," she said.

"Time in nature helps to improve mood, reduce blood pressure and can increase our ability to concentrate."

Excerpt from:
How neuro-knowledge can help us find happiness and improve mental health - ABC News

Immunology

Tech: Call for immunology to return to the wild Tunis Daily News – Tdnews

In an article published today in Science, a multidisciplinary research team from morethan 10 universities and research institutes outlines how integrating a more diverseset of species and environments could enhance the biomedical research cycle.The viruses that cause COVID-19, AIDS, Ebola, and rabies among others allmade the lethal jump from wildlife into humans. Understanding how the immunesystem works in animals that live with coronaviruses in a natural environment, suchas bats, can give us direction for developing treatments and vaccines to protecthumans from viruses.

Lead author, Dr Andrew Flies from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at theUniversity of Tasmania, says this is not a new concept.

The very first vaccine arose from observing people interacting with animals in a realworldenvironment. Specifically, milkmaids who acquired a mild cowpox infectionfrom cows were protected from the deadly smallpox. That observation led to the ideaof inoculating people with non-lethal viruses to protect them from deadly viruses.This type of discovery can only be made by studying new species in variableenvironments.

Modern research relies heavily on mouse experiments in laboratory settings, whichlimits the scope for this type of ground-breaking discovery. For example, a new classof antibodies, often referred to as nanobodies, was discovered in camels. Easier andfaster to make than traditional antibodies used in biomedicine, camel-derivednanobodies are playing an import role in biomedical research, including the globalCOVID-19 response. This shows how stepping out of the lab and studying newspecies can yield large long-term payoffs.

We are really excited to see how our initial group discussions held at the firstAustralian Wild and Comparative Immunology (WACI) workshop(https://www.wacimmuno.com/ ) led to publishing a Perspective article in a worldleading journal, said co-author Dr Jerome Le Nours, from the BiomedicineDiscovery Institute at Monash University, who was co-organiser of the WACImeeting.

There are many excellent wildlife and disease ecologists, veterinarian scientists andimmunologists in Australia, and beyond. We hope that our contribution will inspirethem to seek mutually beneficial, inter-disciplinary collaboration said AssociateProfessor Anne Peters, Monash University, co-author and consortium collaborator.

WACI Consortium collaborator and co-author, Associate Professor Julie Old fromWestern Sydney University, said its important for immunology research to includemore diverse species. If we want to evolve our understanding of the immunesystem, and potentially get ahead of any future pandemics, the research communityneeds to expand. We need to broaden our scope, and bring new species and newenvironments into the research paradigm.

Realising wild immunology needs initiatives like the WACI Consortium that harnessthe wide expertise of scientists and diverse technologies within individual areas saysAssociate Professor Michelle Power from Macquarie University. The risks ofemerging infectious diseases are not going away. We need new ideas, new toolsand dynamic collaboration to address them.

Director of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, Distinguished ProfessorAlison Venn, said new technology has broken down research barriers to integratingnew species and environments into the research cycle.Proactive investment in wild immunology can stimulate discoveries with real-worldapplications for human and veterinary medicine and conservation. It could help usprepare for the next pandemic.

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Learn more about the call to action here: https://youtu.be/8fpW-f41j6c(video under embargo until 2pm US EST 2-July)

Media contact:

Angela Wilson

Communications Manager,

Menzies Institute for Medical Research

+61 0487 325 217

[emailprotected]

Information released by:

Communications and Media Office

University of Tasmania

+61 3 6226 2124

[emailprotected]

Twitter.com/utas_

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Tech: Call for immunology to return to the wild Tunis Daily News - Tdnews

Immunology

What’s the answer to slowing the spread of COVID-19 for older adults? – Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Theres a lot of stupid floating around out there.

Thats what South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said during a recent news conference in which he pleaded with the public to make better decisions to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Thats the best quote ever its how you explain the recent surge (in cases), said Dr. Michael Schmidt, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Schmidt is the guest host of an upcoming webcast, How Colorado Can Work Smarter to Slow the Spread of COVID-19 in Older Adults, presented by Renew Senior Communities. Renew CEO Lee Tuchfarber is co-hosting.

This is a plague for which the human race has a choice, Dr. Schmidt said. We already know how to stop this virus dead in its tracks.

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Much of the discussion will focus on how we can do our part as a society to slow the spread, but Dr. Schmidt will also discuss promising light at the end of the tunnel. From the potential that oral polio vaccines can safely and cheaply protect the U.S. population to excitement over bluetooth technology expanding the efficiency of contact tracing, Dr. Schmidt said various stop-gap measures could make a big difference until theres a COVID-19 vaccine.

The only thing more infectious than this virus is hope, he said.

Personal responsibility

The way we control the virus is really straightforward, Dr. Schmidt said its hygiene.

Wearing a mask to protect others, washing your hands and keeping a physical distance of at least six feet from other people are the most effective safety precautions.

If weve learned one thing, there are a lot of folks out there who are infected and dont know it, he said. The mere act of speech actually can spread the virus. So, if youre out carrying your business and talking, wear a mask.

Physical distancing is your only hope if youre not wearing a mask. The hope being that the virus dissipates in the air before smashing into your face.

Many medical folks are wearing face shields because the virus can come in from your tear ducts, Dr. Schmidt said.

As for hand hygiene, simple soap and water is all you need. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing hands for at least 20 seconds.

Strict safety protocols have proven to work at Renew Senior Livings two communities in Aurora and Glenwood Springs. Tuchfarber said all residents at both communities have remained COVID-free while a great number of the senior living facilities in Colorado have experienced outbreaks.

Renew put various safety measures in place for staff before they enter the building, and theyve even provided staff with meals to take home to their families to decrease their need to go to the grocery store. Much of this decision-making is data-driven, with various phases of safety measures implemented depending on the R-naught (Ro), which is the estimate of the number of people to whom each infected person spreads the virus.

Theres an inherent spreadability of the virus itself, but theres also an environmental factor, Tuchfarber said. So behavior can really affect the Ro.

Testing

Testing serves a vital role in understanding and controlling the spread of COVID-19, Dr. Schmidt said. He points to data from Taiwan, a densely populated island that has managed to keep its number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date to less than 450 thanks to aggressive testing and contract tracing.

Going forward, given that we know there is significant asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission of the virus, pre-emptive testing may be a way we help slow the spread of the virus in areas that have suddeningly seen a surge in an increase in new cases, he said. Simply, local areas may wish to routinely screen random members within their community looking for an up-turn in the number of cases. Such a program will be especially important to companies with public-facing employees, so that they can ensure that their employees and customers are as safe as possible.

Renew is working on a strategy for preemptive testing rather than waiting for a positive case and then reacting to it. Tuchfarber said Renew should be implementing that new protocol very soon.

Preemptive testing of all staff on a regular basis, unprompted by a positive test result, is presently a rarity in our industry, but is an important measure to assure safety. We are preparing to integrate this program in our COVID-19 safety regimen, Tuchfarber said. This is an extra measure of safety that we feel strongly about taking.

Facilitating a global response

In an effort to facilitate a global response, scientists are looking at three strategies: diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

Diagnostics essentially look at how we can slow the spread faster and better, while therapeutics focus on the use of drugs.

If were going to restart the economy, we need two to three drugs so the virus doesnt adapt to the drugs like it did with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s, Dr. Schmidt said.

Vaccines are the area for which Dr. Schmidt is truly excited. There are more than 90 candidate vaccines currently being studied, with microbiologists, structural biologists, physiologists and others all pulling in the same direction.

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What's the answer to slowing the spread of COVID-19 for older adults? - Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Immunology

Staying Informed and Empowered as A Patient with Cancer – Curetoday.com

Cutting-edge medical information and first-person accounts empower patients to evaluate immunotherapy as a treatment option, one organization attests.

Beyond the patients health care team the oncologist, nurses and other specialists who treat and provide support throughout the cancer journey peers can be an important source of knowledge. Other patients who share their experiences with cancer and treatment provide a vital and often helpful perspective.

In addition, groups like the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a nonprofit organization that since 1953 has worked to advance the field of cancer immunology, can help fill the gaps by providing resources that are reassuring, inspiring and even lifesaving.

CRI has created a number of resources for patients and caregivers seeking information about immunotherapy. These include a website providing updates on the latest in research and drug approvals for more than 20 major types of cancer, a webinar series featuring immunotherapy experts, an immunotherapy clinical trial finder service and a series of patient story videos.

These resources can help both patients who are eligible to take Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved immunotherapies and those whose cancers dont respond to standard therapies and must look to experimental treatment. Such treatments usually are found in clinical trials that are testing new drugs, treatment combinations or ways to administer them. Some drugs may already be approved to treat some types of cancer but are undergoing testing in others.

Because these treatments are new or not yet approved, less may be known about their potential benefits and risks compared with conventional therapies. Patients may havea lot of questions: Will it work for me? How will I know its working? How will it make me feel? What are the known side effects?

Recognizing the value of its resources in answering these questions for patients and caregivers, CRI decided in 2016 to provide an additional forum through which cancer-concerned communities can connect with one another and with scientific experts at the forefrontof cancer immunotherapy: the CRI Immunotherapy Patient Summit Series.

Over the past four years, the CRI summits, which are free to attendees, have brought the science of cancer immunotherapy to thousands of patients, caregivers and advocates, explaining in clear, accessible terms how scientists are unlocking the immune systems natural ability to fight cancer.

Importantly, the summits also feature keynote presentations and panel discussions centered on patients who share their experiences in learning about and receiving immunotherapy, participating in clinical trials and overcoming cancer.

At a recent CRI Immunotherapy Patient Summit in Houston, attendees heard from keynote patient speaker K.C. Dill, who described how researching immuno- therapy and listening to other patients stories on the CRI website inspired, informed and empowered her to take action after chemotherapy and radiation failed to keep her cancer at bay.

ONE PATIENTS IMMUNOTHERAPY STORY

When Dill learned in February 2015 that she had stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer, she was devastated and feared for the future of her husband and two daughters. Just 40 at the time, she never imagined that shed face the same rare type of lung cancer, adenosquamous carcinoma, that her mother was battling. Sadly, a few years later, cancer would take her mothers life.

Leaving the hospital that day and going to my mothers house to tell her I had the same kind of cancer she had was the hardest thing Ive ever had to do, Dill said in an interview with CRI (cancerresearch.org/kc).

Because her cancer was so advanced, Dill was ineligible for surgery. Instead, she began an aggressive regimen of radiation and chemotherapy that left her feeling sick, fatigued and in pain. After 15 weeks of severe side effects, Dill decided shed had enough and needed another option. Meanwhile, the cancer had progressed to stage 4, spreading to her lymph nodes. Dill realized her odds of survival were rapidly dwindling. She sought a second opinion and different course of treatment at Baylor College of Medicine in nearby Houston. There, she heard the word immunotherapy for the first time.

Dills oncologist at Baylor, Dr. Jun Zhang, explained that although no immunotherapy had yet been approved by the FDA for her type of cancer, there were indications that Dill might respond to treatment with a type of immunotherapy called checkpoint blockade specifically, the drug Opdivo (nivolumab), which interferes with cancers ability to disable the immune systems attack.

The drug had received FDA approval earlier that year to treat another subtype of the disease called squamous non-small cell lung cancer and showed promise in other types of lung cancer.

After her initial consultation with Zhang, Dill returned home, went online to learn as much as she could about immunotherapy and found CRIs website. She watched videos and read stories about others with advanced lung cancer who had been treated successfully with Opdivo. I thought, Wow, if it worked for them, it could work for me, Dill recalled.

She decided to find out if immunotherapy could help her immune system fight the cancer. Through the drugmakers compassionate use program, Dill began receiving treatments every two weeks. She describes the experience as unlike anything she endured while receiving chemotherapy and radiation. After my first treatment, I felt a little sore and had some flu-like symptoms, but I was able to work out the next day, she said.

After the first few weeks, Dill felt better than she had in a long time. I had color back in my skin. My hair was growing back. I had more energy, she said.

Just how well Dill was responding to immunotherapy quickly became apparent when the first scans showed that her tumors had all but disappeared. By spring 2016, she had no evidence of disease and stopped treatment later that year. She remains in remission, enjoying time with her family and spreading the word about cancer immunotherapy as a CRI ImmunoAdvocate.

Immunotherapy has given me hope, Dill said. There are so many people out there this can help. Other patients that had come before me inspired me, so thats my hope to let my experience help the next person.

A VIRTUAL CONNECTION

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique risks and challenges it poses to patients with cancer, CRI has reimagined its in-person summit series as the CRI Virtual Immunotherapy Patient Summit.

The CRI Virtual Summit, which will take place in autumn 2020, promises to deliver the same high-quality, expert-curated information about cancer immunotherapy, along with inspiring, first-person accounts from patients. As with other CRI summits, this virtual event will include cancer-specific breakout sessions, allowing attendees to take a deeper dive into immunotherapy for the cancers that concern them most.

As cancer immunotherapy continues to become more widely available, CRI will continue to bridge the learning gap by providing trusted information for patients, caregivers and advocates. Meanwhile, CRI remains committed to funding promising research in immunology and immunotherapy so that, someday, all patients with cancer might be able to experience the potentially lifesaving benefits of this new treatment approach.

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Staying Informed and Empowered as A Patient with Cancer - Curetoday.com

Immunology

SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19 – The Scientist

In May, researchers showed that people with mild forms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, have circulating T cells that respond to the virus. Now, in a Science Immunology study published last week (June 26), a collaborating research team has determined that people who are sick enough with COVID-19 to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit also make SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells. In both studies, the researchers found that a subset of healthy, unexposed people also had some of these T cells that react to the virus, perhaps due to previous exposures to other coronaviruses that cause symptoms of the common cold.

The latest study provides more solid evidence that there are SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells that are induced by the infection, says Antonio Bertoletti, who studies T cells at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and was not involved in the work. This is important because researchers have put a lot of emphasis on antibodies, he adds, but its still not clear whether antibodies or T cells are more important for protection from the virus.

Rory de Vries, a virologist and immunologist at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, was visiting immunologist Alessandro Settes lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California to collaborate on another project when all hell broke loose with the pandemic, Sette tells The Scientist.Settes group had been developing tools to investigate adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2, but in California at that point, they didnt have a COVID-19 patient population to try them in. As de Vries prepared to return home in March, Europe already had confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2, so he took the tools the team had developed back to the Netherlands.

de Vries and colleagues collected blood from 10 COVID-19 patientsfour women and six men admitted to the intensive care unit with acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring ventilationand 10 healthy volunteers. The team exposed the study participants immune cells to a pool of predicted SARS-CoV-2 peptides in vitro to see whether or not the cells would react.

The team determined that all of the ill patients had fewer overall T cells than the healthy volunteers, which was consistent with earlier findings from other groups. All patients had helper T cells and eight of 10 had killer T cells that targeted SARS-CoV-2 proteins. These reactive T cells showed up within about 10 days of symptom onset in the patients. The strongest responses were to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, but cells responded to membrane and nuclear viral proteins, too.

The frequency of these corona-specific T cells in these patients . . . is at least at the same level, if not higher than I see in other viruses, says Nina Babel, an immunologist at Charit Universittsmedizin Berlin who did not participate in the study. This indicates that the lack of T-cell response is probably not the problem in these patients, she explains.

The study authors reported that two healthy controls also had circulating SARS-CoV-2-fighting T cells, something that showed up in healthy controls in the study of milder cases of COVID-19 in May. A likely explanation is that this is reflective of exposure to common cold coronaviruses which . . . are cousins of SARS-CoV-2, Sette says. This could give the immune system a head start by allowing it to leverage preexisting reactivity to mount a faster or better response, or it might be a disadvantage in that preexisting immunity could lead the immune system to take SARS-CoV-2 less seriously, he adds. While Sette thinks the second idea is less likely, he acknowledges that the jury is still out about the role this reactivity in unexposed people, which has also been shown in studies from other groups, plays in the severity of COVID-19.

The most curious thing is this issue of cells that recognize SARS-CoV-2 from people whove never seen the virus, says Stanley Perlman, an immunologist at the University of Iowa who was not involved in the study. His group has done work with MERS-CoVthe coronavirus responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndromeand they see almost no evidence of this kind of preexisting immunity, he says. The authors postulate that this [cross-reactivity] comes from circulating coronaviruses or something else. It would be interesting to show what that something else is.

Understanding the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 will help researchers determine what aspects of that response they can leverage and which aspects make people sicker and are to be avoided, de Vries tells The Scientist.The next steps would then of course be treatment, but especially vaccinations, he explains. If we vaccinate people and direct the immune response, we need to know what immunity we want to induce and what immunity we want to stay away from.

D. Weiskopf et al., Phenotype and kinetics of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome,Science Immunology,doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.abd2071, 2020.

Link:
SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19 - The Scientist

Immunology

Trinity scientists handed 4.8m to unravel mysteries of virus – The Times

A new Irish research project is hoping to work out why men are more affected by Covid-19 than women, why some people get more sick than others, and how long immunity lasts after recovery.

Researchers at Trinity College are hopeful of providing answers to these questions following a 4.8 million investment into the study of immunology of the coronavirus.

Simon Harris, the minister for higher education, innovation and science, announced the funding yesterday.

The research will be led by Professor Kingston Mills and Professor Aideen Long at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute.

It will try to understand why some people are more susceptible to Covid-19 than others.

The immunologists will develop, validate and deploy rapid antibody testing. This will seek

Link:
Trinity scientists handed 4.8m to unravel mysteries of virus - The Times

Immunology

Computational Immunology Market Growth By Manufacturers, Type And Application, Forecast To 2026 – 3rd Watch News

New Jersey, United States,- Market Research Intellect sheds light on the market scope, potential, and performance perspective of the Global Computational Immunology Market by carrying out an extensive market analysis. Pivotal market aspects like market trends, the shift in customer preferences, fluctuating consumption, cost volatility, the product range available in the market, growth rate, drivers and constraints, financial standing, and challenges existing in the market are comprehensively evaluated to deduce their impact on the growth of the market in the coming years. The report also gives an industry-wide competitive analysis, highlighting the different market segments, individual market share of leading players, and the contemporary market scenario and the most vital elements to study while assessing the global Computational Immunology market.

The research study includes the latest updates about the COVID-19 impact on the Computational Immunology sector. The outbreak has broadly influenced the global economic landscape. The report contains a complete breakdown of the current situation in the ever-evolving business sector and estimates the aftereffects of the outbreak on the overall economy.

Leading Computational Immunology manufacturers/companies operating at both regional and global levels:

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This study analyzes the growth of Computational Immunology based on the present, past and futuristic data and will render complete information about the Computational Immunology industry to the market-leading industry players that will guide the direction of the Computational Immunology market through the forecast period. All of these players are analyzed in detail so as to get details concerning their recent announcements and partnerships, product/services, and investment strategies, among others.

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Immunology

Tel Aviv University presents an analysis of reaction of human antibodies to coronavirus – Mirage News

A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Sharon Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center, led by Prof. Motti Gerlic and Prof. Ariel Munitz of the Department of Microbiology and Clinical Immunology at TAUs Sackler School of Medicine, applied an innovative antibody test to about 70 COVID-19 patients at the Sharon Hospital. The researchers examined the development of antibodies targeting two different viral proteins in the patients bodies, and found that severely ill patients developed the antibodies at a faster rate than those with a mild case of the disease. In addition, antibodies of the type IgG were maintained in the blood of most patients throughout the study. This project has important implications for our understanding of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, as well as future tracking of the effectiveness of vaccines and population surveys (serological tests).

The researchers found that antibodies of the type IgM, that usually develop at the early stages of viral contagions, developed early in this case only against the protein RBD the site at which the virus SARS-CoV-2 binds to human cells, and not against the viruss nuclear protein. We sampled the antibodies of about 70 COVID-19 patients at the Sharon Hospital, throughout the outbreak of the disease in Israel, says Prof. Munitz. Our first finding was that not all viral proteins generate a rapid immune response, but that antibodies targeting the RBD protein did develop very quickly once the symptoms appeared. This finding is quite significant, because it suggests that the test we used may be utilized as a diagnostic tool at different stages of the illness.

The second thing we noticed, which is even more interesting, is that patients defined as severely ill developed antibodies at a faster rate than mildly ill patients, but ultimately all patients exhibited a similar immune response, recounts Prof. Munitz. Patients with mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 all developed the same level of antibodies. This is important, because one might have thought that the severely ill became so sick because they did not develop a sufficient amount of antibodies, and were thus unable to combat the virus effectively. We assume that the fast development of antibodies in these patients indicates that their immune system is hyper-active, but this hypothesis requires further research.

We measured the levels of antibodies in the patients blood when they arrived at the hospital, during the period of hospitalization and after their release, explains Prof. Gerlic. We tried to understand whether the level of antibodies in their blood corresponded in any way to the severity of the illness, whether the antibodies developed in a similar way in all patients, and whether they remained in the blood for long periods of time a critical factor for the herd immunity we all wish to attain. We found that at later stages of the disease, about 50 days after the initial appearance of symptoms, a significant decline occurred in the presence of antibodies types IgM and IgA, regardless of the severity of the illness. In IgG-type antibodies, however, we observed only a slight decrease, even in mildly ill patients. IgG-type antibodies play an extremely important role in the immune response because they can neutralize the protein that binds the virus to human cells to enable contagion thereby preventing the virus from penetrating the cells. We have not yet examined how the antibody actually works, and we do not know whether or not it neutralizes the virus, but the facts that these antibodies are quickly produced in all patients, and stay in the blood for a long time, suggest that they provide some level of immunity. So far, we have found that IgG-type antibodies remain in the body for two months. We will continue to monitor the patients for another year, to find out how long the antibodies remain in their bodies hoping for the formation of an immunological memory.

In the new study the researchers from TAU used a new serological test developed in their laboratory. The IDFs Medical Corps has already used the serological test developed by Prof. Gerlic and Prof. Munitz to detect COVID-19 antibodies in the blood of IDF soldiers. Within the next few weeks the test will be sent to the Israels Ministry of Health for validation, so that it may be used in population surveys.

Alongside the interesting findings, says Prof. Munitz, we wanted to demonstrate that our method is valid and more effective than the prevalent test for antibodies targeting viral proteins. To this end we examined samples of antibodies from the blood of COVID-19 patients, alongside samples from 200 healthy participants, taken before November 2019. We proved that our test, based on the antibodies, was able to distinguish between those who were ill and those who were not at very high levels of sensitivity and specificity. One reason for this success is that we screen for three different antibodies: IgM that appears early and declines early, IgA found on mucous surfaces like the lungs, and IgG, which we intend to test in the long run, because it may possibly lead to immunity.

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Tel Aviv University presents an analysis of reaction of human antibodies to coronavirus - Mirage News

Immunology

HBCU scientist working on COVID-19 antiviral – Tennessean

The top infectious disease expert in the United States has told House lawmakers its a question of when, not if the United States will have a vaccine for COVID-19. (June 23) AP Domestic

A scientist who previously developed an antiviral with potential to treat Zikais close to testing a similar drug to combat COVID-19.

Dr. Donald Alcendor, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Meharry Medical College, began working on the COVID-19 antiviral in April and anticipatesit is fourto sixweeks away from animal toxicity testing.

Should the antiviral meet expectations andproceedthroughfurther testing, he predicts that it may be FDA-approved and in use sometime next year.

With Zika, we saw the changes within infected cells in a matter of hours. To see something like that in a patient would be remarkable, Alcendor said.

Dr. Donald Alcendor, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Meharry Medical College.(Photo: Meharry Medical College)

The work is especially meaningful for Meharry Medical College, an HBCU founded in 1876 to train Black doctors and provide care for underserved African Americans, a community that, at the time, was often ignored by white doctors. African Americans have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic and remain one of the most at risk of contracting COVID-19.

"Infectious disease research is one of Meharrys strengths and we are excited to (be a) part of the global scientific effort to find a treatment for this virus," saidMeharry Medical College President and CEODr. James Hildreth."The devastating impact of COVID-19 on minorities makes this research especially relevant to Meharrys legacy and mission," he said in an emailed statement.

The antiviral is different from a vaccine in that it could treat those who have already contracted the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 126,000 in the United States,according to the CDC.

MORE: Vaccines are not all created equal: Avariety of ways to stop COVID-19

There is currently no FDA-approved vaccine or antiviral. In May, hospitals were given emergency authorization by the FDA to administer Remdesivir, previously used to slow the replication of the Ebola virus and two other coronaviruses, SARS and MERS. But the drug is still being studied and the FDA said that, while some patients have seen a shortened recovery time, there is little known about its safety and effectiveness.

What we have is the only antiviral specific for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), Alcendor said. All these other antivirals out there affect virus replication in general for many viruses. When something is specific, its likely to have less unintended consequences.

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COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets that can be passed on when people sneeze, cough or talk. Once inside a cell, the virus uses an enzyme called a polymerase to begin making copies of itself. After replication, the virus causes inflammation in the lungs which can quickly lead to what Alcendor calls "the death point"or the moment when a patient must be placed on a ventilator because they can no longer breathe on their own.

The idea of Alcendors antiviral is to stop the polymerase from being made, thereby preventing replication and hopefully inflammation.

If Im able to circumvent that polymerase from doing its job, I stop everything downstream from happening, Alcendor said.

Dr. Donald Alcendor works in a lab at Meharry Medical College.(Photo: Meharry Medical College)

If testing goes according to plan, Alcendor will have a drug that can prevent viruses from replicating in a cell for three to fivedays. That means it could also be taken before infection and still work to stave off the virus.

EXPERTS: We're one-third of the way to a widely available coronavirus vaccine

The method is similar to his Zika antiviral approach, which he said shut down virus replication by 95 percent.

But Zika was primarily a threat to pregnant women and their babies and was transmitted by mosquitoes. With COVID-19, the stakes are much higher, he said.

To constantly, every day lose 1,000 people to this virus is something we cannot stand for, Alcendor said.

The work by Alcendor and his team is global but feelspersonal.

My home state of Louisiana is 32 percent African American. However, (53 percent)of the people dying of COVID-19 are African American, Alcendor said.

Our medical and research faculty and staff here stand hand in hand with colleagues around the world to say COVID-19 is not bigger than us and we want to do our part in all of this.

COVID-19 poses a significant threat to African Americans, who are at higherrisk of contracting the virus, largely due tosocial issues,health care access, and comorbidities such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

THE AMERICAN SOUTH: In the Deep South, COVID-19 reveals systemic issues hurting vulnerable black communities

This is an opportunity for Meharry to be in what I would call a spotlight thats been deserving for some time," Alcendor said."Our medical and research faculty and staff here stand hand in hand with colleagues around the world to say COVID-19 is not bigger than us and we want to do our part in all of this.

And though his antiviral may not be ready for hospital use until next year, Alcendor doesnt expect COVID-19 to disappear anytime soon. The benefit of his antiviral, he said, is that it takes less than two weeks to manufacture and can be easily adjusted if the virus continues to adapt. It also becomes more significant asfluseason looms in the fall and winter months.

I believe the disease will be with us for some time, he said. As scientists, weve been put on alert: Theres likely more of these viruses coming in the future. We have to have a plan of action that allows us to develop reagents that can work quickly and shut down infections very early so they dont develop into pandemics.

News tips? Questions? Call reporter Andrew Yawn at 985-285-7689 or email him at ayawn@gannett.com. Sign up for The American South newsletter.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/american-south/2020/07/02/covid-treatment-hbcu-scientist-working-coronavirus-antiviral/3276979001/

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HBCU scientist working on COVID-19 antiviral - Tennessean

Anatomy

Lust for dominance defines anatomy of war – The Tribune India

Shelley Walia

Professor Emeritus, English & Cultural Studies, Panjab University

Never think that war, no matterhow necessary, nor how justified,is not a crime.

Ernest Hemingway

WRITING about World War I, famous war journalist and communist activist John Reed wrote in 1917: War means ugly mob madness, crucifying the truth tellers, choking the artists, sidetracking reforms, revolutions and the working of social forces. The legacy of violence, especially in the 20th century, is undoubtedly a history of human barbarism, plunder and suppression, torture and genocide, and above all, deception and lies. Indeed, there can be no legitimacy of war and any form of violent action is in itself wrong. War must be resisted because to use violence to end violence would be logically self-contradictory, argued Christopher Caudwell in 1938.

The one thing that enables the authorities to deceive the public, says eminent historian Howard Zinn, is to keep the public from thinking back to the history of war, the history of government deception, the history of media complicity. This statement could very well sum up the history of the pervasive and systematic Indo-China cross-border militancy smacking of war as an instrument of national policy. The frontline war journalists are kept at bay and (mis)information is all that the public is fed on. Understandably, the Chinese foreign policy is the villain at whose hands India faces a slippery situation, which if allowed to escalate, would boomerang on the already declining economy of the country. But there should be no self-righteousness when we are witnessing a moment of loathsome political and social turmoil in the country.

The Charter of the United Nations declares that peaceful coexistence is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all members. This in itself is a laudatory declaration. However, we are faced with a different reality at the crossroads of human nature and international politics, a reality of inequality which is elemental to it. The theory of equality embedded in the Charter misses a noteworthy fact of human nature: the fixation of world leaders with the passion for status which they feel entitled to enjoy on the international stage.

History abounds with examples of nations going to war merely for some damage to, or advancement of, position. The Falklands crisis arose out of Britains unshakable sense of self-esteem receiving a blow if the colony was not salvaged. Russia too could not tolerate any blemish on its status, and consequently took the anticipatory measure of an impulsive war with Germany. George Bush declared war on Iraq presumably to wipe out weapons of mass destruction but more plausibly to avenge the insult heaped on his father by Saddam Hussein.

War has seldom been a worthy initiative, waged for worthwhile causes. Its more likely to be read as a distraction from the socio-political or economic upheaval. Misguided with a fervent ideal of pseudo nationalism, it arouses an ethno-racist pride and delivers legitimacy to a faltering national leadership guarding personal vanity and enabling enhancement of power over the malleable subjects.

The defence of international standing may often supersede any other consideration, as is apparent in the Indo-Chinese territorial skirmishes over the last half a century. The display of military prowess serves as a sense of self-importance, security and economic gain in matters of determining international consequences relating to military dominance and economic hegemony. It is a key factor driving the world, in the words of Steven Pinker, towards the course of war and peace.

China and India today are poised across the borders in a state of belligerence common to nations which, in the words of Shakespeare, are jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel. Ever since the humiliation of India in the 1962 invasion, the Chinese have persistently and periodically disturbed the peace and calm of the border with a periodic wrap on the knuckles of India, a rising power to be kept under check. Moreover, the Line of Actual Control remains obscure and thus susceptible to cross-border disputes if only to exhibit nothing but military arrogance or national assertion. The rugged ice-covered terrain of the border, indeed, has no value in actuality for the antagonists.

The recent spat on the Ladakh border strikingly amounts to the theatre of cruelty reflecting the spectre of medieval barbarism experienced in tribal warfare, leaving Indian soldiers brutally bludgeoned by martial artists dropped near the border. Disturbing the status quo on the border with such bloodthirsty violation of the laws of war at a juncture when India remains vulnerable in a losing battle against the novel coronavirus, undeniably seems to be ethically unneighbourly. In an era of unprecedented militarisation, China, the global hyperpower, has increasingly embraced imperial aspirations with all its military and economic posturing. Empire, which essentially is undemocratic, threatens to define the relationship between China and the rest of the world with its ramifications felt in every successive military intervention.

Both India and China have arrogantly pushed ahead in constructing better strategic infrastructure with the intention to dominate the border through the deployment of heavy forces, and whimsically walking into disputed territories. The Chinese aggression could be another 1962 type of a lesson in subjugation. India has to tread lightly and guard its hard-won equilibrium. Complacency at this juncture would be disastrous.

In spite of the advancing trade relations with India, why has then China brought on this international crisis? Only one answer comes to mind: China would like to defend its dominance in the subcontinent in the context of Indias unremitting rise as a global power. If China needs to become a part of the international comity of nations, it will have to change its posture and stop being an interventionist military power dominating the economies of other countries. The systemic confiscation of land across the border, the policing of the South China Sea or the overrunning of Tibet in the past has further antagonised world opinion against it, especially in the wake of the Wuhan crisis.

The denunciation of the seemingly endless investment in military capacities, of the brutality of war is, therefore, central to the politics of peace and war. To react to the complexity of world affairs with military firepower or predatory economics rather than a realistic political response and diplomatic negotiations is not the solution. War, indeed, can never be the inescapable route to the settlement of differences. It can only signal a dark future at home and abroad.

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Lust for dominance defines anatomy of war - The Tribune India