AI researchers hope to ID healthcare workers with COVID-19 before they show symptoms – AI in Healthcare

April 13, 2020 medical

The goal is to ultimately detect when providers are infected with the virus as quickly as possible, limiting their ability to potentially spread COVID-19 to their colleagues, patients and loved ones back home.

We are continuously monitoring the mind-body connectivity through our integrated neuroscience platform measuring the autonomic nervous system, fatigue, anxiety, circadian rhythms, and other human resilience and recovery functions, Ali Rezai, MD, executive chair of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, said in a prepared statement. Our AI-driven models are currently predicting symptoms 24 hours prior to onset, and we are working toward a three-plus day forecast. This forecasting capability will help us get ahead of this pandemic; limit the spread to protect healthcare workers, their families, and our communities; and improve our understanding of health recovery.

At Oura, weve heard firsthand from our users how the physiological signals tracked by the ring have predicted the onset of the virus before other symptoms manifest, Harpreet Rai, CEO of Oura Health, said in the same statement. Were grateful we can apply this knowledge to help vulnerable caregivers swiftly identify the earliest signs of the disease, and take the appropriate protective measures to limit its spread.

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AI researchers hope to ID healthcare workers with COVID-19 before they show symptoms - AI in Healthcare

Neuroscience

Event Cells in the Brain Help Organize Memory into Meaningful Segments – Scientific American

April 13, 2020 medical

Our recollection of events is usually not like a replay of digital video from a security cameraa passive observation that faithfully reconstructs the spatial and sensory details of everything that happened. More often memory segments what we experience into a string of discrete, connected events. For instance, you might remember that you went for a walk before lunch at a given time last week without recalling the soda bottle strewn on the sidewalk, the crow cawing in the oak tree in your yard or the chicken salad sandwich you ate upon your return. Your mind designates a mental basket for walk and a subsequent bin for lunch that, once accessed, make many of these finer details available. This arrangement raises the question of how the brain performs such categorization.

A new study by neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues claims to have discovered the neural processing that makes this organization of memory into discrete units possible. The work has implications for understanding how humans generalize knowledge, and it could aid efforts to develop AI systems that learn faster.

A brain region called the hippocampus is critical for memory formation and also seems to be involved in navigation. Neurons in the hippocampus called place cells selectively respond to being in specific locations, forming a cognitive map of the environment. Such spatial information is clearly important for episodic (autobiographical rather than factual) memory. But so, too, are other aspects of experience, such as changing sensory input. There is evidence that neurons in the hippocampus encode sensory changes by altering the frequency at which they fire, a phenomenon termed rate remapping. According to research by neuroscientist Loren Frank of the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues, such changes may also encode information about where an animal has been and where it is going, enabling rate remapping to represent trajectories of travel.

Besides coding continuously changing variables, whether sensory inputs or route trajectories, some imaging studies previously suggested that the brain also processes experience as segmented events. But exactly how it achieves this process at a neural level was not known. In the new study, published last week in Nature Neuroscience, the teamled by Chen Sun, a graduate student in Tonegawas labdevised a task that attempted to disentangle the discrete, segmented nature of events from the continuously changing spatial and sensory details of moment-to-moment experience. The researchers trained mice to run around a square track. After doing four laps, the animals were rewarded with a sweet treat. They visited the reward box after every lap, segmenting each trial into four events (with the reward defining the end of a trial). Each lap traversed the same route, so sensory and location information was constant from one event to the next, allowing the researchers to attribute brain activity differences to what did change: the laps, or events.

The researchers recorded activity in hundreds of hippocampal cells while the mice performed this task and found that around 30 percent of cells showed a lap-specific pattern. Some of them were highly active when a rodent ran through the location it responded to on the first lap and relatively quiet during the remaining three laps. Others responded on the second lap far more than the rest, and so on. These neurons, which the researchers termed event-specific rate remapping, or ESR, cells, seemed to signal which lap a mouse was on.

To confirm the ESR cells were really encoding events, the researchers conducted experiments using tracks that were elongated along one dimension, increasing their length. Even when lap length was randomly altered between trials, the cells were still much more active on their preferred lap, showing the activity could not be related to the time elapsed or distance travelled. The results support the idea that the hippocampus can express representations of relevant variables, including, in this case, the number of laps since a reward was delivered, says Frank, who was not involved in the study.

In another experiment, the team trained mice on a square track on the first day, then substituted a circular track on the next one. Shifting to a new environment resulted in the ESR cells spatial responses being completely remapped onto the circular track. Strikingly, though, the lap that those neurons preferentially responded to remained the same. These findings suggest that ESR activity represents segmented units of experienceand that this event code can be transferred between different experiences that share a common structure.

Tonegawa compares this process to a familiar scenario. If you go to a restaurant to have dinner with your friend, that episode is made up of different segments: you arrive at the restaurant, then order an appetizer, then you choose a main dish, and then, usually, you have dessert, he says. As all this is going on, the stimuli coming to you are changing. But at the same time, its made up with distinct events, where you switch from the appetizer, to eating a main dish, dessert, and so on. The coding revealed in the study may explain how the brain abstracts events such as main course across different visits to different restaurants with different friends. And this idea may offer insight into how the brain generalizes knowledge to learn efficiently. Youre transferring knowledge you already have, based on past experience, to learn new things, Tonegawa says. Thats why we can learn things much faster. These insights, he thinks, could help engineers develop AI systems with the ability to transfer competencies from one environment to another, such as for medical robots moved between hospitals.

The circular track experiment showed that brain responses that specify your precise location can be altered without affecting event-specific activity. In a final experiment, the team asked whether the reverse is also true. A region called the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) works closely with the hippocampus in spatial cognition and navigation. There is also evidence that it is involved in segmenting experience into sequential events. The researchers used optogenetics (a technique involving genetically altering cells so they can be activated or inhibited using light) to switch off signals from the MEC to the hippocampus while mice performed the running task. Doing so had no effect on location-specific responses but completely disrupted lap-specific ones, suggesting place and event encoding can be separately manipulatedeven though the same cells process both aspects of experience.

One limitation of the study is that running repeatedly around a track is unlike most natural experiences. Theres no demonstration that these event-related patterns exist the first time an animal experiences a set of eventsonly that they appear after many repeats of a now familiar sequence, Frank says. This is not really the same as our episodic memories, where each new experience gets encoded separately and stored as an event the first (and often only) time it happens. He thinks the cells represent well-learned and relevant elements of an experience with repeating elements. That arrangement, he says, is reminiscent of reports from studies of hippocampal neurons that fire similarly, but not identically, in geometrically repeated elements of the same environment.

This is an insightful experiment, performed with the care and numerous controls characteristic of Tonegawas lab, says neuroscientist Gyrgy Buzski of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved with the study, though he provided comments to the researchers. But Buzski has a more radical take on what is happening. He thinks all of the properties researchers have assigned to hippocampal neurons are different aspects of the same fundamental mechanism. To explain this idea, he compares it to the relationship between the motion of a vehicles engine and its distance travelled and journey time different variables reflecting a single underlying process.

In the case of episodic memory, the hypothesized elements are what, where and when. The definition of episodic memory is: What happened to me, where and when? Buzski says. When you combine these elements, it re-creates the event. This is called memory, he adds. Researchers relate the activity they observe to what, where or when, but all the hippocampus is doing is efficiently encoding experience into a neuronal sequence. The hippocampus is like a librarian that tells you to go to shelf five, row two. Then the next book is this, then this, and so on, he says. But the librarian is blind to the content of these sequences, which is constructed in the cortex. Thus, Buzskis interpretation of the new findings is that cells do not encode abstract event-specific propertiessuch as which lap number or dinner course one is experiencingso much as they generate the ordinal sequences that give memory the order necessary for us to make sense of it.

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Event Cells in the Brain Help Organize Memory into Meaningful Segments - Scientific American

Cell Biology

Fast-tracked research projects aim to respond quickly to mitigate effects of COVID-19 – University of Miami

April 13, 2020 medical

Twenty-four University of Miami research teams have received rapid response grants to undertake innovative projects that will provide critical information about the novel coronavirus.

Imagine this: developing an oral rinse test to detect COVID-19 earlier, creating a behavior therapy program for parents so that they do not pass on the stress they are feeling to their children during the pandemic, and gauging the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and trying to determine the impacts on their new babies.

These are just a few of the 24 projects recently awarded rapid response grants from the University of Miamis Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The grants, which range from $5,000 to $40,000, require faculty members and students to develop and execute research that will somehow broaden our understanding of COVID-19 and begin to mitigate its impacts within the next four months.

Our idea was to take advantage of researchers creativity and commitment in tackling some of the most pressing problems around the COVID-19 epidemic, said John Bixby, vice provost for research and professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology and neurological surgery. We challenged them to examine the effects of the pandemic on multiple aspects of peoples livesnot just the physical ones, but the social aspects, the economic ones, and the environmental.

With just 10 days to submit proposals, faculty members across the university flooded the office with applications and more than 70 ideas were submitted. Each award was reviewed by three individuals, and the awardees were selected based on novelty, potential impact on the effort to combat COVID-19, and whether the study could be completed in short turnaround time.

The faculty response was inspiring, said Erin Kobetz, co-vice provost for research. There was a level of innovation across multiple disciplines that demonstrates an institutional commitment to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to the outcomes of those applications that were funded and imagine that they will lead to positive, measurable impact now and in the future.

After the four months are over, teams will be asked to report their progress, Bixby said. Below is a list of all the projects awarded grants:

This team will evaluate the potential benefits of nitric oxide in treating COVID-19 utilizing the iNOpulse technology, which may potentially allow future patients to be treated outside of the hospital.

Principal investigator: Roger Alvarez, assistant professor of clinical medicine,

This team will develop a novel vaccine to protect against the current coronavirus pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. Its strategy involves replacing the envelope glycoprotein (G) of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) with the spike of COVID-19. The resulting virus will form the basis of a vaccine to generate neutralizing antibody to the SARS-CoV-2 spike that could prevent disease if exposed to the real virus.

Principal investigator: Glen Barber, professor and chair of cell biology

This study will exploit the enzyme TMPRSS2 as a potential link between androgen receptors and COVID-19 by providing preliminary data on whether certain drugscalled androgen receptor antagoniststhat are effective and safe for treating prostate cancer, might also be effective in treating COVID-19.

Principal investigator: Kerry Burnstein, professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology

Artist Xavier Cortada will develop a socially engaged art platform online to mitigate stress related to COVID-19 infection and/or social distancing. He is also working to develop participatory art projects and an online message mural to capture stories from individuals across South Florida as they are affected by the pandemic. https://cortadaprojects.org/projects/corona/

Principal investigator: Xavier Cortada, professor of practice, art and art history

Public health emergencies pose huge challenges to the behavioral health system, and consequences on the psychosocial well-being of people in at-risk communities largely go overlooked. This project will first identify community psychosocial needs and then create and disseminate a multilingual COVID-19 online toolkit and resource hub to mitigate negative mental health outcomes throughout the pandemic.

Principal investigator: Bridget Davidson, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics

This team will develop a prototype for a socially engaging online experience targeting vulnerable and older adults where future University live cultural offerings could benefit from a secondary virtual platform.

Principal investigator: Joy Doan, head of Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library

Since parental stress during disasters or quarantine may be associated with child traumatic stress and/or subsequent incidents of abuse or neglect, this study will examine how parent-directed telehealth interventions using motivational, opposite action, and mindfulness strategies can be deployed during crisis situations to mitigate risk for parents exhibiting mental health concerns during our current COVID-19 pandemic.

Principal investigator: Jill Ehrenreich-May, professor of psychology

This project will enable the development of an oral rinse test that detects COVID-19 earlier and saves lives by directing resources and quarantine efforts to patients who need them most. Researchers will perform testing with the current prototype on a confirmed COVID-19 patient to determine the best antigen and concentration.

Principal investigator: Elizabeth Franzmann, associate professor of otolaryngology

This team will take blood samples from asymptomatic health care personnel working in any patient care capacity in three high-risk medical specialtiesotolaryngology, anesthesiology, and ophthalmologyand examine them for the presence of immunity. The results could help South Florida hospitals consider strategies for resource and personnel deployment.

Principal investigator: Michael Hoffer, professor of otolaryngology and neurological surgery

This team will gather data and insight on loneliness and other behaviors in the wake of CDC recommendations for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results will demonstrate the effects of this public health crisis on loneliness, as well as other psychosocial symptoms. The team will also assist public health professionals in preparation for post-pandemic interventions and future global health emergencies.

Principal investigator: Viviana Horigian, associate professor of public health sciences

More than 20 models of the viral protease (which if targeted, might stop the virus) have been openly shared on Twitter, prompting labs around the world to begin a collective search for protease inhibitors. This project will provide a cheap, accessible screening test for characterizing potential protease inhibitors and use the available crystal structures to develop effective protease inhibitors through computational techniques.

Principal investigator: Daniel Isom, assistant professor, molecular and cellular pharmacology

Researchers will investigate the ability to detect the COVID-19 virus in donor allograft tissue and frozen tissue. They will also attempt to determine whether the COVID-19 virus in the donor tissue is associated with transmission to the recipient and influences short- or long-term survival, as well as the health of the recipient.

Principal investigators: Hugo Kaneku Nagahama, assistant professor, surgery and Phillip Ruiz, professor of surgery and pathology and director of Transplantation Laboratories and immunopathology

Partnering with Breakthrough Miami, a community-based academic enrichment organization for low-income students, this study will contact families involved with this organization to understand the educational and health-related challenges as a result of COVID-19. Researchers will also investigate the role of community-based organizations in the mitigation of stress related to the concerns of infection and social distancing.

Principal Investigator: Laura Kohn Wood, dean and professor in the School of Education and Human Development.

Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctors play a key role in the treatment of COVID-19, but they are at high risk of exposure. This team will identify ENT issues in COVID-19 patients at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital and evaluate new approaches to case identification and health care worker protection.

Principal investigator: Xue Liu, professor and Marian and Walter Hotchkiss Endowed Chair in otolaryngology

Mindfulness training has emerged as an effective program to enhance cognitive functioning, improve psychological and physical health, and to reduce loneliness in young to mid-aged adults. But little is known about its effects in elderly adults. This proposal aims to offer mindfulness training via online delivery to elderly adults and to assess the trainings potential to protect against cognitive decline and degradation in psychological and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Principal investigator: Ekaterina Ninova (Denkova), research assistant professor, psychology

Individuals who have hypertension, diabetes, or underlying cardiovascular disease have higher rates of mortality from COVID-19 than the average person. Patients with these diseases have a high likelihood of being prescribed ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in order to treat their underlying ailments. This project will examine whether there is a link between drugs that are given to patients with hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease and the outcomes of COVID-19 patients.

Principal investigator: Savita Pahwa, professor, microbiology and immunology

This project aims to determine the rate of COVID-19 positivity among pregnant women and their newborns delivering at a tertiary care center in Miami with the highest rates of coronavirus in Florida. They also want to identify cases of maternal transmission of COVID-19, which is critical to establish treatment guidelines, while also answering questions about disease progression, perinatal transmission, and effects on the newborn.

Principal investigator: JoNell Potter, professor of clinical, obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive services

This team will test, evaluate, and create new reusable mask designs for use in the health care setting to limit exposure and protect medical personnel and first responders who treat coronavirus patients. The aim is to provide masks to workers within the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital first. Finalized mask designs can be shared with other medical facilities.

Principal investigator: Carl Schulman, executive dean for research and professor

This project hopes to develop a deep learning program that could classify X-ray or CT scan imaging characteristics in COVID-19 patients that could help radiologists categorize them into those patients who require hospitalization, those who will need Intensive Care Unit admission, and those at risk for death. In addition, such a deep learning network could be used to predict the patients response to current experimental drugs.

Principal investigator: Radka Stoyanova, research professor in radiation oncology

This project aims to understand the relationship between cardiac injury and COVID-19 severity. The team will conduct an extensive evaluation of 50 patients with a new COVID-19 infection who require hospital admission and will test myocardial injury and inflammatory biomarkers, use cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and offer a social determinants of health survey. Blood will be saved for future biomarker discovery and genomic evaluation.

Principal investigator: Leonardo Tamariz, professor of medicine

While respiratory distress dominates acute symptoms of COVID-19, ruptures in the brains capillary cells accompanied by bleeding within the brain have fatal consequences in patients with COVID-19.Moreover, impacts of COVID-19 on the brain depend largely on the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to leak in through brain capillaries, the cells of which express the SARS-CoV-2 receptor (ACE2). This study is based on the hypothesis that interaction of the virus with ACE2 disrupts the normal barrier function of brain capillary cells, and induces inflammatory responses derived from these cells.

Principal Investigator: Michal Toborek, vice-chair for research and professor, biochemistry and molecular biology

Given the surfeit of social media data accompanying the recent outbreak of COVID-19, this group will take a computational and big data-driven approach to uncovering information about viral transmission, social sentiment and response, decision-making, and public health policy recommendations. The group proposes to develop algorithm(s), as well as an online early alert system, to provide early warnings for disease surveillance tied to geographical data.

Principal investigator: Nicholas Tsinoremas, director of the Institute for Data Science and Computing

This team will investigate Florida citizens opinions on COVID-19, including their thoughts about the causes and consequences of the pandemic, their preferred sources of information, and subsequent behavior changes. They will also assess public perceptions of government responses to COVID-19 to determine how Floridians change their perceptions and behaviors over time in response to changing policies, messaging, and conditionsparticularly if they or someone they know becomes ill. This will be one of very few studies to track a statewide populations opinions, lifestyle factors, and health behaviors during an ongoing pandemicwith clear implications for policymakers, health communicators, and disaster specialists.

Principal investigator: Joseph Uscinski, associate professor of political science

Because young adults appear to experience fewer cases of the COVID-19 virus, this population may engage in behaviors that contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Yet, little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent mental and physical health and their substance-use behaviors. This project hopes to collect epidemiologic data on the patterns of mental and physical health, substance use (frequency and dose), and potential disease transmission behaviors among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Principal investigator: Denise Vidot, assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies

Cell Biology

Biology Basics: What is a Virus? Bacteria? Fungus? And How Can We Kill Them? – Clare County Review

April 13, 2020 medical

April 13, 2020

Dear Editor:With the coronavirus is on everyones mind, lets go back to some basics. Like what is a virus and how do we get rid of it? Modern medicine seems to cure most anything, so why is it so hard to destroy the coronavirus?There are three major pathogens (biological structures that can make humans ill). They are bacteria (bacterium), fungi (fungus), and viruses (virus). Each one is unique in its structure and complexity. Therefore, the way to destroy each of them is also unique.

We are exposed to thousands, if not millions, of unique pathogens. Our immune system must learn how to destroy each and every one. When we are born, we have almost no immune system; we are incredibly vulnerable to infection and sickness. We must build up our immune system with antibodies. Antibodies are how the immune system can identify, tag, and destroy the pathogens making a person sick. The only way an immune system can build up antibodies is to be exposed to a pathogen and learn how to identify, tag, and destroy the pathogen. The only short cut to this is when a mother can pass some antibodies to a nursing infant through her breast milk. (This is only one of the many reasons why a newborn should be breast fed.)

However, once our immune systems have the antibodies needed to identify, tag, and destroy a specific pathogen, it will remember that pathogen. So, the next time you are exposed to it, your immune system will produce the antibodies to destroy the pathogen much quicker, ideally even before you feel sick.

Sometimes our immune systems cannot do it on its own, that is where medicine is required. Remember, there are bacteria, fungal and viral pathogens.

First, fungi tend to be external organisms that live on surfaces. Mold, mushrooms, and mildew are some classic examples and good to use as a reference. They grow in dark, moist places on decaying matter. The hypha or roots borrow into the organic matter to extract the nutrients it needs for life. Athletes foot, jock itch, and yeast infections are all common pathogens many of us have suffered. Although, internally fungi are lethal, they are rare. Most external fungi can be destroyed with an anti-fungal cream or pill. Fungi tend to be on the low side of complexity and relatively easy to kill.Bacterial pathogens are individual living organisms. They are the germs that we think of swimming around under a microscope. There are millions of varieties of them. They live on their own, on surfaces within the air, in foods and water. Many ear, throat, and sinus infections are bacterial.

Fortunately, our immune system is pretty good at identifying these foreign organisms living within our bodies and can destroy them on its own. And if it cannot, a doctor can prescribe an antibiotic (penicillin) to finish the job.On the other hand, viruses are non-living, they are DNA pirates. They cannot live or reproduce on their own. Think of a virus as a blob of grease or oil with a single strand of DNA within it. No nucleus, no organelles, just a microscopic ball of fat with a code to cause some biological mutiny.

Viruses require a host cell for reproduction. The virus does this by taking over a host cell and forcing the cell to reproduce the virus and it fatty shell, much like a pirate hijacking a ship for its own purposes. Unfortunately, the cell will no longer able to perform the life sustaining job it was intended to be doing; hence you fell sick. The host cell will continue to perform the pirates task, reproduce the virus, until it destroys itself. Then, liberating more DNA pirates to repeat the process.

The fact that the virus lives inside the cell makes it hard for the immune system to identify the pathogen, let alone destroy it. The only way to destroy the virus is to destroy the cell itself. The pirate will never leave the ship, the ship must be destroyed to kill the pirate.

This is what our immune systems does, anti-bodies identify, tag, and destroy the living cells that have the virus within them. This explains our symptoms which can range from minor aches and pains to lethal tissue and organ damage. Your immune system is literally destroying your own cells.

Fortunately, we have billions of cells and our immune system can be very targeted once the anti-bodies have figure out which cells have been pirated by the virus. White blood cells can then effectively destroy only the pirated cells and recovering will begin.

A major problem with the Coronavirus in humans is our immune systems have hard time identifying which cells have been pirated by the virus and which cells are still healthy. Human immune systems seem to be over-reacting and destroying ALL the surrounding cells. Since the virus is often found in the lungs, heart, and kidneys these are the organs that seem to be suffering the most.

So how do we destroy the Coronavirus? They only thing that can destroy a virus is our own immune system. The medical field has had little success in developing anti-viral medications. We can only support our immune system to learn quicker, to produce the antibodies needed and then the immune system can become much more targeted.

Vaccines do this by providing a weaken version for the immune system to learn from. Anti-body therapy takes the anti-bodies from one immune system that has already learned how to identify the virus and directly gives it to an un-learned immune system.

Unfortunately, we do not have any solutions yet! So, the best way to be healthy is to not get sick in the first place. Stay away from the pirates! You all know what to do, washing your hand, social distance, etc. Be safe.

Andrew J. FrischFarwell High School.

Original post:
Biology Basics: What is a Virus? Bacteria? Fungus? And How Can We Kill Them? - Clare County Review

Cell Biology

Why coronavirus is so lethal & fast-spreading: Its biology, disease, cure & call for united action – MyNation

April 13, 2020 medical

1. What is a virus?

We have to first understand the simple structure of a typical cell very briefly. Then, even as laymen, we will be able to understand how the structure of the coronavirus is different from that of a typical cell. A common mans understanding and knowledge of the coronavirus holds the key to implementation of preventive measures and solutions to contain the pandemic.

That "protoplasm is the physical basis of life" is a fundamental concept of cell biology and life science defined by William Huxley, an English biologist and anthropologist. The cell content within the cell membrane is called protoplasm. The matrix residing within the cell membrane and outside the centrally located nucleus is called cytoplasm. So, cytoplasm with organelles and nucleus containing the genetic material (DNA) are the constituents of protoplasm.

2. Virus as a bridge between the living and non-living: A virus is an unusual, very primitive parasitic entity that has both living and non-living characteristics. It is a mysterious invisible, non-living, micro-crystal or dust particle when outside a living host. But it assumes life soon after it enters a living host (ranging from amoeba to man and also plants). Therefore, it is an obligatory parasite. It has neither cytoplasm nor cell organelles. It has only genetic material, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protein coat. Therefore, the virus is considered as a bridge between the living and the non-living by those who have studied biology and theories of the origin of life.

3. Understanding the nature of the coronavirus: The coronavirus is a virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. It is opined that the original reservoir of this virus is a non-human host, the horse-shoe bat (in which it causes no harm), from which it jumped to humans. The immune system of the bat is distinct from the human immune system and allows the virus to rapidly multiply within the bat while also protecting it from the harmful effects. Accordingly, bats have been the source of other recent viral disease outbreaks such as SARS, MERS and Ebola This coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in November 2019 and spread all over the world in a short period. The epidemic is now known as COVID-19 and the virus is known as SARS-CoV-2. The virus is a mutant variety of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus. This non-living micro dust-like form of the virus is transmitted between people through respiratory droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

4. Structure of the coronavirus: This coronavirus is a spherical, single-stranded RNA (genetic material) virus with a protein coat. It has corona-like extensions called spike proteins on its surface. Hence the name coronavirus. The spike proteins bind to the receptors on the host cell. It is called novel coronavirus (nCoV) because of these spike proteins, which are different from those of other coronaviruses.

5. Fast replication process once it enters the host: In general, the coronavirus multiplies swiftly once it enters the living host. Its RNA replicates after entering the host and produces multiple copies of itself. The RNA particles get themselves covered by protein coats and then come out of the host cells, only to infect new cells. During infection, they enter through the mouth or nostrils through respiratory droplets, make their way into the bronchial tract and lungs gradually, and then they multiply in the alveoli of the lungs. This reduces the expanding and contracting mechanism of the alveoli, leading to fibrosis of the lung. As a result, the function of our oxygen-supplying organ, the lung, gets badly mutilated and respiration gets hindered, making us unable to breathe. This results in a shortage of oxygen supply to the brain and the entire body and the patient dies within a few days.

6. Why is the coronavirus so lethal and fast- spreading? How to break the protein coat of the virus and paralyze its RNA when it is in the non-living form outside the host and in a living form inside the host is a matter of research. Of course, its duration of life outside the host is very limited, to the extent of 3 or 4 days, especially in a tropical hot climate like in India, where the relative humidity is also relatively high. It is believed that a type of WBCs called the natural killer cells (NK cells), which are a component of our innate immunity and which resist any pathogen as the first line of defence, are not very effective against these viruses. People may be carriers of infection of the virus for 1 to 14 days before developing symptoms. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough, tiredness, and excessive drowsiness. In severe cases, breathing will be difficult. If not contained, it can be fatal, particularly in individuals with co-morbid health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic diseases of heart, lungs, kidneys and liver, and infants aged 12 months and under. Since the coronavirus is spread through respiratory droplets, it is advised not to touch the nose and mouth as these viruses stay on the surface of the hand in a viable state for quite a long time. Also, it is advised to wash the hands thoroughly for at least 20-25 seconds frequently with soap. Sanitizers can also be used to keep the hands clean.

7. Prevention of COVID-19 -- the scientific and social approach: Our body's immune system is yet to develop a new strategy to counter this novel mutant coronavirus. Presently, our WBCs can kill many other invading pathogenic forms like bacteria and others. But we have not yet developed an immune system that can kill the SARS-CoV-2. So, we are neither able to effectively deal with the coronavirus outside the body nor inside. The greater challenge is to find a way for our defence mechanism to deactivate the RNA of coronavirus when it enters the human body or by antibiotics or in developing a vaccine. Since it is fast-spreading through human agency, the epidemic has now become a pandemic, killing human beings fast without yielding to any known medical system. That is the reason thousands have died in such a short time, in China, Italy, Spain and South Korea. As a result of the deeply inter-connected world we now live in involving convenient air travel and cruises, it has spread to nearly 200 countries now. As of 31st March 2020, there were 750,890 confirmed cases and 36,405 deaths. Realizing the magnitude of the epidemic, the Government of India has decided that the only way to contain the epidemic is by making humans not accessible to it by social distancing. People affected by coronavirus have to be isolated in quarantine. Thus, the virus chain has to be broken by not allowing it to enter the human host, so that it perishes after being deprived of a host for a considerable period.

8. Social distancing and Stay at Home are the only Mantra: That is why we have messages of preventing the coronavirus infection on the telephone ringtone. We should broadcast it in all media and all possible manners. It is with this intention that the Government of India and all the States have announced a strict lockdown. That is why the COVID-19 preventing "mantras" are "stay at home" and maintain social distance everywhere. Even while shopping for essentials, one must maintain a distance of one or two meters from the next person. 'Prevention is better than cure' is the golden proverb we all have heard, but in the context of the coronavirus, prevention is the only cure thus far.

9. The absolute need for a strict, nation-wide lockdown: If we see the extent of devastation caused by the coronavirus in developed countries like Italy, China, Spain, UK, and America, India with its less developed medical infrastructure and habitual group-living in cities and slums, especially in villages, needs to be extra vigilant and cautious in preventing the entry and spread of coronavirus. Our national lockdown may have to be inevitably continued for some more reasonable time and all of us have to educate fellow citizens about the preventive measures more aggressively and convincingly.

10. Therapeutic approaches being tested for potential treatment of COVID-19 in the future: Scientists and physicians all around the world are working together to explore potential treatments for coronavirus. Clinical trials are underway to test a number of candidate treatments that are already approved and safely administered to patients for other diseases. These include the anti-malarial agents chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine; HIV treatments lopinavir and ritonavir. An experimental antiviral agent called Remdesivir that was previously developed for treating Ebola is also being explored. Another treatment called convalescent plasma is also under investigation that involves transfusion of critically ill patients with plasma obtained from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and built up high levels of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to help stimulate a stronger immune response. Several unconventional approaches for rapid vaccine development are being explored that are expected to deliver results in 12-18 months. The first patient was recently dosed in a clinical trial in the USA for a candidate mRNA based vaccine which encodes for a stabilized form of the coronavirus spike protein.

11. Need for a positive attitude at the time of fear and uncertainty: It is very hard to retain positive energy when we are being constantly bombarded with the news of death and economic crisis. However, this time of lockdown is a golden opportunity for reflection, spending quality time with family and exploring hobbies we never had a chance to pursue due to the unending grind of routine life. While social media is a blessing in times of a lockdown to keep in touch with family and friends, it is also a source of rumours and misinformation. We should only rely on government agencies for the most accurate information and guidelines.

12.Need for basic existential solidarity transcending the barriers of caste, creed and religion: It is time that we Indians demonstrate that we are all solidly united, transcending barriers of caste, creed, religious customs and traditions to protect not only our country but the world. Let us pray intensely for the wellbeing of all. Let us invoke the noble and powerful survival instinct and motherly caring instinct hidden in all of us. Let us work together constructively, lovingly, as Indians. This feeling of unity, amity, and love for each other is needed now to keep the COVID-19 pandemic away. This should be our religion, throb of life, the wave of mind, and line of action. So, let us together pray for the protection from this lethal coronavirus and wellbeing of all and take a pledge to stay at home. The famous French surgeon and Nobel laureate, Dr. Alexis Carrel, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912, has said, "Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate. As a physician, I have seen the patients coming out of melancholy and disease by the serene efforts of prayer."

Our united and the sincere cry of the soul shall be heard by the Almighty, the Omniscient, Spiritual Consciousness, which has created and is sustaining the universe. Let our patriotism, universal brotherhood, and unity find its true expression in this hour of unprecedented crisis. Let the scientific capability of the West and the spiritual capability of the East come together and work reciprocally to fight this terrible pandemic and stave off nemesis. If political and religious leaders, government employees, police, the medical, pharmaceutical and nursing brigades and the business community work with sincerity and honesty as per the scientifically defined line of action, we shall not only conquer the coronavirus pandemic, but also create a new eco-friendly, clean, and spiritually vibrant world of understanding, friendship and love.

Supervisor Dean Preston and UC Berkley researchers team up to deliver hand sanitizer to MUNI operators – KRON4

April 13, 2020 medical

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., (KRON) San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and UC Berkeley researchers partner to deliver 500 bottles of hand sanitizer to MUNI operators early Monday morning.A group of volunteers helped deliver hand sanitizers in an effort to assist in the citys response to COVID-19.

During this public health crisis, we must protect our essential workers, and that includes MUNI operators said Preston. For all of the MUNI operators who are bravely providing essential services, the least we can do is ensure they have basic protective supplies on the job.

Since the start of the outbreak Presidentof Transit Workers Union 250A Roger Marenco has urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to protect operators and its passengers.

If the city is requiring essential workers to come to work and provide essential services, then we need to be issued essential protective equipment, Marenco said.

Supervisor Prestons office and UC Berkeley researchers have been working together to help deliver hand sanitizer to people who need it the most since the start of sheltering-in-place orders.

Abrar Abidi and Yvonne Hao, researchers from UC Berkeleys Department of Molecular and Cell Biology reached out Supervisor Prestons office with a goal to help Bay Area residents.

Our goal is to make and distribute hand sanitizer to every homeless person, every MUNI operator, every jail inmate, every senior home, and every frontline healthcare worker in the Bay, said Yvonne Hao.

The group has been able to deliver approximately 200 gallons of hand sanitizer to homeless shelters, county jails and MUNI operators in San Francisco.

We are extremely grateful for the district 5 team stepping up to support our Muni Operators, said Marenco.

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Dr. Kevin Dalby on How to Decrease Your Risk of Developing Cancer – Thrive Global

April 13, 2020 medical

Life expectancy in the United States is about 78 years, though longevity is not without medical concerns. As many as one in three Americans will develop malignant cells in their lifetime. While the scientific community has significantly increased their understanding of cancer in recent years and applied that knowledge to treatment, prevention research remains a top priority; however, since cancer is a series of diseases, the exact cause is not always known. Genetics plays an important role, yet so does diet and lifestyle.

Dr. Kevin Dalby, professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, is studying the mechanisms of cancer cells and currently working on cancer drug discovery. His research primarily focuses on developing targeted therapeutics, but he does acknowledge that specific behavioral changes can help lower a persons risk for cancer. The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 75% of American cancer deaths could be prevented if tactics are adopted on a mass scale.

Below, Dr. Kevin Dalby reviews practical behavioral choices that anyone can take up to help prevent cancer, thus reducing the risk of the emotional and the financial burden inflicted by this crippling disease.

Avoid Tobacco

The correlation between tobacco use and cancer is staggering. In the United States, one out of every five deaths is related to tobacco. Moreover, cigarette smoking accounts for 85-90% of lung cancer deaths and 70% of oral and laryngeal cancer deaths.

Tobacco use (smoking or chewing) is a difficult habit to quit. Still, it could help you as well as those around you (secondhand smoke kills) avoid a future collision with the following cancers: lung, mouth, throat, larynx, pancreas, bladder, cervix, and kidney.

Limit Alcohol

Research has yet to pinpoint exactly how alcohol influences your susceptibility for cancer, but excess use does increase the risk for mouth, throat, liver, colon, rectal, and breast cancer. Men should limit their acholic beverages to two a day and women to one. For context, one drink equates to approximately twelve ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or one and a half ounces of liquor.

Eat A Healthy Diet

40% of cancers are associated with dietary factors: habits, foods, and nutrients all play a role. The American Cancer Society suggests a daily nutritional regimen consisting of whole grains, fish or poultry, and a variety of vegetables and fruits to lower your risk for cancer. Try to limit red and processed meats, eat fewer sweets, and reduce your intake of saturated fats.

Exercise

Regular physical activity helps you maintain a healthy weight, control blood pressure, and may lower the risk for several types of cancer such as colon, prostate, and even breast cancer. Obesity is especially of paramount importance since it has been linked to 20% of all cancer-related deaths.

Adults should strive to exercise moderately for 150 minutes each week. Alternatively, you can aim for 75 minutes of vigorous activity if that suits your lifestyle better.

Sun Protection

Skin cancer is common but also preventable. To reduce your risk, proportionately apply sunscreen, avoid the sun at midday if possible when its rays are most reliable, cover exposed skin and forgo tanning beds and sunlamps, which are just as dangerous as actual sunlight.

Regular Medical Care

Cancer may not be entirely preventable, but if caught early, your chances of survival improve drastically. Schedule regular checkups with your doctor, be transparent, and ask what tests make sense for you. Depending on your sex, age, and medical history, your doctor may recommend screenings for breast, cervical, colon, lung, or prostate cancer.

About Dr. Kevin Dalby:

Dr. Kevin Dalby has been interested in the why of chemical reactions since he was a student at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organic Chemistry. This curiosity has led to his interest in the processes of cell signaling, and ultimately to cancer research. Dr. Dalbys research areas include biochemistry, cancer, cell biology, chemical biology, drug discovery & diagnostics, and enzymology.

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Dr. Kevin Dalby on How to Decrease Your Risk of Developing Cancer - Thrive Global

Cell Biology

Meet Ghanaian scientist Professor Awandare helping us understand the coronavirus – GhanaWeb

April 13, 2020 medical

General News of Monday, 13 April 2020

Source: mynewsgh.com

Professor Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare

One of the leading Ghanaian scientists helping us understand the novel coronavirus disease is Professor Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare of the School of Biochemistry and the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana.

He, together with other leading scientists at the University of Ghana, has successfully sequenced the genome of the novel coronavirus disease by examining some 15 confirmed cases of the disease in the country.

Prof Awandare has been a leading light in research on many diseases in the country, especially the malaria parasite.

Born in Kandiga in the Kassena Nankana West District of the Upper East Region, Prof Awandare battled with recurring malaria as a child.

Defying all odds to have a good education, he obtained an a Bsc in Biochemistry from the University of Ghana in 1998 and an MSc in the same field in 2002 before obtaining his PhD in the area in 2007 from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States of America. His area of interest was the malaria parasite, inspired partly by his battle with the disease as a child.

Driven by patriotism, he returned to Ghana after spending three years in America contributing to knowledge there.

Prof Awandare took extraordinary steps to set up his own research group notwithstanding the lack of funds and other bottlenecks.

His major breakthrough came in 2013 when he led a consortium that secured funds to set up a new state of the art centre in the country to research into infectious pathogens. The consortium secured some $8 million from the World Bank, and Prof Awandare became the founding director of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) in 2013.

The Centre cutting edge research has ensured that it has secured several other funding to undertake research into many diseases.

He has received many awards for his excellence on research.

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Meet Ghanaian scientist Professor Awandare helping us understand the coronavirus - GhanaWeb

Cell Biology

Microbes in your blood could be the tell-tale of cancer | Forge – ForgeToday

April 13, 2020 medical

Scientists have developed a novel method of cancer detection and diagnosis from a single blood draw, even at early stages.

In 2017, Dr Ravid Straussman of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences Molecular Cell Biology Department and his team found live bacteria within pancreatic tumours. These bacteria metabolised a common chemotherapy drug and rendered it ineffective. This shone light onto the possibility that bacteria and viruses may influence prognosis to a larger extent than previously thought.

Recent investigation into these microbes revealed that they are detectable in the blood, even before symptoms arise. Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have exploited this to develop a new method to determine who has cancer, and which type, by a simple analysis of microbial DNA in the patients blood.

The researchers were granted access to The Cancer Genome Atlas, which stores microbial data as well as genetic information from thousands of patients tumours. From this, distinct patterns of microbial DNA were found to be associated with specific types of cancer.

Of course, some of these associations are well-known. For example, human papillomavirus (HPV), has a clear link to cervical cancer. However, the team also found new microbial patterns, or signatures, which were previously unknown and were able to distinguish between specific cancer types. If these were found present in the blood of a patient, this would allow accurate and complete diagnosis.

The team tested thousands of cancer samples on computer-based models which were trained to associate the presence of certain microbial DNA with specific cancer types. They found that the computer was able to recognise a patients cancer type, even at early stages, using only a small blood sample.

Gregory Poore, MD/PhD, his supervisor Professor Rob Knight and their team have undertaken the largest-ever attempt (to their knowledge) to identify specific microbial DNA in human blood. They have successfully produced a technique to exploit non-human molecules in the diagnosis of a major human disease. The ability of this technique to detect traces of microbes at the earliest stage of disease progression gives it great therapeutic potential it is no secret that earlier diagnosis produces a better prognosis.

The team is now looking to introduce their method into the clinical setting and are encouraging other cancer researchers to invest their efforts into the study of microbes in the disease.

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Microbes in your blood could be the tell-tale of cancer | Forge - ForgeToday

Cell Biology

Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market Is Projected To Expand At A Robust CAGR Of +5.2% By 2026 Analysis by Industry Outlook,…

April 13, 2020 medical

Global Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices market from the in depth perspective of all the ongoing trends that are affecting the market and are important to be understood are studied. These trends are geographical, economic, socioeconomic, political, cultural, political, and many other are studied. The overall effect on the consumer preferences will have a major say on the market working in the years to come. The dynamics which affect the Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices market have been studied meticulously.

The global cardiovascular repair and reconstruction devices market size was valued at USD 2,831.1 million in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period. Key factors contributing to market growth are increase in prevalence of Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs) and technological advancements in molecular chemistry, clinical pharmacology, cell biology, and vascular surgery.

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Key players profiled in the report include Medtronic; Bard Peripheral Vascular; Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation; W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.; Getinge AB; CryoLife, Inc.; Edwards Lifesciences Corporation; Baxter; and Admedus.

The main goal for the dissemination of this information is to give a descriptive analysis of how the trends could potentially affect the upcoming future of Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices market during the forecast period. This markets competitive manufactures and the upcoming manufactures are studied with their detailed research. Revenue, production, price, market share of these players is mentioned with precise information.

In the geographic segmentation, the regions such as North America, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America are given major importance. The top key driving forces of Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices market in every particular market is mentioned with restraints and opportunities. The restraints are also given a counter act which prove to be an opportunity for this market during the forecast period of 2020 to 2026 respectively.

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Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices market is also explained to the clients as a holistic snapshot of a competitive landscape within the given competitive forecast period. A comparative analysis of regional players and segmentations, which helps readers get a better understanding of the areas and resources with better understanding.

This report provides:

1) An overview of the global market for Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market and related technologies.

2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2017, estimates for 2018 and 2019, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2026.

3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Global Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market.

4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.

5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.

Table of Content

1 Introduction

2 Market Research Tactics

3 Market Summary

4 Quality Market Insights

5 Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market Overview

6 Regulatory Market Synopsis

7 Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market, By Application Analysis:

8 Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market, By product Analysis:

9 Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market, By End User Analysis:

10 Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market, By Geographic Region

11 Competitive Landscape

12 Company Profiles

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Cardiovascular Repair And Reconstruction Devices Market Is Projected To Expand At A Robust CAGR Of +5.2% By 2026 Analysis by Industry Outlook,...