Lifeboat Foundation

If you’re curious about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship to animals, I’d like to recommend an excellent interview with a bat virus expert who was in Wuhan, China at ground zero in mid-January. He has been involved in a series of investigations of viral epidemics since the mid-1990s.

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador, interviews Dr. Linfa Wang, director of the Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases at the collaborative Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School in Singapore.

Continue reading “Bat Man: Hunting Down COVID-19 and other Deadly Viruses” »

Not only have all the patients survived, according to Pluristem, but four of them showed improvement in respiratory parameters and three of them are in the advanced stages of weaning from ventilators. Moreover, two of the patients with preexisting medical conditions are showing clinical recovery in addition to the respiratory improvement.

“We are pleased with this initial outcome of the compassionate use program and committed to harnessing PLX cells for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems,” said Pluristem CEO and president Yaky Yanay. “Pluristem is dedicated to using its competitive advantages in large-scale manufacturing to potentially deliver PLX cells to a large number of patients in significant need.”

Pluristem’s PLX cells are “allogeneic mesenchymal-like cells that have immunomodulatory properties,” meaning they induce the immune system’s natural regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages, the company explained in a previous release. The result could be the reversal of dangerous overactivation of the immune system. This would likely reduce the fatal symptoms of pneumonia and pneumonitis (general inflammation of lung tissue).

The Spanish government is taking action in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Most of us are similar with ‘viruses’ and malware relating to our computers or smartphones, but Yoshihiro Minagawa, a researcher from the University of Tokyo has taken it on literally – he has invented a portable, low-cost, battery-powered device that pairs with a smartphone, which was tested with viruses but could also detect other biological markers. His initial findings, together with other teammates were published recently in the journal, Lab on a Chip.

The current leading method to assess the presence of viruses and other biological markers of disease is effective but large and expensive. It is prohibitively difficult for use in many situations, especially due to certain economic and geographic factors. Although highly accurate at counting viruses, these tools are just too cumbersome for many situations, especially when rapid diagnosis is required.

“I wanted to produce a useful tool for inaccessible or less-affluent communities that can help in the fight against diseases such as influenza,” said Minagawa. “Diagnosis is a critical factor of disease prevention. Our device paves the way for better access to essential diagnostic tools.”

The military branches are requiring troops to make their own cloth face masks after the Pentagon’s latest policy directed face coverings for all personnel during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Defense Department announced Sunday that troops, DoD civilian employees, contractors and family members are encouraged to make simple coverings out of clean T-shirts and other household materials. The do-it-yourself face coverings are mandatory whenever people cannot maintain six feet of social distance in public areas or places of work, according to the policy, signed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

The DIY masks will help preserve much-needed N95 and surgical masks for health care workers, the policy states.

The U.S. Army’s top enlisted soldier said Tuesday that the service plans to issue some type of non-surgical mask to troops to help control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

During an Army Facebook Live on Tuesday, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston said that soldiers should follow the face-covering guidance the service issued Monday evening until it can provide masks for them.

“We are going to get you the masks,” he said. “In the near term, we will get you something either black or camouflage to put on.”

Slated for human trials, EIDD-2801 could become the first pill for COVID-19.

Tesla will cut pay for all of its salaried employees and will furlough hourly workers until May 4, when it intends to resume production of electric cars, according to an internal e-mail that multiple employees shared with CNBC. The pay reductions are expected to be in place until the end of the second quarter.

Health orders, implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, forced Elon Musk’s electric car company to wind down production at its main vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California.

The new pay cuts follow Tesla’s first-quarter vehicle production and deliveries report, which pleased investors — the company said it delivered approximately 88,400 vehicles and produced 103,000 in Q1. Tesla has yet to withdraw guidance it gave investors for 2020, saying it should “comfortably exceed” 500,000 vehicle deliveries for the year.

New research shows that resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine, contributes to genomic stability by reducing the occurrence of DNA double-strand breaks and prolongs lifespan in genetically modified mice that are prone to carcinogenic mutations [1].

DSBs and genomic instability

Genomic instability, one of the hallmarks of aging, is a condition characterized by frequent mutations within the genome, and it has long been associated with cancer [2]. The authors of this study state that one of its major causes is the erroneous repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). High numbers of DSBs have been found in pre-cancerous cells, and DNA lesions caused by unrepairable DSBs accumulate with time, both in organisms and in cultured cells. One of the possible culprits is the degradation of DNA repair mechanisms in aged cells [3].