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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,035

Remdesivir Improves COVID-19 Symptoms in 68% of Patients in Early Study

An early analysis of remdesivir, a drug developed by pharmaceutical firm Gilead, has shown that it may have improved severe symptoms of COVID-19 in 68% of patients after 18 days.

For the Gilead-funded study, doctors recruited 61 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with oxygen saturation of 94% or less while breathing ambient air or receiving oxygen support. To receve remdesivir on a compassionate use basis (a program allowing the use of unapproved medicines when no other treatment options are available), on the first day of treatment, patients were administered 200mg of remesdevir, and then 100 mg daily on the remaining 9 days of treatment.

After 18 days of receiving the treatment, the doctors found just 53 patients who met the criteria following treatment for analysis. Among them, 36 (68%) had notable improvements in oxygen support class, including 17 patients receiving mechanical ventilation who were extubated. 25 patients were consequently discharged, while 7 died.

Coronavirus Is Changing How We Live, Work, and Use Tech—Permanently

Within a week, many world leaders went from downplaying the seriousness of coronavirus to declaring a state of emergency. Even the most efficacious of nations seem to be simultaneously confused and exasperated, with delayed responses revealing incompetence and inefficiency the world over.

So this begs the question: why is it so difficult for us to comprehend the scale of what an unmitigated global pandemic could do? The answer likely relates to how we process abstract concepts like exponential growth. Part of the reason we’ve struggled so much applying basic math to our practical environment is because humans think linearly. But like much of technology, biological systems such as viruses can grow exponentially.

As we scramble to contain and fight the pandemic, we’ve turned to technology as our saving grace. In doing so, we’ve effectively hit a “fast-forward” button on many tech trends that were already in place. From remote work and virtual events to virus-monitoring big data, technologies that were perhaps only familiar to a fringe tech community are now entering center stage—and as tends to be the case with wartime responses, these changes are likely here to stay.

Neurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

Findings In a case series of 214 patients with coronavirus disease 2019, neurologic symptoms were seen in 36.4% of patients and were more common in patients with severe infection (45.5%) according to their respiratory status, which included acute cerebrovascular events, impaired consciousness, and muscle injury.

Published Online: April 10, 2020. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1127

Author Contributions: Dr B. Hu had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Drs Mao, Jin, M. Wang, Y. Hu, Chen, He, and Chang contributed equally and share first authorship.

Concept and design: Mao, Jin, Y. Hu, He, Miao, B. Hu.

Gold may soon soar to a record $2,000 says analyst: we ‘borrowed from the future, and there is not enough economy to pay it down’

The precious metal has been torn between its potential as a haven investment and a mad scramble to sell the tangible asset in a bid for cash to cover losses in the stock market.

“The Covid-19 outbreak has had a major impact on the gold market, bringing massive price swings as investors react to new developments related to the pandemic,” says Steven Dunn, head of exchange-traded funds at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“Because of Covid-19, refiners were knocked offline…and the ability to move gold became a challenge as normal means of transport became almost impossible,” he says.

More Evidence Suggests Pangolins May Have Passed Coronavirus From Bats to Humans

Pangolins, not snakes, may be the missing link for transmission of the new coronavirus from bats to humans.

Since its initial outbreak at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, COVID-19 has since infected more than a million people across the globe. To understand and control the transmission of COVID-19, scientists are racing to study the coronavirus causing the disease: SARS-CoV-2, previously named 2019-nCoV.

SARS-CoV-2 is zoonotic, which means that the virus originated in animals and jumped to humans. A critical challenge is to determine which animal transmitted the virus to humans.