Doctors are reaching for drugs that dampen the immune response — but these also undermine the body’s own fight against the coronavirus. Uncertainty is hampering doctors’ ability to choose treatments.
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Apr 9, 2020
Key China coronavirus hospital says HIV drug beneficial to patients
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in category: biotech/medical
At the height of the epidemic in the city, Jinyintan was treating close to 500 coronavirus patients, he said. It currently still has 123 under observation, he said. A study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, based on a test in Chinese patients with severe COVID-19 at Jinyintan, said that Kaletra, also known as Aluvia, was not effective as a potential treatment.
Last month, Israel approved the licensing of a generic version of Kaletra to treat patients infected with the coronavirus.
Apr 9, 2020
NASA reveals plans for a radio telescope on the farside of the Moon
Posted by Carse Peel in categories: innovation, space
A lunar crater on the farside of the Moon could be turned into a new radio telescope resembling the Death Star from Star Wars, under new plans from NASA.
Funding for the project has come from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Programme, designed to support potentially game changing projects.
Continue reading “NASA reveals plans for a radio telescope on the farside of the Moon” »
Apr 9, 2020
DoD’s longest-serving employee passes away after 77 years of service
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: business, transportation
Sarkis Tatigian joined the Navy in 1942. He’s been there ever since, until his death this week at the age of 96.
Tatigian — who first enlisted as a radio inspector at the now-defunct Philadelphia Naval Shipyard — went on to become the small business advocate at Naval Sea Systems Command. He had held that title since 1979, six years after he first became eligible for retirement. But he’d been working on the Navy’s small business programs since 1951, two years before the Small Business Administration even existed.
Even well into his 90s, Tatigian reportedly commuted to work at the Washington Navy Yard via public transit every day. When we last spoke to him in late 2017, he had only taken one vacation day that year.
Apr 9, 2020
5G & Covid-19: The origin, explanation, and reason why scientists are concerned
Posted by Brent Ellman in categories: biotech/medical, internet
A conspiracy theory linking 5G wireless networks to the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading. The theory is false — and psychologists explain why it is still so popular.
Apr 9, 2020
How to get the world from Covid-19 to Covid-Zero with just $8bn | Free to read
Posted by Kelvin Dafiaghor in categories: biotech/medical, business
Many companies have made strong commitments to support their employees, customers, suppliers and communities through what is perhaps the gravest global crisis since the second world war. And all at a time when they are themselves counting the costs of lockdowns and physical distancing.
Others have joined more directly in fighting the outbreak. Amazon is distributing coronavirus tests, Diageo is making hand sanitiser, while Formula 1 teams are designing ventilators.
But business has a powerful opportunity to go further and play a critical part in resolving the crisis — as well as in managing it — by helping fund the vital research that provides the only viable exit strategy that can bring the world back to business as usual.
Apr 9, 2020
Innovative brain–machine interface set to improve prosthetics and brain research
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, neuroscience
A brain–machine interface that enables multi-channel recordings of neural activity could improve human prosthetics and enhance understanding of the brain.
Apr 9, 2020
Pfizer clinches coronavirus vaccine deal, sees potential in antiviral treatment
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in category: biotech/medical
It also said it plans to support studies to determine whether existing Pfizer medicines, including its rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz, may provide benefits for those struggling with the COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. More than a dozen large drugmakers, including Pfizer, have announced plans in recent months to develop vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus, although few if any are likely to reach patients in time to stem the current outbreak. Pfizer first revealed plans to try to develop an antiviral compound for COVID-19 in March, and later said it was working with BioNTech SE (22UAy. F) on a potential vaccine based on messenger RNA technology.
U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Thursday that early data has helped it identify a drug candidate with the potential to help treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
Apr 9, 2020
50 Million People May Gather For The ‘Greater American Eclipse,’ The Most Watched Event Ever
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: futurism
Apr 9, 2020
Engineer uses metal-oxide nanomaterials deposited on cloth to wipe out microbes
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biological, chemistry, engineering, health, nanotechnology, sustainability
In an effort to make highly sensitive sensors to measure sugar and other vital signs of human health, Iowa State University’s Sonal Padalkar figured out how to deposit nanomaterials on cloth and paper.
Feedback from a peer-reviewed paper published by ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering describing her new fabrication technology mentioned the metal-oxide nanomaterials the assistant professor of mechanical engineering was working with—including zinc oxide, cerium oxide and copper oxide, all at scales down to billionths of a meter—also have antimicrobial properties.
“I might as well see if I can do something else with this technology,” Padalkar said. “And that’s how I started studying antimicrobial uses.”