How did #India fare? The graphic tells the whole story:
➡️Brutal onslaught by #B16172: having the highest transmissibility & most immune evader of all VOCs with higher virulence?
➡️No support from Vaccination (negligible coverage & high breakthrough, but reinfections rare) 1/
➡️ Social mitigation measures worked! Or the virus ran out of steam? Or still too early to conclude?
➡️ India struggled (significant mortality/health infrastructure collapsed) but survived!! 2/
New study on immune escape potential of #B16172 in comparison to #B1351 w/ #BNT162b2 vaccine: More immune evader than even B1351 VOC! Significant loss of antibody neutralisation vs live B16172 (-5.8x, akin to B.1.351) @TheLancet 3/ thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Increased age & time since 2nd dose correlated with reduced virus neutralisation across all strains. Not unusual, but given low starting titres vs #B16172, more of a concern to see neutralisation “dropping off”, significantly. Boosters may be needed!! 4/
…………starting from a lower titre (#B16172) means small changes in NAbs titre now likely to have larger effect on vaccine efficacy! 5/
Researchers find that severe COVID-19 can disrupt peroxisomes in macrophages, an immune cell type specialized in engulfing cellular debris and pathogens. This disruption led to impaired lung repair, prolonged inflammation, and chronic fibrosis. 1/
Peroxisomes are small, membrane-bound structures within cells that play a crucial role in synthesizing and breaking down fat. 2/
In mouse models of viral infection, enhancing peroxisome function with the FDA-approved drug sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) improved lung healing, reduced inflammation & fibrosis, and enhanced alveolar regeneration, mitigating both acute symptoms and post-acute sequelae 3/
Researchers have identified that reactivation of a pre-existing, dormant infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) triggers an excessive inflammatory response. 1/
They establish a connection between SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 sequelae in children, in which impaired T cell cytotoxicity triggered by TGFβ overproduction leads to EBV reactivation and subsequent hyperinflammation. 2/
MIS-C is a serious inflammatory shock that affects children. It can occur several weeks after a COVID infection and can be life-threatening. Until now, however, the precise cause of the condition was unknown. 3/
According to a NEW study, among 289 million adults in 18 European countries, more than 16 million years of life were lost from 2020 through 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 1/
Many people who died during the pandemic would likely have lived longer if the pandemic had not happened.More than half of the total years of life lost would have been lived without disability & independently if the pandemic had been avoided, even among people aged over 80. 2/
About 2.3 million years of life were lost in the UK, a similar number in Germany, 3.2 million in Spain, 2.5 million in Poland, 1.8 million in Italy, and 1.1 million years of life were lost in France. 3/
A NEW study finds that staying away from smartphones can even change one's brain chemistry. Brain scans showed significant activity shifts in reward & craving regions of the brain, resembling patterns seen in substance or alcohol addiction. 1/
A smartphone's glow is often the first and last thing we see as we wake up in the morning and go to sleep at the end of the day. It is increasingly becoming an extension of our body that we struggle to part with. 2/
The researchers recruited young adults for a 72-hour smartphone restriction diet where they were asked to limit smartphone use to essential tasks such as work, daily activities, and communication with their family or significant others. 3/
A NEW study revealed previously unrecognized complement dysregulation associated with impaired cell death and clearance of damaged cells, which may promote nonresolvable (NR) COVID-19 in patients, ultimately necessitating lung transplantation. 1/
Researchers analyzed complement activation in NR-COVID-19 lungs and its association with aberrant host autophagic response. It is the first study to comprehensively show the local presence of the components of the three pathways and regulators of complement activation 2/
The researchers are also the first to investigate the involvement of autophagic mediators as a potential mechanism underlying dysregulated complement-induced tissue damage leading to end-stage respiratory failure. 3/
Antibiotics save lives, but they also wreak havoc on the beneficial bacteria that inhabit the human gut. Innovative therapies could shield the microbiome from their effects. 1/
Researchers have genetically engineered bacteria and nutritional yeast to carry an enzyme that breaks down amoxicillin in the gut without affecting the antibiotic’s ability to fight infection elsewhere in the body. 2/
Other scientists have found that high- fibre diets allay antibiotics’ effects on the gut by changing how intestinal microbes metabolize nutrients. 3/