COVID-19: Online tool identifies patients at highest risk of deterioration

A new risk-stratification tool which can accurately predict the likelihood of deterioration in adults hospitalised with COVID-19 has been developed by researchers from the UK Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium (known as ISARIC4C).

Bhutan records first coronavirus death

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Friday recorded its first coronavirus death after 10 months of seeking to isolate itself from the global pandemic.

Travellers to England, Scotland will need negative COVID tests

Travellers arriving in England and Scotland will soon be required to show negative coronavirus tests, officials said on Friday, as they try to curb the spread of new strains.

EU doubles BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine order to 600 mn jabs

The EU has struck a deal to double its supply of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 to a total of 600 million doses, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

Engineers find antioxidants improve nanoscale visualization of polymers

Reactive molecules, such as free radicals, can be produced in the body after exposure to certain environments or substances and go on to cause cell damage. Antioxidants can minimize this damage by interacting with the radicals before they affect cells.

New analysis highlights importance of groundwater discharge into oceans

An invisible flow of groundwater seeps into the ocean along coastlines all over the world. Scientists have tended to disregard its contributions to ocean chemistry, focusing on the far greater volumes of water and dissolved material entering the sea from rivers and streams, but a new study finds groundwater discharge plays a more significant role than had been thought.

Bats with white-nose syndrome prefer suboptimal habitats despite the consequences

Since 2006, a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome has caused sharp declines in bat populations across the eastern United States. The fungus that causes the disease, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, thrives in subterranean habitats where bats hibernate over the winter months.

New statistical method exponentially increases ability to discover genetic insights

Pleiotropy analysis, which provides insight on how individual genes result in multiple characteristics, has become increasingly valuable as medicine continues to lean into mining genetics to inform disease treatments. Privacy stipulations, though, make it difficult to perform comprehensive pleiotropy analysis because individual patient data often can't be easily and regularly shared between sites. However, a statistical method called Sum-Share, developed at Penn Medicine, can pull summary information from many different sites to generate significant insights. In a test of the method, published in Nature Communications, Sum-Share's developers were able to detect more than 1,700 DNA-level variations that could be associated with five different cardiovascular conditions. If patient-specific information from just one site had been used, as is the norm now, only one variation would have been determined.

Fraught history haunts Japan virus vaccine roll-out

A history of vaccine controversies in Japan may cast a long shadow over the coronavirus jab roll-out, experts warn, even as the country battles a severe third wave of infections.

COVID surges dim hopes for speedy end to pandemic

The United States reported a daily record of COVID-19 deaths and Brazil's toll passed the bleak milestone of 200,000 Thursday as new surges of the coronavirus dimmed hopes for respite from the pandemic anytime soon.

Germany reckons with mental health impact of COVID-19

After suffering from depression for 15 years, Lena Ulrich had found ways to manage her life.

Two Chinese cities sealed off to squash virus outbreak

China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as authorities move to stem the country's largest COVID-19 outbreak in six months.

UK virus strain triggers snap lockdown in Australia's Brisbane

Australia's third-largest city headed into lockdown and borders were set to tighten nationwide Friday, after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel contracted the UK coronavirus strain that appears to be more infectious.

2020 ties 2016 as hottest year on record

2020 has tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, the European Union's climate monitoring service said Friday, keeping Earth on a global warming fast track that could devastate large swathes of humanity.

Pfizer study suggests vaccine works against virus variant

New research suggests that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in two highly contagious variants of the coronavirus that erupted in Britain and South Africa.

California virus deaths rocket higher as ICU space tightens

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration and the state's hospital association are at odds over how best to create space for critically ill coronavirus patients at already strained medical facilities that soon could be overwhelmed by the expected surge of new cases from holiday gatherings.

Deal reached on project to protect lakes from invasive fish

Michigan, Illinois and a federal agency have agreed on funding the next phase of an initiative to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes by strengthening defenses on a Chicago-area waterway, officials said Thursday.

Australia sweltered through its 4th-hottest year in 2020

Australia sweltered through its fourth-hottest year on record last year despite the recent return of the usually cooling La Nina climate pattern, the nation's weather bureau said on Friday.

When salespeople advocate for sellers and customers

Researchers from Oklahoma State University, University of Missouri, Iowa State University, and University of Georgia published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that investigates the question of how salespeople should balance advocacy for the seller with advocacy for the customer.

Heading outdoors keeps lockdown blues at bay

A new study has found that spending time outdoors and switching off our devices is associated with higher levels of happiness during a period of COVID-19 restrictions.

Free all non-violent criminals jailed on minor drug offences, say experts

Non-violent offenders serving time for drug use or possession should be freed immediately and their convictions erased, according to research published in the peer-reviewed The American Journal of Bioethics.

Initial severity of COVID-19 not associated with later respiratory complications

A new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines the recovery of lung function and overall wellness in individuals who had varying degrees of COVID-19 severity. Little is known about lung health following infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and whether later respiratory problems, fatigue and ill health are associated with the disease's initial severity.

Study: e-cigarettes trigger inflammation in the gut

Touted by makers as a "healthy" alternative to traditional nicotine cigarettes, new research indicates the chemicals found in e-cigarettes disrupt the gut barrier and trigger inflammation in the body, potentially leading to a variety of health concerns.