Flu and other infections are down, likely due to COVID-19 social distancing

The usual broken bones and other trauma are being treated this winter at the emergency department of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. But one category of medical complaints has all but disappeared: infectious disease. Take influenza, for example. Typically between December and April, nurses and doctors at the Philadelphia hospital see hundreds of children with […]

Why a mask and social distancing are still needed even if you get the shot

It was a long struggle to adopt a new normal of wearing face masks, maintaining physical distance, handwashing and on-and-off lockdowns. Then, with the approval of two vaccines, came the expectation that the world will soon be cured of COVID-19, and that we all will resume our old normal life. But—not so fast. We must […]

COVID-19, cold, allergies and the flu: What are the differences?

If you have signs or symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it’s important that you contact your health care provider right away for medical advice. But COVID-19, the common cold, seasonal allergies and the flu (influenza) cause many similar symptoms. So how can you tell if you have COVID-19? COVID-19 is a contagious respiratory disease […]

Fauci: Vaccinations are ramping up in a ‘glimmer of hope’

The U.S. ramped up COVID-19 vaccinations in the past few days after a slower-than-expected start, bringing the number of shots dispensed to about 4 million, government health officials said Sunday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, also said on ABC’s “This Week” that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 million shots of […]

Child care facilities can be safe and are essential, says new study

Child care programs can be safe within the context of low community transmission of COVID-19, according to new research from Case Western Reserve University, based on data from child care programs throughout Ohio. The study took place from Aug. 15 to Nov. 20, during a timeframe of relatively low community transmission of COVID-19. The team […]

A matter of balance: Asymmetric divisions are crucial to form a functional retina

Researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, have discovered that in the developing retina, and important part of the central nervous system, the divisions leading to the first differentiating neurons are asymmetric and that this asymmetry is necessary to generate the […]

tRNA fragments are involved in poststroke immune reactions

Sebastian Lobentanzer of Goethe University, Frankfurt, has been studying small RNA dynamics in various contexts using bioinformatic methods. Recently, small RNAs have become more and more interesting for researchers, primarily because of their extensive regulatory functions. To examine these functions in stroke, Lobentanzer joined Katarzyna Winek of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, to study microRNAs and tRNA […]

COVID-19 found in the cornea: Are transplants a transmission risk?

COVID-19 has been found in conjunctival swabs and tears of infected patients, according to a new study published in The Ocular Surface. The discovery prompted a research team including Shahzad Mian, M.D., an ophthalmologist at Kellogg Eye Center, to analyze the prevalence of COVID-19 in human post-mortem ocular tissues. The results: the virus can infiltrate […]