A large team of researchers with members affiliated with a host of institutions in France has identified what they believe is a hallmark of severe COVID-19 patients. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their study of 50 COVID-19 patients in France and what they learned from them. The global pandemic […]
There’s new evidence that a 2,000-year-old medicine might offer hope against a modern scourge: COVID-19. The medication, called colchicine, is an anti-inflammatory taken as a pill. It’s long been prescribed for gout, a form of arthritis, and its history goes back centuries. The drug was first sourced from the autumn crocus flower. Doctors also sometimes […]
A steroid called dexamethasone reduced the death rate among hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 infections in a large clinical trial, U.K. researchers announced today (June 16). One caveat: The trial data have not been published and have not undergone scientific review. Leaders of the U.K.-based study, known as the Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) […]
A team of Penn State researchers developed a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to test the use of exercise as a treatment for patients with a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the United States. People with this disease have an extra fat […]
A new paper published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines ventilation and medication strategies that can help avoid psychological trauma for severe COVID-19 survivors treated for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with mechanical ventilation. In “Air Hunger and Psychological Trauma in Ventilated COVID-19 Patients: An Urgent Problem,” Richard Schwartzstein, MD, and […]
For some COVID-19 patients, the body’s immune response may be as destructive as the virus that causes the disease. The persistent high fevers, severe respiratory distress, and lung damage seen in some critically ill patients are all signs of an immune system in overdrive. Now, a new clinical trial will test a treatment that targets […]
You’re sick, perhaps very sick, so you head to the local emergency department fearing the onset of COVID-19. But what symptoms most clearly point to a need for urgent care? Based on a review of more than 1,000 patients who’ve already sought care for respiratory illnesses since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic in March, […]
An international study led by Melbourne researchers has discovered nine new genes linked to the most severe type of childhood speech disorder, apraxia. The research analysed the genetic make-up of 34 affected children and young people, and showed that variations in nine genes likely explained apraxia in 11 of them. The genetic variations were caused […]
African Americans with severe sleep apnea and other adverse sleep patterns are much more likely to have high blood glucose levels —a risk factor for diabetes—than those without these patterns, according to a new study funded in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The […]
(HealthDay)—The new coronavirus may be a respiratory bug, but it’s becoming clear that some severely ill patients sustain heart damage. And it may substantially raise their risk of death, doctors in China are reporting. They found that among 416 patients hospitalized for severe COVID-19 infections, almost 20% developed damage to the heart muscle. More than […]
