Oct 6th, 2022 - College students have experienced unique challenges in adjusting to disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, such as displacement from the traditional university setting and the abrupt shift to remote learning.1 Even before the pandemic, however, it was well-known that this population faces substantial stress related to the college experience, including the transition to independent l...

Oct 6th, 2022 - Individuals with symptomatic COVID-19 were found to have impaired conditioned pain modulation (CPM), according to the results of a study published in the Journal of Pain. Participants (N=59) with symptomatic COVID-19 (n=26) and asymptomatic COVID-19 (n=13), as well as those who had recovered from COVID-19 (n=20) were recruited for this study at the University of Florida from March to May 2021. ...

Oct 6th, 2022 - Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 treated with brensocatib had no improvement in clinical status after 29 days of treatment, according to clinical trial findings published recently in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Increased neutrophil serine protease has been reported in cases of severe and fatal COVID-19 infection. Dipeptidyl peptidase (DDP-1) is the enzyme responsible for neutrophil seri...

Oct 6th, 2022 - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the authorized fact sheet for Evusheld (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab) to include information related to an increased risk of developing COVID-19 due to SARS-CoV-2 viral variants not neutralized by the product. Evusheld is a combination of 2 long-acting monoclonal antibodies designed to bind to distinct sites on the SARS-CoV-2 spike ...

Oct 6th, 2022 - Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially those with interstitial lung disease (ILD), are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes, according to study results published in The Lancet. The retrospective multicenter cohort study included individuals with RA and COVID-19 as well as comparators with COVID-19 alone. Data were collected from Mayo Clinic and Mass General Brigham. Study in...

Oct 6th, 2022 - Researchers have identified a low incidence of uveitis associated with theUS Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency-use-approved COVID-19 vaccines, with approximately 1094 cases reported, between December 11, 2020 and May 9, 2022, according to a study published in Ophthalmology. Investigators examined publicly-available, deidentified data posted in the Centers for Disease Control and Prev...

Oct 5th, 2022 - Although more than two-thirds of US adults believe that annual influenza (flu) vaccination is the best protection against infection, 41% said they are unsure or do not plan to get an influenza vaccine during the 2022-2023 season, according to results from a national survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). The key reason cited was the belief that flu vaccines do not wor...

Oct 5th, 2022 - D-dimer levels are higher among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) vs those without PTE. Additionally, D-dimer levels in patients with COVID-19 have modest discriminative power to identify PTE; thus, using D-dimer to exclude PTE in these patients may be of limited clinical value, according to study findings published in The Brazilian Journal of Infectious D...

Oct 5th, 2022 - A reduced ability to smell licorice, cinnamon, and lemon is associated with COVID-19 hyposmia and may help differentiate it from mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to study results presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) 2022 Annual Meeting and OTO Experience, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10 to 14, 2022. Olfactory ...

Oct 5th, 2022 - In patients with baseline atrial fibrillation (AF) who are hospitalized with COVID-19, individuals who are receiving preadmission oral anticoagulation (OAC) have lower rates of death, as well as arterial and venous thrombotic events, and have less severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. These findings were published in the The American Journal of Cardiology. A retrospective cohort study was conducted amon...

Oct 5th, 2022 - In patients with well-controlled myasthenia gravis (MG), the 2-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be safe and well tolerated. These are the findings of a study published in the journal Muscle & Nerve. Scant data are available on the safety of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with MG, with these individuals — particularly those receiving immunosuppressive therapy ...

Oct 5th, 2022 - Treatment with metformin, ivermectin, or fluvoxamine for COVID-19 among nonhospitalized adults did not lead to any observed benefits compared with placebo, according to study findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine. As protection from vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 wanes among the general population, effective outpatient therapies to decrease risk for severe disease are needed...

Oct 5th, 2022 - PARIS (Reuters) - France has entered an eighth wave of the COVID-19 virus, as the winter season approaches, said a leading French health official. "Yes, we are in this eighth wave," said Brigitte Autran, who is a member of the government's vaccination strategic board. "All the indicators are on the up," added Autran. France's COVID figures published on Monday showed that the seven day moving av...

Oct 5th, 2022 - (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday estimated that nearly 13% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States were of the BA.4.6 subvariant of Omicron, as of the week ended Oct. 1. The latest data showed BA.4.6, which has been slowly rising in the last few weeks, made up nearly 22% of the cases in the region that includes the states of I...

Oct 4th, 2022 - Treatment with metformin, ivermectin, or fluvoxamine for COVID-19 among nonhospitalized adults did not lead to any observed benefits compared with placebo, according to study findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine. As protection from vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 wanes among the general population, effective outpatient therapies to decrease risk for severe disease are needed...

Oct 4th, 2022 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge by Missouri and nine other states - mostly Republican-led - to President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers in healthcare facilities that receive federal funds. The justices turned away an appeal by the states after a lower court declined to immediately consider their claims that the vaccine rule ...

Oct 4th, 2022 - (Reuters) - Norwegian Cruise Line said on Monday it was easing COVID-19 safety measures on its ships by dropping requirements for testing, masking and vaccination, as the pandemic loosens its grip on the world. The decision by the cruise line comes after several countries lifted testing requirements for international air travelers as people return to pre-pandemic lifestyles across the globe. Th...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Following COVID-19 infection, the risk for developing neurological disorders remains high after 2 years, while the risk for psychiatric disorders subsides earlier. These are the findings of a study published in Lancet Psychiatry. Researchers analyzed outcome data in a multinational, retrospective cohort study. They obtained data from the TriNetX electronic health records network between January...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Health officials worldwide can still take steps to contain the monkeypox outbreak, says Dr Alissa Davis, Associate Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, but it will require addressing the challenges of stigma, misinformation, and health inequity. “Overall case numbers of monkeypox are growing, although the number of new infections has recently been trending downward,” says Davis, an ...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. COVID-19 causes DNA damage to the heart, affecting the body in a completely different way than the flu does, according to a recent study published in Immunology. The study looked at the hearts of patients who died from COVID-19, the flu, and other causes. The findings could provide clues about w...