Month: September 2020

Parkinson's disease is traditionally understood as a neurodegenerative disease that starts in the brain. While that might be true in some cases, growing evidence suggests this disorder is actually two diseases, with one variant that starts in the gut.   In a new brain imaging study, researchers found that in some people with Parkinson's, damage to the nervous system begins in the intestinal nervous system and then travels to the brain. In other patients, the disease appears to emerge in the brain first. "Until now, many people have viewed the disease as relatively homogeneous and defined it based on the classical movement disorders," says neuroscientist Per Borghammer from Aarhus University in Denmark.  "But at the same time, we've been puzzled about why there was such a big differen...

A Massachusetts man died last year from eating an excessive amount of black licorice, doctors said Wednesday. The unusual case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing how the man consumed a bag and half of the candy every day for two weeks prior to his death. Licorice contains glycyrrhizic acid, which could deplete potassium levels and contribute to heart rhythm problems, doctors explained. “Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure a little bit,” said Dr. Neel Butala, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who described the case in the New England Journal of Medicine. The man had collapsed inside a fast food restaurant and died the next day. Doctors discovered he had dangerously low potassium, which led to he...

By Deena Beasley Sept 23 (Reuters) - The first study to analyze the structure of the novel coronavirus from two waves of infection in a major city found that a more contagious strain dominates recent samples, researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital said on Wednesday. They examined more than 5,000 genomes from viruses recovered in the earliest phase of the pandemic in Houston, an ethnically diverse city of 7 million, and from an ongoing more recent wave of infections. The study, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, found that nearly all strains in the second wave had a mutation, known as D614G, which has been shown to increase the number of “spikes” on the crown-shaped virus. The spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells, increasing t...

Hyderabad-based pharma giant, Bharat Biotech, entered into licensing agreement with the Washington University School of Medicine, in manufacturing the vaccine against Covid-19. The Washington University is manufacturing nasal spray vaccine basing on the chimpanzee adenovirus. The agreement will give rights to Bharat Biotech to supply the intranasal vaccine to all the countries in the world except US, Japan and Europe. The Phase-1 clinical trials of this vaccine will be conducted at St. Louis University and after obtaining all the necessary regulatory approvals, the further stages of clinical trials will be pursued in India. Later, the pharma giant will begin production on a large-scale. Bharat Biotech chairman and MD Dr Krishna Ella said th...

DRAPER — The Utah State Prison in Draper and Central Utah Correctional Facility are in a 24-hour lockdown after a suspected transmission of COVID-19 among the general inmate population. The facilities went into lockdown at around 3 p.m. Wednesday, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Corrections. In its statement, the department said it is working under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while handling the situation and is “coordinating with local health officials on quarantine and isolation procedures, conducting contact tracing, and ensuring that proper cleaning protocols are implemented.” Previously, the state prison had reported 15 positive cases, 14 of which have since recovered, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. As of Monday...