Month: November 2020

Scientists have found a new way to regenerate damaged optic nerve cells taken from mice and grown in a dish. This exciting development could lead to potential eye disease treatments in the future.   Damage to full-grown nerve cells causes irreversible and life-altering consequences, because once nerve fibres mature, they lose their ability to regenerate after injury or disease. The new experiments show how activating part of a nerve cell's regenerative machinery, a protein known as protrudin, could stimulate nerves in the eye to regrow after injury.  With more research, the achievement is a step towards future treatments for glaucoma, a group of eye diseases which cause vision loss by damaging the optic nerve (that links the eye to the brain). "What we've seen is the strongest regene...

Denmark’s prime minister wants to cull all minks in farms to minimise the risk of re-transmitting COVID-19 to humans. Denmark’s State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found mink-related strands of the novel coronavirus in 214 people since June, according to a report on its website updated on November 5. Meanwhile, one strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of mink, has been found in 12 people and on five mink farms so far. Early this week, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the government wants to cull all minks on farms to minimise the risk of the weasel-like mammals’ re-transmitting COVID-19 to humans. “It is very, very serious,” Frederiksen said. “Thus, the mutated virus in minks can have devastating ...

The U.S. broke another record of daily coronavirus cases Thursday, topping 118,000 new infections in the second straight day with more than 100,000 new cases. Health officials have warned that the cold and flu season would spur alarming six-digit figures of cases, though the numbers have spiked sooner than expected, CNN reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an ensemble forecast update Thursday, estimating 266,000 total U.S. fatalities by the end of November. The exact number of cases Thursday was 118,629, Johns Hopkins University data reported. There were also around 1,187 reported deaths, a nearly 20 percent increase from the same day last week. The U.S. states that topped daily case records included Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania,...