Latest healthcare news
Do the Antibody Levels Against SARS-CoV-2 Correlate with Vaccine Efficacy?
A preprint published in medRxiv August 15th 2021, by Gilbert and others reviewed this issue. In the Coronavirus efficacy trial, they found the mRNA-1273 vaccine, the Moderna vaccine was 94% efficacious against COVID-19 disease. SARS-CoV-2 antibody...
Baricitinib -The first immunomodulatory treatment to reduce COVID-19 mortality in Placebo-controlled trial
Kalil and Stebbing published their data in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine on 1st September. Antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic treatments developed in the past century have improved survival outcomes, even in high-mortality conditions such as...
Does Eating a Plant-Based Diet Reduce the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease?
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association by Choi and others on 4th August 2021 explores this. The association between diets that focus on plant foods and restrict animal products and cardiovascular disease is inconclusive. This...
Understanding Long COVID – A Modern Medical Challenge?
The editorial published in The Lancet August 28th 2021 reviews this. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the need to understand and respond to long COVID is increasingly pressing. Symptoms such as persistent fatigue, breathlessness, brain fog and depression could...
One Year Outcomes in Hospitals Survivors with COVID-19, a Longitudinal Cohort Study
Huang and others published this study in The Lancet August 28th 2021. The full range of long term health consequences of COVID-19 in patients who are discharged from hospital is largely unclear. The aim of this study was to comprehensively compare...
Is Being Vaccinated Against COVID-19 Safer Than Getting the COVID-19 Infection Itself?
Safety of the messenger RNA Pfizer vaccine was evaluated by Barda and others and published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 25th. Background trials showed that messenger RNA based vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus,...
Current COVID Situation End of August Beginning of September 2021
Professor Stebbing in his daily update expands on this. He suggests that there are falls in cases across two out of the five European countries but also a continued increase in the number of sick patients in hospital in the United Kingdom, Italy and...
COVID-19, What Is an Ideal Vaccine for It?
An interesting paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine describes this as a vaccine which could prevent infection caused by known and future variants of concern as well as infection with pre-emergent sarbecoviruses i.e. those with potential to cause...
Is It Possible for us to predict the Timing of the Menopause?
An interesting article in nature examined this issue. Zondervan published her view on 4th August 2021. Menopause as we know is the permanent cessation of menstrual cycles in women following the loss of ovarian function. On average it occurs...
Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Who Gets It and How Do We Deal With It?
An interesting article by Moran and others published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases August 16th discusses this issue. The management of patients presenting to healthcare service with SARS-CoV-2 infection has developed rapidly over the past year, driven by the...
