Coronavirus | Researchers find sugary residue on spike that helps it break into cells

They include research that requires further study to verify the findings and which have yet to be certified by peer review.

Researchers have discovered a sugary residue on the spike of novel coronavirus that helps it break into cells and infect them, according to a study published in Nature Chemistry https: go.nature.com 3 sBBx 7 i on Thursday. The molecules that make up sugary coating, called glycans, act as gates that open to let the spike's receptor binding domain attach itself to a cell. Without this gate the receptor-binding domain can't take the shape it needs to break into the cell, Rommie Amaro of the University of California San Diego, who coauthored the study, said in a press release. If drugs could be developed that lock the glycan gates closed, the virus would be prevented from entering and infecting cells, the researchers said.

COVID - 19 - patients were younger in late 2021 vs early 2020 – early 2020.

The average hospitalized COVID 19 patient was younger than last winter in the past spring, discovered researchers from a large Pennsylvania health system. They analyzed data from nearly 39,000 COVID- 19 patients, including 7,774 who were hospitalized. People tested positive in March and April 2021 when the Alpha variant of coronavirus was circulating were younger and less likely to die compared to those diagnosed between November 2020 and January 2021. Among patients under 50, those who tested positive in the spring were three times as likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to require ICU admission or mechanical ventilation as those diagnosed in the winter before Alpha was widely circulating, according to a post posted on Wednesday at Bit.ly 3 D 73 RD 5 ahead of peer review. The widespread availability of novel vaccines holds promise, they said. However, infections and deaths from the disease continue. This dynamic is particularly relevant in light of the recent emergence of novel SARS-CoV – 2 variants.

U.S. childbirth problems no worse during Pandemic than this pandemic.

At the pandemic, problems related childbirths did not increase in the United States during the problematic births, researchers found in a study of nearly 838,500 women, including more than 225,000 who gave birth during the pandemic. There were no differences in rates of preterm birth, blood pressure problems in the mother, stillbirth, low birth weight, placenta problems, cesarean deliveries or uncontrolled bleeding after delivery, when comparing the March to December 2020 period to the pre-pandemic years of 2017 to 2019, the research team reported in Obstetrics Gynecology https: Bit.ly 2 UxXeZ 6. About half of the women had tested positive for coronavirus while pregnant, and about 7% of them had tested negative. There were no differences between these groups in their childbirth outcomes. The authors were not able to differentiate between asymptomatic and symptomatic coronavirus infections, or severity of disease, which could have varying effects on pregnancy outcomes, or whether infection earlier or later in pregnancy made a difference. They only looked at labor outcomes and delivery outcomes, not on problems which could have occurred earlier in pregnancy.

In 12 nursing homes who immunized 120 nursing residents against COVID 19 with Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccine found protective antibodies in only 28% of the residents six months later, compared to 84% of residents immediately after total vaccinations The research, published on medRxiv https: Bit.ly 3 AXXlwz in advance of peer review adds evidence showing that protection from vaccines wanes over time. Vaccinated healthcare workers had higher antibody levels than residents, which is not surprising because they were younger and healthier, but they too experienced significant declines in protection over time, the researchers reported. Given the rapid antibody decline and the rapid spread of Delta variant and reports of vaccine breakthrough, they concluded that booster doses are probably needed. On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would begin efforts to deliver booster shots directly to residents of long-term care facilities, starting in September.