WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16, 2020 (Healthday News) — A single infusion of an experimental drug dramatically lowers levels of coronavirus in the bodies of newly infected patients and cuts their chances of hospitalization, the drug’s maker reported Wednesday. Eli Lilly’s announcement did not include detailed data and hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published yet, The New York Times reported. The news comes from interim results of a trial sponsored by Eli Lilly and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. NIH officials would not comment on the announcement until they have seen more detailed data from the trial, the Times reported. How does the drug work its magic? It is a monoclonal antibody, a manmade copy of an antibody produced by a patient who recovered from COVID-19, the Times reported. Scientists around the world have high hopes that that monoclonal antibodies will prove to be powerful coronavirus treatments, but they come with a caveat: They are difficult to manufacture, and would take time to produce, the Times reported. In the trial, 452 newly diagnosed COVID patients received the monoclonal antibody or a placebo infusion. Some 1.7 percent of those who got the drug were hospitalized, compared with 6 percent of those who received a placebo — a 72 percent reduction in risk, Eli Lilly said. At the same time, blood levels of the coronavirus plummeted among those who…  read on >

Hearts donated by severely obese donors aren’t more risky for recipients than hearts from people who aren’t obese, a new study indicates. “These findings were somewhat surprising because the severely obese donors did tend to have more medical problems, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, than the non-obese donors,” said study author Dr. Leora Yarboro. She’s an associate professor of surgery at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. Her team analyzed the outcomes of 26,000 heart transplants in the United States from 2003 to 2017. About 3.5% of the donors were severely obese. There were no significant differences in short-term outcomes, one-year survival rates or long-term death rates between patients who received a heart from a severely obese donor and those who received a heart from a non-obese donor, the findings showed. The researchers also found that the percentage of heart transplants from donors with severe obesity rose from 2.2% in 2013 to 5.3% in 2017. Some of the obese donors did have other medical issues: 10% had diabetes versus 3% of non-obese donors, and 33% had high blood pressure versus 15% of donors who weren’t severely obese. The study was published Sept. 16 in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. “This study shows that with careful selection, hearts from obese donors can be used without an increased risk to the recipient,” Yarboro said in…  read on >

THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (Healthday News) — The details of a plan to rapidly deliver a future coronavirus vaccine to Americans were unveiled by federal officials on Wednesday. Two of the key parts of the plan are to begin distributing a vaccine with 24 hours of any approval or emergency authorization and offering the vaccine for free, The New York Times reported. Officials from Operation Warp Speed — the multiagency effort to quickly vaccinate Americans against coronavirus — also said the timing of a vaccine was still unclear, the Times reported. That despite repeated statements from President Donald Trump that a shot could be ready before the election on Nov. 3. “We’re dealing in a world of great uncertainty. We don’t know the timing of when we’ll have a vaccine, we don’t know the quantities, we don’t know the efficacy of those vaccines,” Paul Mango, the deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told the Times. “This is a really quite extraordinary, logistically complex undertaking, and a lot of uncertainties right now. I think the message we want you to leave with is, we are prepared for all of those uncertainties.” Who will get the vaccine first? Initial distribution of a vaccine, possibly on an emergency basis, would to a limited group of high-priority people, such as…  read on >

As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, it’s clear that not everyone’s on the same page when it comes to preventing the risk of infection. Lots of people wear masks, try to maintain social distancing and avoid large gatherings. But plenty of others forgo a mask or wear it on their chin, go to busy bars and attend social gatherings, like weddings. Both sides think they’re right. And that’s led to friction and frustration among friends and families. How can you deal with these differences and keep your relationships intact? “This is a super-charged topic. Your beliefs about science are now injected with politics,” said Dr. Richard Catanzaro, chief of psychiatry at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. “My fundamental approach to stuff like this is to be as direct as possible. Express the concerns that you have, and acknowledge that the other person might not agree, but explain it’s how you feel. For example, ask the person to wear a mask when you’re interacting with them. If they refuse, say, ‘Let’s talk virtually then,’” Catanzaro said. He added that the tone of the conversation hinges on how important the relationship is to you. “In a marriage or more permanent relationship, be more open with the person, and try to get them to see how their behavior is impacting you,” Catanzaro said. For more casual…  read on >

FRIDAY, Sept. 18, 2020 (Healthday News) — New details surfaced on Thursday on an unexplained neurological condition that struck a volunteer who was participating in AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine trial. In an internal safety report obtained by CNN, company officials describe how a healthy 37-year-old woman “experienced confirmed transverse myelitis” after receiving her second dose of the vaccine. She was hospitalized on Sept. 5. The report describes how the patient had the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in early June and was fine. She received her second dose in late August. While out running on Sept. 2, she “had a trip [not fall] with a jolt.” The report noted that she did not have any obvious injury to her spine when examined, according to CNN. The next day, the report said, she had difficulty walking, pain and weakness in her arms, pain and reduced sensation in her torso, a headache and reduced ability to use her hands. The report mentions twice that the woman was diagnosed with “confirmed” transverse myelitis, CNN reported. The condition, which can be triggered by viruses, causes inflammation in the spine. No other similar cases have been diagnosed among other study volunteers, according to the report. The woman’s neurologist also noted that the woman has started to feel better. The report, dated Sept. 10, was sent out to doctors who are…  read on >

MONDAY, Sept. 21, 2020 (Healthday News) — As the U.S. coronavirus case count neared 200,000 on Monday, public health experts debated whether the spread of the virus will continue to slow or a new surge will come, as cold weather returns to much of the country. “What will happen, nobody knows,” Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, told The New York Times. “This virus has surprised us on many fronts, and we may be surprised again.” In the United States, fewer new coronavirus cases have been detected week by week since late July, but the nation’s daily count of new cases has started to climb again in recent days, the Times reported. Meanwhile, at least 73 other countries are seeing second surges in new cases. Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told the Times it was conceivable that the death toll in the United States could reach 300,000 if Americans start to relax social distancing measures. As case counts started trending upward again, 1,400 public schools in New York City reopened Monday for nearly 90,000 pre-K students and children with advanced disabilities. The remaining 1 million students will start their school year online, with the option of returning to classrooms…  read on >

Folks struggling with depression are much more likely to turn to marijuana to ease their symptoms these days, and that’s not necessarily a good thing, researchers report. Depressed people are more than twice as likely to have used pot within the last month and three times more likely to use it nearly every day in 2015-2016, a far higher number than 10 years before, the new study found. Experts say this boom in use among the depressed is probably linked to the spread of marijuana legalization across the United States, particularly for medical purposes. “Its accessibility has increased over the specific time period that this study measures,” noted Michael Wetter, director of adolescent and young adult medicine with the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. The problem is that previous studies have shown pot actually can worsen mood disorders like anxiety or depression, said Dr. Elie Aoun, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry with the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Marijuana does not change anything in the underlying brain pathology that contributes to depression,” Aoun said. “It just numbs your feelings so you can get through a couple of hours without thinking about your problems. When the effect dissipates, you’re going to be more depressed than you were before.” He and Wetter were not part of the research. The new study relied on data…  read on >

The coronavirus pandemic silenced choirs around the globe, but researchers in Sweden say it may be safe to sing with others if you take precautions. “There are many reports about the spreading of COVID-19 in connection with choirs singing. Therefore, different restrictions have been introduced all over the world to make singing safer,” said Jakob Löndahl, an associate professor of aerosol technology at Lund University. “So far, however, there has been no scientific investigation of the amount of aerosol particles and larger droplets that we actually exhale when we sing,” he said in a university news release. Löndahl and his colleagues wanted to gain a better understanding of the amount of aerosols (small airborne particles), droplets and coronavirus emitted when people sing. They conducted tests with 12 healthy singers and two people with confirmed COVID-19. Seven of the participants were professional opera singers. The study found that singing — particularly loud and consonant-rich singing — spreads a lot of aerosol particles and droplets into the surrounding air. According to Malin Alsved, a doctoral student of aerosol technology at the university, “Some droplets are so large that they only move a few decimeters from the mouth before they fall, whereas others are smaller and may continue to hover for minutes. In particular, the enunciation of consonants releases very large droplets and the letters B and P…  read on >