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Blood plasma transfusions from people who have developed antibodies to the new coronavirus appear to be safe for many COVID-19 patients, a large study suggests. The experimental treatment — called convalescent plasma therapy — is popular because no drug has been approved specifically to treat coronavirus infection. A week after 20,000 COVID-19 patients deemed at risk for progressing to a severe or life-threatening condition received plasma therapy, their risk of death dropped to 9%, compared to 12% in a previous study, Mayo Clinic researchers reported. Fewer than 1% had serious side effects, the researchers added. The study included men and women, and significant numbers of patients who were Black, Hispanic or Asian. “We’re optimistic, but must remain objective as we assess increasing amounts of data,” principal investigator Dr. Michael Joyner, a vice chairman for research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a clinic news release. The researchers can’t say for sure that the transfusions from recovered patients save lives. Joyner’s team pointed out that the results might be due to patients being less ill, or to better medical care. But because the treatment is being widely used with COVID-19 patients, study continues. Right now, convalescent plasma therapy is the only antibody treatment for COVID-19. Plasma is the liquid part of the blood. It contains both red and white blood cells, as well… read on >

Both cyberbullies and their victims can suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new British study finds. Cyberbullying is bullying online rather than in person. It’s so pervasive that pediatricians should routinely ask their patients about it as part of psychological assessment, the researchers said. “Parents, teachers and health professionals need to be aware of possible PTSD symptoms in young people involved in cyberbullying,” said study author Ana Pascual-Sánchez and colleagues. She’s in the psychiatry division at Imperial College London. Cyberbullying among teenagers is estimated to range from 10% to 40%, said the researchers. Because it can be done anonymously day or night, it poses special risks, they noted. For the study, Pascual-Sánchez and her team collected data on more than 2,200 11- to 19-year-olds from four London schools who were surveyed about their experiences. The survey found that 46% had a history of any kind of bullying: 17% were victims; 12% were perpetrators; and 4% were both. Traditional bullying was more common than cyberbullying, the researchers found. Still, about 13% of the teens had been cyberbullied; 8.5% had bullied others online; and 4% had been both victims and perpetrators. About 16% of the kids had been bullied in person; 12% had bullied others in person; and 7% had been both victims and perpetrators, the researchers found. There was some overlap between types… read on >

There’s new evidence that a 2,000-year-old medicine might offer hope against a modern scourge: COVID-19. The medication, called colchicine, is an anti-inflammatory taken as a pill. It’s long been prescribed for gout, a form of arthritis, and its history goes back centuries. The drug was first sourced from the autumn crocus flower. Doctors also sometimes use colchicine to treat pericarditis, where the sac around the heart becomes inflamed. Now, a team of Greek researchers reporting Wednesday in JAMA Network Open said their small trial suggests colchicine may indeed help curb severe COVID-19. The trial involved 105 Greek patients hospitalized in April with COVID-19. Besides receiving standard antibiotics and antivirals (but not remdesivir), half of the participants got daily doses of colchicine for up to three weeks, while the other half did not. The results “suggest a significant clinical benefit from colchicine in patients hospitalized with COVID-19,” according to the team led by Dr. Spyridon Deftereos, a cardiologist at Attikon Hospital in Attiki, Greece. Specifically, while the condition of seven of 50 patients who didn’t get colchicine “clinically deteriorated” to a severe stage (for example, requiring mechanical ventilation to survive), this was true for just one of the 55 patients who did receive colchicine, the researchers said. Writing in a journal editorial, a group of U.S. physicians agreed that the study has limits, but applauded the… read on >

In findings that could pave the way to a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease, scientists have figured out how to spur the production of new brain cells in mice. The advance centers on a protein found in various cells in mice and humans. Researchers found that blocking it in the mouse brain caused certain “support cells” there to transform into specialized neurons that produce the chemical dopamine. In Parkinson’s disease, dopamine-producing brain cells gradually die off, leading to movement symptoms like tremors, stiff limbs and coordination problems. In the new study, lab mice that grew new neurons also showed improvements in Parkinson-like movement problems. Experts stressed that mice, of course, are not humans. And much more research is needed to see whether the approach could be safe and effective for people with Parkinson’s, or other degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. “But the prospect of using this general approach is exciting,” said James Beck, chief scientific officer for the Parkinson’s Foundation. Beck, who was not involved in the research, said the work fits into a broader concept called “transdifferentiation” — where one type of cell in the body is coaxed to convert into a different type. In theory, the approach could be used to replace damaged tissue in a host of conditions, from heart disease to diabetes to spinal cord injuries. “It’s exciting to think… read on >

Smoking, drinking too much and divorce are among the social and behavioral factors most strongly linked to dying early, a new study says. Researchers analyzed data from more than 13,600 U.S. adults between 1992 and 2008, and examined 57 social and behavioral factors among those who died between 2008 and 2014. The 10 factors most closely linked with dying were: being a current smoker; history of divorce; history of alcohol abuse; recent financial difficulties; history of unemployment; past smoking; lower life satisfaction; never being married; history of food stamps, and negative affectivity. “It shows that a life span approach is needed to really understand health and mortality,” said lead author Eli Puterman, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. He co-authored the study with researchers from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford University. Puterman noted, for example, that he and his colleagues looked at a 16-year history of unemployment, not just whether people were currently out of work. “It’s more than just a one-time snapshot in people’s lives, where something might be missed because it did not occur,” Puterman explained in a UBC news release. “Our approach provides a look at potential long-term impacts through a life span lens.” Life expectancy in the United States has stagnated for three… read on >

Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, warned Congress on Tuesday of “disturbing spikes” in coronavirus cases, as seven states reported record-high numbers of hospitalizations and 33 states and U.S. territories saw sharp jumps in new infections. “The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges that we are seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona and other states,” Fauci told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, The New York Times reported. He noted that the country is still in the grip of the pandemic’s first wave, the Washington Post reported. “That’s something I’m really quite concerned about,” Fauci testified. “A couple of days ago, there were 30,000 new infections. That’s very disturbing to me.” On Tuesday, the United States recorded 34,700 new cases, the highest total since April 25, according to the Associated Press. New coronavirus cases have surged to their highest level in two months and are now back to where they were at the peak of the outbreak, the wire service said. During their testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also warned of a perfect storm that could be unleashed this winter, when the flu season will intersect with the coronavirus pandemic, producing what Fauci described as… read on >

A person’s genes and blood type may help determine their odds for a nastier form of COVID-19, should they get infected with the new coronavirus, a new genetics study finds. Published online June 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the research helps confirm earlier, more anecdotal evidence that blood type was tied to better or worse illness. Now a team of European researchers have found that people with blood type A had a 45% higher risk of catching coronavirus and developing “COVID-19 with respiratory failure,” compared to people with other blood types. On the other hand, people with type O blood had a 35% lower risk for this more serious form of COVID-19. There are four main blood types: A, B, AB and O. It’s not clear why blood type might influence susceptibility to severe disease. Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, noted that genes that control blood type also play a role in the makeup of the surface of cells. Changes in cell-surface structure might influence the vulnerability of the cell to be infected by the new coronavirus, he said. “We also know from previous research that blood type affects clotting risk,” he said, “and it’s now quite evident that critically ill patients with coronavirus demonstrate significant clotting.” The new study was conducted… read on >

Nearly half of U.S. states are seeing upticks in new coronavirus cases, leading some state officials to order the reimposition of mask wearing for citizens. In California on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that people will be required to wear masks in any indoor space, while Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a similar order for people living in seven counties there, CNN reported. North Carolina and Arizona are considering similar measures. Those four states — along with Alabama, Florida, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas — are experiencing the highest week-long average rise in new daily cases seen in their states since the pandemic began, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. Floridians, in particular, could be in peril, with experts warning it could become the next U.S. epicenter as citizens flock back to beaches, restaurants and bars. In Oklahoma — where President Donald Trump plans to hold a large rally on Saturday — cases are up 110% from last week, CNN said. In New York, the former epicenter of the U.S. pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday warned that a return to lockdown for his state was possible. “If we have a high number of violations of the [reopening] policy, which is tantamount to a high likelihood of the spread of the virus, and the local governments are not monitoring policing,… read on >