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Tocilizumab shows promise in addressing COVID-19 symptoms for people with blood cancers. A case study of a patient in Wuhan, China, suggests that the immunosuppressant tocilizumab may be an effective COVID-19 treatment for very ill patients who also have multiple myeloma and other blood cancers. The report, published in Blood Advances, also suggests that blood cancer patients may have atypical COVID-19 symptoms. The patient, a 60-year-old male who had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and was on maintenance therapy, was hospitalized in February for chest tightness and shortness of breath....

COVID-19 patients commonly report symptoms such as brain fog, headaches, and insomnia. These neurological complications after a viral infection are not new; in fact, it took patients nearly a decade to develop the neurological disease known as “post-encephalic parkinsonism” after the 1918 influenza pandemic. In a recent study with mice, Jefferson and colleagues demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic could raise the likelihood of the brain degeneration found in Parkinson’s disease....

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has gained massive popularity and widespread usage, with millions of users around the world turning to generative AI technology to prompt conversations ranging from the practical to the creative. But while it holds promise for applications like drafting cover letters, debugging code, and even penning screenplays and song lyrics, the application’s popularity also opens up ethical quandaries. How accurate are the responses? How was it trained?...

Children may not be as infectious in spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to others as previously thought. This is according to new University of Manitoba-led research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). “Our findings have important public health and clinical implications,” writes principal investigator Dr. Jared Bullard, associate professor, pediatrics/child health and medical microbiology/infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba and associate medical director, Cadham Provincial Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba....

According to new research, changes in global climate associated with the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction – which wiped out many large terrestrial vertebrates such as the giant armadillo-like aetosaurs – actually benefitted the earliest dinosaurs. In particular, sauropod-like dinosaurs, which became the giant herbivore species of the later Jurassic like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, were able to thrive and expand across new territories as the planet warmed up after the extinction event, 201 million years ago....

For many millennia during the Middle Palaeolithic, from around 150,000 to 45,000 years ago, the Neanderthals made Combe-Grenal in France their home. These ancient humans hunted the local animals, whose remains have been discovered at the site. The region underwent frequent fluctuations in climate and environmental conditions during the Neanderthals’ occupancy, affecting the behavior of the local wildlife. In this study, Berlioz and colleagues investigated the habitat preferences of species hunted by the Neanderthals to investigate whether these environmental shifts affected Neanderthal hunting strategies....

As the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic mounts, scientists worldwide continue their push to develop effective treatments and a vaccine for the highly contagious respiratory virus. University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine scientists recently worked with colleagues at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy to identify several existing compounds that block replication of the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) within human cells grown in the laboratory....

Contrary to some claims, people in the U.S may not be substituting cannabis for opioids, according to new research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The study examined the direction and strength of association between cannabis and opioid use over 90 consecutive days among adults who used non-medical opioids. The findings showed that opioid use was at least as prevalent on days when cannabis was used as on days when it was not, and that this was irrespective of whether participants were experiencing pain or not....

The jewel of human cooperation and ingenuity that is the International Space Station shines brightly in this image captured by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. Crew-2 got these amazing views during a fly-around of the orbiting lab after undocking from the Harmony module on November 8, 2021, before their return to Earth. Since this image was taken, there has even been a new addition in the form of the Russian Node Module, known as Prichal....

Every 20,000 years, stars at this stage will undergo a thermal pulse, a 200-year-long thermonuclear convulsion that occurs deep in the star’s core. The star will quickly fuse helium into heavier elements, releasing lots of energy, burning brightly and shedding a shell of high-density material. The scientists published their findings in the journal Nature. Inside the star, there are a lot of new elements being formed, such as oxygen and carbon, states astronomer Matthias Maercker of the European Southern Observatory, lead author of the new study....

Vitamin D is vital for the proper functioning of the human body and may be implicated in various diseases. There has been extensive research on the relationship between vitamin D and skin cancers, with a focus on calcidiol, a metabolite of vitamin D, and its correlation with skin cancers. Previous studies have centered around examining serum levels of calcidiol and its link to skin cancers. Findings from these studies have been inconclusive and even contradictory at times, as serum calcidiol levels have been associated with both a slightly higher and a slightly lower risk of different skin cancers....

Researchers from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre have taken a deep dive into their world to trace wild rumors on Facebook claiming the coronavirus was caused by 5G technology. They found what was once being preached to the already converted was quickly fanned further afield by social media and celebrities spreading the message. Professor Axel Bruns, Associate Professor Stephen Harrington, and Dr. Edward Hurcombe have published their first major output from their Australian Research Council Discovery project Evaluating the Challenge of ‘Fake News’ and Other Malinformation....

Tool uses electromagnetic energy to help study inactivation of aerosolized viral particles and reduce the spread of infection. As the pandemic has continued to spread globally, studies indicate the COVID-19 virus may be contained in aerosols that can be generated and spread through breathing, coughing, sneezing, or talking by infected individuals. Researchers are increasingly focused on developing tools and methods to assist in decontaminating surfaces and spaces. While scientists have previously explored the use of electromagnetic energy to deactivate flu virus in bulk fluids, less work has been done to understand the role of nonionizing radiation, such as microwaves, in reducing the infectivity of viral pathogens in aerosols....

Research shows reductions in aerosol emissions had slight, temporary warming impact. The lockdowns and reduced societal activity related to the COVID-19 pandemic affected emissions of pollutants in ways that slightly warmed the planet for several months last year, according to a new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The counterintuitive finding highlights the influence of airborne particles, or aerosols, that block incoming sunlight. When emissions of aerosols dropped last spring, more of the Sun’s warmth reached the planet, especially in heavily industrialized nations, such as the United States and Russia, that normally pump high amounts of aerosols into the atmosphere....

Pediatric study results mirror disparities found in adult populations across the US. Minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged children have significantly higher rates of COVID-19 infection, a new study led by Children’s National Hospital researchers shows. These findings, reported online on August 5, 2020, in Pediatrics, parallel similar health disparities for the novel coronavirus that have been found in adults, the authors state. COVID-19, an infection caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in late 2019, has infected more than 4....

As the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives across the globe, Earth-observing satellites take the pulse of our planet from space. While the global lockdown has had a massive impact on daily life and the economy, there have been environmental benefits that are visible from space. How can we preserve these positives when returning to ‘business as usual?’ This video includes an interview with Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes....

Nursing mothers who receive a COVID-19 vaccine may pass protective antibodies to their babies through breast milk for at least 80 days following vaccination, suggests new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Our study showed a huge boost in antibodies against the COVID-19 virus in breast milk starting two weeks after the first shot, and this response was sustained for the course of our study, which was almost three months long,” said first author Jeannie Kelly, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology....

The U.S. pandemic lockdown in 2020 caused a $2.3 trillion economic downturn and split the nation politically, and now some European nations are locking down again as Omicron surges through the global population. But do these drastic measures save lives? Are they worth massive job and income losses? A new University of Michigan-led study shows the early lockdowns implemented in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic saved lives–but the decision to use lockdowns is much more nuanced and the research shouldn’t be used to justify lockdowns now or to retroactively endorse that approach, said health economist Olga Yakusheva, associate professor at the U-M School of Nursing....

This is one of several images snapped by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst during his first stay on the orbital laboratory in 2014. During his second stay, he served as Space Station Commander. He has spent nearly a year in space, having served two tours on the station.

A study on gene editing shows CRISPR/Cas may be the answer to saving rice crops facing challenges from climate change and increased food demand. The study, published in CABI Reviews, highlights that rice, a cereal consumed by billions worldwide, is facing production and quality challenges due to climate stressors. Despite rice providing sustenance for three billion people, it is being impacted by both biotic and abiotic stress caused by the changing climate....