New weight-loss hope for those with highest obesity risk: Underserved, low-income patients

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Low-income Louisiana patients enrolled in a tailored obesity intervention program lost much more weight than counterparts receiving usual care. Study results were published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine. This population, who traditionally face the most barriers to weight loss and the highest levels of obesity, found success…

Does the COVID-19 cytokine storm exist?

Does the COVID-19 cytokine storm exist? Inflammatory proteins, also known as cytokines, play a crucial role in the immune response. If this immune response is too strong, a phenomenon known as “cytokine storm”, it can cause harm to the patient. It has been thought that a cytokine storm contributes to disease severity in patients with…

The Lancet: Preliminary results from Russian trials find that vaccine candidates led to no serious adverse events and elicit antibody response

The new paper reports the findings of two open-label, non-randomised phase 1/2 trials looking at a frozen formulation and a freeze-dried formulation of a two-part vaccine. The two-part vaccine included two adenovirus vectors – recombinant human adenovirus type 26 (rAd26-S) and recombinant human adenovirus type 5 (rAd5-S) In the phase 1 part of each trial,…

Autophagy: the beginning of the end

Autophagosomes first form as cup-shaped membranes in the cell, which then grow to engulf the cellular material designated for destruction. The formation of these membranes is catalyzed by a complex machinery of proteins. “We have a very good knowledge of the factors involved in autophagosomes formation”, explains group leader Sascha Martens, “but how they come…

The case of ibuprofen: evidence of huge impact of COVID-19 misinformation when coming from credible sources

In March, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, a tweet from the French Health Minister, Olivier VerĂ¡n, advised patients with COVID-19 not to take ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug with analgesic and antipyretic properties. He even warned that taking it would increase mortality among COVID-19 patients, even though the statement was not…

Identification and treatment key in responding to COVID-19 health anxiety in children

Early identification and treatment is vital to avoid long-term mental health consequences from COVID-19 among children and young people, say researchers. Writing in the Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy Journal, the psychologists from the University of Bath highlight how health anxieties can be triggered by changes like returning to school and argue that young people need…

Mason researchers to provide bioinformatic analysis

Virginia Espina, Research Associate Professor, Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, received $21,000 from Baylor Research Institute for a project in which Mason researchers are providing biostatistics and bioinformatic analysis for integrating multi-omic data sets from a breast cancer cohort. Specimens are from patients with triple-negative breast tumors. Data analysis will include correlations between proteomic, metabolomic,…