Finest Live Dealer Online Roulette Sites to gamble this summer – Tunf.com News

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There are two major variations of online roulette, the European and the American version. Once you sit at to play roulette, two things will catch your eye, the wheel, and the roulette board. The wheel has 37 or 38 numbers, from zero through to 37, depending on the version you are playing. You will notice the numbers colors are not in sequence. Instead, they alternate from red to black, except for the green-colored singles and double zeroes.

A croupier moderates the game and is responsible for spinning the wheel. If you pay close attention, you will notice as the wheel spins in one direction, the ball spins in the opposite direction. The roulette board is where you place your bets. The numbers on the wheel are replicated on the board, only that this time they are arranged consecutively. To place your bet, simply drop the chips to the left numbers. There are different betting options, depending on the numbers to choose to place your bet on.

Today, almost all online casinos offer online roulette. However, for the best gambling experience yet, we recommend you play at either Fruity Casa or Fun Casino.

Fruity Casa offers games and services in eight different languages, accommodating gamblers from across the globe. You can kickstart with as little as ten euros deposit that earns a special up to 100 euros worth and 20 Fruit Shop valid free spins. Plus, given that the site is licensed by the Curacao and UK Gambling Commissions, you should feel safe and secure playing with them. With plenty of top games to choose from, hardly will you get bored. One of their best features is that you can withdraw as much as you wish, though you may have to wait for up to 72 hours for your request to be processed. Unfortunately, the site does not accept PayPal.

With Fun Casino you also start getting rewards from the start, sometimes up to 499 euros in percentage bonus on making your first deposit, in the 100% sign up bonus you are entitled to. Besides, you also receive 100 free spins on specified games, plus another 100% bonus of up to 499 euros on your second deposit. The site is licensed in Malta, UK, and Sweden, and offers a variety of top games from gurus in the industry. The least you can deposit is ten euros, while there is no limit to how much you can withdraw, though you may have to wait for up to 24 hours for the request to be processed.

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Finest Live Dealer Online Roulette Sites to gamble this summer - Tunf.com News

Wearing a Mask to Your Poker Room: What to Expect – PokerTube

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08:2721 Jun

Poker rooms are reopening across the states now. While several places have reopened their slots and table games, poker has remained off most of their menus.

Ostensibly this is because poker is a particularly dangerous game in a pandemic. In reality, it is probably because the hourly take from raking a poker table tends to be lower than at roulette or blackjack.

In an effort to reassure punters that playing a few hands of cards isnt a death sentence, casinos in Vegas are instituting mandatory mask rules. Laying aside the loss of life question, a lot of people are asking how this will impact the dynamics of the game.

What is live poker when you cant read anyones faces?

While many players already wear hoodies and wrap-around shades to reduce non-verbal leakage, the new rules will mean everyone is covered chin to cheek.

While some experts suggest the false confidence might lead to additional tells and giveaways in other areas, some are pointing out that faces are often the least reliable source of reads. Instead, players focus more on hand and eye movements or on non-body language tells like betting patterns.

The biggest effect, however, is likely to be on the social side of the game. Humans like to see who theyre talking to, and covering faces will muffle table talk and have an impact on the sense of community about the table.

Whatever the effects on the game, players should remember that masks are not going to make a game completely safe. They reduce transmission but do not eliminate it.

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Wearing a Mask to Your Poker Room: What to Expect - PokerTube

Silver bullets of nitrous oxide found in Lucan and Clondalkin – FM104

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There's been a spike in the number of discarded canisters of nitrous oxide in parks and public areas since the outbreak of Covid-19.

A Dublin TD has asked the Minister for Health to set up an awareness campaign on the dangers of nitrous oxide or "laughing gas".

Mark Ward says large numbers of so called silver bullets, which hold the drug, have been discovered in the Clondalkin and Lucan areas recently.

The Sinn Fin deputy says the misuse of the gas has become widespread and that young people are playing Russian Roulette with the substance.

In my role as a Director of the Clondalkin Drugs and Alcohol Task Force I became aware of nitrous oxide about two years ago, however the level of use has seriously increased," he said.

You only have to walk through the parks and estates in Dublin Mid-West and see the discarded silver bullets and balloons, the nitrous oxide is released into the balloon and then inhaled. This causes a shortness of breath that produces a very quick high for the user.

The problem is that kids are playing Russian Roulette with this substance and do not know how it will affect them until they take it.

"These silver bullets are used in the catering trade and can be bought for cheap online. Unscrupulous dealers are then selling them on for big profits

We need an awareness programme on the dangers of nitrous oxide rolled out in schools across Dublin

Visit our Covid-19 info hub for the latest news and information on the Covid-19 pandemic

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Silver bullets of nitrous oxide found in Lucan and Clondalkin - FM104

Wakefield taxi driver refuses to return to work after council stops him from putting up partition screen – Yorkshire Live

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Wakefield Council has been accused of playing Russian roulette with taxi drivers lives in a row over screens.

Local cabbies have been stopped from putting up partition screens between the front and rear seats in private hire vehicles, as a temporary coronavirus precaution.

Councils in Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham have allowed their licensed drivers to put up screens, in a bid to minimise the risk of infection to and from passengers, while Uber has taken similar measures.

But despite calls from some drivers in Wakefield to be allowed to follow suit, the council has refused, advising only that both passengers and drivers wear masks, wash their hands and keep surfaces clean.

The decision was strongly criticised by taxi driver Wajid Ali. He said thatalthough some of his colleagues have returned to work, the decision was another blow to the trade after lockdown forced cabbies to stay home.

I wont go back to work without a safety screen, Mr Ali said. That means me losing out on financial gain, but my life is important.

Shops have got protective screens up. Pubs will be coming back with screens, so why cant we have screens? Our vehicle is our place of work.

If were carrying 15 passengers a day, then thats 15 different environments and workplaces were being exposed to every day.

Were offering an important service and were taking pressure off public transport. But were being asked to go out onto the frontline and put ourselves in danger.

Theyre playing Russian roulette with our lives.

Mr Ali also cited the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on black and ethnic minority groups (BAME), pointing out that most cabbies in Wakefield are from the South Asian community.

People from ethnic minority backgrounds have been hit by a higher death rate from the virus.

He also suggested the industry could take legal action against the council if any driver was to die from COVID-19 while working without a screen.

Current guidelines do allow some private hire vehicles to put up screens permanently, but only if they fit very specific criteria. That process can be lengthy, leaving some drivers either out of pocket or more at risk in the meantime.

The issue has been taken up in other parts of the country, with unions Unite and the RMT expressing concerns on behalf of drivers. Its understood that some of the 1,500 cabbies working in Wakefield have not taken issue with the councils stance.

But Mr Ali added: If the screens save one life then theyll have been worth it.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and were trying to get the council to see the benefits of this before its too late.

Were not even asking for money from the taxpayer to put them in as Leeds have done. We just want a yes to allow us to do it ourselves.

We want to protect the whole Wakefield community, not just ourselves.

In response, senior council officer Glynn Humphries said: We ask all drivers and operators to ensure they comply with the current government guidance to help keep themselves and their passengers safe.

This includes the use of PPE, ventilation in vehicles and antibacterial cleaning of affected surfaces following each journey.

We will continue to permit drivers to install permanent screens, provided they conform to the criteria in respect of design and materials.

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Wakefield taxi driver refuses to return to work after council stops him from putting up partition screen - Yorkshire Live

APPG calls for gambling ad ban and in-play prohibition – iGaming Business

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The Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has published its final report on igaming harms, concluding that a range of strict new controls should be introduced, including a total prohibition on advertising and banning in-play betting.

The report is the culmination of a year-long investigation into Great Britains online gaming market, which has seen evidence gathered from operators, lawmakers, the Gambling Commission, as well as those that have suffered from gambling related harms.

It sets out more than 30 recommendations for regulatory change, perhaps most notably a blanket ban on gambling advertising. It claims that as gambling can cause harm to individuals, and as advertising is designed to encourage people to gamble, total prohibition is justified.

However, it also suggests that strict controls similar to those set to be implemented in Spain, where gambling advertising is restricted but not banned outright, could be adopted. The prohibition should go beyond traditional channels, the group continued, and apply to console titles such as the Fifa football sim, where gambling branding appears on team shirts.

Furthermore, it said, a review into the use of bonuses and incentives by gambling operators, to determine whether these contributed to harmful gambling. The APPG added that it is of the view that such prohibition should be banned.

While the APPG welcomed industry efforts coordinated by the Gambling Commission to better manage VIP schemes, it demanded these highly problematic loyalty programmes be banned.

These schemes drive profit for the industry and [] the Commission itself has seen the dependence of the gambling industry on VIP customers of those who are disproportionately likely to be addicts, the report explained. One firm is said to have taken 83% of all deposits from just 2% of its customers through VIP schemes.

The award of VIP status has been cited as a factor in seven out of ten regulatory penalties issued to companies by the Commission for failures to prevent problem gambling.

The report goes on to take aim at products it considers to be particularly popular among problem gamblers, namely in-play betting, slots and online roulette. The APPG believes an independent review of how online products are regulated, tested and classified in terms of addictiveness, arguing that current processes appear to be heavily weighted in the industrys favour.

As such, it called for the speed of random number generated digital slots and roulette be reduced, with no free spins, turbo spins or reel stop play. Consumers should also be given more accurate information on their chances of winning, and the element of skill or random chance involved.

A 2 slot stake limit that was first included in the APPGs interim report in November 2019 should also be imposed, it added.

For sports betting, the APPG believes in-play should be restricted to venues, or via telephone, saying this would bring Great Britain in line with Australia. However, Australia prohibits in-play entirely, having closed a loophole that allowed operators to take in-game bets via telephone in 2017.

Across all products, it continued, it was clear that stake limits were needed to reduce harm. The risks associated with remote gambling are clearly not being managed effectively and comprehensively, meaning an urgent review of stakes and prize limits was needed.

This should be followed up regularly, through a triennial review, with every customer to complete affordability checks that would allow deposit limits for their personal circumstances to be set.

The group concluded that there was no justification not to have regulatory parity across channels, in that online gambling should be subject to the exact same controls and limits as land-based.

We would be interested to know the Gambling Commissions view as to why this is not the case.

The group also renewed its attack on the Gambling Commission, that it has consistently condemned as not fit for purpose since November last year.

It is our view that the Gambling Commission is not fit for purpose and we recommend an urgent review of the Gambling Commission and its capacity to effectively regulate the burgeoning online gambling industry, the APPG said. The Government must commit further and more flexible funding for the Gambling Commission to enable it to cope with the growth in its responsibilities and there must be rigorous oversight as to how this is money is spent.

This should be supported by greater clarity for consumers on how to resolve disputes, overseen by a new industry ombudsman, it added.

However, it did praise the Commission for implementing a ban on credit card betting, though questioned why it took so long for this to be implemented from 14 April. This, the APPG continued, was a good start but one that must be built on by banning betting with other forms of credit such as loans and overdrafts.

This cannot take two years as was the case with the credit card ban, it warned.

It also suggested that if reverse withdrawals - where a player cancels a request to withdraw funds from their account - is banned by operators such as GVC to protect players under lockdown, this feature should be banned permanently.

Further work is needed on research, the report continues. It points out there is little understanding of female problem gamblers, saying a large-scale piece of work is needed in this area. This should be complemented by a nationwide prevalence study, to provide a basis for the governments planned review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

We also recommend the establishment of a substantial longitudinal study to allow us to understand the development and lifecourse of gambling disorder, as well as the impact of awareness raising and treatment, it said.

Moving forward, ongoing research should be handled by an independent commissioning body, the APPG added.

Publication of the report brings to a close a year-long process, that saw the APPG hold 10 public evidence sessions, closed sessions, supported by stakeholder submissions and meetings with the Gambling Commission and gambling ministers.

The groups chair and MP for Swansea East Carolyn Harris described the gambling sector as a multi-million pound industry [that] has destroyed peoples lives.

They resist change at every turn and claim to be reforming themselves but put forward limited changes. Their primary motive is profit, she claimed. During the Covid pandemic they said they would end TV and radio advertising but just ended up replacing ads with ads - that none of us want to see.

They have shown time and again that they will not effectively self-regulate. We cannot ignore this any longer. Urgent change is needed to stop this industry riding roughshod over peoples lives.

However, the APPG took exception to being indirectly called prohibitionist by industry associations such as the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), claiming that this was to debase what is an important discussion to protect vulnerable people and children and prevent online gambling harm.

Every day I speak to people whose lives have been destroyed by gambling addiction while the online gambling industry grows exponentially, APPG vice chair and MP for Inverclyde Ronnie Cowan said. This Government must not sit back and watch the unfettered growth of an industry that extracts money from people across the UK to line their own pockets.

We are bombarded by gambling across all mediums and our sports are in hoc to an industry which seeks to profit from them. Young men, women and families are being destroyed by online gambling.

As such, a totally new act to regulate the sector is ultimately needed, the APPG said. While changes could be made to some elements, a more comprehensive, updated framework was the only way to properly protect players, it claimed.

While APPGs have no legislative power, the Gambling Related Harm group has been especially influential. Its recommendations, such as calls for stake limits and the interim publication from November last year, have caused significant declines in operators share prices previously.

MPs lead the research component, and the group has also employed public affairs and association management consultancy Interel, with funding provided by entrepreneur Derek Webb.

Webb is a prominent advocate for changes to British gambling regulation, who played a key role in campaigning for changes to fixed-odds betting terminal stakes from April 2019.

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APPG calls for gambling ad ban and in-play prohibition - iGaming Business

Football Players That Like to Gamble – The twelfth Man Times

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Football is one of the most popular and exciting sports in the world. Throughout the years there have been many iconic football players that have won the hearts of fans all over the world. Their skill in football is unmatched as is their extravagant lifestyle. Some of them are pretty stingy with their cash and dont shy away when it comes to showing off. Others like to gamble regardless if its playing casino games or betting on sports. Here are a few such individuals:

He started his career in Arsenal and then managed to get into Tottenham, as well as West Ham later on. David was well known for skills on the field but he also didnt shy away from gambling. He liked to gamble on many kinds of things.

Horse racing and poker were no strange things to him as he stated that he had placed his first bet when he was just 14. David also managed to explore the world of online casino games by playing blackjack online at sites likeCASINO. These sites offer more than one variant of classic table games and slots players can choose from, which is why theyre so popular.

Bentley realized that his hobby was spiraling out of control so he decided to quit. To this day, he thanks his girlfriend for his support during those tough times.

Although he is a former football player, Dominic Matteo left his mark on the world of football. In his career, he played for Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland, and Liverpool. Due to injuries, later on, he was forced to retire at 35. What he didnt retire on was gambling, which was something he frequently did.

He was extremely fond of sports betting and one he bet 200,000 on a horse race and managed to win. Nowadays, most of sports bets are done online via online bookies such asNetBetsport. They offer bets on football, horse racing, and many other sports. Special offers are also available to make things interesting.

Bardsley is the well-know defender of Burnley F.C. When hes not out on the football field preventing rival players from scoring hes visiting the casino and trying his luck with table games. Back in 2012, the Black Cats didnt manage to draw with Southampton which turned out to be a reason to celebrate for Phil. A bit later on his pictures in the newspapers showed him enjoying roulette and lying on the floor covered in banknotes. His manager was so furious that he fired him.

Buffon is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. In a way, hes a living legend that has been playing for Juventus for many years. Despite his skills on the football field, hes also known as a good poker player. PokerStars even appointed him as their ambassador at one point. There are a fewfootball players that are good at pokerand Gigi Buffon can easily join that fold.

Back in the day, Keith was one of the best football players that played in Manchester United as well as other teams. His football skills were amazing and theres no doubt that hes one of the top football players alive. What left a stain on his remarkable career was his gambling habit that unfortunately turned into an addiction. It was because of that addiction thathe lost over 7,000,000and declared bankrupt in 2010.

Football players will continue to be fan favorites regardless of their private lives. After all, theyre good at football and thats what they should be remembered for.

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Football Players That Like to Gamble - The twelfth Man Times

What to Know About Applying to Medical School as a Nontraditional – Michigan Medicine

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Then you need to find these courses. Some people find a post baccalaureate program that will hit all these requirements. If you work full-time like I did, though, and cant enroll in a full-time postbac program, you can collect these classes from colleges in your area. Depending on your location, you may have an undergraduate institution close by that will allow you to enroll as some type of lifelong learner to take the courses there without formal degree plans from their institution.

Another option, and what I did, is to find the courses scattered around different junior colleges in the area. This was the only way for me to meet the requirements by taking them around my full-time work schedule (early in the morning, late at night, on weekends). Some people worry that will look bad but when asked on the interview trail, it was a source of pride for me to explain that if I had to manage multiple schedules and travel hundreds of miles at odd hours to take these courses to pursue my medical dreams then that was exactly what I was going to do. I think most schools ended up seeing it as proof of commitment.

First, the AAMC is the absolute best resource and starting place to create a list of critical deliverables for your primary application, such as your undergrad transcripts, MCAT scores, personal statement, extracurricular activities and letters of recommendations, as well as dates when the primary application, secondary application, MCAT/CASPR, interview timeframes and commit dates are due.

Second, having a pre-health advisor and mentors are key for maximizing your responses. If you dont have a pre-health advisor like I didnt, you can request one from National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (volunteer.advisor@naahp.org) and get matched with an advisor who has volunteered to help nontraditional students. My advisor, Gina Camello at the University of Southern California, was critical in helping me wrap my head around the process, requirements and refining my personal statement through many, many drafts (Thank you, Gina!). Other mentors who were critical came from my involvement with theAmerican Medical Womens Association. So many physicians who charted this path before me have been so generous with their time and wisdom on how to be successful in getting into medical school and beyond.

It seems like a long time, but theres much to do and gather. The best thing you can do is get organized and know what needs to be completed by when and give yourself lots of buffer time. Things like getting official transcripts sent can take much longer than you anticipate. If youre going to ask for letters of recommendations from specific individuals, give them enough time and information to be successful in helping you. I studied for the MCAT for eight months. It took six months of drafts before my personal statement was succinct enough to be worthy of application, and I had considered myself a prolific writer before this.

A high quality application takes a lot of time and introspection so make sure you get highly organized and give yourself enough time to complete things because theres no shortage of stories of people who dropped out of the application process because it was coming down to the wire for submitting items, and the pressure was too much.

I think its important to find out what about your life experience is unique, whats your differentiator, and how does that apply to what your vision is for your future medical career.

Admissions teams highlight repeatedly that applicants who really know themselves on this level and can show dont tell stand out as the most serious candidates. This means having specific life stories and examples ready that can back up the points you want to illustrate. Anyone can say yes, I am resilient, but having a real world scenario where you proved that will be taken much more seriously. If you are a nontraditional candidate, by linear time definition alone, you may have an advantage in having had more opportunities to attain these skills and experiences.

Theres a common quote in medicine that if you can see yourself being happy doing anything else, you should do that instead. I completely agree.

Medical school is hard: mentally, physically, emotionally. But there is a Nietsche quote that, He who hasa why []can bear almost any how. And I think this is true for medicine. Your why has to be so strong to be able to keep you going through a profession that requires so much from you. For a while I had this dream but thought I was too late or too old now. I was reminded by Earl Nightingale that time passes anyway, you may as well be doing what you love. I knew that at the end of my life if I didnt try I would deeply regret it because I know I have something very important to contribute to medicine. I also was held back for a while thinking that committing to medicine would mean sacrificing family and going into financial debt. However, so many mentors (especially through the American Medical Womens Association) reinforced that many successful physicians also have rich family lives.

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My calling for medicine had grown so loud that when I was finally ready to apply I was willing to give up any amount of time, family or money to see this through. As it turns out, you dont have to be this extreme. Ive learned that life is a great balancing act and with the right strategies, planning and preparationyou can have all the things!

There are many jobs that help people so that is not enough of a reason for any admissions officer to feel confident about a candidate. You need to articulate specifically why you want to be a physician vs. another role.

This is why its important to spend some volunteer time shadowing or on medical missions so you can really be sure this life is for you. A good format to answer why medicine in conversation or your personal statement that I was exposed to is to break it down into: 1. When your interest was piqued about medicine; 2. The further development of that interest; 3. Your final commitment point.

When you apply later in life, admissions teams want to make sure youve given this tremendous thought and that your diverse life experiences have informed the natural culmination to this decision.

First, applicants should know what the requirements are from different schools because some will want science professors, some will want non-science, etc. These are key to know and identify as early as possible, especially if you will need to (re)build these relationships.

If you have spent a majority of your time in a professional career or other venture, you should absolutely consider getting letters from people in these spheres. I had letters that covered career, volunteer work, science instructors and longtime mentors. If you have been out of school for a while and your letters are as diverse as your experience, thats also okay! I would also try to identify people who can speak to a range of your attributes that youd like to demonstrate. Maybe your director at work can speak to your innovative qualities, your volunteer manager can reflect on your ability to execute, your science teacher can reflect (beyond your science aptitude) on your teamwork with classmates, etc.

In my humble opinion from observing the process, what is competitive to one school is a liability for another. What that means is that certain schools want to be known for certain values and have curriculum, opportunities and faculty who represent those interests. The most important thing is fit, not to win them all. For example, with my technology background and vision for the future of technology/medicine, not all medical schools valued or had support for that direction and thats okay. For me, good fit meant being at an institution that valued diversity, inclusion and pioneering new health technology, which is exactly what I found at the University of Michigan. Other schools may have seen my background and thought what can we offer someone who is passionate about technology if we dont really invest in that for our students or faculty?.

A great way to know if a school is going to want to invest in you and the uniqueness you bring is to do research on the projects their faculty are involved in because I think it shows what the institution values. If your dreams are surgical and a majority of their projects are mostly around primary care, no matter how eloquently you describe being inspired by the graceful gesticulations of reconstructive surgery, it may not be a match.

The other positive tip about researching projects at the institution is that perhaps you find a lab or team you want to work with if accepted, and at the interview you can speak more concretely about that particular school and your plans. That shows admissions that you will hit the ground running if admitted and have done research about their school that makes them feel that their institution is really special to you and not just a copy, paste, change name, someone please accept me. You are going to spend the next four plus years at this institution so its very important that you have done enough research about the school to know that you actually want to go and could be successful and contribute there.

Again, sort of depends on the school and what they value. Forward-thinking, tech-inclined schools will be excited about your passion for and experience with new technology or methods. Rural schools may be more impressed with your experience on topics that affect their patient populations more severely, like health care access or perhaps substance abuse. It can be a good idea to see what kinds of things the school gets research funding for because that may tell you what traits they care most about.

SEE ALSO:Reality Checks: Michigan Medical School Students Open Up

As a general blanket statement, most schools will highlight research, diversity and service. I think ultimately, though, the pre-med life experiences that ends up being most attractive are ones that are:unique(so you will have a different perspective to share),altruistic(so you are internally, mission driven) andauthentic(which shows you are introspective and resilient).

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What to Know About Applying to Medical School as a Nontraditional - Michigan Medicine

Pride doesn’t really belong in medicine – News from southeastern Connecticut – theday.com

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A few years ago, I overheard a conversation a man was having as he was trash-talking his doctor. It wasnt long before I realized that the doctor he was trash-talking was me. Of course, I eavesdropped a little closer as he said:

When the nurse asked my doctor a question, my doctor said, outright, I do not know. I mean, what kind of doctor says, I dont know to a nurse? If he doesnt know, he shouldnt be a doctor. Not my doctor, anyways. I never saw the guy again.

My father, who to this day is still a practicing physician and remains the best doctor I have ever met, told me, after I had completed my three-year fellowship, three-year residency, chief residency, four years of medical school, and four years of college, that the most important thing I learned after all that training was how to say I dont know with confidence.

When I was a junior in college, I lived in Florence, Italy, and I remember going to a restaurant and ordering spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with and clams). I asked the waiter for some parmigiano cheese. He looked horrified angry even and said, No! His finger was waving in the air, a sign of something forbidden in his Italian hand-speak.

I said, in Italian, What do you mean, No?

With fish, you never put cheese.

I insisted, and he again said, finger in the air, NO!, adamant. I got angry and insisted and said I was paying the bill, not him, and that I wanted cheese. He muttered that I was troglodito (I didnt even know what the word meant when someone translated it into English a troglodyte is an uncultured person).

After one bite of the spaghetti with clams and parmigiano, I realized instantly that the waiter was absolutely right. The cheese completely ruined the wonderful flavor, texture and aroma of the dish. I wish I could say I had the courage to admit to the waiter that he was right, but in my pride, I pretended to love the cheese and practically licked the plate clean.

Pride is a funny thing that doesnt really belong in medicine. But when you formulate ideas, you tend to become proud and want to argue for them. I remember being a brand-new cardiologist in New London, perhaps overly cocky. I remember calling a (rather famous) cardiac surgeon about someone with a dilated aorta who I believed needed surgery. The surgeon didnt think surgery was needed. I insisted surgery was indicated, and I smugly started quoting data from a medical journal article I had just read on the subject. The surgeon listened quietly, then gently said, Well, thats interesting because I wrote that article and, unless there is a typographical error, I think you are misquoting the data, because I have the actual data right here in front of me now ...

I have worked with that surgeon since that day, and I occasionally bring it up, laughing. He has been nothing but humble, gracious, and kind with his time and even with his mentorship to this very day.

Pride seems to dominate some politicians who tend to avoid ever admitting that they are wrong or that they do not know something. These are questionable strategies given the uncertainties of a pandemic. Or when the rest of the country wants to (finally) unify to demonstrate against racial violence and injustice. So far, it doesnt seem to be going well for them.

Ah, but Im no politician. I still like things like tuna melt, which I suppose makes me a troglodyte, I often make mistakes, and theres still a heck of a lot I dont know.

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Pride doesn't really belong in medicine - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest and the Outcry for Justice – Seton Hall University News & Events

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Professor Bryan Pilkington holds weekly conversations with leading experts from medicine, nursing, and the health sciences, as well as political theorists, economists, ethicists, philosophers and legal experts.

Originally focused on the impact of COVID-19, the topic of conversation in these panel discussions has shifted as the pandemic has served to highlight structural inequalities in health care evidenced by the disproportionate number of black and Hispanic people who have fallen prey to the coronavirus.

The last panel focused on "Discrimination in the Time of COVID," and included Seton Hall alumnus Dr. Sampson Davis, an ER physician who is perhaps best known as a best-selling author of The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream, the story of the success of three young men from Newark, New Jersey who pledged to support each other in pursuing careers in the field of medicine.

This next panel, fueled by the outrage and protest that ensued from the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is entitled "Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest and the Outcry for Justice" and will be a discussion on issues of discrimination, the health implications of racism, the role of healthcare (and other) professionals in responding to racism and structural injustice which affects practitioners and their patients.

"America faces two public health crises the COVID-19 Pandemic and the continued manifestations of structural racism exemplified by the most recent series of murders of black members of our communities," said Pilkington. "COVID-19 is real, and so is structural racism and the end result of each is lives laid waste and a system that does not work for far too many."

Pilkington, an associate professor in the School of Health and Medical Sciences at Seton Hall University and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and the Editorial Advisory Boards of HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum and Christian Bioethics, and is a Junior Scholar at the Paul Ramsey Institute.

"Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest, and the Outcry for Justice," will feature Dean Bonita Stanton of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University along with a multi-disciplinary panel of experts.

Bonita Stanton, M.D. is the founding dean of Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University. A nationally recognized expert on pediatric medicine, she is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and has served as an editor of the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, along with many other journals and books. Among many local, national and international advisory roles, she was a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center and was president of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs.

Prior to her role as dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall, Stanton served as Vice Dean for Research at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Previously, she served as the Schotanus Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State; Pediatrician-in-Chief at Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center; and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, West Virginia University. Earlier in her career, she was a faculty member and Division Chief of General Pediatrics at University of Maryland School of Medicine.

For five years, she lived and worked with her family in Bangladeshwhere she served as the Maternal Child Health Director for the World Bank and the Director, Urban Volunteer Program (a community-based research and service program designed to help women and children in the slums of Dhaka) at the International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research.

"The United States is only now incorporating into our health care systems what our peer nations across the globe have been doing for years; addressing socio-economic, housing and community factors in the provision of medical care," said Dean Stanton. "Equally important is the realization that although over 13% of the US population is African American, only 5% of physicians are African American, reflecting both unequal access to higher education and ultimately, to medical care. There are no easy answers to this problem. Adequate social, economic and educational structures must be offered to Black children beginning in pre-school and lasting through grade 12, extending into college or technical school and on through graduate and professional school."

In addition to Dean Stanton, the panel will include:

The panel, "Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest and the Outcry for Justice," will take place on Friday, 6/19/20, at 1:30pm.

Meeting Information:Zoom Link: https://hmhn.zoom.us/j/99123537427?pwd=ZHB6c3F5bUs4Z256MnoyaHlnZ1B4QT09Password: 311141Or iPhone one-tap : US: +19294362866,,99123537427#,,,,0#,,311141#Or Telephone: US: +1 929 436 2866Webinar ID: 991 2353 7427

Formed with the belief that we arrive at the best answers to challenging ethical questions by practically reasoning together, "Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest, and the Outcry for Justice," is the ninth installment of this panel program.

Previous panels have covered:

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Stop Killing our Patients: Pandemic, Protest and the Outcry for Justice - Seton Hall University News & Events

Coronavirus deadly to those over 80, but many are surviving – PennLive

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Story By STACEY BURLING, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Anna Marie Bresnan, who lives at Philadelphia Protestant Home, a retirement community in Northeast Philadelphia, is 84 and has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

John and Kitty Stagliano, of Exton, are both 82 and have diabetes and high blood pressure.

Norma Cammisa is 93, has dementia, takes medicine for high cholesterol, and lives in a nursing home in Collingswood.

All of them caught the coronavirus. All of them survived.

Why they did so well when thousands of other people over 80 have succumbed to the new disease is a mystery that intrigues and heartens physicians and aging experts. In New Jersey, 47% of the more than 12,000 people who have died of coronavirus were 80 and older. As of June 5, 58% of Pennsylvania's 5,886 deaths were in that age group. Age, plus chronic health problems such as heart and lung disease or diabetes, greatly increases the odds that people with COVID-19 will get very sick or die.

Even in nursing homes, which are populated by frail elders who need hands-on care, a high percentage of residents who test positive for the virus have had no symptoms or mild ones. Most survive.

Joshua Uy, a Penn Medicine geriatrician who is medical director of a West Philadelphia nursing home that had the city's first coronavirus outbreak, said about a third of the 22 residents there with confirmed coronavirus were asymptomatic, a third had mild symptoms, and the remainder got very sick. Five died.

"We had a 96-year-old guy who never had a symptom," Uy said. Some with mild symptoms have "recovered and it's like nothing ever happened to them."

Uy couldn't predict which residents at Renaissance Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center would be fine and which would "crump," or go into rapid respiratory failure. Patients with obesity another big risk factor and frailty sometimes lived. One resident with serious lung disease survived. "It's really amazing to me," he said. "It blows my mind."

Early in his center's two-week outbreak, he felt hopeless. "On my worst day, I was worried that they were all going to die, to be honest." Then widespread testing revealed how many residents were asymptomatic. Some with symptoms began getting better. "When you look at the numbers," he said, "I think most people will survive it. It just doesn't feel like it at the moment."

Other nursing home medical directors described similar proportions of residents with mild illness and equally surprising survivors. Nina O'Connor, chief of the University of Pennsylvania Health System's palliative care program, cared for a 101-year-old coronavirus patient with no symptoms. Jim Wright, medical director of Canterbury Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center near Richmond, Va., where 136 residents tested positive and 56 died, said one 91-year-old had poor oxygenation for a long time and kept removing her oxygen mask.

"She's in our memory center now," Wright said in wonderment. "Her favorite thing to say is, 'I love you.' She says it every time."

Jim Clancy, executive director of United Methodist Communities of Collingswood, where Cammisa lives, said a 91-year-old who was already on oxygen for advanced lung disease survived while the virus "wiped out" people who were not as sick.

"This is such a strange, random, and devastating virus. ... I don't think any two residents have been affected the same way," he said. Asked what was different about survivors, he said: "This is the thing. There is no rhyme or reason to it."

Wright has started analyzing the numbers at his facility and found no clear trends. He said patients there for rehabilitation, who tend to be younger and stronger than full-time nursing home residents, were more likely to survive. There were no racial differences.

"There was nothing I could put my finger on that determined your course," he said.

In this June 4, 2020 photo, Anna Marie Bresnan, 85, an independent living resident who survived COVID-19, despite having lung disease, poses in Philadelphia. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)AP

Doctor have theories about why some survive and some dont. Theyre waiting for science.

Scientists will sort this out eventually. In the meantime, speculation focuses on differences in the immune system, genetics, and possibly medications that could alter response to the virus. One doctor suspects that hydration and even sleeping position could be important.

Coronavirus often does not announce itself loudly in the elderly, a fact that allowed it to take hold in many nursing homes before anyone knew it was there. Instead of the classic symptoms we were all initially told to look for fever, cough, and shortness of breath people over 80 often lose their appetites, develop diarrhea, or become confused, agitated, or more subdued. Fevers over 99 are rare.

Sabine von Preyss Friedman, medical director of 50 facilities in Seattle, including one with an early and large outbreak, has learned to look for very subtle changes. "People look at you sideways and they don't look right, you're doing a test," she said.

Doctors said some patients never have more than mild symptoms. Wright said some can go from no symptoms to death in a few hours. Others develop what appears to be an overreaction of the immune system, or cytokine storm, a few days into the infection. In all age groups, this is a hallmark of very serious illness. Elderly people who get this sick typically do not do well, doctors said.

George Anesi, a pulmonary and critical care doctor at Penn Medicine who sees only hospitalized patients, said the virus is harder on people the older they are. Those with low blood-oxygen levels and high inflammation levels do the worst. Those whose problems are confined to their lungs fare much better than those with multi-organ failure.

But that doesn't explain why people have such different reactions to the disease, a question at all ages.

"It likely has to do with idiosyncrasies in their immune system and their genetics," said Amesh Adalja, a Johns Hopkins infectious-disease specialist and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "That's part of the bigger puzzle with this virus."

The immune system wanes and becomes less efficient with age. These changes could affect both the initial response to the new virus and the more sustained response, experts said. With aging, underlying inflammation tends to increase and cells may not clear waste products as effectively. All of these things can affect the way older people respond to disease.

Chronic illness can accelerate aging. When it comes to fighting infection, chronological age is less important than biological age. An 80-year-old still living independently is more likely to survive than an 80-year-old who is sick enough to be in a nursing home. But the body can also age unevenly. "They might have Alzheimer's, but their immunity is pretty good," said Nir Barzilai, director of the Einstein Institute for Aging and scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research. "Their liver can be younger than their brain."

Barzilai thinks certain common medications, including the diabetes drug metformin, may improve immune functioning. Nicole Osevala, a Penn State geriatric medicine specialist, wonders about angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, which recently were shown to decrease the risk of hospitalization in older people with COVID-19. Because COVID-19 can increase blood clotting, Stefan Gravenstein, director of geriatrics and palliative care at Alpert Medical School of Brown University, wonders whether people on blood thinners could be protected.

Viral load, or how much virus a patient was exposed to, may also be a factor, Barzilai said.

Because reflux can bring the virus up from the digestive system and lead to aspiration into the lungs, Gravenstein also said older people who go to sleep immediately after a meal this increases reflux could be at higher risk. Sleeping with the head elevated could be protective, although that's hard to test.

He is among many who think that maintaining hydration is crucial for elders with this disease. Nursing-home survivors may have been better at drinking enough liquids, he said.

Providence and gratitude

When Gus Cammisa heard that his mother, who will turn 94 later this month, had the disease late in April, he wondered whether "this is what's going to take her." She was in relatively good health, although she had had a small stroke and sometimes had blood pressure fluctuations. She'd lived a clean life. With COVID-19, she had fevers, needed oxygen, and stopped eating. The staff at United Methodist Communities gave her intravenous fluids. She has very slowly returned to baseline. Cammisa credits good care and Providence. "God decided, 'Not yet.' "

John Stagliano was still delivering auto parts part time when he got sick March 23. While waiting for test results, he felt weak and feverish. He isolated in his man cave. "It's not a hardship, believe me," he said. His wife, Catherine everyone calls her Kitty took care of him. He admits he was worried. "I'm damned scared the first week and I'm thinking, 'Is this the way it's going to end?'"

His son, John Stagliano Jr., said his father's doctors at Penn Medicine Home Health urged him to go to the hospital, but he resisted. Meanwhile, the son, who is a cancer survivor, worried about the fatigue he heard in his mother's voice. He and a brother insisted she go to the hospital. When they arrived to meet her ambulance, she passed out. "I was just so exhausted," she remembered. "I thought it was from climbing up and down the stairs. ... It was the most exhausted I've ever been." She never had much of a fever or cough. Doctors said the virus may have attacked her heart.

Her husband never went to the hospital. She went twice. She's getting better but is still tired. He feels fine. "I can't wait to get back to work," he said.

Bresnan, who lives in independent living with her husband, tested positive on April 14, but she'd already been sick for quite a while. She lost her appetite, along with her sense of taste and smell. She had severe diarrhea and terrible chills. Even though she has COPD, her oxygen levels were always normal and she never had a cough or shortness of breath. She was hospitalized for dehydration and her lungs showed signs of pneumonia. She wasn't frightened until she saw all the protective garb that nurses were wearing. "I just felt so terrible, I didn't even care."

After a week in the hospital, she came home to the rehab unit at Protestant Home. Her energy is back now, but not her appetite. She has no idea why she lived and so many others didn't.

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Coronavirus deadly to those over 80, but many are surviving - PennLive

Meet PAISD’s health science instructors, using decades of experience for new generation – Port Arthur News – The Port Arthur News

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Regina Cole, Dianne Marks and Barbara Minard are three women behind one of Port Arthur ISDs most successful programs.

Career and Technology Educations Health Science Technology class centers on the knowledge, experience and love of teaching from directors who dedicate their lives to the medical field.

Marks, a graduate from Lamar Universitys first BSN program in 1978, is a registered nurse with a long history of experience and professionalism.

Dianne Marks

She started her career in the medical field working at a hospital in Beaumont right out of college. With a specialty in public health, Marks moved to the Port Arthur Health Department where she worked for 12 years.

The Beaumont native returned home for a little while before receiving an offer from the Port Arthur Independent School District in 1997 to take her place as the next health science lead instructor.

I always liked going to school, Marks said. It was different being in a classroom, but I saw the need for students who had the desire to become health care workers and thought I could be a benefit to them. The opportunity was presented to me, and I decided not to turn my back on it.

Marks has been the lead instructor for 23 years, noting the changes in an adapting world from within four walls.

The students still have the same goals of wanting to be successful, she said. Of course its a different generation and they have access to more technology, and fewer students drive their own cars, but I see the changes.

The students have different goals. They dont all want to be nurses anymore because there are so many other different positions, but one thing thats never changed, they all come in knowing they want to help people.

Marks said the most rewarding part of the job is seeing others go on to change lives.

The best thing is to see that there are several students who graduate from PAISD who are now working as health care workers, as nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, etc., she said. They are in medical school, working in the military or becoming teachers. Its amazing to see the growth and I will miss interacting with the students, laughing with the students and seeing their love grow for the medical field every day.

The 68-year old completed her last year at PAISD in 2019-20.

Im not retiring as a nurse, she said. Im not leaving my co-workers. Its just a different season. Im not going to be in a classroom everyday, but Im not leaving altogether. I plan on still being a nurse for the long haul and to continue having a positive impact on the healthcare system and community.

Barbara Minard

Marks fellow co-worker and prodigy, Barbara Minard, said she is going to miss the leadership of the veteran educator.

Mrs. Marks has been a phenomenal lead nurse for our program, she said. The experiences that she brought to the students and to the faculty were amazing.

Minard said she will miss Marks ability to assist with classroom management the most.

My first year I had two students that didnt get along very well, but Mrs. Marks helped me smooth things over to bridge that gap, she said. She is just incredible with students. Im going to miss her, but we will definitely continue to stay friends.

Minards own winding path in the medical field led her to PAISD six years ago.

Initially, I started out in customer service at Walmart, she said. I found that was rewarding financially for Walmart, but I wanted something more rewarding for myself and the community so I decided to go to nursing school.

Minard volunteered at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas and the Mid-Jefferson Extended Care Hospital to learn more about the health care system from the inside.

The Port Arthur native then enrolled in the Licensed Vocational Nursing program at Lamar State College-Orange.

I wanted to really know what it was to be a nurse, so I started at the bottom, Minard said. After that I knew I was destined to do a little bit more, so I completed that program and went on to the Lamar Associated Degree Program for Nursing.

After receiving her degree, Minard started her professional career working as a fulltime nurse at St. Marys Hospital in Port Arthur.

Before heading to PAISD, Minard also made stops as a correctional nurse for juveniles at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility. She worked for the Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas in Beaumont and was a nurse reviewer for the State of Texas.

In 2014 she finally joined the health science department alongside Marks.

Ive always been an educator as a nurse, Minard said. We are taught to teach the families of patients at the bedside, but the benefit for me was the opportunity to help shape and mold young minds to have the traditional nursing experience I had.

Minard loves her job.

There are some frustrating moments, but you learn to push through it because you know the outcome is going to be beneficial for the students, she said. If I can help shape and mold someone to replace another strong nurse, Im in it to the end.

Regina Cole-Bellard

Rounding out the team is Regina Cole-Bellard.

Cole-Bellard started as a health science instructor last year learning under the tutelage of Minard and Marks.

I was surprised when I came in, she said. They have so much knowledge and it made me feel insecure in my own abilities, but they really helped me along the way to be confident in my skills and in teaching my students.

Marks is mentoring Cole in order to obtain her teaching certificate.

I got a lot of advice from her and I will continue to get advice from her, Cole said. Its an amazing opportunity to be working alongside both of them.

Cole-Bellard said her favorite part of the past year was getting to know the students.

The senior class was a phenomenal class for me, she said. I was really excited to see them come at 12:15 p.m. every day. Their knowledge base amazed me. They really truly were intelligent and Im looking forward to what the future holds for them.

Similar to Minard, Cole-Bellard started out her career as a Licensed Vocational Nurse. After working in and out of nursing homes, she eventually became a mainstay at St. Marys Hospital from 2000-15 before transferring to St. Elizabeths where she stayed until last year.

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Meet PAISD's health science instructors, using decades of experience for new generation - Port Arthur News - The Port Arthur News

Molecular Medicine | Home

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Dr Betty Diamond (Editor-in-Chief) graduated with a BA from Harvard University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. She performed a residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and received postdoctoral training in immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

DrDiamond has headed the Rheumatology Divisions at Albert Einstein School of Medicine and at Columbia University Medical Center. She also directed the Medical Scientist Training Program at Albert Einstein School of Medicine for many years. She is currently head of the Center for Autoimmune, Musculoskeletal and Hematopoietic Diseases at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Director of the PhD and MD/PhD programs at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell.

A past president of the American Association of Immunology, DrDiamond has also served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology and the Scientific Council of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).

Dr Diamond is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Valentin Pavlov,The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, USA- Executive Editor

Maria Ruggieri,The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, USA- Managing Editor

Sonya VanPatten,The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, USA- Coordinating Editor

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Molecular Medicine | Home

Molecular medicine – Wikipedia

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Molecular medicine is a broad field, where physical, chemical, biological, bioinformatics and medical techniques are used to describe molecular structures and mechanisms, identify fundamental molecular and genetic errors of disease, and to develop molecular interventions to correct them.[1] The molecular medicine perspective emphasizes cellular and molecular phenomena and interventions rather than the previous conceptual and observational focus on patients and their organs.[2]

In November 1949, with the seminal paper, "Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease",[3] in Science magazine, Linus Pauling, Harvey Itano and their collaborators laid the groundwork for establishing the field of molecular medicine.[4] In 1956, Roger J. Williams wrote Biochemical Individuality,[5] a prescient book about genetics, prevention and treatment of disease on a molecular basis, and nutrition which is now variously referred to as individualized medicine[6] and orthomolecular medicine.[7] Another paper in Science by Pauling in 1968,[8] introduced and defined this view of molecular medicine that focuses on natural and nutritional substances used for treatment and prevention.

Published research and progress was slow until the 1970s' "biological revolution" that introduced many new techniques and commercial applications.[9]

Some researchers separate molecular surgery as a compartment of molecular medicine.[10]

Molecular medicine is a new scientific discipline in European universities.[citation needed] Combining contemporary medical studies with the field of biochemistry, it offers a bridge between the two subjects. At present only a handful of universities offer the course to undergraduates. With a degree in this discipline, the graduate is able to pursue a career in medical sciences, scientific research, laboratory work, and postgraduate medical degrees.

Core subjects are similar to biochemistry courses and typically include gene expression, research methods, proteins, cancer research, immunology, biotechnology and many more. In some universities molecular medicine is combined with another discipline such as chemistry, functioning as an additional study to enrich the undergraduate program.

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Molecular medicine - Wikipedia

Molecular Medicine | USF Health

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Considered the vanguard of the new millennium in which science truly complements the art of medicine, molecular medicine strives to understand the molecules key to normal body function and the pathogenesis of disease and to design molecular tools for diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Recent changes in research and scholarship in the biomedical sciences has directed attention to the development and training of students who are able to cross the barriers of traditional disciplines and embrace the concepts of interdisciplinary approaches to biomedical problems. The Master's of Science in Medical Sciences, Molecular Medicine concentration, has been developed to provide a novel interdisciplinary and concentrated program of study that is designed for students interested in either future doctoral or professional programs in the biomedical sciences. The program integrates several disciplines, including biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, genomics, microbiology, immunology, virology and biomedical ethics to provide a solid medically-relevant foundation. The rigorous program allows students to demonstrate their full academic ability for future graduate programs or medical school. The interdisciplinary program promotes the broad intellectual focus required of future graduate students in the biomedical sciences or health-care profession. The courses integrate modern teaching methods with extensive student participation designed to improve their oral and presentation skills that are critical to their future professional development.

Jonna Ocampo, an alumna of the Molecular Medicine concentration, has had many notable accomplishments in the field of Molecular Medicine. While enrolled, she worked in the labs of Dr. Caralina Marin de Evsikova and Dr. Alexei Evsikov. During her time in the lab, sheresearched metabolic disease in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans utilizing techniques such as DNA Sequencing, RNA interference, and Bioinformatics analysis. Additionally, she conducted NASA Florida Space research on Transposon Expression Changes Induced by Simulated Microgravity as an area of priority that aligns with the NASA Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate for Space Life and Physical Sciences Research & Applications.

Jonna also conducted research in Chemistry and Molecular Medicine with Dr. Bill Baker and Dr. Xingmin Sun. In these labs, she studied the chemical ecology of Antarctica and Florida marine invertebrates for carrying out natural product isolation. Research included isolating the microorganisms and testing using minimum inhibitory concentrations for potential pharmaceutical applications against Clostridium difficile.

In August 2018, Jonna was awarded theNASA Florida Space Grant Consortium Fellowshipfor her submissionTransposon Expression Changes Induced by Simulated Microgravity.In December of 2018Jonna was selected for an oral presentation at theUnited Nations Expert Meeting on Human Space Technology Providing Access to Spacein Vienna, Austria. Her presentation focused on Synergistic effects on gene expression changes in microgravity: bioinformatics analysis for the model organismOryzias latipesand propagation toward astrobiological, simulated microgravity experiments. Jonnaalso presented at the 4th Mexican Congress of Medicine & Space Health, inMexico City, Mexico and to the Board of FloridaSpace Grant Consortium at NASA Kennedy Space Center.

Jonna has given poster presentations atFlorida Institute of TechnologyandSoutheastern Regional Society for Developmental Biology. Her poster presentation focused onIdentification of candidate ATP synthase subunits homologs and their expression across developmental stages ofCaenorhabditis elegans.

While at USF, Jonna submitted two patents for a biomedical and a biotechnology patent with the Patent and Research Office at the University of South Florida, January 2019.

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Molecular Medicine | USF Health

Duo of antiviral drugs strongly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in the lab – Medical News Today

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A combination of two existing drugs is highly effective against SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures, researchers in Norway and Estonia have found.

In a separate experiment, the researchers used the same cell cultures to show that convalescent blood plasma may be ineffective if the patient donated it 2 months after receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19. This is the respiratory disease that SARS-CoV-2 causes.

On June 16, 2020, scientists at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom announced the first drug proven to reduce mortality in people with severe COVID-19.

The breakthrough, which the team will report in the journal Nature, means that doctors can immediately start treating hospitalized patients with dexamethasone. This is a cheap, readily available steroid that has been in widespread use for decades.

Drugs with a proven safety record, such as dexamethasone, have a clear advantage over novel treatments and vaccines; after a relatively swift clinical trial, national drug regulators can immediately approve their use.

Research by scientists in Norway and Estonia has now identified two more drugs that regulators could potentially fast-track in this way.

The drugs are antivirals that already have approval to treat other infections. Like dexamethasone, researchers would need to test their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in people with the virus.

In the new study, a group of scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim collaborated with scientists at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

They first screened 12 human and animal cell lines to determine which was the most susceptible to the virus.

They identified one cell line called Vero-E6, which they extracted from African green monkeys, then they exposed cultures of these cells to SARS-CoV-2 plus varying concentrations of 136 antiviral drugs.

The drugs were from a database of broad-spectrum antiviral agents (BSAAs), which the same research team set up earlier in 2020. BSAAs are drugs that have passed a clinical safety trial and that work against two or more families of viruses.

After 72 hours, the researchers counted how many cells were still alive in each culture dish. This allowed them to narrow down the field to six drugs that were the most effective at rescuing cells from SARS-CoV-2.

The six antivirals that were active against the virus were:

Next, the scientists repeated the process using pairs of the drugs in combination.

Antivirals, such as those that treat HIV, often work synergistically that is, they are more powerful together than individually. Also, viruses are less likely to develop resistance to a combination of drugs.

Nelfinavir, an anti-HIV drug, and amodiaquine, an antimalarial drug, exhibited the strongest synergy of all the possible combinations.

Interestingly, one of these drugs works by shielding the host cells, while the other targets the virus itself. This is a combined strategy that the researchers say has worked well against other viral infections.

The team checked that this drug combination was effective against each of seven available strains of SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers have now published their results in the journal Viruses.

This orally available drug combination nelfinavir-amodiaquine inhibits the virus infection in cell cultures, says senior study author Denis Kainov, an associate professor in the Norwegian University of Science and Technologys Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine. It should be tested further in preclinical studies and clinical trials now.

In a second set of experiments using the same monkey cell line, the researchers collaborated with doctors at St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, to test the efficacy of convalescent blood plasma.

For more than 100 years, doctors have used blood plasma, or serum, from people who have recovered from a particular infection to treat other people with the same infection.

Hospitals around the world are already using convalescent serum to treat COVID-19. However, although the treatment appears to be safe and large trials are underway, scientists have yet to prove its efficacy.

Concerns have emerged that the blood of some convalescent patients contains few, if any, antibodies that can neutralize the virus.

Regular antibody tests detect the presence of antibodies to the virus in plasma, but not all antibodies are able to kill or neutralize the virus.

So, to investigate further, the scientists used their monkey cells to develop a neutralizing antibody test for the virus.

When they exposed the cells to SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of plasma samples from people who have recovered, they discovered that the more recently the donor had recovered from COVID-19, the greater the neutralizing capacity of the serum.

By 2 months after diagnosis, serum did not contain enough antibodies to neutralize the virus.

This means if you collect blood from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 after 2 months from diagnosis of the disease and transfuse their plasma/serum to severely sick patients, it may not help, says study co-author Svein Arne Nordb, an associate professor in the Norwegian University of Science and Technologys Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine.

The conclusion so far is that clinicians need to collect plasma for treatment purposes as soon as patients recover from COVID-19, says Nordb.

If someone had exposure to the virus a second time, however, their immune systems memory cells would likely start producing neutralizing antibodies again.

An important caveat of the new findings is that the cells the researchers used in the experiments were from monkeys, not humans.

Also, what happens in a dish of cells may not reflect what happens in a whole organism.

The researchers hope to conduct further research in animals, followed by a clinical trial in humans.

In the meantime, they have created a regularly updated website dedicated to available and emerging treatment options for SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers database of BSAAs and their research status with regard to particular viruses is also publicly available. They believe that it may prove a valuable resource in the event of future viral outbreaks.

Our bigger ambition is to assemble a toolbox of BSAAs for the treatment of emerging and re-emerging viral infections. This toolbox can be offered to the [World Health Organization] as a means for the fast identification of safe and effective antiviral options.

Study co-author Aleksandr Ianevski et al.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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Duo of antiviral drugs strongly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in the lab - Medical News Today

The science behind why this is the safest way to breathe to avoid coronavirus – oregonlive.com

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By Louis J. Ignarro, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, UCLA School of Medicine

Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Its not just something you do in yoga class breathing this way actually provides a powerful medical benefit that can help the body fight viral infections.

The reason is that your nasal cavities produce the molecule nitric oxide, which chemists abbreviate NO, that increases blood flow through the lungs and boosts oxygen levels in the blood.

Breathing in through the nose delivers NO directly into the lungs, where it helps fight coronavirus infection by blocking the replication of the coronavirus in the lungs. But many people who exercise or engage in yoga also receive the benefits of inhaling through the nose instead of the mouth. The higher oxygen saturation of the blood can make one feel more refreshed and provides greater endurance.

I am one of three pharmacologists who won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for discovering how nitric oxide is produced in the body and how it works.

The role of nitric oxide in the body

Nitric oxide is a widespread signaling molecule that triggers many different physiological effects. It is also used clinically as a gas to selectively dilate the pulmonary arteries in newborns with pulmonary hypertension. Unlike most signaling molecules, NO is a gas in its natural state.

NO is produced continuously by the 1 trillion cells that form the inner lining, or endothelium, of the 100,000 miles of arteries and veins in our bodies, especially the lungs. Endothelium-derived NO acts to relax the smooth muscle of the arteries to prevent high blood pressure and to promote blood flow to all organs. Another vital role of NO is to prevent blood clots in normal arteries.

In addition to relaxing vascular smooth muscle, NO also relaxes smooth muscle in the airways trachea and bronchioles making it easier to breathe. Another type of NO-mediated smooth muscle relaxation occurs in the erectile tissue (corpus cavernosum), which results in penile erection. In fact, NO is the principal mediator of penile erection and sexual arousal. This discovery led to the development and marketing of sildenafil, trade name Viagra, which works by enhancing the action of NO.

Other types of cells in the body, including circulating white blood cells and tissue macrophages, produce nitric oxide for antimicrobial purposes. The NO in these cells reacts with other molecules, also produced by the same cells, to form antimicrobial agents to destroy invading microorganisms including bacteria, parasites and viruses. As you can see, NO is quite an amazing molecule.

Nitric oxide gas as an inhaled therapy

Since NO is a gas, it can be administered with the aid of specialized devices as a therapy to patients by inhalation. Inhaled NO is used to treat infants born with persistent pulmonary hypertension, a condition in which constricted pulmonary arteries limit blood flow and oxygen harvesting.

Inhaled NO dilates the constricted pulmonary arteries and increases blood flow in the lungs. As a result, the red blood cell hemoglobin can extract more lifesaving oxygen and move it into the general circulation. Inhaled NO has literally turned blue babies pink and allowed them to be cured and to go home with mom and dad. Before the advent of inhaled NO, most of these babies died.

Inhaled NO is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Researchers are hoping that three principal actions of NO may help fight covid: dilating the pulmonary arteries and increasing blood flow through the lungs, dilating the airways and increasing oxygen delivery to the lungs and blood, and directly killing and inhibiting the growth and spread of the coronavirus in the lungs.

How nitric oxide kills viruses

In an in vitro study done in 2004 during the last SARS outbreak, experimental compounds that release NO increased the survival rate of nucleus-containing mammalian cells infected with SARS-CoV. This suggested that NO had a direct antiviral effect. In this study, NO significantly inhibited the replication cycle of SARS-CoV by blocking production of viral proteins and its genetic material, RNA.

In a small clinical study in 2004, inhaled NO was effective against SARS-CoV in severely ill patients with pneumonia.

The SARS CoV, which caused the 2003/2004 outbreak, shares most of its genome with SARS CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. This suggests that inhaled NO therapy may be effective for treating patients with COVID-19. Indeed, several clinical trials of inhaled NO in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, who require ventilators, are currently ongoing in several institutions. The hope is that inhaled NO will prove to be an effective therapy and lessen the need for ventilators and beds in the ICU.

The sinuses in the nasal cavity, but not the mouth, continuously produce NO. The NO produced in the nasal cavity is chemically identical to the NO that is used clinically by inhalation. So by inhaling through the nose, you are delivering NO directly into your lungs, where it increases both airflow and blood flow and keeps microorganisms and virus particles in check.

While anxiously awaiting the results of the clinical trials with inhaled NO, and the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19, we should be on guard and practice breathing properly to maximize the inhalation of nitric oxide into our lungs. Remember to inhale through your nose; exhale through your mouth.

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The science behind why this is the safest way to breathe to avoid coronavirus - oregonlive.com

Blood Type and COVID-19 Risk – Everyday Health

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One of the goals of COVID-19 research is understanding why some people develop mild or moderate cases while others experience life-threatening illness. Researchers have made progress in understanding some of the factors that make a difference, including obesity and underlying health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Recently, an ongoing study by European scientists has suggested one more potential factor to consider: blood type. Preliminary results of this investigation (which have not yet been peer reviewed) were shared on June 2 on the preprint service MedRxiv.

The researchers scrutinized blood samples from 1,610 hospitalized patients in Italy and Spain with the disease, as well as a 2,205 healthy people in a control group. Their analysis identified variations at two distinct areas on the genome (the complete set of human DNA, including all genes) that were associated with greater risk for severe reactions toSARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including respiratory failure.

One of these areas on the genome is related to blood types. The researchers found that type A blood was associated with a 50 percent increase in risk that a patient would become extremely ill with COVID-19 and need supplemental oxygen or a ventilator.

This conclusion supports findings from early research done in China, which appeared March 27 in MedRxiv. This gave the researchers more confidence in the associations, says study coauthor Andre Franke, PhD, professor of molecular medicine at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany.

Researchers on another ongoing study, by genetic testing firm 23andMe, released preliminary data on June 8 suggesting that type O blood is protective against COVID-19. The researchers found that people with type O blood are between 9 and 18 percent less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than other blood types.

The 23andMe study is still recruiting subjects, but already has 750,000 participants and is likely to come out with more data regarding genetic associations and COVID-19.

RELATED: The New Normal: What We Know About the Coronavirus So Far and How We Got Here

Dr. Franke hopes to build on the findings about type A blood withmore targeted research, he says, especially because there are 36 known human blood groups. In addition to the four main types A, B, AB, and O there is also a deeper classification system that includes different combinations of antigens (molecules on the surface of every red blood cell) and other substances.

There are other types of diseases where blood types and blood groups affect a persons susceptibility. For example, people who lack a specific type of antigen, called a Duffy antigen, have a higher resistance to malaria.

In terms of why a variant like the gene related to blood type would have significance for COVID-19, Franke says there are three possible hypotheses.

One is that the genetic variant itself contributes to the so-called cytokine storm, in which a persons immune system goes into overdrive in response to the novel coronavirus threat, releasing large amounts of pro-inflammatory substances called cytokines. An excess of cytokines can damage healthy tissues.

The second hypothesis is that the genetic variant causes more coagulation (blood clotting) in response to the coronavirus an already observed result of disease progression.

The third theory is that both of these reactions are occurring simultaneously.

There may be other issues at play here, but given the way we know COVID-19 works, these seem the most likely reasons, Franke says. Next steps are to dig deeper into the blood groups system and see if we can pinpoint actual disease causes.

RELATED: What People With Heart Disease Need to Know About COVID-19

What should you do in response to these studies, considering you can't change your blood type? Nothing yet. Theres no need to get to a doctor if youre type A, and on the flip side, theres no reason to relax your precautions against coronavirus transmission like social distancing and hand-washing if youre type O.

Keep in mind these are preliminary results and more research needs to be done to understand how genetic variations truly affect COVID-19.

More than anything, its a nod toward how much we have left to learn about the way this virus operates, and how genetic variants may affect why some people end up in the ICU and others have milder symptoms or even none at all, says Priya Duggal, PhD, director of the genetic epidemiology program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

If we can find genes that may explain some of the risk or protection from this infection, it will give us insight into the mechanism of disease, she says.

If genetics studies help us better understand how COVID-19 affects the body, they may eventually help lead to treatments.

This genetic study is hopefully the first of many that will help us to elucidate disease mechanism, susceptibility to infection, and maybe even antibody response, says Dr. Duggal. That could provide potential targets for therapeutics. We have a lot to learn from this point, but were gaining more insight with every study.

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FoundationOneCDx Receives FDA Approval as the First Companion Diagnostic to Identify Advanced Cancer Patients with Solid Tumors that are Tumor…

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foundation Medicine, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved FoundationOneCDx as a companion diagnostic for KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), Mercks anti-PD-1 therapy, which was also approved under accelerated approval for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic tumor mutational burden-high (TMB-H) [10 mutations/megabase (mut/Mb)] solid tumors, as determined by an FDA-approved test, that have progressed following prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options. FoundationOne CDx is the first and only FDA-approved companion diagnostic to measure TMB and help identify patients who may be appropriate for treatment with KEYTRUDA, regardless of solid tumor type.

TMB is a measure of the number of somatic mutations per coding region within a tumors genome.1 This genomic signature can help determine a patients likelihood to respond to immunotherapies. FoundationOne CDx, Foundation Medicines comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assay approved for all solid tumors, enables oncologists to identify TMB-H patients ( 10 mutations/megabase) with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors across all tumor types who could potentially benefit from KEYTRUDA.

Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment. Not only does this approval mean that clinicians will be able to identify more patients who could benefit from this treatment option, but its an important milestone in the shift toward making biomarker-driven, tumor agnostic therapies available to patients, which is possible through an FDA-approved companion diagnostic, said Brian Alexander, M.D., M.P.H., chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. Were proud to have been at the forefront of efforts to bring TMB from research into clinical practice in partnership with the oncology community. Its exciting to see this breakthrough translate into advanced care for patients.

FoundationOne CDx is the first FDA-approved CGP test that is clinically and analytically validated for all solid tumors and incorporates multiple companion diagnostic claims. It is currently approved as the companion diagnostic test for more than 20 therapies across multiple cancer types.

This approval represents a paradigm shift toward biomarker-driven cancer treatment. Its made possible in part by an unparalleled collaboration to better understand how TMB levels are measured and reported, said Jeff Allen, President and CEO of Friends of Cancer Research. TMB provides an additional tool to inform clinical care, especially for cancer patients previously ineligible for immunotherapy based on existing biomarkers.

Merck also announced today that the FDA approved its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for KEYTRUDA, for adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic tumor mutational burden-high (TMB-H) solid tumors, as determined by an FDA-approved test, that have progressed following prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options. The accelerated approval was based on a prospectively planned and retrospective analysis of the KEYNOTE-158 open-label trial, which used a clinical trial assay (CTA) based on FoundationOne CDx to determine TMB status in patients tumor tissue. The results showed that patients with TMB-H in solid tumors ( 10 mutations/megabase) who were treated with KEYTRUDA had a higher overall response rate (29%) compared to patients with TMB <10 mut/Mb (6%).2

KEYTRUDA is an anti-PD-1 therapy that works by increasing the ability of the bodys immune system to help detect and fight tumor cells. KEYTRUDA is now approved for two pan-tumor indications. In 2017, KEYTRUDA was granted FDA approval as the first cancer treatment based on a genomic signature, regardless of cancer type, in microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors. More information about KEYTRUDA can be found at http://www.keytruda.com.

About FoundationOne CDx

FoundationOne CDx is a next-generation sequencing based in vitro diagnostic device for detection of substitutions, insertion and deletion alterations (indels), and copy number alterations (CNAs) in 324 genes and select gene rearrangements, as well as genomic signatures including microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB) using DNA isolated from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue specimens. FoundationOne CDx is for prescription use only and is intended as a companion diagnostic to identify patients who may benefit from treatment with certain targeted therapies in accordance with their approved therapeutic product labeling. Additionally, FoundationOne CDx is intended to provide tumor mutation profiling to be used by qualified health care professionals in accordance with professional guidelines in oncology for patients with solid malignant neoplasms. Use of the test does not guarantee a patient will be matched to a treatment. A negative result does not rule out the presence of an alteration. Some patients may require a biopsy. For a full list of targeted therapies for which FoundationOne CDx is indicated as a companion diagnostic, please visit http://www.F1CDxLabel.com.

About TMB

Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a measure of the total number of mutations per coding area of a tumor genome.3 TMB is an additional genomic signature, similar to a biomarker, that can help identify more candidates likely to benefit from immunotherapy across a range of tumor types. Levels are measured by the number of non-inherited mutations occurring per megabase (1 million DNA base pairs) of the tumor genome.4 TMB-H tumors may be more likely to respond to certain immunotherapies because their high number of mutations make them easier for the immune system to identify. Higher TMB levels are correlated with higher levels of neoantigens, which help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.5 TMB can be measured with both tissue and blood-based comprehensive genomic tests.

About Foundation Medicine

Foundation Medicine is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patients cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials. Foundation Medicines molecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.FoundationMedicine.com or follow Foundation Medicine on Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicine and FoundationOne are registered trademarks of Foundation Medicine, Inc.

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck.

Source: Foundation Medicine

1 NCI Cancer Dictionary. Tumor Mutational Burden. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/795825. Accessed March 5, 2020.2 Marabelle et al. Annals of Oncology (2019) 30 (suppl_5): v475-v532. 10.1093/annonc/mdz253)3 NCI Cancer Dictionary. Tumor Mutational Burden. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/795825. Accessed March 5, 2020.4 NCI Cancer Dictionary. Tumor Mutational Burden. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/795825. Accessed March 5, 2020.5 NCI Cancer Dictionary. Tumor Mutational Burden. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/795825. Accessed March 5, 2020.

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FoundationOneCDx Receives FDA Approval as the First Companion Diagnostic to Identify Advanced Cancer Patients with Solid Tumors that are Tumor...

Three UMass Medical School researchers are studying ways to stop, treat and protect against COVID-19, as the disease continues to kill worldwide -…

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A trio of researchers at UMass Medical School in Worcester are attacking the coronavirus pandemic from three different angles, as part of a $17-million Massachusetts effort to help the world combat the disease which has killed more than 400,000 people globally.

Dr. Jeffrey Luban, a professor of molecular medicine at UMass Medical School

The researchers Dr. Robert Finberg, Dr. Ann Moormann, and Dr. Jeffrey Luban are studying ways to treat COVID-19, understand how it spreads, how people can be immune from its effects, and how herd immunity can be achieved.

We would like to know a little bit more about exactly how the virus causes the damage that it does, Finberg said.

The three UMass Medical School researchers are part of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, known as MassCPR, which is a statewide initiative including scientists and clinicians from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts, and local biomedical research institutes.

MassCPR is working to develop the infrastructure to address the COVID-19 pandemic. It was created through a research agreement between Harvard and the Evergrande Group in China, which is sharing financial support equally between Massachusetts research and researchers at the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health in China. The funding is for five years.

MassCPR has obtained roughly $16.5 million to support and fund this first round of initiatives and projects. After receiving more than 400 applications for funding in March, MassCPR chose more than 60 applicants to receive funding, including the three at UMass.

This was obviously a very stiff competition, so anyone who actually received funding had an amazing application, said Professor David Golan from Harvard Medical School, one of the faculty co-leads of MassCPR.

According to UMass Medical School, projects selected were for their potential to influence clinical outcomes within the next 12 months. Luban, for example, a professor of molecular medicine at UMass Medical School, is researching the virologic mechanisms of COVID-19, attempting to discover what makes it unique. He aims to precisely understand infectiousness of coronavirus with his research.

Finberg, chair of the UMass Department of Medicine, is researching how to identify and target host cells and genes crucial in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. His background in studying respiratory viruses makes researching COVID-19 a natural shift.

Dr. Robert Finberg, chair of the UMass Medical School Department of Medicine

The questions I was interested in are one, whether we can find a drug to treat the virus and the other was to find out exactly what cells the virus infects and what kind of cells respond to the virus, Finberg said in a phone interview.

His project funded by MassCPR focuses on specifically these two parts, how disease is caused and if there could be a viral treatment. Finberg does this through studying human samples.

Infectious disease can be defined in what cells the virus infects and what the host response is both cause disease, said Finberg.

Other than looking at the possibility of an antiviral agent to treat COVID-19 and how exactly the disease is caused, he is trying to understand how the virus works inside the body.

Part of Dr. Finbergs research has to do with finding so-called host targets that could be potentially drug targets that could help to prevent the infection of cells by the coronavirus, said Golan.

Moormann, a professor at UMass Medical School who focuses on infectious diseases and immunology, is looking into one of the most popular current research topics in relation to COVID-19, functional antibodies, which help the body fight off the disease.

Dr. Ann Moormann, a professor at UMass Medical School

Her study measures the spectrum of functional antibodies, how long these antibodies last for, and how they differ in people of different ages. Antibodies indicate past infections.

Part of the research I have funded is to look at the question of how long do the immunities to the virus that causes COVID-19 last, said Moormann.

Though looking at human samples to see how many antibodies currently exist in a person is part of this project, her research has a more longitudinal element where she looks at how the antibodies change over months, getting samples three, six, and nine months after the initial sample.

You can have an immune response that only protects you for a certain period of time, and it might be because your immune response doesnt become a memory response but it helps clear the infection We dont know how long [COVID-19 antibodies] last, said Moormann.

Moormann gets samples from patients who have recovered from coronavirus but also from people who were not diagnosed. She recruits study participants that are healthy and that are patients. She then tests to see whether or not the individual has antibodies.

Participants can choose to give a sample once, or, for those who want to be in the longitudinal part of the study, choose to come back in the following months to give more samples.

I want to look beyond [a few months]. Like in six months, in nine months, do you still have antibodies? Are you still protected? Moorman said.

Her research is a necessary part of understanding if and how herd immunity can be achieved to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moormanns research is one of the very hottest topics right now in thinking about the pandemic, Golan said.

Its incredibly important for two reasons. One is when people get coronavirus infections, they develop the antibodies and its a question whether those antibodies protect you against another infection of coronavirus, said Golan.

Each of these doctors research projects aims to understand COVID-19 better so they are able to correctly fight against it which is why they obtained crucial funding from MassCPR.

MassCPR has been able to create a community of researchers and scientists in Massachusetts that have come together to better understand and control coronavirus. Golan said the collaboration and sharing of data between researchers is a key part of MassCPR and is already leading to important findings.

One thing that has been hugely highlighted by this pandemic is that we werent too well prepared for it, Golan said. Its our obligation to the next generation to be ready for the next one in a better way.

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Three UMass Medical School researchers are studying ways to stop, treat and protect against COVID-19, as the disease continues to kill worldwide -...

Here’s what you need to know about asymptomatic transmission and COVID-19 – The Dallas Morning News

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The World Health Organization caused widespread confusion and drew sharp criticism from health experts after one of its officials said recently that asymptomatic transmission of the novel coronavirus was very rare then walked back the remarks the next day.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHOs technical lead on COVID-19, had said nations that have conducted contract tracing studies are not finding secondary transmission onward [from asymptomatic cases]. Its very rare, The Washington Post reported.

She later clarified the comments during a live Q&A, saying that she had been referring to a small number of unpublished studies when she answered a reporters question and was not stating the policy of WHO, adding that much more research is needed.

So where do health experts stand on asymptomatic transmission? Heres what you need to know.

Health experts dont know for sure how many people have COVID-19 but dont show symptoms. But they have come up with estimates using models and available data.

In the Q&A, Van Kerkhove said WHO estimates that 6% to 41% of patients are asymptomatic, with a point estimate a single value given as an estimate of a parameter of a population of 16%.

But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put its estimates somewhat higher. Based on data available before May 1, the CDC estimates 35% of cases may be asymptomatic, which is a 10% jump from the 25% estimate CDC Director Robert Redfield floated in March.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the countrys top infectious diseases expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has given estimates closer to the CDCs numbers. He told ABCs Good Morning America that the number may be between 25% and 45%.

Other studies have found estimates within the CDCs range: A review paper published in early June in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that between 40% and 45% of patients dont have symptoms but noted that the data used to conduct the review had limitations.

Health experts say its hard to know for sure how many people are asymptomatic because many arent likely to get tested if they arent feeling sick. Individuals who contract the virus but dont show symptoms are more likely to be younger people with no underlying health conditions, health experts have said. And if their only symptoms are mild, such as feeling more tired than usual, they probably wont attribute them to COVID-19.

WHO health experts said its more important to focus on symptomatic cases first to slow the spread because most known transmissions have happened when people show symptoms, and because many nations still dont have the widespread testing capabilities needed to identify asymptomatic cases.

We have to focus our testing on those who we need to test most: health workers, people in long-term care facilities, people who are clinically unwell with the disease, said Mike Ryan, executive director of WHOs Health Emergencies Programme. I think there is much to be answered on this, there is much that is unknown. But we know enough to support the strategies that have already been put in place and continue with those strategies.

Its possible a person who isnt showing symptoms isnt passing the virus on to others, health experts say.

Besides the question of how many infected patients are asymptomatic, researchers are also trying to figure out what proportion of asymptomatic patients go on to make others sick.

Whatever proportion of the disease is transmitting from asymptomatic individuals, that is unknown, Ryan said. And that is occurring, Im absolutely convinced that that is occurring. The question is how much?

In guidance posted on its website earlier this month about the use of face masks, WHO states that evidence indicates that asymptomatically infected individuals are much less likely to transmit the virus than those who develop symptoms.

But other estimates indicate its much more common the CDC estimates that about 40% of transmissions occur before people show symptoms.

One study published in Nature Medicine in mid-April found that 44% of patients are infected by people who didnt have symptoms. And The New York Times previously reported that researchers in Hong Kong found that between 20% and 40% of infections in China may have happened before symptoms appeared.

The Annals of Internal Medicine paper found that based on patients in Iceland, Indiana and Italy, the rate of asymptomatic transmission could be as high as 45%. But the authors of that paper said that the data used in the paper are imperfect in many ways and that an ideal study of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection has yet to be done.

We simply dont know how much asymptomatic transmission happens, Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research and one author of the study, told The Washington Post. Sometimes its important to just say that.

Health experts say its important to note that some definitions of asymptomatic include people who are pre-symptomatic or who dont show symptoms initially but later get sick.

The CDCs estimate, which says 35% of people may be asymptomatic, includes individuals who are pre-symptomatic, and the CDC has said people may be able to transmit the disease up to 48 hours before they begin showing symptoms. Some studies also include pre-symptomatic cases when estimating asymptomatic rates.

Van Kerkhove previously told ProPublica that the WHO has found few truly asymptomatic cases, or people who never show any symptoms throughout the course of the illness.

But some health experts say differentiating between the two only creates more confusion.

Its debating semantics because in a practical sense, there is no difference between people who simply havent developed symptoms yet and are infecting others, and those who are truly asymptomatic, Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco, told The Washington Post. It looks the same in the early stages.

Ultimately, health experts say the most important thing for the public to know isnt the specific numbers. People need to understand that asymptomatic transmission does happen and that its important to take precautions as if you and those around you may be infected.

You can be vertical and feel 100% or virtually 100% and going about your daily business and unaware that youre infected and perfectly capable of transmitting the virus, Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University professor and CDC adviser, told CNN. How do we inhibit transmission of the virus by these people who are doing their full range of normal activities? The answer is social distancing and wearing masks and good hand hygiene and stay away from crowds. Thats the formula.

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Here's what you need to know about asymptomatic transmission and COVID-19 - The Dallas Morning News