Research News

Caption : Activating a receptor found on the surface of many normal and cancer tissues can not only stop pancreatic cancer from growing but may also make tumors more visible to the immune system and thus more susceptible to modern immunotherapy Credit : Penn Medicine

Activating the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) - a receptor found on the surface of many normal and cancer tissues - has been shown to stop pancreatic cancer from growing, but may also make tumors more visible to the immune system and thus more susceptible to modern immunotherapy. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn's Abramson Cancer Center observed the effects of GPER activation in human and mouse pancreatic cancer models and published their findings in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology today.

Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India have modified the structure of Berberine, a natural and cheap product similar to curcumin, available commercially, into Ber-D to use as a Alzheimer’s inhibitor. Their research work has been published in the scientific journal iSceince. Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder and accounts for more than 70% of all dementia. The multifactorial nature of the disease attributed to multifaceted toxicity has made it difficult for researchers to develop effective medication.

Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo, according to a preliminary data analysis from a randomized, controlled trial involving 1063 patients, which began on February 21. The trial (known as the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial, or ACTT), sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is the first clinical trial launched in the United States to evaluate an experimental treatment for COVID-19.

Amgen reported better results for first quarter and said that they are investigating their psoriasis drug, Otezla as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Shiv Nadar University, India’s leading multidisciplinary and research-based university, today announced a potential breakthrough solution in the global battle against COVID-19. A team of researchers led by Dr Subhabrata Sen from the Department of Chemistry, Shiv Nadar University, India along with his collaborator Professor Ralf Jockers, Institut Cochin (INSERM, CNRS, Université de Paris, France), has discovered a set of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) with the ability to cure Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) or Acute Lung Injury (ALI) induced by COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) or other Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which are also caused by coronaviruses.

PGIMER Chandigarh started clinical trial  of Sepsivac on asymptomatic Coronavirus patients after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved for human trials.

African Americans with severe sleep apnea and other adverse sleep patterns are much more likely to have high blood glucose levels — a risk factor for diabetes — than those without these patterns, according to a new study funded in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Using machine learning, a team of computer scientists and biologists from Western University identified an underlying genomic signature for 29 different COVID-19 virus DNA sequences.

Amid the rapidly evolving global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has already had profound effects on public health and medical infrastructure across the globe, many questions remain about its impact on child health. New research published in the Journal of Clinical Virology indicates that the vulnerability of neonates and children and their role in the spread of the virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) should be included in preparedness and response plans.

People with certain heart diseases may be more susceptible to worse outcomes with COVID-19, but the reason why has remained unknown. New research from Mayo Clinic indicates that in patients with one specific type of heart disease obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) the heart increases production of the ACE2 RNA transcript and the translated ACE2 protein.