Articles: coronavirus.
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Comparative Study
The G614 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 variant is not more pathogenic than the original D614 form in adult Syrian hamsters.
Dynamic tracking of variant frequencies among viruses circulating in the global pandemic has revealed the emergence and dominance of a D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. To address whether pandemic SARS-CoV-2 G614 variant has evolved to become more pathogenic, we infected adult hamsters (>10 months old) with two natural SARS-CoV-2 variants carrying either D614 or G614 spike protein to mimic infection of the adult/elderly human population. Hamsters infected by the two variants exhibited comparable viral loads and pathology in lung tissues as well as similar amounts of virus shed in nasal washes. Altogether, our study does not find that naturally circulating D614 and G614 SARS-CoV-2 variants differ significantly in pathogenicity in hamsters.
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A multispecialty nursing team plays a crucial role in key decision making, education, prevention, screening, assessment, diagnosis, management, data collection and dissemination of best practices during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Using examples from a large, tertiary medical center in Los Angeles, this paper highlights contributions made by multispecialty nursing specialties to optimize health and safety for patients and frontline health care workers. Recognizing nurses' ongoing critical role encourages and informs further collaboration and serves as a catalyst to innovation for a healthier tomorrow. The result of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for years to come.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Apr 2021
Evaluating the longitudinal effectiveness of preventive measures against COVID-19 and seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in cancer outpatients and healthcare workers.
It has been assumed that cancer patients, especially those undergoing chemotherapy, are at increased risk for infection and severe illness from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to the general population. After the first alert message from the local healthcare service, a series of drastic measures were taken at our outpatient clinic to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ⋯ Our findings suggest that the majority of our patients and healthcare workers had not been infected with SARS-CoV‑2 and rapidly implemented measures were effective. Maintenance of preventive measures should be continued until vaccines or specific treatments are available.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Apr 2021
Strong correlation between prevalence of severe vitamin D deficiency and population mortality rate from COVID-19 in Europe.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a very wide range of disease severity: from completely asymptomatic to fatal, and the reasons for that are not well understood; however, there are some data that show vitamin D may have a protective effect. ⋯ The authors recommend universal screening for vitamin D deficiency, and further investigation of Vitamin D supplementation in randomized control studies, which may lead to possible treatment or prevention of COVID-19.