Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: research

Topic: Bethesda DeclarationView all posts for the topic: Bethesda Declaration

NIH scientists publish declaration criticizing Trump’s deep cuts in public health research

Published June 9, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on:
By Calvin Woodward, Nathan Ellgren

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his confirmation hearings to lead the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya pledged his openness to views that might conflict with his own. “Dissent,” he said, ”is the very essence of science.”

That commitment is being put to the test.

On Monday, scores of scientists at the agency sent their Trump-appointed leader a letter titled the Bethesda Declaration, challenging “policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.”

Continue readingNIH scientists publish declaration criticizing Trump’s deep cuts in public health research
Comments closed
Topic: pandemic responseView all posts for the topic: pandemic response

COVID-19 Disease Burden Remains Greater Than Influenza, Study Shows

Published May 31, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Forbes
Published on:
By Dave Wessner

Researchers in Denmark conducted a large-scale evaluation of the disease burdens associated with COVID-19 and influenza. Their conclusion? COVID-19 has a greater impact than influenza, resulting in more hospitalizations and deaths. These findings, they note, emphasize the continued need for a strong public health response.

COVID-19 Exhibits Greater Disease Burden Than Influenza

To compare the disease burden of COVID-19 and influenza, the researchers evaluated data available from Danish health registries from May 16, 2022 to June 7, 2024. The results were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. A commentary about the findings was published in the same issue of the journal.

During this period, the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 was approximately two times higher than the risk of hospitalization due to influenza. The risk of death was approximately three times higher. The researchers note that these increased risks were greater during the first year of the study period but still were evident during the second year. The risk of mortality, for example, was five times greater for COVID-19 during the first year of the study. That increased risk dropped during the second year, but COVID-19 still had a two and a half times greater risk of mortality than influenza.

Continue readingCOVID-19 Disease Burden Remains Greater Than Influenza, Study Shows
Comments closed
Topic: researchView all posts for the topic: research

Scientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them

Published May 25, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on:
By Christina Larson, Adithi Ramakrishnan, Jamey Keaten

As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research, thousands of scientists in the U.S. lost their jobs or grants…

Continue readingScientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Long COVID May Cause Long-Term Changes in the Heart and Lungs and May Lead to Cardiac and Pulmonary Diseases

Published May 6, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Mount Sinai Health System
Published on:

Mount Sinai study suggests COVID-19 infection should be considered a risk factor for future cardiopulmonary conditions

New York, NY (May 6, 2025) — Patients suffering from long COVID may exhibit persistent inflammation in the heart and lungs for up to a year following SARS-CoV-2 infection—even when standard medical tests return normal results—potentially placing them at elevated risk for future cardiac and pulmonary conditions. These findings come from a new study conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published April 30, in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The study, the largest of its kind using advanced PET/MRI imaging, discovered significant abnormalities in cardiovascular and pulmonary tissues, as well as altered levels of circulating immune-regulating proteins, in long COVID patients. These abnormalities could serve as early warning signs of diseases such as heart failure, valvular heart disease, and pulmonary hypertension.

Continue readingLong COVID May Cause Long-Term Changes in the Heart and Lungs and May Lead to Cardiac and Pulmonary Diseases
Comments closed
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

VA study: Pfizer COVID booster 68% effective against hospitalization

Published May 2, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Stephanie Soucheray

A study published earlier this week in Nature Communications using claims data from the US Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System finds protection from the 2024-25 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was 68%, 57%, and 56% against COVID-19–associated hospitalizations, emergency department and urgent care (ED/UC) visits, and outpatient visits, respectively.

However, the authors caution that uptake of the vaccine was extremely low—only 3.7% through November 2024—and the study did not assess waning effectiveness.

The study estimated early BNT162b2 KP.2 (2024-25 formulation) vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 outcomes compared to not receiving the vaccine.

Continue readingVA study: Pfizer COVID booster 68% effective against hospitalization
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Possible treatments for long COVID at the centre of new Western study

Published April 24, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
Published on:
By Bailey Shakyaver

More than 300 patients across four continents are at the centre of a Western long COVID study, which hopes to find an effective treatment for those who struggle with long COVID.

The study will look to trial two anti-inflammatory medicines as potential treatments, and hopes to bring into view people who struggle with the disease outside of North America.

“Despite the global prevalence of long COVID, patients report different symptoms and their presentation can be influenced by where they happen to live,” said Dr. Douglas Fraser, professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. “A study with global reach, tailored to examine each patient’s most severe symptoms, has the potential to bring hope to people well beyond Canada and the U.S.”

Continue readingPossible treatments for long COVID at the centre of new Western study
Comments closed
Topic: ME/CFSView all posts for the topic: ME/CFS

ME/CFS cases in England higher than first projected

Published April 22, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The University of Edinburgh
Published on:

Almost two-thirds more people are living with ME/CFS in England than previously thought, a study says.

The new estimate suggests that approximately 404,000 people are affected by ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome), a 62 per cent rise from the previously accepted figure of 250,000.

Continue readingME/CFS cases in England higher than first projected
Comments closed
Volunteers needed to test no-needle COVID vaccine made in HamiltonPhoto of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The building features a glass-walled atrium. In the foreground, there are some trees with green leaves. Photo by Captain108 / Wikimedia Commons.
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Volunteers needed to test no-needle COVID vaccine made in Hamilton

Published April 21, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Hamilton Spectator
Published on:
By Joanna Frketich

A made-in-Hamilton COVID vaccine that requires no needles is moving to the next stage of testing and researchers are looking for volunteers to take part.

The vaccine that is inhaled instead of injected will be studied by McMaster University researchers with $8 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Continue readingVolunteers needed to test no-needle COVID vaccine made in Hamilton
Comments closed
Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

Internal budget document reveals extent of Trump’s proposed health cuts

Published April 16, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Washington Post
Published on:
By Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Rachel Roubein, Joel Achenbach, Lauren Weber

The Trump administration is seeking to deeply slash budgets for federal health programs, a roughly one-third cut in discretionary spending by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a preliminary budget document obtained by The Washington Post.

The HHS budget draft, known as a “passback,” offers the first full look at the health and social service priorities of President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget as it prepares to send his 2026 fiscal year budget request to Congress. It shows how the Trump administration plans to reshape the federal health agencies that oversee food and drug safety, manage the nation’s response to infectious-disease threats and drive biomedical research.

Continue readingInternal budget document reveals extent of Trump’s proposed health cuts
Comments closed
Topic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues

Is Covid Rewriting the Rules of Aging? Brain Decline Alarms Doctors

Published April 14, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Wall Street Journal
Published on:
By Sumathi Reddy

Five years after the pandemic’s start, millions of Americans are still struggling with long-lasting symptoms of Covid-19. Cognitive difficulties are among the most troubling and common symptoms in people both old and young.

These ailments can be severe enough to leave former professionals like Ken Todd unable to work and even diagnosed with a form of mild cognitive impairment.

Continue readingIs Covid Rewriting the Rules of Aging? Brain Decline Alarms Doctors
Comments closed
Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts

Published April 10, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Nature
Published on:
By Max Kozlov, Chris Ryan

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated nearly 800 research projects at a breakneck pace, wiping out significant chunks of funding to entire scientific fields, finds a Nature analysis of the unprecedented cuts.

The administration of US President Donald Trump began purging NIH-funded studies on topics that it deems problematic less than 50 days ago, continuously expanding its list to include research on topics ranging from COVID-19 to misinformation. Hundreds of the 30,000-plus scientists funded by the NIH yearly have been forced to halt their work after receiving notices that their research “no longer effectuates agency priorities”, and some have had to fire personnel or even shut down their laboratories.

Continue readingHow Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Studies: 1 in 7 US working-age adults report long COVID, with heaviest burden on the poor

Published April 9, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Mary Van Beusekom

Nearly 1 in 7 working-age US adults had experienced long COVID by late 2023, and socially disadvantaged adults were over 150% more likely to have persistent symptoms, two new studies find.

Future public health, economic burdens

Yesterday in Communications Medicine, Daniel Kim, MD, DrPH, of Northeastern University, analyzed data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from September and November 2022 and August to October 2023 on more than 375,000 US adults, including nearly 50,000 with self-reported long COVID.

Kim assessed sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors as predictors of long COVID; estimated the risk of unemployment, financial difficulties, and anxiety and depression among working-age adults (ages 18 to 64 years) and those currently experiencing lingering symptoms; and tallied the economic effects of the resulting lost wages.

Continue readingStudies: 1 in 7 US working-age adults report long COVID, with heaviest burden on the poor
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Tackling the ‘silent pandemic’: breakthrough study puts first long COVID treatment on horizon

Published April 8, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: WEHI
Published on:

Researchers have shown a new drug compound can prevent long COVID symptoms in mice – a landmark finding that could lead to a future treatment for the debilitating condition.

The world-first study found mice treated with the antiviral compound, developed by a multidisciplinary research team at WEHI, were protected from long term brain and lung dysfunction – key symptoms of long COVID.

Researchers hope the unprecedented results could lead to clinical trials and the first treatment for the disease in the future.

Continue readingTackling the ‘silent pandemic’: breakthrough study puts first long COVID treatment on horizon
Comments closed
Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

Top scientists pen letter calling for end to ‘assault on U.S. science’

Published April 1, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC Radio
Published on:
By Catherine Zhu

Nearly 2,000 doctors, researchers, and scientists have signed an open letter calling for an end to what they describe as the Trump administration’s “wholesale assault on U.S. science.”

The letter, written by 13 scientists from disciplines including medicine, climate science and economics, urges Americans to demand their Congress protect scientific funding and integrity.

The signatories, all members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, wrote that the Trump administration is “destabilizing this enterprise by gutting funding for research, firing thousands of scientists, removing public access to scientific data, and pressuring researchers to alter or abandon their work on ideological grounds.”

Continue readingTop scientists pen letter calling for end to ‘assault on U.S. science’
Comments closed
Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

Rollout of ‘miracle’ HIV prevention drug is threatened by Trump cuts to global AIDS relief program

Published April 1, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: STAT
Published on:
By Ed Silverman, Jason Mast

The Trump administration’s enormous cuts to a global AIDS relief program threaten to upend the planned rollout of a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug that was expected to save countless lives.

The medicine, lenacapavir, made by Gilead Sciences, has caused a stir because clinical trial data showed a single set of injections every six months could provide virtually complete protection against infection, a form of prevention known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or (PrEP). The drug, which is under regulatory review, has raised hopes that the deadly infectious disease can be mitigated around the globe. Early data for an even newer formulation suggest it might need to be given only once a year. “This is magical,” UNAIDS chief Winnie Byanyima declared last year.

Continue readingRollout of ‘miracle’ HIV prevention drug is threatened by Trump cuts to global AIDS relief program
Comments closed
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

COVID-19 boosters help avoid breakthrough infections in immunocompromised people, McGill-led study finds

Published March 31, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: McGill University
Published on:

Researchers focused on those with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases

New research findings provide solid evidence that annual COVID-19 vaccine booster doses continue to be advisable for certain immunocompromised people, researchers at McGill University say.

The researchers looked at how often people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) got COVID-19 despite having received at least three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. IMIDs – including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis – affect more than seven million Canadians. The medications they take often weaken their vaccine responses, increasing their vulnerability to infection.

Continue readingCOVID-19 boosters help avoid breakthrough infections in immunocompromised people, McGill-led study finds
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

‘Something was wrong with my brain’: How covid leaves its mark on cognition

Published March 27, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Washington Post
Published on:
By Richard Sima

In March 2020, Hannah Davis fell ill, and everything changed. Her respiratory symptoms were mild, but the neurological and cognitive fallout was frightening.

“I could tell very early on that something was wrong with my brain,” she said after getting sick with covid-19.

And Davis had quantitative proof — her score for processing speed on a cognitive test dropped from the 96th percentile right before the pandemic to the 14th percentile after her coronavirus infection.

Continue reading‘Something was wrong with my brain’: How covid leaves its mark on cognition
Comments closed
Topic: wastewater monitoringView all posts for the topic: wastewater monitoring

Measles ‘inevitable’ in Ottawa, expert warns as Ontario outbreak spreads

Published March 26, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on:
By Elizabeth Payne

Ottawa Public Health has begun monitoring wastewater for evidence of measles in the city as the highly infectious disease continues to surge throughout Ontario.

That makes Ottawa one of the only communities in the province and across Canada using wastewater as a possible early warning signal for measles. Ottawa Public Health says the tool is promising for detecting measles, but the research is limited and “many unknowns remain”.

There have been no cases in Ottawa so far this year but Dr. Gregory Rose, who is director of infection prevention and control at Queensway Carleton Hospital, warns that it is only a matter of time.

Continue readingMeasles ‘inevitable’ in Ottawa, expert warns as Ontario outbreak spreads
Comments closed