Facebook and Instagram Launch Features to Support Small Businesses During Coronavirus
Facebook and Instagram have added new features to support small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. About it reported TechCrunch Edition. So, Facebook now has a section called Businesses Nearby, which allows you to see the publications of companies in need of support. The user can adjust the radius (from 2 to 800 kilometers) of the location of companies, send a message or arrange delivery.
Instagram, in turn, launched a new sticker for stories called “Support small business”. With it, users of the service can mention brand accounts and make it possible to preview them. Photos and videos of users marked with a new sticker fall into the general collection of stories that a large number of people see.
Canada will conduct clinical trials of Chinese vaccine from COVID-19
The National Research Center of Canada announced a collaboration with the Chinese company CanSino Biologics Inc., which was one of the first in the world where the vaccine is in clinical trials. This was reported by an American television channel CNN. It is about cooperation with
“This vaccine has great promise. Until an effective vaccine against COVID-19 is created, the virus will continue to destroy all aspects of our society and economy, ”said Ian Stewart, president of the National Research Council (NRC).
He also noted that they will take part in the clinical trials of the vaccine, which they have high hopes for. If they succeed, and then the Chinese authorities approve, the Canadian Research Center will increase vaccine production in Montreal. The next step is to conduct a clinical trial of the human vaccine in the Canadian Health Canada drug regulator.
Cytokine Storm Blocking Drug Detected with COVID-19
The disulfiram drug approved for the treatment of alcoholism has shown effective anti-inflammatory effects in preclinical studies of sepsis. An excessive inflammatory reaction in sepsis is similar to the consequences of COVID-19, so US scientists see the great potential of this drug against a new coronavirus infection.
It turned out that it blocks the key gatekeeper Hasdermin D protein involved in inflammation. Its activation is considered the last stage of pyroptosis – programmed cell death, during which inflammatory cytokines are released in the body.
The results of the first preclinical experiments was published on Harvard University website. In search of Hasdermin D inhibitors, scientists tested over 3,700 candidates and found 22 of the most active compounds. Disulfiram was the most promising.
This opens up new possibilities for preventing excessive inflammation in diseases such as sepsis, gout, bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease and others. However, in a pandemic, all attention is directed to the treatment of COVID-19.
“COVID-19 can cause inflammation similar to sepsis, so the effect of disulfiram must be tested against coronavirus infection,” the authors emphasize. Excessive immune response is one of the main causes of fatal complications with COVID-19, and therefore all potential options for reducing inflammation should be explored.
The combination of three drugs reduces the duration of coronavirus by half
Scientists from Hong Kong introduced results the second phase of clinical trials involving 127 adult patients with COVID-19 who were treated with a combination of three antiviral drugs with standard therapy, including lung ventilation, antibiotics, corticosteroids and other drugs. The experiment showed that early treatment with three drugs is effective and safe in patients with mild and moderate form of COVID-19 and reduces the duration of the disease by almost half. This is a combination of interferon beta-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir and ribavirin. The combined trip was safe and well tolerated, the authors specified. It is important that the effect was higher at the early start of treatment.
“Interferon beta-1b can be a key component of combination treatment and requires further study for COVID-19 therapy,” said study co-author Jenny Law. The drug was developed to treat multiple sclerosis and could potentially increase the body’s ability to fight COVID-19, she said.
The third phase of the experiment should confirm or refute the central role of interferon beta-1b as the basis for treatment. The team also intends to test the therapy in patients with severe COVID-19.
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Cheap antigen test detects lack of COVID-19 in 15 minutes
European scientists have confirmed that COVID-19 antigen tests can be a useful tool in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Although their accuracy is not perfect – they identify only six out of ten patients, this is offset by their speed, low cost and ease of use, which is especially important for poor regions. And their main advantage is actually 100% identification of healthy ones.
Rapid and accurate testing is considered one of the few ways to slow the spread of the virus before the vaccine. Ag Respi-Strip tests from the Belgian company Coris BioConcept have already appeared on sale, capable of diagnosing the presence of infection antigens in just 15 minutes, but their effectiveness has remained the subject of discussion.
A team of European researchers about whose work was able to put an end to this question tells Eurek Alert. They performed a two-step analysis of the accuracy of the new test, first in the laboratory and then on samples of 300 patients with COVID-19.
It turned out that the system detects the presence of infection in 57.6% of cases, and its absence – in 99.5% of cases. At higher levels of infection, the sensitivity of the system increases. According to the authors, although Ag Respi-Strip is noticeably inferior to PCR tests for viral RNA, it can be useful in identifying new foci of disease and screening among the most vulnerable groups.
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