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By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) – The following is a round-up of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Study suggests possible link between coronavirus and type 1 diabetes
A small study in Britain suggests researchers should consider whether COVID-19 increases the risk of type 1 diabetes. Cases of type 1 diabetes in children may have increased during the peak of the UK epidemic of COVID-19, scientists said Monday in the Diabetes Care journal in a study based on 30 cases in two hospitals. Compared to a typical year, this was an 80% increase, they said. “When we investigated further, some of these children had active coronavirus or had previously been exposed to the virus,” said Karen Logan, co-author of the study, from St. Mary’s Hospital in London. In type 1 diabetes – formerly known as juvenile diabetes – the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed, which prevents the body from making enough insulin to regulate blood sugar. The researchers said one explanation could be that the new coronavirus could attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. “More research is needed to establish if there is a definitive link … but in the meantime, we hope clinicians will be aware of it,” Logan said. (https://bit.ly/3gg2q8O; https://reut.rs/2YgEhZQ)
Breath test screening for COVID-19 looks promising
It may one day be possible to screen for COVID-19 in large populations using breathing tests, the researchers said. Their new breathalyzer features sensors made of gold nanoparticles bound to specially selected molecules capable of detecting disease-specific chemical biomarkers from expired breath, they reported in the journal ACS Nano on Tuesday. In a pilot study in Wuhan, China, in March, a team of Chinese and Israeli researchers tested the device in 49 COVID-19 patients, 58 healthy controls, and 33 people with non-COVID lung infections. In this small study, the device showed 100% sensitivity in identifying patients with COVID-19 and distinguishing them from patients with other lung infections, but was less effective at correctly identifying those without COVID-19. The researchers said their device is not intended to replace gold standard diagnostic tests, but if its reliability can be proven in larger studies, it could be useful “for rapid screening of a large population in a short time “in public places such as airports, shopping malls and train stations or in the community, for the early detection of the disease in asymptomatic contagious persons. (https://bit.ly/3j0Jqgx)
Odor and taste loss differs with COVID-19 compared to the common cold
The alterations in smell and taste associated with the new coronavirus are different from what people experience with a cold and are likely linked to nerve damage, a new study suggests. The researchers did scent and taste tests on 10 patients with COVID-19, 10 people with bad colds and 10 healthy people. Unlike people with colds, patients with COVID-19 could breathe freely and did not tend to have a runny or stuffy nose. In addition, they could not detect bitter or sweet tastes, and overall they had more severe taste impairment. The original SARS virus, which caused a worldwide respiratory disease outbreak in 2003, can enter the brain, the researchers noted in a report published Wednesday in the journal Rhinology, and they said their new findings support the hypothesis that COVID-19 also infects the brain and central nervous system. “Of particular interest is that COVID-19 appears to particularly affect sweet and bitter taste receptors, as they are known to play an important role in innate immunity,” study co-author Carl Philpott of Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia in Britain said in a statement. “More research is needed to see if genetic variation in people’s bitter and sweet taste receptors could predispose them to COVID-19.” (https://bit.ly/2En6TZZ)
Blood vessel cells rupture in severe COVID-19
Blood clots, a well-known complication of COVID-19, are at least partially due to damage to the endothelium, or the walls of blood vessels, the researchers suspected. Now, a study confirms that severe COVID-19 is linked to “marked and widespread” damage to blood vessels, with a high number of cells that typically make up the linings of the blood vessels break off and circulate in the blood. As reported on Wednesday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers in France measured the levels of so-called circulating endothelial cells detached from injured vessels in 99 COVID-19 hospital patients. Levels were significantly higher in intensive care unit patients and correlated with patients’ inflammatory protein levels, disease severity scores, and length of hospital stay. The researchers tested each patient’s blood only once, so they couldn’t discern how injuries to the linings of the blood vessels might evolve as the disease worsens. Yet, they said, the lining of the blood vessels plays a key role in maintaining vascular stability and function, the flow of blood to organs and the regulation of blood clotting, and any endothelial damage. would alter these functions. (https://bit.ly/3hciKZr)
Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3a5EyDh in an external browser for a Reuters graphic on vaccines and treatments in development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Kate Kelland; Editing by Will Dunham)
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