Medicine - Science topic

Articles that share the history and development of medicine in the UK, any aspect of medicine and medical education.

Hello and regards, our study investigates the relationship between latent toxoplasmosis and different aspects of personality. It is part of my research (Ashkan Latifi, postgraduate student of psychology at University of Tehran- Iran) in partial fulfilment of the requirements of my master’s degree. By filling in this questionnaire, you have been of great help to me and to those with toxoplasmosis in the area of ​​psychology. In addition, by optionally sharing your email with me, you allow me to inform you of any possible toxoplasmosis-associated psychological problems in you under the supervision of two professors of University of Tehran (Dr. Abbas Rahiminezhad, psychologist and Dr. Reza Rostami, psychiatrist) for free. You can participate in this study if you have toxoplasmosis (other than congenital toxoplasmosis) and are at least 18 years old. The approximate response time to the questionnaire is ten to fifteen minutes. Thank you in advance for your participation in this research.

Link to the questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Qvu3J0MuXz56r1d1dZtpWBYHKUmXDByx_3eQ37LRsg0/viewform?edit_requested=true

The triangular theory of love by Sternberg, characterises love in an interpersonal relationship using three different dimensions: intimacy, passion, and commitment.According to this theory different stages and types of love can be categorised by different combinations of these three elements. My question is this: does this model fully capture the essense of what we call love. Can love not also have other attributes, we can have feelings of love towards a person without having either commitment, passion or intimacy, some people are asexual for example and lack commitment, others such as teenagers lack the understanding of what love is. Do you agree with this theory or do you like me see problems associated with such a sharp division of element of human affects. Best wishes Henrik

Does anyone have soft copy of book "Epidemiology of Medicine" by Henneken. Please share.

The extensive successful use in people of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 suggests they mark a key scientific breakthrough with broad impacts. These breakthrough vaccines are notable for combining two advances examined for years in the laboratory: pseudouridine modified mRNA and its encapsulation in lipid nanoparticles. Pseudouridine has been used in nucleotides for years to stabilize and study key protein-nucleotide complexes (e.g. Parikh et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 May 9;97(10):5083-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.97.10.5083. PMCID: PMC25785 ). In fact, Pseudouridine (Ψ) is the most abundant RNA modification and has been termed the 5th base of RNA (Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 16 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.628415). Similarly Lipid nanoparticles have been used and studied for over 20 years (e.g. Puri et al. Crit Rev Ther Drug Carrier Syst. 2009; 26(6): 523–580. PMCID: PMC2885142). Yet the combination of mRNA modification by N1-methylpseudouridine to increase safety and efficacy with lipid nanoparticles to encapsulate mRNA for its protection and delivery made the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines feasible. Importantly, this transformative combination seems applicable to other vaccines and approaches suggesting it is worth considering the many possible applications that may advance biotechnology and human health.

Students pursuing medicine are constantly exposed to the risk of mental exhaustion and the sequalae that follows, which affects their mental health adversely. What would you as an instructor do to make sure our students don't fall prey to mental illness?

Patented medicines are expensive making it difficult for the lower or middle class families to afford it. If a certain medicine is helpful to the society, what can the government do to regulate the market, so that the socio-economic surplus is as large as possible while not taking away the company's patented rights.

The field of life-science and mathematics are always intermixing with each other, however, the COVID-19 has brought them more closely than before. Many researchers have developed fractional differential equations in life sciences. For example anomalous diffusion in cell membranes, epidemiological models, etc. I am particularly interested to know if there are applications of fractional differential equations in medicine?

It is reported by NBC that "Up to July 9, just over 200,000 cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed in kids and young people in the U.S. in total. But from July 9 through Aug. 6, an additional 179,990 pediatric cases were reported — an increase of 90 percent in just four weeks. What changed? is covid-19 changing or our early understanding of it was wrong?

It may be in your education and experience that you deal with the structure of organic medicines. Which combination do you think is most common in organic medicine?

For example, many drugs have carboxylic acid in their structure. In your opinion, which compounds play an important role in the structure of the largest number of drugs?

Thanks

AI showed its promise in many fields, but most of researches in AI application on medicine is still "proof-of concept". So how do clinicians feel about AI? What are clincians' concerns about it?

Dear Research Gate Members,

It has been observed worldwide that the individual with weak immune system can be easily attacked by Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19). The prominent health experts are also suggesting to improve immune system against Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19).

Please, share your expert suggestions on the following question.

How can we strengthen our immune system to fight against Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) spread?

Thanks & Regards

To all who currently work in healthcare,

Please complete the questionnaire "COVID Vaccine Hesitancy in healthcare workers" developed by the Infectious Diseases-International Research Initiative (ID-IRI). It will only take you 5 minutes!

This study aims to identify the factors influencing the willingness to accept or refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. The survey is available in several languages.

Thanks in advance for your time and collaboration.

In English:

In French: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmw0Hv2YsHswUXL6Eq3rPjeS0Oq7NhWmXhlndNbk_HUeMV0Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

In Italian:

In Persian:

In Russian: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiucT7xguRjJpGq38Zgo14BZHzUCKH24S53_D2bdGFpCblbg/viewform?usp=sf_link

In Serbian: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFexuR547yau0JA1m76wLkHW0l1D81AgR07KxNIr40_BuoYw/viewform?usp=sf_link

In Spanish: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdyTRUj5PCkrmQZfmx6wlKF7rVHHZakERSALPSoPm0eoQ3PLg/viewform?usp=pp_url

In recent years, ecological innovations have also been created on the basis of other non-ecology science. Ecological innovations are mainly created, among others, in the field of renewable energy sources, improvement of waste segregation techniques, recycling, treatment of polluted water, reclamation of a devastated natural environment, energy-efficient construction, electromobility etc. However, more and more eco-innovations, new technological solutions, technical improvements that fit in sustainable pro-ecological economic development also arises in many other fields of science.

In view of the above, are examples of pro-ecological undertakings, technological improvements compatible with sustainable ecological development or ecological innovations that are also created in one of the following or other related fields of science, for example: Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Anthropology Theory, Medicine, Electrical Engineering , Artificial Intelligence, Genetics, Business Administration, Risk Management, Big Data, Business Intelligence, Automation & Robotics, Climatology, Agriculture, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Medical Intelligence, Artificial Neural Networks, Ecosystem Analysis, Power Engineering, Construction, Food production, Forest ecology, Biology, Geoscience, Government Programs, Behavioral Sciences, Biodiversity Assessment, Green Architecture, Greenhouse, Waste, Household Products, Information Society, Innovation Management, International Entrepreneurship, Internet Technologies, Knowledge Creation, Bioelectric Energy gy Sources, Business Model Innovation, Cataclysmic Variables, Chromatography, Clean Energy, Cleantech, Climate Prediction, Collaborative Innovation, Commercialization, Computational Intelligence, Computer Science and Engineering, Conservation Biology, Consumer Behavior, Corporate Governance, Creative Economy, Crisis Communication, Cyber ​​Security, Data Analysis, Database Administration, Development Cooperation, Digital Ecosystems, Discovery, Earth Sciences, Earthquake Forecasting and Geocataclysm, Econometric Analysis, Economic Integration, Economics of Innovation, Ecosystem Engineering, Electricity, Electronic Systems, Energetic Materials, Energy Technologies, Environment, Environmental Biodegradation, Flora, Food Consumption Life Sciences, Logistics Management, Materials for Sustainable Energy, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Nanomaterials, New Media Technology, Recycling, Physics of Global Warming, Plant Protection, Predictive Analytics, Production Planning, Project Development, Public Eco nomics, Public Policy, Public Policy, Sociobiology, Space Science, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Development Strategies, Technology Forecasting, Transport Economics, Water Resources, Weather Forecasting, Wildlife Conservation, World Economy, ...?

In view of the above, the current question is: Will ecological innovations be created in the 21st century on the basis of other sciences besides ecology?

Please, answer, comments. I invite you to the discussion.

RNA vaccines follow a different strategy, without using any "real" component of the virus at all. Instead, researchers aim to trick the human body into producing a specific virus component on its own. Since only this specific component is built, no complete virus can assemble itself. Nevertheless, the immune system learns to recognize the non-human components and trigger a defense reaction. So May I ask, What are your opinions about the safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine?

Dear Fellows

With the developing stories of the spread of COVID-19 all around the world, which has been declared as a pandemic by WHO recently, I am wondering, in how much time this virus would vanish from the surface of the Earth? Is there any scientific study available for this?

Please share your opinions.

Blockchain-as-a-Service(BaaS) in the fields of medicine, economics or other fields?

Hello,

I am seeking recommendations from the Research Gate community regarding studies about

the IT and Artificial intelligence solutions to assisting medical emergency cases.

What are the perspectives and future works that could be done in this area?

Best regards,

If the ambient temperature is very cold, below -15 degree celcius it's difficult to handle medicine for veterinarians specially in field conditions.

What are the best way to prevent freezing of medicine (in a vial) in lower temperature?

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a grinding halt and no doubt has altered the lives of each one of us. I think COVID-19 also has an impact on our normal research (i.e. related to our relevant field) and diverted us to work on various aspects of coronavirus to help combat the virus.

What's your opinion in this regard?

I am looking forward to designing a Printed Electronics circuit for Pill Reminder/ Medicine Reminder. The circuit is printed on the back of the medicine stip.

I found some interesting circuit which based on IoT, Arduino to get a reminder at a particular set of time. IT cannot possible to fix the smallest microcontroller kit (i.e. ATTO) into medicine stip. I want to make a basic circuit with passive electronics components. Another idea is to design a circuit for a wire-break alarm or reminder with sufficient delay. The IC 555 dose-not possess longer delay and multiple wire-break alarm system.

If you have any ideas please share.

The development of a vaccine for COVID-19 has become a battleground for many countries to prove to the world/their own peoples that their technology is superior and better than the competitors at the international stage. it is always a point of concern when science is serving the political establishment. Russia claimed that they have developed 'the first' Covid-19 vaccine. WHO is raising concern about the validity of this claim and urging Russia to provide sufficient data to back this claim.

Is it possible for the same scenario to be repeated in the US? An election is near and COVID-19 vaccine development can influence the result.

Hello,

I would appreciate it if you could suggest me studies based on natural language processing (NLP) to help assisting medical emergency cases.

I'm looking for an excel sheet to calculate the STS Score. From the website http://riskcalc.sts.org/stswebriskcalc/calculate. Does anyone have a worksheet to calculate the STS Score?

Hello,

My research work focuses on the use of NLP and voice recognition for the medical emergency assistance.

So I would appreciate it if you suggest me some contributions that could be done in this area.

Best regards,

Differences between Telemedicine and conventional medicine? Which is better?

With the appearance of COVID-19 vaccines on the market, many available choices are there.

Which one is good?

Which one is safest?

Which one is most expensive?

Which one is easiest to store?

How many doses are required?

Other than intramuscular injection, any other forms?

How to check immune response after?

Do we need post-injection blood test?

Do we need annual booster dose?

Do we need new vaccines every year by prediction as if flu vaccines?

Any contraindications?

Any allergy from vaccination?

Do we need to mask after injection?

The general public must be made aware of the mode of transmission, presenting symptoms and the measures that can be undertaken to prevent the spread of infection.

Few options- Media, Webinars...

Bacteriophages very effective against infections.

Many of them such as anti-Staphylococcus or anti-Streptococcal widely used in practical medicine.

Some bacteriophages can be oncolytic and effective against cancers.

How Bacteriophages recognize and lyse cancer cells? Mechanism of action ?

There is a continuing accusation by alternative medicine practitioners that their method cannot be proven or their proof is inadequate. The basic principles, diagnostic, nomenclature and medical methods of Western and alternative (eastern) medicine are different. The western is linear and reductive, the eastern is more network-oriented. These require different methods of statistical analysis. Can they be judged by an approach?

I am looking for a board certified psychiatrist with specialty in sleep medicine and addiction medicine? Any referrals?

Do you know any journals in the area of medicine/pediatrics/nutrition that publish protocols of systematic reviews? No APC or Low APC

It is known that scientific knowledge is replicated each time at more unusual speeds, however, humanity expects more from our scientific work, that is, solutions to problems that have accumulated and that it is necessary to solve to improve the quality of life . It would be good to reflect on those expectations.

COVID-19 is mainly a respiratory disease that affects the lung, although other organ structures with endothelium seems to be affected too.

When should we do imaging?

What is the aim of the imaging?

How can it help with management?

Do you agree with the following consensus statement?

How will you adjust your own practice and difficulties encountered? Why?

Ref:

The Role of Chest Imaging in Patient Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement from the Fleischner Society. Chest. 2020 Apr 07.

What is the better option to improve immunity ? Medicine or diet ?

As per Ayurveda, Oja is the Bala (~immunity) which is originated by the Ahara which further nourishes Rasa, Rakta etc Dhatu and Finally it converted in Oja.

Deep Reinforcement Learning Training course

Time: January 15-January 18

DeepLearning Training course

Time: January 27-January 30

(Report for three days on the first day; Deploy the computer test in advance)

III. Lecture 1:

Course 1. Introduction to Intensive Learning

Course 2. Strengthen the foundation of learning

Course 3. Deeply strengthen the foundation of learning

Course 4, Multi-agent Deep Intensive Learning

Course 5. Multi-task deep intensive learning

Course 6. Strengthen learning and application

Course 7. Simulation Experiment

Course 8. Supplementary courses

IV. Lecture 2:

Lesson 1: Tensorflow Beginners to Proficiency:

Lesson 2: Image Classification:

Lesson 3: Object Detection:

Lesson 4: Face Recognition:

Lesson 5: Algorithm Implementation:

1. Convolutional neural network CNN

2. Circulating neural network RNN

3. Strengthen learning DRL

4. Antagonistic generation network GAN

5. Transfer learning TL

6. Specific examples of practical medicine, remote sensing images, oil exploration and intelligent transportation

Contact person: Li Luxin (teacher)

Mobile phone: 13311241619

QQ: 1942892948 (same as WeChat)

Strengthen learning QQ exchange group number: 872395038 (add group remarks: Li Luxin invited)

Deep learning-distance online course QQ group number: 1057802989 (plus group remarks: Li Luxin invited)

Discussions could be in any area e.g. medicine, engineering, biomedical engineering, microbiology, etc.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Best wishes Henrik & Ruslana

May the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity.

Wishing you a joyous 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Do you know of any applications that help adjust references in a manuscript to a journal's stylesheet? I am familiar with Mendeley but I was wondering whether there is program that does not require prior uploading cited papers (just as Mendeley does).

Thanks a lot!

Monika

Could we call published papers from all disciplines as SCIENTIFIC PAPER or just we say it for physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, medicine or related things whereas linguistics or i.e. history is same?

Vertigo is a condition that can make it feel like you or your surroundings are spinning, sometimes leading to a loss of balance, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Coronavirus 2019 or COVID-19 is a novel entity which had led to many challenges among physicians due to its rapidly evolving nature. Vertigo or dizziness has recently been described as a clinical manifestation of COVID-19.

So, Are dizziness and vertigo COVID-19 Symptoms? and why?

This discussion section is about to Explore the issues that medical providers - doctors - nurses face during their battle, share your experience on covid unit,

In addition which factors facilitated in supporting you(mentaly and physically)?

How good does the developed protocols and plans of preparedness work on your facility?

Thank you for your time!

I am looking forward to your replies

I am a high school student writing a medical innovation project for a competition. My project involves TALENs gene knockdown and delivering it to the brain via the high-capacity adenoviral vector (HCAdV). The project will be in vivo (mouse models).

I need to write my procedure so I want to understand how TALENs can be packaged in the viral vector. From what I know, plasmids are transfected into cells and they produce the proteins that construct the components of the viral vector. I would greatly appreciate an explanation of how this process works, how TALENs can be packaged in the vector, and any other tips that you might have for my project.

Thanks

As a researcher, you may be frustrated in finding continuous funding for sustaining your research. However, would there be any conflict of interest to be a researcher as well as a fund raiser simultaneously at the same time?

What regulations are there to limit the grey area?

Which authorities were looking on such issue?

What if the fund raising is for charity organizations in the field (particularly pediatrics and rare diseases) and is unrelated to the researcher's work?

In medicine field, the practice of physicians fundraising from their own patients raises three main concerns:

(1) undue pressure on patients to contribute,

(2) possible expectations of preferential treatment from donors, and

(3) concerns about patient confidentiality and trust.

What do you think?

https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26948.24966

In the past 15 years or so, there has been exponential growth of technology in surgery. This new era requires a specialized workforce. The 20th century was truly the age of surgeons; however, the 21st century will be the age of multidisciplinary patient care. One good example is the treatment of cancer patients

Are General Surgery trained personnel perform better in other specialties too?

How are their performance on other surgical specialties?

Any evidence to suggest their skill transferability to other disciplines?

http://www.jcmrp.eg.net/text.asp?2020/5/4/375/301045

http://www.jcmrp.eg.net/article.asp?issn=2357-0121;year=2020;volume=5;issue=4;spage=375;epage=378;aulast=L.

A recently published article Medications for Anxiety: A Drug utilization study in Psychiatry outpatients from a Tertiary Care Centre Of Eastern India. SIDDHARTHA GHOSH, Swati Bhattacharyya, Amit Bhattacharya in Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics is almost the copy of the article published in Nepal journal of Epidemiology. Authors forgot to change the place of their hospital in India instead of our hospital in Nepal Still. Manuscript Published. What to do with this type of Methodological rigor?.

A patient with desminopathy (mutation Thr341Pro DES in a heterozygous state) with the progression of the disease has a decrease in taste and smell, immunosuppression, and an increase in IgA in the blood.

Oddly enough, but all this is characteristic of infections, including viral ones. For example, it is known that if the hepatitis C virus is not treated, then death will occur in 20 years.

In the identified case of late onset desminopathy, muscle weakness manifests itself at the age of 30, and death occurs 20 years after the onset of the disease.

Is it possible to use a medical computed tomography (CT) machine for the inspection of 3D printed parts?

How do you think artificial intelligence can affect medicine in real world. There are many science-fiction dreams in this regard!

but how about real-life in the next 2-3 decades!?

I am trying to make a nano-emulsion to convert a cancer medicine into its more bioavailable form following guidance from this patent

But I made some changes because I can only use food grade off the shelf surfactants(Tween 80 and Sunflower Lecithin). I found another paper using these surfactants and I successfully created a emulsion with 4:3:1 ratio of olive oil:Tween 80:Lecithin.

Unfortunately I don't have a sonicator and the emulsion I end up with is like milk and opaque. I use ultrasonic bath which helped but did not turn the emulsion translucent. When I dilute the emulsion in water(1:100 by volume) the water is still milky and not translucent. But the emulsion is stable, the drug does not precipitate, does not settle and the oil does not separate.

So I believe I am really missing the sonicator here to convert the particle size to <100nm. Any other way you know of creating nano emulsion at home or on the cheap ?

EBM suggests that doctors should avoid prescribing treatments that do not have sufficient or strong evidence in their favor. Decisions made backed only by expert opinions and supported by plausible pathophysiological explanations, although not yet sufficiently proven by high-level clinical studies, are not recommended by EBM in ordinary situations. However, in a serious epidemiological emergency, there is no time for such studies to be available. Under such circumstances, could not (or even should not) doctors agree to provide recommendations to their patients guided by studies or opinions based on unsatisfactory or weak evidence?

Hi there,

I am eager to hear from researchers or clinicians who have used n-of-1 studies for the above purposes. They seem to offer advantages over many other study designs, particularly for when there is little guidance or predictors of outcome on which therapeutic option to choose for a patient. They also seem rare, and most of the literature I've seen so far suggests that they have mostly been used for trying out different medicines.

I'm hoping to hear some encouraging stories of their use, but can see that there may be limitations with implementing them (due to costs / time etc.)

Ayurveda, TM of India, advises to avoid Curd intake in diseases that have Kapha dosha predominance like Diabetes, Respiratory problems; in diseases arising out of Raktha dusti (Blood tissue vitiation) like Skin diseases and also in conditions where the digestive fire (Agni) is weak like during Night time. Regarding this Curd advisory, Ayurveda has very clear fundamental concepts and the findings of which have also been noticed in clinical practice as well.

Here I want to know are there any other Traditional system of medicine which has similar or any other observation about Curd intake?

Dear Colleagues,

My team is planning to conduct a modified version of a scientific survey that was published by a different group a few years ago. We are going to significantly modify the survey and use it to investigate a different clinical population. We will, however, keep some of the questions used in the original survey. How should we best approach this without risking plagiarism?

We will say in future publications that will follow our survey that it is a modified version of a different survey. Which of the options below should we also pursuit:

(1) mention that our survey is a modified version of another survey already in the survey itself,

(2) paraphrase the questions that we will borrow from the original survey?

I will greatly appreciate your suggestions.

Thank you,

Monika Polczynska

integrity is often defined as being honest and having strong moral and ethical principles.

The world certainly needs it very much. Can we teach this quality to our students? should the parents be the ones that teach ethics to their children? Can society or, religious institutions teach this?.

comparative study to treatment ringworm in cattle between( chemical treatment and plant extraction treatment).

When it comes to Ambivalence, it can be a symptom of mental illness but it is also something we experience in our everyday life ( I certainly do, and my wife hates it) . Where would you draw the line between normal ambivalence and pathological ambivalence? Also what is the role of attitudes (if any) towards the object? I wrote an article about attitudes a while ago. The article can be found here:

The word is free..

I had a few students help me with a simple but time-consuming task. The data they helped with will be used in a scientific paper. The students are part of the Student Research Program (SRP) at my institution and they received a class credit for their work with me. Should I include these students as co-authors on the manuscript?

I also had a student volunteer help me on the same research project. The student did not get a class credit for their help. Should the student be a co-author on the paper?

Thank you in advance for your opinions/suggestions.

Monika Polczynska

Hello dear researchers

I have an opportunity to have a series of interview with great Iranian scientists from all over the world on my social media account.

I am listing the possible questions that I can ask!

If you were me, what were the questions that you wanted to ask!?

Please help me with your nice ideas!

University graduates work in various companies and at first, find it difficult since what they learned is of very little or no help in the new job. The work is very specific and very little of it is covered in the university curriculum. should universities focus more on job-specific skills or continue with academic education? what are the consequences?

Global spotlight is on 2020 Nobel prizes which is slated to commence today, Monday October 5, 2020. Many researchers have been mentioned and nominated in various capacities for their discoveries such as;

1. American Mary-Claire King, who discovered the BRCA1 gene responsible for a hereditary form of breast cancer.

2. The duo of Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the US, for their gene-editing technique, the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping tool, a type of genetic “scissors” in cutting mutated gene, and for insertion of a corrected manipulated one.

3. Dennis Slamon, American oncologist for research on breast cancer and the drug treatment Herceptin.

4. Leroy Hood, US gene sequencing pioneer.

5. And host of others.

the gut related diseases like White feaces, white muscle, white gut are doing much damage to shrimp by retarding growth and increasing FCR and eventually heavy losses. is there any medicine or cure available now apart from preventive measures?

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise worldwide, experts are faced with a critical question: can a person catch the disease a second time? The answer to this question influences, among other things, the prospects of the vaccine and its ability to protect us from the disease.

In late August and earlier this month, news reports of COVID-19 reinfections surfaced from different parts of India – Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

On September 15, 2020, researchers from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida, and the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi, uploaded a preprint paper confirming two cases of reinfection from India. The patients – a 25-year-old male and a 28-year-old female, both healthcare workers in the Noida hospital – got infected with a different variant of the virus the second time, about three and a half months after their first infection. The next day, the IGIB team also confirmed reinfection in four Mumbai healthcare workers, although the report is yet to appear online.

The healthcare workers from Noida had more viral particles than when they got infected the first time, although they remained asymptomatic. The researchers also noted that the viral strain they were reinfected with contained a mutation that wasn’t present earlier, and which allowed the virus to resist neutralising antibodies – the kind of antibodies that prevent the virus’s entry into the body.

This is probably the first report of asymptomatic infection and reinfection, and it calls for better surveillance.

“As a significantly large number of people who are infected are asymptomatic, without surveillance, we would never be able to estimate the real numbers of infection. Therefore, surveillance of healthcare workers, who are at higher risk than the population, would be something really worth considering,” Vinod Scaria, a senior scientist of genome informatics at IGIB and one of the authors of the study, told The Wire Science.

Upasana Ray, a senior scientist of infectious diseases and immunology at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, agreed that long-term patient monitoring is important irrespective of the symptoms. She added that more gene-sequencing data should help us identify and understand the type of virus in circulation, and understand when a new ‘variant’ shows up.

Sequencing the virus’s genome also helps distinguish between reinfection, where the virus enters the body a second time and infects the person, and reactivation, where the virus remains in an inactive state in the body and later becomes active again.

Epidemiologists had speculated on the possibility of reactivation and reinfection of the virus even in April, when about 51 patients in South Korea who had been ‘cured’ of the disease tested positive again. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially proposed that they were cases of reactivation of the virus. But upon further research, they announced that the test results were all false positives: the test kit had detected remnants of the virus that were not infectious.

Other researchers reported the first formal case of reinfection on August 24, 2020, when a 33-year-old man from Hong Kong tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus about four and a half months after the first infection. The reinfection, however, was less severe and the patient was asymptomatic.

One way to confirm reinfection is to test whether viral strains from the two infections are different. This is useful because as the virus mutates, different strains of the virus circulate in different regions at different times. In the Hong Kong case, scientists confirmed that the viral strain involved in the reinfection was different from the first infection. In fact, the reinfection strain was most closely related to a strain circulating in Europe around July-August, where the patient had travelled at the time. The study was published on August 25 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Another case of reinfection has been reported from Nevada, in the US, where – unlike the Hong Kong case – the symptoms were worse when a 25-year-old man contracted the virus a second time. The authors of the preprint paper confirmed this to be a case of reinfection as five nucleotides present at specific places of the viral RNA from the first infection were different in the viral RNA from the second infection.

That said, the authors also considered another possibility: that the virus from the first infection evolved into a different type inside the body. If that were true, this would be the fastest rate of the virus evolving inside a person – nearly four times as fast as is known now.

Mind the rarity

Scientists have also confirmed instances of reinfection in Europe and South America. As of today, ten cases of reinfection have been confirmed from around the world.

These cases raise many questions. For example, are reinfections frequent or rare? Do subsequent infections evoke milder symptoms or worse? Can those who have been infected the second time spread the virus while remaining asymptomatic? And how do reinfections change the prospects of a vaccine?

A syringe with a vaccine is seen ahead of trials by volunteers testing for COVID-19, and taking part in clinical trials for potential vaccines at a research centre in Johannesburg,

In a press conference held on September 15, Balaram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said that although COVID-19 reinfections are possible, they are “very, very rare”, and added that it’s not a matter of serious concern.

Source: https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/covid-19-reinfection-reactivation-reports-gene-sequencing-studies-explainer/

A study by Peeters et al. (2017) suggests that sugar traps cancer in a 'vicious cycle' which make it more aggressive and harder to treat (1). On the question-and-answer site Quora, Ray Schilling, MD, concludes: "there is a connection between the consumption of sugar and starchy foods and various cancers in man. Animal experiments are useful in suggesting these connections, but many clinical trials including the Women’s Health Initiative have shown that these findings are also true in humans. It is insulin resistance due to sugar and starch overconsumption that is causing cancer" (2).

1. Peeters K, Van Leemputte F, Fischer B, Bonini BM, Quezada H, Tsytlonok M, Haesen D, Vanthienen W, Bernardes N, Gonzalez-Blas CB, Janssens V, Tompa P, Versées W, Thevelein JM. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate couples glycolytic flux to activation of Ras. Nat Commun 2017; 8: 922. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01019-z. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01019-z.pdf

2. Schilling R. Why isn't sugar portrayed as bad like cigarettes? https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-sugar-portrayed-as-bad-like-cigarettes

Have you ever imagined how the physically disabled people feel under COVID-19?

Which type of disability is most impacting these minority under COVID-19?

Autism? Cleft patients? Mental health patients? Deaf? Dumb? Blind? Loss of limbs?

How can we help them?

It's 99 days since the first case of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, and we are welcoming the 5th days of 0 new cases of COVID-19 following a week of <10 cases per day.

How should we define the end of a local endemic?

How long should the latent period be defined?

When is it safe to resume social activities?

Should territory wide screening of asymptomatic people be done before declaring the end of endemic?

When will South America (or specifically Argentina) win a science Nobel Prize?

Another year without a Nobel Prize coming to South America

The last time that a South American scientist was awarded with a Nobel Prize was César Milstein, Physiology or Medicine, 1984. Are the richest countries rich because they inverts a lot in science? or they inverts a lot in science because they are rich?

The list is very short: Argentine 3, Brazil 1, Venezuela 1

The literature regarding gender and the distribution of personality traits ( Big five personality traits model as a reference,; McCrae & Costa) are pretty clear. Women score higher on traits such as agreeableness and openness for example. There are some examples in the literature regarding why there is a difference between men and women in terms of personality traits. However how does sociological factors such as the influence asserted by the individuals belonging to social group, ethnic group, culture etc. Can we say that women across the spectrum are more agreeable or open and men are less agreeable according the the big five personality traits model (McCrae & Costa 1985 etc) or are there other markers that also influence out traits...can it be that in some cultures women are less agreeable than men for example or do you think the big five model and the distribution of traits in terms of a gender perspective is universal? Are there any identifiable research gaps in your view? Best wishes Henrik

The homoeopathic medicine consist minerals in it and the same nutrients are essential for the growth and development of the plant. So I asked myself whether the homoeopathic medicine useful for plant nutrition.

A patient with hereditary desminopathy (mutation Thr341Pro DES in a heterozygous state) with disease progression has a significant decrease in taste. How can this fact be explained?

It seem individual's attitude to environment are changing rather than last year due to corona virus issues and challenges. What do you think?

What are different coil shapes used in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation? What are their differences (in induced current)? Do they have different applications?

In your personal experience,How do you manage your life and make a balance between work, family and other related sections!?:)

I would be thrilled to have your points!

Applications of bioinformatics in medicine is a key factor in technological advancement in the field of modern medical technologies.

Please reply

I invite you to the discussion

Thank you very much

Best wishes

Hii expert,

I am a first-year PG student enrolled in Public Health (Community Medicine). I am looking for a list of Scopus/ISI indexed journals with no processing fee. In the area of medical education/public health/community medicine/health science. Please help me. Thank you in advance.

I would like to learn the limitations of statistics in different domains of biological research. How it affects the outcome, future perspectives of medicine in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and effect of causative agents.

What is your take?

There are two theories that are quite similar in nature, but different in substance, The theory of Mind and the theory of Mentaliz(S)ation, sorry, Im allergic to American spelling...pls dont kill me now :-) My understanding of them is this "Both of these concepts, mentalization and the theory of mind, describes processes that are metacognitive in their nature . Mentalization mainly concerns the reflection of affective or emotional mental states. In contrast however the, theory of mind focuses on things epistemic in nature such as beliefs, intentions and persuasions. My idea is that these two theories by them self are incomplete but combining elements of both, gives us a clearer understanding. Cognition and affect can't in my view be separated, they are both part of us as human beings and also a part of other animals. What are your thoughts? Am I wrong or right? I can stand criticism so bring it on...

I often hear from friends negative things about academia, its boring, not connected to reality etc. I have been on and off in academia for 25 years but for the most part I have been in the real world, running businesses and working as a business consultant. I can still feel that in academia there is at least in my field a theoretical knowledge but still people doesn't understand how the real world operates. After university I felt like I knew everything, I knew Kotler backwards and forwards and all the theories..it felt like any way but when I started my first business (during my university years) I felt like I had to relearn everything. This lack of connection to reality was a problem for me and it is something I hear a lot for other business people. "Academics know nothing! ",one friend said and he has a Phd! Perhaps this illustrates the problem?

I guess it is the same in many fields..academia is seen as dry and not connected to the real world. What can be done about this or can anything be done? How do you view your education in relation to your working life? Do you feel your education was relevant? For me...not so much. Later I started to teach and do research but I still have this feeling. How do you feel about academia and the real world? Is academia part of the world we live in or just some "other place"..your thoughts?

Best wishes Henrik

Throughout the world many scientists/researchers, globally hard working to develop relevant drugs/medicines for the treatment of COVID19. Can anyone tell, if there is development, regarding?

You all are well aware that COVID-19 has disrupted every aspect of our lives including K12 and higher education sectors. Keeping in view the WHO recommendations, nations are enforcing social distancing in all fields including primary, secondary, higher secondary and university education. If we think positively, then this culprit COVID-19 is a blessing in disguise as the people are now taking care of personal hygiene, cleanliness of their surroundings and trying their best to improve their immunity. Besides educational institutions are reaching to the students.

During the past three months, the schools and universities around the globe have extended their outreach from a confined classroom to the students` bedrooms. Now the students can learn with more flexibility without wasting their times in travelling to their respective schools. The online mode of education has proven fruitful as it has lead to reduce institutional expenses which they had been spending on building & maintenance of infrastructure, electricity, furniture, multimedia and computing equipment. There is likelihood that tuition fee may be reduced with time if the situation prolongs (god forbid).

Apart from the above facts, I personally believe that online mode of education can not replace laboratory and clinical training of students who are pursuing their undergraduate studies in medicine, dentistry, engineering and such other technical fields.

The big five personality trait model ( McCrae & Costa) describes 5 bipolar dimensions of personality. The model received some criticism but is still generally accepted and perhaps it is the only descriptive model of personality that is "widely" accepted. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this model? Is it complete or not? If not, what is missing?

Best wishes Henrik

I understand vaguely that the first author is supposed to be the one who "did the most work", but what counts as "work" in this comparison? Does "most" mean "more than all the other coauthors together" or just "more than any other coauthor"? What happens when the comparison is unclear? How often is "did the most work" the actual truth, versus a cover story for a more complex political decision?

I realize that the precise answer is different for every paper. I'm looking for general guidelines for how an outsider (like me) should interpret first authorship in your field. Pointers to guidelines from journals or professional societies would be especially helpful.