Research

Nasal vaccine may aid fight against new viral variants

The emergence of COVID-19 variants such as delta and omicron have sent scientists scrambling to determine whether existing vaccinations and boosters are still effective against new strains of SARS-Cov-2.

A new response to the rapidly mutating virus might be found right at the door to our lungs, says Yale's Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology.

Discovering new drugs with Darwin

Our body must constantly defend itself against bacteria and viruses. It generates millions of different antibodies, which are selected to recognise the enemy and trigger the best possible immune response. Scientists use these antibodies to for therapeutic purposes to target proteins and disrupt their harmful. However, identifying the small molecules that will form the basis of the drug is a long and tedious process.

Which COVID-19 vaccine works better?

In the first head-to-head comparison of the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, researchers examined the electronic health records of veterans who had received each vaccine. Both vaccines were highly effective in preventing COVID-19 outcomes such as documented infection, hospitalization, and death.

ComCor study: New results on places of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and analysis of the efficacy of messenger RNA vaccines against the Delta variant

From May 23 to August 13, 2021, the Institut Pasteur, in partnership with the French National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), Santé publique France and the Ipsos institute, conducted the fourth part of the ComCor epidemiological study on circumstances and places of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in France. The aim of the study was to identify the socio-demographic factors, places visited and behaviors associated with a higher risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Aspirin is linked with increased risk of heart failure

Aspirin use is associated with a 26% raised risk of heart failure in people with at least one predisposing factor for the condition. That’s the finding of a study published today in ESC Heart Failure, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Predisposing factors included smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Exposure to harmless coronaviruses boosts SARS-CoV-2 immunity

The population's immunity to SARS-CoV-2, achieved either through infection or vaccination, is crucial to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of researchers led by the University of Zurich (UZH) has now discovered another component that contributes to SARS-CoV-2 immunity - previous antibody responses to other, harmless coronaviruses.

Coffee and tea drinking may be associated with reduced rates of stroke and dementia

Drinking coffee or tea may be associated with a lower risk of stroke and dementia, according to a study of healthy individuals aged 50-74 publishing November 16th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Drinking coffee was also associated with a lower risk of post-stroke dementia.

Research & Development

Nasal vaccine may aid fight against new viral variants

Discovering new drugs with Darwin

Which COVID-19 vaccine works better?

ComCor study: New results on places of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and analysis of the efficacy of messenger RNA vaccines against the Delta variant

Aspirin is linked with increased risk of heart failure

Exposure to harmless coronaviruses boosts SARS-CoV-2 immunity

Coffee and tea drinking may be associated with reduced rates of stroke and dementia

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