Health & Fitness

Several FDA-approved drugs -- including for type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C and HIV -- significantly reduce the ability of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 to replicate in human cells, according to new research. Specifically, the team found that these drugs inhibit certain viral enzymes, called proteases, that are essential for SARS-CoV-2 replication in infected human cells.

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The effect of iron supplementation on skeletal muscle atrophy in cancer patients and sufferers from other wasting diseases has been investigated by scientists who studied causes of these conditions in humans and mouse models. The findings shed light on wasting mechanisms in advanced stage cancer patients, for whom prevalence of devastating skeletal muscle atrophy known generally as cachexia reaches 80 percent.

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In a new paper, researchers lay out the similarities in biochemical function among PLpros (papain-like proteases) from SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and those of other SARS-like viruses already circulating among bats and other species.

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A new study shows that blood sugar levels of COVID-19 patients newly diagnosed with diabetes during hospital admission often returned to normal following discharge, and that only eight percent used insulin after one year.

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Genetic genealogy has become a popular hobby over the past several years, thanks to direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing and relative-finder services offered by some DTC genetic testing companies. Researchers now report results from a survey that asked people who had participated in these services what effect the discovery of previously unknown relatives had on their lives.

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Researchers have discovered a new type of stem cell that resembles cells in the early human embryo during the transition of 'genomic power' from mother to embryo. During this major developmental event the genome is reset and reorganized with large numbers of embryonic genes being expressed for the first time. If unsuccessful, further embryo development fails or there may be implications for later developmental stages. The newly identified stem cells provide the closest model available to study this process without the need for human embryos. This model of the early embryo will allow the study of human genome activation in a much more detailed way, providing important functional insights into genome regulation, developmental disorders, and early embryo loss.

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Researchers have uncovered how a process involved in the regeneration of tissue damaged by radiation can aid the spread of cancer.

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