- Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT) jumps 20% in premarket, in reaction to additional data from a preclinical study evaluating its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
- Results showed a significant 4-5 log (10, 000x - 100,000x) reduction in lung viral load in hamsters that received two oral doses compared to non-vaccinated animals.
- The data also showed comparable mucosal protection between intranasal and oral routes of administration.
- As previously announced, all hamsters that received two oral doses of Vaxart’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate showed no systemic weight loss. Whereas, the unvaccinated animals lost ~9% total weight. Additionally, unvaccinated hamsters had over 2x the relative lung weight of orally vaccinated hamsters.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3635501-vaxart-covidminus-19-vaccine-shows-encouraging-action-in-animal-study
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Vaxart COVID-19 vaccine shows encouraging action in animal study
Corning claims breakthrough glass-ceramic tech can kill COVID-19 virus
- Corning (NYSE:GLW) says that paints and coatings containing its Corning Guardiant technology have demonstrated to kill more that 99.9% of bacteria and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in two hours or less.
- The test was conducted under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval.
- "Our scientists have developed this unique paint additive using our highly engineered glass-ceramic technology. We are excited about the new lab results and look forward to working with our valued partner PPG," says chairman and CEO Wendell P. Weeks.
- Corning Guardiant contains copper, which is said to exhibit antimicrobial efficacy when applied to surfaces, consistently reducing germs on contact.
- Alongside, collaborating with leading paint and coatings manufacturers around the world, including PPG, Corning currently seeks EPA registration for its paint product formulated with Corning Guardiant.
- https://seekingalpha.com/news/3635544-corning-claims-breakthrough-glass-ceramic-technology-can-kill-covidminus-19-virus
CureVac COVID-19 vaccine candidate stable at cool temp
In apparent response to the news that Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech's (NASDAQ:BNTX) COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 requires storage at a frigid minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, CureVac (NASDAQ:CVAC) announces that its candidate, CVnCoV, is stable for at least three months at +41 degrees Fahrenheit (+5 Celsius) which is standard refrigerator temperature. It is also stable for up to 24 hours at room temp in a ready-to-use setting.
CVnCoV, an mRNA vaccine, is currently being tested in a Phase 1 study in 284 healthy adult volunteers and in a Phase 2 trial in 691 healthy adults (one and two doses). A large-scale pivotal trial, required to support an EUA application, has not even begun.
Pfizer and BioNTech are weeks away from an EUA application in the U.S. Approval may happen as early as year-end.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Report: Children lose basic skills under virus restrictions
Some young children have forgotten how to eat with a knife and fork and others have regressed back into diapers as the coronavirus pandemic and related school closures take a toll on young peoples' learning, the U.K. education watchdog said Tuesday.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills., known as Ofsted, published five reports based on findings from more than 900 visits to education and social care providers across England since September. Some of the children most affected by the disruption of the pandemic were those in their earliest years of education with working parents, who "experienced the double whammy of less time with parents and less time with other children," chief inspector Amanda Spielman said.
She said teachers reported some toilet-trained students needing to use diapers again and "others who had forgotten some basic skills they had mastered, such as eating with a knife and fork—not to mention the loss of early progress in words and numbers."
Among older children, some had fallen behind in math, struggled with literacy and concentration or lost physical fitness, the report said. Others showed signs of mental distress, which showed up in increased eating disorders and self-harm.
While most children have lost ground in their learning to various degrees since March, some have coped well because they spent quality time with parents and caregivers, Spielman said.
Schools and childcare settings were closed to most children in March as the coronavirus pandemic first hit Britain hard. Since September, all children in England have attended in-person classes. Schools and universities were allowed to stay open under a new lockdown in England that started last week.
Officials in Wales, which has often imposed stricter COVID-19 restrictions compared to England, announced Tuesday that crucial exams for secondary school students will be canceled for 2021 amid ongoing school disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said that the pandemic has made it "impossible to guarantee a level playing field for exams to take place," and the decision "removes pressure from learners."
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-children-basic-skills-virus-restrictions.html
How to host a safe holiday meal during coronavirus – an epidemiologist explains
Like many people in this unusual year, I am adjusting my family's holiday plans so that we can all be safe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
I am an epidemiologist and mother of four with a large extended family. Given the serious nationwide resurgence of COVID-19 infections, gatherings of family and friends over the upcoming holidays have the potential to amplify the spread of the virus. Several recent studies have further confirmed that indoor socializing at home carries a significantly higher risk of viral transmission than outdoor activities. Health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have warned that much of transmission this fall is happening across all age groups at small indoor gatherings.
For the past 15 years my family tradition is to travel from Washington, D.C., along with both grandparents, to sunny Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with cousins. This year we decided to skip the travel and will have fall and winter celebrations at home.
We are not canceling the holidays, but to keep ourselves and others safe, we are keeping plans small and flexible and remembering that the health of those we love is most important as we enter the season of gratitude.
Before you gather
First, it is important that everyone who will be attending any holiday celebration is on the same page about how to take precautions before getting together. The idea is to lower infection risk in the weeks leading up to the holidays and then test to confirm.
In general, everyone should plan to be vigilant in their public health practices beforehand, especially since grandparents are at higher risk. In my family, we have agreed to limit contact with other people as much as possible the week before Thanksgiving. We have also agreed that everyone needs to be extra cautious around the few close people we see regularly.
In conjunction with quarantining, testing is the second strategy.
Research has consistently shown that people are most contagious a day or two before they show symptoms, so everyone plans to get tested with an RT-PCR test within 72 hours of Thanksgiving, while still being able to get results in hand before we gather.
If the demand for tests is high and wait times are long, we will get rapid tests. But these are a second choice, as they are less reliable and can be expensive.
Where and how to eat and socialize
No matter how careful you and your family are, there is some risk that someone will be infected. With that in mind, the goal is to reduce the conditions that lead to viral spread. The biggest risks are indoor spaces with poor ventilation, large groups and close contact. So we are planning the opposite: a short outdoor Thanksgiving with a small group and plenty of space between everyone.
To reduce the risk of infection from flying and to keep the gathering small, the only people coming to Thanksgiving at my family's home in D.C. are my mother, my aunt and my uncle—all of whom live within driving distance. This is in addition to myself, my husband and our kids. When deciding how many people will come to the holidays, keep it small and consider the amount of space you have to maintain social distancing.
If the weather cooperates, we plan to be outside for trivia games and the turkey meal. Rather than eat around one table, we will have individual tables and place settings spaced far apart and space heaters around. I've got a mini care package planned for each guest so that everyone will have their own blanket, hand sanitizer, utensils and a festive mask. My mother won't be helping out in the kitchen this year and, unfortunately, that goes for cleanup too. We won't take a group picture but I will be sure to capture some of the special moments.
If the weather doesn't cooperate, Plan B is to be inside in the large family room with as many windows open as possible and with everyone spaced as far apart as possible. Being outside is safer, but if you must be indoors, improve ventilation by opening doors and windows. Consider turning on exhaust fans and using an air purifier.
Everyone who lives in the household will be in one section while my mom will have her own individual area, as will my aunt and uncle. Even though we won't hold hands before sharing the meal, we will still recite that we are "thankful for family, friends and food."
Whether outside or inside, everyone will wear masks when they aren't eating, maintain 6 feet of distance and use the hand sanitizer that I will place throughout the house.
It is also important to be mindful of alcohol consumption, as a pandemic is not the time for lowered inhibitions and bad judgment.
After the event
I hope everyone enjoys the meal and quality time spent with one another in this melancholy year, but the work is not done once the dishes are clean and everyone is home safely.
Everyone is planning to get another COVID–19 test one week after the meal. Additionally, Thanksgiving is our family's trial run for Christmas, so a few days after, I plan to call everyone and discuss what worked well and what didn't. If all goes well, I hope to repeat this quarantine, test and gather process for Christmas.
The ending of 2020 deserves to be celebrated, given this difficult year. This Thanksgiving will be different from those of other years, and my kids understand they need to manage their expectations. But we still plan to uphold our tradition of writing all that we are thankful for and reading our messages aloud to one another. We will still share love, some laughs and a good meal while everyone does their part to protect one another.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-host-safe-holiday-meal-coronavirus.html
Plasma treatments quickly kill coronavirus on surfaces
Researchers from UCLA believe using plasma could promise a significant breakthrough in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
In Physics of Fluids, modeling conducted in June showed strains of the novel coronavirus on surfaces like metal, leather, and plastic were killed in as little as 30 seconds of treatment with argon-fed, cold atmospheric plasma.
The researchers used an atmospheric pressure plasma jet they built with a 3-D printer to spray surfaces that were treated with SARS-CoV-2 cultures. The surfaces included plastic, metal, cardboard, and basketball, football, and baseball leather.
The spray using plasma fed by argon killed all the coronavirus on the six surfaces in less than three minutes, and most of the virus was destroyed after 30 seconds. Additional testing showed the virus was destroyed in similar times on cotton from face masks.
The novel coronavirus can remain infectious on surfaces for several hours. Author Richard E. Wirz said the findings show great potential for the use of plasma in halting the virus's transmission cycle.
"This is only the beginning," Wirz said. "We are very confident and have very high expectations for plasma in future work. In the future, a lot of answers for the scientific community will come from plasma."
Plasma is one of the four basic states of matter and can be created by heating a neutral gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field. A relatively new technology, cold atmospheric plasma is an ionized, near-room-temperature gas that has proven effective in cancer treatments, wound healing, dentistry, and other medical applications.
The authors ran a similar coronavirus test with helium-fed plasma, but the helium was not effective, even with treatments up to five minutes. The authors believe this was due to lower rates of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen when using helium-fed gas, compared to argon.
Zhitong Chen said the authors are building a compact device that could be used widely to treat surfaces for the coronavirus with plasma. It is a safer, healthier option than chemicals or other treatments, he said.
"Everything we use comes from the air," he said. "Air and electricity: It's a very healthy treatment with no side effects."
The researchers hope the benefits of plasma, like those shown in this study, can be made available to people around the world.
More information:
"Cold atmospheric plasma for SARS-CoV-2 inactivation," Physics of Fluids, aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0031332
Lilly webcast on late-stage tirzepatide program in T2D November 20
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