COVID-19 Summary: Men and women respond differently to the virus and detect myocardial infiltration

This week’s summary of some of the latest scientific research on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find the COVID-19 vaccine will explain how the virus affects men and women differently, as well as respiratory disease and heart damage. Focus on the reason for the relationship with.

Gender differences in mortality are associated with immune response

A small study suggests that the female immune system may elicit a more appropriate response to coronaviruses, providing clues as to why COVID-19 tends to be more severe in men. Of the 98 older adults hospitalized with mild or moderate COVID-19, women were reported to have more “strong” and “persistent” attacks of the virus by T cells of the immune system overall, the study said Reported on Wednesday initially..

They found that poor T cell responses in men were associated with worse outcomes. There was also a sex difference in the production of signaling molecules (known as chemokines and cytokines) that recruit immune cells to the site of inflammation. On average, men had high levels of these molecules, but when women had high levels, they tended to function poorly. The findings “provide an important basis for the development of a sex-based approach to the treatment of men and women with COVID-19,” the researchers said. They said men may benefit from treatments that increase T cell responses, while women may benefit from treatments that weaken the response of signaling molecules.

Hormones May Add to Survival Benefits of COVID-19 in Women

A new study suggests that sex hormones may contribute to gender differences in COVID-19 mortality. Women have lower mortality rates for COVID-19 than men, but the gap narrows between older men and women. The level of the female hormone estradiol – naturally high in young women – may help explain the pattern. Researchers compared premenopausal and postmenopausal women and considered the use of estradiol in contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to e-mail about 37,000 COVID-19 female patients in 17 countries. I examined the medical records.

Contraceptives were not associated with a significant effect of COVID-19 on mortality risk. However, among women aged 50 and older, women undergoing estradiol HRT were at a two-thirds lower risk of coronavirus deaths compared to non-users of that age group. This study does not prove that HRT caused a reduction in risk. In their report On Monday, before the peer review, researchers warned that hormones may have side effects and women should not start using them on their own. The researchers are looking for a large prospective trial to test the theory that estradiol therapy may help reduce the risk of death from COVID-19 in older women.

Coronavirus found in cardiomyocytes

Researchers have discovered that the new coronavirus previously detected in some heart tissues can also invade cardiomyocytes or muscle cells. In Brazil, doctors have announced that they have found a virus in 11-year-old cardiomyocytes with COVID-19-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome Lancet child and adolescent health.

In Italy, coronavirus was active in cardiomyocytes of six adults who died of COVID-19 respiratory failure, with varying degrees of myocyte damage and cell deathWednesday medRxiv prior to peer review. None of the Italian patients had a history of heart symptoms or heart disease.

Italian doctors point out that 40% of patients who recovered from a genetically-associated SARS virus outbreak between 2002 and 2003 later developed cardiovascular abnormalities. According to them, “the long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19 patients may reflect SARS patients,” although recovered COVID-19 patients appear to be at risk, but with heart problems. They say they need to be watched.

Food Additives May Make Pandemic Dental Visits Safer

Scientists may have a solution to the dangers dentists and their patients face during a coronavirus pandemic. The water-generated mist used in dentist tools can carry exhaled coronavirus particles into the air. Mixing a small amount of FDA-approved food additive called polyacrylic acid with water can significantly reduce or even prevent these mists Tuesday in Physics of Fluid magazine. “Surprisingly, my first experiment in the lab has completely proved this concept,” said Alexander Yallin, co-author of the University of Illinois at Chicago in a news release.

“It was surprising that these materials could very easily and completely suppress aerosolization by dental tools.” Atomized mist shows when water encounters rapid vibration of dental tools or centrifugal force of a drill. , Which causes water to burst into small droplets, propelling them into the air, researchers say. The polymer suppresses these bursts as large polymer molecules stretch like rubber bands, pulling back droplets and preventing them from floating in the air.