Pet cats and dogs cannot pass the new coronavirus on to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners.
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290 million students out of school as global virus battle intensifies
Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home on Thursday with Italy the latest country to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as the IMF urged an all-out global offensive against the epidemic.
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Automated CT biomarkers predict cardiovascular events better than current practice
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated that using artificial intelligence to analyze CT scans can produce more accurate risk assessment for major cardiovascular events than current, standard methods such as the Framingham risk score (FRS) and body-mass index (BMI).
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Platinum-based agents not superior to standard chemotherapy
Commonly known as the breast cancer genes, the BRCA gene family plays a role in repairing damaged DNA. Inherited mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 raise the risk of developing breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. Led by clinician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a first-of-its-kind study provided new evidence about the optimal way to treat patients who carry BRCA mutations—also known as BRCA carriers—who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The new data come from the INFORM trial, the results of which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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Study shows low carb diet may prevent, reverse age-related effects within the brain
A study using neuroimaging led by Stony Brook University professor and lead author Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi, Ph.D., and published in PNAS, reveals that neurobiological changes associated with aging can be seen at a much younger age than would be expected, in the late 40s. However, the study also suggests that this process may be prevented or reversed based on dietary changes that involve minimizing the consumption of simple carbohydrates.
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App, AI work together to provide rapid at-home assessment of coronavirus risk
A coronavirus app coupled with machine intelligence will soon enable an individual to get an at-home risk assessment based on how they feel and where they’ve been in about a minute, and direct those deemed at risk to the nearest definitive testing facility, investigators say.
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New next-generation sequencing technique dramatically shortens diagnosis of sepsis
A report in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, describes a new technique that uses real-time next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze tiny amounts of microbial cell-free DNA in the plasma of patients with sepsis, offering the possibility of accurate diagnosis of sepsis-causing agents within a few hours of drawing blood. Current diagnostic tests are neither fast nor specific enough to provide timely, critically important information.
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Third-hand smoke is no joke, can convey hazardous chemicals
People can carry hazardous compounds from cigarette smoke that cling to their bodies and clothes and then release those compounds into non-smoking environments—exposing people nearby to cigarettes’ adverse effects, a new study shows.
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Colorectal cancer burden shifting to younger individuals
The burden of colorectal cancer is swiftly shifting to younger individuals as incidence increases in young adults and declines in older age groups, according to the latest edition of Colorectal Cancer Statistics 2020, a publication of the American Cancer Society. A sign of the shift: the median age of diagnosis has dropped from age 72 in the late 1980s to 66 during 2015-2016; in other words, half of all new diagnoses are now in people 66 or younger.
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Science Says: How risky is that virus? Your mind may mislead
Anna Alexander, a property manager in Virginia Beach, Virginia, started the day Monday thinking that she might avoid shaking hands because of the coronavirus outbreak. Then somebody stuck out a hand to shake.
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