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Farther or faster? Both improve distance running performance

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

A study performed at the University of Jyväskylä compared two-week blocks of low-intensity training and high-intensity interval training in terms of performance and recovery. Both methods can improve endurance performance in recreational athletes after already two weeks when the training load is increased significantly from what the individual is accustomed to.

The weekly routine of distance runners typically consists of a permanent mix of low-intensity training and moderate- to high-intensity training. As an alternative, it has been suggested that block periodization with a more focused training target within a single period may have its advantages.

In a recent study, block periodization was examined with a setting where participants either added the volume of low-intensity training by 70% or performed 10 sessions of 6 x 3-min intervals (5 times/week) during the two-week block. A short block of low- or high-intensity interval training seemed to be an effective method for recreational athletes.

“Both groups improved their 3000 m running performance immediately after the block,” explains doctoral researcher Olli-Pekka Nuuttila from the University of Jyväskylä. “The Interval group improved on average 13 seconds and the low-intensity group 11 seconds. The same trend was observed after the recovery week: the Interval group’s time was on average 19 seconds faster compared to baseline and in the low-intensity group difference was 17 seconds. No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups.”

Interval period more demanding — monitoring the recovery state is beneficial

When recovery was considered, differences were found in the muscle soreness of lower extremities, which increased at a group level only in the interval group. The change differed from the low-intensity group across the training and recovery weeks. Increased muscle soreness at the end of the block was also associated with smaller improvement in the running test. Resting levels of stress hormone norepinephrine concentrations increased after the block in the interval group and remained elevated after the recovery week. The same trend was observed in the nocturnal heart rate variability, which decreased compared to the low-intensity group during the first week of the block.

“Based on the recovery markers we measured, the interval block seemed more demanding compared to the low-intensity block,” Nuuttila summarizes. “Therefore, ensuring sufficient recovery especially after such a period would be important. It is also recommendable to monitor recovery at least via subjective markers during these types of blocks to avoid excessive impairment in the recovery state.”

The effectiveness of block periodization protocols has not been examined in detail in recreational athletes. Previous studies have not investigated, in particular, both recovery from different perspectives and changes in performance during a block of varying training targets.

Changes in endurance performance were analyzed by a 3000 m running test, and recovery state was monitored with nocturnal heart rate recordings and perceived recovery scales. In addition, resting hormone concentrations were analyzed from urine and blood samples.

Participants were 20- to 45-year-old males and females (15 per group) who trained recreationally. The study was financially supported by the Foundation of Sports Institute and the Finnish Sports Research Foundation. The study was also supported by Firstbeat Analytics Oy, whose heart rate monitors were used in the data collection.

Source: University of Jyväskylä

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Current anti-COVID pills work well against omicron, but antibody drugs are less effective, study finds

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

The drugs behind the new pills to treat COVID-19 remain very effective against the omicron variant of the virus in lab tests, according to a new study.

However, lab tests also showed that the available antibody therapies — typically given intravenously in hospitals — are substantially less effective against omicron than against earlier variants of the virus. Some antibodies have entirely lost their ability to neutralize omicron at realistic dosages.

If the ability of the antiviral pills to combat omicron is confirmed in human patients, it would be welcome news. Public health officials expect the pills to become an increasingly common treatment for COVID-19 that will reduce the severity of the disease in at-risk patients and decrease the burden of the pandemic.

For now, the pills remain in short supply during the current omicron wave, which has broken case records in the U.S. and other countries.

The findings corroborate other studies that show most available antibody treatments are less effective against omicron. Drug makers could design, test and produce new antibody drugs targeted at the omicron variant to overcome the limitations of current therapies, but this process would take months.

“The bottom line is we have countermeasures to treat omicron. That’s good news,” says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the University of Wisconsin-Madison lead of the study and virologist at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Tokyo. “However, this is all in laboratory studies. Whether this translates into humans, we don’t know yet.”

Kawaoka and his collaborators at UW-Madison and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine on Jan. 26.

The clinically available pills and antibodies were designed and tested before researchers identified the omicron variant, which differs significantly from earlier versions of the virus. When omicron was identified, scientists feared that these differences, caused by mutations in the viral genome, might reduce the effectiveness of drugs designed to treat the original version of the virus.

In lab experiments using non-human primate cells, Kawaoka’s team tested a suite of antibody and antiviral therapies against the original strain of the COVID-19 virus and its prominent variants, including the alpha, delta and omicron strains.

Merck’s pill molnupiravir and the intravenous drug remdesivir were just as effective against the omicron variant as they were against earlier viral strains.

Instead of testing Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, which is designed to be taken orally, the team tested a related drug by Pfizer that is given intravenously. The two drugs disrupt the same part of the viral machinery. The researchers found that the intravenous form of the drug retained its effectiveness against omicron, and this version is currently in clinical trials.

All four antibody treatments the researchers tested were less effective against omicron than against earlier strains of the virus. Two treatments, sotrovimab by GlaxoSmithKline and Evusheld by AstraZeneca, retained some ability to neutralize the virus. However, they required anywhere from 3 to 100 times more of the drugs to neutralize omicron compared to earlier versions. AstraZeneca’s antibodies are not approved for use in the U.S.

Two antibody treatments by Lilly and Regeneron were unable to neutralize omicron at common dosages.

These findings are expected given how the omicron variant differs from earlier strains of SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus. Omicron has dozens of mutations in the spike protein, which the virus uses to enter and infect cells. Most antibodies were designed to bind to and neutralize the original spike protein and major changes to the protein can make antibodies less likely to attach to it.

In contrast, the antiviral pills target the molecular machinery the virus uses to make copies of itself inside cells. The omicron variant only has a few changes to this machinery, which makes it more likely that drugs will retain their ability to disrupt this replication process.

The Kawaoka lab is now studying new antibody candidates to identify ones that could neutralize the omicron variant.

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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New data on COVID-19 lung transplants

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

A Smidt Heart Institute analysis of lung transplantations performed nationally shows significant help for patients with severe, irreversible lung damage from COVID-19.

The analysis of more than 3,000 lung transplants in the U.S. between Aug. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, showed that during the pandemic, 7% of the nation’s lung transplants were performed to treat severe, irreversible lung damage caused by COVID-19. More than half of these patients needed ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, before their transplant.

“Our experience treating COVID-19 has shown us that ECMO can be used in carefully selected patients, either as a bridge to lung transplantation, or to allow a patient’s own lungs to heal,” said Joanna Chikwe, MD, founding chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery, and corresponding author of the data published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “Most of these COVID-19 patients would have been considered too ill to transplant a few years ago, and the surprising finding of our research was how well they did after lung transplantation.”

While on ECMO, a patient’s blood is pumped out of their body, put through an artificial lung, then pumped back into the patient’s body. The machine — similar to a heart-lung bypass machine — has been around for several decades, although its use for lung failure has increased significantly in the past decade.

In the past, ECMO has been widely considered a “Hail Mary pass” by experts. However, the technology has been employed so often during the global pandemic that Cedars-Sinai physicians have learned new, effective ways to utilize the machine and save lives.

Data published in NEJM was collected from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system. Results from 3,039 lung transplantations show:

The average age of COVID-19 lung transplant patients was 52.
21% of COVID-19 lung transplant patients were female.
36.6% of COVID-19 lung transplant patients were Hispanic.
Among the 214 COVID-19 lung transplants, the three-month survival was 95.6%.
Of the 214 COVID-19 lung transplants, 140 patients had COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome, and 74 patients had COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis.

“Acute respiratory distress syndrome involves an acute inflammation of the lungs, resulting in decreased ability for the lungs to oxygenate and ventilate,” said Amy Roach, MD, a general surgery resident and Nagel Research Fellowin the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute and first author of the published data. “In some patients this progresses to COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scarring in the lung and is generally irreversible.”

Throughout the pandemic, Smidt Heart Institute physicians and surgeons have learned how best to treat patients with ECMO.

“Now we know we must mobilize patients and reduce sedatives, whenever possible,” said Dominick Megna, MD, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program, assistant professor of Cardiac Surgery and an author on the study. “We also have a deeper understanding of how long an individual patient can safely remain on ECMO.”

Between July 2020 and June 30, 2021, Cedars-Sinai provided more than 30,000 hours of ECMO care to patients. Of those 30,000 hours, 21,000 hours were for patients with severe lung disease due to COVID-19.

“Our analysis suggests lung transplants may be a safe option for select patients with the most severe, irreversible lung damage from COVID-19,” said Reinaldo Rampolla, MD, medical director of the Lung Transplant Program at Cedars-Sinai and one of the authors. “However, our hope is that no one has to go through ECMO or lung transplant because of COVID-19. The best protection we have against severe, aggressive disease is vaccination.”

Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Change of heart functioning may affect memory and thinking skills in middle age

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

Subtle changes in the structure and the diastolic function of a person’s heart between early adulthood and middle age may be associated with a decline in thinking and memory skills. The research is published in the January 26, 2022, online issue of Neurology^®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The diastolic function of the heart is when it rests between beats and the chambers fill with blood.

“Cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes have been associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment, but much less is known about heart structure and function and the risks for cognition,” said study author Laure Rouch, PharmD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. “We followed young adults for 25 years into middle age and found declines in thinking and memory skills independent of these other risk factors. Our findings are of critical importance in the context of identifying potential early markers in the heart of increased risk for later-life cognitive decline. Such abnormalities are common and often underdiagnosed as they do not produce any obvious symptoms.”

The study looked at 2,653 people with an average age of 30. Participants had echocardiograms, ultrasound images of the heart, at the start of the study and again 20 and 25 years later. Echocardiograms are non-invasive and widely available.

Researchers used the images to measure the following: the weight of the left ventricle, one of four chambers of the heart; the volume of the blood that filled the left ventricle when pumping; and how well the left ventricle pumped blood to the body, specifically the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart.

Researchers found over 25 years, there was an average increase in the weight of the left ventricle of 0.27 grams per square meter per year (g/m²), with average weight of 81 g/m²in the first year and 86 g/m² in the last year. There was also an average increase in left atrial volume of 0.42 milliliters of blood per square meter (mL/m²) with average volume of 16 mL/m² in the first year and 26 mL/m²in the last year.

In the last year of the study, participants were given six cognitive tests to measure thinking and memory skills including global cognition, processing speed, executive function, delayed verbal memory and verbal fluency. Tests included tasks like recalling words from a list 10 minutes after looking at the list, as well as substituting symbols for numbers using a key at the top of the page.

After adjusting for factors like age, sex and education, researchers found that a greater than average increase from early to middle adulthood in the weight of a person’s left ventricle was associated with lower midlife cognition on most tests.

Tests included a common dementia test that asks participants to do tasks like draw lines connecting alternating letters and numbers, and repeat five words, complete other tasks, and then repeat the same five words. Scores range from zero to 30 with 26 and higher representing normal cognition. Participants with a greater than average midlife increase in left ventricle weight had an average score of 22.7 while those without a greater than average increase in weight had an average score of 24.

Researchers also found a greater than average increase from early to middle adulthood in left atrial volume was associated with lower midlife global cognition.

However, a greater than average decrease in the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle was not associated with cognition.

“What is interesting is that our results were similar after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity,” Rouch said. “As early as young adulthood, even before the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, there may be heart abnormalities that could be risk markers for lower thinking and memory skills in middle age. In the future, a single echocardiogram may help identify people at higher risk of cognitive impairment.”

Rouch said that future research should determine whether interventions to improve the structure and function of the heart could benefit brain health. She said, “The question of whether altered cardiac structure and function could be a risk factor for cognitive impairment has major public health implications and could reveal another important heart-brain connection.”

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Omicron genetics and early transmission patterns are characterized in new study

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 diverged from previous SARS-CoV-2 variants as a result of adaptive evolution, in which beneficial mutations are passed on to future generations through natural selection, rather than through recombination between previous variants, according to a large international team of researchers. The study, which published recently in Nature, is the first to describe the genomic profile of Omicron and explore the origins of the variant.

“We have seen SARS-CoV-2 generate three major variants — Alpha, Delta and Omicron — in about 16 months, which is very surprising because other viruses do not make such repeated big evolutionary leaps,” said Maciej Boni, associate professor of biology, Penn State, who led the recombination analysis for this global collaboration. “The latest variant — Omicron — is extraordinary because of the even bigger jump it made in the evolution of its spike protein.”

Boni noted that compared to previous variants, Omicron’s spike protein has more than 30 mutations, many of which are known to influence host antibody neutralization.

“Given that Omicron made such a big leap forward evolutionarily speaking, we wanted to investigate why and how this may have happened,” he said.

To do that, the team — which was led by the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa — analyzed all 686 Omicron sequences that were available by Dec. 7, 2021. They found that Omicron falls within the B.1.1 lineage, which also includes the Alpha variant. Interestingly, the team found that Omicron is genetically distinct from Alpha, as well as any other known variants of interest.

“What this means is that although Omicron belongs to the same lineage as the Alpha variant, it has changed to such a great extent that it is largely unrecognizable as a cousin or nephew of the Alpha variant,” said Boni. “When the Omicron genome was first sequenced, it became clear that this virus had the potential to be phenotypically very different from previous SARS-CoV-2 variants that we were familiar with.”

To determine when the Omicron variant first emerged, the team used a technique, called time-calibrated Bayesian phylogenetic analysis. They estimated that the date when the most recent common ancestor of all Omicrons existed was early October 2021.

Next, the team applied a selection analysis to the 686 Omicron sequences and found evidence of positive natural selection in many genes since the variant split from other B.1.1 lineages. “This finding led to our conclusion that adaptive evolution played a significant role in the early emergence and establishment of Omicron,” said Boni. “This finding suggests that Omicron is likely the result of an evolutionary process that created a highly transmissible virus that partially evades our antibody responses.”

Additionally, the finding ruled out recombination of previous variants in the origin of Omicron.

“We found no convincing evidence of Omicron being a recombinant of previous SARS-CoV-2 variants,” said Boni.

The team did find that some samples of Omicron displayed weak evidence of having inherited genetic material from a Delta virus, but statistical analyses could not rule out random chance or small sequencing errors as causes of this curious recombination signal.

“Given the recent misinformation suggesting that the Omicron and Delta variants have recombined to create a ‘Deltacron’ super variant, it is important to note that such recombination is in fact possible, but there is currently no evidence that this has occurred,” said Boni. “Additionally, if it does occur, there’s no telling what the properties of such a virus would be in terms of its ability to transmit and/or cause severe disease, among other factors.”

Regarding Omicron’s transmissibility, the team concluded that partial immune evasion was likely a major driver of the rapid spread of omicron in South Africa given that the proportion of the South African population that was immune (either from infection, vaccination or both) was above 60%.

“This idea that Omicron can partially evade the immune system is supported by other recent findings showing an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with the emergence of Omicron,” said Boni. “We also know now that the viral load of Omicron is higher in people who are infected, which also contributes substantially to its high transmission rate.”

Boni noted that the current Omicron wave is a reminder to all Americans to keep our COVID-19 vaccinations as current as possible.

“We can’t afford to endure another calendar year with half a million deaths,” he said.

Source: Penn State

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Mix-and-match trial finds additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine safe, immunogenic

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

In adults who had previously received a full regimen of any of three COVID-19 vaccines granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an additional booster dose of any of these vaccines was safe and prompted an immune response, according to preliminary clinical trial results reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings served as the basis for recommendations by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in late fall 2021 to permit mix-and-match COVID-19 booster vaccinations in the United States. Additional data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, are expected in the coming months.

The new report describes findings from 458 adults who had been fully vaccinated with any of three EUA COVID-19 vaccines at least 12 weeks prior to enrollment and who had no reported history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. At enrollment, a single booster dose was administered to each participant: 150 received Janssen/Johnson & Johnson’s Ad26.COV2.S vaccine; 154 received Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine; and 154 received Pfizer-BioNTech’s BNT162b2 vaccine. Depending on which primary vaccine regimen a participant had received, the booster vaccine was either different (mixed, or heterologous) than or the same (matched, or homologous) as the original vaccine.

The trial participants kept diaries of any side effects. More than half of participants reported headache, pain at the injection site, muscle aches and malaise. No serious vaccine-related adverse events were reported.

All combinations of primary and booster vaccine resulted in increased neutralizing antibody levels (ranging from 4.2- to 76-fold higher levels than those detected prior to boost.) Likewise, all primary-boost combinations increased binding antibody levels 4.6- to 56-fold. For each primary EUA COVID-19 vaccine, heterologous boosts elicited similar or higher antibody responses as compared to responses to a homologous booster. Cellular responses (CD4 and CD8 T cell) also increased in all but the homologous Ad26.CoV2.S-boosted group, though CD8+ T cells were highest at baseline in those participants who had received the Ad26.CoV2.S EUA vaccine.

Taken together, the investigators concluded, “these data strongly suggest that homologous and heterologous booster vaccine will increase protective efficacy against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

These interim results cover available immunogenicity data through the initial 29 days following booster vaccination. Investigators will continue to follow participants for one year to assess what impact booster vaccination has on longer-term immune responses. Additional arms of the trial may test other investigational, EUA or FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines and/or vaccines based on SARS-CoV-2 variants as the boosting vaccine.

The trial began in May 2021 and is continuing to enroll participants. Its principal investigators are Robert L. Atmar, M.D., of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; and Kirsten E. Lyke, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. It is being conducted through NIAID’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium, a clinical trials network that encompasses the Institute’s longstanding Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs).

Source: NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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NEET PG 2022: Aspirants file plea in Supreme Court for postponement of exam

by Medically Speaking January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking

On Tuesday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court asking for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) slated for March 12 to be postponed. According to the petition, many MBBS graduates will be unable to sit for the exam because the obligatory internship term has not been completed.

The plea has been filed by six MBBS graduates and seeks the issuance of a direction to the National Board of Examination for the postponement of the NEET PG 2022 examination to facilitate the completion of various requirements set forth in the PG Regulations by several aspirants.

As per the NEET PG regulations, 30 beds in a hospital have to be assigned to one unit of students pursuing the PG course, whereas now, two students from two academic sessions will have to be accommodated in the same facility.

The lawyer firm for the MBBS aspirants said that the petition challenges the violation of NEET PG regulations, 2000, while admitting candidates for academic sessions in one session as there is an “explicit cap on the number of PG admissions to be done per year per unit.”

The plea states that several hundred MBBS graduates whose internships were paused due to their duty in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic will be rendered ineligible from appearing in the NEET-PG test due to lack of mandatory internship duty that too without their fault.

The plea also challenges the condition provided in the information bulletin which states May 31, 2022 as the deadline for the completion of internship.

The petition further referred to a statement made on May 3, 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that NEET-PG 2021 be deferred by at least four months and that the services of MBBS doctors in their final years will be used to handle mild Covid-19 cases

The lawyer appearing for NEET PG aspirants said, “The petitioners (with 1500 candidates) have mentioned that they were in Covid duties in the year 2021 and therefore their internship was postponed. ”

“They have submitted that they are victims of circumstances and that they were not informed at any time that serving in Covid-19 duties would tantamount to a situation where they will not be eligible to appear for the NEET-PG,” the lawyer informed further.

(Inputs from PTI)

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Omicron survives on skin and plastic than any other surface

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

According to a study, the Omicron variety of coronavirus can survive on the skin for more than 21 hours and for more than eight days on plastic surfaces, which could explain why it spreads quicker than other variants.

Researchers from Japan’s Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine investigated the differences in viral environmental stability between the Wuhan-originating SARS-CoV-2 strain and all other variants of concern (VOCs).

The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study that was posted recently on the preprint repository BioRxiv, found that the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants exhibited more than two-fold longer survival on plastic and skin surfaces than the original strain.

“The high environmental stability of these VOCs could increase the risk of contact transmission and contribute to their spread,” the authors of the study said.

“This study showed that Omicron has the highest environmental stability among VOCs, which might be one of the factors that have allowed the variant to replace the Delta variant and spread rapidly,” they said.

The study shows that on plastic surfaces, the average survival times of the original strain and the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants were 56 hours, 191.3 hours, 156.6 hours, 59.3 hours, and 114 hours, respectively.

However, the Omicron variant could survive for 193.5 hours, according to the researchers.

The differences in viral environmental stability between the SARS-CoV-2 strain that originated in Wuhan and all variants of concern were investigated by researchers from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan (VOCs).

Although Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants showed a slight increase in ethanol resistance in response to increased environmental stability, all VOCs on the skin surface were completely inactivated by 15 second exposure to 35 per cent ethanol.

“Therefore, it is highly recommended that current infection control (hand hygiene) practices use disinfectants… as proposed by the World Health Organization,” the researchers added.

The Omicron variant is currently a major concern owing to the rapidly increasing number of infected patients worldwide.

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Patient who refused to get jabbed against Covid-19, denied heart transplant by Boston Hospital

by Medically Speaking January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking

After a man’s family said he was denied a new heart because he refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19, a Boston hospital is defending itself, claiming that most transplant programmes around the country have identical restrictions to boost patients’ chances of survival.

Officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital told the 31-year-old father of two that he was ineligible for the treatment because he hadn’t been vaccinated against coronavirus, according to DJ Ferguson’s family in a crowdfunding appeal this week.

“We are literally in a corner right now. This is extremely time sensitive,” the family said in its fundraising appeal, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars. “This is not just a political issue. People need to have a choice!”

DJ’s mother, Tracey Ferguson, insists that her son isn’t against vaccinations, noting he’s had other immunizations in the past. But the trained nurse said Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm — and that he has concerns about the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“DJ is an informed patient,” Tracey Ferguson said in a brief interview at her home in Mendon, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Boston. “He wants to be assured by his doctors that his condition would not be worse or fatal with this Covid vaccine.”

Brigham and Women’s Hospital declined to comment on DJ Ferguson’s case, citing patient privacy laws. But it pointed to a response that it posted on its website in which it said the Covid-19 vaccine is one of several immunizations required by most US transplant programs, including a flu shot and hepatitis B vaccines.

The hospital said research has shown that transplant recipients are at higher risk than non-transplant patients of dying from Covid-19, and that its policies are in line with the recommendations of the American Society of Transplantation and other health organizations.

Patients also must meet other health and lifestyle criteria to receive donated organs, and it’s unknown if DJ Ferguson did or would have met them.

Brigham & Womens Hospital also stressed that no patient is placed on an organ waitlist without meeting those criteria, and rejected the notion that a transplant candidate could be considered “first on the list” for an organ — a claim Ferguson’s family made in its fundraising post.

“There are currently more than 100,000 candidates on waitlists for organ transplantation and a shortage of available organs — around half of people on waiting lists will not receive an organ within five years,” the hospital said.

Hospitals in other states have faced similar criticism for denying transplants to patients who weren’t vaccinated against Covid-19.

In Colorado last year, a woman suffering from late-stage kidney disease said she was denied a transplant by her hospital because she was unvaccinated. Leilani Lutali, a born-again Christian, said she opposed immunization because of the role that fetal cell lines play in some vaccines’ development.

There is a scarcity of donor organs, so transplant centers only place patients on the waiting list whom they deem the most likely to survive with a new organ.

“A donor heart is a precious and scarce gift which must be cared for well,” said Dr. Howard Eisen, medical director for the advanced heart failure program at Penn State University in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “Our goal is to preserve patient survival and good outcomes post-transplant.”

The United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit that manages the country’s organ transplant system, doesn’t track how many patients refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine have been denied transplants, said Anne Paschke, an organization spokesperson.

Individuals who are rejected organ transplants have the right to seek treatment elsewhere, she said, however it is up to individual institutions to select which patients to put to the national waiting list.

DJ Ferguson was admitted to the hospital in late November for a heart condition that caused his lungs to fill with blood and fluid, according to the online campaign. He was subsequently moved to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where surgeons implanted an emergency heart pump, which the family claims is simply a stopgap measure.

“It’s devastating,” Tracey Ferguson said. “No one ever wants to see their child go through something like this.”

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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Moderna begins trial of Omicron specific vaccine

by Medically Speaking Team January 27, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

Moderna Inc has begun a mid-stage trial to test a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, which is specially tailored to target the Omicron coronavirus strain, just one day after competitor Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) began a similar experiment.

While a third dose of the company’s original coronavirus vaccine raised neutralising antibodies against the variation at the lower dose, their levels fell six months after the booster dose was given, the company reported on Wednesday.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech started a clinical trial on Tuesday to test a new version of their vaccine specifically tailored to the Omicron variant.

Moderna said it would study its Omicron-specific booster in adults aged 18 years and older.

It promises to share its data from the trial with public health leaders so they can make evidence-based decisions on the best booster strategy against the coronavirus.

Three studies, led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, is key to fighting the Omicron variant.

Some nations have already begun to offer additional booster doses, however a recent Israeli study found that while a fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine increased antibody levels, they were not high enough to prevent an Omicron infection.

January 27, 2022 0 comment

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