New research has revealed the trauma faced by journalists during the height of the pandemic, caused by exposure to online threats, disturbing information and disrupted work routines that exacerbated an industry already under pressure from the rise of social media and online news.

The COVID-19 pandemic yielded important advances in testing for respiratory viruses, but it also exposed important unmet needs in screening to prevent the spread of infections in high-risk settings.

 

While PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are the gold standard for detecting viral infections, they remain a challenge for screening large numbers of people in places vulnerable to outbreak — such as health care centers and nursing homes — due to high costs and the fact that different tests are required for each virus.

 

A new Yale study, however, finds that an alternate strategy — using a nasal swab to screen for an antiviral protein produced by the body as a defense against infection — can be an effective method for ruling out respiratory infections, limiting PCR testing only to those most likely to be infected, at a fraction of the cost. 

 

The study was published online on June 20 in The Lancet eBiomedicine. 

Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, a University of Minnesota research team demonstrated that measuring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater continues to accurately predict COVID-19 infections in a community. 

A new lateral-flow test could one day save lives across the world through early detection of a deadly fungal disease which dramatically spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Key findings

• This study revealed that >70% of workers with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) using changed their work style to telecommuting, resulting in decreased physical activity, and commuters tended to have shorter durations and lower rates of CPAP use compared to teleworkers.

What is known and what is new?

• The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has resulted in many lifestyle changes. However, no studies have reported how these factors affect obstructive sleep apnea patients undergoing CPAP treatment.

• Our study investigated the impact of lifestyle changes on CPAP users during Japan’s first state of emergency. Over 50% of CPAP users who were employed changed their work style, leading to reduced physical activity. Commuters showed shorter durations and lower adherence to CPAP therapy compared to teleworkers.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

• We provided important data on lifestyle changes during the coronary pandemic period for CPAP users. Further randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.

New research by ESMT Berlin and Politecnico di Milano explores how non-experts assess scientific research proposals and reveals key implications for public participation in science funding. The study shows that while citizens value both social impact and scientific merit, their judgments can be shaped by personal interests, income, and education. The paper, published in Research Policy, is co-authored by Henry Sauermann (ESMT Berlin), Chiara Franzoni, and Diletta Di Marco (both of Politecnico di Milano). It involved more than 2,300 citizen evaluators who assessed four real research proposals using both a recommendation mechanism (advising a funding agency) and a crowdfunding mechanism (donating their own money). The proposals covered a diverse range of topics including COVID-19 drug discovery, Alzheimer’s, otter-human conflict in Florida, and economic preferences across demographic groups.