Brazilian researchers have discovered one of the causes of severe COVID-19 in diabetic patients. Laboratory experiments showed that the higher level of blood sugar in these patients is captured by monocytes, a type of defense cell, and serves as a source of additional energy for the coronavirus to replicate more than in a healthy organism. In response to the increased viral load, the monocytes release large amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines with several effects including lung cell death.
China is a model for making its vision to lead global innovation.China leads the development of infrastructure for an advanced technological environment, and the number of its people’s use of technologies and applications increases every year. In many fields, China is also a role model for global innovation.
The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles on April 10 invited Zhang Boli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, to speak live over the internet with students and overseas Chinese in the U.S. on how to use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to prevent and treat COVID-19.
Around the time of the 2020 Spring Festival, Ma Juncai, a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Wei Qiang from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), got together to brainstorm ideas about how to develop a support system for COVID-19 related research by leveraging strengths of both sides.
Is there any specific drug to fight against COVID-19? When can we get access to the specific drug? These two questions are hard to answer for now. Developing the specific drug is quite tough. It is not practical when R&D works of new drugs usually takes too long and costs too much.
According to the latest news from Science and Technology Daily (April 14th), two COVID-19 inactivated vaccines were just approved for a phase I & II combined clinical trial by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China, making them the first batch in this category. The two vaccines were developed respectively by Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd of Sinopharm and Sinovac Research & Development Co., Ltd together with research institutes.
While the COVID-19 epidemic is ongoing in Europe, China has already won the staged victory with scientific method to fight against COVID-19. According to the latest official data, the infection situation in China has been initially controlled and only a few or even no new cases have been reported over the past several days. Meanwhile, Chinese researchers have started to share China's experience of "Anti-COVID-19" at multiple countries' request.
Convalescent plasma can significantly alleviate the clinical symptoms and reduce the viral load of severe COVID-19 patients, according to a research article by Chinese scientists published April 6 in the U.S. on the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
A timeline clearly recorded how China has taken the initiative to fulfill its international responsibilities and unite with the global society to fight against Covid-19. After the coronavirus outbroke, China immediately informed the WHO of the incident and maintained close communication with other countries.
As to the battle against the COVID-19, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has been launched the program of "Dealing With the Outbreak of COVID-19 Using Science and Technology", a program including four batches of 20 emergency projects until now. Moreover, MOST re-examining two major scientific and technological projects, including the "Creation of Important Innovative New Drugs" and the "Prevention and Treatment of Severe Contagions", and a series of national essential research and development plans. Recently, some important achievements from these projects have already been implemented in the front line of epidemic prevention and control.
Brazilian researchers have discovered one of the causes of severe COVID-19 in diabetic patients. Laboratory experiments showed that the higher level of blood sugar in these patients is captured by monocytes, a type of defense cell, and serves as a source of additional energy for the coronavirus to replicate more than in a healthy organism. In response to the increased viral load, the monocytes release large amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines with several effects including lung cell death.
According to the latest news from Science and Technology Daily (April 14th), two COVID-19 inactivated vaccines were just approved for a phase I & II combined clinical trial by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China, making them the first batch in this category. The two vaccines were developed respectively by Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd of Sinopharm and Sinovac Research & Development Co., Ltd together with research institutes.