New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has identified a protein in the SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19, that antagonises the host’s immune system.

In the study, published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, the team identified a viral protein called ORF6, which blocks immunity.

During Covid infection, the body’s early antiviral responses are orchestrated by Interferons (IFNs), triggering specific signalling events that pose a critical hurdle for viruses.

Among the identified proteins, ORF6 was found as the most potent inhibitor of IFN induction and signaling.

The researchers led by Oyahida Khatun, Mansi Sharma, and others from the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at IISc, showed that the protein paralyses cellular innate immunity through multiple mechanisms.

While consistent with previous research on ORF6 function, the study provided evidence that ORF6 directly interacts with a specific host viral sensor called RIG-I, responsible for recognising viral RNA in infected cells.

The presence of the SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 protein resulted in reduced levels of RIG-I and the degradation of an enzyme called TRIM25, crucial for activating RIG-I and controlling viral infection.

Consequently, ORF6 also obstructed the expression of antiviral genes downstream of RIG-I by blocking the nuclear import of transcription factors involved in this process.

This is analogous to disabling the ignition (RIG-I) and applying the brakes (inhibiting antiviral gene expression) to halt the cellular antiviral response.

Furthermore, the researchers proposed the possibility of removing genes coding for ORF6 and other IFN antagonists from the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome as a potential strategy for developing live vaccines.

New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS) Covid-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden deaths among young adults in India, concluded comprehensive study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday.

The research, published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, showed that lifestyle factors such as current smoking status, alcohol use frequency, recent binge drinking, recreational drug/substance use and vigorous-intensity activity were associated with unexplained sudden death.

As compared to never users, the more the frequency of alcohol use, the higher was the odds for unexplained sudden death.

The research body undertook a multicentric matched case–control study in view of anecdotal reports of sudden unexplained deaths in India’s apparently healthy young adults, linking to Covid-19 infection or vaccination.

The researchers determined the factors associated with such deaths in individuals aged 18-45 years from 47 tertiary care hospitals across India.

At least 729 cases and 2,916 controls were included in the analysis.

The cases were apparently healthy individuals without any known co-morbidity, who suddenly (before 24 h of hospitalisation or seen apparently healthy 24 h before death) died of unexplained causes between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2023.

"Covid-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India," revealed the researchers.

Instead "past Covid-19 hospitalisation, family history of sudden death and certain lifestyle behaviours increased the likelihood of unexplained sudden death", they added in the paper.

The study also showed that taking at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine lowered the oddsfor unexplained sudden death.

Patients with unexplained sudden death were four times more likely to have had been hospitalised for Covid.

"Our findings did not indicate any evidence of positive association of unexplained sudden death with Covid-19 vaccination. However, a history of sudden death in the family, Covid-19 hospitalisation and certain high risk behavioural factors were positively associated with unexplained sudden death among young Indians," the researchers said.

"On the contrary, the present study documents that Covid-19 vaccination indeed reduced the risk of unexplained sudden death in this age group."

London, June 26 (IANS) Even a mild Covid infection can cause permanent damage to men’s sperm concentrations and their ability to swim, according to a new study presented at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) on Monday.

According to Professor Rocio Nunez-Calonge, scientific advisor at UR International Group at the Scientific Reproduction Unit, in Spain, even after an average of 100 days following SARS-CoV-2 infection, there appeared to be no improvement in sperm quality and concentration, although new sperm would have been produced in that time.

“There have been previous studies that show semen quality is affected in the short term following a Covid infection but, as far as we are aware, none that have followed men for a longer period of time,” Nunez-Calonge said.

“We assumed that semen quality would improve once new sperm were being generated, but this was not the case. We do not know how long it might take for semen quality to be restored and it may be the case that Covid has caused permanent damage, even in men who suffered only a mild infection,” she added.

For the study, the researchers recruited 45 men attending six reproductive clinics in Spain between February 2020 and October 2022. All had a confirmed diagnosis of mild Covid, and the clinics had data from analysis of semen samples taken before the men were infected.

Another semen sample was taken between 17 and 516 days after infection.

The researchers analysed all the samples taken up to 100 days after infection, and then analysed a subset of samples taken more than 100 days later.

They found a statistically significant difference in semen volume (down 20 per cent from 2.5 to 2 millilitres), sperm concentration (down 26.5 per cent from 68 to 50 million per ml of ejaculate), sperm count (down 37.5 per cent from 160 to 100 million per millilitre of semen), total motility that is, being able to move and swim forwards (down 9.1 per cent from 49 per cent to 45 per cent) and numbers of live sperm (down 5 per cent from 80 per cent to 76 per cent).

Half of the men had total sperm counts that were 57 per cent lower after Covid compared to their pre-Covid samples.

While, the shape of the sperm was not significantly affected, even after 100 days following Covid infection, the sperm concentration and motility showed no improvement.

“The continuing effect of Covid infection on semen quality in this later period may be caused by permanent damage due to the virus, even in mild infection. We believe clinicians should be aware of the damaging effects of SARS-CoV-2 virus on male fertility. It is particularly interesting that this decrease in semen quality occurs in patients with mild Covid infection, which means that the virus can affect male fertility without the men showing any clinical symptoms of the disease,” said Prof. Nunez-Calonge.

It is known that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect the testicles and sperm, but the mechanism is still unknown. While calling for more research, she said that inflammation and damage to the immune system that is seen in patients with long Covid might be involved.

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) Indian diet rich in iron, zinc, and fibre, regular consumption of tea, and use of turmeric in meals lowered severity and death due to Covid in the country, according to a study published in the April edition of the Indian Journal of Medical Research by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the death rate was reportedly 5-8 fold lower in India which is densely populated as compared to lesser-populated western countries.

The study, conducted by an international team of scientists including from India, Brazil, Jordan, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia, aimed to investigate whether dietary habits were associated with the variations in Covid-19 severity and deaths between Western and Indian population.

"Our results suggest that Indian food components suppress cytokine storm and various other severity-related pathways of Covid-19 and may have a role in lowering severity and death rates from Covid-19 in India as compared to western populations," said the researchers including from Centre for Genomics and Applied Gene Technology at Institute of Integrative Omics & Applied Biotechnology, in West Bengal, and Policy Center for Biomedical Research at Translational Health Science & Technology Institute in Haryana.

"However, large multi-centered case-control studies are required to support our current findings," they added.

The findings showed that the components of Indian diets, which maintain high iron and zinc concentrations in blood and rich fibre in foods, played a role in preventing carbon dioxide (CO2) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated Covid-19 severity.

LPS is a common inflammatory mediator to induce inflammatory processes in the brain.

Further, regular consumption of tea by Indians helped maintain high HDL (high-density lipoprotein), also called "good" cholesterol. The catechins in tea also acted as a natural atorvastatin (a statin medication used to prevent cardiovascular diseases) in lowering triglyceride in blood.

Importantly, they said, regular consumption of turmeric in daily food by Indians led to a strong immunity.

The curcumin in turmeric may have prevented pathways and mechanisms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 severity and lowered the death rate, said the researchers.

On the other hand, increased consumption of red meat, dairy products and processed foods resulted in an increase in the severity and death due to Covid in the western populations.

These foods "activate cytokine storm-related pathways, intussusceptive angiogenesis, hypercapnia and enhance blood glucose levels due to high contents of sphingolipids, palmitic acid and by-products such as CO2 and LPS" they wrote in the study.

Palmitic acid - the most common saturated fatty acid found in the human body - also induces ACE2 expression and increases the infection rate, the team said.

Coffee and alcohol that are highly consumed in western countries also led to an increase in severity and death rates from Covid-19 by deregulating blood iron, zinc and triglyceride levels.

For the study, the team used blood transcriptomes of severe Covid-19 patients from three western countries (showing high fatality) and two datasets from Indian patients.

Gene set enrichment analyses were performed for pathways, metabolites, nutrients, etc., and compared for Western and Indian samples to identify the food- and nutrient-related factors, which may be associated with Covid-19 severity.A

Data on the daily consumption of twelve key food components across four countries were collected and a correlation between nutrigenomics analyses and per capita daily dietary intake was also investigated.

London, April 17 (IANS) Mortality from Covid-19 in people with intellectual disabilities are five times higher than the general population, according to a study.

Intellectual disability is a term used when there are limits to a person's ability to learn at an expected level and function in daily life.

Although high rates of Covid-related deaths have been reported for people with intellectual disabilities during the first two years of the pandemic, it is unknown to what extent the pandemic has impacted existing mortality disparities for such people.

For the study, the team compared the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) with the pre-pandemic period (2015-19). At the start of follow-up in 2015, 187,149 Dutch adults with indicators of intellectual disability were enrolled and 12.6 million adults from the general population were included.

The findings, published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, showed that compared to the general population mortality from Covid-19 was five times higher in the population with intellectual disabilities, particularly among those below 30 years of age (22 times higher) and among below 60 years of age (nine times higher).

The overall mortality from all causes disparity during the Covid-19 pandemic was 5 per cent higher (than before the pandemic).

This increased overall mortality disparity was not completely explained by the excess risk for people with intellectual disabilities to die from Covid-19, but increasing mortality disparities were also seen for causes related to cancer, mental, behavioural and nervous system disorders, and external causes.

Thus, although people with intellectual disabilities were already facing a pre-existing mortality disparity, the magnitude of this risk difference relative to the general population increased during the pandemic.

"Our study showed that the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been much greater than indicated by reported deaths due to Covid-19 alone. Existing mortality disparities between people with and without intellectual disabilities have been further widened compared with the period 2015-19," said the team including Dr Maarten Cuypers, from Radboud University Medical Center, in the Netherlands.

"The health risks for people with intellectual disabilities warrant targeted policy making regarding protective measures for the current pandemic and future pandemic preparedness that go beyond the causative agent of a pandemic alone.

"This study shows the need for better monitoring of vulnerable populations, such as people with disabilities, who are at risk of otherwise being overlooked, with marked consequences," the researchers wrote.

The study was also presented at the ongoing European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen.

New Delhi, April 5 (IANS) India on Wednesday reported 4,435 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day jump since September 2022, according to the Union ministry of Health and Family Affairs.

The number of active cases stands at 23,091, the data showed.

With the surge in the past 24 hours, the tally has climbed to 4,47,33,719. Also, 15 deaths reported during the same time span has pushed the toll to 5,30,916.

As per the ministry data, the national Covid recovery rate was pegged at 98.76 per cent.

While one death each was reported from Delhi, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Puducherry and Rajasthan, four each were reconciled by Maharashtra and Kerala.

In response to an increase in heart attack cases following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gujarat government and the medical cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party have organized a statewide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training initiative. The campaign involved over 1,200 experts imparting CPR training to approximately 65,000 individuals across 38 medical colleges, including Surat.

State BJP President and MP CR Patil inaugurated the campaign at Surat Navi Civil Hospital, in the presence of Minister of State for Home Harshbhai Sanghvi. Throughout the day, 140 doctors trained 3,000 BJP workers in Civil Hospital and 2,700 in Smeer Hospital on CPR techniques.

Participants were educated on providing first aid during a heart attack, potentially saving lives in the critical time between the onset of a heart attack and reaching a hospital. The program also honored 108 emergency service personnel for their efforts.

The initiative aimed to train over 60,000 people in a single day, breaking the previous record of training 26,000 people in one day. The program was organized in South Gujarat, including Navsari and Valsad, with 140 doctors arriving in Surat to provide training.

The doctors' dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic, often at the risk of their own lives, was praised during the event. The training program is expected to save many lives by ensuring the availability of trained individuals to provide immediate treatment to heart attack victims.

The event was attended by numerous dignitaries, including Minister of State for Home Harshbhai Sanghvi, MLA Purneshbhai Modi, Sangitaben Patil, Manubhai Patel, and various Medical Department officials, doctors, corporators, and citizens.

New York, March 30 (IANS) Children born to mothers who had Covid-19 during pregnancy may be more likely to develop obesity, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, showed that children exposed to maternal Covid during pregnancy showed lower birth weight, lower birth Body Mass Index (BMI), but accelerated postnatal weight gain, compared with those unexposed.

Pregnant women make up about 9 per cent of reproductive-aged women with Covid-19, and millions of babies will be exposed to maternal infection during foetal development over the next five years.

aceOur findings suggest that children exposed in utero to maternal Covid-19 have an altered growth pattern in early life that may increase their risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease over time," said Lindsay T. Fourman, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, US.

"There is still a lot of research needed to understand the effects of Covid-19 on pregnant women and their children," Fourman said.

The researchers studied about 150 infants born to mothers who had Covid-19 during pregnancy and compared them with about 130 babies whose mothers did not have prenatal infection.

These changes have been associated with an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in childhood and beyond.

"Our findings emphasise the importance of long-term follow-up of children exposed in utero to maternal Covid-19 infection, as well as widespread implementation of Covid-19 prevention strategies among pregnant individuals," said Andrea G. Edlow, from the Hospital.

"Larger studies with longer follow-up duration are needed to confirm these associations."

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) At 3,016 cases, India registered a 40 per cent jump in the new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, said the Union Health Ministry on Thursday. In view of the rising cases, the Delhi government has called an emergency meeting.

The daily positivity rate has been recorded at 2.7 per cent and the weekly positivity rate stands at 1.71 per cent.

There were 1,396 recoveries in the last 24 hours and active caseload stood at 13,509.

The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting after the Covid cases spiked on Wednesday. A total of 300 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours were recorded in the national capital, which is a rise over Tuesday's 214 cases, as per the Delhi government health bulletin.

Meanwhile, two Covid-19 related deaths have also been reported in the same time span.

The positivity rate of the national capital city has risen to 13.79 per cent. The number of active cases stands at 806 out of which 452 patients are being treated in home isolation.

With 163 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries so far has gone to 19,82,029, while Delhi's total caseload is 20,09,361 and the death toll in the city has risen at 26,526.

A total of 2,160 new tests -- 1490 RT-PCR and 670 Rapid Antigen - were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 4,07,85,433 while 141 vaccines were administered - 27 first doses, 34 second doses, and 80 precaution doses.

The total number of cumulative beneficiaries vaccinated so far stands at 3,74,04,636 according to the health bulletin.

Tokyo, March 24 (IANS) Using heated tobacco products -- an alternative to traditional cigarettes, similar to e-cigarettes or vapes -- is more likely to make you susceptible to Covid virus and require hospitalisation or oxygen, according to a study.

"This study shows that the use of heated tobacco products may have an impact on SARS-CoV-2 infections and disease progression," said Kazuhisa Asai, Associate Professor from the Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan.

"We hope this report will encourage people to think about tobacco use in the context of the added risks due to coronavirus infection," Asai added.

Heated tobacco products do not burn tobacco leaves, but rather allow users to inhale the vapour produced by heating the tobacco leaves.

People choose heated tobacco products to avoid the smoke and odour of burnt tobacco as well as the expectation that they pose fewer health risks than traditional cigarettes.

However, the long-term health effects of heated tobacco products, particularly the new risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, have not been clarified.

To address this concern, a research group led by Asai conducted a study focusing on the relationship between using heated tobacco products and SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The research group investigated the relationship between tobacco use, including heated tobacco products and traditional cigarettes with SARS-CoV-2 infection and possible exacerbations of Covid.

They administered an online survey of living conditions in February 2022 to 30,130 participants aged 16-81 years, who were randomly selected from the general population through an online survey according to a representative distribution, and conducted further statistical analyses.

From their analysis, published in Scientific Reports, the research group found that users of heated tobacco products -- including both people who use them exclusively or in combination with traditional cigarettes -- had significantly higher rates of Covid compared to non-users.

Furthermore, among all tobacco users, those who used both heated tobacco products and traditional cigarettes had the incidence of severe illness -- requiring hospitalisation or oxygen due to Covid-19.

London - Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe Covid-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, which can affect the body's ability to fight infections, according to scientists.

Scientists at the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID) and Wellcome Sanger Institute showed that following SARS-CoV-2 infection, cells in the lining of the lungs, nasal cells, and immune cells in the blood show a blunted inflammatory response in obese patients, producing suboptimal levels of molecules needed to fight the infection.

Studies have shown that people who are obese already have higher levels of key molecules associated with inflammation in their blood. Thus it was earlier speculated whether an overactive inflammatory response explains the connection between severe Covid-19 and obesity.

But scientists found it to be the "absolute opposite". They found that obese patients had underactive immune and inflammatory responses in their lungs.

To understand, the researchers analysed blood and lung samples taken from 13 obese patients with severe Covid requiring mechanical ventilation and intensive care treatment, and 20 controls (non-obese Covid-19 patients and ventilated non-Covid-19 patients).

Compared to non-obese patients, they found that cells in the lining of their lungs and some of their immune cells had lower levels of activity among genes responsible for the production of two molecules known as interferons (INF) -- interferon-alpha and interferon-gamma -- which help control the response of the immune system, and of tumour necrosis factor (TNF), which causes inflammation.

When they looked at immune cells in the blood of 42 adults from an independent cohort, they found a similar, but less marked, reduction in the activity of interferon-producing genes as well as lower levels of IFN-alpha in the blood, the researchers said in the paper published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

"This was really surprising and unexpected. Across every cell type we looked at, we found that the genes responsible for the classical antiviral response were less active. They were completely muted," said Professor Menna Clatworthy, a clinician scientist at the University of Cambridge.

The team was able to replicate its findings in nasal immune cells taken from obese children with Covid, where they again found lower levels of activity among the genes that produce IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma. This is important because the nose is one of the entry points for the virus -- a robust immune response there could prevent the infection spreading further into the body, while a poorer response would be less effective, Clatworthy said.

The findings could have important implications both for the treatment of Covid-19 and in the design of clinical trials to test new treatments.

(IANS)

An international team of virus experts suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic may have originated from raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market in China. The origins of Covid-19 have been a topic of political and scientific debate for over two years, with some arguing that the virus jumped from bats to humans, while others believe it leaked from a laboratory.

The unpublished study, led by experts from the Universities of Arizona, Utah, and Sydney, and the Scripps Research Institute, is based on genetic data obtained from swabs taken in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in January 2020. Although Chinese authorities shut down the market and removed the animals, researchers were able to collect samples by swabbing walls, floors, metal cages, and carts used to transport animal cages.

The results revealed that a significant amount of genetic material matched that of raccoon dogs, which are related to foxes and known to transmit the coronavirus. However, the researchers emphasize that the presence of genetic material from the virus and the animal does not definitively prove that a raccoon dog was infected or that it transmitted the virus to humans. Other animals could have passed the virus to people, or an infected person could have spread it to a raccoon dog.

Despite these uncertainties, the study establishes that raccoon dogs left genetic signatures in the same location as the virus, consistent with a scenario in which the virus spilled into humans from a wild animal. While the researchers could not confirm the presence of an infected animal at the market, they believe that given the unavailability of animal samples, the genetic material is as close as they can get to determining the virus's origin.