Risk factors associated With SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among US health care personnel

MADISON - On December 6, 2016, a high-energy particle hurtled to Earth from outer space at close to the speed of light. The particle, an electron antineutrino, smashed into an electron deep inside the ice sheet at the South Pole. This collision produced a particle that quickly decayed into a shower of secondary particles, triggering the sensors of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive telescope buried in the Antarctic glacier. IceCube had seen a Glashow resonance event, a phenomenon predicted by Nobel laureate physicist Sheldon Glashow in 1960. With this detection, scientists provided another confirmation of the Standard Model of particle physics. It ...

What The Study Did: This study of orthodox Jewisha dults across the United States found that socioculturally bound communities experienced early parallel outbreaks in discrete locations, notably prior to substantive medical and governmental directives. Authors: Jonathan I. Silverberg, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of  George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Avi Z. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, are the corresponding authors. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.2816) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. ...

What The Study Did: In a study of Italian close contacts of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, most infected contacts (1,948 of 2,824 individuals or 69%) didn't develop respiratory symptoms or fever 37.5 degrees Celsius (99.5 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher; 26.1% of infected individuals younger than 60 developed respiratory symptoms or fever 37.5 degrees Celsius (99.5 degrees Fahrenheit); and 6.6% of infected participants age 60 or older developed critical disease. Authors: Piero Poletti, Ph.D., of Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento, ...

What The Study Did: Boston experienced a COVID-19 surge that disproportionately affected persons experiencing homelessness and a large safety-net hospital implemented a novel COVID-19 recuperation unit for these patients that provided isolation, quarantine and treatment for substance use. Researchers aimed to determine the association of the care provided by the unit with COVID-19 hospitalizations among people experiencing homelessness. Authors: Joshua A. Barocas, M.D., of Boston Medical Center, is the corresponding author. To ...

What The Study Did: Findings of this study suggest that patients recovering from COVID-19-associated acute kidney injury require monitoring of kidney function following hospital discharge. Authors: F. Perry Wilson, M.D. M.S.C.E., of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.1095) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author ...

In the first study of the genomic architecture of the human placenta, scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and their collaborators have confirmed that the normal structure of the placenta is different to any other human organ and resembles that of a tumour, harbouring many of the same genetic mutations found in childhood cancers. The study, published today (10 March 2021) in Nature, found evidence to support the theory of the placenta as a 'dumping ground' for genetic defects, whereas the fetus corrects or avoids these errors. The findings provide a clear rationale for studying the association between genetic aberrations and birth outcomes, in order to better understand problems such as premature birth and stillbirth. In the earliest ...

What The Study Did: Researchers analyzed individual-level inpatient data from multiple U.S. hospital to further describe patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (a life-threatening complication of diabetes) with and without COVID-19. Authors:  Francisco J. Pasquel, M.D., M.P.H., of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.1091) Editor's Note: The article ...

What The Study Did: Researchers in this survey study assessed the level of stigma toward people with varying degrees of hair loss. Authors: Arash Mostaghimi, M.D., M.P.A., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2020.5732) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding ...

A massive effort to map the precise binding locations of over 400 different kinds of proteins on the yeast genome has produced the most thorough and high-resolution map of chromosome architecture and gene regulation to date. The study reveals two distinct gene regulatory architectures, expanding the traditional model of gene regulation. So-called constitutive genes, those that perform basic 'housekeeping' functions and are nearly always active at low levels require only a basic set of regulatory controls; whereas those that that are activated by environmental signals, known as inducible genes, have a more specialized architecture. This finding in yeast could open the ...

The unprecedented discovery of an ancient lamprey growth series, published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, is overturning long-held ideas as to what modern lampreys may tell us about the origin of vertebrates (all animals with a backbone such as goldfish, lizards, crows and people). "Lampreys and modern hagfish are the only jawless fish alive that branched off from the family tree of vertebrates before they got jaws," says Dr Rob Gess from the Albany Museum in Makhanda, who discovered the ancient fossils. "This makes them very interesting for researchers attempting to understand the earliest stages of vertebrate history." Until now, it was commonly believed that modern lampreys were swimming ...