September 24, 2020 | News

TEL AVIV, Israel: Dental clinics in Israel are operating as usual this week, despite a government-imposed lockdown that has been implemented to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Dental Tribune International (DTI) spoke with an Israeli dentist, who commented that the strict health protocols that are in place within dentistry justify the continued provision of elective care.

September 23, 2020 | News

In this article, we analyze four recent articles published in Aug-Sept 2020 on the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 and the potential therapeutic targets against it.

September 22, 2020 | News

Two updates (Sept 18 & 21, 2020) by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on Covid-19 guidelines, which are relevant to dental practice.

September 20, 2020 | News

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test - FELUDA, received regulatory approvals on 19 September 2020 from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for commercial launch, as per ICMR guidelines, meeting high-quality benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for detecting the novel coronavirus.

September 16, 2020 | News

Do you know that there are 14 already established pieces of scientific evidence to show a direct association between VitaminD deficiency & COVID19 severity-mortality? Yet, no standard guidelines available at the national or international level for common people.

September 14, 2020 | News

Herd immunity is a key concept for epidemic control, which states that only a proportion of a population needs to be immune to an infectious agent for it to stop generating large outbreaks. We can achieve herd immunity through two strategies: by overcoming natural infection or through vaccination.

September 12, 2020 | News

We summarize all the latest pieces of evidence on dental aerosol procedures. We also trace the evidence back to 2003 SARS times when the aerosols were studied first. Despite weak evidence, dental aerosol-generating procedures have been termed risky.

September 7, 2020 | News

A lot has been written on the role of vitamin D in the prevention & management of SARS-CoV-2 infection & COVID-19 disease. Interest in Vitamin D therapy has increased multifold after the recent bradykinin hypothesis successfully answered the questions that had been left unanswered by the cytokine storm hypothesis. The bradykinin hypothesis also proposed that Vitamin D therapy may control the bradykinin storm. However, the literature lacked a clinical trial in this regard. This article covers the results of a preliminary trial that has shown promising results with Vitamin D therapy in preventing complications in hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

September 6, 2020 | News

Many patients are refusing to co-operate and not allowing the doctors to record temperatures using infrared thermometers - all thanks to a fake Facebook post and an illogical Whatsapp video. The aim of this article is to bring the facts to you and assure you that infrared guns are absolutely safe.

September 4, 2020 | News

A growing body of evidence now links COVID-19 outcomes with vitamin D status. Subhasree Ray, a clinical and public health nutritionist, analyses the literature and makes her evidence-based recommendations.

August 27, 2020 | News

This article aims to remove all the existing confusions on Covid-19 antigen tests. Also, explains the difference between the results obtained from antigen tests vs RT PCR tests.

August 26, 2020 | News

Today the use of face masks has become necessary and ubiquitous due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Even though a face mask protects the user from SARS-CoV-2 infection, it has certain adverse effects. One of the new and recently noticed side effect is on the oral health of the wearer known as ‘Mask Mouth’. This includes symptoms like caries, gingivitis, halitosis, candidiasis and angular cheilitis. But a positive aspect of the mask-mouth is that it can be easily prevented and treated. In this article, we will see this new phenomenon, its aetiology, symptoms and prevention.

August 24, 2020 | News

Currently, all SARS-CoV-2 detection measures make use of RT-PCR test, and its results are generally reported as either positive or negative, which tells us if a person is infected. However, to contain the pandemic, what we need to know is whether that person is infectious or in other words, 'can he spread the disease?' It's important to know that the RT-PCR test does provide an additional measure of the viral load in the sample. This reading is called the cycle threshold (Ct) value. Evidence suggests that reporting this Ct value (calculated viral load) can assist in a better interpretation of the condition, and also in taking clinical decisions.

August 21, 2020 | News

One of the most critical questions the world is waiting for an answer is if the human body can mount a protective response that provides a lasting immunity against SARS-CoV-2. This understanding is crucial to the success of vaccines, the successful return of recovered patients to their pre-pandemic lifestyle, and also, how readily the world can overcome the fear of pandemic spread.

August 19, 2020 | News

Recently all mainstream media houses screamed: "Malaysia Detects New Coronavirus Strain 'D614G' Which is 'Ten Times' Deadlier." and the fear-mongering strategy tried to scare people with a question: "Worse to come?". This article analyses two mutations - D614G and Δ382. The evidence shows that the infection is only getting milder and less deadly. We present clinical, immunological, genomic and evolutionary perspectives.

August 18, 2020 | News

Vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2 would be greatly facilitated by the identification of immunological parameters that correlate with protection in humans. However, to date, most studies on protective immunity have only been performed in animal models and correlates of protection have not been established in humans. This study provides the first direct evidence that SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies protect against SARS-CoV-2 re-infection in humans.

August 18, 2020 | News

The currently available SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests with their traditional serological approaches just tell us - yes or no, which has resulted in an underestimation of asymptomatic and mild infections. The next-generation serologic tests with a broader landscape of antibody responses to a wide range of viral proteins may help us establish the timing of infections too. This editorial describes a recent study (Nature, 17th Aug 2020) that gives an idea about the future of antibody testing in Covid-19.

August 16, 2020 | News

This editorial describes all the major studies done from 1985 until 2020 and describes the mechanisms by which the body may reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine in overweight and obese people.