Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Autopsies On COVID Victims Show 'Dramatic' Blood-Clotting Problems
Autopsies on people who died of the coronavirus are helping doctors understand how the disease affects the body 鈥� and one of the most remarkable findings concerned blood clotting, a pathologist says. Dr. Amy Rapkiewicz, the chairman of the department of pathology at NYU Langone Medical Center, spoke to Erin Burnett on OutFront Thursday night. Some Covid-19 patients are known to develop blood clotting issues, but the degree and the extent to which that occurs was described as "dramatic" by Rapkiewicz. (Ellis and Kane, 7/10)
If there鈥檚 one thing we want to know about COVID-19, it鈥檚 probably this: What鈥檚 my risk of getting it? Researchers have identified certain things that make some people more vulnerable than others. ... Now there鈥檚 evidence that blood type could be a risk factor too. (Kaplan, 7/9)
In January, as a frightening new virus filled hospital wards in Wuhan, China, Stephanie Giordano, a 25-year-old researcher at the drugmaker Regeneron, in a suburb of New York City, began working on a treatment for the disease. By March, the deadly coronavirus had hit home. Fearing she would get infected on the train that took her to the lab every day, she moved from her apartment in East Harlem to an Airbnb five minutes from the company鈥檚 headquarters in Tarrytown, in Westchester County. (Thomas, 7/9)
In other science news 鈥�
Exercise has been shown to slow cognitive decline in aging, but scientists haven鈥檛 known why. Now, by transfusing blood from exercising mice into sedentary ones, researchers have found a single protein, produced in the liver, that seems to underlie restorative effects in the brain. (Gaffney, 7/9)
Scientists say they've identified an enzyme that could help explain how exercise can slow or even reverse some signs of aging in the brain. "Exercise in a bottle" isn't around the corner, but it's not out of the question either. The idea builds on an observation a few years ago that certain parts of the brain can actually grow, even in older people. (Harris, 7/9)