The QPS blog focuses on presenting news about topics such as Alzheimer’s Disease, COVID-19, and clinical research to our clients and the public. This week, we’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming for some fascinating — and whimsical — scientific discoveries.
Amodiaquine: Learning from the Hydroxychloroquine Mistake
Both the scientific community and the general public now know that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The FDA revoked its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the drug in June 2020, after it failed in clinical trials. Now there is another drug, a close chemical relative of hydroxychloroquine’s called amodiaquine, that …
FDA No Longer Requires Premarket Review for Some COVID-19 Tests
On August 19, 2020, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) no longer requires the premarket review of laboratory developed tests (LDTs), including certain tests used to detect COVID-19. A type of in vitro diagnostic test, an LDT is designed, manufactured, and used within a …
Tau Propagation Influences the Pace of Alzheimer’s Disease Progression
Progressive cognitive impairments are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), but the timing of their onset and progression varies by patient. Even among people with the typical amnestic form of AD, the speed with which the disease progresses can vary significantly: some patients experience rapid cognitive decline, while others deteriorate over a decade or more. …
A New, Superior Option in Wearable Bioelectronics: Drawn-on-Skin Electronics
Human skin provides invaluable information that can be used by health care professionals and researchers to monitor, prevent and treat health conditions. Devices in direct contact with the skin — called bioelectronics — can receive information about the state of the heart, the condition of muscles, and the hydration and impedance (electrical conductivity) of the …
Mobile Medical Units Deployed in the Fight Against COVID-19
Teaming up with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly recently announced an innovative trial that aims to provide temporary COVID-19 immunity to one of the most high-risk populations: elderly patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The 2,400-person trial will test Lilly’s experimental, lab-grown COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies. Ideally, …
Vero Cell Studies: Misleading Results in the Fight Against COVID-19
For a few months in early 2020, hydroxychloroquine was touted as a promising treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. After months of testing and trials, there’s little doubt that it’s not effective. What went wrong? Scientists who ran the lab experiments — which yielding promising data — used the wrong type of cells. …
Squid Genes: Self-Edits in the Wild and CRISPR Edits in the Lab
Squid have long been a key organism for deepening the understanding of how nerves transmit signals. They have been passed over for gene-editing studies, however, as their genes were thought to be intractable. But a group of researchers led by Joshua Rosenthal, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, has found …
How the FDA Is Accelerating COVID-19 Testing and Treatments
Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governmental agencies and public health officials around the world have worked tirelessly to protect public health. Joining other federal, state, and local agencies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has played a pivotal role in many aspects of the public health response to the pandemic, including …
Using Video Games for Early Detection of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is diagnosed based on classical motor symptoms, including bradykinesia (slowed movement and loss of spontaneous movement), muscular rigidity, resting tremors and postural instability. In the prodromal phase (an early phase of PD), however, the signs and symptoms shown by patients are often not severe enough for a definitive diagnosis. If physicians can …
