COVID-19 Rebound after taking Paxlovid likely due to Insufficient Drug Exposure, study finds

Human lung epithelial cells (blue) infected by SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 virus (red) isolated from a patient with COVID-19 rebound after Paxlovid treatment.

Paxlovid rebound patient did not show drug resistance or impaired immunity. Paxlovid is the leading oral medication for preventing severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk individuals. However, symptoms returned in some patients after treatment was completed, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a health advisory on this so-called “COVID-19 rebound.”

In a study published June 20, 2022 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine evaluated one such patient and found their symptom relapse was not caused by the development of resistance to the drug or im...

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Quantum Sensor can detect Electromagnetic Signals of any Frequency

Quantum sensors
Caption:MIT researchers have developed a method to enable quantum sensors to detect any arbitrary frequency, with no loss of their ability to measure nanometer-scale features. Quantum sensors detect the most minute variations in magnetic or electrical fields, but until now they have only been capable of detecting a few specific frequencies, limiting their usefulness. Pci
Credits:Credit: Guoqing Wang

Engineers expand the capabilities of these ultrasensitive nanoscale detectors, with potential uses for quantum computing and biological sensing. Quantum sensors, which detect the most minute variations in magnetic or electrical fields, have enabled precision measurements in materials science and fundamental physics...

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Scientists Identify a Possible Source for Charon’s Red Cap

Three white rocks with green and red spots.
The Gaia DR3 astrometry is so accurate that the angular offset between the asteroid’s center of mass and the center of the area illuminated by the Sun and visible to Gaia must be accounted for. See for more details below. (Image: Reference and image credit: Tanga, P., Muinonen, K., Penttilä, A., et al., 2022, Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press.)

Southwest Research Institute scientists combined data from NASA’s New Horizons mission with novel laboratory experiments and exospheric modeling to reveal the likely composition of the red cap on Pluto’s moon Charon and how it may have formed. This first-ever description of Charon’s dynamic methane atmosphere using new experimental data provides a fascinating glimpse into the origins of this moon’s red spot as described in two recent papers.

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Electrically Conductive Paints and other Polymer Alloys now produced easily

image picture
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and collaborating partners prepared polyaniline in a wide range of cheap solvents. This development will facilitate advanced applications in printed circuit boards and other technologies

Researchers have synthesized electrically conductive polyaniline polymer in common organic solvents. A small quantity of added iodine facilitates the radical chain reaction that is critical to polymer synthesis. This protocol will facilitate processing of polyaniline in printed circuit boards, electrically conductive paints, and other advanced technologies, in a cheap and versatile manner.

Medical devices, cars, and many advanced technologies contain innumerable delicate components that are held together by electrically conductive polymers, such as polyanil...

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