It has been a year since Wuhan health authorities first issued a bulletin about a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown cause, first bringing what would become the COVID-19 pandemic to the attention of the World Health Organization. Now, a mutation that significantly increases SARS-CoV-2’s transmissibility has been detected in the U.S. On Dec. 29, Colorado public health authorities reported the first known case of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01 (Variant Under Investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01), also called B.1.1.7, variant in the U.S. The patient in question, a male in his 20s, has not traveled internationally, indicating that the variant is already circulating more widely in the U.S.

A U.S.-led international whole-exome sequencing study has discovered that mutations in genes encoding for the growth of the neurites necessary for neural connectivity increase the risk for cerebral palsy, the authors reported in the September 28, 2020, edition of Nature Genetics.

TORONTO – What do agricultural pesticides and concealed weapons have to do with med-tech advances in fighting COVID-19? Plenty, according to Canada’s science and industry ministry.