Category: Feature Stories

Vienna is far ahead in samples with the corona delta sub-variant AY.4.2 – compared to other provinces in Austria. Ulrich Elling of the IMBA (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology) finds one aspect important among others – and has a “mission to the Federal Ministry” of Health ready.The AY.4.2 variant has appeared more than 30 times in Austria so far. The samples in which AY.4.2 was present account for a large proportion of the samples in the federal capital, with a total of 50 percent of the samples. Ulrich Elling of the…

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An expert says the delta variant of the coronavirus, AY.4.2, is even “more contagious” than the previous version.A new lineage of the delta variant of the coronavirus, AY.4.2, is increasingly turning out to be “even more contagious than delta,” warns Ulrich Elling, group leader at the IMBA (Institute for Molecular Biotechnology) of the Academy of Sciences. So far, he says, more than 20,000 cases have been reported in the United Kingdom, about 1,000 in continental Europe and “a good 30” in Austria. The only “fair and effective measure” now, he…

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The ex-president was banned from networks like Facebook and Twitter. Now he is aiming for his own communication platform and has also founded a new media company. The former president has already been resisting his exclusion from the major social networks for some time. Former U.S. President Donald Trump wants to found an alternative social network. “Truth Social” is the name of the new platform, Trump announced on Wednesday evening in a message from a company newly founded for this purpose. In November, the network is to be launched for…

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20 years ago the percentage of foreigners in Vienna was 17 percent, today it is already 37 percent! Integration as a Herculean task! The new data collected by Statistics Austria from the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) speak a clear language: almost half (45.9%) of the Viennese already had a migration background in 2019, which is almost twice as many as the Austrian average (23.7%). 36.7% of Viennese (19.8% Austria-wide) were born abroad. Looking at this exact figure of 701,700 immigrant Viennese, those born in Serbia make up its largest group…

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The world’s largest social network Facebook is planning to rename itself, according to a media report. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to unveil the new brand name at the latest at the annual Connect conference on October 28, US tech portal and media network The Verge wrote, citing a person familiar with the matter. The new brand design has to do with the new focus on creating a “metaverse,” it said.Facebook understands “metaverse” to mean a world in which physical reality merges with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)…

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The world’s largest Covid research consortium, the “COVID human genetic effort” (COVIDhge), is on the trail of genes that could condition natural immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Ivan Tancevski, a lung specialist from Tyrol, is part of the alliance and is also conducting his own studies on this at MedUni Innsbruck. The researchers are now aiming to develop a therapy to treat infected patients, Tancevski told APA. Genetic mutation offers protection against corona“Genetic predispositions can cause some protection against infectious diseases,” explained Tancevski, who is at the University Department of…

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Daylight Saving Time ends on October 31. Clocks will be turned back to 2 a.m. in Europe at 3 a.m., and thus to standard time. In March 2019, the European Parliament had voted by a large majority in favor of abolishing daylight saving time as of 2021 – or one year later if there are difficulties for the single market. However, a majority of member states must still agree to this for it to become a reality. It is still unclear when the vote will take place, EU Council circles…

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Cell culture studies show these variants are better at infecting lung cells and worse at being inhibited by antibodies. The finding came to a German research team in the lab: delta is actually better at penetrating lung cells compared to the virus of origin (the virus that spread during the lead phase of the pandemic). In addition, Delta is better at fusing infected lung cells with uninfected cells. Stefan Pöhlmann and Markus Hoffmann from the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen wanted to know why the delta variant spreads so…

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U.S. scientists have shown for the first time that coronavirus vaccines and infections can confer immunity to other, similar coronaviruses. Mice vaccinated against 2003 SARS virus were protected from COVID-19 virus Humans vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines may be protected against SARS-CoV-1 and colds. Results provide rationale for developing universal vaccines for each coronavirus family“Until our study, it was not clear whether, when exposed to one coronavirus, you could have cross-protection against other coronaviruses. We have now shown that this is the case.” Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster, assistant professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern…

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