Shared genetic architecture between COVID-19 severity and other health conditions
Researchers in the United States have identified a shared genetic architecture between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and other health conditions.
Using electronic health record data and genomic data from Veteran Affairs (VA), the Million Veteran Program (MVP), and the United Kingdom Biobank (UKBB), the team identified conditions associated with risk factors for severe COVID-19.
The study found that phenotypes associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes such as thrombotic complications also shared genetic variants associated with severe COVID-19.
Among respiratory conditions, only idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and asthma shared genetic risk factors with severe disease, with no association observed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Author: Martin Karl-Friedrich Bader
(MENAFN - The Conversation) Plants use their leaves to make food from the sun s energy and carbon dioxide. With very few exceptions of parasitic plants , no tree is known to grow without green foliage â or to be more precise, no tree can start life without leaves or some sort of green tissue containing chlorophyll.
But some may end up as zombie trees long after they lose all leaves and large parts of their trunk, either to disease or the chainsaw.
Such undead tree stumps have been observed for almost 200 years, but the evolutionary and physiological processes leading to their existence remain a mystery. One reason is because they are rare. Another is because whatever happens on their journey from feeding themselves to being fed happens out of sight â likely below ground.