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According to a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry, after recovering from Covid-19, one fifth of patients suffer from psychiatric disorders. Researchers at the University of Oxford in England tracked data from over 69 million Americans, including more than 62,000 cases of Covid-19. It turns out that in the 90 days following infection, one in five patients develops psychiatric disorders: anxiety, depression, insomnia, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. This also applies to those who have not been hospitalized, and also to those who have no psychiatric history. Compared to other conditions, such as the flu, kidney stones or broken bones, for Covid-19, the risk of mental health problems doubles. Why is there a greater risk in these former patients? Is it related to treatments? Are these neurological symptoms unexpected? Among the psychological stresses associated with this pandemic, social distancing measures and the physical effects of the disease, the causes are likely to be multifactorial. According to the authors of this study, it is urgent to investigate the causes and improve the monitoring of patients with Covid-19.
Covid-19: the “effective R” falls
According to the latest data published by Géodes, the cartographic Observatory of public health France: the R0 has dropped. The famous “effective R” (the effective reproduction rate) is an indicator that allows you to estimate whether the Covid-19 epidemic is in decline or progression. This R0 is down and is now at 0.93 nationwide. This means that on average 10 patients infect only 9 people. Before this second confinement, we were at 1.42. This is an encouraging rate, similar to that of 1 July. The epidemic appears to be entering a waning phase. But it will take a few more weeks to see a significant drop in hospital admissions.
SARS-CoV-2: the discovery of a hidden gene
According to a study published in the journal eLife, an international team has discovered a hidden gene for SARS-CoV-2. For 10 months, geneticists have been studying SARS-CoV-2 from all angles, a virus made up of 15 genes. These researchers have discovered, hidden in a chain of nucleotides, what is called “an overlapping gene”, ie a gene within a gene. It was called ORF3d, it is superimposed on another gene and expresses a different protein. For the moment we do not know its role and we do not yet know what the protein produced by ORF3d does.
The first African duck-billed dinosaur
And finally, according to a study published in the journal Cretaceous Research, a duck-billed dinosaur fossil has just been discovered in Africa. This 66 million-year-old fossil was discovered in Morocco, not far from Casablanca and causes a great surprise. Because at the end of the Cetaceans, these 3 meter long herbivores first appeared in North America, then spread to South America, Asia and then Europe. But we didn’t expect to find it in Africa, since the continent was an island at the time. Two hypotheses are advanced: either the duck-billed dinosaurs were excellent swimmers; or, they crossed the sea on rafts of debris. It is possible, it has already been the case with some mammals from Madagascar. However, this discovery shows that the dinosaurs were capable of great ocean crossings.
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