Tag "COVID-19"

An article by researchers from HSE University’s Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology is among the most read articles published in the PeerJ journal in 2023. In the paper, the researchers establish a link between the genetic characteristics of the human immune system and its ability to effectively resist new waves of COVID-19. PeerJ is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering research in the field of biological and medical sciences. Every year the editors compile a ranking of the most popular scientific papers.

Focusing on mortality from the COVID-19 virus is no more effective than calls to wear masks and save lives, but it significantly increases people's anxiety. After conducting an experiment with over 15,000 respondents from 84 countries, an international group of researchers, including scientists from HSE, came to this conclusion. The results of the study have been published in the Affective Science journal.

COVID-19 came as an unexpected challenge for humanity. Countries adopted different, sometimes diametrically opposed approaches to minimising the pandemic's impact: from hard lockdowns to no restrictions at all, as in Sweden. It was only last week that China began to relax its zero-tolerance policy. Researchers of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences have identified a few factors which tend to have the greatest impact on the spread of COVID-19—in Russia, such factors include ambient humidity and temperatures, population mobility, the share of internal migrants in the local population, and household incomes. The study findings are published in Population and Economics.

Vaccination is generally considered an essential tool for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Russia was one of the first countries to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 and launched an immunisation campaign in 2021, its vaccination rates remained low for a long time. By October 2021, only 36% of Russian adults were vaccinated, many of whom were compelled by their employers to do so. Having examined the factors contributing to low trust in vaccination among Russians, HSE economists suggest measures to improve vaccination uptake. The paper is published in Vaccine.

Scholars from HSE University and the RAS Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry have demonstrated the efficiency of T-cell immune response against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. In approximately 90% of vaccinated Europeans, T-cell immunity was as effective against Omicron as with other variants. The results of the study were published in PeerJ.

A team of researchers from the HSE Centre for Cognition and Decision Making and the Central State Medical Academy conducted a study on sleep disorders, mood and fatigue after COVID-19. These factors are interrelated and the researchers recommend a comprehensive approach to treat the problem effectively. The work was published in the journal Neuroscience and Behavioral Psychology.