Myopia in children | Alzheimer’s diagnosis | SARS-CoV-2 immune cells

August 18, 2020 Edition  COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation, and we at NIH are doing everything we can toward the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. You can find the latest public health information from CDC at www.coronavirus.gov and the latest research information from NIH at www.nih.gov/coronavirus. Meanwhile, science continues to progress on many other fronts, and we will continue to try to bring you stories across a wide range of topics.

Multifocal contact lenses slow myopia progression in children Children who wore multifocal contact lenses had slower progression of their myopia, or nearsightedness, over three years.

Blood tests show promise for early Alzheimer’s diagnosis Blood levels of a protein called ptau217 were associated with damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer’s disease, and may one day help diagnose disease before symptoms appear.

Immune cells for common cold may recognize SARS-CoV-2 Blood samples taken before the COVID-19 pandemic showed that some people already had certain immune cells that recognize SARS-CoV-2, possibly because of common colds.

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