According to a study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, intravenous treatment with omega-3 fatty acids in elderly hospitalised patients in intensive care due to COVID-19 appears to have positive effects on the immune system’s ability to cope with the virus. The study, which was published in the journal Clinical and Translational Medicine, may lead to a complementary, cost-effective treatment for COVID-19 in the future.
The immune system and the body’s activation of white blood cells are over-activated in COVID-19 patients as a result of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It can cause a systemic inflammatory storm, which worsens the disease and can lead to complications like sepsis and heart failure.
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, among others, have now demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids can stimulate active healing of inflammation while not suppressing the immune response. Researchers believe that by accelerating inflammation healing without compromising the body’s immune system, it may be possible to avoid the most serious complications of COVID-19.
The study was carried out in 2020, at an early stage of the pandemic when no vaccines were available. The study included 22 elderly COVID-19 patients, half of whom were randomly assigned to receive intravenous omega-3 fatty acid treatment for five days and the other half to receive corresponding volumes of saline.
Demand for riskier assets is declining globally as a result of aggressive rate
increases and a gloomier economic outlook for China.
As Chinese technology companies drove the benchmark index to its lowest
level in more than a decade, Hong Kong stocks fell. After a string of interest
rate hikes fueled concerns about a coming recession, losses widened as
investors avoided riskier assets amid a decline in local currencies.
At the closing, the Hang Seng Index lost 3.4% to 17,250.88, its lowest level
since October 2011, as 71 of the 73 index constituents experienced losses. As
wagers on market intervention decreased, the Tech Index fell by 3.9% and the
Shanghai Composite Index fell by 1.6%.
Tencent fell 2.4 percent to HK$274, JD.com down 5.6 percent to HK$201, while
Alibaba Group Holding fell 4.1 percent to HK$74.70. As the British pound fell,
HSBC fell 5.8% to HK$40. Property developer Country Garden saw a 13% decline to
HK$1.89 and a 12% decline in its property management unit, Country Garden
Services, to HK$12.52. Major Asian markets also fell. The Nikkei 225 in Japan,
the Kospi in South Korea, and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia all had declines
of at least 1%.
