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Changes in sperm caused by COVID-19 in a mouse could affect the offspring's brain development and cause anxious behaviours, a study has found, suggesting that the viral disease may have long-lasting effects on future generations, even as the results would need to be verified in humans, researchers said. The team from Australia's Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health found that an offspring mouse conceived after a father has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed COVID-19 symptoms have higher levels of anxiety-like behaviours. "We let male mice recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection for a few weeks before they mated with healthy females. We found that the resulting offspring showed more anxious behaviours compared to offspring from uninfected fathers," Elizabeth Kleeman, research officer and first author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications, said. All offsprings from COVID-19-affected fathers were seen to display increased anxiety-like ..
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has adopted recommendations by a new group of vaccine advisers, and stopped recommending COVID-19 shots for anyone leaving the choice up to patients. The government health agency on Monday announced it has adopted recommendations made last month by advisers picked by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Before this year, US health officials following recommendations by infectious disease experts recommended annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older. The idea was to update protection against the coronavirus as it continues to evolve. As the COVID-19 pandemic waned, experts increasingly discussed the possibility of focusing vaccination efforts on people 65 and older who are among those most at risk for death and hospitalization. But Kennedy, who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, abruptly announced in May that COVID-19 vaccines were no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant wom
The Railway Ministry has clarified that stay-at-home period during COVID-19 lockdown would be counted as duty for trainee railway servants for increments in salaries. "As the Railways are aware, the training period spent by a railway servant, whether on remuneration of stipend or otherwise, is to be treated as duty, provided it is followed by confirmation, for the purposes of increments," read a circular dated July 7, 2025, addressed to all Zonal Railways and production units. The ministry's circular came after one of the Zonal Railways unit sought to know whether the period spent at home during nationwide lockdown due to pandemic be considered as duty also for the purpose of increments. The ministry said that it has already issued instructions in 2020 during the release of held up payments of stipends to the trainee railway servants for the period they had stayed at home during the lockdown due to Covid subject to a condition that this period must not exceed six months. "In view o