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Seema Shah, a bioethicist and associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine — and an author of the Science article — said participants of a recent 40-day human-challenge study for malaria were paid about $2,300. “Some were very motivated by the money, but others were also interested in the experience, and still others have strong motivations to help others,” she said, adding that some participants personally knew sufferers of malaria and some even donated some of their earnings to charities.

Some folks hold back on physical activity because they fear it will increase their chances of developing knee arthritis, so researchers from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago took a closer look. “Our study findings convey a reassuring message that adults at high risk for knee [arthritis] may safely engage in long-term strenuous physical activity at a moderate level to improve their general health and well-being,” said study author Alison Chang, associate professor of physical therapy and human movement sciences.

Many COVID-19 patients are at risk for acute kidney failure, according to a new study. Acute kidney failure — also called acute kidney injury (AKI) — is a serious complication of COVID-19 that’s underreported and not well understood, the Northwestern University researchers said. The death rate for patients with severe acute kidney failure is about 50%, they noted.

Researchers from Northwestern University also developed an antibody test that they say can be completed using only a single drop of dried blood from a finger prick. As of Monday morning, more than 4.1 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, more than 1.33 million of which are in the U.S., the most impacted country on the planet.

Some people with COVID-19 can walk around without exhibiting symptoms. No one is sure when in the course of infection the tests can pick up the signs, according to Tina Tan, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University and an infectious disease expert. “If someone has been significantly exposed to COVID-19, regardless of the test results, that person pretty much has the infection,” Tan said.

The thinking of kidney specialists has evolved along similar lines. Initially, they attributed widespread and severe kidney disease to the damage caused by ventilators and certain medications given to intensive-care patients, said Daniel Batlle, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

We are social creatures. So it’s no surprise that quarantine fatigue has begun to set in. “Humans are wired to come together physically,” says psychologist Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life. And, social distancing has just exacerbated the problem,” Moskowitz says.

Widespread testing using this finger prick method would also mean people could take their own blood samples at home and send them to a lab through the mail. “By not requiring people to come into the clinic to have their blood drawn, we conserve clinical resources, keep people safe at home during shelter-in-place and greatly increase the potential reach of antibody testing,” says Thomas McDade, Ph.D., a biological anthropologist in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the research paper, in a press release.

“We have sick patients now,’’ said Dr. Michael G. Ison, at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, adding that they can’t get the drug. ”It’s a mess. The critical issue is that there has been a plan put in place and no clarity put in place.”

Northwestern University researchers have put forth a coronavirus antibody test that they say can be completed using only a single drop of dried blood from a finger prick. he test, which is specifically designed to search for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies IgM and IgG, will help in “evaluating how effective policies such as social distancing or closing schools and restaurants are working to prevent viral transmission,” as well as eliminate the need for a clinical setting, according to the team’s lead author.