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Happy Monday!
Here is my Twitter.
I found someone who wants to partner on content for the newsletter! If anyone else wants to collaborate, feel free to reach out. I am contemplating creating another research-related twitter account for another topic, stay tuned.
š° Media
Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a ābrokenā Social Security disability process
From CNN:
A study by The Brookings Institution found that as many as 683,000 workers may have had to leave the labor force due to long Covid as of October 2022.
Pandemic issues and budget cuts at the Social Security Administration have resulted in the lowest staffing levels in 25 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Decision wait times for disability insurance can range from months to years, according to data from nonprofit think tank USA Facts. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates $50 billion in annual salaries in the US is lost annually due to long Covid.
My Take: We need ways to make this process a lot easier, it is insanse the hurdles patients are expected to go through.
Brain inflammation likely cause of long COVID symptoms, UW Medicine study finds
From Kiro7:
Inflammation is likely the cause of brain fog and vanishing memory during long COVID.
The S1 protein, after attaching to all SARS-CoV-2 variants, passed through the blood-brain barrier and caused inflammation.
People with Alzheimerās and similar diseases seem to be at particular risk when the S1 protein crosses the brain.The next step for the study is examining animals to see the long-term effects of inflammation on a brain thatās been infected with COVID.
GOP Ex-Sen. Inhofe Retired Due To Long COVID After Opposing COVID Aid
From Yahoo News:
Former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) attributed his decision to retire due to the long-term effects of COVID-19. Inhofe voted against multiple coronavirus aid packages meant to help Americans at the height of the pandemic.
But he suggested he was in good company, alleging that other elected representatives in Congress are also struggling with long COVID behind the scenes.
š Research
Organ and cell-specific biomarkers of Long-COVID identified with targeted proteomics and machine learning
From BMC Molecular Science:
Long-COVID symptom presentation is heterogeneous making it challenging to develop clinical models for diagnosis, as well as disease surveillance. Identification of accurate Long-COVID-specific biomarkers allows for early disease detection, accurate diagnosis, prognosis and/or targeted therapeutics.
Using machine learning algorithms, we identified 119 important proteins that differentiate Long-COVID outpatients from other cohorts, indicating a unique protein profile. Two optimal models, with a subset of nine and five proteins, accurately differentiated Long-COVID patients from acutely ill COVID-19 inpatients and healthy control subjects.
The digestive system had the highest number of significant proteins with altered expression.
The lymphatic system appeared to be highly affected in Long-COVID as more than 50% of the 60 significant proteins had expression in lymphatic organs.
My Take: Personal favorite of mine. I think the machine learning and artificial intelligence applications can dramatically improve research outcomes.
Association of PostāCOVID-19 Condition Symptoms and Employment Status
From JAMA Network:
PCC was associated with a greater likelihood of unemployment and lesser likelihood of working full time in adjusted models.
Among those with PCC, the presence of cognitive symptoms was associated with diminished likelihood of working full time.
As unemployed individuals with PCC were more likely to have been employed before the pandemic, it is unlikely that employment status simply reflects a factor associated with risk for reporting PCC.
The Comparison of Retinal Microvascular Findings in Acute COVID-19 and 1-Year after Hospital Discharge Assessed with Multimodal ImagingāA Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study
Important Definition
The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is a critical regulator ofĀ blood volume and systemic vascular resistance.
From MDPI:
The resulting imbalance in the signaling effects of the RAAS pathway leads to endothelial dysfunction, which, combined with a hypercoagulable state, predisposes the patients to thromboembolic events.
COVID-19 retinopathy, encompassing several retinal findings, such as flame-shaped hemorrhages, cotton wool spots, dilated veins, and tortuous vessels, have been previously described.
COVID-19 severity was found to affect the presence of retinopathy as a higher incidence of findings was reported in the moderate and severe course of the disease.
Role of the MicroRNAs in the Pathogenic Mechanism of Painful Symptoms in Long COVID: Systematic Review
From MDPI:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miRs) are small non-coding RNAs conformed by 17 to 22 nucleotides and are present in every mammalian cell; they modulate gene expression by silencing messenger RNA (mRNA).
Cytokines participate in a variety of physiological processes such as immunity, embryonic development, aging and particularly inflammation.
One of the mechanisms that we identified to be commonly regulated by miRNAs expressed in COVID-19 patients is the interleukin-6/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (IL-6/STA3) axis.
The IL-6/STAT3 axis is heavily involved in the pathogenic process of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and some researchers suggest that modulation of this pathway could be an important target for pharmacological therapy against the infection.
In the present review we identified that miR-21-5p was commonly downregulated in patients with active SARS-CoV-2 infection; there is a feedback regulation between the miR-21-5p and IL-6/STAT3 axis, thus if miR-21-5p is downregulated, the axis partially loses regulation, prompting an exacerbated inflammatory response.
My take: I found this one super interesting. Does the downregulation of these micrornas stop after active infection; even if it does, does this downregulation during active infection make us more susceptible to Long Covid?
A Systematic Review of Chest Imaging Findings in Long COVID Patients
From MDPI:
The key question for patients and their pulmonologists is whether performing lung imaging in patients with long COVID is illuminative
A major finding of this systematic review was that although the dominant symptoms in long COVID patients are respiratory, this is not necessarily related to lung imaging abnormalities.
CT scans were the most commonly used modality for imaging in long COVID. CT is generally considered superior to MRI for imaging of areas prone to movement, such as the lung.
Air trapping, identified as a diffuse lung injury that might be developed by the inflammatory obstruction of small airways [44], was not reported in any of included articles. ā¦.Therefore, this radiological finding should be examined in long COVID lung imaging.
š©ŗĀ Hope & Potential Treatments
Shionogi says its drug Xocova may reduce risks of long COVID symptoms
From JapanTimes:
Shionogiās COVID-19 treatment Xocova was found to reduce the risk of developing at least one of the symptoms of long COVID-19, the Osaka-based pharmaceutical company said Wednesday.
Shionogi, which has yet to publish its results in a journal, presented the data at an academic conference held in the U.S. this week.
The data was obtained through a follow-up study of patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 registered in a clinical trial for . The drug received emergency approval in Japan in November as the third oral treatment available in the country and the first to be developed domestically.
Ravi is right- great work!
Great work!