PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Journal article reviews century of data showing COVID-19 likely to impact the brain

International consortium funded by Alzheimer's Association will study effects

Journal article reviews century of data showing COVID-19 likely to impact the brain
2021-01-05
(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO and CHICAGO - An article published Jan. 5 in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association cites decades of published scientific evidence to make a compelling case for SARS-CoV-2's expected long-term effects on the brain and nervous system.

Dementia researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) are the first and senior authors of the report and are joined by coauthors from the Alzheimer's Association and Nottingham and Leicester universities in England.

"Since the flu pandemic of 1917 and 1918, many of the flulike diseases have been associated with brain disorders," said lead author Gabriel A. de Erausquin, MD, PhD, Msc, professor of neurology in the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. "Those respiratory viruses included H1N1 and SARS-CoV. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is also known to impact the brain and nervous system."

Dr. de Erausquin, an investigator with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, said it is becoming clear that the damage done by the pandemic will not be limited to acute effects, such as delirium in the hospital, but will have chronic consequences that impact many individuals' quality of life and independence.

The question is to what degree and under what form. Even mild COVID-19 infections may have negative effects on the brain long term, Dr. de Erausquin said.

"As the Alzheimer's & Dementia article points out, the under-recognized medical history of these viruses over the last century suggests a strong link to brain diseases that affect memory and behavior," said Maria C. Carrillo, PhD, Alzheimer's Association chief science officer and a coauthor on the paper. "In this difficult time, we can create a 'silver lining' by capitalizing on the Alzheimer's Association's global reach and reputation to bring the research community together to illuminate COVID-19's long-term impact on the brain."

Urgently needed international study

The Alzheimer's Association is funding the initial work of a consortium of experts from more than 30 countries to understand how COVID-19 increases the risk, severity, pace and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and psychiatric diseases including depression. Consortium members will enroll study participants selected from a pool of millions of confirmed COVID-19 cases documented in hospitals worldwide. A second group of enrollees will consist of people participating in existing international research studies. Participants will be evaluated on a host of measures at their initial appointment and again at six, nine and 18 months. These measures include cognition, behavior and, when possible, brain volumes measured by magnetic resonance imaging.

Infiltrating the brain

The coronavirus is known to enter cells via receptors called ACE2. The highest concentration of ACE2 receptors is in the olfactory bulb, the brain structure involved in the sense of smell.

"The basic idea of our study is that some of the respiratory viruses have affinity for nervous system cells," said senior author Sudha Seshadri, MD, professor of neurology in the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio and director of the Glenn Biggs Institute. "Olfactory cells are very susceptible to viral invasion and are particularly targeted by SARS-CoV-2, and that's why one of the prominent symptoms of COVID-19 is loss of smell."

The olfactory bulb connects with the hippocampus, a brain structure primarily responsible for short-term memory. "The trail of the virus, when it invades the brain, leads almost straight to the hippocampus," Dr. de Erausquin said. "That is believed to be one of the sources of the cognitive impairment observed in COVID-19 patients. We suspect it may also be part of the reason why there will be an accelerated cognitive decline over time in susceptible individuals."

The authors point out that:

Intranasal administration of SARS-CoV-2 in mice results in rapid invasion of the brain. Headache, hypogeusia (reduced ability to taste) and anosmia (loss of smell) appear to precede the onset of respiratory symptoms in the majority of affected patients. SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the brain post-mortem. Abnormal brain imaging that may be characterized by the appearance of lesions in different brain regions - and the appearance of other abnormal brain changes that may influence clinical presentation - has emerged as a major feature of COVID-19 from all parts of the world. Abnormal imaging was seen in an individual whose only symptom was loss of smell.

The study will collect information over the next two to three years. Initial results are expected in early 2022 for the first set of evaluations. The consortium is aided by technical guidance from the World Health Organization.

INFORMATION:

Chronic Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of COVID-19: the need for a prospective study of viral impact on brain functioning.

Gabriel A. de Erausquin, MD, PhD, Msc; Heather Snyder, PhD; María Carrillo, PhD; Akram A. Hosseini, MD, MRCP, PhD; Traolach S. Brugha, MD, FRCPsych, SFHEA; Sudha Seshadri, MD

First published: Jan. 5, 2021, Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association

https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12255

The Long School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is named for Texas philanthropists Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long. The school is the largest educator of physicians in South Texas, many of whom remain in San Antonio and the region to practice medicine. The school teaches more than 900 students and trains 800 residents each year. As a beacon of multicultural sensitivity, the school annually exceeds the national medical school average of Hispanic students enrolled. The school's clinical practice is the largest multidisciplinary medical group in South Texas with 850 physicians in more than 100 specialties. The school has a highly productive research enterprise where world leaders in Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, aging, heart disease, kidney disease and many other fields are translating molecular discoveries into new therapies. The Long School of Medicine is home to a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center known for prolific clinical trials and drug development programs, as well as a world-renowned center for aging and related diseases.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also referred to as UT Health San Antonio, is one of the country's leading health sciences universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have graduated more than 37,000 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields, and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways "We make lives better®," visit http://www.uthscsa.edu.

Stay connected with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

To see how we are battling COVID-19, read inspiring stories on Impact.


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Journal article reviews century of data showing COVID-19 likely to impact the brain

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Self-controlled children tend to be healthier middle-aged adults

2021-01-05
DURHAM, N.C. -- Self-control, the ability to contain one's own thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and to work toward goals with a plan, is one of the personality traits that makes a child ready for school. And, it turns out, ready for life as well. In a large study that has tracked a thousand people from birth through age 45 in New Zealand, researchers have determined that people who had higher levels of self-control as children were aging more slowly than their peers at age 45. Their bodies and brains were healthier and biologically younger. In interviews, the higher self-control group also showed they may be better equipped to handle the health, financial and social challenges of later life as well. The researchers used structured interviews and credit checks ...

ADDF presents vision of a consortium to accelerate research into speech and language biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease

2021-01-05
NEW YORK, NY (1/5/2021) - Subtle changes in speech and language can be an early warning sign of Alzheimer's -- sometimes appearing long before other more serious symptoms. The challenge is recognizing these changes and determining what may signal Alzheimer's or other neurodegenerative disorders. In a commentary in END ...

Sweat, bleach and gym air quality

Sweat, bleach and gym air quality
2021-01-05
One sweaty, huffing, exercising person emits as many chemicals from their body as up to five sedentary people, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study. And notably, those human emissions, including amino acids from sweat or acetone from breath, chemically combine with bleach cleaners to form new airborne chemicals with unknown impacts to indoor air quality. "Humans are a large source of indoor emissions," said Zachary Finewax, CIRES research scientist and lead author of the new study out in the current edition of Indoor Air. "And chemicals in indoor air, whether from our bodies or cleaning products, don't just disappear, they linger and travel around spaces like gyms, reacting with other chemicals." In 2018, the CU Boulder ...

Heat treatment may make chemotherapy more effective

Heat treatment may make chemotherapy more effective
2021-01-05
Heating up cancer cells while targeting them with chemotherapy is a highly effective way of killing them, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B, found that "loading" a chemotherapy drug on to tiny magnetic particles that can heat up the cancer cells at the same time as delivering the drug to them was up to 34% more effective at destroying the cancer cells than the chemotherapy drug without added heat. The magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles that carry the chemotherapy drug shed heat when exposed to an alternating magnetic field. This means that, once the nanoparticles have accumulated in the tumour area, an alternating magnetic field can be applied from outside the ...

Magnets dim natural glow of human cells, may shed light on how animals migrate

2021-01-05
Researchers in Japan have made the first observations of biological magnetoreception - live, unaltered cells responding to a magnetic field in real time. This discovery is a crucial step in understanding how animals from birds to butterflies navigate using Earth's magnetic field and addressing the question of whether weak electromagnetic fields in our environment might affect human health. "The joyous thing about this research is to see that the relationship between the spins of two individual electrons can have a major effect on biology," said Professor Jonathan Woodward from the University of Tokyo, who conducted the research with doctoral ...

Danish and Chinese tongues taste broccoli and chocolate differently

2021-01-05
Two studies from the University of Copenhagen show that Danes aren't quite as good as Chinese at discerning bitter tastes. The research suggests that this is related to anatomical differences upon the tongues of Danish and Chinese people. For several years, researchers have known that women are generally better than men at tasting bitter flavours. Now, research from the University of Copenhagen suggests that ethnicity may also play a role in how sensitive a person is to the bitter taste found in for example broccoli, Brussels sprouts and dark chocolate. By letting test subjects taste the bitter substance PROP, two studies demonstrate that Danish and Chinese people experience this basic taste differently. The reason seems to be related to an anatomical difference upon ...

In-utero exposures associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer

In-utero exposures associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer
2021-01-05
A recent study by prof. Tone Bjørge, University of Bergen, and her team shows that thyroid cancer is related to in-utero exposures. Thyroid cancer is diagnosed at a younger age than most other malignancies and the incidence is higher in women than men. "The only established modifiable risk factors for thyroid cancer are childhood exposure to ionizing radiation and obesity. Few in-utero and early life risk factors have so far been identified" says Bjørge, professor at Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen. Maternal hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, goiter, and benign thyroid neoplasms ...

Reopening Florida schools followed by uptick in COVID-19 infections, Ben-Gurion U. study

Reopening Florida schools followed by uptick in COVID-19 infections, Ben-Gurion U. study
2021-01-05
BEER-SHEVA, Israel...January 5, 2021 - Reopening Florida elementary and high schools in September was followed by increased COVID-19 infections, according to data analyzed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Harvard Medical School and Tel Aviv University researchers. The findings were just published in END ...

Breaking through the resolution barrier with quantum-limited precision

2021-01-05
Researchers at Paderborn University have developed a new method of distance measurement for systems such as GPS, which achieves more precise results than ever before. Using quantum physics, the team led by Leibniz Prize winner Professor Christine Silberhorn has successfully overcome the so-called resolution limit, which causes the "noise" we may see in photos, for example. Their findings have just been published in the academic journal "Physical Review X Quantum" (PRX Quantum). In "Physics", the publisher's online magazine, the paper has also been highlighted with an expert Viewpoint - an honour which is given to only certain selected publications. Physicist Dr Benjamin Brecht explains the problem of the resolution limit: "In laser distance measurements ...

Bedside EEG test can aid prognosis in unresponsive brain injury patients

2021-01-05
Assessing the ability of unresponsive patients with severe brain injury to understand what is being said to them could yield important insights into how they might recover, according to new research. A team at the University of Birmingham has shown that responses to speech can be measured using electroencephalography, a non-invasive technique used to record electrical signals in the brain. The strength of these responses can be used to provide an accurate prognosis that can help clinicians make the most effective treatment decisions. Significantly the assessments can be made while the patient is still in intensive care and does not require any conscious response from the patient - they do not have to ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Journal article reviews century of data showing COVID-19 likely to impact the brain
International consortium funded by Alzheimer's Association will study effects