"Welcome to the 107th Emerge Australia Research Digest, where we delve into recent research and media releases shaping our understanding of ME/CFS and #LongCOVID..."
The summaries are also available in audio form at link
“The idea of rehabilitation will have to be completely rethought for this illness” – Qualitative results of an online survey on patients’ experiences with inpatient rehabilitation for #postCOVID19 condition ( #longCOVID )
"22.5% did not recover by 90 days post infection". "Recovery within 3 months was less likely in women and those with preexisting cardiovascular disease"
"No significant multivariable-adjusted associations [for non-recovery] were observed for age, educational attainment, smoking history, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or elevated depressive symptoms. Results were similar for reinfections"
"Passive transfer of IgG from patients to mice led to increased sensitivity & pain, mirroring patient-reported symptoms. Similarly, mice injected with IgG showed loss of balance & coordination, reflecting donor-reported dizziness"
"We have shown that 24% of people post-COVID-19 may have very low oxygen levels in the brain and that this hypoxia relates to reduced neurological function and quality of life."
CPET performed in a well matched cohort with and without acute Covid. "Patients with #COVID19 peculiarly showed a high degree of VE inefficiency as signaled by a marked increase in VE/VCO2 slope"
"data strongly suggest an important role of NK cells in orchestrating the pathophysiology of different phases of COVID-19 and of some post-vaccination side effects."
Opinion piece asking why we overlook bad things, "especially in this scientific and technological age, when we’ve never been more capable of understanding and addressing them".
The Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development has published a paper, The impacts of #longCOVID across OECD countries, which looks the burden of Long #Covid including how it may impact productivity & the labour force.
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"The economic and social welfare costs of #longCOVID are dramatic: Even excluding the direct costs of health care, long #COVID is likely costing OECD countries as much as $864 billion - $1.04 trillion USD per year due to reductions in quality of life and labour force participation."
NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli ( @NIHDirector ) comments last week at the NIH ACD (Advisory Committee to the Director) Meeting on Long COVID & RECOVER
"Significantly increased Cho concentrations & decreased NAA/Cho were found in the CCS in the older #postCOVID19 subjects"
"may be related to the microstructural reorganization in the corpus callosum (also reported in diffusion measurements) rather than increased membrane turnover"
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"SARS-CoV-2 provokes persistent long-term brain metabolic changes on brain FDG PET in the selected population of patients with prolonged long COVID symptoms, without progressive worsening of the hypometabolisms."
"our study shows widespread reductions in cerebral blood oxygen levels in PCS that are related to symptoms of daytime dysfunction and cognitive impairment (contd)"
"(Contd) Changes in oxygen metabolism and blood perfusion may serve as an adaptive mechanism to mediate brain vascular damage and/or as a mode of maintaining normal daily functioning."
"Increase in taurine levels during the transition to convalescence were associated with a reduction in adverse events independent of comorbidities & acute #COVID19 severity"
"When stratified by variant epoch, patients with early epoch Long COVID had persistently elevated peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokine levels when compared to later epoch #LongCOVID. (contd)"
"(Contd) Patients with Long COVID have similar clusters of symptoms across epochs, suggesting that the underlying pathology is independent of the peripheral cytokine signature."