Some COVID-19 patients experience persistent chronic fatigue six months after infection, finds study

A team of scientists from Germany has recently revealed that almost 50% of patients present with moderate to severe chronic fatigue syndrome six months after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. 

Background

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from mild fever and cough to severe pulmonary and cardiovascular complications. Although almost 80% of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients remain asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, a growing pool of evidence indicates that a significant fraction of COVID-19 patients present with persistent symptoms referred to as ‘long COVID’. Most commonly reported symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, cognitive impairment, and post-exertional malaise (worsening of symptoms after minor physical or mental exertion).

In the current study, the scientists have investigated mild to moderate COVID-19 patients who present with persistent fatigue and other related symptoms. They have also investigated whether these patients meet the diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), which is a neurological disease characterized by severe mental and physical fatigue, chronic pain, and sleep disorder.

Study design

A total of 42 COVID-19 patients presented with moderate to severe intensity chronic fatigue, exertion intolerance, cognitive dysfunction, and pain six months after SARS-CoV-2 infection were investigated in the study. All participants were diagnosed with mild to moderate COVID-19. A team of experienced clinical immunologists, rheumatologists, neurologists, and cardiologists was involved for an accurate diagnosis of ME/CFS in these patients based on the Canadian Consensus Criteria. The intensity and duration of post-exertional malaise (symptoms lasting for more than 14 hours) was considered to be the main diagnostic criterion for ME/CCFS.

Important observations

Of all enrolled patients, 32 had mild COVID-19 and 10 had moderate COVID-19 because of pneumonia. The numbers of male and female patients were 29 and 13, respectively, and the average age of the patients was 36 years (age range: 22 – 62 years).

Of 42 enrolled patients, 19 met the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS and were found to have severe fatigue and functional impairment, severe stress intolerance, and hypersensitivity to noise, light, and temperature. The scientists categorized these patients as Chronic COVID-19 Syndrome/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CCS/CFS). The rest of the patients who were not diagnosed with ME/CFS mainly because of the relatively shorter duration of post-exertional malaise (2 – 10 hours) were referred to as CCS. The patients with ME/CFS showed significantly reduced hand grip strength than those without ME/CFS.

After 6 months of SARS-CoV-2 infection, all participants were found to have fatigue with different intensities. The most commonly observed symptoms were post-exertional malaise, cognitive impairment, and muscle pain. Although patients without ME/CFS exhibited less severe symptoms, most of them had severely impaired daily life activities. The majority of enrolled patients (n=28) were either unable to work or required a reduced work schedule because of post- Covid-19 symptoms.

In the study cohort, autonomic dysfunction was observed in most of the patients, with no significant difference in symptom intensity between patients with and without ME/CFS. The increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure at standing position was significantly lower in patients with ME/CFS than those without it. Among patients with ME/CFS, four were diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome.         

Regarding biochemical parameters, only two patients in the entire study cohort showed mildly elevated C-reactive protein levels, indicating the absence of robust inflammatory response. Almost 50% of patients showed increased levels of interleukin 8 (IL-8), which is a clinical feature of severe COVID-19 patients. Moreover, a low level of mannose-binding lectin was observed in 22% of patients, indicating impaired immune functioning. An indication of autoimmune disorder was noticed in the study cohort as elevated levels of antinuclear antibody were found in 3 ME/CFS patients and 6 non-ME/CFS patients.

Study significance

The study reveals that even mildly affected COVID-19 patients can develop a severe chronic syndrome characterized by moderate to severe fatigue and exertion intolerance. Because most of the post-COVID symptoms considered in this study did not differ significantly between patients with and without ME/CFS, the scientists suggest that chronic COVID-19 syndrome is a more appropriate terminology than ME/CFS in defining long-term symptoms related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

 

 

Ingestible medical devices can be broken down with light

A variety of medical devices can be inserted into the gastrointestinal tract to treat, diagnose, or monitor GI disorders. Many of these have to be removed by endoscopic surgery once their job is done. However, MIT engineers have now come up with a way to trigger such devices to break down inside the body when they are exposed to light from an ingestible LED.

The new approach is based on a light-sensitive hydrogel that the researchers designed. Incorporating this material into medical devices could avoid many endoscopic procedures and would give doctors a faster and easier way to remove devices when they are no longer needed or are not functioning properly, the researchers say. 

"We are developing a set of systems that can reside in the gastrointestinal tract, and as part of that, we're looking to develop different ways in which we can trigger the disassembly of devices in the GI tract without the requirement for a major procedure," says Giovanni Traverso, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the senior author of the study.

In a study in pigs, the researchers showed that devices made with this light-sensitive hydrogel can be triggered to break down after being exposed to blue or ultraviolet light from a small LED. 

Ritu Raman, a postdoc at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is the lead author of the paper, which appears today in Science Advances. Other authors of the paper are former technical associates Tiffany Hua, Jianlin Zhou, Tina Esfandiary, and Vance Soares; technical associates Declan Gwynne, Joy Collins, and Siddartha Tamang; graduate student Simo Pajovic; Division of Comparative Medicine veterinarian Alison Hayward; and David H. Koch Institute Professor Robert Langer.

Controlled breakdown
Over the past several years, Traverso and Langer have developed many ingestible devices designed to remain in the GI tract for extended periods of time. They have also worked on a variety of strategies to control the breakdown of such devices, including methods based on changes in pH or temperature, or exposure to certain chemicals. 

"Given our interests in developing systems that can reside for prolonged periods in the gastrointestinal tract, we continue to investigate a range of approaches to facilitate the removal of these systems in the setting of adverse reaction or when they are no longer needed," Traverso says. "We're really looking at different triggers and how they perform, and whether we can apply them to different settings."

In this study, the researchers explored a light-based trigger, which they believed could offer some advantages over their earlier approaches. One potential advantage is that light can act at a distance and doesn't need to come into direct contact with the material being broken down. Also, light normally does not penetrate the GI tract, so there is no chance of accidental triggering. 

To create the new material, Raman designed a light-sensitive hydrogel based on a material developed in the lab of Kristi Anseth, a former Langer lab postdoc who is now a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This polymer gel includes a chemical bond that is broken when exposed to a wavelength of light between 405 and 365 nanometers (blue to ultraviolet). 

Raman decided that instead of making a material composed exclusively of that light-sensitive polymer, she would use it to link together stronger components such as polyacrylamide. This makes the overall material more durable but still allows it to break apart or weaken when exposed to the right wavelength of light. She also constructed the material as a "double network," in which one polymer network surrounds another.

"You're forming one polymer network and then forming another polymer network around it, so it's really entangled. That makes it very tough and stretchy," Raman says.

The material's properties can be tuned by varying the composition of the gel. When the light-sensitive linker makes up a higher percentage of the material, it breaks down faster in response to light but is also mechanically weaker. The researchers can also control how long it takes to break down the material by using different wavelengths of light. Blue light works more slowly but poses less risk to cells that are sensitive to damage from ultraviolet light.

Deflated by light
The gel and its breakdown products are biocompatible, and the gel can be easily molded into a variety of shapes. In this study, the researchers used it to demonstrate two possible applications: a seal for a bariatric balloon and an esophageal stent. Standard bariatric balloons, which are sometimes used to help treat obesity, are inflated in a patient's stomach and filled with saline. After about six months, the balloon is removed by endoscopic surgery.

In contrast, the bariatric balloon that the MIT team designed can be deflated by exposing the seal to a tiny LED light, which would in principle be swallowed and then pass out of the body. Their balloon is made of latex and filled with sodium polyacrylate, which absorbs water. In this study, the researchers tested the balloons in pigs and found that the balloons swelled up as soon as they were placed in the stomach. When a small, ingestible LED emitting blue light was placed in the stomach for about six hours, the balloons slowly deflated. With a higher-power light, the material broke down within 30 minutes.

The researchers also molded the light-sensitive gel into an esophageal stent. Such stents are sometimes used to help treat esophageal cancer or other disorders that cause a narrowing of the esophagus. A light-triggerable version could be broken down and passed through the digestive tract when no longer needed. 

In addition to those two applications, this approach could be used to create other kinds of degradable devices, such as vehicles for delivering drugs to the gastrointestinal tract, according to the researchers. 

"This study is a proof of concept that we can create this kind of material, and now we're thinking about what are the best applications for it," Traverso says.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement 

Blindness in AMD patients: Study says brain can integrate artificial and natural vision correctly

A new research  has found that the brain knows how to integrate natural and artificial vision while maintaining information processing that is important for the vision which can help in better treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The study mentioned that AMD in the West causes blindness in millions of people. In the Western world, it is the most common cause of serious vision loss for those aged 50 and over and is growing with age. Although no remedy is available for AMD, recent significant advances in artificial retina implants may contribute to effective treatment.

Locate inside the eye, the retina contains light receptors ( photo-receptors) that absorb light. Information is then processed and transmitted to the brain.

The macula, the central area of the retina, processes most of the information that reaches the brain from the eye. enabling one to see while reading and driving, facial recognition, and any other activity that required accurate vision.

In the peripheral retina, the area of the retina outside the macula that assist mainly with spatial judgement, vision is 10-20 times less precise.

in AMD, precise vision is impaired due to damage to the centre of the retina, while peripheral vision remains normal.

When there is damage to the photo-receptor layers in the retina, an artificial retina may be implanted. Activating these electrodes results in electrical stimulation of the remaining retina cells and results in the visual restoration, albeit partially.

AMD patients implanted with an artificial retina possess a combination of artificial central vision and normal peripheral vision. This combination of artificial and natural vision is important to study in order to understand how to help the blind.

One of the key issues here is whether the brain can integrate artificial and natural vision correctly.
One of the researchers has used a unique projection system that stimulated either natural vision, artistic vision or a combination of natural and artificial vision and at the same time records cortical responses in rodents implanted with a subretinal implant.

The implant is made up of dozens of small solar cells and electrodes developed at Standford Uni.

These ground breaking findings have implications on better vision restore for retinal prosthetic implanted in AMD patients and help the theory of incorporation of prosthetic and natural vision into the brain.
The findings can also have an impact on future brain-machine interface systems where artificial and natural procedures co-exist, said the Prof.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement 

Novel microscope can non-invasively diagnose, treat diseases

Scientists have developed a specialised microscope that has the potential to diagnose diseases like skin cancer as well as perform precise surgery without making any incisions in the skin. According to the study, the microscope allows medical professionals to pinpoint the exact location of an abnormality, diagnose it and treat it instantly.

"Our technology allows us to scan tissue quickly, and when we see a suspicious or abnormal cell structure, we can perform ultra-precise surgery and selectively treat the unwanted or diseased structure within the tissue -- without cutting into the skin," said a researcher.

It could be used to treat any structure of the body that can be reached by light and requires extremely precise treatment, including nerves or blood vessels in the skin, eye, brain or other vital structures, researchers said.

"For diagnosing and scanning diseases like skin cancer, this could be revolutionary," said a Prof.

The study shows that the device allows imaging of living tissue up to about one millimetre in depth using an ultrafast infrared laser beam.

Researchers said that this microscope, however, is different from previous technology due to its capability to not only digitally scan living tissue, but also treat the tissue by intensifying the heat produced by the laser.

"We can alter the pathway of blood vessels without impacting any of the surrounding vessels or tissues," said the Prof.

The researchers also said that their aim is to make multiphoton microscope technology more versatile while also increasing its precision.

"We wanted to be able to identify what was happening under the skin from many different angles and to have the capability of imaging different body sites," said a Prof.

Developments of a miniature version of the telescope that could be used to perform microscopic examinations and treatment during endoscopy are also underway, researchers said.

"We are not only the first to achieve fast video-rate imaging that enables clinical applications, but also the first to develop this technology for therapeutic uses," said the Prof.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/    

                                                                                                                                                     FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/  

                            FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

New device harvests heart’s energy to power life-saving implants

Millions of people rely on pacemakers, defibrillators and other life-saving implantable devices powered by batteries that need to be replaced every five to 10 years. 

The same modules could potentially be used as sensors to enable data collection for real-time monitoring of patients, researchers said.

Novel pacemakers can be powered with light.

Smartphone-sized device to monitor your pacemaker at home

Soon, battery-free pacemakers powered by your heart

Scientists have developed a dime-sized device to capture and convert the kinetic energy of the heart into electricity to power a wide-range of life-saving implantable devices such as pacemakers. The heart’s motion is so powerful that it can recharge devices that save our lives, said researchers.

Millions of people rely on pacemakers, defibrillators and other live-saving implantable devices powered by batteries that need to be replaced every five to 10 years, they said. Those replacements require surgery which can be costly and create the possibility of complications and infections, according to the study published in the journal.

“We are trying to solve the ultimate problem for any implantable biomedical device,” said a researcher.

“Of equal importance is that the device not interfere with the body’s function,” said  a research associate. “We knew it had to be bio-compatible, lightweight, flexible, and low profile, so it not only fits into the current pacemaker structure but is also scalable for future multi-functionality,” he said.

The team proposes modifying pacemakers to harness the kinetic energy of the lead wire that is attached to the heart, converting it into electricity to continually charge the batteries. The added material is a type of thin polymer piezoelectric film called “PVDF” and, when designed with porous structures — either an array of small buckle beams or a flexible cantilever — it can convert even small mechanical motion to electricity.

“We have completed the first round of animal studies with great results which will be published soon,” he said. “There is already a lot of expressed interest from the major medical technology companies,” said  one of the study’s authors.

 THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/       
                                                                                                                                                                      FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           
                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com