Medical Bulletin 06/July/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

New research finds immune inflammatory response not the cause of Long COVID

Long Covid is not caused by an immune-inflammatory reaction to COVID-19, University of Bristol-led research finds. Emerging data demonstrate that immune activation may persist for months after COVID-19. To investigate this, the Bristol team collected and analyzed immune responses in blood samples from 63 patients hospitalized with mild, moderate or severe COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic and before vaccines were available.

The team found patients’ immune responses at three months with severe symptoms displayed significant dysfunction in their T-cell profiles indicating that inflammation may persist for months even after they have recovered from the virus. Reassuringly, results showed that even in severe cases inflammation in these patients resolved in time. At 12 months, both the immune profiles and inflammatory levels of patients with severe disease were similar to those of mild and moderate patients.

Reference: Prolonged T-cell activation and long COVID symptoms independently associate with severe COVID-19 at 3 months, eLife, DOI 10.7554/eLife.85009

A new biomarker for major depressive disorder identified

Researchers led by Professor Byung-Joo Ham and Associate Professor Kyu-Man Han from Korea University Medicine have reported the successful identification of a neuroimaging-based biomarker for MDD in a recent study.

Prof. Ham explains, “Our first-of-its-kind study investigated the association of MDD with the local gyrification index or LGI of multiple cortical regions at the whole-brain level and the association of local gyrification index( LGI )with the clinical characteristics of MDD.”

But what indeed is the local gyrification index (LGI)?

LGI is a measurement of cortical folding that is derived from brain scans as a ratio of the curved and smoothed surfaces of the cortex in a region of interest. In this study, the researchers compared the LGI values from multiple cortical regions in the brain of patients with MDD with those of healthy individuals. The neuroimaging data used to compare and analyze both groups were obtained from magnetic resonance imaging scans.

Reference: Decreased Cortical Gyrification in Major Depressive Disorder, Psychological Medicine, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291723001216

Endometriosis linked to lower live births prior to diagnosis

Endometriosis is linked to a reduction in fertility in the years preceding a definitive surgical diagnosis of the condition, according to new research published recently.

The researchers in Finland found that the number of first live births in the period before diagnosis was half that of women without the painful condition. This was the case regardless of what form of endometriosis the women had: ovarian, peritoneal, deep endometriosis or other types. In addition, the researchers found evidence that the number of babies women had before endometriosis was diagnosed was significantly reduced, compared to women who did not have endometriosis.

The team looked at 18,324 women in Finland, aged between 15 and 49 years, who had surgical verification of endometriosis between 1998 and 2012. They matched them with 35,793 women of similar age who did not have an endometriosis diagnosis.

Reference: First live births before surgical verification of endometriosis – a nationwide register study of 18 324 women, Human Reproduction, DOI 10.1093/humrep/dead120