Science

After death, COVID-19 victims fight the disease by donating their brains

Published

3 years ago

March 11, 2022

After death, COVID-19 victims fight the disease by donating their brains

NEW YORK —

In a room as chilly as a fridge, Dr. Maura Boldrini bends over a plastic field stuffed with pale slices of human mind, every bit nestled in its personal tiny, fluid-filled compartment.

She gestures with purple-gloved fingers: Listed here are the folds of the cortex, the place larger cognition takes place. There may be the putamen, which helps our limbs transfer. Right here is the emotion-processing amygdala, with its telltale bumps.

Every bit on this field got here from a single mind — one whose proprietor died of COVID-19.

There are dozens extra containers identical to it stacked in freezers in Boldrini’s lab on the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

“Every of those containers is one individual,” she says in a lilting Italian accent. Every will play a vital function in serving to to unravel COVID-19’s results on the mind.

The illness could also be finest identified for its capability to rob individuals of their breath, however because the pandemic unfold, sufferers started reporting a disconcerting array of cognitive and psychiatric points — reminiscence lapses, fatigue and a psychological fuzziness that grew to become often called mind fog. There have been additionally extra acute issues, together with paranoia, hallucinations, ideas of suicide and psychosis.

This unusual constellation of signs has led researchers to suspect that the illness is mounting a direct assault on the mind. Researchers wish to determine how — and what the assault’s long-term results could also be.

Boldrini, a neuroscientist at Columbia College, research the biology of suicide and the physiological markers of resilience in mind tissue. She can be a working towards psychiatrist.

That mixture makes her uniquely suited to analyze the underpinnings of “lengthy COVID.” She has gathered greater than 40 brains from COVID-19 victims to information her in her quest.

Dr. Maura Boldrini catalogs mind tissue from COVID-19 victims. “We now have numerous work to do,” she says.

(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Instances)

What Boldrini and her colleagues be taught might have implications far past COVID-19, shedding mild on psychological sickness, the origins of dementia and the myriad methods viral infections have an effect on the mind.

To unlock the illness’s secrets and techniques, they’ll must rigorously take every mind aside, depend its cells, observe its gene expression and doc its proteins.

“We now have numerous work to do,” Boldrini says.

New York Metropolis was one of many coronavirus’ early targets, and it didn’t take lengthy for Boldrini to note shocking points amongst COVID-19 sufferers, together with severe temper and psychiatric signs.

“Very unusual signs,” she recollects — made even stranger as a result of they had been cropping up in individuals with no private or household historical past of such issues. Including to the thriller was the looks of those situations comparatively late in a affected person’s life reasonably than in adolescence and early maturity.

I really feel like this dread that I’m feeling is one thing natural in my mind, one affected person advised her. Psychologically, I’m not anxious about something.

“It’s a really completely different form of symptomatology in comparison with folks that have regular nervousness,” Boldrini says.

Dr. Maura Boldrini explains her research

Then there have been the rarer, however extra disturbing, circumstances of suicidal ideation.

Boldrini has not encountered a COVID-19 affected person who died of suicide. However one case did hit her college near dwelling: Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency division doctor at Columbia who labored on the entrance strains earlier than turning into sick herself in the course of the pandemic’s brutal first wave.

Breen was a proficient and devoted physician who took up snowboarding and salsa dancing in her spare time. Shortly after returning to work, her psychological well being deteriorated and he or she died by suicide inside weeks.

“She had COVID, and I consider that it altered her mind,” her sister Jennifer Feist mentioned on NBC’s “As we speak” final 12 months.

If that’s the case, how?

Researchers have discovered indicators that the virus can set up a foothold of types on the periphery of the mind, the place the protecting blood-brain barrier opens as much as permit key molecules to slide by way of. A kind of locations is the olfactory bulb, which might be reached by way of the nostril — a truth that would clarify why so many COVID-19 sufferers lose their sense of odor.

But scientists have to this point discovered little proof that the virus penetrates any deeper than that. As an alternative, they’ve seen the kind of injury brought on by strokes, in addition to the blood clots which will have precipitated them.

That’s a part of why Boldrini and plenty of others suspect that irritation — the immune system’s all-hands-on-deck response to an invader — could play a necessary function within the mind injury skilled by COVID-19 sufferers.

Irritation can set off blood clots, and as soon as a clot varieties, irritation will increase round it. It’s much like what’s seen in individuals who expertise traumatic mind damage, together with soccer gamers, navy veterans and victims of automobile accidents.

“Those that have this type of trauma within the mind have offered with sudden modifications in habits and character and suicide and different mind signs,” Boldrini says. It’s eerily much like what many COVID-19 sufferers face — and he or she doesn’t assume that’s a coincidence.

To achieve a deeper understanding of what’s taking place on a mobile and molecular degree, scientists want to check the brains of people that died of COVID-19. However Boldrini prefers to not work with brains collected by others — she has to know every part about how the tissue was collected and preserved so she will perceive the outcomes of her experiments.

“Relying the way you freeze, retailer and repair the mind, you will get very completely different outcomes,” she says.

At Columbia, she and her colleagues study tissue from autopsies, in order that they have full management over how the valuable tissue is dealt with.

Boldrini needs to know which genes had been being expressed; to trace molecular markers of irritation; to see how microglia — the mind’s immune cells — had been behaving; and to doc the state of the neurons and their connections with each other.

Suzuka Nitta prepares a piece of brain tissue

Mapping the multifaceted results of 1 illness is an formidable endeavor, and it requires painstaking work. One of many college students working within the lab begins by taking a scallop-edged pattern of the amygdala and mounting it on a mattress of dry ice. Drop by drop, she coats the tissue in sugar water, which finally freezes and holds the pattern in place.

Subsequent, she slices off items which might be a mere 50 microns thick — simply broad sufficient to comprise a single layer of mind cells. Every fragile lower is then submerged in water and centered on a glass slide with fine-tipped paintbrushes.

The slides are stained with dyes that permit the researchers to see several types of cells within the tissue. These cells are counted beneath a microscope, partly by human eye and partly with the assistance of a pc algorithm.

Boldrini appears to be like over the coed’s shoulder at one of many slides magnified on a pc display. This slice of mind tissue resembles a galactic crush of stars stretched throughout a darkened sky: The scattered blue stars are glia, the mind’s protecting cells. The inexperienced ones are neurons, densely packed collectively. The purple stars are younger, immature neurons.

“It’s stunning,” Boldrini says. “Anatomy could be very stunning.”

Dr. Maura Boldrini examines an image of brain cells

The purple stars are the rarest of the three, and so they’re much more sparse in lots of sufferers who had COVID-19 — about 10 instances much less plentiful. That’s an issue as a result of these younger neurons are obligatory for studying and reminiscence, for dealing with stress, and for integrating reminiscences with feelings.

Boldrini suspects these immature cells are performed in by stress hormones and irritation.

“This might clarify the mind fog,” she says.

A number of days earlier, the researchers went by way of the identical steps with the hippocampus, a tiny, delicate mind construction concerned in temper and reminiscence.

Different scientists have discovered that COVID-19 damages the hippocampus. That would assist clarify why some sufferers have lingering points with melancholy and nervousness.

If this injury is brought on by irritation, it most likely wreaks havoc in a number of methods. Scientists suspect it disrupts the circulate of serotonin, a hormone that’s implicated in melancholy, and prompts the physique to make kynurenine as an alternative, despite the fact that it’s poisonous to neurons.

Irritation additionally triggers coagulation, creating clots that may block blood circulate to cells and kill them. And it prompts the microglia, which can try and take away extra neurons than they usually would.

Boldrini’s work will assist scientists disentangle the components driving that injury.

“She’s an professional at that,” says Dr. James Goldman, a neuropathologist at Columbia College. “We’re wanting ahead to seeing what she comes up with.”

In a close-by room, analysis assistant Cheick Sissoko checks to see whether or not the DNA fragments obtained from the tissue are too huge or too small for correct evaluation. In the event that they’re the correct dimension, Sissoko will use them to higher perceive the gene expression in these mind cells — significantly within the younger neurons that appear to be taking successful in COVID-19 sufferers.

“Ideally, we will take a look at each single gene expressed by a single cell,” he says.

Boldrini and research assistant Cheick Sissoko

On different days, Sissoko focuses on RNA, the molecule that helps flip DNA’s directions into precise proteins. The RNA contained in mind tissue could present clues in regards to the alarms that had been set off within the physique in response to the coronavirus, and the way the physique reacted to a perceived menace.

Sissoko makes use of a classy new approach to sequence the RNA on a slide-by-slide foundation. That enables him to see how RNA expression modifications in numerous components of the mind.

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In the end, the researchers intention to mix the information on RNA, the microglia, the brand new and mature neurons, and the connections they make to create a portrait of a mind ravaged by COVID-19.

By evaluating the brains of COVID-19 sufferers with and with out neurological signs, Boldrini hopes to make clear the function of irritation in a large swath of neurodegenerative ailments, together with melancholy and dementia.

“This pandemic is nearly like a pure experiment the place you have got numerous irritation like in a really uncommon approach,” she says. “We hope that that is going to make clear some mechanisms of mind injury independently of COVID itself.”

That, in flip, could assist individuals perceive that psychological well being is a vital a part of bodily well being.

“I believe this could possibly be very helpful to struggle the stigma towards psychiatric sickness,” Boldrini says. “The mind is an organ, like another one.”

Dr. Christian Hicks Puig, a psychiatrist at Columbia Medical Middle who works on the lengthy COVID clinic, agreed. Many psychological well being points are rooted in organic processes. “It’s all extraordinarily interconnected,” he says.

As researchers similar to Boldrini map COVID-19’s assault on the mind, they could assist docs extra deeply perceive the relationships amongst psychological well being, cognitive well being and illness. They could additionally acquire perception into the long-term wants of COVID-19 survivors.

That progress wouldn’t be potential with out the contributions of those that didn’t make it, Goldman says.

“We’re very, very grateful to households who’ve allowed us to do these autopsies,” he says.

Boldrini agrees, including that she and others really feel immense strain to deal with these organs with care.

“These are individuals,” she says. What they reveal about COVID-19 is essential. What they characterize is irreplaceable.

Watch L.A. Instances As we speak at 7 p.m. on Spectrum Information 1 on Channel 1 or reside stream on the Spectrum Information App. Palos Verdes Peninsula and Orange County viewers can watch on Cox Programs on channel 99.

Science

Cluster of farmworkers diagnosed with rare animal-borne disease in Ventura County

Published

11 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Cluster of farmworkers diagnosed with rare animal-borne disease in Ventura County

A cluster of workers at Ventura County berry farms have been diagnosed with a rare disease often transmitted through sick animals’ urine, according to a public health advisory distributed to local doctors by county health officials Tuesday.

The bacterial infection, leptospirosis, has resulted in severe symptoms for some workers, including meningitis, an inflammation of the brain lining and spinal cord. Symptoms for mild cases included headaches and fevers.

The disease, which can be fatal, rarely spreads from human to human, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ventura County Public Health has not given an official case count but said it had not identified any cases outside of the agriculture sector. The county’s agriculture commissioner was aware of 18 cases, the Ventura County Star reported.

The health department said it was first contacted by a local physician in October, who reported an unusual trend in symptoms among hospital patients.

After launching an investigation, the department identified leptospirosis as a probable cause of the illness and found most patients worked on caneberry farms that utilize hoop houses — greenhouse structures to shelter the crops.

As the investigation to identify any additional cases and the exact sources of exposure continues, Ventura County Public Health has asked healthcare providers to consider a leptospirosis diagnosis for sick agricultural workers, particularly berry harvesters.

Rodents are a common source and transmitter of disease, though other mammals — including livestock, cats and dogs — can transmit it as well.

The disease is spread through bodily fluids, such as urine, and is often contracted through cuts and abrasions that contact contaminated water and soil, where the bacteria can survive for months.

Humans can also contract the illness through contaminated food; however, the county health agency has found no known health risks to the general public, including through the contact or consumption of caneberries such as raspberries and blackberries.

Symptom onset typically occurs between two and 30 days after exposure, and symptoms can last for months if untreated, according to the CDC.

The illness often begins with mild symptoms, with fevers, chills, vomiting and headaches. Some cases can then enter a second, more severe phase that can result in kidney or liver failure.

Ventura County Public Health recommends agriculture and berry harvesters regularly rinse any cuts with soap and water and cover them with bandages. They also recommend wearing waterproof clothing and protection while working outdoors, including gloves and long-sleeve shirts and pants.

While there is no evidence of spread to the larger community, according to the department, residents should wash hands frequently and work to control rodents around their property if possible.

Pet owners can consult a veterinarian about leptospirosis vaccinations and should keep pets away from ponds, lakes and other natural bodies of water.

Science

Political stress: Can you stay engaged without sacrificing your mental health?

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

Political stress: Can you stay engaged without sacrificing your mental health?

It’s been two weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, but Stacey Lamirand’s brain hasn’t stopped churning.

“I still think about the election all the time,” said the 60-year-old Bay Area resident, who wanted a Kamala Harris victory so badly that she flew to Pennsylvania and knocked on voters’ doors in the final days of the campaign. “I honestly don’t know what to do about that.”

Neither do the psychologists and political scientists who have been tracking the country’s slide toward toxic levels of partisanship.

Fully 69% of U.S. adults found the presidential election a significant source of stress in their lives, the American Psychological Assn. said in its latest Stress in America report.

The distress was present across the political spectrum, with 80% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats and 73% of independents surveyed saying they were stressed about the country’s future.

That’s unhealthy for the body politic — and for voters themselves. Stress can cause muscle tension, headaches, sleep problems and loss of appetite. Chronic stress can inflict more serious damage to the immune system and make people more vulnerable to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, infertility, clinical anxiety, depression and other ailments.

In most circumstances, the sound medical advice is to disengage from the source of stress, therapists said. But when stress is coming from politics, that prescription pits the health of the individual against the health of the nation.

“I’m worried about people totally withdrawing from politics because it’s unpleasant,” said Aaron Weinschenk, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay who studies political behavior and elections. “We don’t want them to do that. But we also don’t want them to feel sick.”

Modern life is full of stressors of all kinds: paying bills, pleasing difficult bosses, getting along with frenemies, caring for children or aging parents (or both).

The stress that stems from politics isn’t fundamentally different from other kinds of stress. What’s unique about it is the way it encompasses and enhances other sources of stress, said Brett Ford, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto who studies the link between emotions and political engagement.

For instance, she said, elections have the potential to make everyday stressors like money and health concerns more difficult to manage as candidates debate policies that could raise the price of gas or cut off access to certain kinds of medical care.

Layered on top of that is the fact that political disagreements have morphed into moral conflicts that are perceived as pitting good against evil.

“When someone comes into power who is not on the same page as you morally, that can hit very deeply,” Ford said.

Partisanship and polarization have raised the stakes as well. Voters who feel a strong connection to a political party become more invested in its success. That can make a loss at the ballot box feel like a personal defeat, she said.

There’s also the fact that we have limited control over the outcome of an election. A patient with heart disease can improve their prognosis by taking medicine, changing their diet, getting more exercise or quitting smoking. But a person with political stress is largely at the mercy of others.

“Politics is many forms of stress all rolled into one,” Ford said.

Weinschenk observed this firsthand the day after the election.

“I could feel it when I went into my classroom,” said the professor, whose research has found that people with political anxiety aren’t necessarily anxious in general. “I have a student who’s transgender and a couple of students who are gay. Their emotional state was so closed down.”

That’s almost to be expected in a place like Wisconsin, whose swing-state status caused residents to be bombarded with political messages. The more campaign ads a person is exposed to, the greater the risk of being diagnosed with anxiety, depression or another psychological ailment, according to a 2022 study in the journal PLOS One.

Political messages seem designed to keep voters “emotionally on edge,” said Vaile Wright, a licensed psychologist in Villa Park, Ill., and a member of the APA’s Stress in America team.

“It encourages emotion to drive our decision-making behavior, as opposed to logic,” Wright said. “When we’re really emotionally stimulated, it makes it so much more challenging to have civil conversation. For politicians, I think that’s powerful, because emotions can be very easily manipulated.”

Making voters feel anxious is a tried-and-true way to grab their attention, said Christopher Ojeda, a political scientist at UC Merced who studies mental health and politics.

“Feelings of anxiety can be mobilizing, definitely,” he said. “That’s why politicians make fear appeals — they want people to get engaged.”

On the other hand, “feelings of depression are demobilizing and take you out of the political system,” said Ojeda, author of “The Sad Citizen: How Politics is Depressing and Why it Matters.”

“What [these feelings] can tell you is, ‘Things aren’t going the way I want them to. Maybe I need to step back,’” he said.

Genessa Krasnow has been seeing a lot of that since the election.

The Seattle entrepreneur, who also campaigned for Harris, said it grates on her to see people laughing in restaurants “as if nothing had happened.” At a recent book club meeting, her fellow group members were willing to let her vent about politics for five minutes, but they weren’t interested in discussing ways they could counteract the incoming president.

“They’re in a state of disengagement,” said Krasnow, who is 56. She, meanwhile, is looking for new ways to reach young voters.

“I am exhausted. I am so sad,” she said. “But I don’t believe that disengaging is the answer.”

That’s the fundamental trade-off, Ojeda said, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

“Everyone has to make a decision about how much engagement they can tolerate without undermining their psychological well-being,” he said.

Lamirand took steps to protect her mental health by cutting social media ties with people whose values aren’t aligned with hers. But she will remain politically active and expects to volunteer for phone-banking duty soon.

“Doing something is the only thing that allows me to feel better,” Lamirand said. “It allows me to feel some level of control.”

Ideally, Ford said, people would not have to choose between being politically active and preserving their mental health. She is investigating ways to help people feel hopeful, inspired and compassionate about political challenges, since these emotions can motivate action without triggering stress and anxiety.

“We want to counteract this pattern where the more involved you are, the worse you are,” Ford said.

The benefits would be felt across the political spectrum. In the APA survey, similar shares of Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed with statements like, “It causes me stress that politicians aren’t talking about the things that are most important to me,” and, “The political climate has caused strain between my family members and me.”

“Both sides are very invested in this country, and that is a good thing,” Wright said. “Antipathy and hopelessness really doesn’t serve us in the long run.”

Science

Video: SpaceX Unable to Recover Booster Stage During Sixth Test Flight

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

Video: SpaceX Unable to Recover Booster Stage During Sixth Test Flight

President-elect Donald Trump joined Elon Musk in Texas and watched the launch from a nearby location on Tuesday. While the Starship’s giant booster stage was unable to repeat a “chopsticks” landing, the vehicle’s upper stage successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.