Preliminary neurocognitive finding from a multi-site study investing long-term neurological impact of COVID-19 using ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI-based neuroimaging

Background: Globally, over six hundred million cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been confirmed. As the number of individuals in recovery rises, examining long-term neurological effects, including cognitive impairment and cerebral microstructural and microvascular changes, has become paramount., We present preliminary cognitive findings from an ongoing multi-site study investigating the long-term neurological impacts of COVID-19 using 7 Tesla MRI-based neuroimaging. Methods: Across 3 US and 1 UK sites, we identified adult (\u3e=18) COVID-19 survivors (CS) and healthy controls (HC) without significant pre-existing medical, neurological, or psychiatric illness. Using the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set (UDS-3) battery and Norms Calculator, 12 cognitive scores were adjusted for age, sex, and education and classified as either unimpaired or mild (\u3c9th percentile), moderate (\u3c2nd percentile), or severely impaired (\u3c1st percentile). The observed frequency of impairment across the two groups is reported along with proportional differences (PD) and confidence intervals (CI). Illness severity and time since infection were evaluated as potential associates of cognitive impairment. Results: Over a period of 11 months, we enrolled 108 participants. At the time of reporting, 80 (46.3% female; mean age: 60.3 ± 8.6; 61 CS, 19 HC) had completed cognitive assessments. Of the participants for whom we ascertained time since symptom onset and illness severity (n=51 and 43, respectively), 31.4% had their index COVID-19 infection within the past year, and 60.5% had a severe to critical infection (Table 1). Table 2 reports observed frequency of impairment for each metric. Aggregating all 12 cognitive metrics, we found 45 (73.8%) of CS had at least one impairment [vs HC: 10 (52.6%)]. A significantly greater proportion of CS had at least one moderate to severe or severe impairment (Figure 1). CS also had significantly higher frequencies of presenting with two or more mild to severe impairments [PD 0.33 (0.13, 0.54)]. Illness severity and time since infection were not significantly associated with cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Our preliminary results are consistent with potentially sustained COVID-associated cognitive impairment in a subset of participants. Enrollment in the multi-site cohort is ongoing, and updated results will be presented along with ultra-high field MRI-based neuroimaging correlates

Hippocampal subfield volumes in COVID-19: a preliminary multicenter study using 7T MRI

Background: Hippocampal formation atrophy is a well-established imaging biomarker of several neurological diseases, including Alzheimer\u27s disease, temporal lobe epilepsy, and schizophrenia. The hippocampus is divided into subfields that have different functions and vary in sensitivity to different diseases. This study investigates the potential interaction between COVID-19 and the various hippocampus subfields, which may shed light on the long-term neurological consequences of the virus. Method: We obtained high-resolution T1-weighted (T1w) and T2-weighted (T2w) MRI images using 7T scanners located at three sites in two countries: Pittsburgh (n=14) and Texas (San Antonio and Houston) (n=40) in the USA, and Nottingham, UK (n=33). We evaluated the hippocampus subfields using the ASHS package [1-3]. Imaging sets of 51 subjects with minimal or no manual segmentation corrections (Figures 1 and 2) were included in the analysis. We conducted T-tests with Bonferroni correction, adjusting for age and intracranial volume to identify the differences in hippocampus subfield volumes across groups. Result: Participants who needed admission into the ICU due to Covid-19 showed a significantly lower (p-value=0.0034) left CA1 volume compared to participants who did not require ICU (Figure 3). In addition, several other non-significant trends were observed. Conclusion: Our preliminary findings suggest that Covid-19 may impact the hippocampus, particularly in patients who required intensive care. However, the study - as of to date - has a small sample size and lacks a comparison group with patients who were admitted into ICU for acute illnesses other than Covid-19. Additionally, longitudinal data is needed to track the long-term effects of the disease on the hippocampal subfields

Covid-19 may have a detrimental impact on sensorimotor function

Background: The long-term impact of COVID-19 on global health is still unknown. Sensorimotor biomarkers may be promising indicators of lasting effects of COVID-19. Although normal aging may cause changes in sensorimotor function, more severe changes may indicate the subsequent impacts of COVID-19 on brain health. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between COVID-19 and sensorimotor markers (grip strength, gait, and smell) in the 7T neuroCOVID consortium, which is comprised of 5 sites: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Houston Methodist Research Institute, The University of Pittsburgh, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Nottingham University (UK). Methods: We studied 101 adult participants (mean age 60.9 ± 8.5 years, range 45-80 years, 51% women) without prior cognitive impairment or cerebrovascular disease from the 7T consortium across 3 US and 1 UK sites. The sample included 77 COVID-19 survivors and 24 healthy controls. Sensorimotor markers were measured for olfaction (n=59; 12-item Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT)), grip strength (n=97; measured using a hand dynamometer), and Gait (n=101; 4-meter normal walk time and n=99; 4-meter fast-paced walk time). To assess the association between COVID-19 and sensorimotor outcomes, we performed a series of linear regression models adjusting for age, sex, site, and handedness (grip strength only). Statistical significance was set at a 5% level. Results: As compared to healthy controls, COVID-19 survivors, on average had a significantly reduced hand grip in the right hand (β ± standard error: -0.18 ± 0.07, p=0.006). We also observed associations with reduced gait speed. COVID-19 survivors, on average, had a slower walk time in both normal (0.17 ± 0.06, p=0.004) and fast-paced (0.04 ± 0.02, p=0.022) as compared to healthy controls. We did not observe any statistical associations between COVID-19 survivors and left-hand grip strength or B-SIT. Conclusions: These results highlight that Covid-19 infection may have a detrimental impact on sensorimotor function. Additional analysis with a larger sample size are ongoing, which will allow us to further assess the effect of infection severity. Future studies will look to evaluate the association between sensorimotor markers, cognition, and ultra-high field 7T MRI-based imaging markers

A Study on the Current Scenario of Different Segments of Food Processing Units in Kerala

The food processing industry has vital role in the economic development and can trigger improvement in productivity, agriculture and improve the income of farmers. They can also provide a boost to many small scale industries, but does the food processing sector have any influence in the growth of the economy, do they face problems in the current scenario, what factors are responsible for the constraints that they face, do they have a bright future even after the adverse climatic condition that are prevailing in Kerala. The study focuses its attention on issues that affect the various segments of food processing units and also tries to identify the difficulties faced by the various units. The research design is based on sample survey. The population is 366 units in Trivandrum and for the study, 60 food processing units were selected. It was found that the future prospects of food processing units were to improve market share of their products through cost efficiency and high quality products. For overcoming the marketing problems, the units should adopt some good marketing strategies and make some innovations in marketing methods and government departments have to give awareness and should provide proper guidance about the different schemes of MSMEs