Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

Efficacy and tolerability of evolocumab vs ezetimibe in patients with muscle-related statin intolerance: The GAUSS-3 randomized clinical trial

Importance: Muscle-related statin intolerance is reported by 5%to 20%of patients. Objective: To identify patients with muscle symptoms confirmed by statin rechallenge and compare lipid-lowering efficacy for 2 nonstatin therapies, ezetimibe and evolocumab. Design, Setting, and Participants: Two-stage randomized clinical trial including 511 adult patients with uncontrolled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and history of intolerance to 2 or more statins enrolled in 2013 and 2014 globally. Phase A used a 24-week crossover procedure with atorvastatin or placebo to identify patients having symptoms only with atorvastatin but not placebo. In phase B, after a 2-week washout, patients were randomized to ezetimibe or evolocumab for 24 weeks. Interventions: Phase A: atorvastatin (20mg) vs placebo. Phase B: randomization 2:1 to subcutaneous evolocumab (420mg monthly) or oral ezetimibe (10mg daily). Main Outcome and Measures: Coprimary end pointswere the mean percent change in LDL-C level from baseline to the mean ofweeks 22 and 24 levels and from baseline toweek 24 levels. Results: Of the 491 patients who entered phase A (mean age, 60.7 [SD, 10.2] years; 246 women [50.1%]; 170 with coronary heart disease [34.6%]; entry mean LDL-C level, 212.3 [SD, 67.9]mg/dL), muscle symptoms occurred in 209 of 491 (42.6%) while taking atorvastatin but not while taking placebo. Of these, 199 entered phase B, along with 19 who proceeded directly to phase B for elevated creatine kinase (N = 218, with 73 randomized to ezetimibe and 145 to evolocumab; entry mean LDL-C level, 219.9 [SD, 72]mg/dL). For the mean ofweeks 22 and 24, LDL-C level with ezetimibe was 183.0 mg/dL; mean percent LDL-C change, -16.7%(95% CI, -20.5% to -12.9%), absolute change, -31.0 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 103.6 mg/dL; mean percent change, -54.5%(95% CI, -57.2% to -51.8%); absolute change, -106.8 mg/dL (P < .001). LDL-C level at week 24 with ezetimibe was 181.5 mg/dL; mean percent change, -16.7% (95% CI, -20.8% to -12.5%); absolute change, -31.2 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 104.1 mg/dL; mean percent change, -52.8% (95% CI, -55.8% to -49.8%); absolute change, -102.9 mg/dL (P < .001). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was -37.8%; absolute difference, -75.8mg/dL. For week 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was -36.1%; absolute difference, -71.7 mg/dL. Muscle symptomswere reported in 28.8% of ezetimibe-treated patients and 20.7% of evolocumab-treated patients (log-rank P = .17). Active study drugwas stopped for muscle symptoms in 5 of 73 ezetimibe-treated patients (6.8%) and 1 of 145 evolocumab-treated patients (0.7%). Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with statin intolerance related to muscle-related adverse effects, the use of evolocumab compared with ezetimibe resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C levels after 24 weeks. Further studies are needed to assess long-term efficacy and safety

A proposito di spazio, limite, reinvenzione

Qusto libro include 60 profili di artiste nell'area romana e non solo; contributi critici di 15 fra studiose e studiosi di discipline storico-artistiche, filosofiche, sociologiche, antropologiche, psicologiche. Questi sono i numeri di FEMM[E]: un progetto - e un libro - nato sotto la denominazione e l'intento di una "ricerca sulla specificità (eventuale) dell'arte femminile", realizzata dal 2016 al 2018 su iniziativa e cura della storica dell'arte Anna Maria Panzera e dell'artista Veronica Montanino. Il mio testo parla del tema dell'abitazione e in specifico di «casa» che è riccorente nelle opere di artiste in tutto il mondo. Dopo gli esempi conosciuti della storia dell'arte contemporanea, il testo prosegue con le storie degli artisti con cui l'autrice ha collaborato sul tema di "Casa"