The pandemic can affect the brain development of infants; the coronavirus can trigger kidney scarring

Medical workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) check the temperature of an infant, whose mother has coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inside a resort health center indoor sportsman, amid the spread of disease, in New Delhi, India, January 5, 2022. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi

January 5 (Reuters) – The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the results and that has not yet been peer-certified.

The pandemic could affect the brains of infants

Coronavirus infection during pregnancy does not appear to affect infant brain function, but the pandemic itself could have an impact, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Pediatrics suggests.

New York City researchers followed 255 full-term infants during the pandemic, including 114 whose mothers contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy. When the babies were six months old, researchers saw “absolutely no effect of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection” on neurodevelopment, said Dr Dani Dumitriu of Columbia University and New York. York State Psychiatric Institute. But overall, compared to 62 infants born before the pandemic, babies born during the health crisis had slightly lower scores on tasks involving large muscles, tasks requiring small muscle movements, and personal interactions. The results don’t necessarily mean these infants will suffer long-term consequences, Dumitriu said. Six-month assessments are poor predictors of long-term outcomes, she added.

While additional research confirms that birth during the pandemic has a negative impact on neurodevelopment, she said, “because it is such an early time, there are many opportunities to intervene. and get these babies on the right development path. “

Coronavirus can trigger kidney scarring

The coronavirus can directly damage the kidneys by triggering a cascade of molecular events that lead to scarring, new lab research shows. The resulting scar tissue could have long-term impacts on the kidney function of survivors, according to a report published in Stem cell.

The researchers exposed tiny replicas of kidneys to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in test tubes. They found that the virus could infect several types of kidney cells and trigger “a molecular switch” that triggers the healing process. The results suggest that the high rates of decline in renal function seen in a separate study more than 90,000 COVID-19 survivors could be due to kidney scarring from the virus, the researchers said.

Jitske Jansen of Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands said in a statement his team had found another “piece of the puzzle showing the deleterious effects the virus can have on the body.”

Reduced risks of COVID-19 observed after weight loss surgery

Weight loss surgery may reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 even if the infected person is still obese after losing weight, according to a report by JAMA surgery.

The researchers studied 20,212 obese adults, including 5,053 who had undergone bariatric surgery before the pandemic and had lost a substantial amount of weight. On average, people in the surgical group, although still technically obese, weighed about 44 pounds (20 kg) less than study participants who had not had the operation. Although the two groups had similar rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection at around 9%, infected patients who had previously had weight loss surgery had a 49% lower risk of hospitalization, a risk 63% lower need for supplemental oxygen and a 60% lower risk of becoming seriously ill or dying compared to the group without surgery. Obesity is well known to be a risk factor for poor COVID-19 outcomes, but since the study was not a randomized trial, it cannot prove that weight loss surgery caused the best results. . Yet, according to the authors, patients who underwent weight loss surgery were likely healthier when they became infected.

The findings “support the reversibility of the health consequences of obesity” for patients with COVID-19, co-author Dr Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement. “This study suggests that a focus on weight loss as a public health strategy may improve outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic … This is a very important finding given that 40% of Americans are obese. “

Click for a Reuters chart on vaccines in development.

Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Megan Brooks; Editing by Bill Berkrot

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