Скачать или смотреть DOES COVID-19 DAMAGE THE BRAIN? EJW: SCIENCE RESEARCH NEWS. EDWIN WILLIAMS

COVID-19 CAUSES DAMAGES TO THE BRAIN? RECENT RESEARCH STUDIES.
Once the fear from the ignorance and helplessness caused by Covid-19 has subsided a bit, and people all over the world slowly started to breathe tranquil air, and reduced fear, and started engaging in their daily chores, scientists the world over began to think, observe, and study the effects the virus may have left behind in the affected.
Dr. Robert Stevens, Associate Director of Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for Neurocritical Care in Baltimore, USA has conducted various investigations and studies on several Covid-19 patients, and found out that this disease may cause: i. Confusion, ii. Loss of consciousness, iii. Seizure, iv. Stroke, v. Loss of smell and taste, vi. Head-aches, vii. Trouble to focus, viii. Change in behavior, ix. Peripheral nerve issues, x. Guillain- Barre’ syndrome which may cause paralysis and respiratory failures, and may lead to death even in those cured.
Dr. Steven’s team, and about 20 research groups all over the world are relentlessly engaged in research in the blood and CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) of the patients who show serious problems in the central nervous system (CNS), after the attack from SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Sherry Chou et al reported that 80% of patients admitted in hospitals with Covid-19 exhibited CNS problems. The neurologist at Yale University in New Havens (USA), Dr. Serena Spudich opines that SARS-CoV-2 leaves behind loss of memory, stroke etc., in hospitalized patients. A study in the brain of patients before and after infections show loss of grey matter at different areas on the brains, reports Dr. Dauaud G. in Pub med (2021).
Studies conducted in China and Japan found genetic materials in the brains of Covid-19 patients. But Dr. Yang reported in the Nature, 2020, that his team failed to find any genetic materials in the brains of 8 dead, and 14 control participants. In a 3-month long follow up study based on MRI, Dr. Yiping Lu et al, reported in the medical journal, The Lancet (Aug 2020), that SARS-CoV-2 caused structural and functional changes in patients’ brains. Study conducted by Dr. A.E. Budson et al. at the Chicago Medical Center reported that 40% of patients exhibited CNS anomalies, and 30% of those developed trouble in comprehension.
Another study conducted in Massachusetts General Hospital attached to Harvard University reported in the American Journal of Neurobiology, that they observed metabolic disorders in the patients’ brains. These brain metabolic disorders were found to be similar to those that were caused by hypoxia - insufficiency of oxygen- due to other reasons.
Earlier assumption was that, Covid-19 viruses enter the brain after breaking the Brain- Blood Barrier. But Nature 2021, 595, 484-85 shows that the virus was incapable to break this barrier. Another entry point may be through olfactory bulb, situated in the nasal epithelium, and which process olfactory information. Yet another reason offered is the ‘maladaptive response’ of the immune system in an effort to fight the infection. High fever caused by Covid-19, changes in the brain cells owing to lack of oxygen, delirium, coma, organ failure etc. are other factors that may be influencing these changes. The study now points, that SARS-CoV-2 attacks the CNS.
The study of Dr. Arnold Kreigstein, a neurologist in the University of California at San Francisco, shows that 'astrocytes', the star-like cells that feeds the nervous system are attacked by the Covid-19 viruses, and because of that, drastic changes happen in the brain. Dr. Daniel de Souza, Head of Proteomics at the University of Campinas in Brazil, supports this finding.
Dr. David Attwell, a neuroscientist in the University College of London and his team found that this virus affects the behavior of ‘pericytes’ found at particular intervals in the blood capillaries that help in the building of the capillaries, maintain the Brain-Blood barriers, and also allow the immune cells enter the CNS. Dr. Attwell opines that, medications like Losartan that control the blood vessels may be used to treat Covid-19.
Drawing from his 15 years of research experience, Dr. Harold Pruss, Neuro-immunologist in the German Center of Neurodegenerative Disease says that, the ‘maladaptive responses’ of the ‘autoimmune cells’ created by its own immune system, cause diseases like Neuromyelitis optica that weakens the muscles, leading to loss of eye sights, and rarely leads to psychosis in affected patients.
In the light of knowledge accumulated by recent research studies, multifaceted attacks of SARS-CoV-2 virus strongly influence the brain cells, and bring forth many changes in the brain. The pathways in the functioning of Pericytes, Astrocytes, Autoimmune bodies, all are intertwined to create various unfavorable situations in the patients.
So, Prevention is better than Cure! Thank you all. EJW: Science Research News: EDWIN WILLIAMS. ‪@edwinwilliams7767‬