Frequent socialmedia checks may affect young brains JAMAPeds
Is adolescents’ frequency of checking behaviors on 3 social media platforms associated with longitudinal changes in functional brain development across adolescence.
Neural responses to the Social Incentive Delay task when anticipating receiving social feedback, measured annually using fMRI for 3 years. Participants saw a cue that indicated whether the social feedback would be a reward, punishment, or neutral; after a delay, a target appeared and students responded by pressing a button as quickly as possible; a display of social feedback depended on trial type and reaction time.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Genome-Wide Pleiotropy Study Identifies Association of PDGFB with Age-Related Macular Degeneration and COVID-19 Infection OutcomesAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been implicated as a risk factor for severe consequences from COVID-19. We evaluated the genetic architecture shared between AMD and COVID-19 (critical illness, hospitalization, and infections) using analyses of genetic correlations and pleiotropy (i.e., cross-phenotype meta-analysis) of AMD (n=33,976) and COVID-19 (n ≥ 1,388,342) and subsequent analyses including expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL), differential gene expression, and Mendelian randomization (MR). We observed a significant genetic correlation between AMD and COVID-19 infection (rG=0.10, p=0.02) and identified novel genome-wide significant associations near PDGFB (best SNP: rs130651; p=2.4 × 10−8) in the pleiotropy analysis of the two diseases. The disease-risk allele of rs130651 was significantly associated with increased gene expression levels of PDGFB in multiple tissues (best eQTL p=1.8 × 10−11 in whole blood) and immune cells (best eQTL p=7.1 × 10−20 in T-cells). PDGFB expression was observed to be higher in AMD cases than AMD controls {fold change (FC)=1.02; p=0.067}, as well as in the peak COVID-19 symptom stage (11–20 days after the symptom onset) compared to early/progressive stage (0–10 days) among COVID-19 patients over age 40 (FC=2.17; p=0.03) and age 50 (FC=2.15; p=0.04). Our MR analysis found that the liability of AMD risk derived from complement system dysfunction {OR (95% CI); hospitalization=1.02 (1.01–1.03), infection=1.02 (1.01–1.03) and increased levels of serum cytokine PDGF-BB {β (95% CI); critical illness=0.07 (0.02–0.11)} are significantly associated with COVID-19 outcomes. Our study demonstrated that the liability of AMD is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19, and PDGFB may be responsible for the severe COVID-19 outcomes among AMD patients.
Read more »
NHS faces three months of turmoil as hospitals warn patients to avoid A&E unless dyingThe heads of the British Medical Association, Society for Acute Medicine and Royal College of Emergency Medicine said staff are desperately trying to keep up with intense demand at hospitals nationwide
Read more »
Tributes paid after sudden death of journalist and Derry native Brian Hutton“Brian was a fine journalist and known as a brilliant colleague with a reputation for reliability and a sensitive nature. He will be missed by so many.”
Read more »
Brain autopsies of critically ill COVID-19 patients demonstrate heterogeneous profile of acute vascular injury, inflammation and age-linked chronic brain diseases - Acta Neuropathologica CommunicationsBackground This study examined neuropathological findings of patients who died following hospitalization in an intensive care unit with SARS-CoV-2. Methods Data originate from 20 decedents who underwent brain autopsy followed by ex-vivo imaging and dissection. Systematic neuropathologic examinations were performed to assess histopathologic changes including cerebrovascular disease and tissue injury, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammatory response. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and fixed tissues were evaluated for the presence of viral RNA and protein. Results The mean age-at-death was 66.2 years (range: 26–97 years) and 14 were male. The patient’s medical history included cardiovascular risk factors or diseases (n = 11, 55%) and dementia (n = 5, 25%). Brain examination revealed a range of acute and chronic pathologies. Acute vascular pathologic changes were common in 16 (80%) subjects and included infarctions (n = 11, 55%) followed by acute hypoxic/ischemic injury (n = 9, 45%) and hemorrhages (n = 7, 35%). These acute pathologic changes were identified in both younger and older groups and those with and without vascular risk factors or diseases. Moderate-to-severe microglial activation were noted in 16 (80%) brains, while moderate-to-severe T lymphocyte accumulation was present in 5 (25%) brains. Encephalitis-like changes included lymphocytic cuffing (n = 6, 30%) and neuronophagia or microglial nodule (most prominent in the brainstem, n = 6, 30%) were also observed. A single brain showed vasculitis-like changes and one other exhibited foci of necrosis with ball-ring hemorrhages reminiscent of acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalopathy changes. Chronic pathologies were identified in only older decedents: 7 brains exhibited neurodegenerative diseases and 8 brains showed vascular disease pathologies. CSF and brain samples did not show evidence of viral RNA or protein. Conclusions Acute tissue injuries and microglial activation were the most common abnormalities in COVID-1
Read more »