News in Brief - November 2024

This thread has a Science for ME 'News in Brief' post for each week in November 2024 by a team including @Trish, @Kalliope, @ahimsa and @SNT Gatchaman. Scroll down to see this week's news.

 

Week beginning 4th November 2024

News, articles and advocacy

A life hidden - The Trouble With Recovery Stories by Naomi Whittingham
Wise reflections on why media recovery stories also have difficult and complicated aspects to them: "Recovery stories will very often claim that a shift in mindset, or an increase in activity levels, was critical. But the silent story for most of us is that we “decided to get better” but couldn’t; started doing a little more each day but had a relapse; tried yet another treatment and found it wanting; and then, having lost everything, built the best life we could from the ruins."
Article l Thread

UK Byline Times The Government’s Final Delivery Plan ‘Should be a Watershed Moment for ME and Long COVID sufferers’ - Tamsin Flower
A spokesman for the DHSC said the focus will be on research, education and improving care for people with ME/CFS.
Article | Thread

UK ME Association talk by Dr Charles Shepherd to the Stockport ME group about ME/CFS and Long Covid in the UK.
Transcript PDF | Video (duration 30 minutes) | Thread

UK Nursing Times Why more nurses are needed in ME and long Covid services
Clinicians and people with ME/CFS share their points of view on ME/CFS and Long covid services.
Article | Thread

USA - Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association A recording of this group's 2024 annual meeting, held on October 26, is now available. It includes a presentation by Patricia Fennel called A Powerful Paradigm for Living with Chronic Illness.
Video | Thread
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Coming events

Norway ME/CFS and Long Covid - Digging Deeper
Conference in Stavanger for health care personnel 7th May 2025 and for everyone 8th May. Speakers: Kristian Sommerfelt, Øystein Fluge, Karl Johan Tronstad, David Systrom, Carmen Scheibenbogen, Brian Hughes, Rob Wüst, Michelle Bull, David Putrino, Trude Schei, Anniken Aase Sommerfelt. Host: Ola Didrik Saugstad.
Website l Thread

USA Bateman Horne Center - Free Online Support Groups
Tuesday, November 12, 1:00 - 2:00 PM Mountain Time
Topic: Pain Tools Amidst Difficult Moments
Tuesday, November 19, 1:00 - 2:00 PM Mountain Time
Topic: Navigating the Healthcare Industry
Advance registration required, see thread for times in your time zone.
Event Calendar | Thread

USA #MEAction - Caregiver Support Call
Saturday, November 16, 3:30 - 4:30 PM Eastern Time
Zoom call for caregivers of people with ME, Long Covid, and associated conditions. See thread for time in your time zone.
Announcement | Thread
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Research news

PolyBio Research Foundation Fall 2024 Symposium
Series of 10 minute talks on Long Covid. The recording is expected to be on their YouTube Channel shortly. Some live blogs and summaries have been provided.
Schedule | The Sick Times | PatientLed | Thread

Netherlands
The 14 projects funded by the ZonMw Long Covid program in the Netherlands has been published. It looks quite impressive. The total budget has been increased from 6 to 11.4 miljoen euros. A short description of each project can be found on the ZonMw website.
Article | Thread

UK Action for ME Genetics Centre of Excellence webinar. The recording is now available (duration 1 hour). UK ME/CFS researchers including Professors Chris Ponting of the Edinburgh Genetics Centre of Excellence and Simon Carding of the Norwich Quadram Centre discuss current and future plans to expand patient involvement and attract new researchers.
Video | Thread
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Research

ME/CFS research

Preprint: MedRxiv
Relationship between plasma cortisol concentration and Long COVID symptoms in the post-acute phase of COVID-19: a cross-sectional study and recommendations for future research — Thomas Dalhuisen et al.
"We found that compared to people who had fully recovered from COVID-19, those with Long COVID tended to exhibit cortisol concentrations that were lower between 8-9 AM but higher between 9-10 AM." "Our observation of what may be a different pattern of cortisol secretion in those with ME/CFS-like Long COVID is suggestive of a delayed morning cortisol peak."
Article | Thread

Asian Journal of Medical Sciences
A cross-sectional study on cardiac autonomic functions and inflammatory markers in chronic fatigue syndrome — Ayasha Nishad et al.
"Our research indicates a substantial correlation between autonomic dysfunction and inflammatory activity, as well as the severity of CFS."
Article | Thread

Preprint: MedRxiv
Post-SARS-CoV-2 Onset Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms in Two Cohort Studies of COVID-19 Recovery — Armaan Jamal et al.
"The co-occurrence of ME/CFS symptoms and long COVID suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is a cause of ME/CFS."
Article | Thread

Long Covid research

International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Neutrophil Elastase, Neuron-Specific Enolase, and S100B Protein as Potential Markers of Long-Term Complications Caused by COVID-19 in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Advanced Stage of Diabetic Nephropathy (NfT2DM)—Observational Studies — Rabczyński et al.
"It was found that elevated levels of NE and NSE were significantly more common (p < 0.05) in patients with NfT2DM after recovering from COVID-19 compared to the other groups, while elevated levels of S100B were significantly more frequently observed in patients with T2DM after recovering from COVID-19 (p < 0.05)."
Article | Thread

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
SARS-CoV-2 variants mediated tissue-specific metabolic reprogramming determines the disease pathophysiology in a hamster model — Kaur Sardarni et al.
"these variants induce distinctive metabolic regulations in various tissues and elicit proteomic alterations in the brain. The observed dysregulation of postsynaptic proteins, coupled with the presence of markers linked to neurodegenerative disorders, underscores the potential neurological repercussions of COVID-19."
Article | Thread

The Journal of Clinical Investigation
A six-year study in a real-world population reveals an increased incidence of dyslipidemia during COVID-19 — Valentina Trimarco et al.
"During the COVID-19 period, we detected an increased risk of developing any dyslipidemia when compared with the pre–COVID-19 triennium (OR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.19–1.39)."
Article | Thread

Lancet: eClinicalMedicine
Incidence of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms across healthcare settings in seven countries: an international retrospective cohort study using routinely-collected data — Junqing Xie et al.
"This is the first international study of the epidemiology of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms using the WHO-listed symptoms."
Article | Thread

Vaccine
Effect of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of developing post-COVID conditions: The VENUS study — Kim et al.
"this study of a large-scale Japanese cohort provides real-world evidence that recent COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the incidence and risk of a wide range of post-COVID-19 conditions."
Article | Thread

GeroScience
Novel biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction in Long COVID patients — Szögi et al.
"Our research employed transmission electron microscopy to reveal distinct mitochondrial structural abnormalities in Long COVID patients, notably including significant swelling, disrupted cristae, and an overall irregular morphology, which collectively indicates severe mitochondrial distress."
Article | Thread

The Medical Journal of Australia
Beyond acute infection: mechanisms underlying post‐acute sequelae of COVID‐19 (PASC) — Adhikari et al.
"Immunothrombosis and neurological signalling dysfunction emphasise the complex interplay between the immune system, blood clotting, and the central nervous system in the context of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection."
Article | Thread

JAMA Dermatology
Long-Term Risk of Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Connective Tissue Disorders Following COVID-19 — Yeon-Woo Heo et al.
"This retrospective cohort study with an extended follow-up period found associations between COVID-19 and the long-term risk of various autoimmune and autoinflammatory connective tissue disorders."
Article | Thread

Med
Precision phenotyping for curating research cohorts of patients with unexplained post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 — Alaleh Azhir et al.
"We used longitudinal electronic health records data from over 295,000 patients from 14 hospitals and 20 community health centers in Massachusetts. The algorithm employs an attention mechanism to simultaneously exclude sequelae that prior conditions can explain and include infection-associated chronic conditions."
Article | Thread

BMC Medicine
Predicting post-COVID-19 condition in children and young people up to 24 months after a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR-test: the CLoCk study — Nugawela et al.
"7.2% (68/943) continued to meet the PCC definition at all three subsequent timepoints, i.e. at 6, 12 and 24 months"
Article | Thread
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