👤 Ana Macedo

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected healthcare workers, increasing vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Psychological distress may be shaped by resilience, coping behaviours, and immune dysregulation. We investigated psychological distress symptoms, resilience, alcohol use, and cytokine profiles in 1440 workers from four hospitals in Fortaleza, Brazil. Participants were classified as frontline or second-line workers and assessed with the SRQ-20, CD-RISC, and AUDIT. Blood samples were analysed for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and cytokines. Data were collected at two time points (August-October 2021; March-April 2022). Frontline workers reported higher distress, with decreased vital energy and somatic symptoms most prominent. Lower resilience scores correlated with all SRQ-20 domains, while higher alcohol use was linked to decreased energy and depressive thoughts. Reduced anti-spike antibody levels were also associated with greater distress. COVID-19 infection and symptom severity were associated with more persistent mental distress symptoms. Sex-specific immune signatures emerged: in women, lower interleukin (IL)-7 and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL-9) and higher IL-27 correlated with depressive-anxious mood and energy depletion; in men, IL-18, IL-9, and tumour necrosis factor beta (TNF-β) were positively associated with distress. This study demonstrates that psychological distress among healthcare workers during COVID-19 was shaped by resilience, alcohol use, infection severity, and sex-dependent immune alterations. Strengthening resilience and targeting inflammatory pathways may help mitigate the long-term mental health burden in this workforce during future public health crises. Show less

It is unclear whether the different Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression trajectories of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 carriers is reflected by blood phosphorylated tau (p-tau) analytes. We assessed longitudinal trajectories in plasma p-tau181, 217, and 231, in amyloid beta-positive (A+) and negative (A-) APOE ɛ4 carriers (E+) or non-carriers (E-). We included 2039 participants from the observational Translational Biomarkers in Aging and Dementia (TRIAD) and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohorts, categorized into 840 A-E-, 251 A-E+, 386 A+E4-, and 616 A+E4+. Longitudinal data were available for 1045 participants. In TRIAD, ALZpath p-tau217 (β = 0.45, p = 0.02) and p-tau217+ These findings suggest p-tau217 as a marker of faster progression in APOE ɛ4 carriers, highlighting its potential in disease stratification. Blood phosphorylated tau (p-tau)217 increases faster in apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 carriers with amyloid pathology. p-tau181 and p-tau231 do not increase faster in APOE ɛ4 carriers. APOE ɛ4 carriership does not change p-tau in individuals without amyloid pathology. Show less

Variations in lipid profile have been observed in sickle cell disease (SCD) and understanding their relationship with disease severity is crucial. This study aimed to investigate the association of polymorphisms of the CETP gene and laboratory markers of disease severity with lipid profile in a pediatric population with SCD. Biochemical and anthropometric analyses and CETP and alpha-thalassemia genotyping were performed. The study included 133 children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia (SCA) or hemoglobin SC disease (SCC), in steady-state. The SCA and no hydroxyurea (no HU) groups had higher values of ApoB, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) compared to the SCC and HU groups. However, there were no significant differences in ApoA1 and HDL-C levels between the groups based on genotype. Furthermore, the groups with altered levels of ApoA1, HDL-C, and the triglyceride/HDL ratio exhibited lower hemoglobin (Hb) levels and higher white blood cell counts. Hb level was associated to HDL-C levels. Analysis of CETP gene variants showed that the minor alleles of rs3764261 (C>A), rs247616 (C>T), and rs183130 (C>T), as well as the TTA haplotype, are explanatory variables for HDL-C levels. These findings suggested that dyslipidemia in SCD, specifically related to HDL-C levels, may be influenced by individual genetic background. Additionally, further investigation is needed to determine if clinical manifestations are impacted by CETP gene variants. Show less

Distinct plasma microRNA profiles associate with different disease features and could be used to personalize diagnostics. Elevated plasma microRNA hsa-miR-193b-3p has been reported in patients with pre-diabetes where early asymptomatic liver dysmetabolism plays a crucial role. In this study, we propose the hypothesis that elevated plasma hsa-miR-193b-3p conditions hepatocyte metabolic functions contributing to fatty liver disease. We show that hsa-miR-193b-3p specifically targets the mRNA of its predicted target Show less

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques can be a powerful tool to identify neuropsychiatric disorder biomarkers, improving prediction and diagnosis ability. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of MS proteomics applied to human peripheral fluids of schizophrenia (SCZ) patients to identify disease biomarkers and relevant networks of biological pathways. Following PRISMA guidelines, a search was performed for studies that used MS proteomics approaches to identify proteomic differences between SCZ patients and healthy control groups (PROSPERO database: CRD42021274183). Nineteen articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, allowing the identification of 217 differentially expressed proteins. Gene ontology analysis identified lipid metabolism, complement and coagulation cascades, and immune response as the main enriched biological pathways. Meta-analysis results suggest the upregulation of FCN3 and downregulation of APO1, APOA2, APOC1, and APOC3 in SCZ patients. Despite the proven ability of MS proteomics to characterize SCZ, several confounding factors contribute to the heterogeneity of the findings. In the future, we encourage the scientific community to perform studies with more extensive sampling and validation cohorts, integrating omics with bioinformatics tools to provide additional comprehension of differentially expressed proteins. The produced information could harbor potential proteomic biomarkers of SCZ, contributing to individualized prognosis and stratification strategies, besides aiding in the differential diagnosis. Show less

Dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder, which much of heritability remains unexplained. At the clinical level, one of the most common physiological alterations is the slowing of oscillatory brain activity, measurable by electroencephalography (EEG). Relative power (RP) at the conventional frequency bands (i.e., delta, theta, alpha, beta-1, and beta-2) can be considered as AD endophenotypes. The aim of this work is to analyze the association between sixteen genes previously related with AD: APOE, PICALM, CLU, BCHE, CETP, CR1, SLC6A3, GRIN2 β, SORL1, TOMM40, GSK3 β, UNC5C, OPRD1, NAV2, HOMER2, and IL1RAP, and the slowing of the brain activity, assessed by means of RP at the aforementioned frequency bands. An Iberian cohort of 45 elderly controls, 45 individuals with mild cognitive impairment, and 109 AD patients in the three stages of the disease was considered. Genomic information and brain activity of each subject were analyzed. The slowing of brain activity was observed in carriers of risk alleles in IL1RAP (rs10212109, rs9823517, rs4687150), UNC5C (rs17024131), and NAV2 (rs1425227, rs862785) genes, regardless of the disease status and situation towards the strongest risk factors: age, sex, and APOE ɛ4 presence. Endophenotypes reduce the complexity of the general phenotype and genetic variants with a major effect on those specific traits may be then identified. The found associations in this work are novel and may contribute to the comprehension of AD pathogenesis, each with a different biological role, and influencing multiple factors involved in brain physiology. Show less