A relatively simple and rapid blood test can predict within a day of a hospital admission which patients with COVID-19 are at highest risk of severe complications or death.
One of the most vexing aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is doctors’ inability to predict which newly hospitalized patients will go on to develop severe disease, including complications that require the insertion of a breathing tube, kidney dialysis, or other intensive care.
Knowing a patient’s age and underlying medical conditions can help predict such outcomes, but there are still surprises when younger, seemingly healthier patients suffer severe complications that can lead to death.
Measuring mitochondrial DNA could predict who will need ICU care, intubation
January 15, 2021 SHARE A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that measuring mitochondrial DNA in the blood of patients with COVID-19 can help predict which patients are at highest risk of severe disease, requiring more intensive care. Mitochondrial DNA levels are a measure of tissue damage. Pictured are damaged mitochondria (dark grey areas) released from human lungs. The small dark dots surrounding the mitochondria are magnetic beads that carry antibodies used to isolate and study unhealthy mitochondria that have been released from dying tissues. (Image: Wandy Beatty)
A common brain disorder called Chiari 1 malformation can result from variations in two genes involved in brain development, research finds.
The study also reveals that children with unusually large heads are four times more likely to be diagnosed with Chiari 1 malformation than their peers with normal head circumference.
The condition occurs when the lowest parts of the brain are found below the base of the skull.
About one in 100 children has Chiari 1 malformation, but most of the time such children grow up normally and no one suspects a problem. But in about one in 10 of those children, the condition causes headaches, neck pain, hearing, vision and balance disturbances, or other neurological symptoms.