Studies Suggest New Clues On Who Will Get Long Covid

"Asthma. Unhealthy gut bacteria. The presence of autoantibodies, usually associated with autoimmune conditions.

These are among the risk factors identified in new studies as potentially making someone at greater risk of developing long Covid, a condition in which wide-ranging symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and racing heart rate persist months after an initial Covid-19 infection.

The studies help advance scientists' understanding of the biology behind long Covid, and provide clues to potential treatments. Patients with autoantibodies, for instance, might get relief from existing treatments for lupus, an autoimmune disease.

The variety of reasons one person might get long Covid and another might not also reinforce scientists' increasing belief that there won't be a single cause or treatment for the condition.

"This is really important because we really didn't understand the exact biological risk factors for long Covid," says Linda Geng, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome Clinic, who wasn't involved in any of the studies.

In a study published in the journal Cell, scientists identified four risk factors, for which scientists tested upon a patient's initial diagnosis. The most prevalent one was the presence of certain autoantibodies, which are antibodies that mistakenly attack the body in autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Researchers found the autoantibodies in about 60% of the patients who developed long Covid.

Most patients didn't have a diagnosed autoimmune disease, but rather had very low levels of autoantibodies associated with various autoimmune diseases, says Jim Heath, senior author on the study and president and professor of the Institute for Systems Biology, a nonprofit biomedical-research organization in Seattle.

A second risk factor was reactivated Epstein-Barr virus. Epstein-Barr is what causes mononucleosis and infects about 90% of people. Normally, the virus remains dormant afterward. The study found that it was reactivated in some people who later developed long Covid.

"Your immune system is probably doing a reasonable job of keeping EBV in check and with a SARS-CoV-2 infection you lose that brake," Dr. Heath says. "It seems to happen very early in an infection."

Two other risk factors were Type 2 diabetes and the detection of genetic material from SARS-CoV-2 in the blood, which means the virus escaped the lungs and is spreading to other parts of the body.

The researchers collected and analyzed blood and swab samples from more than 200 Covid-19 patients up to two to three months postinfection. The majority of patients were hospitalized for Covid-19, but the tests were replicated on a separate group of roughly 100 patients with mostly mild Covid-19 infections. The tests were also conducted on about 460 healthy people in a control group.

The researchers are hoping to use their findings to identify potential treatment options to prevent long Covid. For example, people who have the virus in the blood might be treated with one of the new Covid antiviral drugs.

The researchers also found that some long Covid patients have very depleted levels of the cortisol hormone, resulting in Addison's disease, which has symptoms such as fatigue and muscle aches. Addison's patients are often treated with cortisol replacement therapy.

The finding is important because doctors can test and treat the problem with existing therapies, says Claire Steves, a geriatrician and clinical academic at King's College London, who also studies risk factors for long Covid.

Timothy Henrich, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco who is also studying long Covid patients, says the Cell study was well done. But he notes that it looked at patients only two to three months after their initial infection.

In a separate new study in Nature Communications, researchers from Switzerland found five different factors that they concluded will help predict who will develop long Covid.

The most prominent: lower levels of two types of immunoglobulin, IgM and IgG3, which are types of antibodies, says Onur Boyman, senior author of the study and professor and chair of clinical immunology and allergology at the University of Zurich.

Other predictors included being older, a history of asthma, and symptoms of fever, fatigue, cough, difficulty breathing and gastrointestinal issues during an acute Covid-19 infection. People who developed long Covid had on average three of those symptoms during their initial infection.

The researchers looked at 175 Covid-19 patients and compared the findings to about 40 healthy controls. They confirmed the findings in a separate group of 395 Covid-19 patients. Some people had all the risk factors while others had fewer, Dr. Boyman says.

The goal, he says, was to find indicators in the body that are easy to test for.

The two immunoglobulins they identified are fairly stable, he says, and not related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In the third study, published in the journal Gut, researchers in Hong Kong analyzed the gut microbiome of more than 100 Covid-19 patients at the time of their initial infection, one month later, and again six months later. They compared the results to a control group of 68 healthy people.

The gut microbiome is the bacteria and other microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. Researchers found that Covid-19 patients with healthy gut bacteria were less likely to develop long Covid and had a microbiome similar to people in the healthy control group. Patients who went on to develop long Covid had a less diverse and abundant microbiome.

"It's an interesting hypothesis that the gut microbiome may be involved in the process of long Covid," says Dr. Steves, who wasn't involved in the study. She noted that in general when people are sick their microbiome changes, so more data is needed to see if changing the gut microbiome might work as a treatment.

While promising, the findings in all of the studies need to be tested further in larger groups of people, says Steven Deeks, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco who wasn't involved in the studies and is heading a separate study on long Covid.

"When you study a million things in a few people you're going to find a lot of stuff and not all of it is real," he says." [1]

1. Your Health: Studies Suggest New Clues On Who Will Get Long Covid
Reddy, Sumathi. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: A.12.   

 

Viduramžių istorija

„Galios ir sostai 

Autorius Danas Jonesas

(Vikingas, 636 puslapiai, 35 doleriai)

 

„Kas buvo padaryta, tas ir bus padaryta, ir nėra nieko naujo po saule.“ Danas Jonesas šią citatą iš Ekleziasto pateikia, kaip epigrafą savo dažnai stebinančiam „Galybės ir sostai: nauja viduramžių istorija“, kaip jis gali pasiūlyti „naują“ istoriją? Tiesą sakant, ponas Jonesas tai daro, perkalibruodamas mūsų jausmą, ką bendra turi sena ir dabar. Naudodamas nuolatines nuorodas į dabartį, leidžiančią šiuolaikiniams skaitytojams suprasti ne tik „kas“, bet ir „kodėl“ už tolimos praeities įvykių, „Galybės ir sostai“ padaro tuos įvykius tiesioginius, asmeniškus ir suprantamus. Panašiai kaip Jaredas Diamondas filme „Ginklai, mikrobai ir plienas“, ponas Jonesas rekontekstualizuoja viduramžių istoriją, naudodamas naujausias išvadas apie klimato, technologijų ir patogenų poveikį žmonių kultūroms. Jo pasakojimas apima plačią tarpusavyje susijusių imperijų, kultūrų ir karų sritį: nuo Kinijos iki Afrikos, nuo mongolų stepių iki dykumų Arabijos.

 

P. Jonesas sutinka su tradiciniais mokslininkais, kad viduramžiai prasideda Romos žlugimu 476 m. ir baigiasi maždaug 1500 metais. 

 

Visi prisimename vidurinės mokyklos vadovėlio žemėlapio rodykles, vaizduojančias barbarų minias, kurios galiausiai nusileido į Romą. P. Joneso knygoje rodomos tos pačios strėlės, bet jis paaiškina, kodėl hunai atvyko tada, kai jie atvyko. Užuomina kilo iš naujai atrasto šaltinio: 1000 metų senumo kadagio Tibeto plynaukštėje. Jos augimo žiedai užfiksavo įspūdingą didžiulę sausrą nuo 350 iki 370, o tai yra blogiausia per 2000 metų, pavertusi genties hunų imperijos narius „klimato migrantais“ arba „pabėgėliais“. Hunai ieškojo žalesnių ganyklų vakaruose, išstumdami daugybę tūkstančių gotų. Taigi antrinė migracijos krizė kilo, kai gotai kreipėsi į Romą dėl tiesioginio patekimo į imperiją. Netrukus jie sukilo ir prasidėjo ilgas romėnų teisės ir tvarkos naikinimo procesas.

 

Ponas Jonesas toliau tvirtina, kad „Pax Romana“ išliko taip ilgai ne tik dėl romėnų inžinerijos ir karinės galios. Nuo 200 m.pr. Kr. iki 150 m. po Kr., jo pasakojime, imperija taip pat mėgavosi „Romos klimato optimalumu“, kai nebuvo jokios ugnikalnio veiklos, kuri užtemdytų dangų. Imperijos gyvavimo laikotarpiu Viduržemio jūros regiono Europa mėgavosi „neįprastai šiltų ir svetingų dešimtmečių ciklu, kuris buvo labai drėgnas“ – ir žemės ūkio klestėjimo laikais. Dėl to išplito romėnų valdžia, sukaupusi ne tik naujas teritorijas, bet ir didžiulę vergų populiaciją, reikalingą vaisingesnei žemei apdirbti.

 

P. Jonesas savo indekso įraše apie „klimato sąlygas“ išvardija ne mažiau kaip devynis pagrindinius viduramžių istorijos lūžius, kuriuos sukėlė orų pokyčiai. 

 

Kitas jo minimas pavyzdys yra Mongolų imperijos iškilimas palankaus oro laikotarpiu, dėl kurio Čingischanas klestėjo stepėse. Gerai pamaitinti mongolų kariai atvėrė naujus tarpusavyje susijusius prekybos kelius ir visur skleidė terorą ir – keista sakyti – religinę toleranciją. (Nors ponas Jonesas to nemini, didysis chanas taip pat paskyrė savo dukteris, o ne sūnus, vadovauti Šilko kelio miestams.) Šis prekybos kelių tinklas ne tik skatino ekonominę veiklą visur, bet ir išplatino buboninį marą. Atėjo antroji banga, kurią varo virulentiškesnė padermė, sukelianti plaučių uždegimą ir kuri galėjo užkrėsti per kvėpavimo takus, užkratui plintant tiesiogiai tarp žmonių, o ne tik įkandus blusoms. Dabar galime geriau suprasti, kaip sunku buvo žmonėms, kurie turėjo tik izoliaciją, kaip ginklą, kovoti su šiuo siaučiančiu kenkėju. Kai kuriose šalyse jis galiausiai nužudė 60% gyventojų, daug daugiau, nei skaičius tų, kuriuos nužudė patys mongolai.

 

Kaip ir mūsų dienomis, technologijų pažanga taip pat kėlė grėsmę. P. Jonesas teigia, kad spaustuvė sunaikino Katalikų bažnyčios centrinę vietą Europoje, bet ne, kaip dažnai teigiama, platindama Bibliją ar Martino Liuterio žodžius. Vietoj to, jis tvirtina, kad pirmasis mechaniškai atspausdintas daiktas buvo vienas atspausdinto veliumo lapas, popiežiaus indulgencija arba „Atleisk“. Atleidimo pirkimas tradiciškai leido žmonėms apeiti atgailos ritualus, kurių Bažnyčia reikalavo nuodėmėms atleisti. Tačiau šimtmečius kiekvienas atleidimas turėjo būti sunkiai nukopijuotas ranka. Kai į rinką iš karto pateko 50 000 mechaniškai atkurtų indulgencijų, didžiulė dokumentų masė labai triukšmingai demonstravo institucinį tuometinė Bažnyčios vadovų nenuoširdumą. Liuteris buvo budrus ir sukilo. P. Joneso teigimu, tai buvo „komunikacijų revoliucija“, nes spausdinimo mašina iš anksto numatė nerimą keliančią mobiliojo telefono galią sutrikdyti ir iš naujo sukurti prieigą prie informacijos, kuri keičia visą pasaulį.

 

Su tokiais palyginimais ponas Jonesas gali susieti viduramžių praeitį su mūsų dabartimi. Skaitytojai gali suvokti pandemijos sukeltą siaubą, sukeliantį milijonus kankinančių mirčių visame pasaulyje. Galime atpažinti cinikų sukurtas grėsmes civilizuotai tvarkai politikai, verbuojantys nepatenkintus ir „piktus“ smurtauti prieš kitą elitą, ir mes galime užjausti baimes, kurias patiria tie gyventojai, susiduriantys su migracijos potvyniais.

 

Čia gražiai papasakota visa viduramžių istorija: Romos ir Konstantinopolio griuvimai, Osmanų iškilimas, kryžiaus žygių atėjimas („viduramžių mėnulio šūvis“), islamo kilmė, krikščionybės plitimas, universitetų įkūrimas visame pasaulyje.  Labai detalus ir informuotas, pasakojimo tempas yra toks pat greitas, koks turi būti knygoje, apimančioje 1000 metų istoriją 600 puslapių. Vizija apima ištisus imperatoriškus peizažus, bet taip pat suteikia vietos intymiems pagrindinių asmenų portretams ir net kai kuriems eilėraščiams.

 

Kartais juoką sukeliantis komiškas, o kartais šaltai kaustinis, pono Džounso, kaip pasakotojo, sąmojingas stilius, kurio dėka viduramžiai atrodo labai artimi ir asmeniški. Jo knyga yra ne tik įtraukiantis skaitymas apie tolimą praeitį, bet ir tiek informatyvus, tiek linksmas, bet ir giliai verčiantis susimąstyti žvilgsnis į mūsų nelabai „naują“ dabartį.“ [1]

1. Plagues, Princes And Pardons
Quilligan, Maureen. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: A.15.

History of the Middle Ages

 

"Powers and Thrones

By Dan Jones

(Viking, 636 pages, $35)

'What has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." Dan Jones places this canard from Ecclesiastes as the epigraph for his often surprising "Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages." After such an opening salvo, how can he offer a "new" history? In fact, Mr. Jones does just that, recalibrating our sense of what the old and the now have in common. Using continuous references to the present, enabling modern readers to understand not only the "whats" but the "whys" behind events in the distant past, "Powers and Thrones" makes those events immediate, personal and understandable. Much like Jared Diamond in "Guns, Germs, and Steel," Mr. Jones recontextualizes medieval history by using recent findings about the impact of climate, technology and pathogens on human cultures. His narrative stretches across a wide area of interconnected empires, cultures, and wars: from China to Africa; from the steppes of the Mongols to the deserts of Arabia.

Mr. Jones agrees with traditional scholars that the Middle Ages begin with the fall of Rome in 476 and end around 1500. We all remember the arrows on the map in the high-school textbook that represented the barbarian hordes that ultimately descended on Rome. Mr. Jones's book shows the same arrows, but he explains why the Huns arrived when they did. The clue came from a newly discovered source: a 1,000-year old juniper tree on the Tibetan plateau. Its growth rings recorded a spectacular megadrought from 350 to 370, the worst in 2,000 years, that turned members of the tribal Hun empire into "climate migrants" or "refugees." The Huns sought literally greener pastures in the west, displacing many thousands of Goths. Thus a secondary migratory crisis arose when the Goths petitioned Rome for direct entry into the Empire. They rebelled soon after, and the long process of eating away at Roman law and order began.

Mr. Jones goes on to argue that the Pax Romana had persisted not merely because of Roman engineering and military might. From 200 B.C. to A.D. 150, in his account, the empire also enjoyed the "Roman Climate Optimum," when there was no volcanic activity to cloud the skies. Within the period of the empire's existence, Mediterranean Europe enjoyed "a cycle of unusually warm and hospitable decades, which happened to be very wet" -- and boom agricultural times. Hence the spread of Roman power, amassing not only new territory, but also the immense population of slaves needed to work the more fruitful land.

Mr. Jones lists in his index entry for "climate conditions" no fewer than nine major turning points in the history of the Middle Ages caused by changes in the weather. Another example he cites is the rise of the Mongol Empire during a period of beneficent weather that enabled Genghis Khan to flourish on the steppes. Well-fed Mongol warriors opened new interconnected trade routes while spreading both terror and -- strange to say -- religious tolerance everywhere. (Although Mr. Jones does not mention this, the great Khan also put his daughters rather than his sons in charge of the cities along the Silk Road.) This network of trade routes not only stimulated economic activity everywhere, it also dispersed the bubonic plague's second wave, powered by a more virulent strain that included pneumonia and was able to transmit by breath among human beings as well as by flea bites. We may now better understand how difficult it was for people who had only isolation as a weapon to combat this rampant pest. It ultimately slayed 60% of the population in some countries, far more even than those killed by the Mongols themselves.

As in our day, technological advances also posed their threats. Mr. Jones argues that the printing press destroyed the centrality of the Catholic Church in Europe, but not, as is often claimed, via dissemination of the Bible or the words of Martin Luther. Instead, he insists, the first item mechanically printed was a single sheet of printed vellum, a papal indulgence, or "Pardon." Purchase of pardons had traditionally allowed people to bypass the penitential rituals the Church required for remission of sins. But for centuries each pardon had to be laboriously copied out by hand. When 50,000 mechanically reproduced indulgences hit the market all at once, the great mass of documents made a very noisy display of the institutional venality of the Church. Luther went on alert. It was, in Mr. Jones's telling, a "communications revolution," as the printing press prefigured the cellphone's disturbing power to disrupt and re-create access to information that reshapes an entire world.

With comparisons like this, Mr. Jones is able to connect the medieval past to our present. Readers can grasp the terror produced by a pandemic causing millions of agonizing deaths around the globe. We can recognize the threats to civilized order created by cynical politicians recruiting the discontented and "angry" to turn violent against other elites, and we can sympathize with the fears endured by those populations facing floods of migration.

All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated: the falls of Rome and Constantinople, the rise of the Ottomans, the advent of Crusades (a "medieval moon shot"), the origin of Islam, the spread of Christianity, the founding of universities throughout Europe, and the dawning of the relatively short age of chivalry. Massively detailed and informed, the pace of the narrative is as brisk as it must be in a book that covers 1,000 years of history in 600 pages. The vision takes in whole imperial landscapes but also makes room for intimate portraits of key individuals, and even some poems.

Sometimes laugh-out-loud comic and sometimes coldly caustic, Mr. Jones's wit as a narrator makes the Middle Ages seem very up close and personal. His book is not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-"new" present." [1]

1. Plagues, Princes And Pardons
Quilligan, Maureen. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: A.15.

„Ohanian Venture Company“ skiria daug pinigų kripto startuoliams

 „Alexiso Ohaniano rizikos įmonė 776 Management LLC pritraukė 500 mln. dolerių.

 

    „Šių metų pabaigoje tai sudarys didžiąją portfelio dalį“, – apie įmonės investicijas į kripto sektorių kalbėjo p. Ohanian.

 

    Tokios įmonės sudaro apie 40% „Ohanian Venture Company“ sandorių iki šiol, įskaitant vaizdo žaidimų startuolį „Axie Infinity“, „Bitcoin Rewards“ startuolį „Lolli“ ir kriptovaliutų mokesčių bendrovę „CoinTracker“. Iš viso įmonė investavo daugiau, nei į tris dešimtis.

 

    Ponas Ohanianas teigė, kad tikisi, kad įmonė daugiausia investuos į kriptovaliutų verslą, nes verslumo ir programinės įrangos kūrimo veikla šiame sektoriuje yra stipri ir auga. Įmonė taip pat rems įmones kituose sektoriuose, pavyzdžiui, klimato, maisto ir kosmoso tyrimų srityse.

 

    P. Ohanianas anksčiau buvo socialinės žiniasklaidos bendrovės „Reddit Inc.“ ir rizikos įmonės „Initialized Capital“ įkūrėjų. Jis yra vedęs teniso žvaigždę ir verslininkę Sereną Williams.

 

    P. Ohanian 2020 m. pristatė 776 kartu su partnere įkūrėja Katelin Holloway ir įkūrėja personalo vadove Lissie Garvin.

 

    Įmonė, pavadinta 776 m. pr. Kr., pirmųjų įrašytų olimpinių žaidynių metais, pernai surinko pirmąjį fondą su 150 mln. dolerių.

 

    Jo nauji fondai yra 300 mln. dolerių vertės 776 fondas II, remiantis ankstyvosios stadijos startuolius, sudarydamas sandorius nuo išankstinio paleidimo iki A serijos, taip pat 200 mln. dolerių vertės „Arete Fund I“, orientuotas į toliau besivystančias įmones, pritraukiančias didesnes A serijas ir B raundus, pasakė jis.

 

    Remiantis 776 duomenimis, paskutiniame lėšų rinkime dalyvavo pensijų fondai. Įmonės investuotojų bazė yra įvairi, o ponas Ohanianas tai teikė pirmenybę – dauguma jos komanditinių partnerių yra moterys, 13 % – juodaodžiai arba vietiniai indėnai, ir 10 %, kalbantys ispanų kalba, pasak 776. Surinkus lėšas, valdomas 776 turtas siekia 750 mln. dolerių, įskaitant specialios paskirties transporto priemones.

 

    Firmos susidomėjimas kripto auga, nes būtent ten traukia programinės įrangos kūrėjai, sakė p. Ohanianas.

 

    „Talentas niekada manęs neapvylė“, – sakė jis.

 

    Remiantis rizikos įmonės „Electric Capital“ analize, 2021 m. maždaug 34 000 naujų programinės įrangos kūrėjų rašė kodą atvirojo kodo kripto projektams – tai didžiausias skaičius istorijoje.

 

    P. Ohanianas sakė, kad kripto paremta programinė įranga suteikia vartotojams daugiau galimybių kontroliuoti jų duomenis ir investicijas.

 

    Jis teigė, kad jį labiausiai domina technologijos, kurios leidžia lengvai naudoti kripto produktus, kad vartotojas neturėtų žinoti, kad jo naudojama programinė įranga yra pagrįsta kripto technologija.

 

    „Mane žavi kripto dalykai, apie kuriuos niekas nežinotų, kad tai yra kripto“, – sakė ponas Ohanianas. Jis pridūrė, kad 776 taip pat investuos pinigus ir laiką, siekdamos padidinti moterų dalyvavimą kripto rinkoje." [1]

1. Ohanian Venture Company To Target Crypto Startups
Chernova, Yuliya. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: B.11.

Ohanian Venture Company To Target Crypto Startups

"Alexis Ohanian's venture firm 776 Management LLC has raised $500 million across two new funds with a plan to invest primarily in crypto startups.

"It will be the majority of the portfolio by the end of this year," Mr. Ohanian said about the firm's investments in the crypto sector.

Such companies account for about 40% of the firm's deals to date, including videogaming startup Axie Infinity, bitcoin rewards startup Lolli, and crypto tax company CoinTracker. The firm has made more than three dozen investments in total.

Mr. Ohanian said he expects the firm to invest mainly in crypto startups because entrepreneurial and software development activity in the sector is strong and growing. The firm will also back companies in other sectors such as climate, food, and space exploration.

Mr. Ohanian had previously co-founded social-media company Reddit Inc. and venture firm Initialized Capital. He is married to tennis star and entrepreneur Serena Williams.

Mr. Ohanian launched 776 in 2020 together with founding partner Katelin Holloway and founding chief of staff Lissie Garvin.

The firm, named for 776 B.C., the year of the first recorded Olympic Games, raised its first fund last year with $150 million.

Its new funds are the $300 million 776 Fund II, which backs early-stage startups, making deals from pre-seed to Series A, as well as the $200 million Arete Fund I, focused on companies that are further along, raising larger Series A and B rounds, he said.

Endowments, pensions and foundations participated in the most recent fundraising, according to 776. The firm's investor base is diverse, which Mr. Ohanian made a priority, with the majority of its limited partners identifying as female, 13% as Black or indigenous, and 10% as Latino, according to 776. The fundraising brings 776's assets under management to $750 million, which includes special-purpose vehicles.

The firm's interest in crypto is growing because that is where software developers are gravitating, Mr. Ohanian said.

"Talent has never led me wrong," he said.

Roughly 34,000 new software developers wrote code for open-source crypto projects in 2021, the highest number in history, according to an analysis by venture firm Electric Capital.

Mr. Ohanian said that crypto-based software offers users greater control over their data and investments.

He said he is most interested in technologies that make crypto products easy to use, so that a consumer doesn't have to be aware that the software they are using is based on crypto technology.

"What excites me about crypto are all of the things that no one would know is crypto," Mr. Ohanian said. He added that 776 will also be investing money and time into trying to boost the participation of women in the crypto market." [1]

1. Ohanian Venture Company To Target Crypto Startups
Chernova, Yuliya. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: B.11.