Zika and SARS-CoV-2: neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative outcomes

Through the emeigence of new viral infectious diseases, epidemics and pandemics have brought great impacts on public health in recent decades. In this review, we sought to understand the association between the neurological outcomes of two relevant infectious diseases, Zika and COVID-19. Zika can trigger neurological and ophthalmic damage in children born from infected mothers, as well as, Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalitis, and myelitis in adults. On the other hand, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has great potential to trigger an inflammatory process in the optic nerve, with optic neuritis as the most reported pathology. Although Zika and SARS-CoV-2 infections are associated with different clinical manifestations, both may trigger similar pathogenic processes, through the induction of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines release, triggering neurological and ophthalmological damage in infected patients. Elements in common have been found in both infections, such as antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, and the production of CXCL10, a chemokine responsible for the activation of several cellular types (T cells, eosinophils, monocytes and NK cells) in which are responsible to the induction of a cytokine cascade in the body. Based on these last findings, we suggest that both infections have similar activation characteristics as well as common pathogenic mechanisms associated with central nervous system involvement.

New insights into perceptions of technology claims in greek-style yogurt: A view in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has strongly impacted people's lives and the food industry. In this sense, food products claiming nutritional and health-promoting benefits due to the presence of bioactive peptides and probiotics, such as Greek-style yogurt, have been in demand. The objective of this work was to investigate, through word association, the perception of the consumers regarding the seven concepts related to Greek-style yogurt (traditional, ultra-creamy, zero fat, high content proteins, zero lactose, light and with no added sugars), in the context of social isolation due to Covid-19. In this online survey, 346 participants completed a questionnaire. The participants were divided according to health concerns (increased, not changed, or decreased) and eating habits (improved, not changed, or worsened) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Chi-square and prototypical analysis were used as statistical tests. During the Covid-19 pandemic, based on self-report, around 66% of the participants had their eating habits and their concerns about health changed. The general associations were related to the categories pleasure, health, creamy, pleasant texture, food restriction, and loss of sensory quality. 'Health' and 'pleasure' were negatively associated with the conceptualization of Greek-style yogurt. For the zero-fat, light, and sugar-free Greek-style yogurts, the terms creamy and ultra-creamy are sensory appealing to the consumers. In general, the price and concerns about health are factors that strongly influence the purchase intention of Greek-style yogurts. The yogurts were associated with sensory and non-sensory characteristics, which can be useful for marketing strategies for of different product concepts.

Characterization of Headache in COVID-19: a Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Headache is the most common neurological symptom in COVID-19, reported in 6.5 to 34% of patients. Few studies have analyzed its characteristics, and some of them included cases without laboratory confirmation or reported only critical patients. We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 associated headache in laboratory-confirmed cases. We conducted a retrospective evaluation of patients with COVID-19 and neurological symptoms. Patients who reported headache answered an interview about its clinical characteristics. Twenty-four patients with COVID-19 associated headache completed the interview. Mean age of patients was 53.8 (standard deviation-17.44), and 14 out of 24 (58.3%) were male. The majority (75%) had no previous history of headache. Fever was documented in 19 out of the 24 patients (79.1%). Headache was predominantly bifrontal or holocranial, in pressure, during hours, worsening with cough or physical activity. COVID-19 headache tends to appear in the first days of symptoms, be either frontal or holocranial and last for days. The quality of pain in pressure and the worsening with cough or physical activity were reported in most cases. We have not found any characteristic that could differentiate COVID-19 associated headache from other causes of headache, possibly because of its multifactorial mechanism.