Post-COVID-19 Changes in Appetite-An Exploratory Study.

In this analysis, we aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 disease on eating behavior. A total of 55 right-handed adults, <50 years of age, without overweight or obesity, from two cross-sectional studies were included. The first one enrolled subjects between September 2018 and December 2019 (non-COVID-19 group). The second one included subjects enrolled between March 2022 and May 2023; for this analysis, 28 with a history of COVID-19 (COVID-19 group) were retained. Hunger, TFEQ-18, plasma ghrelin, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and resting-state fMRI were assessed during fasting. Intraregional neuronal synchronicity and connectivity were assessed by voxel-based regional homogeneity (ReHo) and degree of centrality (DC). Significantly higher ghrelin and NPY levels were observed in the COVID-19 group than in the non-COVID-19 group (ghrelin 197.5 pg/mL vs. 67.1 pg/mL, p < 0.001; NPY 128.0 pg/mL vs. 84.5 pg/mL, p = 0.005). The NPY levels positively correlated with the DC and ReHo in the left lingual (r = 0.67785 and r = 0.73604, respectively). Similar scores were noted for cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating in both groups according to the TFEQ-18 questionnaire results (p > 0.05 for all). Our data showed increased levels of appetite-related hormones, correlated with activity in brain regions involved in appetite regulation, persisting long after COVID-19 infection.

Trends in Preoperative Airway Assessment.

Airway management is a vital part of anesthesia practices, intensive care units, and emergency departments, and a proper pre-operative assessment can guide clinicians' plans for securing an airway. Complex airway assessment has recently been at the forefront of anesthesia research, with a substantial increase in annual publications during the last 20 years. In this paper, we provide an extensive overview of the literature connected with pre-operative airway evaluation procedures, ranging from essential bedside physical examinations to advanced imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US), radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We discuss transnasal endoscopy, virtual endoscopy, 3D reconstruction-based technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI) as emerging airway evaluation techniques. The management of distorted upper airways associated with head and neck pathology can be challenging due to the intricate anatomy. We present and discuss the role of recent technological advancements in recognizing difficult airways and assisting clinical decision making while highlighting current limitations and pinpointing future research directions.