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"More psyche than virus"? German long-Covid study with new findings and surprising conclusion

"More psyche than virus"?

German long-Covid study with new findings and surprising conclusion

Created: 09/13/2022, 12:19 p.m

By: Anna Lorenz

 

A current study by the Essen University Hospital on Long-Covid leads to a new perspective on the disease.

According to the study, the psyche could play a crucial role.

Essen - so many facets, so few facts: Long-Covid as a disease resulting from a corona infection is quieter in the media, but no less serious.

On closer inspection, it becomes clear: having to live for weeks and months with diffuse symptoms that can severely impair everyday life and not knowing whether the symptoms will go away is extremely stressful.

A study by the University Hospital Essen started to research the causes of Long-Covid - with surprising results.

Long-Covid: Fatigue, brain fog, memory problems - is it all psychological?

It's a terrible idea: Day after day you're plagued by all sorts of ailments, indisposition, tiredness.

The symptoms are sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker or alternate.

There doesn't seem to be an end in sight, and scientifically unambiguous findings are still lacking.

When physical examinations then all end without findings, those affected often feel helpless.

Nevertheless, there are some questionable "miracle treatments" for long-Covid, which medical professionals clearly advise against.

But what if Long-Covid were psychological?

It is understandable that many patients who have to struggle with the disease in everyday life feel alienated by this thesis.

As author Thomas Müller explains in the specialist portal

SpringerMedizin

, those affected finally described brain fog, memory problems and language difficulties as the most common symptoms of Long-Covid - and thus processes that can basically be located in neurology.

However, a study by the University Hospital Essen surprised with test results that make the psyche appear as an important factor in long-Covid illness.

Study: Long-Covid patients are examined neurologically - surprising results

Current study: Fleischer, M., Szepanowski, F., Tovar, M. et al.

Post-COVID-19 Syndrome is Rarely Associated with Damage of the Nervous System: Findings from a Prospective Observational Cohort Study in 171 Patients.

Neurol Ther (2022).

The study can be found here.

In the cohort study with 171 patients, the scientists examined the extent to which damage to the nervous system was found in long-Covid patients.

For this, those affected were “subjected to comprehensive neurological diagnostics”.

Nerves, blood vessels and signal transmission in cells and tissues were examined and blood analyzes were carried out.

“Additionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and lumbar puncture were performed in subgroups of patients.

In addition, patients underwent neuropsychological, psychosomatic, and fatigue assessments,” the study said.

The result: 85.8 percent of the people examined, who were mostly female and middle-aged, showed no neurological abnormalities.

Most of the subjects had suffered mild to moderate acute COVID-19 and reported clear signs of illness.

Nevertheless, the doctors were only able to make a diagnosis in 2.3 percent of the cases that was not long-Covid or seemed to be related to the previous corona infection.

 

Explosive Essen study: "Long-Covid has much more to do with the psyche than with the virus"

However, the scientists made some discoveries.

For example, “sensory or motor complaints” frequently occurred in combination with another neurological diagnosis instead of Long-Covid.

Previous mental illnesses could also be identified as a “risk factor for the development of a post-COVID-19 syndrome”.

Is Long-Covid a matter of the mind?

 

As a result, however, "increased levels of somatization indicate a pathogenesis that may include psychosomatic factors" - or, as the co-author of the study, Prof. Christoph Kleinschnitz from the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Essen,

put it in an interview with Bild:

“In other diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, one can clearly identify a focus of inflammation in the brain.

In the case of long-Covid, the findings are normal in most cases.

We conclude from this: Long-Covid has much more to do with the psyche than with the virus.” ...

 

More here: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-09-13-"more-psyche-than-virus"--german-long-covid-study-with-new-findings-and-surprising-conclusion.ryolsAago.html

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Just now, msfntor said:

Yes... as you can see, I can send you long posts, or short posts... which would you prefer then, please? ....

Whatever you feel or what comes to you. I don't know how many other enjoy reading long posting, but I do. Of course I can' t speak for others .

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On 9/24/2022 at 10:10 PM, UCyborg said:

..Other than that, I gave away the old car. Actually left it at the dealer where I bought a new one.

That one week during summer, the engine in the old car randomly shut down on a motorway. Didn't realize it at first, thought it'll snap back eventually, I retreated to the emergency lane and only several seconds later thought to hit the clutch so could see the tachometer turning to zero and the battery indicator lighting up. It did restart right away, but since I've come to a complete stop in the meantime, I had to wait a while before I could go because so many damn cars passing by. Not pleasant.

Then it happened again two days later, the experience from the first time helped that I managed to restart the engine while the car was still on the move.

Maybe they would've put it back in working order if I took it to the official service. It served well for 21,5 years, I was its 3rd owner for 5 years and after recent experiences and generally issues popping up in shorter periods in recent times, I thought it might be the time to update myself in that department.

Wow, 21.4 years was good, but sounds like it was lemon and could nickle and dime you had you kept it, very happy to know you have a safe car now.

Edited by XPerceniol
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Scientists blasted plastic with lasers and turned it into tiny diamonds and a new type of water

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Plastics shocked with a high-energy laser generate nanodiamonds with a range of technological applications.(Image credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

By Robert Lea

 published 6 days ago

New research inspired by ice giants like Neptune and Uranus shows lasers can transform a common plastic into tiny diamonds.

Using ultrapowerful lasers, scientists have blasted cheap plastic and transformed it into tiny "nanodiamonds" — and, in doing so, confirmed the existence of an exotic new type of water. .

The findings could potentially reveal the existence of diamond rain on ice giants in our solar system and explain why these frigid worlds have such strange magnetic fields. The laser-blasting technique could also lead to more Earthly applications.

Nanodiamonds are diamonds that measure just a few nanometers, or billionths of a meter. They have both existing and potential applications, such as turning carbon dioxide into other gases and delivering drugs into the body, study co-author Dominik Kraus, a physicist at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany, told Live Science. 

"Nanodiamonds could also be used as ultrasmall and very precise quantum sensors for temperature and magnetic fields, which may result in a plethora of applications," Kraus said.

The technique could also reduce plastic pollution by creating a financial incentive to clear and transform plastics from the ocean, he said.

An experiment with cool implications for ice giant planets

For many years, planetary scientists have suspected that diamonds form within the frigid interiors of ice giants such as Neptune and Uranus.

If these diamonds do form, they would then "rain" through the interiors of these frozen worlds.

To see whether this process was feasible, the researchers took a sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic — the type found in plastic bottles — and used a high-powered optical laser found at the Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument in the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source to heat the plastic to around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (6,000 degrees Celsius).

This created pressures millions of times greater than that of Earth's atmosphere for just billionths of a second. This bone-crushing pressure shocked the plastic, causing the carbon atoms in the plastic to reconfigure into a crystalline structure, with hydrogen and oxygen drifting through this lattice. 

"Using a powerful X-ray laser, we could look inside the sample and create movies of the chemical reactions happening there," Kraus said. "We saw very efficient formation of nanodiamonds inside the compressed plastics within the timescale of our experiments  —  just a few nanoseconds."

Everyday plastic that makes up common plastic bottles could be shocked with lasers to create valuable nanodiamonds. (Image credit: Robert Lea/Mario Sarto)

The new research shows that this type of diamond formation may be more common than scientists previously believed, raising the chances that ice giants may sport thick layers of diamonds around their solid cores. 

The experiment also strongly suggests that at the high temperatures and pressures found in the interiors of such icy worlds, an  exotic state of water, called  superionic water ice, emerges....

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MORE here: https://www.livescience.com/lasers-plastic-diamonds

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The Soundtrack of Your Day - FIVE must-haves to listen to at night

 

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

 

The Temptations Papa Was A Rolling Stone 1972 Single Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiQtD5gcHU

 

Riders On The Storm - (The Doors) Extended Remastered Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT_OxPRmSw

 

Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjUqfRrWwcM

 

The End - The Doors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXqPNlng6uI

 

Edited by msfntor
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Harsh Goenka @hvgoenka

Some magnificent visuals of Mount Everest captured by a drone!

https://twitter.com/hvgoenka/status/1575827332413419520

 

 

Raj Nayak @rajcheerfull

Nature and it’s ways. Elephant giving birth at Masai Mara & then the herd celebrating.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1573971617256177665

 

Harsh Mariwala @hcmariwala

Who said we need words to communicate?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1576106136360689664

 

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"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

B&S @____B_S____

 

This man is buying birds just to set them free

https://twitter.com/i/status/1576118030723354625

 

This baby horse was stuck on a bridge until a guy come along and refused to leave him there

https://twitter.com/i/status/1575086216235847680

 

Cat getting adopted

https://twitter.com/i/status/1575523396213182465

 

Cressida'sFolly @CressidasFolly

This reminds me so much of my cat. He wandered up to our house one cold morning, out of the blue, 5 years ago, and he was so happy to be there. He was so immediately loving (he hugged us, too, and still does). We always say that he adopted us, and we are so infinitely thankful.

Fd1nAFyWIAES3ta?format=jpg&name=small

 

https://twitter.com/CressidasFolly/status/1575528697934729216

 

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid: A Life in the Dark

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Always lying down, hardly moving, only speaking for a few minutes at a time: Faraz Fallahi is seriously ill with ME/CFS. From his darkened room he fights for more research - and encourages other sufferers.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome, ME/CFS for short, determines Faraz's life - he has to be cared for around the clock...

 

...We shoot the interview in almost complete darkness with a light-sensitive camera so that the visual stimuli are as minimal as possible.

by Birgit Großekathöfer, DER SPIEGEL

 

"How do you stand it?"

Faraz Fallahi, ME/CFS patient:

»Lying down?

I couldn't do anything for the first few months.

I could really only lie there from one break to the next.

I couldn't even look at the phone.

You can't stand it.

That's not a choice you have.

You go insane in your head.

This is also something I have been told by others I speak to who are also affected.

In fact, you wish you could fall asleep every night but not wake up.«

So far it is known that ME/CFS is an often severe neuroimmunological multisystem disease.

The brain can be affected, so some patients develop dementia-like conditions and suffer from speech and concentration disorders.

However, ME/CFS can also affect the heart, for example by causing arrhythmias or heart palpitations.

In addition, there may be shortness of breath or shortness of breath and extreme exhaustion.

If an individual stress limit is exceeded, the symptoms can become permanently worse.

In Berlin, Carmen Scheibenbogen manages one of only two outpatient clinics in Germany that specialize in the disease and have been completely overrun since the pandemic at the latest.

Carmen disc arch, Charité Berlin

"It's a catastrophe, because most of them don't have any proper care at all, and the bad thing is, because the disease is often wrongly classified, the general practitioners don't take it seriously either, they often just don't know any better.

It is then often classified as a psychosomatic illness or somatic stress disorder or even depression, and the recommendation that physical activity is important applies, and then the severity of the illness is often misjudged.”

So far there is no therapy that cures the disease – and therefore there is little hope of improvement.

In their distress, those affected try to self-medicate, often with preparations that are actually intended for other diseases....

 

MORE here: https://newsrnd.com/tech/2022-10-02-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-and-long-covid--a-life-in-the-dark.r1Xk9Zyvfo.html

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Staying fit in old age: Marianne Koch sets an example and gives tips

- dr Marianne Koch's path to health and mental freshness in old age

 

1. Exercise:

go for a half-hour walk every day to supply the body with sufficient oxygen.

"Like me at home with my little, fat dog." If possible sport.

"Muscle loss makes us age." Strength training with an expander or a rubber band in front of the chest.

2. Diet:

Fresh fruits, vegetables.

As regional as possible to avoid additives.

"No salt, sugar, or bad fat." Meat in moderation;

because the body needs protein.

No red meat (pork, beef, lamb).

Better: chicken, fish (white meat).

Vegetarian is ok.

Vegan not for children and seniors.

"We need dairy products like cheese and eggs."

3. Lifelong Learning

: Our 100 billion brain cells crave spiritual nourishment.

“In my eyes, the 45-year-old who thinks he has learned enough is old.

The 80-year-old, who is interested in a language course at the VHS, has remained young at heart.” By the way: If you can't remember your neighbor's first name, you don't immediately suffer from Alzheimer's.

4. Social contacts

: Loneliness is the worst of all diseases of old age.

The often ridiculed senior group in the church attracts with highly interesting projects, mutual help and weekend trips.

“What have you got to lose?” Even the good old telephone can come in handy sometimes.

"Dealing with the problems of aging takes a good deal of courage," says Dr. Marianne Koch. ...

 

MORE here: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-04-25-staying-fit-in-old-age--marianne-koch-sets-an-example-and-gives-tips.ByXnZysXHc.html

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"I'll get old later"

... So what's the magic formula for staying young despite biological aging?

 

"Physical activity and the right diet are the most important ways of avoiding diseases typical of old age," says the doctor.

And: "Staying mobile, both physically and mentally, is the key."

... 

Another decisive factor in healthy aging are social contacts that need to be maintained.

"Loneliness is the worst disease of old age with bad consequences for body and soul," says Koch.

“Lonely one is paralyzed.” Living with an animal helps, on the other hand – just as she herself has only shared her home with her dog since the death of her partner three years ago.

And of course going for brisk walks with him every day – which keeps both of them fit.

MORE from Dr. Marianne Koch here: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-05-17-"i-ll-get-old-later".SJfH2Rlw9.html

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