Posts by:
Gabriella True

O’Dor, S.L., Zagaroli, J., Belisle, R. et al. The COVID-19 pandemic and children with PANS/PANDAS: an evaluation of symptom severity, telehealth, and vaccination hesitancy. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01401-z

• Assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with PANS/PANDAS
• A majority of respondents endorsed a negative impact on their child’s friendships, relationships with extended family, hobbies, and academic skills due to the pandemic
• Children with suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 experienced new or worsened psychiatric symptoms, particularly mood lability, OCD, and anxiety
• Telehealth care was the preferred treatment modality if the child had mild symptoms of PANS/PANDAS
• Caregivers experienced a high level of burn-out both before and during the pandemic, and thus this should continue to be an area of inquiry and appropriate intervention by providers
• Data suggest an overall negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with PANS/PANDAS and their caregivers.

Konstantinou GN, Konstantinou GN, Koulias C, Petalas K, Makris M. Further Understanding of Neuro-Immune Interactions in Allergy: Implications in Pathophysiology and Role in Disease Progression. J Asthma Allergy. 2022;15:1273-1291. https://doi.org/10.2147/JAA.S282039

“We have systematically reviewed and discussed the evidence regarding the role of the neuro-immune interactions in common allergic clinical modalities like allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, allergic asthma, food allergy, atopic dermatitis, and urticaria. It is essential to understand unknown – to most of the immunology and allergy experts – neurological networks that not only physiologically cooperate with the immune system to regulate homeostasis but also pathogenetically interact with more or less known immunological pathways, contribute to what is known as neuroimmunological inflammation, and shift homeostasis to instability and disease clinical expression.”

Oroojzadeh, P., Bostanabad, S.Y. & Lotfi, H. Psychobiotics: the Influence of Gut Microbiota on the Gut-Brain Axis in Neurological Disorders. J Mol Neurosci (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-022-02053-3

• Psychobiotics are a probiotic strain capable to affect the gut-brain axis.
• Finding suggests that Psychobiotics can efficiently alleviate the symptoms of several CNS disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, depression, diabetic neuropathy, and anorexia nervosa.
• It can be concluded that functional foods containing psychotropic strains can help to improve mental health.

T Bhikram, P Sandor, Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratios as inflammatory biomarkers in psychiatric patients, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Volume 105, 2022, Pages 237-246, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.07.006.