A global pandemic has erupted as a result of the new brand coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This pandemic has been consociated with widespread mortality worldwide. The antiviral immune response is an imperative factor in confronting the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections. Meantime, cytokines recognize as crucial components in guiding the appropriate immune pathways in the restraining and eradication of the virus. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 can induce uncontrolled inflammatory responses characterized by hyper-inflammatory cytokine production, which causes cytokine storm and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). As excessive inflammatory responses are contributed to the severe stage of the COVID-19 disease, therefore, the pro-inflammatory cytokines are regarded as the Achilles heel during COVID-19 infection. Among these cytokines, interleukin (IL-) 1 family cytokines (IL-1, IL-18, IL-33, IL-36, IL-37, and IL-38) appear to have a strong inflammatory role in severe COVID-19. Hence, understanding the underlying inflammatory mechanism of these cytokines during infection is critical for reducing the symptoms and severity of the disease. Here, the possible mechanisms and pathways involved in inflammatory immune responses are discussed.

No abstract

Exposure to enriched environment (EE) has been indicated to enhance cognitive functions, hippocampal neural plasticity, neurogenesis, long‐term potentiation, and levels of the brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in laboratory animals. Also, studies on the sex‐dependent effects of exposure to EE during adolescence on adult cognitive functions are less. This is important because the beneficial effects of EE may be predominant in the adolescence stage. Therefore, the present study was designed to compare the effects of EE during adolescence (PND21‐PND60) on novel objective recognition memory (NORM), anxiety‐like behaviors, and hippocampal BDNF mRNA level in the adult male and female rats. Assessment of NORM and anxiety‐like behaviors has been done by novel objective recognition task, open field (OF), and elevated plus maze (EPM), respectively. The expression of BDNF mRNA level was also evaluated by quantitative RT‐PCR. Our findings demonstrated that housing in the EE during adolescence improves NORM in adult male rats. Also, exposure to EE during adolescence had a different effect on anxiety‐like behaviors in both sexes. Additionally, our results indicated an augmented BDNF level in the hippocampus of male and female rats. In conclusion, adolescent exposure to EE has sex‐dependent effects on cognitive functions and anxiety‐like behaviors and increases BDNF mRNA expression in the hippocampus of both male and female rats; thus, BDNF is an important factor that can mediate the beneficial effects of EE and running exercise on cognitive functions and psychiatric traits.

No abstract

Context: The number of people with dementia is increasing dramatically. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital screening tests can play a significant role in the remote and timely detection of people with dementia. This study aimed to review digital cognitive tests for dementia screening. Methods: We searched Web of Science, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane using related terms such as “dementia,” “mobile,” “digital,” “computer,” and “cognitive assessment,” leading to the emergence of 1,348 articles. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened to select the relevant articles based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. Study characteristics and digital test features such as diagnostic performance and deploying platforms were extracted from selected articles. The risk of bias and reporting quality were evaluated in the included studies. Results: Out of 1,348 identified articles, 32 were eligible for inclusion. We categorized digital cognitive tests into 3 groups based on deploying platforms: 1) Mobile-based screening tests (59.5%), 2) desktop-based screening tests (28%), and 3) web-based screening tests (12.5%). Conclusions: Digital cognitive tests, especially mobile-based screening tests, facilitate the timely diagnosis of dementia. The development of AI-based screening tests and the use of technologies such as virtual reality and chatbots will set a bright future in the early detection of dementia.