Background With the lack of effective therapy, chemoprevention, and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, focusing on the immediate repurposing of existing drugs gives hope of curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent unbiased genomics-guided tracing of the SARS-CoV-2 targets in human cells identified vitamin D among the three top-scoring molecules manifesting potential infection mitigation patterns. Growing pre-clinical and epidemiological observational data support this assumption. We hypothesized that vitamin D supplementation may improve the prognosis of COVID-19. The aim of this trial is to compare the effect of a single oral high dose of cholecalciferol versus a single oral standard dose on all-cause 14-day mortality rate in COVID-19 older adults at higher risk of worsening. Methods The COVIT-TRIAL study is an open-label, multicenter, randomized controlled superiority trial. Patients aged ≥ 65 years with COVID-19 (diagnosed within the preceding 3 days with RT-PCR and/or chest CT scan) and at least one worsening risk factor at the time of inclusion (i.e., age ≥ 75 years, or SpO2 ≤ 94% in room air, or PaO2/FiO2 ≤ 300 mmHg), having no contraindications to vitamin D supplementation, and having received no vitamin D supplementation > 800 IU/day during the preceding month are recruited. Participants are randomized either to high-dose cholecalciferol (two 200,000 IU drinking vials at once on the day of inclusion) or to standard-dose cholecalciferol (one 50,000 IU drinking vial on the day of inclusion). Two hundred sixty participants are recruited and followed up for 28 days. The primary outcome measure is all-cause mortality within 14 days of inclusion. Secondary outcomes are the score changes on the World Health Organization Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (OSCI) scale for COVID-19, and the between-group comparison of safety. These outcomes are assessed at baseline, day 14, and day 28, together with the serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, creatinine, calcium, and albumin at baseline and day 7. Discussion COVIT-TRIAL is to our knowledge the first randomized controlled trial testing the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the prognosis of COVID-19 in high-risk older patients. High-dose vitamin D supplementation may be an effective, well-tolerated, and easily and immediately accessible treatment for COVID-19, the incidence of which increases dramatically and for which there are currently no scientifically validated treatments. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT04344041. Registered on 14 April 2020 Trial status Recruiting. Recruitment is expected to be completed in April 2021.
The clinical utility of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and its shorter version (SMMSE) is still debated. There is a need to better understand the neuroanatomical correlates of these cognitive tests. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether lower MMSE and SMMSE scores correlated with focal brain volume reduction in older adults. Participants from the GAIT study (n = 207; mean, 70.9±5.9 years; 57% female; mean MMSE 26.2±3.9; mean SMMSE 5.1±1.1) were evaluated using the MMSE and SMMSE and received a 1.5-Tesla MRI scan of the brain. Cortical gray and white matter subvolumes were automatically segmented using Statistical Parametric Mapping. Age, gender, education level, and total intracranial volume were included as potential confounders. We found correlations between the MMSE score and specific cortical regions of the limbic system including the hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus, independently of the diagnostic category (i.e., mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease or controls). Regarding correlations with the SMMSE score, only one cluster in the left hippocampus was identified, which overlapped with the cluster that was positively correlated with the MMSE score. There were no correlations with the volume of white matter. In conclusion, worse MMSE and SMMSE scores were associated with gray matter atrophy mainly in the limbic system. This finding highlights that atrophy of specific brain regions are related to performance on the MMSE and the SMMSE tests, and provides new insights into the cognitive function probed by these tests.
Lumbar hernia is classically described as arising from the superior (Grynfeltt's) lumbar triangle or the inferior (Jean-Louis Petit's) lumbar triangle. The present anatomical study based on a computed tomography examination performed in a patient with lumbar hernia, has led to the suggestion that lumbar hernias cross the lumbar wall through a musculoaponeurotic tunnel, whose deep and superficial openings are the superior and inferior lumbar triangles, respectively.
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