Covid-19 linked to a reduction in brain size, and six other research findings

Seven research findings published in March 2022 from UKRI funded projects

Mild Covid-19 infection is linked to changes to the structure of the brain, including a reduction of brain size and cognitive decline

A University of Oxford study has found that COVID-19 infection is linked to changes to the structure of the brain, including a reduction of brain size and cognitive decline.

The team used imaging data from the UK Biobank to reveal tissue damage. The greatest shrinkage was in brain areas related to smell.

This new insight into the damaging effects of COVID-19 will contribute to our overall understanding of how the disease spreads through the central nervous system.

Established in 2002, UK Biobank contains in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants.

Thanks to UK Biobank, this new Oxford study is the only one in the world able to demonstrate ‘before and after’ changes in the brain associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Find out more.

FFP2 (filtering facepiece) respirator masks are five times more efficient at filtering particles which carry the COVID-19 virus than cloth masks.

These are the findings of new research by the universities of Surrey and Bristol and ESPCI Paris. The research involved crucial scanning electron microscope imaging by Judith Mantell at the Wolfson Bioimaging Facility.

The Bristol team took three dimensional images of the kind of material typically used to make cloth masks. Their collaborators at Surrey then used the image to simulate air flow through fabric, a common technique used by physicists.

The findings showed that for Covid-19 virus-sized particles, multiple layers of fabric improved efficiency, but that it was still poor in comparison with the material used for FFP2 masks, which is typically more than 90 per cent efficient.

New antimicrobial technology for air filters which can kill bacteria, fungi and viruses in seconds - including SARS-CoV-2 - has been developed by University of Birmingham researchers with NitroPep Ltd and Pullman AC. The technology could potentially prevent the spread of airborne infections.

Filters were treated with a chemical biocide and tested in both lab and real world settings — and findings showed no pathogens survived on the treated filters, even after three months in use on a train.

A study involving King’s College London researchers suggests that a person’s blood group is linked to the chance of them having severe COVID-19. The team used a genetic tool to screen over 3,000 proteins. They identified six proteins that could underlie an increased risk of severe COVID-19 and eight that could contribute to protection from severe COVID-19.

One of the proteins identified as having a causal connection to the risk of developing severe COVID-19 determines blood groups, suggesting that blood groups play an instrumental role in whether people develop severe forms of the disease.

A University of Southampton report suggests the UK’s formerly office-based workforce no longer thinks the daily 9–5 is an efficient way of working. While people have missed the informal connections of the office, their default position has shifted, and they no longer want to be travelling into offices every day.

The research included speaking to a combination of leaders, managers, and employees without management responsibilities to understand how change affects the whole organisation, and identified six areas organisations need to work on to help achieve success.

At least 5 million children have experienced the death of a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19 since March 2020, according to an international research project co-led by Imperial College London academics.

It was estimated last year that 1.5 million children worldwide had lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic. Researchers found that adolescents aged 10–17 were worst affected, with 2.1 million children losing both parents because of the virus.

The world’s largest study of the genetics of critical COVID-19 has revealed some 16 new genetic variants associated with severe Covid, including some related to blood clotting and immune response. Findings from the UKRI-supported project, led by the University of Edinburgh, will act as a roadmap for future research.

The findings included how a single gene variant that disrupts a key messenger molecule in immune system signaling — called interferon alpha-10 — was enough to increase a patient’s risk of severe disease.

The study also found that variations in genes that control the levels of a central component of blood clotting — known as Factor 8 — were associated with critical illness in Covid-19.

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UK Biobank is funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome and other partners. The Wolfson Bioimaging Facility is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council. The University of Southampton study was funded by ESRC. The Imperial College study received key funding from by EPSRC, MRC and UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund. The Kings College researchers received funding from MRC and the University of Birmingham researchers recieved funding from EPSRC and MRC.