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Background: The overload of healthcare systems around the world and the danger of infection have limited the ability of researchers to obtain sufficient and reliable data on psychopathology in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The relationship between severe acute respiratory syndrome with the coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and specific mental disturbances remains poorly understood., Aim: To reveal the possibility of identifying the typology and frequency of psychiatric syndromes associated with acute COVID-19 using cluster analysis of discrete psychopathological phenomena., Materials and Methods: Descriptive data on the mental state of 55 inpatients with COVID-19 were obtained by young-career physicians. Classification of observed clinical phenomena was performed with k-means cluster analysis of variables coded from the main psychopathological symptoms. Dispersion analysis with p level 0.05 was used to reveal the clusters differences in demography, parameters of inflammation, and respiration function collected on the basis of the original medical records., Results: Three resulting clusters of patients were identified: (1) persons with anxiety; disorders of fluency and tempo of thinking, mood, attention, and motor-volitional sphere; reduced insight; and pessimistic plans for the future ( n = 11); (2) persons without psychopathology ( n = 37); and (3) persons with disorientation; disorders of memory, attention, fluency, and tempo of thinking; and reduced insight ( n = 7). The development of a certain type of impaired mental state was specifically associated with the following: age, lung lesions according to computed tomography, saturation, respiratory rate, C-reactive protein level, and platelet count., Conclusion: Anxiety and/or mood disturbances with psychomotor retardation as well as symptoms of impaired consciousness, memory, and insight may be considered as neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 and should be used for clinical risk assessment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Sorokin, Palchikova, Kibitov, Kasyanov, Khobeysh and Zubova.)

The synucleinopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the oligomerization of alpha-synuclein protein in neurons or glial cells. Recent studies provide data that ceramide metabolism impairment may play a role in the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies due to its influence on alpha-synuclein accumulation. The aim of the current study was to assess changes in activities of enzymes involved in ceramide metabolism in patients with different synucleinopathies (Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA)). The study enrolled 163 PD, 44 DLB, and 30 MSA patients as well as 159 controls. Glucocerebrosidase, alpha-galactosidase, acid sphingomyelinase enzyme activities, and concentrations of the corresponding substrates (hexosylsphingosine, globotriaosylsphingosine, lysosphingomyelin) were measured by liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry in blood. Expression levels of GBA, GLA, and SMPD1 genes encoding glucoceresobridase, alpha-galactosidase, and acid sphingomyelinase enzymes, correspondently, were analyzed by real-time PCR with TaqMan assay in CD45 + blood cells. Increased hexosylsphingosine concentration was observed in DLB and MSA patients in comparison to PD and controls (p < 0.001) and it was associated with earlier age at onset (AAO) of DLB (p = 0.0008). SMPD1 expression was decreased in MSA compared to controls (p = 0.015). Acid sphingomyelinase activity was decreased in DLB, MSA patients compared to PD patients (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, respectively), and in MSA compared to controls (p < 0.0001). Lower acid sphingomyelinase activity was associated with earlier AAO of PD (p = 0.012). Our data support the role of lysosomal dysfunction in the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies, namely, the pronounced alterations of lysosomal activities involved in ceramide metabolism in patients with MSA and DLB., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

In experiments on 13 rabbits, the authors performed heart perfusion according to Langendorf with endotoxin (9 experiments) or with Ringer's solution (4 experiments), and subsequently analysed the myocardial ultrastructure. They found that 30-minute endotoxin perfusion produces contracture changes, intracellular myocytolysis and desquamation of endothelial cells with destruction of the capillary basal membrane. The findings attested to myocardial dysfunction caused by direct endotoxin action on the heart.