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The incidence of severe manifestations of COVID-19 increases with age with older patients showing the highest mortality, suggesting that molecular pathways underlying aging contribute to the severity of COVID-19. One mechanism of aging is the progressive shortening of telomeres, which are protective structures at chromosome ends. Critically short telomeres impair the regenerative capacity of tissues and trigger loss of tissue homeostasis and disease. The SARS-CoV-2 virus infects many different cell types, forcing cell turn-over and regeneration to maintain tissue homeostasis. We hypothesize that presence of short telomeres in older patients limits the tissue response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We measure telomere length in peripheral blood lymphocytes COVID-19 patients with ages between 29 and 85 years-old. We find that shorter telomeres are associated to increased severity of the disease. Individuals within the lower percentiles of telomere length and higher percentiles of short telomeres have higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 pathologies.

Introduction: There is a growing need for scientific studies and tools that allow the evaluation of the effects at an affective level of some non-pharmacological therapies for people with dementia such as the creative therapeutic dance., Aims: To explore the validity and reliability of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in people with dementia and to analyse the possible differences in the scores of the participants before and after sessions of creative therapeutic dance., Patients and Methods: POMS was administered to 36 people with dementia before and after four group sessions of creative therapeutic dance. To verify the construct validity, PANAS and STAXI-2 were also administered., Results: The POMS presented a good internal consistency for each factor and an excellent one for the total scale. The temporal stability was medium-high. Convergent validity results support construct validity. After the creative therapeutic dance sessions, POMS factors tension, depression and confusion were reduced, while vigour increased significantly. There was no effect on fatigue and anger., Conclusions: The validity and reliability of POMS have been demonstrated in a population with dementia. Creative therapeutic dance can offer emotional benefits for people with dementia.