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Many children suffering ongoing Covid symptoms
Many children suffering ongoing Covid symptoms

RNZ News

time05-07-2025

  • Health
  • RNZ News

Many children suffering ongoing Covid symptoms

Children with pre-existing conditions, like asthma or ADHD, were more likely to develop post-Covid symptoms. Photo: 123rf Public health researchers say strong evidence suggests preventing infection is key to preventing Long Covid, after they found more than a fifth of children and young people were suffering ongoing symptoms following Covid-19. Led by the University of Otago, and published in the International Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health , the study surveyed more than 4200 children and young adults aged three to 20 years between November 2022 and April 2023, after the first widespread Covid-19 community transmission in early 2022. More than 70 percent of participants had a confirmed Covid-19 infection. A quarter had suffered more frequent coughs, colds and stomach bugs since infection, while one in five reported ongoing symptoms, such as headaches (21.7 percent), fatigue (20.6 percent), stomach aches (14.6 percent) and new anxiety (13.1 percent). Before Covid-19's widespread arrival, 82.6 percent of children rated their health as "very good" or "excellent" - that number dropped to 66.9 percent after the Omicron variant waves. Children who had Covid-19 were significantly more likely to rate their health as "fair" or "poor", compared to those who did not. Children with pre-existing conditions, like asthma or ADHD, were more likely to develop post-Covid symptoms, but many previously healthy kids also reported new difficulties, ranging from persistent coughs to concentration problems. Associate Professor Julie Bennett, from the university's Department of Public Health, said long-term symptoms could affect children's ability to participate in daily activities and attend school. "Reducing infections to key to preventing Long Covid," she said. "Simple steps like opening windows to improve ventilation in classrooms, workplaces and at home helps reduce the spread of Covid-19 to others." Bennett said common symptoms reported in New Zealand children included headaches, fatigue, stomach aches, anxiety, and more frequent coughs and colds. "If a child has Covid, ensure they are able to rest during and after infection to prevent post-viral complications, such as Long Covid." Co-author Larisa Hockey, of Long Covid Kids New Zealand, said the findings showed Covid-19 had had a "measurable and ongoing impact" on the health of many children. Both previously healthy children and those with existing health conditions had reported new symptoms that affected school attendance, concentration and overall wellbeing, she added. "There is strong evidence that preventing infection is key to preventing Long Covid. Children deserve every opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive, and that includes protecting them from preventable long-term illness. "Long Covid is having a significant impact on children's lives and those of family members." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Could a single brain scan predict the risk of age-related conditions like dementia?
Could a single brain scan predict the risk of age-related conditions like dementia?

Medical News Today

time04-07-2025

  • Health
  • Medical News Today

Could a single brain scan predict the risk of age-related conditions like dementia?

People age at different rates, partly due to genetics but largely because of lifestyle.A person's rate of aging can indicate how likely they are to develop age-related disorders, such as researchers have developed a method based on a single brain scan in middle age that could predict how fast a person is likely to suggest that their method, which can predict the aging rate of both brain and body, may detect who should implement lifestyle changes to reduce their risk of age-related people appear to age more slowly than others. This is partly due to genetics, which studies suggest accounts for around 25% of the variation in longevity but is largely due to lifestyle and the in lifestyle, such as following a healthy diet, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, not smoking, and not drinking alcohol to excess, can help slow a person's rate of aging and delay or prevent age-related disorders.A person's rate of aging is often referred to as their biological age — how old their cells are — which can vary greatly from their chronological age, or the number of years since their birth. Measuring this can be a group of researchers from Duke, Harvard, and the University of Otago, New Zealand, have developed a method of predicting how fast a person will age, based on a single brain scan performed around the age of 45. In their study, which is published in Nature Aging, the researchers suggest that the Dunedin Pace of Aging Calculated from NeuroImaging (DunedinPACNI) could help researchers determine how aging affects health, and help them evaluate the effectiveness of anti-aging strategies.'The study developed and validated a new MRI-based biomarker called DunedinPACNI which shows not only a score for brain age, i.e. how old the brain looks, but also shows connections to cognitive decline and other health measures, allowing to perhaps predict how quickly a person ages and how their health will evolve later in life,' Madalina Tivarus, PhD, associate professor of Imaging Sciences and Neuroscience at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, not involved in the study, told Medical News scan can predict biological aging'The idea of using a routine MRI brain scan to do a 'aging check-up' is very interesting and exciting,' Tivarus told study builds on the Dunedin Study, previous research conducted in the same cohort of participants. This study, which followed a group of 1,037 people born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1972–'73, looked at age-related changes in gene methylation to create an epigenetic the Dunedin Study, researchers regularly tested participants' blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), glucose (blood sugar) and cholesterol levels, lung and kidney function, and even gum recession and tooth almost 20 years, they used the overall pattern of change across these health markers to generate a score for how fast each person was the latest study, researchers used a single MRI scan of the brain performed when participants were aged 45, which they correlated with the Dunedin Study aging data. They then developed their DunedinPACNI to estimate rate of aging using only information from the MRI evaluate the Dunedin PACNI as a tool for predicting age-related health outcomes, they analyzed it against datasets from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), UK Biobank, and Latin American Brain Health found that their prediction accuracy was in line with more established epigenetic with faster DunedinPACNI scores had several indicators of more rapid aging, including:worse balance, slower gait, weaker lower and upper body strength, and poorer coordinationself-reported worse health and more physical limitations poorer performance on cognitive function tests greater childhood-to-adulthood cognitive declineolder physical MacSweeney, MD, CEO and consultant Neuroradiologist at Re:Cognition Health, who was not involved in this research, highlighted how important brain imaging could be, telling MNT that:'The researchers observed that individuals with higher DunedinPACNI scores, indicating faster brain aging, were also more likely to experience health deterioration in other organ systems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory health. The fact that brain imaging can reflect systemic aging suggests the brain may serve as a biomarker for overall biological age, offering a non-invasive, accessible measure of aging processes throughout the body.'Novel brain scan better predictive tool than existing MRI measuresTivarus enthused that:'This study is exciting because it shows that MRI scans might be used not just to detect disease, but also to track how the brain is aging long before problems begin. However, it's still early days. While promising, DunedinPACNI still needs to be tested more widely in larger and more diverse populations across different ages, ethnicities, and health backgrounds. It did perform well across multiple large datasets, but more global validation is needed.'The researchers compared the DunedinPACNI with measures of hippocampal and ventricular volume, which are commonly used MRI-based measures of brain aging, using UK Biobank and ADNI found that faster DunedinPACNI was more consistently and strongly associated with poor cognition, poor health, frailty, and risk of dementia, disease and mortality than either of these was impressed by the study structure.'The study methodology has some important strengths such as it is using a robust, decades-long longitudinal dataset, uses sound statistical methods, and has been validated extensively using imaging data from other large studies,' she she also pointed out that there were 'some limitations, such as the specific population data used to train the model (mostly European ancestry, from a specific geographical location), its performance in younger or pediatric populations is untested, [and] it infers dynamic processes from one static image (one MRI snapshot).' 'While I don't think it is ready for clinical use, DunedinPACNI appears to be a promising imaging biomarker of biological aging,' Tivarus told us.'The tool empowers people to take proactive steps'As people are living longer, but not necessarily healthier, lives, the ability to predict who is more likely to develop dementia or other age-related illness is becoming increasingly important. The researchers hope that their tool might eventually help clinicians do that well before symptoms, allowing interventions to reduce the risk of conditions developing.'Identifying accelerated aging in midlife provides a critical window of opportunity for intervention. Knowing one's biological age, as distinct from chronological age, could motivate individuals to adopt healthier habits, such as improved diet, increased physical activity or better sleep. By highlighting risk decades in advance, the tool empowers people to take proactive steps that may slow or even reverse aspects of biological aging.' – Emer MacSweeney, MD

Higher Education Ministry signs cooperation agreements with New Zealand Universities
Higher Education Ministry signs cooperation agreements with New Zealand Universities

Times of Oman

time02-07-2025

  • Health
  • Times of Oman

Higher Education Ministry signs cooperation agreements with New Zealand Universities

Wellington: The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, represented by its Cultural Attaché in Australia, has signed two cooperation agreements with New Zealand's University of Otago and University of Auckland to support Omani students wishing to pursue studies in healthcare specialisations. The first agreement with the University of Otago aims to enhance academic cooperation through the exchange of expertise and facilitate admission procedures for Omani students in health and medical programs. The agreement stipulates the allocation of 20 seats annually for scholarship students, provided they meet the academic admission requirements, contributing to raising the efficiency of academic qualification according to the highest international standards. The second agreement with the University of Auckland focuses on supporting Omani students in the Bachelor of Human Medicine programme. Under this agreement, the Ministry will annually provide the university with a list of nominated students, while the university will allocate 5 study seats each year for qualified students who meet admission criteria. Dr. Hamad Khalfan Al Nu'amani, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Australia, stated that New Zealand universities rank among the world's best in medical and health education, offering diverse academic programs and continuously updating curricula to align with the healthcare sector's evolving requirements and challenges. He noted that the outstanding performance of Omani graduates from New Zealand universities across various health specializations reflects the quality of education and the completeness of the academic experience. These signings come as part of the Ministry's series of initiatives to strengthen international partnerships and provide quality educational opportunities for Omani students, in line with national development aspirations and enhancing human resource readiness in vital sectors.

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