Soluble Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products and Its Forms in COVID-19 Patients with and without Diabetes Mellitus: A Pilot Study on Their Role as Disease Biomarkers.

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), a well-known player of diabetes mellitus (DM)-related morbidities, was supposed to be involved in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), but no data exist about COVID-19, DM, and the soluble RAGE (sRAGE) forms. We quantified total sRAGE and its forms, the endogenously secretory esRAGE and the membrane-cleaved cRAGE, in COVID-19 patients with and without DM and in healthy individuals to explore how COVID-19 may affect these molecules and their potential role as biomarkers. Circulating sRAGE and esRAGE were quantified by enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assays. cRAGE was obtained by subtracting esRAGE from total sRAGE. sRAGE, esRAGE, cRAGE, and the cRAGE/esRAGE ratio did not differ between DM and non-DM patients and had the same trend when compared to healthy individuals. Levels of total sRAGE, cRAGE, and cRAGE/esRAGE ratio were upregulated, while esRAGE was downregulated. The lack of difference between DM and non-DM COVID-19 patients in the levels of sRAGE and its forms supports the hypothesis that in COVID-19 the RAGE system is modulated regardless of glycemic control. Identifying how sRAGE and its forms associate to COVID-19 prognosis and the potential of RAGE as a therapeutic target to control inflammatory burden seem of relevance to help treatment of COVID-19.

Raven coloured progressive matrices in migraine without aura patients.

Conflicting results emerged from studies investigating cognitive performances in migraine patients. Based on clinical and neuroradiological aspects, the possible involvement of executive functions has been especially taken into consideration. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in a population of subjects affected by migraine without aura (MwoA), frontal lobe cognitive functions. We enrolled all the consecutive patients affected by MwoA referred to our headache centre for a first evaluation. Each patient underwent a neuropsychological evaluation including Raven coloured progressive matrices (CPM). We collected variables as age, education, years of migraine, frequency of attacks and CPM scores. Relationship between continuous variables was explored with multiple regression lines, selecting the best-fitting trendline for each relationship. We obtained a final sample of 36 subjects (females: 62.5%; mean age: 42.25 ± 10.21 years). Patients had mean length of migraine history of 12.25 ± 11.00 years and a mean frequency of attacks of 8.06 ± 7.15 per month. Linear regression underlines a progressive decrease of CPM score with the increase of the migraine history's length (R 2 = 0.8871; p < 0.001), and the frequency of migraine attacks (R 2 = 0.3122; p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that pathological CPM scores can be associated with the severity of migraine. These data seem to confirm the hypothesis of an impairment of executive functions in MwoA. Different hypotheses to explain cognitive impairment in migraine have been postulated including the impact of the typical white matter lesions and a long history of drug abuse. The possible relevant clinical consequence of a full comprehension of this particular aspect related to migraine deserves further attention and consideration.