Longitudinal Plasma Proteomics Analysis Reveals Novel Candidate Biomarkers in Acute COVID-19.

The host response to COVID-19 pathophysiology over the first few days of infection remains largely unclear, especially the mechanisms in the blood compartment. We report on a longitudinal proteomic analysis of acute-phase COVID-19 patients, for which we used blood plasma, multiple reaction monitoring with internal standards, and data-independent acquisition. We measured samples on admission for 49 patients, of which 21 had additional samples on days 2, 4, 7, and 14 after admission. We also measured 30 externally obtained samples from healthy individuals for comparison at baseline. The 31 proteins differentiated in abundance between acute COVID-19 patients and healthy controls belonged to acute inflammatory response, complement activation, regulation of inflammatory response, and regulation of protein activation cascade. The longitudinal analysis showed distinct profiles revealing increased levels of multiple lipid-associated functions, a rapid decrease followed by recovery for complement activation, humoral immune response, and acute inflammatory response-related proteins, and level fluctuation in the regulation of smooth muscle cell proliferation, secretory mechanisms, and platelet degranulation. Three proteins were differentiated between survivors and nonsurvivors. Finally, increased levels of fructose-bisphosphate aldolase B were determined in patients with exposure to angiotensin receptor blockers versus decreased levels in those exposed to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Data are available via ProteomeXchange PXD029437.

Irregular eating patterns associate with hypomanic symptoms in bipolar disorders.

Objective: We present novel dimensional methods to describe the timing of eating in psychopathology. We focused on the relationship between current mood in bipolar disorder (BD) and the stability of the temporal pattern of daily eating events. Methods: Consenting BD patients (n = 69) from an outpatient, tertiary care clinic completed hourly charts of mood and eating for two weeks. Mood was also evaluated with Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Results: Illustrative displays, or eatograms, enabling visualization of all recorded eating events were used to guide assessment of the temporal structure of eating across the two week assessment period. We computed indices to quantify irregularities in timing of eating, namely IFRQ, ITIM and IINT for the variability of frequency, timing, and interval of eating events, respectively. In this cohort, irregular temporal pattern of eating correlated with hypomanic symptoms (YMRS with IFRQ, Spearman rank order rh = 0.28, p = .019, with ITIM, rh = 0.44, p < .001, and with IINT rh = 0.38, p = .001), but not depressive symptoms or anthropometric measures. Conclusions: Our data suggest a link between the instability of the temporal order of daily eating and mood. The dimensional measures for eating pattern introduced here enable future investigations of correlations with psychopathology.

Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire in bipolar disorder.

The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) is among the most commonly used scales to measure chronotype. We aimed to evaluate psychometric properties and clinical correlates of MEQ in bipolar disorder. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder (n = 53) answered questionnaires for chronotype (MEQ), mood (Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms-16, Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale), insomnia (Athens Insomnia Scale, AIS), and sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale). Mood was evaluated using Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale and Young Mania Rating Scale. The MEQ showed high internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha of .85. Lower MEQ scores (eveningness) correlated with insomnia (AIS) (r = -.34, p = .013). The estimate for eveningness (13/53, 24.5%) in our study was higher than in comparable studies in the general population. Patients on lithium exhibited a higher mean MEQ score (56.0 on lithium vs 46.9 with no lithium, p = .007), whereas this score was lower for patients on an antidepressant (46.0 on antidepressants vs 52.6 with no antidepressants, p = .023). We conclude that the MEQ score is psychometrically reliable. However, future studies should further evaluate the association of medication with chronotype. Validation of categorical cut-offs for MEQ in a larger sample of bipolar patients is needed to increase clinical utility.