DYNamic Assessment of Multi-Organ level dysfunction in patients recovering from COVID-19: DYNAMO COVID-19.

We evaluated the impacts of COVID-19 on multi-organ and metabolic function in patients following severe hospitalised infection compared to controls. Patients (n = 21) without previous diabetes, cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease were recruited 5-7 months post-discharge alongside controls (n = 10) with similar age, sex and body mass. Perceived fatigue was estimated (Fatigue Severity Scale) and the following were conducted: oral glucose tolerance (OGTT) alongside whole-body fuel oxidation, validated magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy during resting and supine controlled exercise, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, short physical performance battery (SPPB), intra-muscular electromyography, quadriceps strength and fatigability, and daily step-count. There was a greater insulin response (incremental area under the curve, median (inter-quartile range)) during the OGTT in patients [18,289 (12,497-27,448) mIU/min/L] versus controls [8655 (7948-11,040) mIU/min/L], P < 0.001. Blood glucose response and fasting and post-prandial fuel oxidation rates were not different. This greater insulin resistance was not explained by differences in systemic inflammation or whole-body/regional adiposity, but step-count (P = 0.07) and SPPB scores (P = 0.004) were lower in patients. Liver volume was 28% greater in patients than controls, and fat fraction adjusted liver T1, a measure of inflammation, was raised in patients. Patients displayed greater perceived fatigue scores, though leg muscle volume, strength, force-loss, motor unit properties and post-exercise muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis were comparable. Further, cardiac and cerebral architecture and function (at rest and on exercise) were not different. In this cross-sectional study, individuals without known previous morbidity who survived severe COVID-19 exhibited greater insulin resistance, pointing to a need for physical function intervention in recovery.

Antecubital Vein Cannula Position Impacts Assessment of Forearm Glucose Uptake During an Oral Glucose Challenge in Healthy Volunteers.

INTRODUCTION: Skeletal muscle is a major site for whole-body glucose disposal, and determination of skeletal muscle glucose uptake is an important metabolic measurement, particularly in research focussed on interventions that impact muscle insulin sensitivity. Calculating arterial-venous difference in blood glucose can be used as an indirect measure for assessing glucose uptake. However, the possibility of multiple tissues contributing to the composition of venous blood, and the differential in glucose uptake kinetics between tissue types, suggests that sampling from different vein sites could influence the estimation of glucose uptake. This study aimed to determine the impact of venous cannula position on calculated forearm glucose uptake following an oral glucose challenge in resting and post-exercise states. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 9 young, lean, males, the impact of sampling blood from two antecubital vein positions; the perforating vein ('perforating' visit) and, at the bifurcation of superficial and perforating veins ('bifurcation' visit), was assessed. Brachial artery blood flow and arterialised-venous and venous blood glucose concentrations were measured in 3 physiological states; resting-fasted, resting-fed, and fed following intermittent forearm muscle contraction (fed-exercise). RESULTS: Following glucose ingestion, forearm glucose uptake area under the curve was greater for the 'perforating' than for the 'bifurcation' visit in the resting-fed (5.92±1.56 vs. 3.69±1.35 mmol/60 min, P<0.01) and fed-exercise (17.38±7.73 vs. 11.40±7.31 mmol/75 min, P<0.05) states. DISCUSSION: Antecubital vein cannula position impacts calculated postprandial forearm glucose uptake. These findings have implications for longitudinal intervention studies where serial determination of forearm glucose uptake is required.

Protein ingestion acutely inhibits insulin-stimulated muscle carnitine uptake in healthy young men.

BACKGROUND: Increasing skeletal muscle carnitine content represents an appealing intervention in conditions of perturbed lipid metabolism such as obesity and type 2 diabetes but requires chronic L-carnitine feeding on a daily basis in a high-carbohydrate beverage. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether whey protein ingestion could reduce the carbohydrate load required to stimulate insulin-mediated muscle carnitine accretion. DESIGN: Seven healthy men [mean ± SD age: 24 ± 5 y; body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 23 ± 3] ingested 80 g carbohydrate, 40 g carbohydrate + 40 g protein, or control (flavored water) beverages 60 min after the ingestion of 4.5 g L-carnitine tartrate (3 g L-carnitine; 0.1% (2)[H]3-L-carnitine). Serum insulin concentration, net forearm carnitine balance (NCB; arterialized-venous and venous plasma carnitine difference × brachial artery flow), and carnitine disappearance (Rd) and appearance (Ra) rates were determined at 20-min intervals for 180 min. RESULTS: Serum insulin and plasma flow areas under the curve (AUCs) were similarly elevated by carbohydrate [4.5 ± 0.8 U/L · min (P < 0.01) and 0.5 ± 0.6 L (P < 0.05), respectively] and carbohydrate+protein [3.8 ± 0.6 U/L · min (P < 0.01) and 0.4 ± 0.6 L (P = 0.05), respectively] consumption, respectively, compared with the control visit (0.04 ± 0.1 U/L · min and -0.5 ± 0.2 L). Plasma carnitine AUC was greater after carbohydrate+protein consumption (3.5 ± 0.5 mmol/L · min) than after control and carbohydrate visits [2.1 ± 0.2 mmol/L · min (P < 0.05) and 1.9 ± 0.3 mmol/L · min (P < 0.01), respectively]. NCB AUC with carbohydrate (4.1 ± 3.1 µmol) was greater than during control and carbohydrate-protein visits (-8.6 ± 3.0 and -14.6 ± 6.4 µmol, respectively; P < 0.05), as was Rd AUC after carbohydrate (35.7 ± 25.2 µmol) compared with control and carbohydrate consumption [19.7 ± 15.5 µmol (P = 0.07) and 14.8 ± 9.6 µmol (P < 0.05), respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: The insulin-mediated increase in forearm carnitine balance with carbohydrate consumption was acutely blunted by a carbohydrate+protein beverage, which suggests that carbohydrate+protein could inhibit chronic muscle carnitine accumulation.