Association of lipid-lowering drugs with COVID-19 outcomes from a Mendelian randomization study

Background: Lipid metabolism plays an important role in viral infections. We aimed to assess the causal effect of lipid-lowering drugs (HMGCR inhibitiors, PCSK9 inhibitiors and NPC1L1 inhibitior) on COVID-19 outcomes using 2-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study. Methods: We used two kinds of genetic instruments to proxy the exposure of lipid-lowering drugs, including eQTLs of drugs target genes, and genetic variants within or nearby drugs target genes associated with LDL cholesterol from GWAS. Summary-data-based MR (SMR) and inverse-variance weighted MR (IVW-MR) were used to calculate the effect estimates. Results: SMR analysis found that a higher expression of HMGCR was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (OR=1.38, 95%CI=1.06-1.81). Similarly, IVW-MR analysis observed a positive association between HMGCR-mediated LDL cholesterol and COVID-19 hospitalization (OR=1.32, 95%CI=1.00-1.74). No consistent evidence from both analyses was found for other associations. Conclusions: This 2-sample MR study suggested a potential causal relationship between HMGCR inhibition and the reduced risk of COVID-19 hospitalization. Funding: Fujian Province Major Science and Technology Program.

The Effectiveness of an Intergenerational Technology Program for Older Adults: A Pilot Study

While an increasing number of services and opportunities are available through technology devices such as smartphones and iPad, older adults often lack the technology skills and know-how to access such services. The use of social media, email, and texting can also lessen social isolation of older adults. In this project, nine undergraduate Computer Information Technology students enrolled in a service-learning course served as mentors for older adults. A total of 33 older adults (MAge= 77.9 SDAge= 8.62) participated in a 14 weeks intergenerational technology education at two community senior centers in an urban Midwest city. Fourteen participants completed both pre- and post-surveys. Significant improvement was found between pre- and post- surveys outcomes in technology anxiety and social engagement of the older adults. Findings from our qualitative data revealed that intergenerational program enables older adult to benefit from individual and group learning, make new friends among peers, experience intergenerational interactions, and have confidence in technology use. However, the intergenerational technology program helped to decrease technology anxiety and improve the participants’ social engagement. Engaging technology students in mentoring older adults in small group at a community center proved to be mutually beneficial to both the students and the older adults. The program boosted older adults’ comfort with technology use as well as encouraging social engagement with peers, mentors, and the virtual world.

Analysis of the clinical efficiency of human menopausal gonadotropins in the assisted reproductive technology program

Introduction. Comparative analysis of urinary and recombinant gonadotropins is ongoing to improve the efficiency of assisted reproductive technology programs. Particular interest focused on the identification of individual groups of patients with maximal efficacy of using certain ovarian stimulation drugs in an assisted reproductive technology program.Objective. To review the application of Menopur Multidose 1200 IU for ovarian stimulation in assisted reproductive technology protocols with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists (GnRH antagonists) in the current clinical practice.Materials and methods. The study retrospectively enrolled 4,080 women aged 20-43 years. Ovarian stimulation in the Assisted Reproductive Technology program was performed using the GnRH antagonist protocol in 65.8% of patients and the GnRH agonist protocol with Menopur Multidose 1200 IU with or without the additional Menopur 75 IU in 34.2% of women.Results. Clinical and laboratory data of the patients, stimulated cycle parameters, characteristics of the embryological stage, and results of the assisted reproductive technology program were analyzed. The frequency of obtaining degenerated oocytes did not exceed 5%. The relative number of blastocysts of good quality was 59.9%, while for patients in the older age group, the figure was 54.6. The average pregnancy rate in patients in the “Menopur Multidose 1200 IU p/k” group was 39.3%, which corresponds to high-performance indicators of the assisted reproductive technology program.Conclusions. Administration of highly purified human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) (Menopur Multidose 1200 IU) to stimulate ovarian function in patients of different ages is accompanied by an adequate number of mature oocytes, good quality blastocysts, and satisfactory clinical pregnancy rates. Thus, highly purified human menopausal gonadotropin is not inferior to recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone(r-FSH) concerning the efficacy of assisted reproductive technology programs.