Publications by authors named "Natividad Gomez-Ruiz"

Patients with post-COVID condition (PCC) present with diverse symptoms which persist at long-term after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among these symptoms, cognitive impairment is one of the most prevalent and has been related to brain structural and functional changes. The underlying mechanisms of these cognitive and brain alterations remain elusive but neuroinflammation and immune mechanisms have been majorly considered.

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The main objective was to evaluate structural and functional connectivity correlates of fatigue in post-COVID syndrome, and to investigate the relationships with an objective measure of mental fatigue and with subjective cognitive complaints. One-hundred and twenty-nine patients were recruited after 14.79 ± 7.

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Background: Cognitive deficits are among the main disabling symptoms in COVID-19 patients and post-COVID syndrome (PCS). Within brain regions, the hippocampus, a key region for cognition, has shown vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, in vivo detailed evaluation of hippocampal changes in PCS patients, validated on post-mortem samples of COVID-19 patients at the acute phase, would shed light into the relationship between COVID-19 and cognition.

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Brain changes have been reported in the first weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, limited literature exists about brain alterations in post-COVID syndrome, a condition increasingly associated with cognitive impairment. The present study aimed to evaluate brain functional and structural alterations in patients with post-COVID syndrome, and assess whether these brain alterations were related to cognitive dysfunction.

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Fatigue is one of the most disabling symptoms in several neurological disorders and has an important cognitive component. However, the relationship between self-reported cognitive fatigue and objective cognitive assessment results remains elusive. Patients with post-COVID syndrome often report fatigue and cognitive issues several months after the acute infection.

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Background: Olfactory dysfunction is common during SARS-CoV-2 infection. The pathophysiology of the persistence of this symptom and the potential relationship with central nervous system involvement is unknown.

Aim Of The Study: To evaluate the neural correlates of persistent olfactory dysfunction in a series of patients with post-COVID syndrome.

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Objective: Recent evidence suggests that patients suffering post-acute COVID syndrome frequently report cognitive complaints, but their characteristics and pathophysiology are unknown. This study aims to determine the characteristics of cognitive dysfunction in patients reporting cognitive complaints after COVID-19 and to evaluate the correlation between cognitive function and anxiety, depression, sleep, and olfactory function.

Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 50 patients with COVID-19 reporting cognitive complaints 9.

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Background: We aimed to evaluate personality traits in patients with post-COVID syndrome, as well as the association with neuropsychiatric symptoms present in this disorder.

Methods: The Big Five Structure Inventory was administered to 93 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of post-COVID syndrome as defined by the WHO and to demographically matched controls. We also performed a comprehensive evaluation of depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep quality, cognitive function, and olfactory function.

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Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by gradual loss of language skills. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic capacity of a connected speech task for the diagnosis of PPA and its variants, to determine the main components of spontaneous speech, and to examine their neural correlates.

Methods: A total of 118 participants (31 patients with nfvPPA, 11 with svPPA, 45 with lvPPA, and 31 healthy controls) were evaluated with the Cookie Theft picture description task and a comprehensive language assessment protocol.

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Cognitive symptoms after COVID-19 have been increasingly recognized several months after the acute infection and have been designated as "brain fog." We report a patient with cognitive symptoms that started immediately after COVID-19, in which cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were highly suggestive of Alzheimer's disease. Our case highlights the need to examine patients with cognitive symptoms following COVID-19 comprehensively.

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The concept of the brain has shifted to a complex system where different subnetworks support the human cognitive functions. Neurodegenerative diseases would affect the interactions among these subnetworks and, the evolution of impairment and the subnetworks involved would be unique for each neurodegenerative disease. In this study, we seek for structural connectivity traits associated with the family history of Alzheimer's disease, that is, early signs of subnetworks impairment due to Alzheimer's disease.

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Neurological manifestations associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as its pathogenesis are insufficiently explained. We present two cases of severe COVID-19 who required hospitalisation in the intensive care unit with persistently depressed mental status and severe leukoencephalopathy. We discuss the clinical and radiological findings and also propose the possible pathogenesis involved.

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Bilateral Adult Idiopathic Oclussion of Foramen of Monro is a rare entity, with less than 22 cases published in the literature so far, all of them symptomatic. When the symptoms require it, the current first-line treatment is endoscopic foraminoplasty, sometimes associated with septum pellucidum fenestration, although some authors consider that a more conservative treatment in paucisymptomatic patients. We report the case of an idiopathic biventricular hydrocephalus found incidentally in an asymptomatic 42-year-old female with temporomandibular joint disfunction.

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