Annabelle Krause
5/4/21
AP Bio
Current Event 21
Sanders, Laura. “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” Science News, 26
Apr. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-brain-coronavirus-symptom-stroke-anxiety-depression.
In the article, “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How,” Sanders discusses what is colloquially known as long COVID, or the long term symptoms and effects of COVID-19. She begins with the short-term brain-related symptoms “the loss of smell … headaches, confusion, hallucinations and delirium … depression, anxiety and sleep problems.” This emphasizes that we know that COVID-19 impacts the brain. However, she further states that “Researchers are still trying to figure out how many people experience these psychiatric or neurological problems, who is most at risk, and how long such symptoms might last.” Very little is known at this point since COVID-19 is so new, and Elyse Singer, a neurologist at UCLA, notes that “It’s going to take us years to tease this apart.” There are studies going on currently in order to try and understand long COVID and its effect on the brain. One such study found that “one in three people had experienced a psychiatric or neurological diagnosis” based on the health records of “more than 236,000 COVID-19 survivors.” Although this is definitely noteworthy, the researchers have only proven correlation, not causation. Most of the diagnoses were for “depression and anxiety, ‘disorders that are extremely common in the general population already,’ points out Jonathan Rogers, a psychiatrist at University College London.” Beyond that, “About 1 in 50 people with COVID-19 had a stroke” and with those who reported other brain-related symptoms “1 in 11 had strokes.” Despite early worries, researchers are pretty sure that the virus does not directly affect the brain. However, it does affect the brain, possibly through blood vessels. Avindra Nath, a neurologist who studies central nervous system infections at the NIH, found small clots in blood vessels, thick and inflamed walls of vessels, and blood leaking from vessels into brain tissue. Nath concluded that all of these factors could have contributed to long COVID brain damage. A last possible reason for long COVID brain damage is inflammation. Emily Troyer, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, cautioned that “We … know that COVID causes inflammation, and inflammation has the potential to disrupt neurotransmission, particularly in the case of depression.” Overall, there are many possible justifications for long COVID brain damage, and it is unclear what exactly is the cause, or if long COVID is causing psychological damage.
This is extremely relevant to our lives. As time progresses, long COVID will become more and more prevalent. It is important to understand all of the risks of COVID, as well as understand the root of these risks. As doctors begin to decipher the causes of long COVID, they will be better equipped to treat it and help society move past COVID. As citizens, it is integral that we continue to be diligent to avoid long COVID and further spreading COVID. It is more than likely that we will continue to grapple with COVID and its effects for many years, so we must research and understand it.
The article was very clear and was not overly complicated. The author cited many different studies and scientists, which made her article much more convincing and gave her legitimacy. It was also helpful that she explained a rebuttal to each of her assertions at the end of each subsection. This made it clear how little is known about COVID and long COVID. However, I do believe that the author took on too many theories with one article. It would have been easier for me as a reader to fully digest the knowledge she was sharing if she had chosen one idea, such as inflammation causing long COVID, and only focused on it. That would have greatly improved my overall understanding and deepened my understanding of one area, which I believe would be more useful.
Olivia Cevasco
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology - C Even
4 May 2021
Current Event 21 - Comment on Annabelle Krause‘s Review
Sanders, Laura. “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” Science News, 26 Apr. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-brain-coronavirus-symptom-stroke-anxiety-depression.
Krause, Annabelle. "COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.", 2 May 2021, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/05/covid-19-can-affect-brain-new-clues.html.
Annabelle’s review of “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How” provides insight about how “long COVID” can affect the brain. In particular, she does a wonderful job prefacing her current event by providing a background about how COVID symptoms affect the brain. Annabelle wrote that ‘She begins with the short-term brain-related symptoms ‘the loss of smell … headaches, confusion, hallucinations and delirium … depression, anxiety and sleep problems.’ This emphasizes that we know that COVID-19 impacts the brain.” Having this explanation in the first few sentences of her review makes it clear that COVID-19 symptoms affect the brain and that it’s important for scientists to discover how. Annabelle also does a good job incorporating multiple perspectives on the theories about COVID’s effect on the brain in order to demonstrate how little is currently known. She described that “Most of the diagnoses were for depression and anxiety, ‘disorders that are extremely common in the general population already,’ points out Jonathan Rogers, a psychiatrist at University College London.” Explaining that correlation is not causation is extremely important for the reader to consider when analyzing data, and since Annabelle did this in her argument, it demonstrates that she really thought about her topic, which makes her argument more credible to the reader. Additionally, Annabelle does a splendid job analyzing the weaknesses of the article she reviewed in order to perhaps illustrate that some of the weaknesses in her review come from the main article. She noted that “However, I do believe that the author took on too many theories with one article.” Highlighting this makes the reader more receptive to the fact that there isn’t yet enough data to make clear scientific decisions about long COVID. At the moment, there is mostly speculation.
To improve Annabelle’s review, I would encourage her to clarify a point of confusion in her writing. She said that “Despite early worries, researchers are pretty sure that the virus does not directly affect the brain. However, it does affect the brain, possibly through blood vessels.” This is contradictory and weakens the argument and confuses the reader. To improve this, she could clarify whether the virus does or doesn’t affect the brain. Additionally, her review depends on scientific speculation and theory since “Very little is known at this point since COVID-19 is so new” but not really fact, so incorporating more factual evidence into her argument could make Annabelle’s review more credible to readers.
I chose to comment on this review because it’s relevant to everyone during this pandemic and it’s important to be aware of emerging scientific studies about COVID. I appreciated Annabelle’s review because my older sister is a “COVID long-hauler” with brain-related symptoms, so it’s comforting to know that scientists are interested in experimenting in this area and the review provides hope that people won’t have horrible symptoms like my sister. Going forward, this review will change my perception on long COVID since it provides more hope that the symptoms can be mitigated.
Kelly Baclija
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Bio
May 3, 2021
Krause, Annabelle. "COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.", 1 Jan. 1970, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/05/covid-19-can-affect-brain-new-clues.html.
Sanders, Laura. “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” Science News, 26
Apr. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-brain-coronavirus-symptom-stroke-anxiety-depression.
Annabelle’s review on “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” by Laura Sanders is interesting and well-written. She first introduces the topic clearly and directly, engaging the reader and attracting their attention-- “She begins with the short-term brain-related symptoms ‘the loss of smell… headaches, confusion, hallucinations and delirium… depression, anxiety and sleep problems.’” Next, she includes a study from an expert in the field, which increases her credibility to the audience; “Avindra Nath, a neurologist who studies central nervous system infections at the NIH, found small clots in blood vessels, thick and inflamed walls of vessels, and blood leaking from vessels into brain tissue”. Finally, she emphasizes a significant point in her overview of the article which encourages the reader to think deeper and develop a stronger understanding of the topic, “As time progresses, long COVID will become more and more prevalent. It is important to understand all of the risks of COVID, as well as understand the root of these risks. As doctors begin to decipher the causes of long COVID, they will be better equipped to treat it and help society move past COVID”.
Although Annabelle’s article is well written, there are a few areas of improvement. Firstly, she could further explain certain terms that the audience may not be familiar with, such as “‘one in three people had experienced a psychiatric or neurological diagnosis’ based on the health records…”--defining what sort of psychiatric or neurological diagnosis people had undergone would strengthen the reader’s understanding of the topic. Furthermore, she states in the review that “Although this is definitely noteworthy, the researchers have only proven correlation, not causation”. It could be helpful for the audience to explain the factors which may lead to this confusion and what research could help experts clear it up.
I chose this article to read because I was intrigued by the title and wanted to learn more about the long term effects of the pandemic we are living in. Ultimately, I learned that there are impacts of Covid that will influence society for years to come however it is still a new field of study. This will change my understanding and perception because I am now more aware of the significance of ‘long Covid’, something I was not familiar with prior.
Erin Foley
ReplyDeleteAP Bio C Block Odd
Current Event #21
May 3rd, 2021
Krause, Annabelle. "COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.", 1 Jan. 1970,
bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/05/covid-19-can-affect-brain-new-clues.html.
Sanders, Laura. “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” Science News, 26
Apr. 2021,
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-brain-coronavirus-symptom-stroke-anxiety-de
pression.
In her review, Annabelle both informs the audience on the issue at hand and connects to them via emotion-evoking descriptions. Annabelle begins the review with a concise summary of “long COVID”, giving the right amount of information so that the reader understands the topic, but is not drowned in medical jargon. She not only describes the problem by saying that “COVID-19 impacts the brain”, but also that these impacts can include “hallucinations and delirium … depression, [and] anxiety”. In this short introduction, Annabelle grabs the reader’s attention by bringing up a statement we know to be true and then building on it, making for an effective beginning to her summary. Moreover, her use of statistics enables greater understanding and visualization of the issue at hand. Annabelle explains that “one in three people had experienced a psychiatric or neurological diagnosis”, and verified the reliability of this statistic by mentioning the survey sample size of 236,000 patients. For readers who are unbeknownst to how common neurological effects of COVID are - such as myself - these statistics provide sufficient visualization tools for the reader, enabling greater understanding. Finally, Annabelle connects to the audience via her significance paragraph, in which she not only notes the importance of stopping the spread, but also the hope that comes from “doctors begin[inning] to decipher the causes of long COVID,” which will make them “better equipped to treaty it and help society move past COVID”. Annabelle’s summary and description of significance of this article show her in-depth understanding of the topic as well as her nuanced take on its relevance to society.
Although her review was very well written, she could improve it greatly with just a few adjustments. Firstly, by making it more clear what the general thesis of the article is (i.e., did the author assert that COVID does or does not cause psychological damage) in order for the reader to navigate the various theories/opinions in the first paragraph. The various theories described help the reader gain a more nuanced understanding of the topic, but if she mentioned which one was most commonly accepted or if any seem to be more promising than the others, the reader would come away with a more solid understanding of the article. Moreover, when Annabelle explains that the blood clots found in blood vessels can cause blood to leak from vessels into brain tissue, for many readers who are unfamiliar with medical issues, this may not effectively communicate how COVID indirectly impacts the brain. By including how bleeding blood vessels in the brain cause psychological impacts, this fact could be easier to understand and better demonstrate the biological concepts at hand. By being more specific in her descriptions and thesis, the takeaways of this review would come through even stronger.
I chose to read this review in an attempt to learn more about COVID’s long-term impacts, and was more than satisfied with the information provided to me. My impression is that COVID, even if symptoms are light during the time of sickness, can leave devastating impacts on the human brain, impacts that many people ignore the possibility of. I now further understand the cruciality of vaccinating the world and preventing stronger, more detrimental strains of COVID-19 from developing.
Willy Swenson
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Current Event 21 - Comment
Sanders, Laura. “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.” Science News, 26
Apr. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-brain-coronavirus-symptom-stroke-anxiety-depression.
Krause, Annabelle. “‘COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How.’” Blogspot.com, 5 May 2021, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/05/covid-19-can-affect-brain-new-clues.html#comment-form. Accessed 5 May 2021.
Annabelle’s review of “COVID-19 Can Affect the Brain. New Clues Hint at How” was a very complete one. One of the strengths of the review was the full summarization of the article. Annabelle’s complete summary kept the reader informed on the topic (COVID-19’s effect on the brain) she was writing about and was essential to understanding the review as a whole. Without her strong summary of the article, the reader would have trouble understanding Annabelle’s perspective on the topic at hand and making their own conclusions about it. As well as this, Annabelle did a great job intertwining her own opinions of the topic into the article. Using background information about Annabelle’s expertise in the subject, she is very well informed about the medical field of the virus, and as a result has great insight into the topic. Finally, another strength of the review was that Annabelle had a great tone during the review. It was professional, yet creative and well received.
Despite the many strengths of this review, there were areas of improvement for Annabelle in this review. While Annabelle’s summary of the article was on point, it is important to note that she did not include any quotations from the article. While I clearly understood her points, it is always important to include a fair amount of quotations/direct evidence from credible sources to anchor opinions in logic. This aspect of the review could easily be improved by adding 1-2 quotes in support of her claims or during his summary. While reading, I noticed that Annabelle was very broadly describing the mutations. After reading the original article for myself, it mentions more than what Annabelle had talked about. I think it is important to include all information in the review to give the reader the opportunity to make connections for themselves.
In total, the review was very comprehensive and I really enjoyed reading about Annabelle’s point of view on the topic. It was very interesting to read about the long term effects of the COVID virus, and more importantly, its effects on the human brain. With covid constantly adapting, we must stay on the cutting edge of technology and research in order to combat this virus and its detrimental effects on human health.