Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a life-changing condition whose etiology is explained by several hypotheses. Recently, a new virus contributed to the evidence of viral involvement in AD: the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. AD was found to be one of the most common COVID-19 comorbidities, and it was found to increase mortality from this disease as well. Moreover, AD patients were observed to present with the distinct clinical features of COVID-19, with delirium being prevalent in this group. The SARS-CoV-2 virus enters host cells through the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. ACE2 is overexpressed in brains with AD, which thus increases the viral invasion. Furthermore, the inhibition of the ACE2 receptor by the SARS-CoV-2 virus may also decrease the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), contributing to neurodegeneration. The ApoE ε4 allele, which increases the risk of AD, was found to facilitate the SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells. Furthermore, the neuroinflammation and oxidative stress existing in AD patients enhance the inflammatory response associated with COVID-19. Moreover, pandemic and associated social distancing measures negatively affected the mental health, cognitive function, and neuro-psychiatric symptoms of AD patients. This review comprehensively covers the links between COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s disease, including clinical presentation, molecular mechanisms, and the effects of social distancing.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a population of cells that circulate in the blood looking for areas of endothelial or vascular injury in order to repair them. Endothelial dysfunction is an important component of disorders with neurovascular involvement. Thus, the subject of involvement of EPCs in such conditions has been gaining increasing scientific interest in recent years. Overall, decreased levels of EPCs are associated with worse disease outcome. Moreover, their functionalities appear to decline with severity of disease. These findings inspired the application of EPCs as therapeutic targets and agents. So far, EPCs appear safe and promising based on the results of pre-clinical studies conducted on their use in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and ischemic stroke. In the case of the latter, human clinical trials have recently started to be performed in this subject and provided optimistic results thus far. Whereas in the case of migraine, existing findings pave the way for testing EPCs in in vitro studies. This review aims to thoroughly summarize current knowledge on the role EPCs in four disorders with neurovascular involvement, which are Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral small vessel disease, ischemic stroke and migraine, with a particular focus on the potential practical use of these cells as a treatment remedy.

IntroductionLipid disorders are the most important risk factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). For clinical practice and assessment of patient`s cardiovascular risk the most relevant is to determine plasma concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C). Blue-collar workers are a group of patients with higher estimated cardiovascular risk than other workers groups.The aim of the studyThe aim of the study was to asses prevalence of lipid disorders in blue-collar workers from Lubelskie region.Material and methodsThe method of this paper was to perform a retrospective analysis of data provided by the National Health Fund. The study population enclosed patients aged 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 included in the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program held in Primary Healthcare (PH) setting on the area of Lubelskie region in years 2008-2018. Patients analyzed were blue-collar workers. The chi-square test was used to test the relationship between the two qualitative features and the Pearson linear correlation between the quantitative features. The analyzes were performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25 program (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). The significance level was assumed to be α = 0,05.ResultsIn 26 226 patients hyperlipidemia was observed in 65,6% and LDL cholesterol levels higher than 115 mg/dl in 52,8% of patients. The mean total cholesterol serum concentration was 203,8 mg/dl, LDL cholesterol - 120,1 mg/dl and median triglycerides concentration – 101,0 mg/dl.ConclusionsHyperlipidemia was a common problem in blue-collar workers in Lubelskie region in years 2008-2018. Intense prophylactic actions are needed to reduce cardiovascular risk of this group of population.