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Omar Khoja,1 Bárbara Silva-Passadouro,1 Elena Cristescu,2 Katie McEwan,3 Derek Doherty,4 Fiona O’Connell,5 Frederique Ponchel,1 Matthew Mulvey,6 Sarah Astill,7 Ai Lyn Tan,1,8 Manoj Sivan1,3,8 1Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; 2Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds, UK; 3COVID Rehabilitation Service, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Leeds, UK; 4School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; 5Department of Surgery, Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; 6Academic Unit of Palliative Care, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; 7School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; 8NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UKCorrespondence: Manoj Sivan, Clinical Professor and Honorary Consultant, Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, Floor D Martin Wing, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, LS1 3EX, UK, Tel +44 (0)113 3922564, Email M.Sivan@leeds.ac.ukPurpose: New-onset chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is one of the common persistent symptoms in Long COVID (LC). This study investigated its clinical characteristics, underlying mechanisms, and impact on function, psychological health, and quality of life.Patients and Methods: Thirty adults (19 female, 11 male) with LC and new-onset chronic MSK pain underwent clinical examination, Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST), and blood tests for inflammatory markers and completed the following outcome measures: Timed Up and Go test (TUG), handgrip strength test, COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRS), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form (IPAQ-sf), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and EuroQol Five Dimensions health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L).Results: New-onset chronic MSK pain was widespread and continuous in nature, and worse in the joints. When compared to normative values reported in the literature: a) QST revealed mechanical hyperalgesia, heightened temporal summation of pain, and hypoesthesia to vibration stimuli, which is strongly suggestive of central sensitization; b) Plasma cytokine assays indicated distinct pro-inflammatory profiles; c) TUG time indicated reduced balance and mobility; d) handgrip strength revealed general weakness; e) physical activity was lower; and f) there were moderate levels of depression and anxiety with lower self-efficacy scores and lower levels of pain catastrophizing. LC symptoms were of moderate severity (44.8/100), moderate functional disability (22.8/50) and severely compromised overall health (2.6/10) when compared to pre-COVID scores.Conclusion: New-onset chronic MSK pain in LC tends to be widespread, constant, and associated with weakness, reduced function, depression, anxiety, and reduced quality of life. There is associated central sensitization and proinflammatory state in the condition. Further research is essential to explore the longitudinal progression and natural evolution of the new-onset chronic MSK pain in LC.Keywords: post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID-19 condition, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, chronic widespread pain

Ashish Sarkar,1,2 Monu,1,2 Vijay Kumar,3 Rajesh Malhotra,3 Hemant Pandit,4 Elena Jones,4 Frederique Ponchel,4 Sagarika Biswas1 1Department of Integrative and Functional Biology, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110007, India; 2Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, 201002, India; 3All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 110029, India; 4Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKCorrespondence: Sagarika BiswasDepartment of Integrative and Functional Biology, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Near Jubilee Hall, Mall Road, New Delhi, 110007, IndiaTel +91 11-2766-2581Email sagarika.biswas@igib.res.inIntroduction: Circulating plasma proteins play an important role in various diseases, and analysis of the plasma proteome has led to the discovery of various disease biomarkers. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic joint disease, mostly affecting people of older age. OA typically starts as a focal disease (in a single compartment, typically treated with unicompartmental knee replacement), and then progresses to the other compartments (if not treated in time, typically treated with total knee replacement). For this, identification of differential proteins was carried out in plasma samples of OA cases and compared with healthy controls. The aim of this study was to identify circulatory differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in knee-OA patients undergoing total knee replacement or unicompartmental knee replacement compared to healthy controls and assess their role, in order to have better understanding of the etiology behind OA pathophysiology.Methods: DEPs were identified with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ), followed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Validation of DEPs was carried out using Western blot and ELISA. Posttranslational modifications were checked after running native gel using purified protein from patients, followed by detection of autoantibodies.Results: In total, 52 DEPs were identified, among which 45 were distinct DEPs. Haptoglobin (Hp) was identified as one of the most significantly upregulated proteins in OA (P=0.005) identified by both 2DE and iTRAQ. Decreased levels of Hp tetramers and increased levels of autoantibodies against Hpβ were observed in OA plasma.Conclusion: Our data suggest that poor clearance of free hemoglobin and low levels of Hp tetramers may be associated with OA pathogenesis and inflammation.Keywords: osteoarthritis, blood, haptoglobin, hemoglobin, biomarker, inflammation

350 nm-thick Perovskite PbZr0.54Ti0.46O3 (PZT) thin films were deposited on Al2O3 substrates by sputtering with and without an additional 10-nm-thick TiOx buffer layer. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that in presence of TiOx buffer layer, PZT film was highly oriented along the (111) direction film, whereas the unbuffered, counterpart was polycrystalline. A full wave electromagnetic analysis using a vector finite element method was performed to determine the tunability and the complex permittivity up to 67GHz. A comparison between the electromagnetic analysis and Cole-Cole relaxation model was proposed. Through an original study of the relaxation time as a function of the electric field, values, such as 2 ps and 0.6 ps, were estimated for EDC=0 kV/cm and 235 kV/cm, respectively, and in both cases (111)-PZT and polycrystalline-PZT. The distribution of relaxation times is found to be larger for (111)-PZT film, which is probably related to the film microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]