Mental stress represents a pivotal factor in cardiovascular diseases. The mechanism by which stress produces its deleterious effects is still under study but one of the most explored pathway is cell senescence. In this scenario, circulating microRNAs appear to be mobile regulatory elements of the telomerase activity and alternative splicing within the ”senectome” network. Anti-stress techniques seem to be able to slow-down aging process. As we have recently verified how the practice of Relaxation Response (RR), counteracting psychological stress, determines favorable changes of some inflammatory genes expression, of some neurotransmitters, hormones, cytokines and inflammatory circulating microRNAs, we aimed to verify a possible change even in serum levels of 4 senectome micro-RNAs (SE-miRNAs -20, -30, -410, -515), testing the activity of telomerase in peripheral blood mononuclear cells-PBMCs. We analyzed also alternative splicing microRNAs 134 and 183. According to our data, miRNA-20 and -30 levels and PBMCs-telomerase activity increase during the RR while -410 and -515 levels decrease. Moreover, during the RR sessions both miRNA-134 and -183 decrease. The mediators considered in this work seem to vary rapidly according to a (stress)-relaxation condition showing that psychic activity should be part of the study of aging factors.

Saliva is a promising matrix with several purposes. Our aim is to verify if salivary anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody determination is suitable for monitoring immune response. One-hundred eighty-seven subjects were enrolled at University-Hospital Padova: 105 females (56.1%) and 82 males (43.9%), 95 (50.8%) children and 92 (49.2%) adults. Subjects self-collected saliva using Salivette; nineteen subjects collected three different samples within the day. A serum sample was obtained for all individuals. The N/S anti-SARS-CoV-2 salivary IgG (sal-IgG) and serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD IgG (ser-IgG) were used for determining anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The mean (min-max) of age was 9.0 (1–18) for children and 42.5 (20–61) for adults. Of 187 samples, 63 were negative for sal-IgG (33.7%), while 7 were negative for ser-IgG (3.7%). Spearman’s correlation was 0.56 (p<0.001). Sal-IgG and ser-IgG levels were correlated with age, but not with gender, comorbidities, prolonged therapy, previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or time from last COVID-19 infection/vaccination. The repeatability ranged from 23.8% (7.4kAU/L) to 4.0% (3.77kAU/L). Linearity of the assay missed in 4/6 samples. No significant intra-subject differences were observed in sal-IgG across samples collected at different time points. Sal-IgG have a good agreement with ser-IgG. Non-invasive saliva collection represents an alternative method for antibody measurement, especially in children.

Background: The EFLM Task Force Preparation of Labs for Emergencies (TF-PLE) created a survey that has been distributed to its members for gathering information on the key hazards experienced by European medical laboratories during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The survey was distributed to over 12,000 potential contacts (laboratory workers) via an EFLM newsletter, with responses collected between May 8 and June 8, 2023. Results: Two hundred replies were collected and examined from European laboratories. 69.7% and 78.1% of all responders said they were short on non-COVID and COVID reagents, respectively. Exactly half of respondents (50.0%) said that they could not complete all laboratory tests required for a specific period, but this figure climbed to 61.2% for COVID tests. Finally, 72.3% of respondents expressed exhaustion during the pandemic, and 61.2% reported increasing patient hostility. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on laboratory medicine in Europe. Cultural change, proactive planning, and even re-engineering in some parts of the laboratory industry may thus be necessary to prepare for future challenges.