Back to the Basics of SARS-CoV-2 Biochemistry: Microvascular Occlusive Glycan Bindings Govern Its Morbidities and Inform Therapeutic Responses.

Consistent with the biochemistry of coronaviruses as well established over decades, SARS-CoV-2 makes its initial attachment to host cells through the binding of its spike protein (SP) to sialylated glycans (containing the monosaccharide sialic acid) on the cell surface. The virus can then slide over and enter via ACE2. SARS-CoV-2 SP attaches particularly tightly to the trillions of red blood cells (RBCs), platelets and endothelial cells in the human body, each cell very densely coated with sialic acid surface molecules but having no ACE2 or minimal ACE2.

Gene-based COVID-19 vaccines: Australian perspectives in a corporate and global context.

Pandemic management requires societal coordination, global orchestration, respect for human rights and defence of ethical principles. Yet some approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by socioeconomic, corporate, and political interests, have undermined key pillars of ethical medical science. We explore significant mistakes that may have occurred in recent pandemic control, in order to better navigate the future.

'Spikeopathy': COVID-19 Spike Protein Is Pathogenic, from Both Virus and Vaccine mRNA.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused much illness, many deaths, and profound disruption to society. The production of 'safe and effective' vaccines was a key public health target. Sadly, unprecedented high rates of adverse events have overshadowed the benefits.

'Pediatric Bipolar Disorder' rates are still lower than claimed: a re-examination of eight epidemiological surveys used by an updated meta-analysis.

Background: 'Pediatric bipolar disorder' (PBD) is a controversial diagnosis with varying rates of clinical diagnosis. A highly cited meta-analysis (Van Meter et al. 2011) of a dozen epidemiological surveys suggested a global community prevalence of PBD of 1.

The geography of a controversial diagnosis: A bibliographic analysis of published academic perspectives on 'paediatric bipolar disorder'.

Background: The hypothesis that bipolar disorder presents before puberty with atypical mania has proved to be controversial. Published academic perspectives on the validity of Paediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) appear to vary between the United States and the rest of the world.

Methods: We examined the perspectives of articles citing four seminal articles.

Debate: Bipolar disorder: extremely rare before puberty and antipsychotics cause serious harms - a commentary on Van Meter et al. (2019).

'Paediatric bipolar disorder' (PBD) remains controversial; because it is based on the hypothesis that bipolar disorder (BD) often begins in childhood with atypical forms of mania. A meta-analysis of 12 epidemiological surveys found a high prevalence of PBD among children and adolescents worldwide (1.8%), however, our study of the measurement issues (Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 23, 2018, 14) found that PBD rates were lower than claimed.

The prevalence and treatment outcomes of antineuronal antibody-positive patients admitted with first episode of psychosis.

Background: Antineuronal antibodies are associated with psychosis, although their clinical significance in first episode of psychosis (FEP) is undetermined.

Aims: To examine all patients admitted for treatment of FEP for antineuronal antibodies and describe clinical presentations and treatment outcomes in those who were antibody positive.

Method: Individuals admitted for FEP to six mental health units in Queensland, Australia, were prospectively tested for serum antineuronal antibodies.

'Paediatric bipolar disorder' rates are lower than claimed - a reexamination of the epidemiological surveys used by a meta-analysis.

Background: 'Paediatric bipolar disorder' (PBD) is a controversial diagnosis where often prepubertal children as well as adolescents, who may have a range of psychiatric disorders or symptoms, are diagnosed with a severe mental illness requiring lifelong medication. Clinically, it has often been applied in the United States but rarely in most other countries. A meta-analysis (Van Meter et al.

Biologism in Psychiatry: A Young Man's Experience of Being Diagnosed with "Pediatric Bipolar Disorder".

Pediatric bipolar disorder is a diagnosis that arose in the mid 1990s in the USA and has mostly remained confined to that nation. In this article a young American man (under a pseudonym) describes his experience of having the diagnosis throughout his adolescent years. His story was conveyed via correspondence and a meeting with the author, an Australian child psychiatrist.

Psychotropic marketing practices and problems: implications for DSM-5.

The descriptive diagnostic model since DSM-III has often led to "cookbook" diagnosis and assumptions of "chemical imbalance" for psychiatric disorders. Pharmaceutical companies have exploited this in their marketing. This includes promoting self-diagnosis with online checklists.

Pediatric bipolar disorder in an era of "mindless psychiatry".

Objective: Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) reflects shifts in conceptualizing bipolar disorder among children and adolescents since the mid-1990s. Since then, PBD diagnoses, predominantly in the United States, have increased dramatically, and the diagnosis has attracted significant controversy. During the same period, psychiatric theory and practice has become increasingly biological.

Aripiprazole in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder: a critical review of the evidence and its dissemination into the scientific literature.

Background: Aripiprazole, a second-generation antipsychotic medication, has been increasingly used in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this indication in 2005.