The 5% of the Population at High Risk for Severe COVID-19 Infection Is Identifiable and Needs to Be Taken Into Account When Reopening the Economy.

The goal of this column is to help mental health care professionals understand coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) so that they can better explain the complexities of the current crisis to their patients. The bottom-line of this column is that, while COVID-19 can infect virtually everyone in the human population, only about 5% are susceptible to severe infection requiring admission to an intensive care unit and/or causing a fatal outcome and this population can be identified on the basis of comorbid medical illness and/or age. These numbers are based on experience in China, the United States, and Europe.

Mental Health Care Providers Dealing With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): What Is the Definition of a Case, How Is That Changing, and What Kinds of Tests Are Available?

The goal of this column is to inform mental health care professionals about the evolving way the diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is being made, with emphasis on tests to assist in making the diagnosis and to determine the presence of antibodies to the virus. This column also provides some general information about the disease, its relative risks, and efforts to develop effective treatments. Links to credible websites that are being continuously updated are also provided for readers who want more information and to stay current with ongoing developments.

High false-positive rate of a putative biomarker test to aid in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Objective: The current study determined the ability of a 51-analyte immunoassay panel to discriminate between subjects with chronic schizophrenia and healthy control subjects in an American population.

Methods: Serum samples were collected from 25 subjects with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia and 50 healthy control subjects. Blinded samples were sent to the RulesBaseMedicine (RBM) laboratory, which analyzed the 51 biomarkers and converted the results into the VeriPsych score by the application of RBM-determined decision rules and returned these scores to the investigators.

Clinical pharmacology in the development of new antidepressants: the challenges.

Given the lack of fundamental knowledge about the causes and pathophysiology of depression, it is a challenge for Phase I in antidepressant development to efficiently and thoroughly test new drugs. Initiation of Phase I should always be preceded by a careful consideration of what is known about the target and the molecule. While some early indicators of efficacy, such as the Emotional Test Battery, EEG markers, and fMRI correlates of anhedonia are available, further work is needed for their full incorporation in Phase I.