Orchid Advocacy

Val Corzine

Dr. Sanil Rege
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)

Medical Secrets -- Dr. Anthony Kaveh
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Working to Eliminate Homelessness & Criminal Justice Involvement of People with Cognitive Disabilities

Current Scientific Research
Legal Analysis, and
Authenticity & Lived Experience

PREVIEW

Multi-Factoral Disease & Disorders and Epstein-barr Virus

Predisposing and Precipitating Factors in Epstein-Barr Virus-Caused Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (2025)

Does Epstein-Barr virus and intracellular Toll-like receptors affect the course of Hashimoto disease? Findings from studies on newly-diagnosed patients (2025)

"Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation is increasingly recognized as a potential exacerbator of autoimmune diseases, including Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT)."

Epstein-Barr Virus BARF1 Is Expressed in Lung Cancer and Is Associated with Cancer Progression (2024)

Elevated Epstein-Barr Virus Antibody Level is Associated with Cognitive Decline in the Korean Elderly (2017)

Schizophrenia is Associated With an Aberrant Immune Response to Epstein-Barr Virus (2019)

Microglia as potential key regulators in viral-induced neuroinflammation (2024)

[What gets dysregulated in Maternal Immune Activation ---- MICROGLIA]

Study identifies how Epstein-Barr virus triggers multiple sclerosis

Epstein-Barr virus infection increases the risk of depression: A cross-sectional study and Mendelian randomization analysis (2025)

Shared interactions of six neurotropic viruses with 38 human proteins: a computational and literature-based exploration of viral interactions and hijacking of human proteins in neuropsychiatric disorders (2025)

New insights on the link between Epstein‑Barr virus infection and cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases (Review) (2024)

Awakening the sleeping giant: Epstein–Barr virus reactivation by biological agents (2024)

"Look ON the Bright Side of Life"

Monty Python
The Holy Grail -- Witch Scene (1975)

Probably one of the things Monty Python did better than anyone else ---

They took an irreverent historical sensibility
And combined it with completely wrong and differing ideas and pitted them against each other -----
- Whose right? Nobody's right.
There is the not so subtle implication that this also rings true in Modern Times.

For me, when I see debates about which flawed, scientifically invalid diagnostic category someone fits into ---

OMG --- how effing stupid are you people --- don't answer I think I know.

On the other hand, someone could say that about me, if they hyper-focused on my flaws.

It doesn't mean those challenges don't exist --- but there are Strengths, too.

RESEARCHERS vs. CLINICIANS

Researchers Around the World understand the URGENCY to get to the underlying biology of psychiatric disorders.
- By and large, Clinicians do not appreciate how shaky current diagnostic foundations actually are.
  - There are exceptions and some Clinicians have spoken out.

On the other hand, Clinicians are playing a major role in trying to hold this society together under often less than ideal circumstances.

Rules of Evidence & the Mess in Mental Health

Analysis of human neuronal cells carrying ASTN2 deletion associated with psychiatric disorders (2024)

*Japanese Researchers

Schizophrenia (SCZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and bipolar disorder (BP) are very common psychiatric disorders, with high lifetime prevalence rates of ~0.5% , 2.5%, and 1%, respectively.

They are characterized by their duration as chronic diseases, from childhood to the time of death. This results in a longer treatment period and extensive social and personal damage.

However, the biological pathogenesis of these psychiatric disorders is not well understood.

Their understanding is urgently needed to develop novel therapies that significantly improve the functional outcomes of patients.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, has established the diagnostic criteria for SCZ, ASD, and BP as independent and separate diseases.

In contrast, in clinical settings, the comorbid diagnoses are also allowed, and in some patients, drawing the diagnose line is difficult, suggesting that these psychiatric disorders partially share clinical symptoms and phenotypes.

[Val's Note: The University of Colorado was one of the first to say -- we need the ability to make these diagnoses less by "the book" (meaning the DSM 5).

Further, handing out multiple co-morbid diagnoses is not particularly helpful to the patient --- we need PRECISION MEDICINE that is tailored to the individual and the underlying biology.]

Indeed, studies reported that psychiatric disorders show common alterations, such as dysfunction in the white matter microstructure in the body of the corpus callosum and brain responses in the ventral striatum during reward anticipation.

Additionally, recent genetic studies have uncovered common risk genomic variants in these psychiatric disorders.

These findings imply that there are common underlying mechanisms in these psychiatric disorders, prompting us to examine the molecular and cellular alterations caused by the common risk variants across these psychiatric disorders.

Recently, we identified the variants in ASTN2 as a candidate risk factor for psychiatric disorders by whole-genome copy number variation (CNV) analysis.

Moreover, a study reported that deletions in ASTN2 that would disrupt almost all transcript isoforms . . . are significantly enriched in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ASD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disability.

In support of these results, ASTN2 is also listed in multiple databases, such as SFARI (https://gene.sfari.org/) and DBDGD (https://dbd.geisingeradmi.org/), which are centered on genes implicated in these psychiatric disorders.