Dear reader,
The 21st year of the 21st century will go down in history as the boundary that divided the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and post-pandemic world. It is the efforts of medical academic institutions and the dedicated medical professionals all around the world that have demonstrated a high readiness to overcome the modern challenges of the pandemic that has engulfed all the humanity. The world has received a new vector in the development of science to understand the strategy to combat the "plague" of the 21st century.  First, it is the creation of specific prevention of COVID-19 at a record pace: on January 10, 2020, the information on the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 virus (also known as 2019-nCoV) was received, and on December 11, 2020, vaccination against COVID-19 started among healthcare professionals in the United States.  Currently, more than 2 billion people worldwide have been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 [1].  No deaths have been reported in the UK for 25 days (as of June 3, 2021), nevertheless changes in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and the emergence of new virus strains continue, and reports from high-incidence regions such as India are still alarming.  The pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which as of today has infected more than 171 million and killed more than 3.5 million people globally, has been a major test for newer vaccines that differ from the previous ones. The organization and conduct of clinical research are becoming more important than ever. The article by Andriy Cherkas is dedicated to this topic [2]. Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson-Johnson vaccines developed and tested in clinical trials were made possible following the results of fundamental research by Katalin Kariko and Drew Weisman, which began almost 30 years ago [2] and ushered in the fifth era of vaccination [3, 4].

/pdf/opportunities-for-science-growth-amidst-the-covid-19-2tivmvx1or.pdf

Opportunities for Science Growth amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction. Health care professionals experience severe occupational and psycho-emotional stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, which put them at high risk of mental disorders. The aim of the study was to examine the mental health of healthcare workers who provided treatment and support to patients with COVID-19. Materials and methods. A set of standardized psycho-diagnostic scales to assess the symptoms of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), insomnia (ISI) and the impact of traumatic events on psycho-emotional state (IES-R) was used for an online survey of healthcare professionals from all regions of Ukraine during 04/04/2021 to 05/29/2021. A comparative study was conducted comparing two groups of specialists who provided (n = 441) or who did not support (n = 40) patients with COVID-19 on socio-demographic characteristics and indicators of psycho-diagnostic scales. Results. In total 500 staff were invited to take part in this survey. A signifi cant number of health workers in both groups experienced symptoms of mental disorders, indicating the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health. However, in the group of medical professionals who provided care to patients with COVID-19, there were more pronounced symptoms of depression (p = 0.010), anxiety (p = 0.010), sleep disturbances (p = 0.018) compared with the group of specialists who did not provide direct care to COVID-19 patients. Statistically signifi cant diff erences were also obtained on the IES-R scale: subscales “avoidance” (p = 0.048), “intrusion” (p = 0.021), “hyperarousal” (p = 0.035). Conclusions. Healthcare professionals who care forCOVID-19 patients have a signifi cantly increased risk of mental health problems and require particular attention and the development of special programs of psychological support and psychiatric care

Mental health of healthcare workers during covid-19 pandemic in ukraine

Introduction. Olfactory disorders are observed in infectious and non-infectious diseases, but caused a new wave of attention as one of the fi rst and often the only symptoms of COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic. Aim. To evaluate the prevalence, degree, duration of olfactory and taste disorders in patients with COVID-19, their relationship with the severity of the disease and the impact on the quality of life. Materials and methods. 699 patients after COVID-19 were interviewed using the electronic questionnaire, which was developed based on the available data and our observations about the most common symptoms in COVID-19 patients. The questionnaire consisted of 35 main questions on the topic of the study organized in 3 sections. Response forms were closed, semi-closed or open. Two questions on screening for mood disorders were taken from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Patients were asked to rate their sense of smell and taste on a 10-point visual analog scale (VAS). Results. In most cases, olfactory and taste impairment occurred immediately after the appearance of other symptoms reaching a peak on 3-5th days of illness and did not improve after clinical recovery. Patients experienced varying degrees of hypo-, par- and cacosmia, subsequently even changing their food and behavioral habits (such as reducing or quitting smoking). Conclusions. The recovery of smell and taste had a clear direct correlation. More than half of the patients needed an in-depth assessment of their mental health most likely due to the combination of factors, including the impairment of smell and taste.

The study of chemosensory dysfunction in patients after covid-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, the observed increase in mental health issues requires more and more clinical attention. Mental disorders have become a major cause for disturbances in social adjustment, primarily due to disorders that fall into three clusters: Prolonged fatigue (asthenia) with cognitive impairment;anxiety disorders with sleep disorders;and depression. The last two are also found in individuals who have not contracted SARSCoV- 2;they are seen as a result of their exposure to the stress of the pandemic. Therefore, to successfully manage the consequences of the pandemic, it is necessary to develop a cohesive clinical interpretation of mental disorders related to COVID-19 infection. Our proposed model would encompass all the above manifestations as follows: A) for the general population - by the triad of 'nosogenic reactions' with excessive (hyper-), normal (normo-) or ignoring (hyponosognostic) psychological responses to stress related to the semantics and individual signifi cance of the SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis (nosos);b) for long COVID - by the biopsychosocial model as a typical combination of neurotoxic asthenia with cognitive impairment (Bonhoeff er's neurobiological factor) that exacerbates 'nosogenic' anxiety and sleep disorders (psychological factor) and thus provokes a depressive response (as a social maladaptive factor). © Oleksandr Filts, Oleh Fitkalo, Oksana Lyzak, Oleh Berezyuk, Olha Myshakivska, Lyudmyla Samsonova, Alfred Pritz, 2021.

/pdf/toward-a-cohesive-clinical-interpretation-of-mental-1ya02v4y24.pdf

Toward a cohesive clinical interpretation of mental disorders in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An expert opinion

Modern views of schizophrenia that have evolved from E.Bleuler’s and K.Schneider’s concepts, along with continuous empirical explorations of the nature of the disorder (mental discordance (confusion mentale) by F. Chaslin, primary defi cit of mental activity and hypotonia of consciousness (J. Berze, 1914), alogical thought disorder (K. Kleist, 1934), etc.), as well as recent neurobiological and genetic research have found no answer to the question whether all disorders of the schizophrenia spectrum are manifestations of the same genetic and clinical condition. In this respect, one may consider that efforts to fi nd a clinical hypothesis capable of interpreting biological, epidemiological and psychopathological features of schizophrenia have not lost their perspective. The proposed hypothesis states that a discrete subpopulation of people possesses a unique genetically determined ‘transcendental’ mode of reality cognition, related to expanding human knowledge by questioning the obvious reality. Because cognition is a main factor of cultural development, and culture is an important factor of human evolution, carriers of the transcendental mode of cognition may turn out to be a necessary part of the general human population owning ‘evolutionary responsibility’ for the transcendental capacity to obtain innovative knowledge. Schizophrenia is regarded as a pathological disturbance in the transcendental mode of cognition in which a pathological interpretation of the obvious is formed. In schizophrenia, the interpretation of reality is based on arguments disregarding the existing obvious. From this viewpoint, clinical and genetic features of schizophrenia are interpreted. The fact that schizophrenia bears a certain biologically meaningful sense is supported by its biological constancy of morbidity, which remains unchanged in all cultures and social circumstances – about 1% of the population. One might also think that the part of general population consisting of individuals genetically endowed with unusual reason is constant as well. Three clinical and psychotherapeutic cases of various disorders of the schizophrenia spectrum are provided in support of the hypothesis.

/pdf/schizophrenia-as-a-disorder-of-the-obvious-a-clinical-45s5nnqv9g.pdf

Oksana Lyzak

Papers

Toward a cohesive clinical interpretation of mental disorders in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An expert opinion

Schizophrenia as a disorder of the obvious: a clinical hypothesis