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Val Corzine

Better Science 
can lead to
Better policy & Better LAw

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


  • Current Scientific Research
  • Legal Analysis, and
  • Authenticity & Lived Experience

Liam O. Mahony
Nestle Nutrition Institute

The Gut Microbiome and its Role in Early Immune Development and Allergies

What is justice?

Neuro-Diversity --- A strong Sense of Justice and emotional dysregulation

Val's Take/Conjecture
​
Western Civilization has many profound things to say about Justice.

As a society, we're in a relatively long process to make the transition to a Public Health Approach to Criminal Justice.

This "Justice Sensitivity" is up and down the System --- and I would say the Emotional Dysregulation is as well.

I'm not a big believer that punishment is going to bring us to the Promised Land --- although I do believe in Safety.

Better Treatments and maybe Better Treatments that address Immune Pathologies could help everyone.
 Justice Sensitivity and Neurodivergence: Navigating Unique Moral Landscapes (2024)
​​The Fairness Imperative – ADHD and Justice Sensitivity
​Conventional and new immunotherapies for immune system dysregulation in postpartum mood disorders: comparisons to immune system dysregulations in bipolar disorder, major depression, and postpartum autoimmune thyroid disease (2024)
Emotion regulation and emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A meta-analysis of evaluation and intervention studies (2024)
Emotional dysregulation is part of ADHD. See how psychologists are helping
By understanding the science of ADHD and emotion dysregulation, psychologists can offer better support (2024)

PREVIEW:  Neuro-Diversity Wednesday

​"Hey, I'm not crazy --- I'm autistic"

Val's Take/Conjecture
  • One of my favorite Autistic Youtubers made the comment above.
  • Interestingly, he also asked --- Is this getting worse?
  • It is the Neuro-Developmental/Psychiatric Continuum
  • I think a lot of people who don't fit very neatly into DSM 5 categories and symptom clusters --- come to the attention of Mental Health or the Health Care System through some sort of CRISIS nobody expected.
One of things that is important to understand is that INFLAMMATION is really a UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.

So Maternal Immune Activation can come from a lot of things:
  • infection
  • auto-immune disease
  • obesity
  • trauma
  • chemical exposure
  • etc.
  • I think a lot of this is Maternal Inflammation In Utero.
  • BUT that SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION can set us up for very complicated inflammatory processes later in life --- so-called "SECOND HITS."

Predictive biomarkers and initial analysis of maternal immune alterations in postpartum preeclampsia reveal an immune-driven pathology (2024)
Maternal immune response during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes: A longitudinal approach (2024)

The united HealthCare Killing


  • ​A complicated societal backdrop, 
  • A Defendant that seems to have gone over the deep end after A back surgery, 
  • Affective Pain in Substance Use &
  • Medicare for All
​
Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky in his 2017 book "Behave--- the Biology of Our Best and Worst Selves" was really making an argument for the BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR.
In the US Criminal Justice System --- the analysis often runs something like this:
  • He intended it,
  • We can prove he intended it
  • Therefore, there is no biological explanation for this behavior and even if there was it is not recognized by Statute.
I don't know what the the status is of ​Luigi Mangione's back problems, but he seems to have undergone some behavior changes after his back surgery.

Again, I really don't know --- but I think those health problems are worth investigation.
Failed Back Surgery Syndrome and Mental Health (2022)
​Spinal pain can often re-occur even after surgery, leading to depression and other psychiatric comorbidities.
Much more common in Criminal Justice is the AFFECTIVE PAIN associated with Substance Use Issues.
I as many others are sick of our private health care system and do support Medicare for All --
  • But I don't think the cause of Healthcare is ultimately what this is about
  • It seems much more a tragic tale of a young man with health concerns who became murderously emotionally dysregulated.

Preview:  Neuro-Diversity Wednesday

Fatigue, Employment & Accommodations

Val's Take/Conjecture
  • I've talked about this before--- for most people mental health is about suicidality and psychosis.
    • and those are two serious aspects of mental health
  • One of the symptoms of both Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders is FATIGUE.
  • Fatigue is being referenced more and more and more --- THANK GOD.
  • With regard to all those homeless people lying around ---- they are just LAZY or need a little help getting back on their feet.
  • The reality for many is that they are dealing with DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATORY PROCESSES that may have wide ranging additional affects to psychiatric disorders and neuro-degenerative disorders in later life.
One of the issues for Neuro-Diverse Folks is "BURNOUT" and it often is coming BEFORE "BURNOUT" would come for the Neuro-Typical Person.

There are biological reasons for this that often involve DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION and DYSREGULATION that began in utero.

As Neuro-Diverse people what can make us just a little more irritating even as we're burning out more ---- " I have some special intelligence or talent that I need to be using."

​"Really . . . hmmm."
This is bringing into HIGH RELIEF what it is to be NEURO-DIVERSE and deal with idiosyncratic ENERGY ISSUES --- Dr. Christopher Palmer -- Brain Energy.
The Invisible Disability challenge is a CURSE in the lives of many people.

On the other hand, the challenge of Invisible Disability is to make it VISIBLE through BIOMARKERS.

There's a lot of science regarding the ENERGY ISSUES involved with Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders.

If we can deal with those issues authentically --- that is going to build sustainable employment relationships.
Maternal inflammation during pregnancy and offspring brain development: the role of mitochondria (2023)
"Maternal immune activation (MIA) can alter aspects of offspring mitochondrial structure and function including mitochondrial biogenesis/mitophagy, oxidative stress/ROS production, bioenergetic function, fission/fusion dynamics, and mtDNA quality."

PREVIEW:  Translational Justice Monday

INVISIBLE DISABILITIES & THE NEED FOR CENTERs OF EXCELLENCE IN DIAGNOSTICS & TREATMENT

Val's Take/Conjecture
  • ​In the Middle Ages, they may have thought that someone with a psychiatric disorder was possessed by a demon.
  • Further, the person themselves may have thought that​

We haven't thought that for awhile -- but Anti-Social Personality Disorder is a pretty close second.

  • The science is exploding  and we're not on top of that the way we need to be.
 
  • ​We need to be funding Centers of Excellence in teaching hospitals around the country that can keep up with the science.
​
  • Further, we need robust Professional and Public Education Campaigns that can address new or modified paradigms.
It's a Wonderful Life

I think this is a brilliant scene by Frank Capra --- and Capra turns our hero George Bailey into a Bully --- I think that was genius.

We do understand the fear and frustration --- even as "shaking Uncle Billy" isn't going to solve the problem..
Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. including the burning of the witch. --- 8:10
Additionally, many people in the Criminal Justice System have a "NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER" which is part of the Neuro-Developmental/Psychiatric Continuum.

There is no reason why we can't have HUMANE. THERAPEUTIC, CUSTODIAL CARE if needed.

Further, we're on the verge of biomarkers and treatments involving microglia and other aspects of the IMMUNE SYSTEM --- that were not on the radar screen 20 years ago.

Preview Translational Medicine Friday

Lead and Psychiatric Disorders

Val's Take/Conjecture
  • "Lead" in gasoline in the 20th Century is currently being identified as a "CAUSE" of poor mental health.
  • At least at one point, Lead was identified with the Fall of the Roman Empire.
    • ​I think most historians would identify a range of factors --- but "Lead" may come back in popularity as a factor with regard to the fall of ancient Rome.
  • To me when people say --- "Hey, I think this is a factor in mental health" ---- I think they are generally right.
  • To me, this is really about Developmental and After Acquired INFLAMMATION --- so it can be a lot of things and a lot of combinations of things.
There's realization in Medicine and Psychiatry for the need for INDIVIDUALIZED PRECISION MEDICINE.
20th Century Lead Exposure Damaged American Mental Health

Dec. 4, 2024​
IT IS NOT JUST LEAD

The exposome

The role of the exposome is to understand how the totality of an individual's exposures throughout the lifetime can impact human health.

Preview:  Olmstead Law & Order Thursday

"Mad Moms" poised to change the System

Val's Take
  • If ever there was a need for specialized organizing and advocacy --- I think it is needed for Adult Children with cognitive issues in mental hospitals and jails.​​
Colorado “Mad Moms” are fighting to stop the churn that traps their adult children in mental hospitals and jail

​December 2, 2024

preview:  Translational Justice Monday

JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF CHANGING SCIENCE

The blessings and challenges of "consensus"

Val's Take/Conjecture
  • A little over a decade ago. then National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel:
    • advised the DSM 5 "lacked validity"
    • mental health professionals often based their treatments more on "religion" than "science"
    • and Insel asked for ATONEMENT

  • I think for some of us it was clear Mental Health had some real problems.   For me, I saw that in the context of Criminal Justice and Homelessness.

  • At that time what I understood was on a logical and systemic level --- I would have been hard pressed to flesh out too many specifics.
Now ---- what's going on with Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders is much more clear, and there does seem to be a  CONSENSUS in the Research Community even if that is only beginning to get to the professionals on the ground.
As for a Political Consensus, I think most people are much more concerned with PLACEMENTS, TREATMENTS, and SAFETY.
Mental Health Professionals who may be on the fringes of Neuro-Diversity themselves ---- can provide the individualized assessment and treatment necessary.

Anti-Social Personality Disorder as a

​Neuro-Developmental Disability
Associations of the immune system in aggression traits and the role of microglia as mediators (2024)

Policy Challenges

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