Buzz – July: Each month we scour the Internet and bring you a list of news articles, blogs and research publications we think you’ll find interesting for our What’s the Buzz post.
Occasionally, we’ll highlight and summarize a few of them for you, like this one:
Could Difference in Gut Bacteria Help Explain ME/CFS Symptoms?
Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD
Irritable bowel symptoms are common (although not case-defining) in ME/CFS patients. Several studies have been conducted to understand whether the differences in gut bacteria could help explain these symptoms. A small trial conducted in Sweden showed that a certain probiotic relieved some ME/CFS symptoms. Over the past 10 years we’ve learned that the bacteria in our gut – called the microbiome – is important for health. These trillions of gut bacteria train our immune systems and are essential for metabolism. It is important that the gut bacteria have the right composition and diversity to help maintain health.
In a paper published by Giloteaux et al in the open access journal Microbiome, they compared the gut microbiome from 48 ME/CFS patients and 39 healthy controls. Similar to other microbiome studies they found that the composition of the gut bacteria was less diverse compared to healthy controls giving bacteria that can be bad and cause inflammation in the gut an advantage. This also corresponded with increased inflammatory markers in the blood of ME/CFS patients.
You can access the full text to read this article by clicking here: NCBI.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
There was also a story on this study published in MedLine Plus and it can be accessed here: Medlineplus.gov
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Other News & Notices:
Derya Unutmaz was interviewed concerning the $3.3 million Biomarker Study – of which BHC is a co-investigator.
Access the article HERE
Read our bog post about the grant HERE
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A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine published in PLOS ONE shows that symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, a complex and disabling multi-system disorder, can be provoked by imposing a mild to moderate strain to the muscles and nerves.
Read the UAB News Release HERE
Access the PLOS ONE article HERE
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ME Research UK article: Reduced cardiac volumes in chronic fatigue syndrome associate with plasma volume but not length of disease: a cohort study
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Fibromyalgia Study Points to Inflammation, Damage and Low Energy Production in Muscles – Read the Health Rising blog post about the study HERE
“The encouraging thing about this study was not that it found some proteins but that the proteins in the muscles of FM patients found fit so well with what we suspect about it.”
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Currently featured articles at The CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program website (www.cfidsselfhelp.org):
1) “Reducing Anxiety and Worry” Strategies to use when it feels like fear is in charge
2) “Acceptance, Discipline & Hope: A Story of Recovery from CFIDS” Dean Anderson’s account of how he used self-help in his successful eight-year struggle to recover from CFIDS
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the program has conducted hundreds of self-help classes since 1998. The program’s website contains information about our self-management courses, plus several hundred articles on topics such as coping strategies, pacing and support. In addition, there are many patient success stories and information for family and friends. Bruce Campbell, Ph.D., Founder, CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program, www.cfidsselfhelp.org
Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career - the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.