What’s the Buzz – September

by | Sep 23, 2016 | Fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, Research News

Buzz - January 2017

What's the Buzz

Buzz – September: 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:

 

Confirming a Potential ME/CFS Biomarker

by Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD  |  BHC Research Liaison

Metabolism is the chemical reactions in our bodies – molecules are broken down to generate energy and are assembled to produce compounds needed for life. The intermediates and products of metabolism are called metabolites.  Metabolomics is the approach used to profile the metabolites that result from these chemical reactions.  It is a powerful area of scientific study because it gives a snapshot of the current physiological state.

This month Robert and Jane Naviaux from The Mitochondrial and Metabolic Center at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and a team of scientists and clinicians published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describing distinct metabolic features in the blood of ME/CFS patients.  Overall their results showed that ME/CFS was in a low or hypometabolic state and that molecules including cholesterol, phospholipid and sphingolipid were all decreased.  They were able to use between 5-13 of the metabolites to distinguish ME/CFS patients from controls highlighting the potential use of these metabolites as diagnostic biomarkers.

You can access the full text to read this article by clicking here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27573827

Let the confirmation of these findings begin! Shortly after these exciting findings were published, our collaborators at the University of Alberta partnered with one of the top metabolomics experts in the world to confirm the findings of the PNAS paper.  They were able to hit the ground running because Mike Houghton’s team had samples from the Bateman Horne Center Research Ready Army already on hand. Houghton’s biomarker team, led by Dr. Amir Landi, is working to validate a panel of cytokine biomarkers for ME/CFS and was able to share a portion of the blood sample with the metabolomics group.  Importantly, these samples were collected and processed specifically for the detection of cytokines and metabolites. It is because of our Research Ready Army that BHC could help these top-notch scientists hit the ground running to validate these biomarkers.

We will keep you posted on their progress as this exciting work unfolds.

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Other News & Notices:

The Pace Trial was in the News Again… Bad Science Misled Millions with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Here’s How We Fought Back – “Under court order, the study’s authors for the first time released their raw data earlier this month. Patients and independent scientists collaborated to analyze it and posted their findings …The analysis shows that if you’re already getting standard medical care, your chances of being helped by the treatments are, at best, 10 percent. And your chances of recovery? Nearly nil.”  Read about it HERE

And HERE: No Recovery in PACE Trial, New Analysis Finds

And HERE: The Implosion of a Breakthrough Study on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

“Thanks to all who tirelessly and bravely fought for truth. Good science will prevail.” Dr. B

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A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health Problem” – A Review  – Chronic pain costs more than heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined yet gets a fraction of their funding. Judy Foreman knows well the cost of our medical systems dysfunctional approach to pain. In “A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health Problem”, Foreman spells out how she got better, and the causes of and possible solutions to the epidemic of chronic pain in America. Check out a review HERE

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#MillionsMissing ME/CFS Protest Demands – On September 27, 2016, at the #MillionsMissing demonstrations, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients and families, advocacy organizations and individual activists call for the US Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies  — especially the NIH and CDC — to implement a list of demands. Read them HERE

Learn more about participating in the #MillionsMissing Protests on September 27th HERE

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Currently featured articles at The CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help  |  Program website (www.cfidsselfhelp.org):

1) “Controlling Relapses: A Five-Fold Strategy”  How to minimize the effects of flares. Also, how to spot relapse triggers and warning signs.

2) “Learning to Manage Fibromyalgia”  Getting a diagnosis of FM after more than two decades of suffering triggered a process of change in Denise Le Clair that produced a greatly improved quality of life.

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Viruses and CFS: Statements by Ron Davis and Bob Naviaux  –  “Good science needs to remain open, ask the questions without bias, design good experiments, take careful measurements, then have the courage to follow the data wherever they may lead.”

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Gene differences found in severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patients – The study says impaired neurological and motor control are common symptoms associated with ME and suggest calcium (Ca2+) and kinase signaling dysregulation be further investigated in the central nervous system, given the high dependence on Ca2+ signaling for glial and neuronal cell functioning and their potential role in the pathomechanism of ME.

“Great ME/CFS science continues in Australia,” says Dr. Bateman

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome May be a Human Version of ‘Hibernation’ – An interesting study that validates the severe illness limitations of ME/CFS and may point us toward additional scientific inquiry to explain it. Read the Washington Post article about it HERE

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Seronegative RA and Fibromyalgia May Be Linked – Seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is strongly associated with fibromyalgia, according to a newly published study. Read more from Medscape Medical News on this HERE