Article: Unstable At the Core? NCF Funds Cutting-Edge ME/CFS Gene Study

You can view the page at http://forums.phoenixrising.me/content.php?552-Unstable-At-the-Core-NCF-Funds-Cutting-Edge-ME-CFS-Gene-Study

 

This seems logical as it appears that many of the people who get ME are high-acheivers. They usually have done more or tried to do more than average, then get some into some situation that pushes their body/mind over the edge.

Thanks for the info.

 

Yes Cort - onto so much more understanding now - just have to pick our way through - what helps understanding ME.

 

interesting research - thanks for the article. Such new and groiundbreaking work. I remember reading something about heat shock proteins in a thread a while back that made sense and fit in with the mitochondrail dysfunction - ill try and find it.
Anyway this seems a reasonable theory to mre and would explain why they haven't been able to find 'the cause' so far.

 

Better than nothing but I am sick of all the B.S.

"A Discovery Channel project finding that five Gulf War Vets exhibited rates of chromosomal damage similar to those found in people with birth defects and cancer prompted the DOD to fund a $900,000 study. (Study results have not been published)."

The government will hide and twist facts as they see fit.

"The National CFIDS Foundation in collaboration with the Nancy Taylor Foundation is betting $133,000 that it does"

We get so little funding that they have to budget carefully. It's big news that we ever get $100K spent on us. In reality, that is peanuts.

 

yes, the funding situation is horrible - no doubt that about....That DOD grant just got approved in April - so that study is about to start. Yes, its peanuts but if the study proves out - it should lead to more...I think that's the hope of most studies - that they will slowly build the field...

 

Thanks for all the interesting & helpful info Cort.

One thing that worries me about the GWS study, is that I thought it was widely understood that some GWS patients never went to war, but still became ill... Some soldiers with GWS participated in all of the preparatory activities for war, and received vaccinations etc., but did not go abroad or go to war. I thought that was the current understanding about GWS anyway. I've definitely read about it somewhere.

In which case, I would have thought that it wouldn't be likely that Uranium was a factor.

 

Thanks for all the interesting & helpful info Cort.

One thing that worries me about the GWS study, is that I thought it was widely understood that some GWS patients never went to war, but still became ill... Some soldiers with GWS participated in all of the preparatory activities for war, and received vaccinations etc., but did not go abroad or go to war. I thought that was the current understanding about GWS anyway. I've definitely read about it somewhere.

In which case, I would have thought that it wouldn't be likely that Uranium was a factor.

The small Discovery channel 'study' - just five GWS patients - focused on people who had possible uranium exposure.

 

The story of ME CFS continues to unfold. Funding, social media and and a growing disease. I hope someday all the Doctors (who are typically over-whelmed)will turn on the CDC and demand help. Let's hope Joe Biden is still our Vice President at the end of this year, and not by a re-count either!(It's what I tell my Republican friends)

 

This is a fascinating line of research. I believe that CFS will in fact be found to have genomic instability as a possible effect of the disease process. But one thing puzzles me, and that is: How do some people with CFS get better? When I was undergoing treatment for cancer and received both chemotherapy and radiation, I got BETTER.

Presumably, both of these things would likely promote even MORE genomic instability, wouldn't they? Is it possible that chemo wipes out a whole batch of faulty cells and thus leaves more cells that tend to function more normally?

We know that some people improve, for example, with the methylation supplements. Is it possible that the real effect has less to do with raising levels of glutathione and more to do with silencing genes that have been "misplaced?"

Bottom line, this may be the undeniable evidence that we all crave, but what does it say in terms of treatment, if anything at all???

 

Another step in the right direction, no matter if the theory turns out to be right or wrong. Hopefully studies like this will bring other new researchers to our field.

 

Thanks Cort, very interesting studies and information. Also under Dr. Englander in NY another researcher Eric Shaudt Phd. is looking at genomic systems as well using cutting edge technologies to see the systems involved with our disease.

 

Thanks Cort for bringing this up and the clear description of this research.

"I remember reading something about heat shock proteins in a thread a while back that made sense and fit in with the mitochondrail dysfunction"

Is this the thread Justy?

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/show...xidative-Stress&highlight=heat+shock+proteins

On a quick re-read we were discussing epigenetic mechanisms rather than genome instability but a similar idea.


"In which case, I would have thought that it wouldn't be likely that Uranium was a factor"

Bob

This recent paper by the Gulf War researcher Beatrice Golomb implicates oxidative stress and mitochondrial injury as the core pathology in Gulf War Illness in response to a wide range of toxins/stressors including radiation. She also extends this model to other 'overlap' illnesses including CFS :

http://precedings.nature.com/documents/6847/version/1

 

Thanks Cort, very interesting studies and information. Also under Dr. Englander in NY another researcher Eric Shaudt Phd. is looking at genomic systems as well using cutting edge technologies to see the systems involved with our disease.

Thanks Gary, I hope to talk to him at some point....I'll certainly try.

 

Thanks Cort for bringing this up and the clear description of this research.

"I remember reading something about heat shock proteins in a thread a while back that made sense and fit in with the mitochondrail dysfunction"

Is this the thread Justy?

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/show...xidative-Stress&highlight=heat+shock+proteins

On a quick re-read we were discussing epigenetic mechanisms rather than genome instability but a similar idea.


"In which case, I would have thought that it wouldn't be likely that Uranium was a factor"

Bob

This recent paper by the Gulf War researcher Beatrice Golomb implicates oxidative stress and mitochondrial injury as the core pathology in Gulf War Illness in response to a wide range of toxins/stressors including radiation. She also extends this model to other 'overlap' illnesses including CFS :

http://precedings.nature.com/documents/6847/version/1

Thanks Marco, another paper I missed and from a researcher right where I used to live...Look forward to reading it.

 

Hi Marco - yes thats the one - i couldnt remember exactly what it had all been about until you jogged my memory. And also the GWI study which i thought was VERY interesting for us.
Wouldnt it be great to have all these studies laid out in a kind of chart with all the relationships in them analysed and the dots joined up. My poor brain cant possible manage that - it's like i can see it out of the corner of my eye but cant grasp it. If only someone could do this kind of analysis i'm sure much would come of it.

 

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/showthread.php?17526-Australia-Elevated-Levels-Of-Heavy-Metals-Detected-in-Pregnant-Women

High levels of Uranium & Cadmium have been detected in pregnant women on Australia's west coast. I have posted the full article in 'Other Health News.'

Wiki explains possible ways to be exposed to Uranium:

The amount of uranium in air is usually very small; however, people who work in factories that process phosphate fertilizers, live near government facilities that made or tested nuclear weapons, live or work near a modern battlefield where depleted uranium weapons have been used, or live or work near a coal-fired power plant, facilities that mine or process uranium ore, or enrich uranium for reactor fuel, may have increased exposure to uranium. Houses or structures that are over uranium deposits (either natural or man-made slag deposits) may have an increased incidence of exposure to radon gas.

 

Interesting reading, just wondered if anyone has looked at Over Training Syndrome (it has a new name now, but I can't remember what that is at the moment) anyway, I know for a fact, many years BC (before CFS Crisis) when I was fit, healthily and oh so active, I did over train once to the point where I suffered OTS for several weeks. That feeling I got then (which I did fully recover from) is exactly like how I feel now when I have over done it physically. You search OTS for athletes and again, they don't know what causes, main Treatment? ..rest. Sounds very very similar. Would be interesting if any research that has been done on this should also be put into the melting pot for relevant research for CFS

 

Hi there

I also wondered about overtraining syndrome since my onset was closely associated with a collapse while training.

I did some digging around recently and found the literature rather disappointing perhaps because overtraining syndrome appears to be treated as an acute problem with little discussion of longer terms impacts. I'm not aware if it can lead to a chronic condition or if it did what diagnosis would be given.

French researchers have reported though that a proportion of elite cyclists develop ME/CFS even many years after they ceased intensive training.

Also the Jammes 2011 paper, referenced above by Cort, reports the deficit in heat shock protein production is most marked in those reporting a viral onset of CFS and also those who had previously exercised intensively.

One finding though that did strike me in the overtraining literature related to blood viscosity. Normally exercise confers protection by thinning the blood but those with overtraining syndrome have hyperviscosity which is proposed as explaining the subjective feeling of heavy legs.

The Golomb paper I referenced reports that those suffering from Gulf War Illness have hypercoagulation. Hyperviscosity and hypercoagulation may not be synonymous (apparently hyperviscosity contributes to hypercoagulation which would make sense if overtraining syndrome patients were acute patients) but both appear to be intimately linked with peripheral arterial disease (as is c-reactive protein) and cerebral vascular disease.

ME/CFS findings include high levels of CRP, hypoperfusion and endothelial dysfunction and reduced blood flow to the muscles has been proposed as underlying muscular pain and fatigue.

Plus of course, back in 1999, Berg and colleagues linked CFS with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (aka Hughes syndrome), a hypercoagulable condition.

Berg D, Berg LH, Couvaras J, Harrison H. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) &/or Fibromyalgia (FM) as a variation of Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS): an explanatory model and approach to laboratory diagnosis. Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. October 1999;10(7):435-438

Fertile ground for comparisons I would have thought.

 

People handle stress differently mostly because of biological differences in brain structure and functions. Your amygdala controls your fight or flight response and is responsible for your response to stress. However, excess anxiety doesnt appear to be caused simply by a hyperactive amygdala. The amygdalaprefrontal cortex network is also affected by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is released under stress and modulates processing of aversive stimuli. Increasing dopamine signalling could be the answer to reducing anxiety in those who have become somehow, dopamine depleted.

PET scans have shown that people who have more dopamine storage capacity in their amygdala are less likely to suffer from anxiety and stress related conditions. So, you ability to handle stessors, which come in many forms (vaccines, toxins, exercise, alcohol, smoking etc), may come down to the inborn neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of your brain.

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v11/n12/full/nn.2222.html