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Imaging study may show brain changes in Gulf War illness

Ecoclimber

Senior Member
Messages
1,011
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51261109/ns/health-mens_health/

....It’s only a small study and it doesn’t show anything definitive. But veterans like Ward are eager to seize on anything that might explain their symptoms. “I am in pain every day. My muscles hurt all the time,” says Ward, who can’t work full time because of his pain and fatigue.

The team working in the lab of Dr. James Baraniuk at Georgetown University found what looks like damage in the white matter of the brains of Gulf War veterans suffering pain and fatigue. They used a kind of brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.

There has been similar studies in ME/CFS more specifically by Natelson who will be conducting another research project using brain scans.

http://www.research1st.com/2011/10/07/brainiacs/

Eco
 

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Ember

Senior Member
Messages
2,115
"Evidence of brain damage link to Gulf War illness may end up benefiting others"

By USA Today

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

http://triblive.com/usworld/nation/3699672-74/war-gulf-illness#axzz2O8uUvX8b
WASHINGTON — Researchers say they have found physical proof that Gulf War illness is caused by damage to the brain — and that proof may help civilians who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Using fMRI machines, the Georgetown University researchers were able to see anomalies in the bundle of nerve fibers that interpret pain signals in the brain in 31 Gulf War veterans. The research published on Wednesday in PLOS ONE journal. An fMRI, or “functional” MRI, is a scan that measures activity by detecting how blood flows through the brain.

The findings are “huge,” because an fMRI allows doctors to diagnose a person with Gulf War illness quickly, said James Baraniuk, senior author and professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. The research, he said, also shows that Gulf War illness is not psychological....
See also: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2013/03/military-gulf-war-study-032013/;
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ies-gulf-war-illness-to-brain-damage/1982817/
 

Ember

Senior Member
Messages
2,115
Increased Brain White Matter Axial Diffusivity Associated with Fatigue, Pain and Hyperalgesia in Gulf War Illness

Rakib U. Rayhan, Benson W. Stevens, Christian R. Timbol, Oluwatoyin Adewuyi, Brian Walitt, John W. VanMeter, James N. Baraniuk

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058493#pone.0058493-Barnden1
Abstract

Background

Gulf War exposures in 1990 and 1991 have caused 25% to 30% of deployed personnel to develop a syndrome of chronic fatigue, pain, hyperalgesia, cognitive and affective dysfunction.

Methods

Gulf War veterans (n = 31) and sedentary veteran and civilian controls (n = 20) completed fMRI scans for diffusion tensor imaging. A combination of dolorimetry, subjective reports of pain and fatigue were correlated to white matter diffusivity properties to identify tracts associated with symptom constructs.

Results

Gulf War Illness subjects had significantly correlated fatigue, pain, hyperalgesia, and increased axial diffusivity in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. ROC generated thresholds and subsequent binary regression analysis predicted CMI classification based upon axial diffusivity in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These correlates were absent for controls in dichotomous regression analysis.

Conclusion

The right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus may be a potential biomarker for Gulf War Illness. This tract links cortical regions involved in fatigue, pain, emotional and reward processing, and the right ventral attention network in cognition. The axonal neuropathological mechanism(s) explaining increased axial diffusivity may account for the most prominent symptoms of Gulf War Illness.

Open Access; Peer-Reviewed
 
Messages
15,786
From the intro in the study:
All of the veterans who met CMI criteria in this study also met CFS criteria, and 52% met FM criteria.
And from the methods section:
The subject pool was composed of 31 veterans who met CMI and CFS criteria, and 12 sedentary control veterans and civilians not meeting CMI or CFS criteria.
And they go on to refer to CFS about ten times in the paper, mostly repeating the above points.
 

Ember

Senior Member
Messages
2,115
The team working in the lab of Dr. James Baraniuk at Georgetown University found what looks like damage in the white matter of the brains...
Add damaged white matter to already reduced grey matter:(:

Gray Matter volume reduction in chronic fatigue syndrome

Floris P. De Lnage, Joke S. Kalkman, Gijs Bleijenberg, Peter Hagoort, Jos W.M van der Meer, and Ivan Toni
Received 28 September 2004; revised 11 January 2005; accepted 18 February 2005
Available online 7 April 2005
In conclusion, we found substantial and consistent reductions in GM volume in two independent cohorts of CFS patients. This GM reduction was associated to the decline in physical activity in the CFS patients. These findings suggest that the central nervous system plays a crucial role in the etiology of CFS. Furthermore, they provide a new objective and quantitative diagnostic marker of this disabling disorder.
 

Sing

Senior Member
Messages
1,782
Location
New England
Dr. Klimas said that the symptom picture for GWI and ME/CFS is identical but I believe she said that the causes and physiology are different. However, in my opinion, we could certainly benefit from this research and from finding the kind of brain scan and analysis that could be a diagnostic tool. I have long thought that ME/CFS is primarily neurological, whatever its cause--in the immune system, genetic background, etc. Dr. Byron Hyde has been promoting a certain kind of SPECT scan and analysis as a diagnostic tool for years, but this hasn't caught on yet. More research needed?

Another way we've been similar to the veterans is in how shamelessly we've been overlooked and sidelined to the psychiatrists, in how some money has been allocated to government agencies for research and care, but in how this has never made it down the chain to patient care.

Politically, I hope we do join forces with the veterans with GWI to push for accurate diagnoses to start with, and better care.
 
Messages
445
Location
Georgia
I wish Klimas would offer some logical reason why the "cause and physiology are different." They were soldiers (human beings) put through a hugely stressful process of being mobilized and put into a war situation in a hostile land. A fraction of them reacted the same way many of us would have reacted to an intensely emotional stressful situation. A harmful shift in the immune system. I'm not sure the good doctor isn't tied to GWI, frankly, out of personal affection for the patients she is seeing, and also as a continued source of research funding. Also, I'm not convinced that 25% of veterans are victims of GWI. That sounds very high.
 

Ember

Senior Member
Messages
2,115
Dr. Gordon Broderick comments (starting here at 19:30) on resting states and immune-endocrine modulation in GWI and CFS: “This is for males only...and what we see is that chronic fatigue syndrome, as a persistent state, is quite far removed from the ones that occur naturally. Gulf War Illness, much less so....” See particularly the discussion at 26:00 – 28:00.
 

sianrecovery

Senior Member
Messages
828
Location
Manchester UK
I can't comment on the science. But the toxicity issue is very real - as witnessed by the amount of Iraqi children now being born with serious birth defects due ordinance used during that conflict.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Great news (sadly) - can we hope the psychos go permanently back into their hutches now. But how late this research is - why. Ten years ago MRIs showed "high intense spots" on my brain. My Neuroloigist baffled. Though reduced to a standstill, what and where precisely needs answers.