John Mac
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New PET study planned in Japan
- Thread starter John Mac
- Start date
Link to the specific trial info:-
https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000033257
https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000033257
Jesse2233
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Dr Yasuyoshi Watanabe is great, the results of this should be interesting. I wonder if he's involved in the rumored Actemra trial
A.B.
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Awesome. Very nice to see them covering the brain inflammation angle with a proper study.
I hope more countries follow the example of US, Norway and now Japan. We need some serious investment. Chronic underfunding can't produce reliable results when the problem is complex.
I hope more countries follow the example of US, Norway and now Japan. We need some serious investment. Chronic underfunding can't produce reliable results when the problem is complex.
Cort
Phoenix Rising Founder
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I don't know how you found this but great catch! I've been wondering about this for quite some time. (very timely too. I was just writing a blog on neuroinflammation.) I'm glad that its starting but had hoped that it had already started.
Their last PET study was in 2014 - so it's taken them three years to get this going - that after a very positive study.
On the other hand, it's a nice big study! The last one had just 19 participants. This one has 120 - that's a great sample size and will tell us a lot.
Jarred Younger is doing his brain temperature neuroinflammation study and I heard that Andrew Lloyd is doing one down in Australia...
How nice it would be if we got three positive neuroinflammation studies over the next year or two.
A.B.
Senior Member
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I don't need a study to tell that my head is hotter than other parts of my body. I can just feel it. Maybe I'm just a hothead.
Cort
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Hopefully Younger's study will prove to everyone that our heads are a little hotter than normal (lol).
Cinders66
Senior Member
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It's amazing this study hadn't been replicated before. In uk PET scan research in schizophrenia has been going on with results immediately leading to a drug trial I think, of anti inflammatories? It was seen as important. https://www.nhs.uk/news/mental-health/could-anti-inflammatory-drugs-prevent-schizophrenia/
Given that this week is the CMRC conference I wish this type of research had Been seen as urgent and pushed for, over the establishment of a MEGA fatigue biobank. There's no point hypothesising about microglial activation (important possibly for cognitive dysfunction?) and not using the tools to study it.
I too had thought a study was underway in Japan already but I'm pleased this one is very big to get away from the small study, disregard the findings problem. Can you estimate when you think it will complete @Cort ?
Given that this week is the CMRC conference I wish this type of research had Been seen as urgent and pushed for, over the establishment of a MEGA fatigue biobank. There's no point hypothesising about microglial activation (important possibly for cognitive dysfunction?) and not using the tools to study it.
I too had thought a study was underway in Japan already but I'm pleased this one is very big to get away from the small study, disregard the findings problem. Can you estimate when you think it will complete @Cort ?
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I notice it seems to be just this one researcher from there, why he always focus on the brain ? is that his specialty area of expertise ? or do they subscribe to psycho-social model in japan ? its interesting how they have good resources, engineering and high tech output and the highest IQ in the world but produce less research than other countries http://i.imgur.com/g5sdKFr.jpg
渡辺さんなぜこの病気の治療のためにいつも脳を調べているか
この作戦はおそらく間違いと思います
渡辺さんなぜこの病気の治療のためにいつも脳を調べているか
この作戦はおそらく間違いと思います
Research 1st
Severe ME, POTS & MCAS.
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I would imagine he focuses on the brain as ME is a neurological illness affected by the immune system leading to, primarily, a profound dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
If there is evidence of neuroinflammation, it is possible neurology can then explain what parts of the brain this would effect, and of interest to us, if autoimmunity and pathogens could be involved. If we can start tracing back possible routes of brain dysfunction, we can then start having a better 'guess' of what might cause the issues.
The issues (why patients are so disabled), then not being 'fatigue' but issues of structural brain changes or biochemistry in the brain being abnormal.
This is why neurology is so important in ME, but to find anything abnormal, first we need to find people with ME who are signfiicantly disabled by it (rather than Chronic Fatigue) and next they have to be well enough to lie under a brain scanner for hours on end. Which is easier said than done unfortunately.
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It would be interesting if PET study closely studied brainstem functions. Many symptoms ME/CFS patients suffer from would suggest that the brainstem would be affected (sleep disorder, autonomic dysfunction, satiety, general alertness...etc). I wish a researcher would also study the gut nervous system. I am not sure PET scan would be the best modality to investigate the enteric nervous system but it may hold many clues to underlying pathophysiology.