Brain function characteristics of CFS

Posted on 05/17/2018 by wames

Research abstract:

Brain function characteristics of chronic fatigue syndrome: A task fMRI study, by
Zack Y Shan, Kevin Finegan, Sandeep Bhutab, Timothy Ireland, Donald R Staines, Sonya M.Marshall-Gradisnik, Leighton R.Barnden in NeuroImage: Clinical
Vol 19, 2018, Pages 279-286

Highlights

  • CFS patients recruit larger BOLD activation areas for the Stroop task.
  • BOLD signal complexities in CFS are lower in ten activated regions.
  • The BOLD signal complexity is correlated with the SF-36 health score across all subjects.
  • The BOLD signal complexity explains more than 40% of variance in the health score across all subjects.

Abstract

The mechanism underlying neurological dysfunction in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is yet to be established. This study investigated the temporal complexity of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) changes in response to the Stroop task in CFS patients.

43 CFS patients (47.4 ± 11.8 yrs) and 26 normal controls (NCs, 43.4 ± 13.9 yrs) were included in this study. Their mental component summary (MCS) and physical component summary (PCS) from the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire were recorded. Their Stroop colour-word task performance was measured by accuracy and response time (RT). The BOLD changes associated with the Stroop task were evaluated using a 2-level general linear model approach. The temporal complexity of the BOLD responses, a measure of information capacity and thus adaptability to a challenging environment, in each activated region was measured by sample entropy (SampEn).

The CFS patients showed significantly longer RTs than the NCs (P < 0.05) but no significant difference in accuracy. One sample t-tests for the two groups (Family wise error adjusted PFWE < 0.05) showed more BOLD activation regions in the CFS, although a two sample group comparison did not show significant difference. BOLD SampEns in ten regions were significantly lower (FDR-q < 0.05) in CFS patients. BOLD SampEns in 15 regions were significantly associated with PCS (FDR-q < 0.05) and in 9 regions were associated with MCS (FDR-q < 0.05) across all subjects. SampEn of the BOLD signal in the medioventral occipital cortex could explain 40% and 31% of the variance in the SF-36 PCS and MCS scores, and those in the precentral gyrus could explain an additional 16% and 7% across all subjects.

This is the first study to investigate BOLD signal SampEn in response to tasks in CFS. The results suggest the brain responds differently to a cognitive challenge in patients with CFS, with recruitment of wider regions to compensate for lower information capacity.

Graphical abstract

The sample entropy (a measure of amount of information encoded in a temporal signal) of BOLD response to Stroop tasks in seven areas are significantly lower in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and significantly correlated health scores across all subjects, suggesting that the brain operates differently in CFS patients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brain differences shown in chronic fatigue syndrome (Fukuda) study: comment by Sasha Nimmo

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Association of T & NK cell phenotype with the diagnosis of ME/CFS

Posted on 05/16/2018 by wames

Research abstract:

Association of T and NK cell phenotype with the diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), by Jose Luis Rivas, Teresa Palencia, Guerau Fernández, Milagros Garcia in Front. Immunol., 09 May 2018

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a pathological condition characterized by incapacitating fatigue and a combination of neurologic, immunologic, and endocrine symptoms.  At present its diagnosis is based exclusively on clinical criteria.

Several studies have described altered immunologic profiles; therefore, we proposed to further examine the more significant differences, particularly T and NK cell subpopulations that could be conditioned by viral infections, to discern their utility in improving the diagnosis and characterization of the patients.

The study included 76 patients that fulfilled the revised Canadian Consensus Criteria (CCC 2010) for ME/CFS and 73 healthy controls, matched for age and gender.

Immunophenotyping of different T cell and natural killer cell subpopulations in peripheral blood was determined by flow cytometry.

ME/CFS patients showed significantly lower values of T regulatory cells (CD4+CD25++(high)FOXP3+) and higher NKT-like cells (CD3+CD16+/−CD56+) than the healthy individuals. Regarding NK phenotypes, NKG2C was significantly lower and NKCD69 and NKCD56 bright were significantly higher in the patients group. A classification model was generated using the more relevant cell phenotype differences (NKG2C and T regulatory cells) that was able to classify the individuals as ME/CFS patients or healthy in a 70% of cases.

The observed differences in some of the subpopulations of T and NK cells between patients and healthy controls could define a distinct immunological profile that can help in the diagnostic process of ME/CFS patients, contribute to the recognition of the disease and to the search of more specific treatments. However, more studies are needed to corroborate these findings and to contribute to establish a consensus in diagnosis.

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Music 4 ME: an album of songs & poetry to raise money for ME education & research

Posted on 05/15/2018 by wames

Music 4 ME – raising funds for education & research

Music 4 M.E is an album of original songs and poetry composed and performed by people with M.E and their Carers or family about their experiences of living with M.E.

The ME illness seriously limits what sufferers can do but a group of talented artists with ME have come together to show the world that although they may be missing from their lives, they are not lost.

The aim is to raise funds for education and research into the devastating illness ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis).

The songs for this album have been recorded in their homes, in studios if they had enough energy, and even from their beds andrelease for sale on May 12th, International ME Awareness Day.

Preview on the Website.   Available for download for £10.

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#TimeForUnrestWales – funding from the Oakdale Trust

Posted on 05/15/2018 by wames

A big thank you to the Oakdale Trust

The Oakdale Trust has given WAMES a grant of £1,000 to help us represent people with ME as we campaign for recognition and better services.

This will enable us to continue travelling to meetings, distributing information etc. beyond 2018 ME Awareness week.                    #TimeForUnrestWales

Find out how you can contribute to campaigning in Wales.

 

 

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#TimeForUnrestWales – #StopIgnoringME campaign

Posted on 05/12/2018 by wames

MESiG’s #StopIgnoringME campaign aims to visually display symptoms that go ignored as a result of the invisible aspect of the illness e.g. dizziness, depression, insomnia, clumsiness, cognitive symptoms…

ME/CFS is under recognised and massively underfunded, and through the campaign #StopIgnoringME the goal is for people to do just that, to stop ignoring the 250,000 people suffering from ME in the UK.

MESiG invites you follow the campaign on their blog, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Let’s get people to #StopIgnoringME!

Introducing #StopIgnoringME

#TimeForUnrestWales

 

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International #MillionsMissing Visibility action in Geneva, May 12 2018

Posted on 05/12/2018 by wames

#MillionsMissing on May 12th

a day of global action that calls for health equality for everyone with ME

On Saturday 12 May, representatives from around the world will gather at Place des Nations in Geneva at 12pm, at the Broken Chair monument.

The Place des Nations in Geneva is the location of the United Nations and World Health Organisation.

Some of those who have not been able to attend in person have sent shoes.

Share the event on social media

 

 

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CFS treatment ‘should be withdrawn’

Posted on 05/11/2018 by wames

BBC newsbeat report, 8 May 2019: Chronic fatigue syndrome treatment ‘should be withdrawn’

A common treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome should be scrapped immediately, according to one of the UK’s leading experts in the illness.

Dr Charles Shepherd says graded exercise therapy (GET) can actually be harmful to some people.

He argues the idea of getting patients to do increasing amounts of exercise can lead to serious relapses.

The long-term illness affects around 250,000 people in the UK. It’s more common in women and the NHS says it tends to develop between your mid-20s and mid-40s. It can develop in your teens.

The effects can be totally devastating, leaving people bedbound for years. Despite its severity, the illness is still not well understood.

As well as fatigue, it can affect your brain and digestion as well as leading to extreme allergies.

Chronic fatigue: ‘Held hostage by ME’
Chronic fatigue trial results ‘not robust’, new study says

At the moment, the health watchdog NICE is updating its guidelines for treatment in England.

Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are all waiting to see what the recommendations are.

Other health experts disagree and say GET is both proven and a safe method of treatment.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME.

But they won’t be published until 2020 and Dr Shepherd – who’s the medical advisor to the ME Association – believes that’s too long to wait before GET is withdrawn.

GET is a treatment that encourages patients to do increasing amounts of physical activity day by day, month by month. The idea is to get the person used to being active again.

But Dr Shepherd argues it can actually do serious harm.

“Some people’s muscles are not capable of doing this type of exercise programme,” he tells Newsbeat.

“If they try and do too much physically, they make themselves more weak, more fatigued and can plunge themselves back into a relapse of all their symptoms.”

Those relapses can last for months.

In March this year, fresh questions were raised about the effectiveness of GET – after new analysis of the study that suggested it back in 2007.

Dr Shepherd says the problem with GET is that it’s too rigid and pushes patients too far.

“You can’t just exercise your way back to health.

“If graded exercise was a drug treatment doing this much harm, it would be withdrawn. But because it’s a physical activity intervention, it seems to have a different status with NICE.”

Read the full article

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BBC Newsbeat documentary: M.E. and me

Posted on 05/11/2018 by wames

BBC Newsbeat film: M.E. And Me

Presenter Emma Donohoe was diagnosed with M.E. when she was 19, an illness which many doctors don’t understand and people still talk about as “yuppy flu” – thinking sufferers are being lazy or too depressed to get out of bed.

Now at 24, Emma has been able to reduce some of her symptoms and wants to find out in a new BBC Newsbeat documentary if anything has improved since she first got sick and what life is like now for other young sufferers who are living with severe M.E.

An estimated 250,000 people in the UK are living with the illness, many bed bound and completely dependent on care. But change is coming as the way the illness is treated is being reviewed by NICE – the organisation which sets best medical practice. This follows consistent fears that the standard NHS treatments may be making people worse.

During the film, Emma meets sufferers and family members of those living with the debilitating condition such as young mum, Sophie, whose severe M.E. means her body is so sensitive she can only tolerate to be around her toddler for five minutes a day. She also meets Hannah whose condition means that when all of her symptoms flare, she can’t even drink water without vomiting.

And finally, Emma is left in tears after meeting the family of Merryn Crofts who lived with severe M.E. for six years and passed away in May 2017 just 10 days after her 21st birthday. Emma hears about the excruciating pain Merryn’s condition caused her, the struggle to find doctors who believed that her condition was physical and the shame she felt having an illness that is often doubted and widely misinterpreted.

In the film, Emma visits the latest research efforts to find new treatments and a better understanding of M.E.

Will she end with hope or despair?

Watch the documentary until 7 May 2019

See also: Chronic fatigue: I was ‘held hostage by ME’

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Patients with CFS do not score higher on the autism-spectrum quotient than healthy controls

Posted on 05/11/2018 by wames

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome do not score higher on the autism-spectrum quotient than healthy controls: Comparison with autism spectrum disorder, by Indre Bileviciute‐Ljungar, Daniel Maroti, Susanne Bejerot in Scandanavian Journal of Psychology 2018 May 8

 

Research abstract:

Clinically, there is an overlap of several symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including fatigue; brain “fog”; cognitive impairments; increased sensitivity to sound, light, and odour; increased pain and tenderness; and impaired emotional contact.

Adults with CFS (n = 59) or ASD (n = 50) and healthy controls (HC; n = 53) were assessed with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) in a cross-sectional study. Non-parametric analysis was used to compare AQ scores among the groups. Univariate analysis of variance (ANCOVA) was used to identify if age, sex, or diagnostic group influenced the differences in scores.

Patients with ASD scored significantly higher on the AQ than the CFS group and the HC group. No differences in AQ scores were found between the CFS and HC groups. AQ results were influenced by the diagnostic group but not by age or sex, according to ANCOVA.

Despite clinical observations of symptom overlap between ASD and CFS, adult patients with CFS report few autistic traits in the self-report instrument, the AQ. The choice of instrument to assess autistic traits may influence the results.

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ME Awareness week 7-13 May 2018 – campaign season!

Posted on 05/07/2018 by wames

ME Awareness week 7-13 May 2018 – campaign season!

 

International ME Awareness day

began in 1993. American Tom Hennessey chose the birthdate of Florence Nightingale, as she was stricken by an ME-type illness in her 30s and was often bed-ridden during the rest of her life.

blue ribbon photoBlue Ribbon for ME

Awareness raising got a focus in the UK in 1995 with the start of BRAME (Blue Ribbon Awareness for the awareness of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis).

The colour Blue continued to feature as once a year people died their hair blue, wore blue clothes or lit up public buildings with blue lights.

Letter writing & the media

In the early days  a small number of people were interviewed by the media for news features on May 12th and campaign organisers invited patients and carers to write letters to politician, health professionals and the media.

Social media

With the increasing popularity of social media many more people, including those who were housebound with ME were able to add blue ribbons, or twibbons to their social media pages. Thunderclaps became popular as a way for a single message to be mass-shared, flash mob-style. Some wrote blog posts (short for weblog) about their experiences of ME to be published on their own and other people’s blogs and Facebook pages.

Hashtag campaigns

No campaign takes place these days without a hashtag. A # is a strategy for linking posts and conversations on twitter on the same theme, wherever in the world they originate from.

Photo campaigns

As more and more people began to own mobile phones it became possible to join awareness raising campaigns by sharing photos of themselves and their friends e.g. Wear blue for ME

 

Millions missing

The biggest global campaign for ME to date encourages more people to get involved by inviting them to share photos, not of themselves, but of their shoes as a symbol of the Millions Missing out on normal lives through illness.

Combined with demonstrations, letter writing, petitions, etc. #MillionsMissing aims to raise the profile of the need for health equality.

Join an event near you on May 12th e.g. Cardiff, Bristol, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Liverpool

Cardiff event: Cardiff City Centre, in front of the central Library, top end of the Hayes between 12 and 4pm. This is situated next to John Lewis and St David’s Shopping Centre.

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