{"id":12285,"date":"2017-03-23T08:52:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T08:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=12285"},"modified":"2017-03-23T09:57:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T09:57:27","slug":"cognitive-neuroscientists-use-electrical-imaging-to-search-for-cause-of-cfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/cognitive-neuroscientists-use-electrical-imaging-to-search-for-cause-of-cfs\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive neuroscientists use electrical imaging to search for cause of CFS"},"content":{"rendered":"

DePaul University<\/strong> press release, by Jordyn Holliday, 16 March 2017:\u00a0Cognitive neuroscientists use systems level approach to search for\u00a0cause of chronic fatigue syndrome<\/a><\/h3>\n

Using electrical neuroimaging<\/a>, a team of cognitive neuroscientists at\u00a0the Center for Community Research at DePaul University, is working to\u00a0determine the reasons for the brain problems commonly seen in chronic\u00a0fatigue syndrome. In order to gather data for their current study, the\u00a0research team assesses results from individual 30-minute\u00a0electroencephalograms (EEGs), a test that measures brain waves.<\/p>\n

\"\"This is an example of a deregulated network seen in people with chronic fatigue syndrome. Note that nearly all the connections are deregulated, producing a wide range of symptoms. (DePaul University\/Center for Community Research)<\/em><\/p>\n

CHICAGO – A team of researchers from the Center for Community Research\u00a0at DePaul University are on a mission to better understand why the brain\u00a0is less efficient in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a\u00a0disease that many patients refer to by its original name, myalgic\u00a0encephalomyelitis (ME). This illness is characterized by extreme muscle
\nexhaustion, cognitive deficits, as well as unrefreshing sleep. The\u00a0innovative systems level approach utilized by the research team may lead\u00a0to important answers about this disease, they note.<\/p>\n

Using electrical neuroimaging, research scientist Marcie Zinn, senior\u00a0research associate Mark Zinn and professor Leonard Jason, are working to\u00a0determine the reasons for the brain problems commonly seen in this\u00a0disease. Their research could potentially lead to improved diagnoses and\u00a0understanding of the disease, which has debilitated over 17 million\u00a0people worldwide.<\/p>\n

‘People become traumatized by a debilitating illness and then become\u00a0traumatized again by the reaction to them by people who don’t\u00a0understand,’<\/p>\n

said Jason, professor of psychology and director of the\u00a0Center for Community Research at DePaul. In addition to finding the\u00a0source of many chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms, their research focuses\u00a0on debunking the stigma surrounding the disease. ‘This research will\u00a0examine biological issues involved in this illness,’ Jason said.<\/p>\n

‘We know that different regions of the brain have to work together to\u00a0process information, and problems in those networks can produce many\u00a0symptoms in patients,’ said Marcie Zinn. ‘These brain problems in CFS\u00a0could be the result of bad and\/or slow connections,’ she noted.<\/p>\n

EEG versus functional MRI<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In order to gather data for their current study, the research team\u00a0analyzes responses from online surveys and assesses results from\u00a0individual 30-minute electroencephalograms (EEGs), a test that measures\u00a0brain waves.<\/p>\n

‘With the approach we use, we can see the brain at the\u00a0millisecond level, which is 1,000th of 1 second. That’s the timeframe\u00a0your brain works in. In contrast, there is about a 2 or 3 second delay\u00a0with the functional MRI,’ Marcie Zinn said.<\/p>\n

The researchers’ hope is that their work will help gain a better sense\u00a0of the possible causes of chronic fatigue syndrome. Physicians,\u00a0psychologists and other health care professionals then may be better\u00a0equipped to target treatments to help correct deficits.<\/p>\n

Mark Zinn also compared their quantitative EEG approach to social\u00a0networks.<\/p>\n

‘We’re studying interactions in the system of the brain,’ he\u00a0 said. ‘We are studying relationships between neurons,’ he explained,\u00a0adding that a major advantage of their approach is that they examine the\u00a0brain on a systems level. ‘Our focus is to link patients’ signs and\u00a0 symptoms to functional systems in the brain, which contrasts with\u00a0 traditional attempts to link patients’ symptoms to brain lesions and\u00a0other physiological abnormalities,’ Mark Zinn said.<\/p>\n

Their innovative\u00a0 systems level approach has been previously published in Applied
\nPsychophysiology and Biofeedback in 2016.<\/p>\n

Center for Community Research<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason said DePaul’s Center for Community Research has been researching\u00a0and addressing chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis\u00a0for 25 years. ‘We have had years of experience in this area, and the\u00a0nature of our work provides us at DePaul unique opportunities to better\u00a0understand its etiology and pathophysiology,’ he said.<\/p>\n

The results of this latest research may shed light on how brain function\u00a0relates to the symptoms confronted by patients. It involves studying\u00a0patients and controls.<\/p>\n

More info about the Centre<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DePaul University press release, by Jordyn Holliday, 16 March 2017:\u00a0Cognitive neuroscientists use systems level approach to search for\u00a0cause of chronic fatigue syndrome Using electrical neuroimaging, a team of cognitive neuroscientists at\u00a0the Center for Community Research at DePaul University, is working … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2415,3616,1026,2037,1004,1005,2241,3615],"class_list":["post-12285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-eeg","tag-electrical-neuroimaging","tag-fmri","tag-functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging","tag-marcie-zinn","tag-mark-zinn","tag-prof-leonard-jason","tag-st-paul-university-center-for-community-research"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-3c9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12285"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12340,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions\/12340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}