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Posts

April 14, 2013

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2:52 PM | Fatigue severity and serum leptin levels in chronic fatigue syndrome
In the very complicated world of medical research and science, the days of one chemical, one metabolite, or one gene driving and sustaining ill-health and particular diseases or conditions seem to be all but long past. Sure, there are conditions which on the surface seem to be driven by only one factor, but more often than not is the realisation that we humans are very complicated creatures indeed.Leptin @ Wikipedia  I was therefore interested to read the paper by Elizabeth Stringer and […]

Stringer, E., Baker, K., Carroll, I., Montoya, J., Chu, L., Maecker, H. & Younger, J. (2013). Daily cytokine fluctuations, driven by leptin, are associated with fatigue severity in chronic fatigue syndrome: evidence of inflammatory pathology, Journal of Translational Medicine, 11 (1) 93. DOI:

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March 25, 2013

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9:44 AM | The gut microbiome and chronic fatigue syndrome
I've hinted before on this blog and its sister blog about how one of the most unappealing of interventions - fecal bacteriotherapy - is starting to make some waves in managing various conditions. I know its not everyone's cup of tea but the concept of transplanting whole stools or specific types of enteric bacteria from one person to another is actually providing some well needed relief for quite a few people.Insert here.... @ Wikipedia  If it sounds like an undesirable treatment option, […]

Thomas Borody, Anna Nowak & Sarah Finlayson (2012). The GI microbiome and its role in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A summary of bacteriotherapy, Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, 31 (3) Other: Link

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February 21, 2013

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7:21 PM | Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and HERVs
Viruses. Apparently there are quite a lot of them on this old rock we call home and I've started to become quite interested in some of them, or at least how we as a species have, and continue to interact with them down the ages.I must start by thanking Natasa for bringing me into contact with the paper by Kenny De Meirleir and colleagues* (open-access) looking at human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) expression in a small cohort of patients diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). I'm […]

KENNY L. DE MEIRLEIR, SVETLANA F. KHAIBOULLINA, MARC FRÉMONT, JAN HULSTAERT, ALBERT A. RIZVANOV, ANDRÁS PALOTÁS & VINCENT C. LOMBARDI (2013). Plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the duodenum of individuals diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis are uniquely immunoreactive to antibodies to human endogenous retroviral proteins, In Vivo, 27 (2) 177-187. Other: Link

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November 28, 2012

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8:25 PM | Targeting mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS?
Consider this post a bit of a follow-up to a previous one based on some interesting observations by Booth and colleagues looking at mitochondrial dysfunction in cases of myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).Join the Stone Age dots? @ Wikipedia  Same authorship group but this time around presenting the results of an audit of patients who underwent examination based on the ATP profile (no endorsement given) and what they did about it published by Sarah […]

Myhill S,, Booth NE, & McLaren-Howard J (2013). Targeting mitochondrial dysfunction in the treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) – a clinical audit, International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Medicine, 6 (1) 1-15. Other: Link

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October 08, 2012

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2:02 PM | Vitamin D deficiency and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Vitamin D3 @ Wikipedia I have no hesitation in admitting to being more than a little bit "obsessive" about my data capture and the volumes of lovely, yummy science-y research alerts it produces. Indeed quite a bit of said research ends up as fodder for this and its sister blogs but most in the Twitter onslaught which my poor followers have to endure. Yes, I am probably addicted to information (but better this than other vices).One of my alerts is based on the various collected works […]

Berkovitz S, Ambler G, Jenkins M & Thurgood S (2009). Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels in chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective survey., International journal for vitamin and nutrition research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Vitamin- und Ernahrungsforschung. Journal international de vitaminologie et de nutrition, 79 (4) 250-4. PMID:

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September 18, 2012

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1:17 PM | XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome: the results are in...
Drummer boy @ WikipediaDrum roll please maestro.It's been on the horizon for quite a while. The speculation about what will be found, the teaser announcements pinpointing Tuesday 18th September 2012 as the big day, the excitement was building.And finally here it is.The big multi-centre study initiated by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases headed by the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health to […]

Harvey J. Alter, Judy A. Mikovits, William M. Switzer, Francis W. Ruscetti, Shyh-Ching Lo, Nancy Klimas, Anthony L. Komaroff, Jose G. Montoya, Lucinda Bateman, Susan Levine & Daniel Peterson (2012). A Multicenter Blinded Analysis Indicates No Association between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and either Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus or Polytropic Murine Leukemia Virus, mBio, Other: 10.1128/​mBio.00266-12

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August 21, 2012

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9:02 AM | Resurrecting XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
The letters X-M-R-V in relation to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) have had their fair share of controversy in recent years. For those who don't know about XMRV - xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus - there is ample discussion about this topic on the web or you can browse my past posts covering the story here and here. I'm sure that a feature film or TV mini-series will be made eventually about XMRV and CFS including the back-story of Dr Judy Mikovtis and the whole WPI saga. I'll […]

Paolucci S, Piralla A, Zanello C, Minoli L & Baldanti F (2012). Xenotropic and polytropic murine leukemia virus-related sequences are not detected in the majority of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome., The new microbiologica, 35 (3) 341-4. PMID:

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July 16, 2012

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10:50 AM | Mitochondrial dysfunction and ME/CFS
I continue my interest in research examining chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in this post looking at what might turn out to be quite an important paper by Booth and colleagues* (full-text) on a potential role for mitochondrial dysfunction.Where to start....Mitochondria (plural) are not to be confused with the midi-chlorians of a Galaxy far, far away. A few associated words: organelles, eukaryotic cell, the power plant of cells, cellular respiration (this link […]
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June 27, 2012

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9:04 AM | Metabolomics and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
There were lots of things I could have blogged about in this post. The recent EEG autism biomarkers study by Duffy and Als* (full-text) which seems to be generating lots and lots of interest, despite the fact that we've kinda been here before (see this post on the Dark Arts); the interesting case study reported by Sildorf and colleagues** on remission without insulin therapy following use of a gluten-free diet in a pediatric case of type-1 diabetes; or even the high prevalence of vitamin D […]
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May 15, 2012

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9:09 AM | Immune function in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Discussions on research pertaining to chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) have appeared now and again on this blog. Whether it be in connection to diagnosis, or prevalence, or the very contentious topic of XMRV, CFS/ME research seems never to be far away from controversy (remembering also the PACE trial and a retort from a colleague of mine, Prof. Malcolm Hooper). While headlines abound about the conditions (notice the use of the plural), one has to […]
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February 20, 2012

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10:41 AM | On gut parasites and chronic fatigue
An interesting exchange on Twitter prompted this short post regarding a paper by Naess and colleagues* (full-text) on Giardia lamblia gastroenteritis and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The tweets concerned another parasitic nasty called Toxomplasma gondii which has featured quite a bit on a sister blog with regards to its link to various behaviourally-defined conditions. I thought that T.gondii was a spine-tingling protozoa until someone posted about these other chaps and their [...]
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Clinical Research | Science Communication

January 09, 2012

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9:28 AM | 1% of UK school children with chronic fatigue?
I am ashamed to admit that 'wagging school' is something I did on more than one occasion as a teenager. It wasn't that I didn't like school or anything like that but some days I just couldn't face double maths or that sprightly cross country run over fields and mountains in the pouring rain that was PE. Don't get me wrong, I was no Ferris Bueller when it came to excuses and there was most certainly no 'Save Paul' campaign when I was absent from school. I might add that as a [supposedly] [...]
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December 15, 2011

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4:40 PM | The leaky gut and chronic fatigue syndrome
I've mentioned the TV programme called the Food Hospital before on this blog in a post not so long ago about Crohn's disease and the LOFFLEX diet. Having watched the episodes so far as well as the various social networking chatter about the series, my conclusion is that it is rather a brave programme to broadcast in terms of 'treating' various medical conditions simply with adjustments to diet. I will perhaps lay my stall out to you in that I am swayed by some of the arguments that food, [...]
Gutness Gracious Me
Clinical Research | Science Communication

October 14, 2011

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9:33 PM | At least two sides to every story
This is a blog predominantly about autism research but now and again I have been known to wander. One topic which I wander off into quite a bit is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) / Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)  as exemplified by posts like this and this. I wander into CFS/ME because, like autism, here is a spectrum of conditions asking more questions than answering them. One of the more 'heated' areas of questioning in CFS/ME has been around the various twists and turns of the XMRV [...]
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September 24, 2011

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10:45 AM | That's not a T-Rex its Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Have you ever played that game where, on a semi-sunny day, you lay on the grass eyes skywards and try and fit cloud shapes to objects or people? Y'know 'that cloud looks like a T-Rex dinosaur' or 'that cloud looks like my great Aunt Matilda walking the dog'. Your interpretation might often be shared with your compadres, but more often that not our individual perception and sensation makes others sit-up and question 'Eh?'Amongst the various descriptions, diagnoses and conditions discussed in [...]
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