VIDEO: Assessing Neuroinflammatory Involvement in ME/CFS via MRI and PET.
Neuroinflammation and microglia activation are often implicated in ME/CFS, making it important to understand what happens in the central nervous system (CNS). Traditional methods of measuring activity in the CNS are invasive, often requiring a lumbar puncture to collect cerebrospinal fluid. Dr. Bergquist at the OMF Collaborative Center at Uppsala is conducting a study using novel MRI and PET imaging techniques to help understand what is happening in the CNS through non-invasive methods.
Dr. Armstrong and his team at OMF’s Melbourne ME/CFS Collaboration have designed a study to examine the link between these three observations in people with ME/CFS, Long COVID, and POTS. The study will use MRI and PET imaging, blood draws, and surveys to characterize neuroinflammation, cerebral blood flow, and hormone levels. The project is currently under ethics review and therefore in the “Study Design, IRB/Ethics Review” stage.
Bronc turns his attention to the U.S. with an interview with two ME/CFS experts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH): Dr. Avindra Nath and Vickie Whittemore. Nath asserted that the study “convincingly demonstrated the biological basis of the disease that cannot be explained by deconditioning and psychological factors” and identified several novel targets for modifying the course of the disease.”
The study fell short of the initial number of intended participants and was interrupted by the pandemic. The long-awaited publication of the results triggered widespread outrage and dismay among patients as well as many scientists and clinicians specializing in the field. I’m a journalist and a public health guy, not a biologist or physician or statistician, so I’ll leave the in-depth analyses of the granular data to others. For now, I have a few observations…
Dr. Nina Muirhead: ME Patient and Advocate in the UK
Dr. Nina Muirhead is a dermatology surgeon and founding member of Doctors for ME in the UK. Since developing ME in 2016 she has done a lot to promote awareness of the disease writing and speaking to various health bodies across the world including a presentation shown at the 71st World Health Assembly. She is Chair of the CFS/ME Research Collaborative (CMRC) Medical Education Working Group and a member of the Forward ME group of UK ME charities.
Reactivated Viruses Causing Chronic Fatigue and Long COVID
Dr. Amy Proal, a microbiology researcher at the PolyBio Research Foundation, has published numerous articles on chronic fatigue syndrome, also called myalgic encephalomyelitis, and is now applying her expertise to studying long haul COVID patients as well. Dr. Proal has focused on the reactivation of viruses as a possible explanation for these symptoms in both of these conditions.
New podcast with Dr. Shepherd talking with Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson of Maudsley Hospital
Following publication of the new NICE guideline on ME/CFS Dr Charles Shepherd was asked to record a learning podcast on ME/CFS for the Maudsley Hospital in London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London – where there is a clinical referral service for people with ME/CFS. In this hour long podcast, Dr Charles Shepherd and psychiatrist Dr Rebecca Wilkinson cover a wide range of subjects.
Timely Interview of John Chia by Amy Proal
Over the last two decades Dr. John Chia, an infectious disease specialist, has painstakingly built an evidence base for enteroviral causation in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). In a comprehensive interview done by Amy Proal PhD, cofounder of PolyBio, he discusses the circumstances that introduced him to enteroviruses, the historical outbreaks of ME as being potential outbreaks of an enteroviral pathogen and his own patients and experiments concerning the role of enteroviruses.
Read the interview HERE. Watch the video HERE.
Meet The Scientist: A Conversation With Professor Chris Ponting
Chris Ponting is Chair of Medical Bioinformatics at Edinburgh University and a Principal Investigator at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine. His research group has made substantial contributions to protein science, evolutionary biology, genetics and genomics. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals including Genome Research, Genome Biology, Human Molecular Genetics, Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics and Trends in Genetics. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and is Principal Investigator for the Decode ME study over the next 4 years. Professor Ponting took time out from his busy schedule to talk about the Decode ME study that seeks to understand the causes of ME. In turn, this should help with the discovery of effective treatments for ME which are so desperately needed.
Read the interview HERE.
Where Exactly Does ME/CFS Research Stand In 2021? Dr. Komaroff Explains
From the central nervous system to Long COVID to energy impairment, Dr. Anthony Komaroff provides his perspective on over 30 years of scientific research into myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and post-acute viral illnesses.
Read the interview HERE.
Science In The Age Of Dogma: A Conversation With Dr. William Weir
Dr. William Weir is a retired infectious disease consultant who worked at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He has long been involved in treating myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients and has been a consistent critic of the psychological approach to treating ME/CFS. From 1998 to 2002 Dr. Weir assisted the U.K. government’s CFS/ME Working Group, which produced a comprehensive advisory report for the U.K. Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.
Read the interview HERE.
Central Autonomic Network Disturbance in People with ME: A Conversation with Dr. Mark Zinn
Dr. Zinn’s ongoing research into the brain regions involved in the autonomic nervous system is an attempt to understand how brain dysregulation might underlie patient symptoms in people with neurocognitive diseases. He is the author of numerous research papers in the field of neurocognitive research. Along with his wife, Dr. Zinn pioneered the use of advanced electro-encephalography (EEG) techniques in the study of ME. EEG is a non-invasive, inexpensive technique to record electrical brain activity using electrodes placed on the patient’s scalp.
Read the interview HERE.
Interview with Dr. Natalie Eaton-Fitch: Repurposed Drugs and the treatment of ME
Dr. Eaton-Fitch is a Research Fellow at the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland. Her research interests include the pathophysiology of ME, Long Covid and natural killer cells. Dr. Fitch’s work is contributing to the development of a diagnostic test for ME and repurposing pharmacotherapeutics for the treatment of the illness.
Read the interview HERE.
Interview with ME researcher Jonas Bergquist
Jonas is a MD-PhD and since 2005 appointed chaired professor of analytical chemistry and neurochemistry at the Department of Chemistry – BMC, Uppsala University. He has a background from Clinical Neuroscience at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Gothenburg University (PhD and associate professor) and he moved to Uppsala in 1999. Since 2011 he is adjunct professor of Pathology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA, and since 2015 professor of Precision Medicine, Binzhou Med Univ, China. You can read more about Jonas here.
Read the interview HERE.
Immunosuppression In ME May Underlie Energy Deficits That Drive ME Symptomology
Dr Alaedini is an assistant professor at Columbia University and principal investigator at the Alaedini Lab. Its research is aimed at identifying ‘novel biomarkers, understanding disease mechanism, and finding therapeutic targets in gastrointestinal and neuropsychiatric disease.’ He is chair of ME/CFS Biospecimen Resource Access Committee at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and a member of the Neurobiology of Pain Study Section at NIH.
Read the interview HERE.
Lily Chu, MD, MSHS is the Vice President of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. She has a background in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, and health services research. Her career took a detour in 2006 when she became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Since then, she has investigated various aspects of ME/CFS, including its epidemiology and the unusual symptom of post-exertional malaise.
Eleanor Stein MD, FRCP(C) is a medical doctor and psychiatrist who recently retired from 35 years in practice, the past 23 of which were dedicated to helping people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, environmental sensitivities and chronic pain. She became interested in this area when she became ill in 1989. Since then, she has dedicated her career to offering integrative medical for these conditions.
Read the interview HERE.
Sleep Issues Amongst People With ME – A Conversation With Professor Dorothy Bruck
Emeritus Professor Bruck’s main area of research interest and expertise is sleep and sleep health. She has been thinking about, and working with, many aspects of sleep for about 40 years. Professor Bruck has had a long academic career at Victoria University in Melbourne, with particular expertise in sleep/wake behaviour, mental health, chronic fatigue syndrome, waking thresholds and human behaviour in emergencies. She has an international research reputation, with over 120 peer-reviewed full-length publications, $2.5 million in competitive grant income, dozens of invited international and national professional speaking engagements, and numerous awards
Read the interview HERE.