MedPage Today’s Update on ME/CFS Research Plans MedPage Today reposted Shannon Firth’s earlier article on ME/CFS in their 2015 recap and also published an in-depth update by the author. The new article goes in-depth on Ron Davis’ plans for the Big Data study and also includes an interview with Jen Brea and information from the
Yesterday, journalist and public health expert Dr. David Tuller published on Virology Blog a list of 68 questions for the authors of the controversial PACE trial. The trial studied the effects of graded exercise and cognitive therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome. Dr. Tuller has, he said, been seeking answers from the PACE researchers for more
Help us build a powerful, participatory voice for change in Washington #MEAction is thrilled to announce that we are coming together with over twenty organizations, bloggers, and independent advocates to form a US Action Working Group. We aim to create a powerful, participatory voice for change in Congress, across our federal agencies, and in medicine. Read the
Basic research and drug trials under discussion at the NIH In October, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it was stepping up its commitment to ME/CFS and would be expanding its intramural and extramural research programs. Francis Collins, director of the NIH, told Science that his colleagues were “determined to move pretty fast on this.”
The NIH is changing how it decides to fund research. Will it benefit ME/CFS?
In a budget agreement announced early Wednesday morning, funding for the US Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) ME/CFS program was restored to the full $5.4 million. The omnibus budget bill is expected to pass both houses on Friday. CDC funding for ME/CFS had previously been cut to $0 in the proposed 2016 budget. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=””
Professor James Coyne’s request for the dataset used for a paper about the PACE trial in the journal PLOS ONE was rejected on Friday as “vexatious”. King’s College London (KCL), acting for the PACE authors, wrote to Professor Coyne that they considered that there was “a lack of value or serious purpose to [his] request”,
A new study has found that two human herpesviruses: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), previously only proven to infect B cells, can also infect neurons. For years there has been indirect evidence that gammaherpesviruses like EBV and KSHV could infect nervous tissue. For example, EBV viruses have been found in the cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue
Norwegian researchers say patients with ME have more severe symptoms than those with chronic fatigue syndrome, but better mental health.
[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I left medical school believing that ME was not a real disease and I would probably never see a case. I was wrong” [/pullquote] In this excellent piece in Monday’s Daily Telegraph, Dr. Charles Shepherd describes the history of ME’s neglect and says it’s time for doctors
