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?
Yesterday four scientists, led by world-famous geneticist Professor Ronald Davis, added to the pressure for scientific transparency on the PACE trial by making a request for raw data under the Freedom of Information Act. Davis was accompanied in his request by biostatistician Professor Bruce Levin and immunologist Professor Vincent Racaniello, both of Columbia University, and Dr.
PLOS One today published a statement that its staff were evaluating Professor James Coyne’s request for data from a PACE trial paper published in the journal in 2012. Professor Coyne said on social media that the move “represents progress”. King’s College London had denied Professor Coyne’s request on behalf of the study authors and had
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
Researchers analysed 100 blood samples from the Solve ME/CFS Biobank of patients and results included finding 3 clusters. The cluster of Interleukin-16 (IL-16), IL-7 and VEGF-A was both significantly downregulated and tightly correlated with each other. IL-16 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine and the reduction shown may indicate immunodeficiency. IL-7 is indispensable for the creation and survival of immune cells (T cells, B cells, NK cells). VEGF-A: stimulates new blood vessel and muscle growth.
