Friday research roundup – abstracts from some recently published papers not already highlighted on the MEA website:
1 Antibody responses against xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus envelope in a murine model.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21494670
2 Shoenfeld's syndrome after pandemic influenza A/H1N1 vaccination.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21483283
Dr Charles Shepherd note: This syndrome should form part of the differential diagnosis of ME/CFS where patients also complain of arthritic/joint symptoms – especially following a vaccination.
3 Therapist effects in routine psychotherapy practice: an account from chronic fatigue syndrome.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21271461
4 Amisulpride vs. fluoxetine treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome: a pilot study.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21112746
5 Heterologous immunity: Immunopathology, autoimmunity and protection during viral infections
informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08916934.2011.523277
Dr Charles Shepherd note: Includes reference to how an inappropriate immune response can lead to a cascade of events leading to immunopathology in conditions such as MS, SLE, sarcoidosis and ME/CFS.
If anyone is interested, when monkeys have been artificially inoculated with human gammaretroviruses the virus rapidly clears from the blood and then moves into certain organs. It is here where you would expect to find more diversity. This is no different than with other mouse viruses.
But it should be taken into consideration that monkeys and mice are no substitute for what will occur in the human body. That will only be understood with further research. Scientists are already reporting that in very sick patients there is no immune response until those patients have been taking anti-retrovirals for a while.
Additional note re abstract 4:
Amisulpride is an atypical antipsychotic drug that is normally used to treat people with schizophrenia.
I suspect that we do not have any instances here in the UK where this drug has been used to treat ME/CFS.
If it has, I would be interested to know the outcome.
CS
The article on Scoenfelds syndrome is fascinating and I recommend that it be read.
There is another, more informative article on a link from this page at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/50896841110000788
The article discusses gulf war syndrome as a post-vacccination reaction to squaline, an adjuvant in the vaccines given to the soldiers.
Interesting to think there may be a link between Gulf War syndrome and ME.