Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0015674 (chronic fatigue syndrome)
 2,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the possibility that sensitization is a psychobiological mechanism underlying not only multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), but a much more general cluster of illness, referred to as "subjective health complaints". Sustained arousal, or sustained "stress" responses, may be an important factor for the development of these conditions. Patients with subjective complaints without objective changes are sometimes referred to as having "fashionable diagnoses" or "unexplained symptoms". They may be given diagnoses like MCS, epidemic fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, burnout, stress, a variety of intoxications, environmental illness, radiation, multiple chemical hypersensitivity, food intolerance, functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel, myalgic encephalitis, postviral syndrome, yuppie flu, fibromyalgia, or vital exhaustion. One issue is whether this is one general condition or separate entities. Another issue is whether sensitization may be the psychobiological mechanism for most or all of these conditions. Finally, is it likely that sustained arousal may facilitate the development of sensitization in some or many neural circuits? In this review, the main emphasis will be on musculoskeletal pain. This is the most frequent and most expensive condition for sickness compensation and disability. The comorbidity of other complaints, however, will also be taken into account.
 ...
PMID:Sensitization, subjective health complaints, and sustained arousal. 1200 15

The elevated RNase L enzyme activity observed in some Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients may be linked to the low exercise tolerance and functional impairment that typify this disease. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if specific indicators of physical performance can predict abnormal RNase L activity in CFS patients. Seventy-three CFS patients performed a graded exercise test to voluntary exhaustion. Forty-six patients had elevated RNase L levels. This measure was employed as the dependent variable in a discriminant function analysis, with peak V02, exercise duration and Karnofsky Performance Scores (KPS) serving as the independent variables. All three variables entered the single significant function (p < 0.001). The elevated RNase L group had a lower peak V02 and duration than the normal group, but a higher KPS. The results suggest that both exercise testing and the RNase L biomarker have potential to aid in the diagnosis of CFS.
 ...
PMID:Physical performance and prediction of 2-5A synthetase/RNase L antiviral pathway activity in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. 1207 68

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an illness that involves severe, prolonged exhaustion as well as neurologic, immunologic, and endocrine system pathology. Because the pathogenesis of CFS has yet to be determined, case definitions have relied on clinical observation in classifying signs and symptoms for diagnosis. The current investigation examined differences between CFS as defined by Fukuda and colleagues and a set of criteria that has been stipulated for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Dependent measures included psychiatric comorbidity, symptom frequency, symptom severity, and functional impairment. The ME and Fukuda et al. (1994) CFS criteria were compared with a group having chronic fatigue due to psychiatric reasons. Significant differences occurred primarily with neurologic, neuropsychiatric, fatigue/weakness, and rheumatological symptoms. These findings suggest that it might be inappropriate to synthesize results from studies of this illness that use different definitions to select study populations.
 ...
PMID:Variability in diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome may result in substantial differences in patterns of symptoms and disability. 1262 19

Considerable evidence points towards a prominent role for central nervous system (CNS) mechanisms in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a disorder characterized chiefly by persistent, often debilitating, fatigue. We wished to characterize circulating profiles of putative amino acid modulators of CNS 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotoninergic) and dopaminergic function in CFS patients at rest, as well as during symptom-limited exercise and subsequent recovery. Groups of 12 CFS patients and 11 age- and sex-matched sedentary controls, with similar physical activity histories, underwent ramp-incremental exercise to the limit of tolerance. Plasma amino acid concentrations, oxygen uptake and ratings of perceived exertion were measured at rest, and during exercise and recovery. Peak oxygen uptake was significantly lower in the CFS patients compared with controls. Rating of perceived exertion in the patients was higher at all time points measured, including at rest, relative to controls. Levels of free tryptophan (free Trp), the rate-limiting 5-HT precursor, were significantly higher in CFS patients at exhaustion and during recovery, whereas concentrations of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and large neutral amino acids (LNAA) were lower in CFS patients at exhaustion, and for LNAA also during recovery. Consequently, the [free Trp]/[BCAA] and [free Trp]/[LNAA] ratios were significantly higher in CFS patients, except at rest. On the other hand, levels of tyrosine, the rate-limiting dopaminergic precursor, were significantly lower at all time points in the CFS patients. The significant differences observed in a number of key putative CNS 5-HT and dopaminergic modulators, coupled with the exacerbated perception of effort, provide further evidence for a potentially significant role for CNS mechanisms in the pathogenesis of CFS.
 ...
PMID:Chronic fatigue syndrome: new evidence for a central fatigue disorder. 1270 66

The major goal of this study was to determine indictors of long-term disability for psychosomatic inpatients with chronic fatigue syndrome. To this end, a cross-sectional study was performed with a random sample of patients (n=1000, response rate: 83.9%) at a psychosomatic inpatient clinic. 51.1% of the patients (n=429) reported intensely persistent exhaustion that had no logical relation to actual exertion. 159 (37.1%) patients in this group were disabled from working and these comprised the main target group of this study. Significantly more patients in the target group worked part time, were disabled for a disproportionately long period of time (50.9% of all were disabled for more than 6 months in the previous year), and felt stressed because of conflicts with their superiors and/or colleagues (in each case, P<0.01). While more frequent psychological comorbidity was not found, they reported physical complaints more often. It was not the patients fit for work who felt more burdened with chronic fatigue, but rather the employment-disabled, who were actually exposed to fewer demands. These patients had, in comparison with those fit to work, a stronger fixation on somatic complaints, inadequate perception of physical and psychic sensations, difficulties getting along with other people and in coping with a regular job (in each case, P<0.01). Prospective examination of these indicators could help detect predictor variables for long-term disability in chronic fatigue. Such predictors could contribute to timely social-medical assessment and treatment.
 ...
PMID:Chronic fatigue and indicators of long-term employment disability in psychosomatic inpatients. 1508 93

The symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion, which are central to chronic fatigue syndrome and neurasthenia, can lay claim to being"psychopathological entities" in their own right. Although ubiquitous, they by no means reflect a homogeneous clinical picture. Chronic fatigue may occur after physical illness, such as viral infections, or be associated with a range of different psychiatric disorders. There is wide overlap with affective, anxiety, somatoform, and personality disorders, and this should be borne in mind when it comes to classifying these symptoms. To investigate the etiopathogenesis, multifactorial models are required. For treatment, adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy, possibly accompanied by an antidepressant, is effective.
 ...
PMID:[Chronic fatigue syndrome]. 1554 May 56

Hyperactivition of an unwanted cellular cascade by the immune-related protein RNase L has been linked to reduced exercise capacity in persons with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This investigation compares exercise capacities of CFS patients with deregulation of the RNase L pathway and CFS patients with normal regulation, while controlling for potentially confounding gender effects. Thirty-five male and seventy-one female CFS patients performed graded exercise tests to voluntary exhaustion. Measures of peak VO2, peak heart rate, body mass index, perceived exertion, and respiratory quotient were entered into a two-way factorial analysis with gender and immune status as independent variables. A significant multivariate main effect was found for immune status (p < 0.01), with no gender effect or interaction. Follow-up analyses identified VO2(peak) as contributing most to the difference. These results implicate abnormal immune activity in the pathology of exercise intolerance in CFS and are consistent with a channelopathy involving oxidative stress and nitric oxide-related toxicity.
 ...
PMID:Exercise capacity and immune function in male and female patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). 1579 2

Fatigue or piercing feeling of weakness, lack of strength and energy or total exhaustion is a common complaint of patients with neurological disorders. From 40 to over 90 per cent of individuals with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neuroboreliosis, post polio syndrome or stroke confirm its experience. It is not infrequently numbered among most disabling complaints. A separate entity, with fatigue as a cardinal sign, is a chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder, though controversial, more and more frequently diagnosed. Fatigue ought to be discriminated from fatigability, paresis, somnolence and, first of all depression which commonly coexists in chronic disorders. The assessment is almost entirely based on self-estimate scales filled in by a patient. Attainable results of neuroimaging, electrophysiological, polisomnographic, vegetative, psychological and biochemical surveys have not allowed yet to define the pathogenesis of fatigue. The treatment basis consists of behavioral therapy, psychotherapy and a proper treatment of the basic disease.
 ...
PMID:[The problem of fatigue in neurological disorders]. 1733 30

This study aimed at examining whether physiological exercise variables at the submaximal level, defined as 75% of the age-predicted target heart rate, are able to predict peak exercise performance in women with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) (n=222). Subjects performed a bicycle ergometric test against a graded increase in workload until exhaustion with continuous monitoring of electrocardiographic and ventilatory variables. Oxygen uptake at the submaximal level (VO2SUBMAX) correlated strongly with peak oxygen uptake (VO2PEAK) (r=0.70). For the prediction of VO2PEAK, linear regression analysis determined the line of best fit as: VO2PEAK=0.95xVO2SUBMAX+372.3. Using this equation, the mean error in the prediction was 14.6+/-11.2% (range 0.1-63.7%). It is concluded that the prediction of VO2PEAK based on VO2SUBMAX might be useful for analyzing group differences or treatment effects but not for individual (clinical) purposes.
 ...
PMID:Can submaximal exercise variables predict peak exercise performance in women with chronic fatigue syndrome? 1735 Apr 88

The etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS) is still unknown and under active discussion, but involvement of psychosocial factors appear to be essential for the onset and clinical course of CFS. As CFS patients complain of many stress-related physical and psychological symptom, it is important to understand the CFS from psychosomatic point of view. Not only for the pharmaceutical treatment, attentive consideration is required for treatment of exhaustion of body and mind of CFS patients. Use of anti-depressants or oriental herb medicine is often effective to relieve the anxiety and depressive condition. Furthermore to augment the self-healing potential, psychosomatic approach is important to modify the life style and behavioral characteristics.
 ...
PMID:[Considerations for the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome]. 1756 2


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>