April 24, 2012
By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) — The brains of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome — an often misunderstood condition marked by unexplained, incapacitating exhaustion — don’t respond to rewards in the same way as the brains of healthy people do, a new study suggests.
Researchers performed functional MRI scans on the brains of 18 people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 41 healthy volunteers, finding that those with chronic fatigue experienced significantly less change in blood flow to the basal ganglia in response to winning a simple card game meant to stimulate feelings of reward.
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March 1, 2012
THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) — Teens with chronic fatigue syndrome, which can cause poor concentration and memory as well as joint and muscle pain, may benefit from an Internet-based treatment known as FITNET, a new study has found.
Researchers in the Netherlands studied teens with the debilitating condition and found that 63 percent reported that they felt better or had recovered after six months of the Web-based therapy, according to the report published online March 1 in The Lancet.
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September 22, 2011
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) — Researchers have shot another arrow through the credibility of claims that a virus likely causes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
This time, results from nine different labs around the United States failed to differentiate patients with CFS from healthy controls solely on the basis of whether they tested positive for xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV).
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May 31, 2011
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News) — A virus identified two years ago as a possible cause of chronic fatigue syndrome now turns out not to be the culprit, new research says.
Experts say it’s a major setback in the effort to understand and treat this mysterious and debilitating disease.
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May 12, 2011
THURSDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) — A new study shows that a retrovirus called XMRV is not present in the blood of people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a finding that contradicts previous research that linked XMRV to the condition.
University of Utah School of Medicine researchers analyzed blood samples from chronic fatigue syndrome patients and found no evidence of XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus).
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February 24, 2011
THURSDAY, Feb. 24 (HealthDay News) — An analysis of proteins in spinal fluid can help distinguish patients with Lyme disease from those with chronic fatigue syndrome, a new study reports.
It also appears that both diseases, which can cause similar symptoms, involve the central nervous system and that protein abnormalities in the central nervous system are causes and/or effects of both conditions, said the research team, which was led by Dr. Steven E. Schutzer, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey — New Jersey Medical School, and Richard D. Smith, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
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February 17, 2011
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) — Patients struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome may be helped the most when standard treatment is coupled with cognitive behavior therapy or exercise therapy, new British research suggests.
The apparent promise of cognitive behavior therapy and “graded exercise therapy” offers considerable hope to patients combating the complex condition characterized by profound tiredness, impaired concentration, diminished memory, sleep difficulties and muscle and joint pain, the study authors said.
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August 23, 2010
By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) — Another study has found evidence that a mouse virus may play a role in chronic fatigue syndrome, a poorly understood disorder that causes incapacitating exhaustion and malaise.
Using blood samples collected in the mid-1990s from chronic fatigue sufferers from the New England area, researchers found evidence of gene sequences for murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus in the blood of 32 of 37 patients, or 86.5 percent.
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April 2, 2010
THURSDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) — Four anti-HIV drugs inhibit a retrovirus recently linked to prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), say U.S. researchers.
If further investigation proves that the retrovirus xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) causes prostate cancer or CFS, these HIV drugs may be an effective treatment for the two conditions. Read More
February 12, 2010
FRIDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) — The Web is filled with products and practices that promise to “detoxify” the body through various means, from extreme diets to spa treatments to sweating.
Though some may be relatively harmless, the desire to detox was brought to a tragic conclusion last fall when three participants died and several were made seriously ill during a pricey sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona. Self-help guru James Arthur Ray was arrested Feb. 3 and charged with three counts of manslaughter in the deaths. Read More
