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Yes, good question, it would be useful for people to have a handle on this. Immune cells / white blood cells in general derive from bone marrow stem cells that can decide to follow one of several maturation paths. They can become B lymphocytes or macrophages or even red cells. To follow a path...

This is the problem. It seems unlikely that other cells/systems can do that. The genetic material should not be changed. The effect should be epigenetic, but in general epigenetic changes involved in cell maturation and function do not survive transformation into immortalised lines.

High hydroxyproline levels would be an effect of collagen breakdown, not a cause. But in any case it makes no sense to relate collagen breakdown to ligamentous laxity. This is where people are simply not understanding the anatomy. Ligaments are like elasticated cords. The collagen provides the...

I believe that there is a rare syndrome reported in young children where pharyngitis appears to be followed by cervical instability problems. I know very little about it and I doubt anyone does much. Whether it is anything to do with viruses or not I do not know. The pharynx is very close to the...

I think the answer is that by and large virus infections do not cause structural damage to tissues, except sometimes epithelia like skin vesicles. I do not think there is evidence for viruses causing structural change to ligaments.

I appreciate your explanation is very helpful @Woolie but cognition is neural as far as I am concerned. I realise that I may be seen as a 'reductionist' biologist by some but in reality I am an anti-reductionist Leibnizian if one really wants to go in to metaphysics. (Like Leibniz and Descartes...

Don't be so sure. I am certain that LP will have been evaluated along with everything else for evidence and cost effectiveness by NICE. If it scores high enough it will be funded by NHS.

I am not sure that 'comorbid autoimmunity ' or mast cell activation makes much sense though! I agree with Dr v E that feeling bad is often part of the immune response - which is precisely why getting rid of immune cells, i.e. B cells, works when it does. I think he is assuming that immune...

Presumably Dr van Elszakker is not familiar with the reason why we use rituximab in autoimmunity. It is to remove clones making the autoantibodies that cause symptoms. If a subset of people with ME had hidden autoantibodies - and that was quite plausible - then rituximab makes as much sense as...

I have every reason to think this is the case. The suggestions of an association look to me highly unreliable. PEM involves a worsening of symptoms over a time frame that does not fit with simple exhaustion of energy supply at the time or even with the normal fatiguing that occurs after a...

A search of Ehlers Danlos and cervical (without compression) brings up the Brodbelt review and the Henderson review of Chiari cases. Nothing else of significance as far as I can see.

A PubMed search of EDS and brain stem returns no papers dealing with CCI.

I have done a PubMed search on Ehlers Danlos and cord compression. There are 5 papers in all. 1. Case report of cervical vertebral anomaly (not instability) in 16 yr old. 2. Case report of cervical vertebral anomaly (not instability) in 15 month old. 3. An Ontario Health Technology...

I might add that so far in all these discussions I have not yet seen an MRI image on someone with ME or EDS with actual brain stem or cord compression. Maybe such images exist but I have not seen them.

As I understand it BAI is basion-axis-interval. As far as I am aware the best way to measure this would be on plain x-rays of the sort we have had for fifty years - and specifically with a view taken with the head bent forward, which is when the BAI tends to increase. The BAI is a measurement...

So maybe there might be a clue in the everyday experience of PWME? Is it possible that PWME recognise that certain sorts of memory, e.g. from yesterday's events, stick around longer than expected? Might visual images hang around longer - anything like that?

Not sure how you can randomise if there aren't even any controls?!

This looks like bad methodology to me. A study like this needs to be done on a strict population based cohort with matched controls from the same population. It worries me that research groups are setting up projects in this way.

I think Marco was referring to the suggestion I had made in the post he quoted. We need an experimental neuropsychologist. Maybe @Woolie would know?

Can you quote anything specific?