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I don't think there is any serious debate here within the general research community. Dr Lerner came up with this strange theory years ago and when I looked at his explanation of the case he seemed to wander off into irrelevancies. Other than him I doubt you will find a virologist who takes this...

Yes, that was my thought. But how do we know whether they are reporting a real property of other people (being sniffy) or there sensitivity to sniffiness? And surely we would expect both to correlate with functional disability. To the extent that a p value is a bit silly. You do not sort your...

This seems to be a misuse of the word stigma: Dictionary: 'If something has a stigma attached to it, people think it is something to be ashamed of.' That is to say a stigma is a perception by onlookers of a class of condition or circumstance. Patients do not have stigmas or degrees of stigma...

You need to take advice from your physician. However, high antibody levels simply show a good level of antibody-based immunity to viruses. They do not in themselves indicate current infection or any need for treatment.

All I think may be achieved is that the range of opinions may be laid out.

As indicated previously, I wrote to Colin Blakemore to voice my concerns some time back. I then contacted the chair of the trustees, Paul Hardaker and have also copied in Lord Rees, who was on the panel with Blakemore and Tracey Brown, and Lord and Lady Taverne, who set up SAS. I have had...

I am afraid it is all much more complicated. The first problem with the cyclophosphamide trials is that they have to be unblinded because cyclophosphamide makes most people very nauseous. So responses may be placebo effects of one sort or another. The sad irony, as I have mentioned before, is...

Not really, that is a different process again. Lymph nodes are normally stuffed full of white blood cell (lymphocytes) as is the spleen,so 'inflammation' of a lymph node is a rather dubious term. Lymph nodes usually get large and tender when the lymphocytes inside become activated and start...

Maybe Shakespeare's Richard III and Steve Bannon/Michael Wolff's book give a clue. When a group of people are driven by a lust for power what tends to destroy them is each other. One of the things that puzzles me about the names that keep popping up in the media groups is that they have...

This is not the situaiton. The Biobank samples are collected and stored using the most reliable methods available to lab research, which are fine for most studies. Moreover, the Biobank people are in discussion with groups who have made careful analysis of suitability of these storage methods...

Interesting reading. Dr Fiona Godlee [2] “the quiet majority of patients must make sure that their reasonable voices are heard" And now they are being heard (By CDC, NICE, Nature, Buzzfeed readers) and they are not saying quite what Dr Godlee seemed to expect.

When prostaglandins and TNF affect the hypothalamus it alters its thermoregulatory cell activity and your temperature goes up because of autonomic signals to metabolising tissues. When cytokines reach the chemoreceptor trigger zone or nausea centre nerve cells send signals to other parts of the...

The deduction is a bit strongly worded but I tend to agree it is likely to be correct.

We don't know but I don't think it has anything to do with inflammation in flu. It is an effect on the brain of circulating factors that may include gamma interferon and prostaglandins. But the brain does not get inflamed as a result. Presumably prostaglandins are not that relevant in ME...

I think the editor is the highest up person that matters. Beyond that you have shareholders of faceless companies if anything. I would expect the editor, Fiona Godlee, to be well aware of what is going on.

He has also had a hundred and thirty seven relatives staying for Christmas and is bushed out. Give him a break chaps!! He will be back in good time.

Yes,I would be interested to see the video.

To be honest I think we are pretty sure that none of the inflammatory cytokines are sufficiently out of line in ME/CFS to explain anything much in relation to symptoms. The best one can say is that slight changes might be some indirect clue to something else. But in general no consistent...

The study Mady Hornig did with Ian Lipkin showed some very slight differences in one or two cytokines. I think IL-17 came up as raised. Bu the main finding was that for CFS as a whole there was little or no difference. There was a difference amongst the CFS patients according to how long they...

The theme for the conference is ‘Children First – Ethics, Morality and Advocacy in Childhood’ and there will be a selection of workshops and talks taking place throughout three days that will explore this crucial area. I wonder if they have any advocates billed to speak. Certain people seem to...