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I think we need to keep in mind that these are people in whom no actual inflammation was found (as far as I can see) and the CRP, a good marker of macrophage-driven inflammation (monocyte is not the right term here), was normal. Also I don't see any big difference reported from controls? Just...

And I am a bit sceptical that someone would not notice that they are eating a kilogram of strawberry mush - as opposed to placebomush.

Maybe, but inflammatory markers are not known to be associated with OA as far as I know so maybe strawberries are just IL-6 blockers of no relation to joints. The slightly worrying thing is that CRP is driven by IL-6 so it is difficult to know why IL-6 should go down without CRP. CRP is...

One of the reasons why it took twenty years longer than it should have done to work out that autoantibodies really are important in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus is the deluge of poor quality reports on autoantibodies in the 1970s and 1980s. Some autoantibodies are important...

But there aren't any specifics. I have been reading abstracts of immunology papers for forty years. I am afraid this abstract gives the clear impression that it will be followed by muddled ideas and poor methodology. A significant piece of scientific work produces some specific findings that...

The Society of Occupational Medicine, as far as I am aware, is about as important as the North Croydon Taxidermy Society. I would have thought it an embarrassment to Wessely that anyone like that should offer him a free membership - presumably to curry some sort of favour or other.

Actually, I disagree. The BPS took over when they saw a way to market penny pinching for fatigue - selling it government and insurance companies alike. And that really came in the nineties. That sort of pseudo commercial psychiatry did not exist in the 70s and 80s. I would like to see some...

I am singularly unimpressed by that. The solution suggested is more managers. And yet the author complains about too many managers hanging managers. The author is clearly a manager. What they may not realise is that the NHS worked rather well in the 1970s-80s with virtually no managers at all...

Looks like waffle to me. It needs to be funded.

It might be much simpler, @AknaMontes !

Yes, but I don't think that impacts on my concerns at all. Most people can tell the difference between a typhoid jab and a dummy - which would be a sort of nocebo if anything I guess. The abstract does not say anything about PWME having higher inflammatory mediator responses as far as I can...

I don't think this tells us anything other than that if you are a patient with ME or fibromyalgia it is a worse experience being given typhoid vaccine - which would be unsurprising for all sorts of reasons. I suspect it would be worse for people with MS or motor neurone disease or lots of other...

Nope, sorry, it shows nothing. Almost certainly the investigators were hoping for this sort of result and in a retrospective review it is always possible to get the result you want - at least something that looks a bit like it. If supporters of PWME start using this sort of evidence then Sharpe...

Whether or not the treatment was real pacing the study is worthless so on a level playing field basis should be put in the trash can with the rest.

That is still unintelligible I am afraid.

Do patients have MS or #MECFS? Myelin Basic Protein (MBP) digest by catalytic antibiotics from ME and HC It appears that about 25% of patients have both This is unintelligible to me. it is a pity that we are not getting more useful information about the conference.

The main point of wearing masks was supposed to be to protect OTHER PEOPLE. So this study looks like a nonsense? Also, to be much use to oneself mask wearing almost certainly needs to be associated with vigilance that ensures regular hand washing etc. Otherwise the mask just transfers...

Come on, @Esther12, the great majority of people are in no position to work out whether what doctors say is valid. You need the sort of high level scientific critique we get on here to get near that - and you rarely even get that level at medical scientific meetings. Most doctors aren't bright...

I think the opening remark 'according to research..' gives away the fact that the speaker doesn't actually know what they are talking about - assuming they can talk to the even more ignorant.

But where does that take us? What would be the upshot of such an immune defect - further viral activity? As far as I am aware fibronectin is not a critical factor in binding of antibody and complement to viruses. As an immunologist I don't see any coherent story here. And I have yet to see any...