Gynecological history in chronic fatigue syndrome: a population-based case-control study.

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) affects disproportionately more women than men, and the condition is more common at perimenopause. We examined gynecological history events as risk factors for CFS.

Methods: In a case-control study from a randomly selected population sample from Wichita, Kansas, 36 women with CFS and 48 nonfatigued controls, of similar age, race, and body mass index (BMI), answered a structured gynecological history questionnaire.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with metabolic syndrome: results from a case-control study in Georgia.

We hypothesized that persons with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) would have a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared with well controls, and that unwell persons with insufficient symptoms or fatigue for CFS (termed ISF) would have a prevalence of metabolic syndrome intermediate between those with CFS and the controls. We also sought to examine the relationship between metabolic syndrome and measures of functional impairment, fatigue, and other symptoms. Our analysis was based on a population-based case-control study conducted in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas of Georgia, United States, between September 2004 and July 2005.

An evaluation of exclusionary medical/psychiatric conditions in the definition of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Background: The diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in research studies requires the exclusion of subjects with medical and psychiatric conditions that could confound the analysis and interpretation of results. This study compares illness parameters between individuals with CFS who have and those who do not have exclusionary conditions.

Methods: We used a population-based telephone survey of randomly selected individuals, followed by a clinical evaluation in the study metropolitan, urban, and rural counties of Georgia, USA.

Use of medications by people with chronic fatigue syndrome and healthy persons: a population-based study of fatiguing illness in Georgia.

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating condition of unknown etiology and no definitive pharmacotherapy. Patients are usually prescribed symptomatic treatment or self-medicate. We evaluated prescription and non-prescription drug use among persons with CFS in Georgia and compared it to that in non-fatigued Well controls and also to chronically Unwell individuals not fully meeting criteria for CFS.

Psychiatric comorbidity in persons with chronic fatigue syndrome identified from the Georgia population.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in persons with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) identified from the general population and a chronically ill group of people presenting with subsyndromic CFS-like illness ("insufficient symptoms or fatigue" (ISF)). Previous studies in CFS patients from primary and tertiary care clinics have found high rates of psychiatric disturbance, but this may reflect referral bias rather than true patterns of comorbidity with CFS.

Methods: We used random digit dialing to identify unwell individuals.

Clinical and virological characterization of persistent human infection with simian foamy viruses.

Persons occupationally exposed to nonhuman primates (NHPs) can be persistently infected with simian foamy virus (SFV). The clinical significance and person-to-person transmissibility of zoonotic SFV infection is unclear. Seven SFV-infected men responded to annual structured interviews and provided whole blood, oral, and urogenital specimens for study.

Attenuated morning salivary cortisol concentrations in a population-based study of persons with chronic fatigue syndrome and well controls.

Context: A substantial body of research on the pathophysiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has focused on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. The cortisol awakening response has received particular attention as a marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation.

Objective: The objective of the current study was to evaluate morning salivary cortisol profiles in persons with CFS and well controls identified from the general population.

Higher heart rate and reduced heart rate variability persist during sleep in chronic fatigue syndrome: a population-based study.

Unlabelled: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction has been suggested in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In this study, we sought to determine whether increased heart rate (HR) and reduced heart rate variability (HRV) parameters observed in CFS patients during wakefulness persist during sleep. To this end, we compared heart rate (HR) and HRV as indicators of ANS function in CFS subjects and non-fatigued (NF) controls in a population-based, case-control study.

Prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in metropolitan, urban, and rural Georgia.

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating illness with no known cause or effective therapy. Population-based epidemiologic data on CFS prevalence are critical to put CFS in a realistic context for public health officials and others responsible for allocating resources.

Methods: Based on a random-digit dialing survey we ascertained CFS cases and controls to estimate the prevalence of CFS in metropolitan, urban, and rural populations of Georgia.

Complementary and alternative medical therapy utilization by people with chronic fatiguing illnesses in the United States.

Background: Chronic fatiguing illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Previous clinical reports addressed the utilization of health care provided to patients with CFS by a variety of practitioners with other than allopathic training, but did not examine the spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies used. This study was designed to measure CAM therapy use by persons with fatiguing illnesses in the United States population.

Infectious etiologies of childhood leukemia: plausibility and challenges to proof.

Infections as well as environmental exposures are proposed determinants of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), particularly common precursor B-cell ALL (cALL). Lines of investigation test hypotheses that cALL is a rarer result of common infection, that it results from uncommon infection, or that it ensues from abnormal immune development; perhaps it requires a preceding prenatal or early childhood insult. Ideally, studies should document that particular infections precede leukemiA and induce malignant transformation.

Characterization of blood-borne transmission of simian foamy virus.

Background: Simian foamy virus (SFV) is an endemic, nonhuman primate (NHP) retrovirus that is transmitted to individuals who work with or hunt NHPs. The cross-species transmission of simian retroviruses is believed to be the etiology of human immunodeficiency virus and human T-lymphotropic virus infections in humans. Although SFV is not pathogenic in the native host, the shared ancestry with other simian retroviruses has brought into question the potential for acquired pathogenicity after cross-species transmission.

Mucosal and systemic antibody responses in humans infected with simian foamy virus.

Simian foamy virus (SFV) infection and the subsequent immune response are not well characterized. Blood plasma, saliva, and urine were obtained from four humans and nine chimpanzees persistently infected with chimpanzee-type SFV for an unknown length of time. SFV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies, but not IgA antibodies, against the Gag and Bet proteins were detected, by Western blotting, in all sample types from infected humans and chimpanzees.

Xenotransplantation and risks of zoonotic infections.

The shortage of human organs and tissues for transplantation and the advances in immunology of rejection and in genetic engineering have renewed interest in xenotransplantation--the transplantation of animal organs, tissues or cells to humans. Clinical trials have involved the use of non-human primate, porcine, and bovine cells/tissues/organs. In recent years, research has focused mainly on pigs as donors (especially, pigs genetically engineered to carry some human genes).