Project details

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Post-exertional malaise: a starting point to investigate and understand ME/CFS

Keywords:
imaging fatigue metabolites

Researchers:
Dr. C.A.T. Zijdewind

Type of project:
Stage Wetenschap / Research project

Nature of the research:
An physiological and imaging study into the symptoms and underlying mechanism of post-exertional malaise in individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) at the department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems of the UMCG. The student will be involved in execution of the experiments, the data acquisition and analysis.

Fields of study:
medical physiology neurology Patient Related Research

Background / introduction
: Physical exercise is important for general health, however this is in stark contrast with the effects of exercise on individuals suffering ME/CFS. After exercise, symptoms may aggravate severely and stay intensified for long periods (> 12 hours). This is called post-exertional malaise (PEM); PEM is an important symptom for diagnosis of ME/CFS.
The etiology and pathology of ME/CFS is unclear and a better understanding of PEM might help to entangle metabolic and physiological processes underlying ME/CFS. In the present study patients are assessed at different biological (molecular, organ and system) levels during task performance. Symptoms or changes in symptoms during and after task execution are measured after cognitive and motor tasks and associated with 1. task performance (hand muscle force, fatigability and cognitive performance), 2. changes in metabolic processes and pathways 3. brain activity and brain perfusion. Results contribute to better understanding of ME/CFS and the generation of hypotheses of pathophysiology, treatment, and management of ME/CFS.
Research question / problem definition
Which symptoms are persistently affected by cognitive or motor task performance? And do these symptoms associate with changes in metabolites and brain activation patterns.
Workplan
50 patients with ME/CFS (International Consensus Criteria) and 50 age, sex, BMI, and activity matched controls will be included in the study. The experimental design combines different motor and cognitive tasks performed during 2 * 2-day sessions. The 2-days experiments are performed at consecutive days; the first set of 2-days experiments is performed in the lab and the second set is performed in an MRI scanner. The tasks are moderately demanding to induce long-lasting effects (>24 hours) but to minimize exacerbation of symptoms.
References
https://www.zonmw.nl/nl/nieuws/eerste-biomedisch-onderzoek-naar-mecvs-van-start
https://projecten.zonmw.nl/nl/project/post-exertional-malaise-een-startpunt-om-mecvs-te-bestuderen-en-te-begrijpen
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