May 12th - International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day
Thoughts by Alan Cocchetto, NCF Medical Director (Copyright 2023)
As I reflect on the CFS science over the last 30+ years, it has become obvious that the patient community needs a simple but serious reality check. Let's apply some simple logic:
1. Patients, for the most part, refuse to recognize that CFS is a cancer process [Chronic fatigue syndrome and subsequent risk of cancer among elderly US adults.
Cancer; Chang
et al, 2012].
2. Because of #1 above, many CFS studies bear little weight relative to the importance of these disease endpoints.
3. As pointed out in our paper [A Proposed New Model to Explain the Role of Low Dose Non-DNA Targeted Radiation Exposure in Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome; Cocchetto
et al, 2023], genomic instability and chromosomal damage have been identified in CFS patient cells.
4. Micronuclei have been identified in CFS patient cells [Phenotypic characteristics of peripheral immune cells of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome via transmission electron microscopy: A pilot study; Jahanbani et al, 2022].
5. Micronuclei are small membrane bounded compartments with a DNA content encapsulated by a nuclear envelope and spatially separated from the primary nucleus. Micronuclei have long been linked to chromosome instability, genome rearrangements, and mutagenesis [Causes and consequences of micronuclei; Krupina et al, 2021]. Micronuclei play a central role in tumorigenesis, with
micronuclear DNA being a source of complex genome rearrangements. As such, they are frequently found in cancers.
6. Mutations can occur at the level of a chromosome, through chromosomal breakage which includes: Deletion - loss of a piece of DNA from a chromosome. Deletion of a gene or part of a gene can lead to a disease or abnormality. Duplication - production of one or more copies of any piece of DNA, including a gene or even an entire chromosome. Insertion - a type of chromosomal abnormality in which a DNA sequence is inserted into a gene, disrupting the normal structure and function of that gene. Translocation - breakage and removal of a large segment of DNA from one chromosome, followed by the segment's attachment to a different chromosome. [Chromosomal mutations: Molecular Biology Review - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Class/MLACourse/Modules/MolBioReview/mutation_chromosome.html
7. The very nature and characteristics that define the chromosomal damage found in CFS patients tells us much about the biological source of the problem associated with the cause of this type of damage
[Karyotype Heterogeneity and Unclassified Chromosomal Abnormalities; Heng et al, 2013], [CBS covers CFS research; https://www.ncf-net.org/forum/2012summer2.htm, [National CFIDS Foundation's Research Finds Chromosome Damage in Patients Diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis; PRNewswire, 2014]. Chromosomal analysis, using SKY technology,
showed results consistent with radiation exposure.
8. Given the above, other CFS research groups should look closely at chromosomal damage in these patients. Let's just save the patient community much time, effort and money by jumping to the end of the book to verify, or not, the previous scientific discoveries as this will tell us about a much bigger story regarding our world!
P.S. - Ionizing radiation damages the genetic material in reproductive cells and results in mutations that are transmitted from generation to generation [Genetic Effects of Radiation; Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation: Beir V. - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218706
Our Goals
The Foundation's objective is to fund research to find a cause, expedite treatments and eventually a cure, as well as providing information, education, and support to people who have CFIDS (chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and many other names.
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Latest News
May 12th 2023 America’s Radioactive Secret (Rolling Stone Article by Justin Nobel - 1/21/20)
Oil-and-gas wells produce nearly a trillion gallons of toxic waste a year. An investigation shows how it could be making workers sick and contaminating communities across America;
Click here to read AmericasRadioactiveSecretRollingStone.pdf
March 28th 2023 “Evidence from epidemiological, animal, and other experimental studies suggest that UVA radiation may participate in melanoma formation. The authors summarize the evidence for a potential role of UVA in melanoma and discuss some of the mechanistic pathways of how UVA may induce mutagenesis in melanocytes.” https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsomega.2c04424
March 23rd 2023 NCF finds CFIDS connection to melanoma:
Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) is considered to be a multidimensional illness whose etiology is unknown. However, reports from Chernobyl, as well as those from the United States, have revealed an association between radiation exposure and the development of CFIDS. As such, we present an expanded model using a systems biology approach to explain the etiology of CFIDS as it relates to this cohort of patients. This paper proposes an integrated model with ionizing radiation as a suggested trigger for CFIDS mediated through UVA induction and biophoton generation inside the body resulting from radiation-induced bystander effects (RIBE). Evidence in support of this approach has been organized into a systems view linking CFIDS illness markers with the initiating events, in this case, low-dose radiation exposure. This results in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as important immunologic and other downstream effects. Furthermore, the model implicates melanoma and subsequent hematopoietic dysregulation in this underlying process. Through the identification of this association with melanoma, clinical medicine, including dermatology, hematology, and oncology, can now begin to apply its expansive knowledge base to provide new treatment options for an illness that has had few effective treatments. To read, CLICK HERE www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/7/6022
March 4th 2023 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Ruby Hokana, — Maeve Boothby O'Neill,
December 22nd 2022 US needs $100 million over 15 years ($1.5 billion total) on research program to study the health effects of exposure to low doses of radiation. Click here to view paper.
December 17th 2022 "A proposed new model to explain the role of low dose non-DNA targeted radiation exposure in Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome” — currently under peer-review. This paper provides a new systems biology model for the NCF's cohort of CFIDS/CFS/ME patients who have been exposed to alpha-radiation internally via ingestion/inhalation. Furthermore, this exposure suggests an association with melanoma and subsequent hematopoietic dysregulation based upon previously identified patient biomarkers. A systems diagram is provided outlining these characteristics.
June 28th 2022 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Margaret Peggy Calhoun — Andrea Jennings
Graham McPhee
January 8th 2022 Commonalities in the Features of Cancer and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Evidence for Stress-Induced Phenotype Instability? by Rusin et. al. (International Journal of Molecular Sciences - Jan 2022)
hot linked to:
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/2/691
December 18th 2021 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Julie Bond — Marisa D’Ercole
Kristina Hines — Michaela Lex
Rene Mebus
David A. Petrosky — Claudia Wendlandt
Lotta Winstrom, PhD — Danya Zucker
Anil van der Zee
December 3rd 2021 Why Covid-19 looks like radiation poisoning: Not just a vascular disease but a disease of systemic microangiopathy followed by systemic fibrosis, almost certainly induced by the tissue-damaging effects of the spike protein.
https://twitter.com/Parsifaler/status/1465504881490468871
August 4th 2021 Radiation exposure and mitochondrial insufficiency in Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome by Rusin et al. (Medical Hypothesis, September 2021)
This paper focuses on radiation effects and hypothesizes that CFIDS is primarily caused by stressor-induced mitochondrial metabolic insufficiency, which results in decreased energy production and anabolic metabolites required for normal cellular metabolism.
Click HERE for free 50 day access!
June 10th 2021 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Robert Barshied — Robert “Bob” Benson
Amy Haskins Croyder — Steven Eddy
Ian John Fulton — Patrick Selby Johnson
Theodore Samuel “Teddy” Katz — Faustine Nogherotto
Elizabeth Derryan Paul, PhD — Elizabeth C. “Libby” Potter
Lisa Brinkley Powell — Carol Sieverling
Lindsay Sturm
June 3rd 2021 National CFIDS Foundation: Conclusive evidence connects chronic alpha-radiation exposure to liver cancer June 3rd, 2021 by NCF Medical Committee (Copyright 2021)
In its on-going research and investigational work, the National CFIDS Foundation has identified a critical connection between chronic alpha-radiation exposure and the development of hepatic/liver cancer.
In 2010, the National CFIDS Foundation identified the presence of internal alpha-radionuclides in its CFIDS/ME patient cohort. SKY analysis subsequently identified chromosomal abnormalities in these same patients. Liquid biopsies then identified the presence of specific cancer proteins in 60% of these patients. Internal alpha-radiation exposure represents a chronic exposure profile for patients.
From the Center for Environmental Health Studies, in Boston, "According to the National Research Council's BEIR V Committee, there is "conclusive" evidence that chronic exposure to alpha-emitters can cause liver cancer in humans."
Recently, the National CFIDS Foundation provided a $100,000 research grant to Dr. Jack Wands, a world expert in hepatic/liver cancer at Brown University, for his work on ASPH, a liver enzyme that is generated in hepatic/liver cancer. ASPH positivity has been seen in patients with CFIDS/ME.
According to the Foundation, there is no doubt in our minds at this point that the liver is a key target associated with our research discoveries, both past and present. The late Dr. Yoshitsugi Hokama, pathologist at the University of Hawaii, believed that the liver was of critical importance to the disease process associated with CFIDS/ME. As such, the Foundation is highly optimistic regarding Dr. Wands' research and the clinical implications of his work that will follow.
Liver cancer and exposure to ionizing radiation" which is enclosed for your use
March 25th 2021 Commonalities between COVID-19 and Radiation Injury by the Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (NIH) - Parallel etiologies are drawn between SARS-CoV2 infection and radiation injuries.
August 3rd 2020 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Rosie (Rose Mary) Bayman — Rose-Marie McGinn
Cindy Siegal Sheplar — Marcie Lynn Zinn, Ph.D.
January 1st 2020 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Heather Colman-McGill — Freda Grossman
Simon Helmfrid — Roel Klieverol
Craig W. Maupin — Giovanni "John" Paternostro
July 2nd 2019 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Jacquie Beckwith — Terry Boyer
Rosie Buchanan — Jennifer Chittick
Denise De Hoop — Susan Kay Drake
Dewey Ewing — Amy Kesteven
John Knight — Shawn Kregan
Malcolm Morrison — Pauline Overden
Jan van Roijen — Edwina Schwegmann
Ted Shaw — Olwen Tinnion
Barbara Turnbull
December 6th 2018 The following names have been added to our Memorial List Michele Daley — Rebecca (Becky) S. Fleig
Dr. Anne MacIntyre — Anne Ortegren
Sarica Narula Patel — Michele M. Van Horn
Klara Jancikova Wilson
November 16th 2018
These papers, notably from Mothersill and Seymour, form the fundamental scientific basis for the newest discoveries (radiation induced bystander effects and biophoton emission) being made by the National CFIDS Foundation on behalf of the worldwide patient community. Our cohort is fully represented by internal alpha-radiation exposure which leads to chronic radiation sickness with an increased risk for neurodegenerative tauopathy and cancer resulting from genomic instability and chromosomal abnormalities.
Reference #1: Vegetative-Vascular Dystonia and Osteoalgetic Syndrome or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as Characteristic After-effect of Radioecological Disaster: The Chernobyl Accident Experience; Loganovsky KN
“Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is one of the most important health problems among Chernobyl accident survivors, a malady which could be triggered by low and very low doses of ionizing radiation….”
Click here to see the full article in a PDF format
Reference #2: Do Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation Affect the Human Brain; Loganovsky K; Data Science Journal, 23 June 2009
“A hypothesis about the development of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) under the impact of low and very low doses (of radiation) combined with psychological stress has been suggested. CFS can be considered to be an environmentally induced predisposition and vestige of forthcoming neurodegeneration, cognitive impairment, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, CFS and metabolic syndrome X are considered to be both radiation-associated syndromes and stages of other neuropsychiatric and physical pathology developments, and CFS can be transformed into metabolic syndrome X. Radiation-induced damage of mitochondrial DNA in post-mitotic tissues with low proliferation activity may be a basis for the effects of low doses in an increase of non-cancer morbidity and mortality in the Chernobyl accident survivors.”
Click here to see the full article in a PDF format
Reference #3: Speculations about Bystander and Biophotons; Sanders CL; Dose Response 2014 May 19;12(4):515-7
Letter to the editor:
“Mothersill and many others during the last hundred years have shown that cells and now whole animals may communicate with each other by electromagnetic waves called biophotons. This would explain the source of the bystander phenomena. These ultra-weak photons are coherent, appear to originate and concentrate in DNA of the cell nucleus and rapidly carry large amounts of data to each cell and to the trillions of other cells in the human body. The implications of such a possibility can be wonderfully important….Mothersill has demonstrated possible photon signalingamong animals as Gurwitsch and Kaznacheyev have both done in vitro. The ramifications of these observations are enormous.”
Click here to see the full article in a PDF format
Reference #4: Ultra-Violet Light Emission from HPV-G Cells Irradiated with Low Let Radiation From (90)Y; Consequences for Radiation Induced Bystander Effects; Ahmad SB, McNeill FE, Byun SH, Prestwich WV, Mothersill C, Seymour C, Armstrong A, Fernandez C; Dose Response. 2013 Feb 1;11:498-516.
Click here to see the full article in a PDF format
Reference #5: Transmission of signals from rats receiving high doses of microbeam radiation to cage mates: an intermammal bystander effect; Mothersill C, Fernandez-Palomo C, Fazzari J, Smith R, Schültke E, BräuerKrisch E, Laissue J, Schroll C, Seymour C; Dose Response. 2013 Aug 27;12(1):72-92
Click here to see the full article in a PDF format
November 15th 2018 Video slideshow #1: From Biophotons to Bystander Effects: The implications of non-targeted effects for Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection by Dr. Carmel Mothersill; Oct 19, 2018:
