How sad is a 8 million dollar trial with an overlap in entry and recovery criteria

How sad is a 8 million dollar trial with an overlap in entry and recovery criteria The PACE trial, a culmination of 25 yrs of ignoring evidence + telling nonsense about a debilitating physical disease. Promoting a NULL effect of CBT and GET as proof of sustained efficacy ...

Study by professor White proves Simon Wessely suffers from false illness beliefs

Toxic exposures caused illness in Gulf War veterans, new report says

Date:

January 26, 2016

Source:

Boston University Medical Center

Summary:

Twenty-five years after 700,000 U.S. troops fought and won the first Gulf War with remarkably low casualties, research "clearly and consistently" shows that exposure to pesticides and other toxins caused Gulf War Illness, a complex and debilitating disorder that affects as many as 250,000 of those deployed, according to a new report.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160126130134.htm#  

Twenty-five years after 700,000 U.S. troops fought and won the first Gulf War with remarkably low casualties, research "clearly and consistently" shows that exposure to pesticides and other toxins caused Gulf War Illness, a complex and debilitating disorder that affects as many as 250,000 of those deployed, according to a new report led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher.

In a special issue of the journal Cortex that coincides with the 25th anniversary of the war, Roberta White, professor of environmental health at BUSPH, and colleagues from a dozen other institutions comprehensively review studies on Gulf War Illness (GWI), especially those since 2008. They conclude that exposure to pesticides and ingestion of pyridostigmine bromide (PB) -- prophylactic pills intended to protect troops against the effects of possible nerve gas -- are "causally associated with GWI and the neurological dysfunction in Gulf War veterans."

The research team also cites multiple studies showing a link between veterans' neurological problems and exposure to the nerve-gas agents sarin and cyclosarin, as well as to oil well fire emissions.

These "toxic wounds" resulted in damage to veterans' nervous systems and immune systems, including neuroendocrine and immune dysregulation, autonomic nervous system irregularities, and reduced white and gray matter in veterans' brains, the review says.

White and colleagues have been studying the health of troops deployed in the 1991 Gulf War for more than 20 years to determine why so many of them suffer from a multi-system disorder characterized by fatigue, joint and muscle pain, headaches, concentration and memory problems, gastrointestinal distress, and skin rashes. They note that effective treatments for the illness have been elusive, but that a recent treatment research effort has begun to produce promising leads.

"Further research into the mechanisms and etiology of the health problems of (Gulf War) veterans is critical to developing biomarkers of exposure and illness, and preventing similar problems for military personnel in future deployments. This information is also critical for developing new treatments for GWI and related neurological dysfunction," they write.

In 2008, a Congressionally mandated panel directed by White -- the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses -- issued a landmark report concluding that Gulf War Illness was a "real" disorder, distinct from stress-related syndromes, and urging a robust research effort into its causes and potential cures. Gulf War veterans have complained for years that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has not taken the illness seriously.

In terms of toxic exposures, the authors note, six out of seven research studies have found "significant associations between self-reported pesticide exposure and GWI." Similarly, ingestion of PB pills dispensed by the military has been "consistently linked to ill health in GW veteran populations."

James Binns, a co-author of the report and former chairman of the Research Advisory Committee, equated the main causes of GWI to "friendly fire."

"We did it to ourselves," Binns said. "Pesticides, PB, nerve gas released by destroying Iraqi facilities -- all are cases of friendly fire. That may explain why government and military leaders have been so reluctant to acknowledge what happened, just as they tried to cover up Agent Orange after Vietnam. Certainly, the government should have been facing the problem honestly and doing research from the start to identify diagnostic tests and treatments."

In the report, the research team notes that in addition to veterans suffering from GWI, other deployed troops from the first Gulf War report a variety of neurological disorders, either in conjunction with GWI or as separate ailments. Studies have found that deployed troops suffer a higher incidence of stroke, brain cancer and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), compared to non-deployed veterans. The VA's own study, published in 2009, found that deployed veterans were diagnosed with seizures, stroke and neuralgia at higher rates than non-deployed service members. Other studies have found excess rates of brain structure alterations and brain cancer deaths among veterans who had the greatest exposure to nerve agents or oil fire smoke.

The report makes clear that psychiatric problems "have been ruled out" as a cause of Gulf War Illness, noting that Gulf War veterans have lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric disorders than their counterparts who served in other wars.

The research team says that a number of studies using diagnostic imaging and EEG probes have identified "structural and electrical abnormalities" in the central nervous systems of deployed troops with GWI. Fourteen of 15 papers published since 2008 support that conclusion, the report says.

White and colleagues say that overall, the research to date supports the conclusion that veterans are suffering from a "persistent pathology due to chemical intoxication." They say further research into GWI could benefit other occupational groups, such as farmers and insecticide applicators, who have similar exposures. White said she is hopeful that new research efforts will lead to effective treatments, especially as veterans age and are at increased risk of neuro-degenerative diseases.

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Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Boston University Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Roberta F. White, Lea Steele, James P. O'Callaghan, Kimberly Sullivan, James H. Binns, Beatrice A. Golomb, Floyd E. Bloom, James A. Bunker, Fiona Crawford, Joel C. Graves, Anthony Hardie, Nancy Klimas, Marguerite Knox, William J. Meggs, Jack Melling, Martin A. Philbert, Rachel Grashow. Recent research on Gulf War illness and other health problems in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Effects of toxicant exposures during deployment. Cortex, 2016; 74: 449 DOI:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.08.022

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Boston University Medical Center. "Toxic exposures caused illness in Gulf War veterans, new report says." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 January 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160126130134.htm>.

New low in psychiatry, rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome are now called a conversion disorder ...

New low in psychiatry, rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome are now called a conversion disorder ...

This all makes it very clear that the psychiatrists are getting really desperate; unfortunately psychiatry and psychology are rife with quacks for the simple reason that you can build a very successful career out of ignoring evidence and talking from your backside as the PACEtrial has kindly highlighted; that medicine should be evidence based is totally ignored by bank account and power driven Sykes which strongly suggest that they suffer from severe personality disorders ...

And what sort of evidence is there that a disease is a conversion disorder? None, because that evidence doesn't exist ...

If you want to read the delightful article make sure you've got a bucket ready ... 

http://pro.psychcentral.com/recovery-expert/2016/01/treating-conversion-disorder-psychosomatic-illness/

BBT: Revolutionary new therapy brought to you by the PACE trial psychiatrists

BBT: Revolutionary new therapy brought to you by the PACE trial psychiatrists

During this year's festival of transforming health evidence and introducing bias into science sponsored by The Lancet, the PACE trial psychiatrists will not only receive an award for a record number of endpoint changes during a trial and declaring a NULL effect to be impressive and proof of sustained effectiveness but they will also introduce a replacement therapy for CBT and GET called BBT. For those who do not know what that is, that's short for Blah Blah Therapy. The major advantage is that bank account and power driven psychiatrists can talk from their back side and continue to ignore evidence as they have done for decades yet we do not need an eight million dollar trial to know it's crap ... Action for ME are you listening ??

PACE trial investigators basically acknowledge in the Lancet that CBT and GET are useless ...

PACE trial investigators acknowledge in Lancet response that CBT and GET are totally useless ...

Treatments used "offer practical hope of useful improvement" and this improvement is so big that people are still (severely) disabled after treatment. Yet they obviously ignore their own NULL effect by writing total nonsense. Wessely would say Same old same old ...

So basically their treatments offer hope but nothing else ... Hope for the therapists to earn money from ineffective and harmful treatments but no hope for the patients to get their health and independence back.

PACE trial investigators reply to well founded criticism by Twisk, 2 psychologist Professors James Coyne + Keith Laws and  Dr. Charles Shepherd (ME Association)

 @ http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(16)00018-3.pdf

So they continue to defend the PACE trial with every weapon of communal stupidity as Robertson Davies would say

Integrated medical care is another word for bank account and power driven psychiatry, detrimental to patients health