Help may finally be at hand for sufferers of CFS

Health News Article | Reuters.com: "Help may finally be at hand for sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) thanks to a group of British researchers who have found abnormalities in the white blood cells of the afflicted.

If the early results are borne out by wider research -- and initial indications are that they will be -- it could lead not only to a blood test for the condition but possibly a drug to treat it, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.

'We have shown that a significant part of the pathogenesis resides in the white blood cells and in their activity,' team leader Jonathan Kerr told the magazine.

'It will open the door to development of pharmacological interventions,' he added.

It will be welcome news to CFS sufferers whose symptoms of acute fatigue, headaches, disrupted sleep patterns and an inability to think clearly are often dismissed as being all in the mind.
Kerr's team, which is moving to St George's Hospital at the University of London, found that a group of genes in the white blood cells of CFS sufferers were up to four times more active than those without the affliction while one was less active. "

FDA approves Cyberonics depression device

Health News Article | Reuters.com: "A stopwatch-sized device that uses electrical impulses to treat chronic depression won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, Cyberonics CYBX> said on Friday...

The device, known as the Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy System (VNS), is implanted in the chest and sends impulses to the brain through a nerve in the neck. It was cleared by the FDA for long-term use in adults whose depression has not responded to other treatments. "

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