Healthy brain (left) shows response to pain from heat on the forearm. Different regions (right) respond to that heat in vets with Gulf War syndrome two.
Posted on 04/09/2010 1:43:52 PM PDT by neverdem
Depicting brain damage, scans distinguish between a trio of syndromes, researchers say
SALT LAKE CITY Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome.
Or syndromes. Because Robert Haley of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the research team he heads have identified three discrete subtypes. Each is characterized by a different suite of symptoms. And the new imaging linked each illness with a distinct – and different – series of abnormalities in the brain.
Men with the same symptoms exhibited similar brain changes, features starkly different from healthy vets their age who had served in the same battalions. (That said, a few vets’ symptoms seemed to encompass more than one syndrome. And in such instances, imaging confirmed their brains showed impairments that extended beyond those associated with a single syndrome.)
Since the early 1990s, some 175,000 U.S. troops have returned from service in the first Gulf War reporting a host of vague complaints, notes Richard Briggs, a physical chemist at UT Southwestern involved in the new imaging. Their symptoms ranged from mental confusion, difficulty concentrating, attacks of sudden vertigo and intense uncontrollable mood swings to extreme fatigue and sometimes numbness – or the opposite, constant body pain.
With funding from the Departments of Defense...
--snip--
As a result of these studies, Briggs says, “In the last two years we have learned more about Gulf War Illness than we did in the previous 15.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Ringe, W., R. Briggs, . . . and R. Haley. 2010. Functional Neuroimaging Shows Abnormalities in Brain Function Underlying Symptoms of Gulf War Illness. Society of Toxicology annual meeting: Salt Lake City (March 8).
War is Hell.
It ought be fought by those who pass the resolutions and no one else.
Healthy brain (left) shows response to pain from heat on the forearm. Different regions (right) respond to that heat in vets with Gulf War syndrome two.
I agree. We should have only former military making such choices.
Same brain. The locations are different.
I can’t believe they have been studying this syndrome for over a decade and haven’t come up with anything yet. Our soldiers deserve better. Do they have any ideas why some soldiers are affected and others are not? I don’t know much about GWS.
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It wasn't a controlled experiment. Troops were given anthrax vaccine, IIRC, as well as "at least three different types of agents to which many troops were exposed: sarin nerve gas, a nerve gas antidote (pyridostigmine bromide) that presented its own risks and military-grade pesticides to prevent illness from sand flies and other noxious pests. But Briggs acknowledges that no one knows for sure which combination of agents or environmental conditions might have conspired to trigger Gulf War illness."
Do they have any ideas why some soldiers are affected and others are not?
Effects vary by dosage and genetic susceptibility.
Thanks for the info. This whole thing is very sad but at least the military is treating it now as something real.
I was hounded for years to take part in studies and even recieved a set of orders to report to Ft Hood for testing. I refused. No one wanted to hear that I was getting old and fat on my own......
Both of those photos are of the exact same brain.
Both of those photos are of the exact same brain.
You'll have to talk to the poster of this article and/or the writer of this article -- as they're the ones who have to do with this image ... not me ... :-)
I just posted this for the convenience of the poster and those reading the article posted here.
Either hit reply on Post #1 and talk to "neverdem", or write to Janet Raloff ...
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