PURPOSE The authors previously showed that the expression of various junctional proteins in corneal epithelial cells or corneal fibroblasts (CFs) is regulated by the presence of the other cell type in a coculture system. In this study, the effect of corneal epithelial cells on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in CFs was studied. METHODS Human CFs and simian virus 40-transfor...

The aetiology and pathogenesis of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are still largely unresolved. Accompanying metabolic disorders such as selective n-6 fatty acid depletion suggest that oxidative stress and more specifically lipid peroxidation might play a role in its pathogenesis. In order to investigate this hypothesis, oxidant-antioxidant status and its impact on lipoprotein peroxidation i...

OBJECTIVES Validated or standardized self-report questionnaires used in research studies and clinical evaluation of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) generally focus on the assessment of fatigue. There are relatively few published questionnaires that evaluate case defining and other accompanying symptoms in CFS. This paper introduces the self-report CDC CFS Symptom Inventory and analyzes its psych...

Immune dysfunction is a hallmark of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). The purpose of this pilot study was to identify the effects of influenza vaccination on immune function in patients with CFS/ME. We included 7 patients meeting the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention criteria (CDC 1994) for ME/CFS and 8 control subjects. Bloods were collected from all particip...

Individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have been shown to have reduced activity levels associated with heightened feelings of fatigue. Previous research has demonstrated that exercise training has beneficial effects on fatigue-related symptoms in individuals with CFS. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to sustain an increase in daily physical activity in CFS patients for 4 weeks and as...

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with orthostatic intolerance is characterized by neurocognitive deficits and impaired working memory, concentration, and information processing. In CFS, upright tilting [head-up tilt (HUT)] caused decreased cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) related to hyperventilation/hypocapnia and impaired cerebral autoregulation; increasing orthostatic stress resulted in decr...

Objective: We examined the blood of 48 North American Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients subsequently diagnosed with Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi and compared these to 50 North American CFS patients without evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infections for presence of Mycoplasma spp. co-infections using forensic polymerase chain reaction. Results: We found that 68.75% of CFS/Lyme patien...

Objective To investigate the effects of glucose and aldosterone on the proliferation of rat cardiac fibroblasts. Methods The neonatal SD rat cardiac fibroblasts (Cfs) were separated by the differential attachment technique. Cfs were incubated in different Dglucose concentrations for 24 hours, with or without aldosterone. DNA synthesis and metabolic activity of the Cfs were measured simultaneous...

BACKGROUND Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is common and its cause is unknown. AIM To study the prevalence of autonomic dysfunction in CFS, and to develop diagnostic criteria. DESIGN Cross-sectional study with independent derivation and validation phases. METHODS Symptoms of autonomic dysfunction were assessed using the Composite Autonomic Symptom Scale (COMPASS). Fatigue was assessed usin...

In this paper we present a software tool called Fuzzy_Query.Web (FQW), which is a web-based software interface that allows users to extract knowledge from a database using Classification Fuzzy Systems (CFS) and Database Manager System (DBMS). The FQW tool is used as an interpreter for several system structures that use CFS and various techniques of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Indexes for anal...