Posted by Cort Johnson The New York Times lead article today “Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer’s”. described how a bold new type of research effort paid off big time in Alzheimer’s. All it took to succeed was for researchers to make a commitment to work together, share and collaborate…. nothing much really – just a commitment to
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Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) Research
“Where’s the Beef?” The WPI and the NIH
Posted by Cort Johnson ‘Where’s the Beef’ became a key catch phrase of the 1984 Presidential campaign but one wonders if the WPI is asking themselves the same thing today. They produced a major finding that got the feds to throw a substantial amount of money at XMRV none of which, thus far, has made to the WPI. The WPI
ContinueThe CFIDS Association XMRV Webinar with Dr. Racaniello and Dr. Bateman
Posted by Cort Johnson Dr. Racaniello and Dr. Bateman talked XMRV (mostly) at the CFID’S Association Webinar on Wednesday. DR. RACANIELLO gave us a bird’s eye of retroviruses. Right now there are two models for human infectious retroviruses; HIV, which replicates madly in immune cells and sends millions of virions into the blood to infect more cells and HTLV-1, which
ContinueAnother Kind of XMRV? Dr. Racaniello and Dr. Mikovits on XMRV
Posted by Cort Johnson The Central Issue Remains the Same – How to Find XMRV? – I asked Dr. Mikovits and Dr. Racaniello about XMRV and both were good enough to give their viewpoints on where we stand now. This is a long article; in it they talk about * how to test for XMRV * whether a different type
ContinueConspiracy or Confusion?
Posted by Cort Johnson Hillary Johnson has just posted a long blog that provides alot of backup information on the controversies over the last couple of weeks. According to one of her resources the directors of the NIAID and the NIH as well as administrators at the CDC, were all involved in the withdrawal of the Alter paper. She reports
Continue‘Altered’ Reality: the XMRV Papers Disappearing Trick
Posted by Cort Johnson Amy Dockser Marcus at the Wall Street Journal has become the go-to journalist for news on XMRV and CFS in the national media. Now she’s broken the news that the Alter study, soon to be published in the prestigious journal “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America”, has now
ContinueDutch XMRV Leak Reverberates
Posted by Cort Johnson Patients leapt for joy at the news suggesting that the WPI’s findings have been validated by two major institutions in the US but not everybody was happy that the information had been released in a way it was. The Whittemore Peterson Institute’s Facebook site posted a link to Dr. Raccienllo’s blog but refused to discuss the
ContinueXMRV Confirmation Just Around the Corner? Journalists Report that NIH and FDA Confirm Findings…
Posted by Cort Johnson Dutch Journalists have been all over the European XMRV Conferences. Now in a startling announcement two Dutch journalists from the Health Professionals Journal Ortho report that they were able to obtain a lecture from NIH official Dr. Harvey Alter at the Blood Transfusion workshop May 26/27th in Zagreb, stating that both the FDA and NIH had
Continue‘It’s All Academic’: How the Medical Research System Rewards Researchers Not Patients
Posted by Cort Johnson The NIH invests over $31.2* billion annually in medical research for the American people. NIH website There’s something fishy with the way the medical system works. Take this simple fact; from 1996-1999 the FDA approved 157 new drugs. From 2006 to 2009, not long after the NIH’s budget had more than doubled..the FDA approved only 74
ContinueInvest in ME Conference Overview by the Patient Advocate
Posted by Cort Johnson The Patient Advocate regularly provides overviews of ME/CFS conferences and events. Here he provides an at times hard-hitting take on the latest Invest in ME Conference. Thanks to the PA for his years of communicating with the ME/CFS Community. Check out his excellent blog here. Here is my report from the Invest in ME conference in
ContinueXMRV Is…..Is……Is…..There!
Posted by Cort Johnson XMRV is…is…..is….There! – Yes, someone actually found XMRV. (gasp!). They weren’t looking for it in the blood or in the prostate tissue or in CFS patients and no, it wasn’t a US Lab that found it, it was a German lab remarkably enough but after months of no positive results it was remarkable finding…XMRV appears to
ContinueDr. Coffin on XMRV
Posted by Cort Johnson The crew at the Phoenix Rising Forums has been busy. Rrrr – went so far as to snag Dr. Coffin, one at the top retrovirologists in the country, and ask him some questions about XMRV. Tracking XMRV Down – What is he and Tufts University doing on XRMV? – Dr. Coffin is looking far, and has
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