Novel characterization of endogenous transient receptor potential melastatin 3 ion channels from Gulf War Illness participants 2024 Marshall-Gradisnik

Merged thread
Am afraid this landmark study featured in the Times article is just the pilot study discussed here
https://twitter.com/user/status/1813859929348010042

 

Maybe not landmark, but once again a curious concept, this one of acquired channelopathy, in that in many ways it fits into several contested diseases' sequelae - including ME/CFS and Gulf War.

You'd think large scale replication efforts would have already been done, or at least attempted. Maybe they have and I've simply forgotten. If not, time to get on with it?

The implications of "acquired" are what continue to fascinate me. Is there a genetic component that's triggered artificially? Is there a viral agent that's introduced and somehow persists?

Of course, cool theories are a dime a dozen in our world. They're a dime a dozen in BPS literature as well - or at least, a dime a dozen variations of a single repetitive talking point.

We need to distinguish our work from their's with science that is both unambiguous and unassailable. That's dicey when dealing with subject matter with so little substantive and trustworthy precedent.

 

I think you might find that these two are frequently put together.........

 

Work was done in the US claiming that sarin gas exposure in genetically prone individuals was at the root of the problem. I don't know about the quality of the work or how it fits with Times study.

UTSW genetic study confirms sarin nerve gas as cause of Gulf War illness: Newsroom - UT Southwestern, Dallas, Texas

 

Noticed that this researcher: Douglas C Youvan has written a comment/editorial on the finding. Maybe it will be published somewhere in the future? Perhaps also the reason why the study was featured in The Times?

https://www.researchgate.net/public...nnel_Dysfunction_Offers_New_Hope_for_Veterans

 

That's interesting. I looked this thread up having come across the article in the Times (and assumed there might already be one on here, I see it has been merged) which is dated 17th July. Cause of Gulf War syndrome identified in landmark study (thetimes.com)

This covers ideas that it affects cells, in particular moelcules involved in transporting calcium

And lots of comments pick up on the sample being 6 veterans and 6 Healthy controls. And some other issues like it needing specific statistics to produce effects etc. I've just glanced through but basically am not assuming here either way.

But there is no mention of Wessely, and the end of the article focuses on the following:

I say interesting because I suspect Wessely's suggestion of 'compare veterans from the Gulf War who don't have the symptoms' is a red herring.

If something specifically changed vs eg veterans who didn't go to the Gulf he seems to be inferring 'and there are those who went to the Gulf and had the same change but are well, then it's not that'?

Plus that seems dualist if he is inferring that other things on top might be required so rule-out such a change.