EUROPEAN NETWORK of FIBROMYALGIA ASSOCIATIONS

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) are to have a consultation with a delegation from the European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations (ENFA)

CONGO’S BILL AND THE RACE AGAINST TIME

by Jeanne Hambleton  © 2008 NFA Leader Against Pain-Advocate   A committee of the New Jersey Senate has considered a new bill called Congo’s Law and there are hopes that Congo, the German Shepherd dog, will no longer be under sentence of death. See original story: Congo gets world wide support Congo was put on “death [...]

Restless legs syndrome doubles risk of stroke and heart disease

Contact: Angela Babb ababb@aan.com 651-695-2789 American Academy of Neurology ST. PAUL, Minn. – People with restless legs syndrome (RLS) are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart disease compared to people without RLS, and the risk is greatest in those with the most frequent and severe symptoms, according to research published in the [...]

Opioids for managing chronic non-malignant pain: safe and effective prescribing.

Kahan M, Srivastava A, Wilson L, Mailis-Gagnon A, Midmer D. Addiction Medical Service, St Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. kahanm@stjoe.on.ca OBJECTIVE: To review the evidence on safe and effective prescribing of opioids for chronic non-malignant pain. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: MEDLINE was searched using the terms “opioid effectiveness” and “adverse effects.” There is strong evidence [...]

The classification of fibromyalgia syndrome.

Müller W, Schneider EM, Stratz T. Rheumatologische Forschungsabteilung, Weihermatten 1, 79713, Bad Säckingen, Germany. As has been shown by a number of working groups, primary fibromyalgia syndrome does not represent a single clinical entity. It is possible to distinguish between a subgroup with high pain sensitivity and no associated psychiatric condition, a second and a [...]

Publication trends in chronic fatigue syndrome: Comparisons with fibromyalgia and fatigue: 1995-2004.

Friedberg F, Sohl S, Schmeizer B. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Stony Brook University, NY, USA. OBJECTIVE: In order to identify publishing patterns in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), we compared the annual number of peer review articles for CFS, fibromyalgia (FM), and non-CFS fatigue over a recent decade (1995-2004). METHOD: Citations were drawn from [...]

Characteristics and healthcare costs of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Berger A, Dukes E, Martin S, Edelsberg J, Oster G. Policy Analysis, Inc. (PAI), Brookline, MA, USA. Purpose: To examine the characteristics and healthcare costs of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients in clinical practice. Materials and methods: Using a US health-insurance database, we identified all patients, aged >/= 18 years, with any healthcare encounters for FMS [...]

Mouse genome will help identify causes of environmental disease

Research on the DNA of 15 mouse strains commonly used in biomedical studies is expected to help scientists determine the genes related to susceptibility to environmental disease. The body of data is now publicly available in a catalog of genetic variants, which displays the data as a mouse haplotype map, a tool that separates chromosomes [...]

Researchers discover gene responsible for Restless Legs Syndrome

An international team of researchers has identified the first gene associated with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), a common sleep disorder affecting tens of millions of people worldwide. The findings will be published July 18 in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and will appear in an upcoming printed edition of the [...]

Fibromyalgia patients show an abnormal dopamine response to pain.

Wood PB, Schweinhardt P, Jaeger E, Dagher A, Hakyemez H, Rabiner EA, Bushnell MC, Chizh BA. McGill University Centre for Research on Pain, Faculty of Dentistry, 3640 University Street, Strathcona Building, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 2B2. Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread pain and bodily tenderness and is often accompanied by affective disturbances. Accumulating evidence [...]