For educational purposes only.
News Coverage of Pentagon Gulf War
Study
of MRS Brain Scan Findings of
* Brain Stem and Basil
Ganglia
*
Brain Damage
from Neurotoxic Chemicals,
Organophosphate Nerve Gas, and
Pesticides
| Associated Press
December 1, 1999 |
Gulf War, Brain Damage Linked |
| ABC Columnist Nicholas
Regush December 8, 1999 |
Step Up and Be Healed!
Defending Disparaged Diseases |
| Reuters
Coverage November 30, 1999 |
U.S. Study Finds
Brain Damage in Gulf War Vets |
| CNN
Coverage November 30, 1999 |
Gulf War Veterans Suffered
Brain
Damage after Chemical Exposure, Study Says |
| ABCNEWS.com
Chat with Dr. Fleckenstein November 30, 1999 |
A Missing
Chemical New Research On Gulf War Syndrome An ABC Chat Forum with Researcher Dr. James Fleckenstein |
| National Gulf War
Resource Center Press Release November 30, 1999 |
Gulf War Illnesses `Real' Pentagon -- Brain scans of some veterans show damage, chemical exposure |
| ABC
News Link February 2, 2000 |
New Report Bashes Government
on Gulf War Syndrome |
| Press Release
and CNN Coverage June 16, 1999 |
Depletion of
Enzyme PON-Q
Implicated in Gulf War Syndrome |
| Associated
Press April 7, 2000 |
Gulf Vet Study Finds Brain Damage Similar to Tokyo Nerve Gas Victims |
| ~*~New
Today~*~ Reuters News November 27, 2000 |
Gulf War Syndrome Symptoms Linked to Damage to Different Parts of the Brain |
| ~*~New This
Week~*~ Environmental News Service January 15, 2001 |
Aceylcholinesterase Inhibitors, both Organophosphates and Carbamates, Linked to Gulf War Illness |
--------~~*~~-------------~~*~~----------~~*~~------------ * Associated Press * Gulf War, Brain Damage Linked December 1, 1999
By BRENDA C. COLEMAN, AP Medical Writer CHICAGO (AP) Brain scans of soldiers who believe they suffer from Gulf War illness suggest they have brain damage, possibly from chemicals they were exposed to during the conflict, researchers reported Tuesday. The researchers said veterans who report symptoms of the illness had lower levels of a certain brain chemical than healthy veterans of the 1991 conflict. ``This is the first time ever we have proof of brain damage in sick Gulf War veterans,'' said the lead researcher, Dr. James L. Fleckenstein, professor of radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. ``They can be believed -- they're not malingering, they're not depressed, they're not stressed. There's a hope for treatment and there's hope for being able to monitor the progress of the disease.'' A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said he looked forward to examining the research. ``I hope he's right'' that chemical exposure is the answer, Quigley said. ``We need to take a look at it.'' The researchers reported that magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which measures body chemistry, revealed that veterans who believe they have the illness have lower-than-normal levels of a chemical, N-acetyl-aspartate, in the brain stem and basal ganglia. That suggests a loss of neurons in those areas, said the researchers, who presented the findings at the 85th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The brain stem controls some of the body's reflexes, and the basal ganglia are switching stations for nerve impulses controlling movement, memory and emotion. The basal ganglia, for example, are where the malfunctioning occurs that causes Parkinson's disease. In the study, brain scans of 22 sick veterans revealed levels of N-acetyl-aspartate 10 percent to 25 percent lower than those in 18 healthy veterans, Fleckenstein said. The finding held up in an additional six sick Gulf War veterans drawn from a different part of the military, he said. The study was blinded, meaning radiologists interpreting the results did not know which patients were complaining of symptoms and which were healthy. Researchers believe that soldiers who became ill were those who had a genetic vulnerability to certain chemicals that they were exposed to during the war, including [organophosphate] nerve gas [closely related to organophosphate pesticides], the insecticide DEET, pet flea collars some wore to repel pests and the drug pyridostigmine bromide. PB was administered to as many as 250,000 soldiers in the belief it would protect them from the toxic effects of nerve gas. When toxins of the same type are given to animals, studies show, similar abnormalities in the same regions of the brain resulted, Fleckenstein said. Last month, the Pentagon raised the possibility for the first time of a connection between Gulf War illness and PB. It said more scientific study is needed before it can either confirm a connection or rule it out. The new findings did not surprise Charles Townsend, 49, one of the study's subjects. He served as an airborne sergeant with the Army's 50th Signal Battalion during the war and now can reel off a list of his symptoms, including ulcers in his sinus cavities and colon, swollen lymph nodes, rashes, severe headaches and bleeding gums. ``You forget where you're going, you don't remember a word you want to speak as you're preparing to speak it. It interrupts the train of thought,'' he said. Townsend said he has been called a liar by Veterans Administration doctors, but he is convinced his problems stem from exposure to chemicals during the war. Townsend, who is on full disability because of his illness, said he is unsure of what practical effect the study will have. ``My problem is the politics of it,'' he said. ``When is this going to filter down to a single doctor in the Dallas V.A. [Veterans Administration]?'' Fleckenstein said treatments are being explored by his colleague Dr. Robert W. Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern. Haley helped define Gulf War syndromes and identify toxic exposures associated with the likelihood of having them. He also revealed enzyme abnormalities that may be part of a biological basis for the disease. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Original Source: http://wire.ap.org/
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We couldn't resist
---------------------*----------------------
By Nicholas
Regush
Our columnist has the perfect
prescription for the sin of
ignorance.
Step up, sinners! Enter the tent of Life. Be brave, not afraid. The Second Opinion Premillennium Medical and Scientific Confessional is about to help you save your souls. Step up, all ye doctors who have advised patients that their problems are all in their "minds." Here’s your opportunity to come clean. Repeat after me: "I had no idea what I was talking about." See, that wasn’t so bad. Feels good to let it out, doesn’t it? Had you substituted the word "brain" for "mind," you at least would have identified a specific location in the body. But I understand -- suggesting brain involvement might have complicated matters somewhat, and your patients might have become confused. On the basis of modern body atlases, we can at least speculate that the brain is connected to the body in one form or another. Syndrome? What Syndrome? Step up, all ye doctors who have sneered at the numerous and varied complaints of war veterans, including those who went to the Persian Gulf. A bunch of malingerers and cheats, right? I, being a gentle and caring person, understand that because you couldn’t figure out what was wrong with them on the basis of available tests and medical practices, you felt foolish, maybe even afraid of your lack of knowledge. So clean out those terrible thoughts and repeat after me: "I had no idea what I was talking about." Also proclaim the following with enthusiasm: "I have nothing to be ashamed of, if I admit to my patients that I’m in the dark about their symptoms. I won’t be an arrogant (fill in the blank) any longer. I promise." Perhaps you noticed last week that some researchers investigating Gulf War Syndrome have taken a very small first step to show actual changes in the brains of soldiers complaining of aches -- particularly neurological symptoms -- and pain. It’s not a breakthrough by any means; just a small offering that might make you feel more at ease with the idea that your "knowledge" is extremely limited, and that much more research is required before you blow off a generation of war veterans. You might also consider that many men and women who fought in one war or another returned home badly traumatized by the blood and torture they witnessed. It’s really true — they really did watch people, even friends, get butchered or blown apart. The resulting condition is often referred to as Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Research at many major medical institutions shows it involves, yes, the brain, and the way this organ of behavior stores memories. This is not a mind thing. So, if you ever told a war veteran that the horrors were all in her/his or her mind, repeat after me: “I had no idea what I was talking about, and I am a total (fill in the blank).” Fatigued or Faking? The same applies to your blow-offs of people who wonder whether they might have chronic fatigue syndrome, that varying spectrum of symptoms including neurological and gastrointestinal problems, muscular abnormalities, fever and nausea; the list goes on. If you ever told any of these patients to take an aspirin or a Valium, then you really ought to step up and confess to your ignorance and arrogance. You might also consider reading the medical literature on chronic fatigue syndrome that suggests real physical problems and likely viral infection. Oh, I see, you haven’t read the studies yet. You didn’t have time? Well, then, maybe you should forget about redemption and consider being a car jockey instead. A New Beginning If you repent, the sky’s the limit. Listen up, sinners! There’s hope for you yet. A new day is dawning. Think about it — a new century, a new page to turn over, a new chapter, a new life. Time for an important change. You can do it. But first, you must enter the tent and repent. And given that this country is always ready to forgive those who step up and admit they behaved foolishly, you will probably have a second chance. As for those members of the media — you know who you are — who uncritically brought millions of people the ignorant messages that war veterans with a wide variety of symptoms and people with chronic fatigue syndrome were typically either cheats or malingerers, or that the problems were all in their minds, Second Opinion would like to invite you too to confess your sins. -----------*------------
Nicholas Regush produces medical features for
ABCNEWS. In his weekly column, published Wednesdays,
he looks at medical trouble spots, heralds innovative achievements and analyzes
health trends that may greatly influence our lives. His latest book is
Original Source: |
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U.S. Study Finds
Brain Damage
Updated 4:28 PM ET November 30, 1999 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Researchers said Tuesday they have found brain damage in soldiers believed to be suffering from Gulf War Syndrome as a result of chemical exposure during the conflict. Magnetic resonance scans of 22 veterans found reduced levels of a brain chemical called NAA, suggesting a loss of neurons in the brain stem and basal ganglia, said the report from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The brain stem controls some reflexes while the basal ganglia affects movement, memory and emotion. Thousands of soldiers who served in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990 and 1991 during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait have complained about health problems including memory loss, sleep disorders, balance problems, depression, exhaustion, body pain, diarrhea and difficulties in concentrating. Robert Haley, an associate professor of internal medicine at the Texas school, said the new findings validate earlier research which found that some Gulf veterans who complained of the symptoms had a genetic predisposition for brain injury because they were born with low blood levels of the enzyme that breaks down the chemical nerve gas sarin. Each set of symptoms, he said, "has a slightly different pattern of brain impairment implicating different combinations of neurotoxic chemicals, including chemical nerve gas, side effects from the anti-nerve gas tablets ... insect repellents and pesticides in flea collars," he said. "One the basis of those results and the veterans' symptoms, we predicted magnetic resonance spectroscopy would show a loss of brain cells in these areas," Haley said. "This finding validates our earlier work." The report was released in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. "Some of these patients are profoundly disabled -- there are stories of some real heroes who now barely are able to drive to the store," said James L. Fleckenstein, a radiology professor at the school. "Although the existence of Gulf War Syndrome is considered controversial, this is evidence supporting a physical mechanism for the problem. The findings suggest a substantial loss of brain cells in the areas that could explain the veterans' symptoms," he said. Veterans in the United States have blamed their sicknesses on exposure to organophosphate pesticides or the cocktail of drugs they were given to protect them from chemical and biological war. ...
Original Source:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/991130/16/health-gulf2 |
--------~~*~~-------------~~*~~----------~~*~~------------ * CNN Coverage *
Gulf War Veterans Suffered
Brain
Damage
Web posted at: 1:01 p.m. EST (1801 GMT) CHICAGO (CNN) -- A new study of two small groups of Gulf War veterans indicates their brains may have been damaged by chemicals they were exposed to while serving in the region, researchers reported Tuesday at a meeting of radiologists.
"The findings suggest a substantial loss of brain
cells in the areas that could explain the veterans' symptoms," said
Dr.
James L. Fleckenstein, a professor of radiology at the University
of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas where the research was
conducted.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9911/30/gulf.war.syndrome/ |
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*
National Gulf
War Resource Center Press Release
* By Thomas D. Williams and Hartford Courant
This story
Web-posted
November 30, 1999; 11:30 a.m. The study, combined with earlier related studies, contradict claims by the Pentagon since the Gulf War that low-level chemical agents were not common on battlefields, or, if they were evident, that they could not have been seriously harmful to veterans. Many veterans have complained of persistent illnesses in the years since the war. ``It basically penetrates the denials that they were not sick from Gulf War-related exposures,'' said Dr. James L. Fleckenstein, a professor of radiology at the University of Texas and one of those responsible for the study. ``Now we can move from a point when Gulf War syndrome was debated, to a time when Gulf War disease can be diagnosed, and hopefully an effective treatment can be developed.'' ``It confirms what we have known for a long time, that there were serious exposures to chemical warfare out there in the battlefields,'' said former U.S. Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr., a Michigan Democrat. As chairman of a Senate committee, it was Riegle who first gathered evidence in 1993 and 1994 that Gulf War soldiers had been exposed to chemical warfare. The evidence revealed in part that hundreds of thousands of chemical alarms had sounded after winds carried chemicals over battlefields during allied bombings of Iraqi chemical weapons plants. More than 100,000 of the 690,000 Gulf War veterans who served at the height of the 1990-91 war, have reported suffering from symptoms such as memory loss, loss of balance, sleep disorders, depression, exhaustion, joint pain, diarrhea and problems with concentration. These symptoms, the studies say, are consistent with veterans' exposures to chemicals, including chemical warfare, anti-chemical warfare drugs and pesticides. A group of Navy Seabees as well as some Army soldiers took special magnetic resonance brain scans, which showed they have 10 percent to 25 percent lower levels of a certain chemical in the brain stem and gray matter than healthy soldier-subjects, the new study shows. The brain stem controls some of the body's reflexes, and the gray matter [basal ganglia] controls movement, memory and emotion. A total of 46 service people were studied. The collection of data took three to four months, and was completed in September 1998. ``The Department of Defense is always interested in high quality research that provides us information concerning the complex set of health problems being encountered by our Persian Gulf War veterans,'' said James Turner, a Pentagon spokesman. ``We look forward to seeing the work in a peer-reviewed scientific journal of stature. Until then, it would be inappropriate for the [department] to comment on an unreleased research paper we haven't seen.'' He said the defense department is continuing to care for active duty Gulf War veterans experiencing problems they believe are associated with their service during the war. So far, he said, the department has provided special physical exams for 38,135 veterans and some family members. Last month, a report from the Rand Corp., also funded by the Pentagon, revealed that the use of the drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) by 250,000 soldiers during the Persian Gulf War ``cannot be ruled out'' as a cause of lingering illnesses in some veterans. The PB pills were supplied to service members by the military despite the experimental nature of their use, and despite the fact that they were effective only against soman gas and dangerous to use in the face of potential sarin gas, accessible to the Iraqis. Fleckenstein and Dr. Robert Haley, an associate professor of internal medicine and chief of epidemiology, both working at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas were in charge of the brain scan study. It is a significant follow up to earlier studies by Haley of Gulf War veterans, and was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and the [Ross] Perot Foundation of Dallas. Haley said the findings were significant not only because they show the veterans were telling the truth about their exposure to chemical warfare, but because their brain injuries may be treatable. He said brain cells are not missing in the patients examined, just damaged or atrophied. Although there is no known treatment as of yet, Haley added, there is medical research underway to regenerate nerve cells. ``Some of these [veterans] are profoundly disabled, [some] barely able to drive to the store,'' Fleckenstein said. ``The findings suggest a substantial loss of brain cells in the areas that could explain the veterans''' symptoms.'' The results were released in a press conference Tuesday at the 85th Scientific Assembly of the Radiological Society of North America. Twenty-two sick Gulf War U.S. Navy veterans studied had lower levels of certain chemicals in the brain than was detected in 18 healthy veterans. That study was consistent with a second one of six Gulf War Army veterans.The doctors doing the study were not told which veterans were healthy or which had symptoms of illness, Haley and Fleckenstein said. In earlier research, Haley said, he and Texas research doctors identified three primary symptoms indicating brain impairment in sick Gulf War veterans. Their disabilities were consistent with the soldiers' exposures to chemical nerve gas, side effects from PB tablets and insect repellants, and pesticides used in soldiers' flea collars, the earlier study said Critics of the Pentagon quickly reacted to the new study.``Why is Dr. Haley able to figure this out when our government friends and their scientists were unable to do so for so long?'' said retired U.S. Army Maj. Barry Kapplan of Union. Kapplan, a Gulf War veteran, spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to cure a variety of illnesses he and family members contracted and which he believes were related to his war exposures. ``It's nine years late and a whole bunch of medical bills short,'' he said. ``What is this going to do for the veterans now? It's so long after the Gulf War, it's hard to believe veterans can still be treated.'' Riegle, the former senator who now works for an international public relations firm whose work includes health-related issues, called the new study a ``chilling and persuasive finding.'' ``It demonstrates again that the Pentagon has worked hardest not to get to the full truth. And, we have all those walking wounded who need medical help and compensation, and they are not getting it,'' Riegle said. ``These findings lend new urgency to bring this issue back to the forefront. I think the president has an obligation to act as the commander in chief, if the Pentagon doesn't do so.'' Copyright © 1999 National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc. or for more information contact:
National Gulf War Resource
Center
Source:
http://www.ngwrc.org/news/content/TueNov301318401999.asp |
--------~~*~~-------------~~*~~----------~~*~~------------ * ABCNEWS.com Chat with Dr. Fleckenstein *
A Missing Chemical
An ABC Chat Forum with
Researcher New research presented this week to the Radiological Society of North America suggests that some service members exposed to chemicals during the Gulf War suffered brain damage—a loss of brain cells manifested in the loss of reflexes, memory and emotion. The initial study at the University of Texas showed that veterans with symptoms of the mysterious illness known as Gulf War Syndrome also had 25 percent lower levels of a certain brain chemical. It’s just one more piece of evidence of a disease that has affected more than 100,000 men and women who served in the Gulf. James Fleckenstein, UT professor of radiology, joined us in a chat to discuss these new findings." -------------~~*~~----------
For entire the ABC Chat Transcript, please
click
here. |
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Gulf Vet Study Finds Brain Damage
DALLAS (AP) — A small-scale study of Gulf
War veterans who complained of dizziness shows some of them appear to have
brain damage similar to that found The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center study of 43 people said the veterans' reactions on audiological tests were consistent with patients who have dysfunction deep in the inner ear and brain stem.
Dr. Peter Roland, who led the study, called the findings
``subjective evidence''
Though this study did not produce actual photographic or chemical evidence
of Subjects in the most recent study underwent a battery of tests — designed to measure deep-seated brain responses — that analyzed their eye movements and body sway to determine how often and why they felt dizzy. ``These tests have shown evidence of dysfunction in the deepest structure of the brain where the body controls balance,'' said one of the study's authors, Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern. Haley said the brain damage was the same type of problem seen in victims of the 1995 sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway. Some Japanese studies have shown subtle brain damage in some of those victims.
The subjects of the Texas study were 23 members of a Naval Mobile Construction
Battalion, known as Seabees, who complained of dizziness and other symptoms,
Among the veterans who said they felt sick, 16 reported they often felt dizzy
and overcome by vertigo. All but one of the 16 had abnormal test results
indicating
This latest study appeared in the March issue of the journal
Otolaryngology-Head Along with fatigue, memory loss and joint pain, loss of balance is among the unexplained symptoms of some Gulf War veterans. Earlier research sponsored by the Pentagon has suggested the symptoms, including dizziness, were caused by psychological factors such as stress and anxiety. ``Our tests showed this dizziness is not caused by psychological factors, but more likely by physiological problems,'' Roland said. ``In other words, these people are not faking it and they aren't stressed out.'' Dr. Lloyd Minor of Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study, said it was important in identifying that something was wrong with the inner ear and deep brain systems that control balance in the veterans. ...
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Source: http://wire.ap.org/ --------~~*~~-------------~~*~~----------~~*~~------------ * Reuters * Gulf War Syndrome Symptoms Linked to Damage to Different Parts of the Brain
Updated 11:52 AM ET November 27, 2000
CHICAGO (Reuters) -
Symptoms such as memory loss and
In 1999 doctors from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
"This year we show that brain cell losses from specific areas
The scans performed on 12 veterans with severe cases of the
The Texas researchers have found the amount of brain cell loss
Veterans with damage to the right basal
ganglia appeared to
Brain cell losses
on the left side
[of the basal
ganglia] appeared
DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS
EXPERIENCED
Damage to the brain stem
appeared to account at least in part
"This helps explain why not all patients have
the same exact
In past research the Texas team has identified three primary
Syndrome 1, commonly
found in veterans who wore pesticide-
Syndrome 2, called
confusion ataxia, is the most severe
and
"It may have been the combination of low-level nerve gas
Syndrome 3,
characterized by central pain, is found
in veterans
The researchers noted that brain scans performed on veterans
As many as 100,000 of the 700,000 U.S. soldiers who served in
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--------~~*~~-------------~~*~~----------~~*~~------------
*
Associated
Press, December 1,1999
*
*
ABC columnist Nicholas Regush
*
*
CNN
Coverage November 30,
1999 *
*
Reuters Coverage, November 30,1999
*
*
National Gulf War Resource Center
Press Release *
*
ABCNEWS.com Chat with
Dr. Fleckenstein *
*
ABC
News Link, February 2, 2000
*
*
Press Release
and CNN Coverage June 16, 1999
*
*
Associated
Press, April 7, 2000
*
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