Integrative Physiology of Gulf War Illness: Role of Autonomic Function, Central Neural Processing, and Sleep.

摘要

About 25% of Gulf veterans (GVs) report major problems with fatigue, widespread pain, cognition, and unrefreshing sleep Gulf War Illness (GWI). Despite this high prevalence, current treatments have not proven effective. To advance the state of knowledge in GWI, a symptom based syndrome, future work needs to better understand the pathophysiology of the disease. The major objective of this contract was to prepare a grant proposal to test the following hypotheses: (a) that perturbation in one or more of several physiological systems (Autonomic, Sleep, Central Neural Processing) is responsible for the genesis of symptoms of GWI; (b) that assessing these baseline abnormalities with both an acute laboratory stressor and a chronic exercise resistance training regimen will uncover further abnormalities in one of more of these systems; and (c) that studying multiple systems will allow us to uncover interactions among systems that magnify the effect of any one. Thus, by using an integrative approach to understanding the pathophysiology, we will for the first time be able to understand how impairments in various physiological symptoms may not only interact but may underlie the genesis of symptoms. In addition, we will be able to target novel treatments based on the underlying pathophysiology.