Development Of Chronic Fatigue Research Articles

Stress Management: from Sports Science to People Management

The deterioration of physical and mental performance in physical, work, or personal activities is the main outcome and is a consensual factor for finding accumulated stress, chronic fatigue, overtraining, or burnout syndrome, for example. However, energy depletion and partial impairment of performance can be managed and lead to overcompensation of physiological adaptations. In this context, it is essential to monitor the effect of chronic stress, but there is no consensus on which tools to use due to inaccuracies, difficult interpretations, and inconclusions. Therefore, the objective of this review is to share conceptual information about stress, and its role in the development of chronic fatigue, pointing out limitations, gaps, and future perspectives regarding monitoring possibilities. For the construction of arguments and presentation of possible solutions, examples from exercise and sport sciences were used. It is expected that the understood knowledge can guide actions in different areas of professional activity, favoring the management of human resources.

Role of selective attention in fatigue in neurological disorders.

Chronic fatigue is a significant symptom in several diseases including traumatic and degenerative neurological disorders. While several studies have investigated the correlates of chronic fatigue, there is as yet no unifying framework to explain chronic fatigue. In this narrative review, I investigate the role of selective attention in the development of chronic fatigue and discuss results within the framework of the sensory attenuation model of fatigue, which posits that fatigue is the phenomenological output of altered attention to sensory input. Following a short introduction of this framework, I present results from investigations that address attentional mechanisms in fatigue in multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson's disease. Attention was quantified in all four disease models using a variety of outcome measures, including behavioural, neurophysiological, structural and functional brain connectivity. The range of measures precluded direct comparison of results across disease conditions; however, in all four disease models there was evidence of poor selective attention that explained levels of chronic fatigue, supporting the sensory attenuation model of fatigue as a disease-independent mechanism of fatigue. Evidence was lacking to draw any conclusions about the direction of causality. The role of selective attention in development of fatigue is indicated. Future studies must focus on establishing causality and exploring attentional circuitry as a potential therapeutic target.

The effectiveness of the process of restoring the functional status of servicemen who were in the area of the Joint Forces operation

Psychological rehabilitation of combatants is especially relevant today, when the hybrid war in the east of our country has been going on for eight years. The scale of this phenomenon in Ukrainian society requires an active study of the psychological problems of servicemen that have emerged during this time. The aim of the work is to determine the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation of servicemen after being in the combat zone according to the indicators of emotional burnout. A specially designed questionnaire was used to assess the impressions of combat and domestic problems that arise in the military in the area of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in relation to the effects of internal and external factors of combatants. To determine the development of chronic fatigue, the method "Diagnosis of emotional burnout" by Boyko V. V. was used. Statistical analysis of the obtained results was carried out with the involvement of methods of parametric and nonparametric statistics, cluster, stepwise multiple correlation and stepwise discriminant analysis using the software package STATISTICA 13.3. Analysis of the obtained data showed that six psychophysiological qualities (Rsl=0.67) were the most related to the parameter of stress load "before" treatment. The list of informative characteristics indicates the high activity of the body of servicemen, the dependence of endurance of their nervous system, the level of concentration and reliability of activity from the received stress. After treatment, the number of informative psychophysiological indicators decreases significantly, and the strength of the connection with stress increases slightly (Rsl=0.78), which indicates the gradual restoration of relevant body functions. It was found that the characteristics of emotions are associated with stress (Rsl=0.52). Before treating these relationships, there are three feelings: "self-dissatisfaction", "caged", "emotional and moral disorientation". After treatment, this connection is slightly reduced along with the elimination of the emotion of "self-dissatisfaction", which characterizes the gradual ordering, systematization of the feelings of the combatant, starting with the relationship to himself. It was found that the average efficiency of 10-day treatment is 16.7 %, which indicates the benefit of restorative procedures. Information technology has been developed that allows to quantify the outcome of treatment, the use of which will allow a meaningful approach to the treatment process, to carry out dynamic control of its results and improve rehabilitation techniques.

Problems of the of health-saving environment at the engineering university

The article deals with the issues of health-saving of students at Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. It identifies problems and possible ways to solve them in the health-saving environment of the university. To obtain information, a SWOT analysis of the organization of this environment was conducted, the degree of prevention, maintenance and preservation of students’ health at the technical university in the process of training future specialists in full-time training, as well as distance learning in the context of a pandemic was determined. «Problem Solving and Decision-Making» (PSDM) method was used, in the process of which possible solutions to the problems of the development of chronic fatigue and emotional burnout syndromes in architecture students in the course of full-time training and deterioration of the health of university students in the course of distance learning were identified. The method of psychological and pedagogical diagnostics was applied – testing in an online format, as a result of which the problems of health saving in the process of distance learning were identified. Methods of solving these problems were found (universal exercises were used in the conditions of limited home space).

The vulnerability of individual employees to work schedules with night shifts

Introduction. 15-20% of the working population is engaged in various degrees of night work, which is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. The most significant causes are the duration, frequency, and degree of disruption of the daily rhythm — the length of shift work, the frequency of night shifts, the possibility of short sleep (napping) in the night shift. The age, gender, and chronotype of the employee are most often considered as indicators of vulnerability to night work (VNW), but the effectiveness of using these individual characteristics in predictive models of disease risk during shift work remains unclear. The aim of the study is to use the proposed indicator of VNW to investigate its dependence on age, length of shift work, gender, chronic fatigue, health status, labor intensity and working environment conditions. Material and methods . Two indicators were used: usual fatigue of the employee more when working in the night shift than when working in the day shift (VNW. 1); great fatigue from evening and night work (VNW. 2). The following groups were Studied: 1 group GR1-688 employees of continuous production enterprises and health organizations that use working modes with night shifts; GR2-298 employees of an oil refinery; GR3-679 employees of education and health care; GR4-630 University teachers. Employees were asked about their health status, symptoms of chronic fatigue and its professional and non-professional factors and working conditions. The level of labor intensity of GR1 and GR2 employees was assessed. Was used the annual increase in risk indicator (AIR) to study the age’s and experience’s dynamics of health status (AIR ag and AIR ex ). Was used data on diseases detected during the medical examination of employees of GR1 and GR4. Results. In the first year of shift experience, 50-55% of employees in groups GR1 and GR2 are tired during the night shift, more than during the day. With 2 years of experience, such workers become about 2 times less, then within 10 years the risk of VNW. 1 gradually increases to a level close to the value in the first year of service. Employees of GR1 and GR2 were not found to have any dependence of VNW. 1 from the age range of 25-64 years. In GR4, the V-inverse relationship of VNW. 2 is established from the age. With the same professions at oil refinery VNW. 1 is more often observed in women ((RR=1.17;0.49-2.8). For different health indicators the ratio of AIR ex /AIR ag amounted from 2.4 to 5.0. In GR1 at VNW. 1 an increased risk of chronic infectious diseases has been identified (RR=13.6; 1.67-111.0) and onychomycosis (women — RR=2.45 (2.023.00); men RR=1.49 (0.96-2.30). The V-shaped dependence of the risk of VNW. 1 is established. 1 on the intensity of labor. Conclusions. When working with night shifts, 30-50% of employees are more tired when performing the same work at day shift. These workers do not adapt to night shifts. When working with night shifts, the risk of various chronic health disorders is 2.4-5 times greater than their age trend. Long-term VNW. 1 is one of the signs of the development of chronic fatigue and deterioration of the overall health of the employee. The employee's risk of VNW increases when exposed to a variety of professional and non-professional chronic stressors.

Occupational health risk among healthcare workers of the Bashkortostan infectious diseases service

The a priori and a posteriori factors of occupational health risks among workers of the infectious service have been studied. It has been shown that workers with a high a priori risk (harmful Class 3.3) have minimal risk levels in terms of occupational morbidity (Ипр = 0,0005). The occupational morbidity of healthcare workers in the infectious disease service does not reflect the levels of actual risk for their health. On physical examination, only 4 % of workers were found to be practically healthy, most often diagnosed with diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (19.8 %), as well as diseases of the circulatory system (18.8 %). Psychosocial effects leading to stress reactions with the development of chronic fatigue and occupational burnout syndrome (OBS) rank first among health problems of workers. The formed OBS was observed in 19.2 % of doctors and 29.2 % of nursing staff. The studies conducted indicate the probability of the prediction of the development of a high posterior risk to the health of workers of the infectious disease service.

Homeostatic disturbance of thermoregulatory functions in rats with chronic fatigue

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by long-lasting fatigue, and a range of symptoms, and is involved in homeostasis disruption. CFS patients frequently complain of low grade fever or chill even under normal body temperature indicating that thermosensory or thermoregulatory functions might be disturbed in CFS. However, little is known about the detailed mechanisms. To elucidate whether and how thermoregulatory function was altered during the development of chronic fatigue, we investigated temporal changes in body temperature with advance of fatigue accumulation in a chronic fatigue rat model using a wireless transponder. Our findings demonstrated that the body temperature was adaptively increased in response to fatigue loading in the early phase, but unable to retain in the late phase. The tail heat dissipation was often observed and the frequency of tail heat dissipation gradually increased initially, then decreased. In the late phase of fatigue loading, the body temperature for the tail heat dissipation phase decreased to a value lower than that for the non-dissipation phase. These results suggest that adaptive changes in thermoregulatory function occurred with fatigue progression, but this system might be disrupted by long-lasting fatigue, which may underlie the mechanism of fatigue chronification.

Temperament vs. chronic fatigue in police officers

Chronic fatigue is a problem affecting a still growing number of people. Among them there are representatives of different professions who are forced to cope not only with occupational stress, but also with the problem of fatigue. The police is one of such occupational groups, in which exposure to stressful and often traumatic situations, contact with those who violate the law, shift work and contact with superiors can play a key role in the development of chronic fatigue. However, chronic fatigue, induced by the above mentioned factors, does not affect all police officers since its occurrence also depends on many personal traits, including temperament. We studied a group of 61 police officers of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian garrison. The study was conducted using the Buss and Plomin EAS (emotionality, activity, sociability) Temperament Questionnaire, CIS-20R (community, innovation, survey) Questionnaire, developed by Vercoulen et al. and a questionnaire on socio-demographic data. The results indicated the relationship between chronic fatigue and emotionality. Statistical analyses showed a negative correlation between the nature of emotional components, distress, fear, anger, and the general rate of chronic fatigue. There was no statistically significant correlation between age, and service experience and the level of chronic fatigue. The results indicate that the officers of the study group show dramatically high levels of chronic fatigue. The results also revealed that temperament characteristics, such as sociability and activity, reported in the literature as factors reducing fatigue and stress, did not show relevance to chronic fatigue in the study group.

Chronic fatigue and infection

Chronic fatigue is common during adolescence, and up to 1% of the adolescent population is unable to participate in normal activities due to persisting tiredness. The onset and perpetuation of chronic fatigue are multifactorial, and infection has often been postulated to be an important aspect of the etiology. While some infections persist for many months or even years and can be accompanied by fatigue, acute infection more frequently serves as a trigger for subsequent pathophysiologic mechanisms, which are associated with fatigue that persists much longer than the initial, inciting infection. Altered gene expression might mediate some of these ongoing processes. Chronic fatigue is often associated with altered cytokine and natural killer cell patterns and is sometimes associated with the development of autoimmunity, even to specific neurologic receptors. Autonomic dysfunction in the form of the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is frequently linked to adolescent chronic fatigue, as is cardiovascular deconditioning. Psychologic profiles both prior to and after the inciting infection have also been associated with ongoing fatigue. Thus, infectious illnesses can interact with immune, neurologic, cardiovascular, and psychologic factors to stimulate the development of chronic fatigue in adolescents.

Postherpetic neuralgia: Therapeutic and prophylactic aspects and pregabalin therapy

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is one of the most common and persistent chronic pain syndromes caused by chickenpox virus affecting the peripheral and central nervous systems. PHN is a typical neuropathic pain resulting from injury or dysfunction of the somatosensory system whose development involves a few mechanisms. Elderly people are more prone to PHN, which is associated with the weakened immune system. Treatment of shingles cannot completely prevent subsequent neuralgia; however, some drugs can reduce its manifestations. The diagnosis of PHN is largely based on the duration of pain after rash onset. However, it is difficult to estimate the real rate of PHN development because there is neither consensus of opinion on this issue nor common criteria for pat duration (1 to 6 months, as shown by different data). The significant factors that may predispose to PHN are older age, female gender, and acute herpes zoster indicators, such as pain intensity, the severity of herpetic rash and infectious manifestations. Pain syndrome in PHN can reach a high intensity level, accompanied by the development of chronic fatigue, depression, and loss of social skills. There are several types of pain in PHN: constant, paroxysmal and allodynia, which are due to different pathophysiological mechanisms. Variability in the clinical manifestations of PHN may underlie the inadequate efficacy of one or other drug. The treatment of PHN poses definite difficulties. About 40-50% of patients continue to suffer from pain despite the fact that the multitude of currently available therapies is performed. Pregabalin, whose high efficacy and advantages in the treatment of pain in PHN are demonstrated in numerous studies, is one of the most effective first-line drugs for PHN. In-depth analysis suggests that inadequately low doses of pregabalin are frequently used in the treatment of PHN, which may lead to an insufficient analgesic effect.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of the Interaction between the Immune and Neuroendocrine Systems in Experimental Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Derangement of the interaction between the immune and neuroendocrine systems represent one of the major mechanisms in the development of chronic fatigue syndrome. Induction of chronic fatigue syndrome by i.p. administration of the synthetic double-stranded RNA poly I:C provides a suitable experimental model for studying these mechanisms. We report here our studies of changes in the intensity of the cytotoxic and proliferative activities of splenocytes, changes in the intensity of immunomodulatory cytokine signal transduction via the sphingomyelin pathway in the P2 membrane fraction of the cerebral cortex, and changes in the activity of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenocortical system (HHACS) during development of chronic fatigue syndrome in rats. Suppression of both cytotoxic and proliferative activity was demonstrated in rat splenocytes during the formation of experimental chronic fatigue syndrome. Important data showing suppression of the activity of neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) activity were obtained, this being a key enzyme in the sphingomyelin cascade, in cerebral cortex cells three days after animals were given Poly I:C. Injections of poly I:C were followed by impairment of HHACS function in rats, with decreases in corticosterone concentrations in standard functional tests in which animals were given ACTH and hydrocortisone. The results lead to the conclusion that impairments to the interaction between the immune and neuroendocrine systems during development of chronic fatigue, including changes in HHACS activity, are mediated both at the level of changes in the activity of immunocompetent cells and directly on brain cell membranes.

Morphological, haemato‐biochemical and endocrine changes in young Standardbreds with ‘maladaptation’ to early training

The demands in the Standardbred trotters industry require young, still growing horses, to be trained well above light exercise level. During that period, the risk of occurrence of energy imbalance and maladaptation to training is high. In man, the lack of energy homeostasis is considered as the basic problem in the development of chronic fatigue. To find objective biomarkers of early maladaptation to training in young racehorses under field conditions. Sixty-five 2-year-old Standardbreds were followed during their first 3 months of training in 5 different training centres. Monthly measurement of morphological variables (weight, height at withers, body condition score, body composition), basic haemato-biochemical variables and endocrine levels (testosterone, cortisol, thyroid hormones, leptin, IGF1, prolactin) were undertaken. Feeding levels and training programmes were also evaluated. At the end of the 3 month period, on the basis of an abnormal weight loss, 14 young horses were suspected of maladaptation to training (MT group). Morphological, haemato-biochemical, endocrine changes were compared between MT group (n = 14) and control group (C group, n = 40). Analysis of variance was calculated to study the effects of time and maladaptation to training. Compared to C group, MT group showed a significant higher weight loss in relation to a higher loss of fat mass and body condition score (P < 0.05). MT group presented higher GGT and white cell counts and lower red cell counts (P < 0.05). Finally, MT group showed significant lower levels of T4 (P = 0.03) than C group. Some young horses presented signs of energy imbalance which were also associated with haematobiochemical and endocrine changes. Those markers might be useful for identification of maladaptation to training.

Predictors of chronic "postviral" fatigue

Summary We set out to determine the relation between a general practitioner (GP) diagnosis of viral illness and development of chronic fatigue 6 months later. 618 subjects who attended GPs clinics in London, south, and southwest England and who received a diagnosis of viral illness were followed prospectively and fatigue was assessed by questionnaire after 6 months. At presentation, GPs recorded fatigue in 62·6% of subjects, usually since the onset of symptoms. 502 (81·2%) subjects completed the 6-month questionnaire, of whom 88 (17·5%) met criteria for chronic fatigue and 65 (12·9%) had no reported fatigue before the viral illness. Compared with a similar group of non-postviral GP attenders, the risk ratio for chronic fatigue in the present cohort was 1·45 (95% Cl 1·14-2·04). Infective symptoms did not predict fatigue 6 months later. Psychiatric morbidity, belief in vulnerability to viruses, and attributional style at initial presentation were all associated with self-designated postviral fatigue. Logistic regression showed that somatic attributional style, less definite diagnosis by the GP, and sick certification were the only significant predictors of chronic fatigue after viral infection when other factors were controlled for. Chronic severe fatigue 6 months after GP-diagnosed viral illness is related to symptom-attributional style and doctor behaviour, rather than to features of the viral illness. Some subjects with apparent postviral fatigue had complained of tiredness before their presentation with a viral illness.