May 12 is ME/CFS Awareness Day. Fuel progress all month long—join the May Momentum campaign!

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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia Leading Research. Delivering Hope.Open Medicine Foundation® Canada
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International Awareness Day 2020

Today, OMF is continuing our momentum as we honor International Awareness Day for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) & Fibromyalgia (FM). We have invited our Social Media Coordinator, Rebecca Handler, to share, in her own words and images, why today means so much to all of us: Today, May 12th, 2020, marks International Awareness Day for ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia. OMF stands in solidarity with all those touched by both ME/CFS and FM. We are constantly inspired by the strength and resilience of our incredible OMF community. Recently, we invited our community to share pictures of their lives before ME/CFS to be featured as part of our #FlashbackFridayOMF series. The goal of #FlashbackFriday is to highlight just how much people with ME/CFS lose to this devastating illness and to demonstrate the importance of funding critical research so patients can return to their healthy lives. People from all over the world participated, submitting snapshots of their once incredibly vibrant lives: There were photos shared of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, dog sledding in Norway, and watching the sunrise over Victoria Falls. There were stories told of training at a kung fu academy, attending medical school to become a naturopath, and going on excavations while studying Egyptian Archaeology. Some of these images have been compiled into a moving video, attached below… What all of these individuals now have in common, is shared heartbreak and grief for the adventures, careers, passions, and lives that have been lost since their onset of ME/CFS. Now some can no longer walk to the mailbox, let alone climb a mountain. The tragic reality is that many lives have shrunk into just one room; Homebound or bedbound for years on end, they are forced to live within the confines of a cruel illness that robs individuals of their vitality. Today, and every day, we hold these patients and their families close to our hearts as we remain committed to free our community from the cruel restraints of this disease, and to shield the millions more who could have it someday. Ultimately, we envision a world that is free from ME/CFS, so that sufferers everywhere can return to their vitality. We have tremendous hope for the future of people with ME/CFS. We invite you to share this hope with us, as we stand together unabated, and continue working towards our goal of treatments or a cure. YOU are the Motivation behind our Momentum. With HOPE for all, Rebecca Handler OMF Social Media Coordinator

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May 12th is ME/CFS International Awareness Day

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Microvesicles and viral sequencing
Microvesicles are a type of extracellular vesicle that is released from the cell membrane. Vesicles are small, fluid-filled sacs or vacuoles within the body. Sequencing is a technique used to determine the exact sequence of bases (A, C, G, and T) in a DNA (or viral) molecule.
NMR Metabolomics
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is an instrument/tool used to perform metabolic studies, metabolic profiling, and metabolomics in biofluids and tissues for more than 40 years using magnetic fields. There is a very close connection between metabolic measurements and NMR. This connection has flourished because of NMR’s many unique strengths for characterizing complex mixtures’ chemical composition.
Proteomics
The large-scale study of proteins, which are large, complex molecules that are required for structure, function, and regulation of the human body's tissues and organs.
Autoantibodies
Antibodies that react with self-molecules and that occur in healthy individuals and are referred to as natural antibodies or autoantibodies.
Extracellular DNA for viral reactivation and Mitochondrial DNA
exDNA (extracellular DNA), exDNA is often secreted actively and is used to perform several tasks, thereby offering an attractive target or tool for biotechnological, medical, environmental, and general microbiological applications. Viruses are intracellular parasites that rely to a significant extent on the host cell for replication. Viral reactivation occurs when an active replication of the viral genome results in a lytic (degradation of the cell) infection characterized by the release of new progeny (descendant) virus particles.
Immune cell profiling
The immune system has many important regulatory roles in disease development and progression. Given the emergence of effective immune therapies, reliable predictors of response are needed. Immune cell profiling determines response by evaluating immune cell populations from treated and untreated samples. For our purposes, we will evaluate the white blood cell response to the viral infection using a process called “Cytof.”
Leukocyte Genomics
A leukocyte is a colorless cell circulating in the blood and body fluids and is involved in counteracting foreign substances and disease. A genome is all genetic material of an organism. Genomics is a biology field focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. Therefore, leukocyte genomics is the study of all genetic material of leukocytes.
Metabolomics
Metabolomics is a way to study metabolism – that is, through measuring amounts of the metabolites (small molecules) produced by our bodies as we convert food into energy and other molecules that our cells need to survive. Metabolomics technology is ‘large-scale,’ meaning that several thousand metabolites can be measured from a single sample of e.g., blood or urine.
Micro RNA
Cells use Micro RNA to control whether a particular gene is making too much, too little or the normal amount of its protein at a particular time.