Fibromyalgia in biblical times

Abstract Although fibromyalgia (FM) is now a recognized clinical entity, an early description of this clinical syndrome is found in the Old Testament. In this Letter, biblical passages which are mentioned to the main symptoms of FM (e.g. chronic and disabling pain, unrefreshing sleep and physical exhaustion), actually associated with chronic stress and depression, are presented indicatively.

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Fibromyalgia–a clinical entity?

Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology ◽

10.1139/y91-100 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 69 (5) ◽

pp. 672-677 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Karl G. Henriksson ◽

Ann Bengtsson

Keyword(s):

Sleep Disturbance ◽

Relaxation Rate ◽

Clinical Entity ◽

Diagnostic Specificity ◽

Muscular Pain ◽

American College Of Rheumatology ◽

Unrefreshing Sleep ◽

Disturbed Microcirculation ◽

Laboratory Investigations ◽

Physiological Sleep

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness at specified sites, fatigue, and unrefreshing sleep. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has recently accepted diagnostic criteria for FM. The ACR criteria have high diagnostic specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy. Laboratory investigations show a disturbed microcirculation in painful muscles, a decrease in adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine, and a reduced relaxation rate. Pain analyses indicate that the pain is nociceptive. A characteristic physiological sleep disturbance has been described that is correlated to the symptoms. The etiology of FM is not known. The etiology may be different in different patients. FM is a clinical entity, but should be regarded as a syndrome rather than a disease.Key words: pain, muscular pain, fibromyalgia, fibrositis.

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Metabolic Syndrome: Updates on Pathophysiology and Management in 2021

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms23020786 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 786

Author(s):

Gracia Fahed ◽

Laurence Aoun ◽

Morgan Bou Zerdan ◽

Sabine Allam ◽

Maroun Bou Zerdan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Insulin Resistance ◽

Metabolic Syndrome ◽

Clinical Syndrome ◽

Clinical Entity ◽

Historical Background ◽

Atherogenic Dyslipidemia ◽

Low Grade ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Heavy Burden ◽

Low Grade Inflammation

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) forms a cluster of metabolic dysregulations including insulin resistance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, central obesity, and hypertension. The pathogenesis of MetS encompasses multiple genetic and acquired entities that fall under the umbrella of insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation. If left untreated, MetS is significantly associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Given that CVDs constitute by far the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, it has become essential to investigate the role played by MetS in this context to reduce the heavy burden of the disease. As such, and while MetS relatively constitutes a novel clinical entity, the extent of research about the disease has been exponentially growing in the past few decades. However, many aspects of this clinical entity are still not completely understood, and many questions remain unanswered to date. In this review, we provide a historical background and highlight the epidemiology of MetS. We also discuss the current and latest knowledge about the histopathology and pathophysiology of the disease. Finally, we summarize the most recent updates about the management and the prevention of this clinical syndrome.

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Is the common cold a clinical entity or a cultural concept?

Rhinology Journal ◽

10.4193/rhino12.123 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 3-8

Author(s):

R. Eccles

Keyword(s):

Common Cold ◽

Scoring Systems ◽

Clinical Syndrome ◽

Clinical Entity ◽

Disease States ◽

Clinical Literature ◽

Common Infectious Disease ◽

Reasonable Approach ◽

The Common ◽

Cultural Concept

Common cold is the most common infectious disease of mankind and the term is widely used in the clinical literature as though it were a defined clinical syndrome. Clinical studies on this syndrome often use elaborate symptom scoring systems to diagnose a common cold. The symptom scores are based on a study conducted over 50 years ago to retrospectively diagnose experimental cold and this method cannot be applied to diagnosis of common cold in the community. Diagnosis of the common cold by virology is not feasible because of the number of viruses and the variability in the disease states caused by the viruses. Because of the familiarity of subjects with common cold and the variability in symptomatology it seems a more reasonable approach to use self-diagnosis of common cold for clinical research studies and accept that the common cold is a cultural concept and not a clinical entity.

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