and the funding bias towards biopsychosocial studies and against biomedical studies has been highlighted a number of times by patient groups and a number of uk politicians. a parliamentary inquiry by an ad hoc group of parliamentarians in the united kingdom, set up and chaired by former mp, dr ian gibson, called the group on scientific research into cfs/me,: 169–86 was addressed by a government minister claiming that few good biomedical research proposals have been submitted to the medical research council (mrc) in contrast to those for psychosocial research. they were also told by other scientists of proposals that have been rejected, with claims of bias against biomedical research. the mrc confirmed to the group that from april 2003 to november 2006, it has turned down 10 biomedical applications relating to cfs/me and funded five applications relating to cfs/me, mostly in the psychiatric/psychosocial domain. in 2008, the mrc set up an expert group to consider how the mrc might encourage new high-quality research into cfs/me and partnerships between researchers already working on cfs/me and those in associated areas. it currently lists cfs/me with a highlight notice, inviting researchers to develop high-quality research proposals for funding. in february 2010, the all-party parliamentary group on me (appg on me) produced a legacy paper, which welcomed the recent mrc initiative, but felt that far too much emphasis in the past had been on psychological research, with insufficient attention to biomedical research, and that further biomedical research must be undertaken to help discover a cause and more effective forms of management for this disease. a 2016 report by me research looking at uk funding for me/cfs between jan 2006 and dec 2015 found that 99 grants had been funded, totalling £49 million, with the largest number of studies being related to "biological and endogenous factors". controversy surrounds psychologically oriented models of the disease and behavioral treatments conducted in the uk. united states in 1998, $13 million for cfs research was found to have been redirected or improperly accounted for by the united states cdc, and officials at the agency misled congress about the irregularities. the agency stated that they needed the funds to respond to other public-health emergencies. the director of a us national patient advocacy group charged the cdc had a bias against studying the disease. the cdc pledged to improve their practices and to restore the $13 million to cfs research over three years. on 29 october 2015, the national institutes of health declared its intent to increase research on me/cfs. the nih clinical center was to study individuals with me/cfs, and the national institute of neurological disorders and stroke would lead the trans-nih me/cfs research working group as part of a multi-institute research effort. notable cases main article: list of people with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1989, the golden girls (1985–1992) featured chronic fatigue syndrome in a two-episode arc, "sick and tired: part 1" and "part 2", in which protagonist dorothy zbornak, portrayed by bea arthur, after a lengthy battle with her doctors in an effort to find a diagnosis for her symptoms, is finally diagnosed with cfs. american author ann bannon had cfs. laura hillenbrand, author of the popular book seabiscuit, has struggled with cfs since age 19. research graph of cfs papers published by year. papers mentioning me or cfs papers whose title mentions me/cfscurrent research into me/cfs may lead to a better understanding of the disease's causes, biomarkers to aid in diagnosis, and treatments to relieve symptoms.: 10 the emergence of long covid has sparked increased interest in me/cfs, as the two conditions may share pathology, and a treatment for one may treat the other. causes recent research suggests dysfunction in many biological processes. these changes may share a common cause, but the true relationship between them is currently unknown. metabolic areas of interest include disruptions in amino acid metabolism, the tca cycle, atp synthesis, and potentially increased lipid metabolism. other research has investigated immune dysregulation and its potential connections to mitochondrial dysfunction. autoimmunity has been proposed as a cause, but evidence is scant. people with me/cfs may have abnormal gut microbiota, which has been proposed to affect mitochondria or nervous system function. several small studies have investigated the genetics of me/cfs, but none of their findings have been replicated. a larger study, decodeme, is currently underway in the united kingdom. treatments various drugs have been or are being investigated for treating me/cfs. the drug rintatolimod is currently in an experimental trial in the us to treat both me/cfs and long covid. low-dose naltrexone is also being studied as of 2023. rituximab, a drug that depletes b cells, was studied and found to be ineffective. biomarkers many biomarkers for me/cfs have been proposed based on research findings. but due to the use of a number of case definitions in research, some of which are non-specific such as the sharpe (“oxford”) and fukuda (“old cdc”) definitions, no biomarkers have been widely validated or broadly clinically implemented. proposed markers include electrical measurements of blood cells and a combination of immune cell death rate and function. challenges me/cfs affects multiple bodily systems, varies widely in severity, and fluctuates over time, creating heterogeneity within patient groups and making it very difficult to identify a singular cause. this variation may also cause treatments that are effective for some patients to have no effect or a negative effect in others. dividing patients into subtypes may help manage this heterogeneity. the existence of multiple diagnostic criteria, and variations in how scientists apply them, complicate comparisons between studies.: 53 some definitions, like the oxford and fukuda criteria, may fail to distinguish between chronic fatigue in general and me/cfs, which requires pem in modern definitions. definitions also vary in which co-occurring conditions preclude a diagnosis of me/cfs.: 52