2011
Volume 11, Number 4, pp. 172–179
TCP (tricresyl phosphate): pilot, aircrew and passenger safety and secondary myalgic encephalomyelitis
Byron M. Hyde
The Nightingale Research Foundation, 121 Iona St, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Y 3M1
Injury to the brain caused by a virus or a toxic chemical may not be obvious and, hence, difficult to diagnose, unless it affects a motor, visual, coördination or sensory brain centre (approximately 70% of the brain is involved with emotional, memory, immune and decision- making areas; injuries to these areas are not immediately visible on external or physical examination). New scanning technologies, especially when combined with tomography algorithms to yield three-dimensional images, have been enormously helpful in directly examining the brain for injury rather than relying on consequential behavioural and other effects. The better known technologies, such as X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging can reveal structural (i.e., anatomical) damage but cannot detect functional (i.e., physiological) damage. For the latter, techniques such as single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are very valuable. They have enabled many previously mysterious conditions to be diagnosed as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). It would appear that many sufferers from aerotoxic syndrome are actually suffering from ME.