Can Studies of Co-Morbidities with TMJDs Reveal Common Mechanisms of Disease?

描述（由申请人提供）：TMJ协会第五届科学会议，TMJD合并症的研究能否揭示疾病的共同机制？定于2008年5月/6月在马里兰州贝塞斯达的美国实验生物学学会联合会中心举行。召开本次会议和以往各次会议的必要性是基于两个重要因素。首先，在美国，受颞下颌关节和肌肉疾病（TMJD）影响的人数估计超过1000万。90%是育龄妇女。这些患者的身体、心理和经济负担是令人信服的。其次，仍然缺乏对这些疾病的病因学的科学理解，以进行诊断并开发安全有效的治疗方法。为了促进这一领域的研究，颞下颌关节协会从2000年开始组织了两年一次的科学会议。这些会议召集了来自TMJD和其他领域的专家，以描述和解决TMJD患者中发现的多种症状和共病状况。第五次科学会议的主题建立在前四次会议的证据基础上，这些证据表明TMJD是一个复杂的家族，受到遗传，性别，环境和行为触发因素的影响，介导患者对TMJD的脆弱性，并表现为下颌和肌肉疼痛以及下颌功能障碍。2008年提议的会议将汇集在TMJD的诊断和治疗方面取得进展的临床和基础科学家与了解其他慢性疼痛状况的科学家，如慢性头痛，全身疼痛状况，肠易激综合征，纤维肌痛，腰痛，慢性疲劳综合征和类风湿性关节炎，TMJD患者经常分享共同的症状。拟议会议的具体目标是：1）确定这些疾病之间的相似性，也许找到共同的途径，可以阐明TMJD的潜在病理生理学，并指出诊断和治疗的新目标; 2）促进和吸引新的和年轻的研究人员参与TMJD研究;和3）制定TMJD研究计划的建议，这些建议将协同美国国立卫生研究院多个研究所和中心的工作科学家，学术健康中心。项目叙述：目前颞下颌关节和肌肉疾病（TMJDs）的各种治疗方法缺乏连贯的科学知识。必须了解驱动这些疾病的潜在病理生理过程，以便提供准确和可预测的诊断以及安全有效的治疗。这次科学会议将临床和基础科学家与患者聚集在一起，考虑可能导致TMJD和其他共同并发症的共同潜在机制，如慢性头痛，全身疼痛状况，肠易激综合征，纤维肌痛，腰痛，慢性疲劳综合征和类风湿性关节炎。这次会议的一个主要目标是确定与共同的合并症有关的共同治疗目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Fifth Scientific Meeting of The TMJ Association, Can Studies of Co-Morbidities with TMJDs Reveal Common Mechanisms of Disease?, is scheduled to be held in May/June 2008 at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The need for this meeting and that of previous meetings has been based on two important factors. First, the number of people affected by temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders (TMJDs) is estimated to be more than 10 million in the United States. Ninety percent are women in their childbearing years. The physical, psychological and financial burden on these patients is compelling. Second, there continues to be a dearth of scientific understanding of the etiology of these conditions upon which to base diagnosis and develop safe and effective treatments. To stimulate research in this field, The TMJ Association has organized biennial scientific meetings beginning in the year 2000. These meetings have convened experts from TMJDs and other fields to characterize and address the multiple symptoms and co-morbid conditions found in TMJD patients. The theme of the fifth scientific meeting builds upon evidence from the four previous meetings showing that TMJDs are a complex family of conditions influenced by genetics, gender, environmental and behavioral triggers mediating the vulnerability of patients to TMJDs and manifesting as more than jaw and muscle pain and jaw dysfunction. The 2008 proposed meeting will bring together clinical and basic scientists who have made advances in the diagnosis and treatment of TMJDs with scientists knowledgeable about other chronic pain conditions such as chronic headache, generalized pain conditions, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, low back pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis with which TMJD patients frequently share common symptoms. The Specific Aims of the proposed meeting are to: 1) identify similarities across these diseases, perhaps finding common pathways that could elucidate the underlying pathophysiology of TMJDs and point to novel targets for diagnosis and treatment; 2) promote and engage new and young investigators in TMJD research; and 3) develop recommendations for research initiatives in TMJDs that would synergize the work scientists at multiple Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health and that of Academic Health Centers. Project Narrative: The variety of current treatments for Temporomandibular Joint and Muscle Disorders (TMJDs) lack a coherent body of scientific knowledge. It is imperative that the underlying pathophysiological processes that drive these conditions are understood in order to provide accurate and predictable diagnostics and safe and effective therapies. This scientific meeting brings together clinical and basic scientists together with patients to consider common underlying mechanisms that may be responsible for TMJDs and other shared co-morbidities, as are seen in chronic headache, generalized pain conditions, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, low back pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. A major goal of this meeting is to identify common therapeutic targets related to shared co-morbidities.