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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Nov 13.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Behav Immun. 2012 Jan 28;26(3):401–406. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.01.014

Table 2.

Additional Elements.

Functional Assessment

  • Maximal or submaximal exercise test

  • Actigraphy, pedometers


Cognition

  • Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery


Allostatic load

  • Body mass index, waist/hip ratio

  • Blood pressure

  • Heart rate variability

  • Interleukin 6 (IL-6)

  • Serum Aldosterone

  • 24 h urinary cortisol


Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal axis activity

  • Morning or diurnal salivary cortisol curve

  • ACTH

  • FSH and LH (follicular or luteal phase of menstrual cycle)

  • Prolactin


Immune functioning and allergies

  • Natural Killer cell function

  • Plasma cytokines

  • Soluble mediators (cytokine receptors, Neuropeptide Y)

  • EBV early antigen or IgM EBV, CMV

  • IgE or skin test measures for inhalant allergens (pollen, mold, dust mites, animal dander)


Sympathetic activity

  • Salivary amylase (surrogate for blood catecholamine levels)

  • Heart rate variability


Coping

  • Locus of control

  • Beliefs towards illness

  • Other coping questionnaires


Genomic and transcriptomic studies

  • Genome-wide association studies (GWAS)

  • Whole-genome sequencing studies (WGS)

  • Transcriptional analysis (mRNA) studies

  • Epigenetic studies


Proteomic studies

  • Identify as possible disease-defining biomarker, disease-activity biomarker, prognostic biomarker or therapeutic biomarker

  • Identify as type 0, 1 or 2 biomarker as defined in Frank and Hargreaves (2003)

  • Describe methodology used (e.g. high-performance LC–MS/MS, accurate inclusion mass screening11 (AIMS), stable isotope dilution (SID)-MRM-MS (Addona et al., 2011)