Author: Marie Benz MD FAAD
05 Apr Exposure to BPA Substitute, BPS, Multiplies Breast Cancer Cells
[caption id="attachment_33686" align="alignleft" width="124"]
Dr. Sumi Dinda[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sumi Dinda, PhD, NRP, IC.
Associate Professor
Biomedical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Sciences,
School of Health Sciences and
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
School of Health Sciences
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Bisphenol-S (BPS), a substitute for bisphenol-A (BPA), has been suggested to be an endocrine disrupting compound interfering with normal hormonal activity. This bisphenol analogue is found in plastic substitutes, paper currency, and most products marked “BPA free.” Endocrine disrupting compounds interfere with the normal hormonal activity in the body.
Bisphenols, specifically, disrupt the proper functioning of estrogen receptors, such as ERα causing interference with the normal activity of the hormone estrogen. Studies suggest BPS induces ERα pathways via its estrogen-mimicking properties in the body causing increased cell proliferation resulting in increased breast cancer risk. Despite the hope of a safer substitute, studies have shown that BPS exhibits similar estrogenic activity compared to its analogue BPA, due to their structural commonalities.
BRCA1 is a commonly mutated gene in breast cancer; therefore, it is also important to study the effects of BPS on the expression of this protein. The potency of the endocrine disrupting abilities of BPS compared to BPA could show whether BPS is a suitable alternative to BPA in many everyday products.
The results of this study may contribute to the understanding of the relationship between ERα, BRCA1 expression and Bisphenol-S in breast cancer treatment and prevention.
05 Apr Doxycycline May Mute Painful Memories Associated With PTSD
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dominik R Bach, PhD, MD University of Zurich MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur after a psychological trauma such as physical violence, abuse, or natural disaster. It is characterised by increased arousal, flashbacks, and nightmares that reflect memories of the trauma. Current therapies include talking therapy, but it is costly and does not work in everybody. This is why we were looking for ways of reducing aversive memories with a drug. In the current study, we found that the antibiotic doxycycline impairs the formation of negative memories in healthy volunteers. To form memories, the brain needs to strengthen connections between neurons. It has recently emerged that for strengthening such connections particular proteins are required that sit between nerve cells, so-called MMPs. They are involved in many disorders outside the brain, such as certain cancers and heart disease. This is how we already know that doxycycline suppresses the activity of MMPs. Since doxycycline is relatively safe and readily accessible, our research was relatively straightforward. 76 healthy volunteers - half women, half men - came to the laboratory and received either placebo (a sugar pill) or 200 mg doxycycline. They then took part in a computer test in which one screen color was often followed by a mildly painful electric shock and another color was not. A week later, volunteers came back to the lab. They were shown the colors again , this time followed by a loud sound but never by shocks. The loud sounds made people blink their eyes - a reflexive response to sudden threat. This eye blink response was measured. Volunteers who had initially been under placebo had stronger eye blink after the color that predicted electric shock than after the other color. This "fear response" is a sensitive measure for memory of negative associations. Strikingly, the fear response was 60% lower in participants who had initially taken doxycycline.05 Apr Pyrethroid Pesticides Linked To Earlier Puberty in Boys
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33680" align="alignleft" width="140"]
Dr. Jing Liu[/caption]
Jing Liu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Environmental & Resource Sciences
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In addition to consistent observations of earlier pubertal onset in female since late 19th century, acceleration in male pubertal development also has been reported in more recent studies. Improved nutrition, health and living conditions may contribute to the secular trend towards an earlier pubertal onset. However, the potential role of environmental agents, specifically endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), also has been emphasized.
Pyrethroids are among the currently used pesticide classes placed on the list of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as potential EDCs. Pyrethroids are one of the top 10 classes of pesticides and account for greater than 30% of global insecticide usage. Increased human exposure to pyrethroids is thought to occur mainly via residues in diets and indoor residential use. The metabolites of pyrethroids have been widely identified in urine samples of adults, children and adolescents worldwide and the detection rate is usually more than 60% in human populations.
Here, we recognize pyrethroids as a new environmental contributor to the observed secular trend toward earlier male sexual maturity. For the first time to our knowledge, this work reveal a significant and positive association between pyrethroids exposure and gonadotropins levels in 463 Chinese boys, in which a 10% increase in 3-PBA (a common urinary metabolite of pyrethroids) is associated with more than 2% increase in both LH and FSH. Boys with increased urinary levels of 3-PBA have a significantly increased risk of earlier pubertal development, in which the odds of being in an advanced testicular volume and genitalia stage are increase by 113% and 268%, respectively.
Because it is difficult to test the direct causality of environmental risk factors in humans, we further sought to identify in animals how pyrethroids alter the timing of puberty. Postnatal exposure to a widely used pyrethroid pesticide, cypermethrin, can accelerate pubertal timing and induce circulating levels of gonadotropins and testosterone in male mice. Our findings reveal the activation of voltage-gated calcium channels pathway in pituitary gonadotropes and testicular Leydig cells as a newly discovered mechanism of pyrethroid-induced early pubertal development in the male.
05 Apr When Choosing A Mate, Women Choose Looks Over Personality
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33676" align="alignleft" width="161"]
Dr. Fugère[/caption]
Madeleine A. Fugère, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Eastern CT State University
Willimantic, Connecticut
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previous research has shown that both daughters and their parents rate many traits as more important than physical attractiveness in a potential mate (for daughters), including traits such as respectfulness, honesty, and trustworthiness. Previous research also shows that women rate physical attractiveness as more important in a mate for themselves than parents do in a mate for their daughters.
In our research project, we experimentally manipulated the physical attractiveness of male targets (using photographs) and we experimentally manipulated the traits associated with each male target. The trait profiles included the “respectful” trait profile which consisted of the traits respectful, honest, and trustworthy, the “friendly” trait profile which included the traits friendly, dependable, and mature, and the “pleasing” trait profile which contained the traits pleasing disposition, ambitious, and intelligent.
We found that both women and their mothers were strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of the men and preferred the attractive and moderately attractive targets. Both women and their mothers rated the attractive and moderately attractive men most favorably, especially when they were paired with the most positive trait profile (the “respectful” trait profile).
However, the unattractive man was never rated more positively than his more attractive counterparts even when he possessed the most favorable trait profile.
05 Apr Tridimensional Visualization and Analysis of Early Human Development
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33668" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Chedotal[/caption]
Alain Chedotal, PhD
Group Leader, Institut de la Vision (Inserm/UPMC/CNRS), Paris and
[caption id="attachment_33669" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Berlemont[/caption]
Sylvain Berlemont, PhD
CEO & Founder of Keen Eye Technologies, Incubateur Institut de la Vision, Paris
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: What was known about human embryo development was based on histological techniques developed at the beginning of the twentieth century and no significant progress had been made for about fifty years. A few years ago our team found a method allowing to perform immunostaining on whole-mouse embryos and adult mouse brains. Complete 3D images of the intact samples could be obtained after they were cleared with solvents and imaged with a light sheet microscope.
In this new study we have adapted this method to human embryos during the first trimester of gestation. We provide for the first time high-resolution 3D images of the developing peripheral nervous, muscular, vascular, cardiopulmonary, and urogenital systems. We found evidence for important in differences in the embryonic pattern of nerve branches between the right and left hands. We also present evidence for a differential vascularization of the male and female genital tracts concomitant with sex determination.
04 Apr Insufficient Evidence To Screen Asymptomatic People For Celiac Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30723" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Ann Kurth[/caption]
Dr. Ann Kurth, Task Force member
Dean of the Yale School of Nursing
Adjunct professor
New York University College of Nursing and the College of Global Public Health.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Celiac disease, an immune disorder where people should not eat food with gluten, is fairly prevalent. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, which is found in wheat, rye and barley, their body responds by inflaming or destroying villi—the tiny, fingerlike projections on the inner lining of the small intestine–which prevents the body from absorbing the necessary nutrients from food.
04 Apr End-of-Life Care Transition Patterns of Medicare Beneficiaries
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shi-Yi Wang MD, PhD. Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology Yale School of Public Health New Haven, CT MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Care at the end of life is often fragmented and poorly coordinated across different health providers. Multiple transitions in care settings can be burdensome to patients and their families as well as costly to society. Despite these concerns about care transitions in the end of life, we lack contemporary data on the number, timing, and overall pattern of healthcare transitions in the last 6 months of life. This study adds to the extant literature by understanding transition trajectories, national variation of the transitions, and factors associated with transitions. We found that more than 80% of Medicare fee-for-service decedents had at least one health care transition and approximately one-third had ≥ 4 transitions in the last 6 months of life. We produced Sankey diagrams to visualize the sequences of healthcare transitions. The most frequent transition pattern involving at least four transitions: home-hospital-home (or skilled nursing facility)-hospital-healthcare setting other than hospital. There was substantial geographic variation in healthcare transitions in the United States. We found that several factors were associated with a significantly increased risk of having multiple transitions, including female gender, blacks, residence in lower income areas, presence of heart disease or kidney disease.04 Apr Effects of ICD Shock and Anti-Tachycardia Pacing on Anxiety and Quality of Life
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alessandro Paoletti Perini, MD, PhD and Valentina Kutyifa MD, PhD University of Rochester Medical Center Heart Research Follow-Up Program Rochester, New York, 14642 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The present study is a pre-specified sub-study of the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial – Reduce Inappropriate Therapy (MADIT-RIT), which was published on the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012. The main trial showed that innovative ICD programming was associated with reduction in inappropriate ICD therapy and mortality. In the present investigation we focused on the detrimental effects that ICD firings, either appropriate or inappropriate, may have on patients’ psychological well-being. We observed that multiple appropriate and inappropriate shocks are associated with increased levels of ICD-related anxiety, a specific kind of psychological disorder which affects patients implanted with an ICD. Multiple appropriate ATP were also proved associated with higher anxiety, although not as much as shocks. On the other hand, we did not find a significant association with anxiety for multiple inappropriate ATP.04 Apr One Drop | Mobile APP Leads To Improved A1c in Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chandra Y. Osborn, PhD, MPH VP, Health & Behavioral Informatics One Drop Informed Data Systems, Inc. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are over 1,500 mobile apps for people with diabetes, but minimal evidence on their benefit. The One Drop | Mobile app launched in April 2015. Users manually and automatically track their blood glucose and self-care activities via One Drop's | Chrome glucose meter, other Bluetooth-enabled meters, CGMs or other health apps. Users leverage One Drop’s food library, medication scheduler, automatic activity tracking, educational content, recipes, health tips, user polls, and peer support (‘likes’, stickers, and data sharing), and can set blood glucose, medication, carbohydrate intake, and activity goals, receive data-driven insights to draw connections between their behaviors, goals, and blood glucose readings. They can also self-report and track their hemoglobin A1c (A1c) and weight. In July 2016, we queried data on ~50,000 people using One Drop | Mobile. In March 2017, we queried data on >160,000 users. Only users who had entered an A1c value when they started using the app, and entered a second A1c at least 60 days apart, but no more than 365 days apart, were included. In July 2016, people with diabetes using One Drop | Mobile reported a nearly 0.7% reduction in A1c during 2-12 months of using One Drop. In March 2017, users reported a 1.0% reduction in A1c for the same timeframe. A more recent diabetes diagnosis and using One Drop to track self-care activities was associated with more A1c improvement.04 Apr Some Retirees Begin Risky Alcohol Consumption
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jaana Halonen, Docent and Senior Researcher Finnish Institute of Occupational Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Retirement is a significant life transition when substantial changes in daily life are experienced as retirees adapt to life without work. After retirement people have more leisure time and more opportunities for different activities, and less stress. These changes are positive, but retirement can also lead to reduced social control and loss of social contacts and therefore be perceived as a stressful life transition. Both the positive and negative aspects related to changes in leisure time, stress, and social networks around retirement may affect drinking behaviours. However, little is known about how risky alcohol consumption changes around the retirement transition. Thus, in our study we wanted to examine how and for whom risky drinking changes around the time of retirement. To do that we followed up public sector workers with questionnaires before and after their old-age retirement.04 Apr Regular Marijuana Use is Costly Healthwise, Especially When Started As Teenager
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33647" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. McIntosh[/caption]
James McIntosh PhD
Economics Department
Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study
Response: Marijuana is about to become legal in Canada. Consequently, an analysis of its effects on users is a high priority. This issue has been explored by Canadian researchers to some extent but there are gaps in what is known about the effects of using marijuana. Most of the Canadian studies focus on youth or adolescent use. This is clearly important but adult use is as well. Establishing the link between early usage and the effects of use over an individual’s lifetime was a major objective of the study.
04 Apr Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improved Treatment-Resistant Depression
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33642" align="alignleft" width="185"]
Dr. Aaronson[/caption]
Scott T. Aaronson, M.D
Psychiatrist, The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt
Director of Clinical Research
Sheppard Pratt Health System
Baltimore, MD
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This study is the largest ever conducted on patients with severe, chronic depression, a group typically ignored by clinical research in psychiatry. We looked at individuals who, on average, had received 8 unsuccessful treatment interventions in the past. These individuals were split into two groups and examined over five years. One group was given proven anti-depressant treatments (medications, psychotherapy, and/or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)), and one group was given both anti-depressant treatments and VNS Therapy—an implantable, pacemaker-like device that stimulates the vagus nerve, which regulates mood in the brain.
• The study found that 67.9% of the VNS therapy group responded to treatment, compared to 40.9% of patients receiving treatment as usual. Importantly, the VNS therapy group reported responses earlier in treatment, and responses were sustained longer than those receiving treatment as usual.
• VNS therapy improved treatment effect in individuals whether they had unipolar or bipolar disorder, and whether or not they had responded to ECT in the past.
04 Apr PAP May Provide New Therapeutic Target For Bone Metastatic Prostate Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with [caption id="attachment_33638" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. Alice Levine[/caption]
Dr. Alice Levine MD
Professor, Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease
Associate Professsor ,Oncological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Prostate cancer (PCa) bone metastases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. This cancer is unique in its tendency to produce osteoblastic (OB) bone metastases, which affects 90% of men with PCa bone metastases, compared to others that produce osteolytic bone metastases. Currently, there are no existing therapies that specifically target the OB phase and no effective therapies for PCa bone metastases that prolong survival. We have identified a secretory protein that promotes the development PCa osteoblastic bone metastases, Prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP). Prostatic epithelial cells produce PAP. The physiologic function of PAP is unknown. It was the first human tumor marker ever described. Patients with PCa bone metastases demonstrated high levels of PAP. PAP is expressed by PCa cells in OB metastases and increases OB growth, differentiation, and bone mineralization.
04 Apr Donor Sex and Size Important to Kidney Transplant Success
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amanda Miller, MD, FRCPC Dalhousie University Transplant Nephrology MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Earlier studies have shown that there may be a higher risk of kidney transplant failure if a kidney donor is smaller than their recipient. This may be due to increased strain on the relatively smaller transplanted kidney. Very few studies have investigated outcomes associated with donor and recipient weight mismatch measured directly by differences in body weight however. There is also a suggestion that sex mismatch between kidney donor and recipient may lead to worse outcomes post-transplant, however results from earlier studies have been controversial and conflicting. The combined effect of weight and sex matching/mismatching between kidney donor and recipient (two very important and physiologically relevant factors) has not been rigorously studied previously. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine if receiving a kidney transplant from a smaller donor of the opposite sex would impact transplant outcomes. Accounting for other transplant variables, we demonstrated that if a kidney transplant recipient is more than 30 kg (66 pounds) heavier than the donor there is a 28% increased risk of the transplant failing compared to equally weighted donors and recipients. If the kidney is from a smaller donor of the opposite sex, the risk of transplant failure is further increased to 35% for a male receiving a kidney from a female donor, and 50% for a female receiving a kidney from a male donor. This risk is high and is similar to that when a recipient receives a kidney transplant from a donor who has diabetes; a known risk factor for kidney failure in the non-transplant population.04 Apr Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Improves Luteal Function in Obese Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33632" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Polotsky[/caption]
Alex J. Polotsky, MD
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Colorado Denver
Practice homepage
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: It has been well established that profound dietary changes occurred over the past 100 years. The type and amount of fat consumed has changed quite a bit over the course of 20th century. Intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), previously consumed in large quantities by humans from vegetable and fish sources, has dropped significantly. The typical Western diet (sometimes also called the typical American diet) provides an omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of as high as 25:1, which is quite different from what it used to up until about the 19th century (believed to be about 1:1 ratio).
In animal studies, diets enriched with omega-3 PUFA enhance early embryonic development and boost progesterone secretion. Obesity is well known to be associated with decreased progesterone production in women (even if a obese woman ovulates). The reasons for this are not clear. Obesity is also a state of low-grade chronic inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids are well known to have anti-inflammatory properties.
We sought to test whether dietary supplementation with omega-3 PUFA favorably affects reproductive hormones in women and whether this effect includes normalization of progesterone production in obesity.
All women in the study tolerated supplementation well, and had significantly decreased their omega-6 to omega-3 ratios (they were normalized much closer to a 1:1 ratio). Omega-3 supplementation resulted in a trend for increased progesterone in obese women, thus enhancing ovulatory function. A 16 to 22 percent increase was observed. Additionally, the supplementation resulted in reduced systemic inflammation.
04 Apr Study Finds Statin Use Not Associated With Breast Cancer Prognosis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33622" align="alignleft" width="134"]
Dr. Leiter[/caption]
Amanda Leiter, MD MSCR
Medical Resident, Internal Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Black women are more likely than White women to have breast cancer with poor prognostic features, which cannot be completely explained by differences in screening, treatment and established risk factors for breast cancer mortality. Black women have higher rates of obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia when compared to White women. Prior studies have shown a decreased risk of breast cancer recurrence and improved survival with statin use.
As statins have an association with decreased breast cancer recurrence and potentially improved survival, disparities in statin use between Black and White women with breast cancer are important to investigate. We aimed to elucidate whether or not statin use differs between Black and White women with breast cancer and if racial disparities in breast cancer can be partially explained by differences in statin use.
03 Apr Suicide Risk Increased in Cancer Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33625" align="alignleft" width="152"]
Dr. Calati[/caption]
Raffaella Calati, Psy.D., Ph.D.
University of Montpellier
INSERM U 1061: Neuropsychiatry: Epidemiological and Clinical Research
Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Post Acute Care
Lapeyronie Hospital, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire
Montpellier, France
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: A number of previous original studies investigated suicidal thoughts and behaviours in cancer patients, finding them to be higher than those in the general population. However, to our knowledge, we performed the first meta-analysis on this link, pooling all the published data to calculate the size of this increased risk.
Our main finding is an increased suicide risk in patients with cancer compared to individuals without it.
It should be underlined that the analyses presented are the first stage in our work, since at the moment we are analyzing a higher number of studies and we are planning to control for confounders, not considered in our first analyses. This means that the exact strength of this association will be more precisely known.
02 Apr Economic Evaluation of a Home-Based Age-Related Macular Degeneration Monitoring System
Posted at 13:17h
in Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Macular Degeneration, Ophthalmology, Telemedicine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
John Wittenborn
Senior research scientist
NORC's Public Health Analytics
University of Chicago
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response:The emergence of anti-VEGF treatment for wet-form AMD (choroidal neovascularization) has had a dramatic impact on preserving vision for many Americans. However, community-based studies show that most patients are not diagnosed with wet-form AMD until they have already lost a significant, and largely unrecoverable amount of their vision. Early detection of wet-form AMD is key to effective treatment and the preservation of vision. The ForeseeHome telemonitoring technology provides patients with a means to check their own eyes on a daily basis to detect the earliest signs of vision loss from wet-form AMD.
This is a novel technology that has the potential to improve visual health outcomes for AMD patients. A prior clinical trial (the AREDS-2 HOME study) demonstrated that this technology can detect wet-form AMD earlier, and with less vision loss than standard care alone. However, that is exactly where that study ended as it reported no cost information nor follow-up. Since the end of this study, the device has been cleared by the FDA and approved for reimbursement by Medicare for certain higher risk patients, but no study has yet considered the long-term implications of adoption of this technology.
In our analysis, we use a computer simulation model to essentially estimate what will come next, after patients realize earlier detection of wet-form AMD by utilizing home monitoring. Basically, we follow simulated patients from the time they begin monitoring for the rest of their lives, recording the likely impacts of home monitoring on patients’ long term outcomes including visual status, costs and quality of life.
We find that home telemonitoring among the population indicated for reimbursement by Medicare would cost $35,663 per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Medicare would expect to incur $1,312 in net budgetary costs over 10 years for each patient who initiates monitoring. However, Medicare patients may expect to achieve lifetime net savings when accounting for the chance of avoided vision loss and its associated costs later in life.
02 Apr Promising New Drug Can Stop Malaria After Mosquito Bite
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33617" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr Mihály Sulyok[/caption]
Dr Mihály Sulyok MD
Eberhard Karls University
Institute of Tropical Medicine,
Tübingen, Germany
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: New antimalarials are desperately needed, not just for treatment, but also for prophylaxis. DSM265, a novel antimalarial compound that selectively inhibits the plasmodial dihydroorotate dehydrogenase has a promising pharmacokinetic profile characterized by a long elimination half-life.
We performed a study at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Eberhard Karls University (Tübingen, Germany) to investigate safety, tolerability and efficacy of DSM265 using controlled human malaria infection. In the first cohort, 400mg of DSM265 was administered orally to five healthy, malaria naive individuals one day before direct venous inoculation of an established infective dose of P. falciparum sporozoites (PfSPZ Challenge). Placebo was administered to two volunteers. The study was randomized and double blinded. In this cohort all placebo participants developed malaria, whereas all DSM265 participants were protected.
In a second cohort, 400mg DSM265 was administered 7 days before the sporozoite inoculation for six participants, two participants recieved placebo. In this cohort, the two placebo and three of six DSM265 volunteers developed thick blood smear positive malaria. The remaining three DSM265 volunteers developed transient submicroscopic parasitemia without symptoms or thick blood smear positivity. The only possible DSM265-related adverse event was a slight transient elevation in serum bilirubin in one volunteer.
The study was funded by the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through Medicines for Malaria Venture, and the German Center for Infection Research.
02 Apr Flame Retardant Chemicals In Homes May Be Raising Risk of Thyroid Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33607" align="alignleft" width="156"]
Dr. Sosa[/caption]
Julie Sosa, MD MA FACS
Professor of Surgery and Medicine
Chief, Section of Endocrine Surgery
Director, Surgical Center for Outcomes Research
Leader, Endocrine Neoplasia Diseases Group
Duke Cancer Institute and Duke Clinical Research Institute
Durham, NC 2771
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The incidence of thyroid cancer has dramatically increased world-wide over the last several decades. In the United States, thyroid cancer is the fastest increasing cancer among women and men. This observation has been almost exclusively the result of an epidemic of papillary thyroid cancer, or PTC, which now comprises approximately 90% of new cases.
The use of flame retardant chemicals, or Flame Retardant Chemicals, also increased over the last several decades due to the implementation of mandatory and voluntary flammability standards for furniture, electronics, and construction materials. Over time, FRs come out of these products and accumulate in indoor environments where humans are exposed. Animal studies suggest that FRs can disrupt thyroid function, and many contribute to cancer risk. But many human health endpoints have not been investigated.
Our work was aimed at investigating whether exposure to Flame Retardant Chemicals could be associated with PTC. To address our research question, we recruited 140 adults, 70 with PTC and 70 who were healthy volunteers without evidence for thyroid cancer or thyroid disease. Then we visited participants’ homes and collected dust samples, a metric that we have previously shown is an indicator of long-term exposure to Flame Retardant Chemicals in the home.
02 Apr Rate of Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy Varies Among States
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PHD Vice President, Surveillance and Health Services Research American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30303 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous studies reported that Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy (CPM) increased in the United States among women diagnosed with unilateral early-stage breast cancer with surgery without evidence for survival benefit. Previous studies also reported that receipt of this procedure is more common in younger than older patients, in white than in black patients, and in privately insured than uninsured patients. However, the extent of variation in receipt of CPM by state of residence was unknown.02 Apr Consequences of Interpersonal Violence Against Child Athletes Persist into Adulthood
Posted at 12:14h
in Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness, Mental Health Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_33615" align="alignleft" width="134"]
Tine Vertommen[/caption]
Tine Vertommen, Criminologist
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Universiteitsplein 1
Antwerp, Belgium
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: A recent prevalence study into interpersonal violence against child athletes in the Netherlands and Belgium showed that 6% experienced severe sexual violence, 8% experienced severe physical violence, and 9% of respondents experienced severe psychological violence in sport (Vertommen et al., 2016). While general literature has repeatedly shown that exposure to interpersonal violence during childhood is associated with mental health problems in adulthood, this relationship has not yet been demonstrated in (former) athletes. Thus, the objective of the current study is to assess the long-term consequences of these experiences on adult mental health and quality of life.
31 Mar First Diagnostic Blood Test for Coronary Artery Plaque Detection
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33595" align="alignleft" width="141"]
Dr. Voros[/caption]
Szilard Voros, MD, FACC, FSCCT, FAHA
CEO of Global Genomics Group
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (ASCAD) is the leading cause of death and morbidity in the United States and worldwide, despite relatively successful medical therapies such as statins, like Zocor or Lipitor. A significant majority of patients with ASCAD present with sudden cardiac arrest, and the clinical evaluation of those patients who present with chest pain to their physicians is very inefficient. Based on current clinical guidelines, patients who present to their physician with complaints of new onset chest pain or its equivalent, such as exertional dyspnea should be assessed for the probability of the presence of significant ASCAD based on simple clinical predictors. Approximately 60% of such patients have an intermediate probability, and they are typically referred for initial non-invasive evaluation, such as a stress test with cardiac imaging, or for some other type of non-invasive test. Strikingly, no more that 5% of such stress tests performed in the United States are actually positive, and even when patients with positive stress test are taken for invasive coronary angiography, no more than 40% have significant ASCAD.
A blood test that could serve as first step, as a “gatekeeper”, to non-invasive evaluation, would be highly desirable. Global Genomics Group, or G3, has performed one of the largest, unbiased, mass-spectrometry-based discovery studies in over 1,000 patients who underwent detailed cardiac CT to assess the presence or absence of ASCAD, by measuring over 1,000 metabolites from the blood. Using sophisticated bioinformatics tools, the researchers identified 8 important metabolites that were significantly abnormal in patients with ASCAD, and generated a biomarker signature for the detection of ASCAD based on those analytes, called “knowPLAQUETM”. The biomarker signature was generated in approximately 800 subjects, and was validated in an independent set of approximately 400 subjects, showing an area under the curve (“AUC”) of 0.82 for the diagnosis of Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. This biomarker signature can be adapted relatively easily on commercial mass spectrometry platforms, and the researchers anticipate that this signature may be available for physicians to use by 2018. In addition to its diagnostic power, this biomarker signature also has uncovered important biological insights for the development of ASCAD, which can be leveraged for therapeutic purposes.
31 Mar Colorectal Cancer Risk Model Using Environmental and Genetic Factors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33583" align="alignleft" width="125"] Dr. Moreno[/caption] Victor Moreno, PhD. Director of Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology-IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain [caption id="attachment_33584" align="alignleft" width="125"] Dr. Ibáñez-Sanz[/caption] Gemma Ibáñez-Sanz, MD Gastroenterologist. *Cancer Prevention and Control Unit, Catalan Institute of Oncology. L’Hospitalet deLlobregat,...
31 Mar Large Regional Variations in Rates of Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Nash, MPH Rollins School of Public Health Emory University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) in women with invasive early-stage unilateral breast cancer has significantly increased in the U.S. over the past decade, despite the lack of evidence for a survival benefit. This procedure is particularly common among patients younger than 45 years old. It is also more common in whites compared to blacks, and in privately insured patients compared to uninsured or Medicaid insured patients. However, the extent of regional variation across the United States was unknown.31 Mar Insomnia Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Qiao He Master’s degree student China Medical University Shenyang, China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Sleep is an important factor for biological recovery functions, but in modern society, more and more people have complained having sleep problems like insomnia, one of the main sleep disorders. It is reported that approximately one-third of the German general population has been suffering from insomnia symptoms. In decades, many researchers have found associations between insomnia and bad health outcomes. Insomnia seems to be a big health issue. However, the results from previous studies regarding the association of insomnia and cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events were inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this study.31 Mar Which Patients With Advanced Respiratory Disease Die in the Hospital?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33567" align="alignleft" width="180"]
Dr Sabrina Bajwah[/caption]
Dr Sabrina Bajwah
MBChB MRCGP MSc MA PhD
Consultant Palliative Medicine, King’s College NHS Foundation Trust
Honorary Senior Lecturer
King's College London
Cicely Saunders Institute, Department of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation
London, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Where people die is often important to them and their families, as well as being important for planning health care services. Most people want to die at home, but instead most die in hospital. While the trends have been studied in cancer, other diseases, such as respiratory, are rarely looked at even though they are common and increasing causes of death.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Interstitial Pulmonary Diseases (IPD) are common respiratory conditions. Both conditions result in a high use of hospital services, especially among people in advanced stages. This leads to high healthcare costs.1 In the UK in 2010, it is estimated that IPD costs £16.2 million per year in hospitalisations.2 The NHS spends more than £810 million annually managing COPD, with inpatient stays accounting for around £250 million annually.
Understanding which factors affect place of death is vital for planning services and improving care, especially given our ageing population, rising chronic diseases and the high costs of hospital admissions. Strategies in many countries have sought to improve palliative care and reduce hospital deaths for non-cancer patients, but their effects are not evaluated.
We aimed to determine the trends and factors associated with dying in hospital in COPD and IPD, and the impact of a national end of life care (EoLC) strategy3 to reduce deaths in hospital. This study analysed a national data set of all deaths for COPD and IPD, covering 380,232 people over 14 years.
31 Mar Higher Dose IPI for Some Advanced Melanoma Patients?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33563" align="alignleft" width="181"]
Dr. Ascierto[/caption]
Dr Paolo A Ascierto MD
Melanoma Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapy Unit
Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione
Naples Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Although IPI was approved for the treatment of melanoma at dosage of 3 mg/kg, a dose-ranging phase 2 trial suggested longer overall survival (OS) but more treatment-related adverse events with ipilimumab 10 mg/kg vs 3 mg/kg. However, the study MDX010-020 (randomized phase III study which compared ipilimumab 3 mg/kg + gp100 vaccination and ipilimumab 3mg/kg + placebo vs gp100 vaccination + placebo) performed as second line treatment of advanced melanoma patients, showed an OS curve similar to that of the study CA184-169 (randomized phase III study which compared dacarbazine + ipilimumab 10 mg/kg to dacarbazine + placebo) as first line treatment of metastatic melanoma.
For this reason FDA approved ipilimumab at dosage of 3 mg/kg as first and second line treatment for advanced melanoma, but asked for a randomized phase III study of comparison of ipilimumab at the different dosage in order to explore if there was a difference in the outcome of patients with different dosages.
31 Mar Comparison Zika Outbreaks in French Polynesia, Colombia and the State of Bahia in Brazil
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33551" align="alignleft" width="90"]
Dr. Daihai He[/caption]
Daihai He PhD
Department of Applied Mathematics
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong (SAR), China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Zika virus disease has large outbreaks in many Pacific and American countries in 2016, and the outbreaks are still on-going. Our work is conducted against this background. We compared data from three localities: French Polynesia in 2013-2014, Colombia and Brazil in 2016. We found that in French Polynesia the infection attack rate (i.e. the proportion of the population who got infected) is about 3/4, which matched previous serological studies. We then make estimation for the other two place. We found that the infection attack rate in Colombia in 2016 was most likely less than 50%. For Bahia province of Brazil, we did not arrive at a very accurate estimation, as the confidence interval is wide, and our best estimate is 30%. The relatively low infection attack rate in Colombia and Brazil implies that future outbreaks of Zika virus diseases are still possible. Thus control and surveillance efforts should be continued.