Author: Marie Benz MD FAAD
18 Oct Walking After Meals May Lower Blood Sugar
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28972" align="alignleft" width="152"]
Andrew Reynolds[/caption]
Andrew Reynolds
Department of Human NutritionUniversity
Otago Dunedin New Zealand
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Current guidelines for people with type 2 diabetes are to undertake activities such as walking for at least 150 minutes a week, or 30 minutes a day. When to walk in the day is not specified. We thought it reasonable that walking after meals would improve blood sugars more so than a walk where the timing was unspecified.
Our randomised controlled trial considered exactly this, a prescription to walk as per the guideline of 30 minutes a day and a prescription to walk for 10 minutes after each meal. Our participants were free-living, but wore accelerometers to record their movement, and continuous glucose monitoring systems to observe their blood glucose levels. We found that post-meal blood sugar levels dropped 12 per cent on average when the participants followed the walking after meals advice compared to walking at any time of the day. Most of this effect came from the highly significant 22 per cent reduction in blood sugar when walking after evening meals, which were the most carbohydrate heavy, and were followed by the most sedentary time.
18 Oct LEAN Principles Improved Surgical Safety, Outcomes and Efficiency
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Vishal Sarwahi, MD, senior author Associate Surgeon-in-Chief Chief, Spinal Deformity and Pediatric Orthopaedics Billie and George Ross center for Advanced Pediatric Orthopaedics and Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery Cohen's Children Medical Center Northwell Hofstra School of Medicine and [caption id="attachment_28960" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Stephen F. Wendolowski[/caption]
Stephen F. Wendolowski
Research Assistant
Pediatric Orthopaedics
Cohen Children’s Medical Center
New Hyde Park, NY, 11040
MedicalResearch.com: What is LEAN?
Response: LEAN is a management principle that supports the concept of continuous improvement through small incremental changes to not only improve efficiency, but also quality. Particularly, we took interest in the 5S’s – Sort, Simplify, Sweep, Standardize, and Self-Discipline. We felt that Sort, Simplify, and Standardize were the most relevant to surgery.
17 Oct Taltz (ixekizumab) Can Improve Palmoplantar Psoriasis For Up To 60 Weeks
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28956" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Alan Menter[/caption]
Dr. Alan Menter MD
Texas Dermatology Associates
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Psoriasis on the palms and soles of the feet—also known as palmoplantar psoriasis of which there are 2 variants, plaque type or pustular, —can significantly affect a person’s quality of life and is often difficult-to-treat with available treatments. Researchers in this study set out to determine the efficacy and safety of Taltz (ixekizumab) through 60 weeks among patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis with significant palmoplantar involvement. Plaque psoriasis is the most common form of psoriasis appearing as raised, red patches covered with a silvery white buildup of dead skin cells which are often painful or itchy. This study was an analysis of UNCOVER-3, a Phase 3, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
In the first 12 weeks of this study, patients were randomized to receive placebo, etanercept (50 mg, twice-weekly) or 80 mg of Taltz every two weeks or every four weeks, following an initial starting dose of 160 mg. At 12 weeks, all patients received open-label Taltz every four weeks through 60 weeks.
17 Oct New Molecule Induces Weight Loss By Converting White Fat To Brown
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ramesh Narayanan, Ph.D., MBA Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Director, Center for Cancer Drug Discovery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, 38103. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Obesity and metabolic diseases affect over a third of the global population. Obesity, unlike several diseases, is not isolated as it’s incidence is associated with other conditions such as type-2-diabetes, insulin resistance, and fatty-liver. Although calorie-restriction and exercise assist in the fight against obesity, these approaches have limitations in morbidly obese individuals and in individuals with comorbidities. The drugs that are available to treat obesity act by inducing satiety. Alternate peripheral non-CNS approaches are required to treat obesity.17 Oct Combination Everolimus/Exemestane For ER+|HER2- Advanced Breast Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28949" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Melanie Royce[/caption]
Melanie Royce, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Director of the Breast Multidisciplinary Clinic and Program
UNM Cancer Center.
Albuquerque, NM
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: BOLERO-4 is an open label, single-arm, Phase II study that evaluates the combination of everolimus plus letrozole as a first-line treatment for hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer patients, as well as the use of everolimus plus exemestane beyond initial progression.
Results of the Phase II BOLERO-4 clinical trial, presented as an oral presentation at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual meeting, show preliminary evidence that everolimus in combination with letrozole is effective in treating women with HR-positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer in the first-line setting. With follow up of 17.5 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) is not yet reached. At six months, 83.6% (95% CI: 77.3-88.2%) of women taking everolimus plus letrozole in the first-line setting were without disease progression, and 71.4% (95% CI: 64.0%-77.5%) did not have disease progression at twelve months.
Safety findings from BOLERO-4 are consistent with previous studies of everolimus in advanced breast cancer, with the most common adverse events being stomatitis (67.8%), weight loss (42.6%) and diarrhea (36.1%). These adverse events were mostly grade 1 or 2 in severity1.
17 Oct New Ibuprofen Formulation May Avoid Cardiac Side Effects
Posted at 20:34h
in Author Interviews, FASEB, Heart Disease, Imperial College, Pain Research, Pharmacology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_28945" align="alignleft" width="149"]
Dr Nicholas Kirkby[/caption]
Dr Nicholas Kirkby
BHF Intermediate Fellow | Vascular Biology
National Heart & Lung Institute | Imperial College London
London
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We know drugs like ibuprofen, called ‘non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs’ cause an increase in the risk of heart attacks. These side effects cause very real concerns for the many millions of people who rely on them. They are also the reason why there are no new drugs in this class and why they have been withdrawn (2011) for use as a preventative treatment for colon cancer. Previous research from our group suggests that L-arginine supplements may prevent the cardiovascular side effects caused by these drugs. Our findings here suggest that a particular formulations of ibuprofen, called ibuprofen arginate, which is already available in many parts of the world, can act like an L-arginine supplement and that this could potentially protect the cardiovascular system.
17 Oct Moderate Caffeine Not Linked to Arrhythmias In Heart Disease Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28941" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Luis E. Rohde[/caption]
Luis E. Rohde, MD, ScD
Postgraduate Program in Health Science: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Sciences, Medical School, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul,
Cardiovascular Division, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Caffeine-rich beverages have been implicated as a common cause of several cardiac-related symptoms, such as palpitations, tachycardia, or irregular heartbeats.
Because of this “intuitive” assumption, counseling to reduce or avoid caffeine consumption is still widely recommended in clinical practice by most physicians for patients with any heart disease.
17 Oct Quality of Outpatient Care Has Not Consistently Improved Over Last Decade
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28930" align="alignleft" width="180"]
Dr. David Levine[/caption]
David Michael Levine M.D.,M.A.
Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: About a decade ago, researchers showed that Americans only received half of recommended health care. Since then, national, regional, and local initiatives have attempted to improve quality and patient experience, but there is incomplete information about whether such efforts have been successful.
We found that over the past decade the quality of outpatient care has not consistently improved, while patient experience has improved.
17 Oct Can a Beta Blocker Help Fight Cancer Recurrence?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28926" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr Pan Pantziarka[/caption]
Dr Pan Pantziarka, PhD
Scientist: Anticancer Fund (www.anticancerfund.org)
Coordinator: Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (www.redo-project.org)
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This study is part of the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project to look at a series of non-cancer drugs which have strong evidence of anti-cancer effects. Other drugs have included the antacid cimetidine, the antibiotic clarithromycin and the NSAID diclofenac.
The data for propranolol comes from multiple sources: epidemiological data and retrospective data from cancer patients who have also been treated concurrently with propranolol, pre-clinical work in vitro and in animal models and from case series reports in which cancer patients have had propranolol added to their existing treatments.
The main findings are that propranolol has multiple mechanisms of action, including anti-proliferative and immunomodulation. There is particularly strong evidence that shows that propranolol has potent effects in the treatment of the rare soft-tissue sarcoma angiosarcoma. It is also suggested that when used at the time of surgery, propranolol in combination with a COX-2 inhibitor, can reduce the risk of metastatic spread.
17 Oct Travelers Often Bring Home Resistant Bacteria From Endemic Areas
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28922" align="alignleft" width="180"]
Dr. John Penders[/caption]
John Penders PhD
Assistant professor
Dept. of Medical Microbiology
Maastricht University, Maastricht
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) constitutes an increasingly important human health hazard worldwide. Especially, the rapid emergence and global spread of multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae is worrisome. These bacteria often produce enzymes like extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemases, which inactivate most beta-lactam antibiotics, and are often co-resistant to multiple other antibiotic classes. Consequently, treatment options for infections with multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae are limited.
The prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is generally higher in low and middle income countries as a result of inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents, overcrowding and lack of hygiene and infection control measures. The exponential increase of international travel to such endemic areas may substantially contribute to the emergence and spread of AMR as it allows resistant bacteria to be rapidly transported between regions.
Indeed several previous studies had already indicated that international travel is a major risk factor for colonisation with ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. However, many questions remained unanswered, such as the travel destinations and potential risk-behaviour that provide the highest risk for colonisation, how long travellers remain colonised after they return and whether they can transmit these resistant bacteria to other people within their household once they returned from their travel.
That is why we initiated the largest prospective study on the acquisition and spread of multidrug resistant bacteria in returning travellers. This multicenter study, conducted by Maastricht University Medical Center, Erasmus University Medical Center, Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, Havenziekenhuis and Utrecht University, included 2,001 travellers and 215 household members. Fecal samples of these participants were collected before and immediately after travel as well as 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after travel return and screened for the prescence of multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Moreover, extensive information on demographics, travel details, illnesses and behaviour were collected at all follow-up moments by repeated questionnaires.
16 Oct PD-1 Blockers Offer Hope To Some Patients With Metastatic Urothelial Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28911" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Arjun Balar[/caption]
Arjun Balar, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director - Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program
NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center
New York, NY 10016
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Standard treatment for advanced urothelial cancer includes cisplatin-based chemotherapy which has been shown to improve survival. But more than half of patients are not expected tolerate it well and alternative treatment is inferior to cisplatin. The average survival for these patients is in the range of 9-10 months with carboplatin-based treatment, which is the most commonly used alternative to cisplatin. Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody that reactivates the body’s cancer-fighting T-cells (part of the immune system) to fight urothelial cancer.
The trial overall enrolled 374 patients who had not yet received any treatment for advanced urothelial cancer, but were considered ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy.
15 Oct Community Dental Program May Reduce Emergency Dental Admissions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jonathon P. Leider, PhD Department of Health Policy and Management Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The increasing utilization of Emergency Departments (ED) for the treatment of non-urgent and non-traumatic dental conditions among adults in the United States is an increasing policy issue. Research shows that seeking dental care in an ED is often more expensive and less effective when compared to a traditional dental office. Seeking care in the ED for non-traumatic dental conditions is more frequent among low income individuals and people in rural areas, who must often overcome insufficient dental coverage and access to receive office-based care. Under the Affordable Care Act, there has been considerable expansion in state Medicaid dental coverage for adults. However, not all states are participating in the expansion or extension of dental benefits and dental professional shortage areas are fairly common– over 4,900 exist in the United States. Innovative programs are needed to effectively address the challenges low income individuals in rural areas encounter accessing care. Our study examined the expansion of a Community Dental Program (CDP) in rural Western Maryland and its impact on dental-related visits at a regional ED.15 Oct Androgen Deprivation For Prostate Cancer Linked to Dementia
Posted at 13:04h
in Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Hormone Therapy, JAMA, Prostate Cancer, University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kevin T. Nead, MD, MPhil
Resident, Radiation Oncology
Perelman School of Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Androgen deprivation therapy is a primary treatment for prostate cancer and works by lowering testosterone levels. There is a strong body of research suggesting that low testosterone can negatively impact neurovascular health and function. We were therefore interested in whether androgen deprivation therapy is associated with dementia through an adverse impact on underlying neurovascular function.
15 Oct Smartphone App Can Screen For Atrial Fibrillation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28905" align="alignleft" width="178"]
Dr. Ngai-yin Chan[/caption]
Dr. Ngai-yin Chan
Princess Margaret Hospital
Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained heart rhythm disorder which can cause stroke, heart failure and an increased risk of death. The risk of stroke can be reduced substantially with drug treatment. However, a quarter of patients with AF causing stroke have silent and asymptomatic AF before stroke. The current guidelines recommend opportunistic screening for AF. Whether systematic community screening for AF with a convenient smartphone ECG can reduce the burden of AF remains unknown.
15 Oct Fatty Liver At Least Partially Mediated By Epigenetic Influences
Posted at 12:37h
in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Genetic Research, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_28898" align="alignleft" width="180"]
Dr. Annette Schürmann[/caption]
Annette Schürmann PhD
Department of Experimental Diabetology
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE)
Nuthetal
Germany German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD
München-Neuherberg Germany
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The aim of our study was to clarify why genetically identical mice respond very different to a high fat diet. Some of the mice react with an elevated body weight, others not. We analyzed the expression pattern
of liver at two time points, at the age of 6 weeks, (the earlierst time
point to distiguish between those that respond to the diet (responder
mice) and those that did not (non-responders)), and at the age of 20
weeks. One transcript that was significantly reduced in the liver of
responder mice at both time points was Igfbp2. The reason for the
reduced expression was an elevated DNA-methylation at a position that is
conserved in the mouse and human sequence. The elevated DNA-methylation
of this specifc site in human was recently described to associate with
elevated fat storage (hepatosteatosis) and NASH. However, as 6 weeks old
mice did not show differences in liver fat content between responder and
non-responder mice we conclude that the alteration of Igfbp2 expression
and DNA metyhlation occurs before the development of fatty liver.
Our data furthermore showed that the epigenetic inhibition of Igfbp2
expression was associated with elevated blood glucose and insulin
resistance but not with fatty liver.
14 Oct Niraparib Increased Progression Free Survival in 2/3 Ovarian Cancer Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28888" align="alignleft" width="120"]
Dr. Mansoor Raza Mirza[/caption]
Dr. Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD
Medical Director: Nordic Society of Gynecologic Oncology
Board of Directors: Gynecologic Cancer Inter-Group (GCIG)
Faculty: European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO)
Faculty: International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS)
Chief Oncologist, Rigshospitalet
Copenhagen University Hospital
Copenhagen, Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Recurrent ovarian cancer is an area of significant unmet medical need, and there have been few therapeutic advances for these patients in the past few decades.
Niraparib was studied to provide patients with recurrent ovarian cancer an option other than “watchful waiting,” potentially redefining the standard of care for the disease. The ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial was a Phase 3 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled international study of maintenance treatment with niraparib compared with placebo. Niraparib successfully achieved the primary endpoint of prolonging progression-free survival versus placebo in all three prospectively defined primary efficacy populations:
14 Oct Even With Normal TSH, Some Patients Still Feel Hypothyroid
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28881" align="alignleft" width="120"]
Dr. Antonio C. Bianco[/caption]
Antonio C. Bianco, MD, PhD
Rush University Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The standard of care for patients with hypothyroidism is treatment with levothyroxine. The dosage of levothyroxine is adjusted for each patient with the goal of normalizing blood levels of TSH. About 15% of the patients treated this way exhibit variable degrees of residual symptoms, despite having a normal TSH level. These symptoms include difficulty losing weight, low energy and depression. However, given the subjective nature of these complains and that the blood levels of TSH are normal, many times such symptoms are dismissed by physicians as non-thyroid related.
14 Oct Impact of Two Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Interventions on Risky Sexual Behavior
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28877" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Anita P. Barbee[/caption]
Anita P. Barbee, MSSW, Ph.D.
Professor and Distinguished University Scholar
President-Elect, International Association for Relationship Research
Kent School of Social Work
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In 2010, our team at the University of Louisville with colleagues from Spalding University, were awarded a Tier 2 grant from the Office of Adolescent Health to study innovative teen pregnancy prevention interventions. We assembled a fantastic team of staff, students, community members and twenty three community based organizations to work together collaboratively to recruit and retain close to 1450 youth from the most distressed areas of our metropolitan area in order to conduct a randomized controlled trial.
We tested the efficacy of two interventions compared to a control condition. Our reason for this was to see how a new type of teen pregnancy intervention would perform compared to a more typical comprehensive sex education program, Reducing the Risk, which was already on the OAH list of evidence based interventions as well as to a control condition, which focused on community building but had no content on personal self esteem building, healthy relationships, dating violence or sexuality. The new program that was tested was Love Notes. Love Notes is a healthy relationship curriculum that addresses the context of sexual exploration as well as key points in preventing problematic outcomes of sexual activity such as the spread of disease, pregnancy and emotional heartache. The groups of youth that continue to have high rates of pregnancy tend to be disconnected from society through poverty and discrimination (minority and poor youth) or from family as a result of leaving home countries (refugees and immigrants), being removed from their homes due to child abuse or neglect (foster youth) or being rejected from families due to their LGBTQ orientations.
14 Oct Multiple Genetic Risk Factors May Contribute to Schizophrenia By Damaging Neurons
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28772" align="alignleft" width="96"]
Dr. Roussos[/caption]
Panagiotis (Panos) Roussos, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Department of Psychiatry
Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology
Friedman Brain Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine
New York, NY 10029
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric illness and multiple genetic risk factors contribute to the disease. However, it is unclear how these genetic risk factors act and which molecular functions are affected in brain cells of patients with schizophrenia. In this study, we used neurons derived from pluripotent stem cells of patients with schizophrenia and control samples with no history of neuropsychiatric disease. We identified changes related to the way DNA transcribes (a.k.a. gene expression) in schizophrenia compared to controls during activation of the neurons.
These changes affect genes that have been genetically associated with schizophrenia. Our study provides evidence that multiple genetic risk factors might lead to schizophrenia because of a damaging effect on the activity of neurons.
14 Oct Maternal Chronic Disease Linked to Increased Risk of Cardiac Birth Defects in Offspring
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Chung-Yi Li Department of Public Health College of Medicine National Cheng Kung University Tainan Taiwan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Congenital heart disease is the leading congenital malformation that causes perinatal and infant deaths. However, little information is available about the risk factors, especially modifiable environmental and behavioral factors that may have posed adverse effects on fetal cardiac development. We conducted a nationwide population-based study in Taiwan to further evaluate the potential role of maternal chronic diseases in the risk of developing congenital heart disease in offspring. We found that children of women with several kinds of chronic disease were at elevated risk for congenital heart disease; these diseases included type 1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, congenital heart defects, anemia, connective tissue disorders, epilepsy, and mood disorders.14 Oct Some Children Find It Difficult To Wear Glasses During Lazy Eye Treatment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Gail Maconachie PhD and Researcher and Professor Irene Gottlob Professor of Ophthalmology Dept. of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour The University of Leicester Ulverscroft Eye Unit Leicester Royal Infirmary Leicester UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Lazy eye (Amblyopia) affects 3-5% of the population. Treatment usually involves wearing glasses alone for around 18 weeks followed by occlusion of the good eye, usually a patch. Recent studies have shown, using monitors, that children often struggle with patching and patch only about half of what is prescribed. To date, no study has observed how well children with lazy eyes comply with glasses wearing. Glasses wearing is becoming increasingly important in lazy eye treatment as it has been shown to improve vision without other treatments. Therefore observing compliance may help to understand why some children do better with glasses treatment than others. We found in our subjects that adherence to glasses wearing, in children aged 3 to 11 years who are undergoing treatment for a lazy eye, very variable and often poor. We also found that during treatment when only glasses wearing were given, adherence to glasses wearing, along with age and cause of the lazy eye, significantly predicted visual outcomes.14 Oct Follicular T Cells May Play a Role in Development of Type I Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28869" align="alignleft" width="142"]
Dr. Tuure Kinnunen[/caption]
Tuure Kinnunen, MD, PhD
Academy Research Fellow
School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland
Kuopio, Finland
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It typically manifests in childhood and early adolescence.
Diabetes-associated autoantibodies are highly predictive of type 1 diabetes risk and they can be typically detected in the blood of patients even years before the onset of the disease.
Follicular helper T cells are a recently described type of immune cells that have a central role in activating B cells, which in turn are responsible for producing antibodies. Since the emergence of autoantibodies is a common feature of type 1 diabetes development, it is plausible that follicular T helper cells have a role in the disease process. This notion is also supported by evidence recently generated in the murine models of type 1 diabetes.
13 Oct Second-line Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Treatment and Survival in Real-World Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28855" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. Mathew Galesky[/caption]
Dr. Mathew Galsky MD
Associate Professor, Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology
Assistant Professor, Urology
Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology
The Tisch Cancer Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Since the development of combination cisplatin-based chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic bladder (urothelial) cancer several decades ago, there have been few advances in the treatment of this disease. Further, until recently, there had been no global standard treatment options for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer progressing despite platinum-based chemotherapy. Several lines of evidence suggest that urothelial cancer may be sensitive to immunotherapeutic treatment strategies. Recently, in a phase I/II study published by Sharma and colleagues in Lancet Oncology, the anti-PD-1 antibody Nivolumab demonstrated a durable objective response rate of 24% in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer progressing despite platinum-based chemotherapy. To confirm to antitumor effects of Nivolumab in this patient population, we conducted a large global multicenter single-arm phase II study
13 Oct Specialized Surveillance Clinic For Patients At High Risk of Melanoma Reduced Procedures and Costs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28969" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Caroline Watts[/caption]
Caroline Watts| Research Fellow
Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research
Sydney School of Public Health
The University of Sydney
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A clinic for people at high risk of melanoma was established at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney in 2006 as part of a research project to look at the impact of surveillance regime which included regular full body skin examination supported by dermoscopy and total body photography at 6 monthly intervals. If a suspicious lesion was identified, the lesion was either removed or an image of the lesion was captured using digital dermoscopy and the patient returned in 3 months for review.
This study aimed to estimate the costs and benefits from a health system perspective associated with specialised surveillance compared with current routine care high risk people would receive in the community.
13 Oct Maternal Use of SSRIs May Be Related to Speech and Language Disorders in Offspring
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28737" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Alan Brown[/caption]
Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology
Columbia University Medical Center
Director, Program in Birth Cohort Studies, Division of Epidemiology
New York State Psychiatric Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Maternal use of antidepressants during pregnancy has been increasing. A previous study from a team that I led in a national birth cohort in Finland showed that mother’s use of a serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant is related to an increased risk of depression in offspring. We sought to evaluate whether these medications also increased risk of speech/language, scholastic, and motor outcomes in offspring. We found an increased risk (37% higher risk) of speech/language disorders in offspring of mothers exposed to SSRIs in pregnancy compared to mothers who were depressed during pregnancy but did not take an SSRI during pregnancy.
13 Oct Vitiligo Susceptibility Genes Associated With Immune Regulation Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28848" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Richard Spritz,[/caption]
Richard A. Spritz, M.D.
Professor and Director,
Human Medical Genetics and Genomics Program
University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Aurora, CO 80045 USA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which depigmented skin results from destruction of skin melanocytes, with strong epidemiologic association with several other autoimmune diseases that include autoimmune thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, pernicious anemia, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Addison’s disease.
In previous genetic linkage and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of vitiligo patients of European-derived white ancestry (EUR), we identified 27 vitiligo susceptibility loci. In the present study, we carried out a third GWAS of vitiligo in EUR subjects. The combined analysis, with almost 5,000 vitiligo cases and 40,000 non-vitiligo controls, identified a total 23 new confirmed vitiligo loci, as well as seven with suggestive significance.
13 Oct 10-Year Mortality Risk Raised With Atopic Dermatitis, But Lower Than Psoriasis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21019" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Alexander Egeberg[/caption]
Alexander Egeberg, MD PhD
Gentofte Hospital
Department of Dermatology and Allergy
Hellerup Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In recent years, numerous studies have examined the impact of psoriasis and associated comorbidities, and found a reduced lifespan in particular among patients with severe disease. However, little is known about the impact and burden of adults with atopic dermatitis. We looked at the 10-year survival among patients hospitalized for atopic dermatitis, and compared these with patients hospitalized for psoriasis, as well as with subjects from the general population.
Our main finding was that, although the mortality risk was higher for atopic dermatitis compared with general population control subjects, the risk was significantly lower compared with psoriasis patients.
12 Oct Big Data Using Predictive Analytics Aims To Improve Medication Adherence
[caption id="attachment_28837" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Neil Smiley[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Neil Smiley
Founder and CEO of Loopback Analytics
Editor's note: Loopback Analytics mission is to "integrate data across a myriad of healthcare information systems to bridge the expanding gaps within the care continuum". CEO Neil Smiley discusses the problem of medication adherence and possible means to address the issue.
MedicalResearch.com: What is meant by medication "adherence"? How big a problem does this represent in term of health care outcomes and costs?
Response: Medication adherence is the degree to which a patient is taking medications as prescribed. Poor medication adherence takes the lives of 125,000 Americans annually, and costs the health care system nearly $300 billion a year in additional doctor visits, emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
MedicalResearch.com: What can be done by health care providers, systems and pharmacists to improve medication adherence?
Response: There are many potential failure points after a prescription is written, that range from affordability, transportation, literacy, confusion over brand vs. generics, duplication of therapy. Many patients simply stop taking medications when they start feeling better or fail to refill chronic maintenance medications. Healthcare providers can improve adherence by anticipating and eliminating potential points of failure before they become problems. For example, high risk patients leaving the hospital are less likely to be readmitted if they get their prescriptions before they are discharged. Follow-up consultations by pharmacists can assist patients with side effects that may otherwise cause patients to abandon their treatment plan and provide patients with education on how to take medications correctly.
12 Oct Adverse Life Experiences are a Major Risk Factor for Youth Firearm Violence
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28833" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Steven A. Sumner[/caption]
Steven A. Sumner, MD, MSc
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention
Atlanta GA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In 2014, CDC was invited to Wilmington, Delaware, to conduct a study because the city had been experiencing a high level of homicides and shootings. Our investigation looked at multiple risk factors for youth violence involvement across a wide variety of areas of young people’s lives. For example, youth who had previously experienced a gunshot wound injury were 11 times more likely to later commit a gun crime than youth who had not been similarly injured. Study investigators looked at histories of violence victimization, educational problems, unemployment histories, child welfare experiences, and prior criminal involvement. The more adverse life experiences a young person had, the more likely they were to commit firearm violence.