Author: Marie Benz MD FAAD
25 Aug Deaths from Self-Injury Increase 65% Over 15 Year Period
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27291" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Ian Rockett[/caption]
Ian Rockett, PhD, MPH, FACE
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Self-injury deaths in the United States are seriously underestimated because they are officially limited to registered suicides, and exclude non-suicide deaths from drug self-intoxication. Suicides themselves are undercounted due primarily to under-resourcing of medical examiner and coroner offices and associated challenges in detecting drug suicides. Although most drug-intoxication deaths involve deliberate behaviors that markedly elevate risk of premature death, they are formally classified, but mischaracterized, as “accidents” on death certificates. Representing self-injury mortality (SIM) as a combination of registered suicides and estimated deaths from drug self-intoxication (DDSI), this study compared its national trends and patterns with those of 3 proximally ranked top 10 causes of death.
25 Aug Metformin Can Stop Weight Gain Seen With Some Autism Spectrum Disorder Medications
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27380" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou[/caption]
Evdokia Anagnostou MD
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Translational Therapeutics in Autism
Senior Clinician Scientist and co-lead of the Autism Research Centre
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Researchers from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital / University of Toronto (Canada), Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, Columbia University, and Vanderbilt University, led a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial to examine whether metformin, a common type-2 diabetes drug, may be effective in counteracting weight gain commonly seen with the use of atypical antipsychotic medications, indicated by the FDA for the treatment of irritability in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Results showed that metformin was effective in helping overweight children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who take antipsychotic medications lower their body mass index (BMI).
Both FDA-approved antipsychotic medications for treating irritability and agitation symptoms in children and adolescents with ASD can cause a significant increase in weight gain, which in addition to increasing BMI, enhances long-term risk of diabetes. This complicates an already challenging issue as adolescents with autism spectrum disorder are ~ two times more likely to be obese than adolescents without developmental disabilities. Findings of this research are important, especially for families of children with ASD, as managing long-term physical health while also treating irritability/agitation symptoms, can help ensure that their child can participate fully in life (school, etc.).
25 Aug Technetium Cardiac Imaging Predicts Prognosis of Cardiac Amyloidosis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27269" align="alignleft" width="100"]
Dr. Adam Castano[/caption]
Adam Castano, M.D., M.S.
Division of Cardiology
Columbia University Medical Center
New York Presbyterian Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Traditionally, the gold standard for diagnosis has required an endomyocardial biopsy coupled with either immunohistochemistry or mass spectroscopy. These specialized tests are only performed at centers with experienced satff, do not yield prognostically useful information, may be inadvisable for frail older adults, and often present logistical challenges that lead to delayed care.
Fortunately, single center studies have demonstrated excellent diagnostic accuracy using technetium 99m pyrophosphate (Tc99mPYP) cardiac imaging for noninvasively detecting ATTR-CA and differentiating it from another major type of cardiac amyloidosis called light chain (AL). But the diagnostic accuracy of this technique in a multicenter study and the association of Tc99mPYP myocardial uptake with survival were not known prior to this study.
Therefore, we assessed in a multicenter study Tc99mPYP cardiac imaging as a diagnostic tool and its association with survival. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 229 patients evaluated at 3 academic specialty centers for cardiac amyloidosis and also underwent Tc99mPYP cardiac imaging. We measured retention of Tc99mPYP in the heart using a semiquantitative visual score (range 0-3) and a more quantitative heart-to-contralateral (H/CL) ratio calculated as total counts in a region of interest over the heart divided by background counts in an identical size region of interest over the contralateral chest. The outcome measured was time to death after Tc99mPYP imaging.
25 Aug Many Leading Oncologists Have Pharmaceutical Ties
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27281" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Aaron Mitchell[/caption]
Dr. Aaron Mitchell MD
Hematology/Oncology Fellow
University North Carolina
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: It is well known that many physicians work with the pharmaceutical industry. In some cases, this can create conflicts of interest with physicians' other responsibilities. The Open Payments law, passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, recently made these relationships public, which now allows us to study them more systematically.
25 Aug Study Finds Hair Transplantation Improves Attractiveness in Men With Male Pattern Baldness
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27278" align="alignleft" width="80"]
Dr. Lisa Ishii[/caption]
Lisa Earnest Ishii, M.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive SurgeryJohns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore Maryland 21287
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Hair transplantation for men suffering from male pattern hair loss is a common procedure to improve their appearance. However, to the best of our knowledge the impact of the procedure for men with hair loss had never been clearly demonstrated.
We showed, for the first time, that men who undergo the procedure can have real improvements in attractiveness, age, and the appearance of successfulness as perceived by the casual observer in society.
25 Aug Breast Cancer Cells Can Switch HER2 On and Off, Requiring Combination Treatment
Posted at 01:29h
in Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Chemotherapy, Nature
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_27306" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Shyamala Maheswaran[/caption]
Shyamala Maheswaran, PhD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
Assistant Molecular Biologist
Center for Cancer Research
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: About 85% hormone receptor positive HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer patients show that cancer cells acquire HER2 expression during disease progression. These HER2 positive cells coexist with HER2 negative cancer cells, and these two populations are able to spontaneously oscillate between these two states; in culture and in cancers established in mice. Both HER2 positive and HER2 negative cells form tumors when injected into mice, but HER2 positive cancer cells form tumors more rapidly than HER2 negative tumors. At a molecular level, several growth factor pathways are activated in HER2 positive cancer cells, while activation of the Notch pathway, an embryonic signaling event, is observed in HER2 negative cells. Thus the HER2 positive and HER2 negative cancer cells exhibit differential sensitive to drugs: the HER2 positive cells, which are more proliferative and non-responsive to HER2-targeting agents, are responsive to chemotherapy drugs whereas the HER2 negative tumor cells are sensitive to Notch inhibitors. A combination of chemotherapeutic drugs and notch inhibitors effectively eliminate tumors formed by a mixture of these two population of cancer cells compared to either drug alone. These findings highlight the importance of tumor heterogeneity in cancer progression and drug responses and suggest that targeting all the different populations within cancers is necessary to effectively manage cancer progression.
25 Aug Simple Changes in Cooking Methods May Reduce Inflammatory Stress and Decrease Insulin Resistance
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27302" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Jaime Uribarri[/caption]
Jaime Uribarri, MD
Professor, Nephrology
Icahn School of Medicine
Mt. Sinai Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We have been doing research in the area of dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) for many years.
AGEs are chemical compounds that form normally in the body in small amounts and also in food when cooking under high heat and dry conditions; a percent of AGEs in food is absorbed and part of it is retained in the body leading to increased smoldering inflammation and oxidative stress that eventually produce most of modern chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, etc. We have previously demonstrated that a diet low in AGEs, which essentially means changing the cooking methods to include less application of heat, plenty of water,etc, decreases inflammation of oxidative stress in people with diabetes, chronic kidney disease and in healthy subjects. In the current study we applied the same low dietary AGE intervention to a group of obese patients with the so-called Metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for Diabetes Mellitus.
24 Aug Patients With Psoriasis Have Coronary Calcium Scores Comparable to Diabetes
Posted at 21:00h
in Author Interviews, Dermatology, Diabetes, Heart Disease, JAMA, Medical Imaging, NIH
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Nehal N. Mehta, .MD., M.S.C.E. F.A.H.A.
Lasker Clinical Research Scholar
Section of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases
NIH
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Psoriasis is associated with accelerated cardiovascular (CV) disease; however, screening for CV risk factors in psoriasis remains low. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) score estimates the total burden of atherosclerosis. Psoriasis has been associated with increase CAC score, but how this compares to patients with diabetes, who are aggressively screened for CV risk factors, is unknown.
24 Aug CDC Reports Zika Has Spread to the Bahamas
Local mosquito transmission of Zika virus infection (Zika) has been reported on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas (which includes the city of Nassau). Local mosquito transmission means that mosquitoes in the area are infected with Zika virus and are spreading it to people...
24 Aug Pre-Hospital Start of IV Thrombolysis Might Result in Improved Functional Outcome in Stroke Patients.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Alexander Kunz MD Department of Neurology Charité-University Medicine Berlin Berlin, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Systemic thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in acute ischemic stroke has been an approved therapy for over 20 years now. To date, tPA can be administered to eligible patients within a 4.5 hours time window after the onset of symptoms. Results from large thrombolysis trials and meta-analyses have shown, that the beneficial effects of tPA are inversely correlated with the delay from symptoms onset to start of tPA treatment. This relationship is frequently summarized in the slogan “Time is brain!” Currently, several research groups are evaluating the concept of pre-hospital thrombolysis using a mobile stroke treatment unit (MSTU) in order to achieve significant reductions in onset-to-treatment delays. MSTU are specialized ambulances equipped with a CT scanner and a mini-laboratory. In Berlin, Germany, we have been operating an MSTU (stroke emergency mobile vehicle, STEMO) since 2011. Previous studies had shown that start of tPA treatment was 25min earlier when patients were cared by STEMO than within conventional care, i.e. admission to hospital by regular ambulance and in-hospital tPA treatment. However, these studies did not prove, that earlier treatment in STEMO is associated with better outcome. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to compare 3-month functional outcome after tPA in patients with acute ischemic stroke who received STEMO care vs conventional care.23 Aug Step Closer To Treating Mitochondrial Diseases by Understanding How Embryos Digest Sperm
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27272" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Peter Sutovsky[/caption]
Peter Sutovsky PhD
Professor of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
University of Missouri
Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health at the School of Medicine
University of Missouri Health System
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Strictly maternal inheritance of mitochondria, the cellular power stations, and mitochondrial genes that mitochondria harbor, is a major biological paradigm in mammals. Propagation of paternal, sperm-contributed mitochondrial genes, resulting in a condition called heteroplasmy, is seldom observed in mammals, due to post-fertilization elimination sperm mitochondria, referred to as “sperm mitophagy.” Our and others’ recent results suggest that this process is mediated by the synergy of ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) pathway that recycles outlived cellular proteins one molecule at a time, and autophagic pathway capable of engulfing and digesting an entire mitochondrion.
Here we demonstrate that the co-inhibition of the ubiquitin-binding autophagy receptor proteins SQSTM1, GABARAP, and UPS, and the UPS protein VCP dependent pathways delayed the digestion of sperm mitochondria inside the fertilized pig egg. By manipulating said proteins, we created heteroplasmic pig embryos with both the paternal and maternal mitochondrial genes. Such animal embryos that could be used as a biomedical model to research and alleviate certain forms of mitochondrial disease.
23 Aug ID Fellow Managed Clinic Helps Determine True Penicillin Allergies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27263" align="alignleft" width="159"]
Dr. Emily Heil[/caption]
Emily L. Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
20 N Pine St
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: As many as nine out of ten people who think they are allergic to penicillin are, in fact, not allergic when penicillin allergy skin testing is performed. This mistaken belief, confirmed in multiple other studies and a matter of concern of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has widespread implications given that patients who report penicillin allergies tend to get suboptimal antibiotic therapy compared with patients who do not. Penicillin skin testing (PST) can clarify allergy histories but is often limited by access to testing. We aimed to implement an infectious disease (ID) fellow managed PST program and to assess the need for PST via national survey. Our study found that inpatient Penicillin skin testing can be successfully managed by ID fellows, thereby promoting optimal antibiotic use. Our study showed that by testing patients for penicillin allergy via skin test, we could improve their care: 80 percent of patients were able to switch to more effective antibiotic therapy once they were tested.
23 Aug Systematic Review Finds PCSK9 Inhibitors Reduce LDL-C and Are Well Tolerated
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27256" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Gouni Gerthold[/caption]
Prof. Dr. Ioana Gouni-Berthold MD
Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Preventive Medicine (ZEDP)
University of Cologne
Cologne, Germany
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In Europe, up to half of the population aged between 35 and 64 has hypercholesterolemia (high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]), putting them at risk of heart disease. Despite increased treatment rates in recent years, many patients still do not receive adequate therapy, and heart disease remains the biggest cause of death in the USA and most European countries.
Two drugs, alirocumab and evolocumab, have recently been approved for lowering LDL-C in patients with hypercholesterolaemia as an ‘add-on’ therapy to other lipid-lowering medication, or for use alone in patients unable to tolerate statins. These drugs have a unique mode of action– they inhibit proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a protein that binds to LDL receptors and targets them for degradation. In the absence of PCSK9, the LDL receptor recycling is restored and the receptors are able to remove LDL from the blood.
Both alirocumab and evolocumab have been tested in numerous patient populations in phase 3 trials; albeit evolocumab has an additional indication of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. We therefore felt that there was a need to collate the available data to assess the efficacy and safety of each agent. We chose reduction in LDL-C as our outcome of interest, because this was the primary endpoint of the pivotal clinical trials.
23 Aug Folic Acid May Reduce Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Fan Fan Hou MD
Chief, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital
Professor of Medicine, Southern Medical University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previous trials (HOST and DIVINe) of folic acid therapy in CKD patients were conducted in patients with advanced CKD and treated with super-high dose of vitamin B or with cyanocobalamin that has been shown to be renal toxic. The current study sought to evaluated the efficacy of folic acid therapy without cyanocobalamin on renal outcomes in patients without folic acid fortification and across a spectrum of renal function at baseline from normal to moderate CKD.
We found that treatment with enalapril-folic acid, as compared with enalapril alone, reduced the risk of progression of CKD by 21% and the rate of eGFR decline by 10% in hypertensive patients. More importantly, the presence of CKD at baseline was a significant modifier of the treatment effect (p for interaction = 0.01). Patients with CKD benefited most from the folic acid therapy, with a 56% and 44% reduction in the risk for progression of CKD and the rate of eGFR decline, respectively. In contrast, the renal protective effect in those without CKD was nominal.
23 Aug Study By Quest Diagnostics Finds Half of Americans Misuse Their Drugs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27243" align="alignleft" width="190"]
Dr. F. Leland McClure[/caption]
F. Leland McClure III, MSci, PhD, F-ABFT
Medical science liaison director
Quest Diagnostics
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Many physicians associate Quest Diagnostics with their lab service needs because of our leadership in laboratory testing. But Quest is more than a lab, which is why we refer to ourselves as a diagnostic information services provider. This means that we help providers, health plans and even patients use the insights we derive from our lab testing data to deliver better care, quality and outcomes, both for the patient and the managed population.
Our 2016 Quest Diagnostics Health Trends(TM) Prescription Drug Monitoring Report is an example of how we provide important health insights from Quest's laboratory data. Prescription drug misuse is a major epidemic in the United States. Laboratory testing can help identify if a patient is using or misusing prescribed medications. For instance, lab tests can show evidence of additional medications and other drugs in a patient’s urine specimen, suggesting potentially dangerous drug combinations. Earlier this year, the CDC issued guidelines that call for laboratory testing for patients prescribed certain medications, such as opioids, that carry a risk of abuse.
Quest's prescription drug monitoring services help the physician identify if a patient is taking or not taking up to about four dozen drugs, such as oxycodone, Adderall XR® and Percocet®. For the Quest analysis, we analyzed more than 3 million de-identified lab test results.
In this report, we found that 54 percent of patients’ results tested in 2015 showed evidence of drug misuse, slightly above the 53 percent misuse rate in 2014. That is certainly unacceptably high, but it’s a significant decline from the high of 63 percent we observed in 2011.
We also found that an increasing proportion of patients who misuse medications combine their prescription medication with non-prescribed drugs. Among patients with inconsistent test results, forty-five percent of these patients showed evidence of one or more other drug(s) in addition to their prescribed drug regimen. That’s much higher than our findings of 35 percent in 2014 and 2013, 33 percent in 2012, and 32 percent in 2011.
Finally, we were alarmed by the data showing the connection between heroin and benzodiazepines misuse. Our data showed one in three heroin users combine their drug use with benzodiazepines, the vast majority of which were unprescribed. This is an extremely dangerous practice given that benzodiazepines can have strong respiratory depressant effects when combined with other substances. Drug combinations, but particularly of heroin with benzodiazepines, can be potentially very dangerous, leading to coma and even death in some cases.
23 Aug Contact Lens Infections Are Often Preventable With Proper Care
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27239" align="alignleft" width="140"]
Dr. Jennifer Cope[/caption]
Dr. Jennifer Cope MD, MPH
Medical Epidemiologist
CDC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Approximately 41 million people in the United States wear contact lenses, a safe and effective form of vision correction if worn and cared for as directed. Contact lenses are medical devices that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Adverse events related to contact lenses are reported to FDA’s Medical Device Report (MDR) database.
During 2005–2015, a total of 1,075 Medical Device Reports describing contact lens–related corneal infections were reported to the FDA Medical Device Report database. Approximately 20% of these reports described a patient who suffered serious eye damage. More than 25% of the 1,075 reports described modifiable behaviors that might have put the patient at risk for a contact lens–related corneal infection, such as sleeping in lenses or wearing lenses longer than for the prescribed period.
22 Aug Patients Remain On High Risk Drugs Even After A Fragility Fracture
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27214" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Jeffrey Munson[/caption]
Jeffrey Munson, MD, MSCE
Assistant Professor
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Fragility fractures due to osteoporosis are a common and costly event among older Americans. Patients who experience one fragility fracture are at increased risk to have a second fracture. Our group is interested in exploring ways in which the risk of a second fracture could be reduced.
In this paper, we studied prescription drug use both before and after fracture. We know many prescription drugs have been shown to increase the risk of fracture, but we don’t know whether doctors try to reduce the use of these drugs after a fracture has occurred. Our study was designed to answer this question.
22 Aug Dialysis Patients Use Emergency Rooms At Six Times Rate of General Population
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27209" align="alignleft" width="122"]
Dr. Rachel Patzer[/caption]
Rachel Patzer, PhD, MPH
Director of Health Services Research,
Emory Transplant Center
Assistant Professor
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Surgery
Division of Transplantation
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) make up less than 1% of all Medicare patients, but account for more than 7% of all Medicare expenses. Patients with ESRD have the highest risk of hospitalization of any patient with a chronic disease, and while hospital admissions have decreased over the last several years, emergency department utilization for this patient population has increased by 3% in the last 3 years. The purpose of the study we conducted was to describe the clinical and demographic characteristics associated with emergency department utilization.
22 Aug Incidence of Pneumonitis from PD-1 Blockers Across Cancers Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mizuki Nishino, MD MPH Department of Radiology Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Immune-checkpoint inhibitors including PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors have brought remarkable advances in treatment of cancer patients. Immune-checkpoint inhibitors are associated with a unique set of adverse events,...
22 Aug Marital and Insurance Status Affect Survival in Multiple Myeloma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27119" align="alignleft" width="132"]
Dr. Luciano Costa[/caption]
Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine and UAB-CCC
Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Program
Birmingham, AL 35294
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Even though expected survival for multiple myeloma patients has increased over the last two decades, that improvement has not been much more pronounced among White than among patients of racial/ethnic minorities. It is possible that such discrepancy results from unequal access to care, particularly as treatment becomes more complex and expensive. We used a large dataset of patients with multiple myeloma to explore how socioeconomic factors, specifically marital status, income and insurance affect outcome and how these factors relate to race/ethnicity.
22 Aug Do Dysplastic Nevi Need Re-excision?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27029" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Susan Swetter[/caption]
Susan M. Swetter, MD
Professor of Dermatology
Director, Pigmented Lesion & Melanoma Program
Physician Leader, Cancer Care Program in Cutaneous Oncology
Stanford University Medical Center and Cancer Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Dysplastic nevi (DN) are frequently re-excised following initial biopsy due to concerns for malignant transformation; however, the long-term risk of melanoma developing in mildly or moderately dysplastic nevi with positive histologic margins is unknown. In this cohort study of 590 histologic DN that were followed over 20 years, 6 cases of melanoma (5 in situ) arose in the 304 DN with positive margins that were clinically observed, only 1 of which developed from an excisionally-biopsied dysplastic nevus. One melanoma in situ arose in the 170 cases that underwent complete excision at the outset. The risk of new primary melanoma at other sites of the body was over 9% in both groups.
20 Aug Gallstones Linked With Increased Risk of Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27217" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Lu Qi[/caption]
Lu Qi, MD, PhD
HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor
Director,Tulane University Obesity Research Center
Department of Epidemiology
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1440 Canal Street, Suite 1724
New Orleans, LA 70112
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Gallstone disease has been related to various risk factors of cardiovascular disease, and several previous studies suggest potential link between gallstone disease and heart disease. Our study, for the first time, provide consistent evidence for the association between gallstone disease and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
19 Aug Calcium Supplements May Raise Risk of Dementia in Elderly Women with Cerebrovascular Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27225" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Silke Kern[/caption]
Silke Kern, MD, PhD
Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Unit and Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory
Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology
Sahlgrenska Academy
University of Gothenburg
Gothenburg, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Calcium has an important role in ischemic neuronal cell death and atherosclerosis. Several studies suggest that increased serum calcium increases the risk for vascular events and worsens the outcome after stroke. Widespread ischemic neuronal cell death and atherosclerosis might lead to dementia. We therefore examined if Calcium supplementation is associated with development of dementia. Our study is the first to show a relationship between Calcium supplementation and increased risk for dementia in older women. This risk is mainly confined to women with cerebrovascular disease (history of stroke or presence of white matter lesions).
19 Aug Can Bartenders Have ‘Normal’ Home and Family Lives?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily H. Starr, M.A. Doctoral Candidate City, Culture, & Community Tulane University, New Orleans MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study examines the relationship between work, partnering, and parenthood through the perspectives of bartenders working in the New Orleans metro area. Bartenders frame work, intimate relationships, and family as interlocking matrices and view their lack of legitimate work (or their lack of a normative 9-5 job with security, benefits, and a salary) as a prohibitive or complicating factor in their ability to assume the roles of partner and parent. Some of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor market are low-wage and low-skill jobs meaning that young people will increasingly grapple with hegemonic "white picket fence" ideologies that prescribe certain family forms and occupational/labor relationships as ideal. Moreover, the matrices of performative adulthood are gendered with women and men framing their work as incompatible with family life for different reasons. Women more often experience sexual harassment/objectification, feel their skills and abilities are called into question, and perceive that women bartenders are marginalized as "certain types of women." These perceptions lend themselves towards women bartenders framing barwork as incompatible or undesirable with mothering. Men express anxiety about their long-term earning potential and combating the stigma of low-status work through the professionalization of the craft cocktail and spirits industry. Thus, men are more concerned about their role as breadwinner rather than viewing bartending and fatherhood roles as mutually-exclusive. These findings suggest that bartenders draw upon dominant ideologies of normative adulthood and invoke traditional gender roles to frame their perspectives about bartending and family life. Importantly, the contours and realities of their working lives are the prohibitive factor in bartenders' perspectives about the possibility for participating in long-term intimate relationships and parenthood.19 Aug Violent Deaths Disproportionately Affect Young, Minority Males
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27222" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Bridget Lyons[/caption]
Bridget H. Lyons, MPH
Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The National Violent Death Reporting System has been collecting data since 2003. NVDRS collects data regarding violent deaths obtained from death certificates, coroner/medical examiner reports, law enforcement reports, and secondary sources (e.g., child fatality review team data, supplementary homicide reports, hospital data, and crime laboratory data). This study examines 17 states that collected statewide data in 2013.
Our main findings are:
1. Violent deaths resulting from suicide or interpersonal violence disproportionately affected persons less than 65 years of age, males, and certain minority populations.
2. Primary circumstances for homicide and suicide included intimate partner problems, interpersonal conflicts, mental health problems and recent crises.
19 Aug Lung Cancers Detected On Screening CT Scans Have Better Survival
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27200" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Matthew Schabath[/caption]
Matthew B. Schabath PhD
Department of Cancer Epidemiology
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute
Tampa, Florida
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our study is a post-hoc analysis of data from a large randomized clinical trial (RCT) called the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The NLST found that lung cancer screening with low-dose helical computed tomography (LDCT) significantly reduced lung cancer deaths by 20 percent compared to screening with standard chest radiography (i.e., X-Ray).
In our publication, we performed a very detailed analysis comparing outcomes of lung cancer patients screened by LDCT according to their initial (i.e., baseline), 12 month, and 24 month screening results. We found that patients who had a negative baseline screening but tested positive for lung cancer at the 12- or 24-month screen had lower survival and higher mortality rates than patients who had a positive initial screen that was a non-cancerous abnormality but developed lung cancer in subsequent screens.
19 Aug Genes Responsible For Cardiometabolic Diseases Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27194" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. Johan Björkegren[/caption]
Johan LM Björkegren, MD, PhD
Professor, Chief Clinical Science Officer
Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences
Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The STARNET (Stockholm-Tartu Atherosclerosis Reverse Network Engineering Task) study was launched in 2007 by myself and Dr. Arno Ruusalepp MD, PhD, Chief Cardiac Surgeon at Tartu University Hospital in Estonia, and senior co-author on the study. Unlike similar studies, STARNET obtained samples of several key tissues from 600 clinically well-characterized patients with CAD during coronary artery bypass surgery. By using sophisticated data analysis techniques, the researchers found that the gene expression data from STARNET were highly informative in identifying causal disease genes and their activity in networks not only in CAD but also for other cardiometabolic diseases as well as Alzheimer’s disease.
By analyzing gene-expression data from multiple tissues in hundreds of patients with coronary artery disease, we were able to identify disease-causing genes that either were specific to single tissues or acted across multiple tissues in networks to cause cardiometabolic diseases.
19 Aug Right Ventricular Changes in Olympic Athletes Described
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27190" align="alignleft" width="170"]
Dr. Antonio Pelliccia[/caption]
Antonio Pelliccia, MD, FESC
Chief of Cardiology
Institute of Sport Medicine and Science
Rome
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The awareness of the relevant role of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) as cause of athletic field events and the refined Task Force (TF) criteria for the diagnosis of the disease have prompted a large scientific interest and triggered a vast scientific literature on this issue.
Indeed, the recent observations by Heidbuchel and La Gerche based on data from a selected group of ultra-endurance athletes, suggesting that strenuous, chronic endurance exercise may ultimately cause, per se, RV dysfunction have further stimulated the need to define the characteristics and limits of training-induced RV remodelling.
At present, however, no studies have assessed the characteristic of physiologic right ventricular remodelling as derived from a large population of highly-trained athletes, including a sizeable number of women and comprising a broad spectrum of summer and winter Olympic sport disciplines.
19 Aug Genes That Enable C. diff Toxin Production Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27186" align="alignleft" width="141"]
Dr. Charles Darkoh[/caption]
Charles Darkoh, Ph.D., MS., MSc.
Assistant Professor
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Environmental Sciences
Center for Infectious Diseases
Houston, Texas 77030
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Clostridium difficile (Cdiff) is a multidrug-resistant pathogen that takes over the colon after the good bacteria in the colon have been wiped out by antibiotic therapy. As a result, antibiotic treatment is a major risk factor for C. diff infections. Because of the ability of C. diff to inactivate the majority of the antibiotics currently available, it has become necessary to urgently develop a non-antibiotic therapy for this life-threatening infection. We know that C. diff causes disease by producing toxins, designated toxin A and B. During infection, the toxins are released into the colon resulting in diarrhea and inflammation of the colon as well as other diarrhea-associated illnesses. We also know that C. diff strains that are unable to produce toxins cannot cause disease. Therefore, the toxins are promising targets for a non-antibiotic therapy.
We reported last year that C. difficile regulates toxin production using quorum sensing — a system that allows bacteria to coordinate their biological activities as a group. Two sets of quorum-sensing genes (agr1 and agr2) were identified. These genes form part of a signaling communication system that makes a small peptide, which serves as a cue for the infecting bacterial population to turn on their toxin genes.
In this study we used genetic analysis to identify which of these two sets of genes is responsible for regulating the toxins. Our results demonstrates that agr1 is the culprit. This is because Cdiff agr1 mutant cannot produce toxins and unable to cause disease in mice, whereas the agr2 mutant can cause disease just like the wild type C.diff.