Author Interviews, Prostate Cancer / 17.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Fenstermaker MD NYU School of Medicine | MD, MS | Class of 2015 Northwestern University | BA | Biochemistry, Psychology Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Fenstermaker: The benefits of using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing to screen for prostate cancer are uncertain. In response to this, many medical societies have recently scaled back their recommendations for PSA screening.  One common thread among these groups is that shared decision-making should guide whether or not men get tested. Shared decision-making is a process by which physicians and patients work together to make a medical decision that aligns with the patient’s values and follows the best available medical evidence. Several studies have shown a decline in PSA testing since new guidelines have been published.  While a decrease in screening is not necessarily problematic itself, it could be an issue if this is the result of fewer physicians discussing screening with their patients. Some experts worry that disparities in screening could develop, such that only informed patients go on to speak with their physicians and receive PSA testing.  By analyzing data from a national survey, we had the chance to investigate just how much men know about the controversies leading to these guidelines changes and whether this knowledge influences PSA usage. Our findings show that the majority of U.S. males of screening age report that they were not informed of many key facts important to understanding the risks and controversies surrounding PSA testing.  Of particular concern, certain vulnerable populations, such as those without regular healthcare providers were less likely to be informed of these facts. Surprisingly, those men who had more awareness of the controversies about PSA testing were more likely to undergo testing.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Prostate Cancer / 17.05.2015

Jennifer R. Rider, ScD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Department of Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA 02115MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jennifer R. Rider, ScD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Department of Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA 02115 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Rider: Numerous studies have investigated the potential role of sexual activity on the development of prostate cancer. However, most of these studies have been small and retrospective, making them more prone to bias. In addition, previous studies often relied on proxies of exposure for sexual activity (number of sexual partners, age at first marriage, etc.), which may not adequately measure the aspects of sexual activity that are most important for prostate health. The current study is the largest prospective study to date on ejaculation frequency and prostate cancer. It includes 18 years of follow up of almost 32,000 healthy men, 3839 of whom later were diagnosed with prostate cancer.  We asked men about their average monthly frequency of ejaculation between the ages of 20-29, 40-49, and in the year prior to the questionnaire (1991). We find that frequency of ejaculation throughout life course is inversely associated with risk of prostate cancer at all three of these time points. For instance, men who have an average monthly ejaculation frequency of 21 or more times/moth at ages 40-49 have a statistically significant 22% reduction in risk of developing prostate cancer compared to men with a frequency of 4-7 times/month, adjusting for multiple dietary and lifestyle factors, and prostate cancer screening history. (more…)
Prostate Cancer / 17.05.2015

Ryan P. Terlecki, MD, FACS Director, Men's Health Clinic Director, Fellowship in Urologic Reconstruction, Prosthetic Urology, and Infertility Director, Medical Student Education Associate Professor of Urology Wake Forest Baptist HealthMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ryan P. Terlecki, MD, FACS Director, Men's Health Clinic Director, Fellowship in Urologic Reconstruction, Prosthetic Urology, and Infertility Director, Medical Student Education Associate Professor of Urology Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In recent years, the value of generalized screening for prostate cancer (PCa) in adult men has been questioned, with several national associations recommending against the practice in men without recognized risk factors. Screening, when performed, often consists of a blood test for prostate specific antigen (PSA) and a digital rectal exam (DRE). Once PSA was developed as a screening tool, we witnessed a stage migration such that observing a locally advanced cancer that would be initially found via DRE became a rarer event. In practice, we have noticed that some men will actually avoid a clinic visit because of the DRE. Additionally, the digital rectal exam has limitations and is often poorly reproducible among providers. We chose to review a large body of data to shed some light on the utility of the digital rectal exam exam. We analyzed data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening trial, to determine the ability of the digital rectal exam to result in a diagnosis of clinically significant PCa in the setting of a normal PSA. We found that if PSA is normal and digital rectal exam is considered abnormal, the chance of detecting a clinically significant cancer is similar to a situation of normal DRE and normal PSA. Also, 1,372 men would need to undergo a digital rectal exam to identify a single case of clinically significant prostate cancer not detected by PSA. (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Testosterone, University of Michigan / 17.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jim Dupree, MD, MPH Assistant Professor Department of Urology, Division of Andrology University of MichiganMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jim Dupree, MD, MPH Assistant Professor Department of Urology, Division of Andrology University of Michigan Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Dupree: There are increasing discussions in the United States about testosterone therapy and men with clinical hypogonadism (or low testosterone).  Yet, to date, there have not been any nationally-representative studies of the prevalence of low testosterone in the United States.  Using a validated national health examination program from the CDC, we found that the national prevalence of low testosterone (serum testosterone ≤ 300 ng/dL) in adult males in the US was 28.9%.  Among other factors, men who were older, had a higher body mass index (BMI), or had a larger waist circumference were at risk for having lower testosterone levels. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Primary Care / 15.05.2015

Judith Hibbard, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Health Policy Research Group University of OregonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith Hibbard, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Health Policy Research Group University of Oregon MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hibbard: Two important trends are happening in health care today: 1) Policies which move away from paying for volume and toward paying for value; and 2) The emphasis on patient engagement and the need for the patient to play a key part in the care process. Because so many quality outcomes are determined to a large extent by patient behaviors, there is an implied assumption that if you pay primary care clinicians (PCPs) more for better quality outcomes, they will also try to engage the patient as a necessary partner in reaching quality targets. That is, there is a tacit assumption that clinicians will naturally engage patients if you incentivize them on the quality metrics. We had an opportunity to examine the soundness of this assumption, when we conducted a study of primary care clinicians whose compensation was based 40% on their performance of quality metrics. The findings show that the vast majority of clinicians did not invest their efforts in patient engagement and activation, when trying to maximize their income under this model. They put their efforts in other areas. However, a year later they were very frustrated that their income was influenced by patient behaviors. This was their greatest frustration with the compensation model, and they indicated that “patient’s unwillingness to change their behavior” as the greatest barrier to achieving their quality goals. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, PLoS, Technology / 15.05.2015

Michael Rebold, PhD, CSCS Assistant Professor Department of Exercise Science Bloomsburg University Bloomsburg, PA 17815MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Rebold, PhD, CSCS Assistant Professor Department of Exercise Science Bloomsburg University Bloomsburg, PA 17815 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Rebold: We assessed how common smartphone uses (texting and talking) interfere with treadmill exercise. We found that when individuals use their smartphones during exercise for texting or talking, it causes a reduction in exercise intensity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Infections, Inflammation, Stanford / 15.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Timothy E Sweeney, MD PhD Resident, General Surgery Postdoc, Khatri Lab, Bioinformatics Stanford University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Sweeney: Sepsis is defined as the presence of systemic inflammation due to infection. Systemic inflammation can be caused from many things, such as trauma, surgery, thrombosis, autoimmunity, etc. It can also be caused by infection. On the other hand, infection does not necessarily cause systemic inflammation, either:  a person can get a minor infection, like strep throat, and not have a systemic response. It's the intersection of severe inflammation (a syndrome called SIRS) with infection that defines sepsis. In general surgery, we frequently see patients after traumatic injury or surgery who are having an inflammatory response (ie, fevers, fast heart rate, high white blood cell count, etc). But it's not clear whether this inflammatory response is a reaction to the trauma or surgery, or whether there might be an infection brewing that is causing the reaction. Identifying the inflammatory response doesn't require many special tests-- it's easy to spot. So we know which patients have inflammation and which do not. What is difficult is determining the root cause of the inflammation, and, in particular, whether there is an infection present that needs treatment with antibiotics. Current diagnostics for infection (not sepsis) are either slow (like blood cultures, which can take 24-72 hours to return) or not highly accurate (like procalcitonin). We sought to define a better test that could specifically differentiate between people with sterile inflammation, and people with inflammation due to infection (sepsis). By integrating gene expression data from multiple publicly available cohorts, we were able to find a set of 82 genes that are significantly differently expressed between these two groups. We then used an algorithm called a greedy forward search to find a subset of 11 genes that were most diagnostic for sepsis. (more…)
Author Interviews, MRI, Neurology, Stroke / 14.05.2015

Amie W. Hsia, MD Medical Director, Comprehensive Stroke Center MedStar Washington Hospital Center NIH Stroke Program at MWHC Associate Professor, Neurology Georgetown University Washington, DC 20010MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amie W. Hsia, MD Medical Director, Comprehensive Stroke Center MedStar Washington Hospital Center NIH Stroke Program at MWHC Associate Professor, Neurology Georgetown University Washington, DC 20010   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hsia: Acute stroke is a common presenting problem in the emergency department. We know that “time is brain” and that for patients experiencing an ischemic or “blockage” type of stroke, the most common type, the sooner we can administer tPA, a clot-busting medication and the only FDA-approved medication to treat acute stroke, the better chance for a good outcome. Therefore, there is a goal national benchmark time of administering the drug to appropriate acute stroke patients within 60 minutes of their arrival to the emergency department. There are many steps that are necessary in the evaluation of an acute stroke patient in the emergency department before tPA can be given. This includes a brain scan to make sure a patient is not having the less common bleeding type of stroke. A CT or “CAT” scan is the typical type of brain scan that is performed in emergency departments across the country and the world to screen a patient before giving tPA. The primary purpose of the CT scan is to exclude bleeding; it is difficult to visualize an early stroke on CT. Though an MRI can give more complete information including showing the stroke as it is happening in these first few hours and though most hospitals have an MRI scanner, an MRI takes longer to perform and has not traditionally been used in an emergency setting. At the two hospitals included in this study, MedStar Washington Hospital Center in D.C. and Suburban Hospital in Maryland, we are fortunate to serve as the sites for the NINDS intramural stroke clinical research program and use MRI routinely to screen acute stroke patients to learn more about stroke and develop new treatments for stroke. It is upon this foundation that we performed independent hospital-wide quality improvement initiatives engaging multidisciplinary committees with leadership from all the departments involved in the care of the acute stroke patient in that critical first 60 minutes. Inspired by our colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis led by Dr. Andria Ford who used similar methods in reducing treatment times with CT screening, we used lean manufacturing principles to streamline our processes that include MRI screening and dramatically reduced our treatment times from a baseline of 93 minutes down to 55 minutes while still maintaining safety. Through these efficiency improvements, we were able to achieve a 4-fold increase in the percentage of stroke patients treated with tPA within 60 minutes. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews / 14.05.2015

Dr. Christine McCusker MD Associate Professor, Department Pediatrics Meakins-Christie Laboratories McGill University and the MUHCRI, Montreal Quebec, CanadaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Christine McCusker MD Associate Professor, Department Pediatrics Meakins-Christie Laboratories McGill University and the MUHCRI, Montreal Quebec, Canada Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. McCusker: When the body is exposed to new substances, the immune system must evaluate the “threat” and choose the type of response that will best protect the host. Allergies and allergic asthma develop after the response to “allergens” follows the TH2-type inflammatory pathway instead of the non-inflammatory tolerant pathway.  Evidence suggests that there is some plasticity in this “choice” and thus it may be possible to influence the immune response to preferentially choose the tolerant pathway when exposed to allergens. We therefore treated very young mice to a molecule designed to inhibit activation of the TH2 pathway. We showed that this early treatment resulted in long-lasting protection from the development of allergies.  Instead of allergic responses, vaccinated animals developed tolerant responses to allergens and did not show any signs of allergies or asthma.  Importantly, while the influence of the treatment was long-lasting, the molecule itself is rapidly removed from the system. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, Surgical Research / 14.05.2015

Robert A. Meguid, MD MPH FACS Assistant Professor Section of General Thoracic Surgery Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery Department of Surgery University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora, CO 80045MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert A. Meguid, MD MPH FACS Assistant Professor Section of General Thoracic Surgery Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery Department of Surgery University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora, CO 80045 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Meguid: The surgical literature on adverse outcomes after surgery on pregnant patients is conflicting.  We know that the majority of surgery performed on pregnant patients is not elective (and just over 50% of it in the database studied was emergency surgery).  We expected to find an increased rate of adverse outcomes in those pregnant patients.  However, when we matched the pregnant and non-pregnant women who underwent surgery in the database, with excellent matching on all available preoperative characteristics and on the actual operation performed, we found similar, low rates of 30-day postoperative death and complication.  In this study, pregnant patients had undergone a broad spectrum of different types of operations, including general, vascular, thoracic, head and neck, non-obstetric gynecologic and urologic, orthopedic, reconstructive, and neuro-surgery.  Given the concern that we as surgeons have over operating on pregnant patients, both for the well-being of the patient and her child, our findings are reassuring.  This suggests that we as a medical profession are diligent in minimizing risk to pregnant women who need surgery that cannot be delayed until after the child's birth.  Again, this study faces the limitations of being unable to assess any short term harm done to the fetus and the subsequent long term outcome of the child. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Wistar / 14.05.2015

Katherine Aird, Ph.D. Gene Expression and Regulation Program The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katherine Aird, Ph.D. Gene Expression and Regulation Program The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Aird: Senescence is considered an important tumor suppressor mechanism. In normal cells, activation of certain oncogenes decreases the levels of dNTPs (the building blocks of DNA), leading to replication stress. We previously found that loss of the rate-limiting enzyme in dNTP synthesis, ribonucleotide reductase M2 (RRM2), is the cause of this replication stress. Restoration of RRM2 expression could rescue the loss of dNTPs and replication stress, which overcame the senescence-associated growth arrest. Indeed, RRM2 is highly expressed in many cancer types, including melanoma and ovarian cancer. Therefore, we found that increased dNTP levels can overcome senescence and potentially lead to transformation of cells and cancer. We next wanted to further our understanding of replication stress in the context of senescence. In the current study, we suppressed nucleotide metabolism by decreasing RRM2 expression as a model for replication stress and then determined what proteins are necessary for the induction of senescence. We found that loss of ATM could overcome replication stress-induced senescence. This was due to increased dNTP levels. dNTPs were increased due to a coordinated inactivation of p53 and activation of c-MYC by loss of ATM. These changes at the molecular level correlate with reprogramming of cellular metabolism by generating dNTPs. Thus, loss of ATM in the context of replication stress can change cellular metabolism to a more cancer-like phenotype. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Chemotherapy, Journal Clinical Oncology, Stanford / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melinda L. Telli, M.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine Stanford University Division of Medical Oncology Stanford, CAMelinda L. Telli, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Stanford University
Division of Medical Oncology
Stanford, CA 94305-5826 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A major goal of this study was to explore a DNA damaging chemotherapy regimen in patients with newly diagnosed early-stage triple-negative or BRCA1/2 mutation-associated breast cancer. This was based on the hypothesis that these types of tumors are more responsive to DNA damaging therapeutics. A second major goal was to identify predictors of response to this platinum-based therapy among patients with sporadic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Overall, this study demonstrated that the non-anthracycline and non-taxane neoadjuvant regimen of gemcitabine, carboplatin and iniparib resulted in a 36% pathologic complete response rate (pCR). This compares favorably to pCR rates commonly observed with anthracycline and taxane-based regimens in this group of patients. The response rate was higher among triple-negative breast cancer patients with a germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation (56%). Given the hypothesis of underlying DNA repair defects in sporadic triple-negative breast cancer, we also evaluated a novel measure of genomic instability to detect the accumulation of changes in the genomic landscape of a tumor attributable to defective homologous recombination DNA repair. Homologous recombination deficiency was assessed by loss of heterozygosity (HRD-LOH) in pretreatment core breast biopsies. Very importantly, we found that the HRD-LOH assay was able to identify patients with sporadic TNBC lacking a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, but with an elevated HRD-LOH score, who achieved a favorable pathologic response. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nature, NIH / 13.05.2015

Humphrey Yao, Ph.D. Lead Researcher Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Triangle Park, North CarolinaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D. Lead Researcher Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Yao: We wanted to understand how an organ forms, and what basic cell types were needed to form an organ. So, we used a mouse ovary model system to understand the process. The functional unit of the ovary is called the follicle, and it is made up of three types of cells — the maturing egg, granulosa cells, and theca cells. Scientists knew where the egg and the granulosa cells came from, but no one knew where theca cells came from. Theca cells are important, because they allow females to produce the hormones that sustain follicle growth. Researchers also lacked information about how the egg, granulosa cells, and theca cells talked to each other to promote growth and maintain a healthy ovary. We made two discoveries. First, we answered the long-standing question of theca cell origin by determining that they have two sources, both inside and outside of the ovary. We don’t yet know why theca cells have two sources. Second, we uncovered the molecular signaling system that the egg, granulosa cells, and theca cells use to communicate. We didn’t expect to find this three-way cellular crosstalk, but now that we know how they signal each other, I believe we are closer to understanding how an ovary develops and what happens when something goes wrong. Ovarian disorders, such as premature ovarian failure and polycystic ovarian syndrome, may start when cellular communication is altered or if the various cells fail to develop properly. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness, Technology / 13.05.2015

Dr. Shang-Ming Zhou Senior Lecturer in Statistical Modelling and Analytics for Epidemiology and Public Health, Public Health Informatics Group, Health Information Research Unit (HIRU), UKCRC DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement) Centre, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Shang-Ming Zhou Senior Lecturer in Statistical Modelling and Analytics for Epidemiology and Public Health, Public Health Informatics Group, Health Information Research Unit (HIRU), UKCRC DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement) Centre, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In medical and sport science research, body-worn accelerometers are widely used to provide objective measurements of physical activity. However, accelerometers collect data continuously even during periods of nonwear (i.e. periods when participants may not be wearing their monitor, such as during sleeping). It is important to distinguish time of sedentary behaviours (eg. watching television) from time of nonwear. The clinical consequence of misclassification of accelerometer wear and nonwear would overestimate or underestimate physical activity level, and mislead the interpretation of the relationship between physical activity and health outcomes. Automated estimation of accelerometer wear and nonwear time events is particularly desired by large cohort studies, but algorithms for this purpose are not yet standardized and their accuracy needs to be established. This study presents a robust method of classifying wear and nonwear time events under free living conditions for triaxial accelerometers which combines acceleration and surface skin temperature data. The new findings are: Either acceleration data or skin temperature data alone is inadequate to accurately predict wear and nonwear events in some scenarios under a free living condition; This study provides a simple and efficient algorithm on use of short time periods of consecutive data blocks for accurately predicting triaxial accelerometer wear and nonwear events; Combining both types of acceleration and skin temperature data can significantly improve the accuracy of accelerometer wear and nonwear events classification in monitoring physical activity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pashtun Shahim, MD Departement of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology Sahlgrenska University Hospital Mölndal Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Visinin-like protein-1 (VLP-1 or VILIP-1) is a neuronal calcium-sensor protein, originally studied as a stroke marker and identified as a marker of neuronal injury in brain injury models. Increased plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) VILIP-1 hase been reported in Alzheimer’s disease, where CSF VILIP-1 correlates with CSF total tau (T-tau) and with brain volume. Recently, using a novel ultrasensitive method to measure tau in plasma, increased levels of plasma T-tau were found in concussed professional ice hockey players, where the levels correlated with the resolution of post-concussive symptoms and the players returning to play. The main findings of this study were that VILIP-1 did not increase significantly in serum after sports-related concussion. However, the serum levels of VILIP-1 increased after a friendly game without concussion, signaling extracerebral expression. (more…)
Author Interviews, HPV, Vaccine Studies / 13.05.2015

Maria Blomberg Virus, Lifestyle & Genes Danish Cancer Society Research Centre Copenhagen, DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria Blomberg Virus, Lifestyle & Genes Danish Cancer Society Research Centre Copenhagen, Denmark Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Two vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) were licensed almost one decade ago. Since then multiple countries have implemented HPV vaccination programs to help reduce genital warts (one of the kinds of warts most harmful to people), but many struggle with low coverage rates. An important barrier to vaccination is the cost of the vaccines and less developed countries also face considerable logistical challenges. Both vaccines were administered as three dose schedules, but in early 2014 the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts and the European Medicines Agency reviewed the evidence of reduced dose schedules of HPV vaccination, and subsequently recommended a two dose schedule for young girls. A reduction of the number of doses has obvious advantages; it would lower the costs, ease implementation of vaccination schedules and potentially increase coverage rates. Based on these recommendations, countries around the world have reduced the dosing schedule in their HPV vaccination programs for young girls to two doses. However, the current evidence is based primarily on immunological studies, and because the immune correlate of protection is not known, studies with disease endpoints are very important. Using the biologically relevant endpoint of genital warts, this study aimed to assess the clinical effectiveness of a two dose schedule of quadrivalent HPV vaccine compared with the standard three-dose regimen administered at month 0, 2 and 6. We found that with the standard vaccination schedule, completion of the three dose regimen is important to gain maximal protection. However, the effectiveness of two doses increased significantly with increasing time between the doses, and with an interval of approximately 6 months between dose one and two, no differences could be found between two and three doses. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Columbia, Emergency Care, Pharmacology / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joanne Brady, PhD candidate Department of Anesthesiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University, New York, NY Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prescription drug overdose is a major public health problem in the United States. Prescription drug overdose mortality has increased dramatically over the past twenty five years. Frequent emergency department utilization may be a marker for risk of prescription drug overdose death. The current study assessed how frequency of emergency department visits in the past year related to risk of subsequent prescription drug overdose death. In a cohort of patients visiting the emergency department, patients with four or more visits to the emergency department in the past year were at substantially higher risk for prescription drug overdose death than patients who visited the emergency department one or fewer times. As the number of visits to the emergency department increased from 0 - 1 to 4 or more for any reason the risk of dying from prescription drug overdose also increased. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Weight Research / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Martin Reinhardt, MD Postdoctoral Fellow PECRB, NIDDK, NIH Phoenix, AZ 85016 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Reinhardt:  It can be very difficult for some people with obesity to lose weight despite great efforts. There is an immense deal of individual variability in weight loss success. Beyond differences in diet adherence, it is not clear what causes this variability in weight loss. Through a study conducted at our facilities at the National Institutes of Health in Phoenix, Arizona, we have now shown that individual differences in biology – more precisely, differences in the amount of energy bodies use during fasting – make it difficult for certain obese people to lose weight. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Gender Differences, HPV, Vaccine Studies / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Johannes Berkhof Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Centre Amsterdam Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Vaccination against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) is offered free-of-charge to 12-year-old girls in the Netherlands. There is strong evidence that HPV also causes cancer in men: the virus is associated with cancers of the penis, anus, and oropharynx, and possibly with a small proportion of oral cancers. A number of these cancers will be prevented because vaccination of girls leads to a decrease of  HPV in the general population and thus provides indirect protection to heterosexual men. However, vaccine uptake among girls is only about 60 percent in the Netherlands. Moreover, men who have sex with men are at increased risk of HPV-related cancer and will not be protected by vaccination of girls. On the basis of data from several epidemiological studies and a dynamic model for virus transmission, we calculated that, if the vaccine uptake is low, about 200 girls need to be vaccinated to prevent one case of cervical cancer and 470 boys need to be vaccinated to prevent one case of cancer in men. An increase in vaccine uptake in girls will decrease the HPV infection risk in heterosexual men and if the uptake in girls is 60 percent, around 800 boys need to be vaccinated to prevent one additional case of cancer in men. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Exercise - Fitness, Weight Research / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Edward "Ted" Weiss, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Saint Louis University Saint Louis MO Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Weiss:  Results from one of our previous study yielded a surprising result that diet-induced weight loss improved insulin sensitivity (major diabetes risk factor) by the same amount as exercise induced weight loss. We thought that the exercise-induced weight loss would have yielded benefits from the weight loss itself but also from a weight loss-independent benefit that has been reported in other studies. One explanation for dietary restriction providing the same benefit of exercise was that it also provides benefits besides those that are attributable to weight loss. Our recently completed/published study was designed to evaluate this possibility and the finding do suggest what we hypothesized... i.e. that dietary restriction provides benefits above and beyond that which are attributable to weight loss. (more…)
Author Interviews, Global Health, Pediatrics, Primary Care / 12.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elizabeth Cecil, MSc Department of Primary Care and Public, Health, Imperial College London London, United Kingdom Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Unplanned hospital admissions in children have been rising for more than a decade placing strain on health care resources in the UK. Unnecessary hospital admission exposes children to hospital acquired infections and an over invasive approach, and is inconvenient for their families as well as adding to pressures on staff dealing with sicker children. Our team from Imperial College London were interested in assessing the impact of primary care policy reforms on short stay admissions, in England. The reforms were nationally implemented in April 2004 and reduced the availability of primary care physicians for children. Our study, found that reforms coincided with an increase in short-stay admission rates for children with primary care-sensitive chronic conditions and with fewer children’s admissions being referred by a primary care physician. Over the study period from April 2000 to March 2012, we found that more than half of the 7.8 million unplanned hospital admissions for children younger than 15 years were short-stay admissions for potentially avoidable infections and chronic conditions. The primary care policy reforms implemented in April 2004 were associated with an 8 percent increase in short-stay admission rates for chronic conditions, equivalent to 8,500 additional admissions, above the 3 percent annual increasing trend. Notably, the policy reforms were not associated with an increase in short-stay admission rates for infectious illness. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Infections, JACC / 12.05.2015

J L Mehta, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Biophysics Stebbins Chair in Cardiology University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little Rock, AR 72205MedicalResearch.com Interview with: J L Mehta, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Biophysics Stebbins Chair in Cardiology University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little Rock, AR 72205 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mehta: In 2007, ACC/AHA published new guidelines regarding infective endocarditis (IE) prevention. This guideline drastically differed from the way we practiced and prescribed antibiotics to our patients when they undergo surgery or any other procedure like dental procedure, endoscopy, etc. to prevent infective endocarditis. As a result of these guideline, antibiotic use is now being restricted to only a small number of patients who have cardiac conditions that puts them at very high risk for adverse outcomes from IE. However, there is paucity of data on IE trends in the community following such a major change in practice. Therefore evaluated the trend in incidence of infective endocarditis and their outcomes before and after the advent of new guideline. Our study has several important findings. First, there has been a steady increase in the incidence of infective endocarditis hospitalizations over the last decade in the US. However, the incidence of IE pre- and post-inception of new antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines is not significantly different. In parallel to these findings, the rate of valve replacement for infective endocarditis did not change after the release of new guidelines in 2007. Secondly, the increase in IE incidence was seen across all types of pathogens- Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, gram negative bacteria and fungi. The major offender involved in IE in the United States is Staphylococcus. Finally, the rate of Streptococcus infective endocarditis related hospitalization increased significantly following the release of new guideline in the US, while Staphylococcus IE hospitalizations although on rise, did not increase significantly following the 2007 ACC/AHA guideline update. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 12.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Margaret Ashwell OBE, FAfN, RNutr (Public Health) Ashwell Associates Ashwell, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Visiting Research Fellow, Oxford Brookes University

MedicalResearch: What are the main findings from this study?

Dr. Ashwell: In this study, the authors explore the differences in CVD risk factors between overweight and non-overweight people (by BMI) according to their shape (waist-to-height ratio -WHtR) Data for their analysis was taken from the Health Survey for England 2009 (HSE). They found significant differences in levels of total cholesterol (TC) and glycat­ed haemoglobin (HbA1c—a measure of blood sugar control used to diagnose diabetes). Out of 2917 people aged 16 years and over, 346 classified as ‘normal’ by BMI, have WHtR exceeding 0.5 (12% of the total,sample, or 34% of normal weight people). These could be called non-overweight ‘apples’, who have a lot of fat around the waist but not a high BMI. The researchers classified the HSE population into four groups (2×2) using standard boundary values of BMI (above or below 25kg/m2) and WHtR (above or below 0.5). The group with ‘low/normal BMI but high WHtR (non-overweight ‘ap­ples’) had significantly higher mean TC than the group with high BMI but low WHtR (overweight ‘pears’—people with a higher than normal BMI but less fat around the waist): 5.73mmol/L vs. 4.98mmol/L. Similarly, HbA1c levels were higher among non-over­weight ‘apples’ than among overweight ‘pears’ (5.62% vs. 5.33%). These differences were similar and also significant in both sexes.

MedicalResearch: Why do you say that piece so string can be used for primary screening?

Dr. Ashwell: Since a good boundary value for waist-to-height ratio is 0.5, you don't even need a tape measure to screen those at risk. It can be done with a piece of string. Measure the height of child with string, fold it in half and see if it fits around his/her waist.   If it doesn't, that child should proceed to the next stage of screening. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, JAMA, Radiology / 12.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dott. Michelangelo Sartori U.O. di Angiologia e Malattie della Coagulazione Azienda Ospedaliera di Bologna Policlinico Sant'Orsola Malpighi Bologna Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The safety of withholding anticoagulation only on the basis of ultrasound imaging has not been evaluated in patients with suspected (Upper Extremity Deep Vein Thromobsis) UEDVT. The purpose of this management study was to evaluate the failure rate of ultrasound testing for UEDVT diagnosis in outpatients. Our data show that, similarly to the lower extremity, a negative complete ultrasound assessment of the upper extremity can safely exclude DVT. We found a 3-month VTE rate of 0.6% after a negative ultrasound and such figure is not different from the 3-month VTE incidence in management studies for lower limb DVT.  Thus anticoagulant therapy can be withheld for clinically suspected UEDVT after negative ultrasound examination without further testing in the ambulatory office setting. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 12.05.2015

Matthew PearceMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew Pearce NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Despite evidence to suggest that the prevalence of childhood obesity in the UK has stabilized in recent years, we know that approximately one in five children start their school life either overweight or obese, increasing to one in three children by the last year in primary school. Our research was the first to undertake an in-depth analysis on the UK’s National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) and retrospectively track the weights of individual children over a 7-year period. Our study included a sample of 1863 children in South Gloucestershire, Bristol in the UK. Our results were found to be similar to cross sectional data with obesity prevalence approximately doubling between the first (4/5yrs old) and last year (10/11yrs old) of primary school. Our findings provide little reassurance that those children who are obese in early childhood ‘grow out of ’ excess adiposity. Including overweight, we found that 84% of obese children at Reception year went on to be either overweight or obese by Year 6. Although previous studies have failed to identify any significant differences in BMI change between boys and girls during mid-childhood, our research found that more boys than girls dropped a weight category (from overweight or obese) by the time they reached Year 6. We found that the odds ratios of being overweight (BMI ?85th percentile) or obese (?95th percentile) based on BMI at Reception were similar to published literature. Our data found children who are within the upper range of the healthy weight category (75th–85th percentile) at Reception had an increased risk of being overweight or obese by the time they reach year 6. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 12.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kirolos A. Jacob, MD, MSc PhD Candidate Division Vital Functions, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Intensive Care Medicine University Medical Center Utrecht Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Jacob: Heart surgery carries many risks for a patient undergoing such a procedure. One of the most devastating complications following open heart surgery is kidney failure requiring dialysis. Most of these patients who develop kidney failure requiring dialysis after surgery have some form of chronic kidney disease before the operation, which placed them at especially high risk. Approximately one out of every 100 patients undergoing open heart surgery develops severe kidney failure. When such kidney failure occurs, the patient has more than 40% chance of dying. 1% sounds like a small percentage, however given the fact that each year, over half a million people undergo heart surgery in the USA alone, this means that an estimated 5,000 patients develop renal failure and of those about 2,500 die as a result of this complication. This figure is rising yearly as more and more patients are being operated due to the aging population. Also, this elderly population has often significant pre-existing kidney disease, further increasing the incidence of kidney failure after a heart operation. Thus, treatment strategies are needed for this relatively small yet very important and expanding group of patients. Heart surgery initiates an inflammatory reaction across the human body due to the surgical trauma and the heart-lung machine. This systemic immune system reaction is thought to play a vital role in the development of kidney injury after heart surgery. Our study investigated the effects of dexamethasone, a strong anti-inflammatory drug, on severe kidney injury after heart surgery. Severe kidney injury was defined as the use of dialysis during the hospital stay after surgery. We discovered that patients who receive the drug used 56% less frequently kidney dialysis, when compared to those receiving a placebo. Thus patients who did not receive the drug had about 2.5x higher risk for developing kidney failure when compared to those receiving dexamethasone. The beneficial effects of dexamethasone were particularly present in those who already had pre-existing kidney disease before heart surgery. This reinforces the fact that this drug could be of major importance for the increasing elderly population with pre-existing kidney disease undergoing a heart operation. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Karolinski Institute, Nature, Neurological Disorders / 11.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kristina Bečanovič Ph.D. Department of Clinical Neuroscience Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Bečanović: While the symptoms normally debut in middle-age, there is wide individual variation in how Huntington disease manifests itself, and even though two people carry the exact same genetic mutation that codes for the huntingtin protein, there can be up to a 20-year difference in onset of motor symptoms. This suggests that genetic variants, transcription factors and environmental factors could contribute to the observed differences in disease expressivity. As the identification of regulatory factors of the huntingtin gene would be targets for therapeutic intervention, we set out to study the regulation of the huntingtin gene as it has not been well-known which factors regulate the expression levels. We were interested in identifying both genetic variants and transcription factors that are of importance for gene regulation. We therefore used DNA from Huntington disease patients to study the regulation of the huntingtin gene promoter in cells. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Transplantation, University of Pennsylvania / 11.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. David Goldberg MD, MSCE Assistant Professor of Medicine LDI Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute, University of Pennsylvania Medical Director for Living Donor Liver Transplantation, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Senior Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Goldberg: While there are data that demonstrate differences in authorization (consent) rates for deceased donation among racial and ethnic minorities, it is unknown how these differences contribute to geographic differences in the number of deceased organ donors.  It has been postulated that geographic differences in the distribution of racial and ethnic minorities may contribute to differences in the deceased organ supply, yet there have been no empiric data to support this.  Using data on “eligible deaths,” defined as potential brain-dead organ donors <=70 years of age, we demonstrated that even after accounting for differences in the racial/ethnic demographics of the potential donor population, there are dramatic differences in authorization (consent) rates across geographic areas that are not explained by demographics alone. If the source of these differences could be identified, then there could be large increases in the number of organ donors, and lifesaving transplants, in areas with lower authorization rates. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA / 11.05.2015

William M. Sage MD JD James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence School of Law The University of TexasMedicalResearch.com Interview with: William M. Sage MD JD James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence School of Law The University of Texas Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We reviewed settlement agreements in malpractice claims closed by The University of Texas System as part of a larger study on incorporating patient perspectives into safety improvement funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. Over the five years studied, we found that 88.7% of the 124 settlement agreements that met our study criteria contained non-disclosure provisions, but with little standardization or consistency. Restrictions on disclosure, which selectively burdened patients and their families, seemed broader than needed to protect health care providers from disparagement or to avoid attracting additional litigation. Medical malpractice could happen to anyone at any time during your visit to your hospital. If you or a member of your family have been the victim of medical palpractice you might want to look into getting help from someone like this Tate Law Offices Ft. Worth Personal Injury Law Firm or a law firm that is local to you that might be able to help with your case. Nearly half of the agreements (46.4%) prohibited disclosure of the underlying facts, which may be inconsistent with emerging principles of patient safety and compassionate care, and 26.4% prohibited reporting to regulatory bodies, a restriction that the health system subsequently eliminated in response to our findings. Settlements reached after tort reform took full effect in Texas had stricter non-disclosure provisions than earlier settlements, suggesting greater leverage by defendants notwithstanding the reduced risk of additional litigation. (more…)