Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease / 06.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nicolas Danchin MD, FESC Professor of Medicine, Consultant Cardiologist Intensive Cardiac Care Unit Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou Paris, France MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: FAST-MI is a programme of nationwide French surveys, carried out every 5 years in France since 2005 in patients hospitalised with STEMI or NSTEMI. Patients are included consecutively for one month and 10-year follow-up is organized. We can thus analyse patients' outcomes in relation with their profile. Knowing that diabetic patients represent a large proportion of patients with AMI, we thought it would be worthwhile determining whether they suffered specific complications, and in particular, heart failure, both at the acute stage and in the subsequent months. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Columbia, Gender Differences / 06.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Morgan Philbin, PhD MHS Assistant Professor Department of Sociomedical Sciences Columbia University School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Marijuana is the most frequently used substance in the United States (US) after alcohol and tobacco. In 2017, 15.3% of the US population ages 18 and up reported past-year marijuana use (MU) and 9.9% past month use. Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB), also report higher levels of marijuana use and marijuana use disorder than their heterosexual counterparts. Researchers have begun to explore potentially modifiable factors, such as state-level marijuana policies, that affect marijuana use and related outcomes at the population-level and within subgroups—though as of yet not among sexual minority populations. We therefore examined whether LGB individuals living in states with medical marijuana laws (MMLs) have higher levels of marijuana use and marijuana use disorder compared to LGB individuals in states without MMLs. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Medicare / 06.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Md Momotazur Rahman PhD Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice Margot Schwartz MPH Doctoral program Brown University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although one third of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA), it is difficult to assess the quality of healthcare providers that serve MA beneficiaries, or to compare them to providers that serve Traditional Medicare (TM) beneficiaries. While Medicare Advantage plans are required to cover the same minimum healthcare services as TM, MA beneficiaries receive care from their plan’s network of preferred providers, while TM beneficiaries may select any Medicare-certified provider. The objective of this study is to compare the quality of Home health Agencies (HHAs) that serve Medicare Advantage and TM beneficiaries. Approximately 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries receive home health care annually.   (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews / 06.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Edwin H. Kim, MD, MS Assistant Professor of Medicine & Pediatrics, Division of Rheumatology Allergy & Immunology Program Director, UNC Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program Director, UNC Food Allergy Initiative Medical Director, UNC Allergy & Immunology Clinic UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill, NC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2011, Kim and colleagues – including Wesley Burks, MD, dean of the UNC School of Medicine – conducted a small study of 18 patients to show that sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was safe and effective over the course of one year. Since then, Kim and colleagues followed 48 patients in the SLIT protocol of 2 mg daily for five years. In the JACI paper, the researchers showed that 67 percent of these patients were able to tolerate at least 750 mg of peanut protein without serious side effects. About 25 percent could tolerate 5000 mg (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Microbiome / 06.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kaleta Institute for Experimental Medicine Institute for Experimental Medicine, Kiel University Kiel, GermanyProf. Dr. Christoph Kaleta Institute for Experimental Medicine Institute for Experimental Medicine, Kiel University Kiel, Germany  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Even though Metformin is the first-line treatment option in type-2 diabetic patients, its specific mechanism of action has remained elusive so far. Moreover, metformin is of particular interest as an anti-aging drug since it's usage has been shown to be associated with a lower incidence of several aging diseases in type-2 diabetic patients taking metformin when compared to matched healthy controls. While previous work was able to show pronounced changes in the microbiota of patients taking metformin and a health-promoting effect of metformin-adapted microbiota, how this beneficial effect could be mediated has remained unclear. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Medical Imaging, UCSF / 05.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD Professor, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies University of California, San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Medical imaging increased rapidly from 2000 to 2006. The rise in imaging can be attributed to improvements in technical aspects of imaging, strong physician and patient demand, and strong financial incentives. While imaging contributes to accurate disease diagnosis and improved treatment, imaging can also increase costs and patient harms, such as incidental findings, overdiagnosis, anxiety, and radiation exposure associated with increased risk of cancer. Potential overuse of diagnostic testing has been addressed by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s Choosing Wisely Campaign and initiatives by payers to reduce imaging through payment reductions, but there remains uncertainty in the impact of these initiatives on imaging rates.The objective of our study was to evaluate recent trends in medical imaging. Our study assessed imaging from 2000 through 2016 among individuals enrolled in diverse U.S. integrated healthcare systems and among individuals residing in Ontario, Canada and assessed changes in medical imaging utilization over time by country, health system, and patient demographic factors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Nutrition, PLoS, Red Meat / 05.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christopher A. McDevitt B.Sc. (Hons) Ph.D , Associate Professor Group Leader, ARC Future Fellow The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Melbourne | Victoria | Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Zinc-deficiency affects nearly one-third of the world’s population and is associated with an increased susceptibility to respiratory and enteric infections. The foremost global respiratory disease is pneumonia, which kills more than 1 million people per year with young children and the elderly being at greatest risk. This study investigated how zinc-deficiency affected Streptococcus pneumoniae infection, the primary bacterial cause of pneumonia. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, Chemotherapy / 04.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bishal Gyawali, MD, PhD Department of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cancer drugs are prescribed to the patients based on results from trials. Usually, these are superiority trials meaning the cancer drugs prove that they are better than the treatment we already have. Recently, more and more cancer drugs are approved on the basis of non-inferiority trials. In these trials, the cancer drugs only prove that they are not worse than the treatment we already have ( instead of proving they are better). Such an approach is considered justified if the new drug provides any other benefit such as lower cost, easy to administer or improved quality of life. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis / 31.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Angela Birnbaum, Ph.D., FAES Professor, Director of Graduate Studies Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology College of Pharmacy University of Minnesota  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Little was known about the effect food has on the amount of cannabidiol (CBD) that is actually absorbed into the body. Because of various state laws, CBD preparations vary from state to state. In Minnesota, however, the law only allows pure forms of cannabidiol providing a consistent supply of product including a purified CBD capsule formulation. Due to its pharmacological properties a low amount of a CBD dose reaches the blood stream and the effect of food had not been well described. Our study was done to determine the amount of cannabidiol that is absorbed with food as compared to an empty stomach at doses used in epilepsy patients, which can be higher than the dose often used for other conditions.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury, Emergency Care, Pediatrics / 31.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Linda Papa, MD Emergency Physicians of Central Florida Orlando Health Orlando, Florida  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2018 serum biomarkers Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1) were FDA-approved in adults to detect abnormalities on CT scan in mild to moderate traumatic brain injury. However, they have not been approved to detect concussion and they have not been approved for use in children. Previous studies have focused on detecting lesions on CT in more severely injured patients. However, not having brain lesions on a CT scan does not mean there is no brain injury or concussion. Therefore, this study focused on patients with concussion who looked well and likely had normal-appearing CT scans of the brain. This study includes THREE groups of trauma patients:
  • 1) those with concussion,
  • 2) those who hit their head but had no symptoms (subconcussive), and
  • 3) those who injured their bones but did not hit their head (no concussion).
There is a group of individuals with head trauma who have been significantly understudied, and in whom biomarkers are rarely, if at all, examined. These are people who experience head trauma without symptoms of concussion. They may be classified as having “no injury” or they may represent milder forms of concussion that do not elicit the typical signs or symptoms associated with concussion and are referred to as “subconcussive” injuries.  (more…)
ADHD, Author Interviews, Autism, JAMA, OBGYNE / 30.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tianyang Zhang, MSc Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We know that births by caesarean delivery are linked to several negative health outcomes in the children, such as obesity, asthma, allergy, and type 1 diabetes. However, the association between c-section and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders has been less studied. In addition, it is unclear whether the extent of this association is different if a caesarean section is performed planned in advance or urgently due to medical reasons during a delivery. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Opiods, Primary Care / 30.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hannah T. Neprash, PhD Assistant Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health University of Minnesota  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Physicians play a pivotal role in the opioid epidemic and it's important to understand what factors that drive opioid prescribing. Variation in opioid prescribing across physicians has been well-documented, but there’s very little research on variation within physicians…which is surprising, given the widespread concern about time pressure and cognitive fatigue having a potentially detrimental effect on the quality of care provided by physicians. (more…)
Author Interviews, Global Health, Health Care Systems / 29.08.2019

healthcare health care
At least one half of the world’s 7.7 billion population do not have proper access to crucial health services. Even high-income countries with accessible and affordable healthcare are finding it difficult to meet the needs of their citizens. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, millions of people spend a significant part of their household budget to be able to access health services -- some are even pushed into poverty as a consequence. Given these facts and statistics, a comprehensive understanding of health insurance can be crucial in encouraging people to seek healthcare services as well as avoid complications from preventable conditions. If you want to know more about the status of healthcare all over the world, here’s a look at the healthcare systems of three top nations. The State of Healthcare In The United States The United States is considered the most powerful country in the world; however, its healthcare system still lags behind other high-income countries. Currently, there is no universal healthcare for U.S. citizens. There are federal-funded programs such as Medicaid that provides health insurance to low-income populations, the elderly and people with disabilities. The Affordable Care Act, which aimed to provide health insurance to all, was enacted in 2010 under the Obama administration. However, this is being challenged by the Trump administration’s American Health Care Act of 2017, which also seeks major reforms to healthcare in the United States. Currently, U.S. citizens who are employed full-time receive private insurance through their employers. While some self-employed individuals and part-time employees opt for private health insurance, many of them have to pay for health services out-of-pocket. In many cases, these expenses are beyond their means. As it stands, healthcare has become one of the hottest issues in the lead-up to the country’s upcoming 2020 elections. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Women's Heart Health / 29.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amy Ferry Cardiology Research Nurse Centre for Cardiovascular Science The University of Edinburgh MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The fourth universal definition of myocardial infarction now recommends the use of sex-specific diagnostic criteria. This approach has revealed a population of patients with myocardial infarction (predominantly women) who were previously unrecognised. The impact of these diagnostic criteria on the presentation and clinical features of men and women with suspected acute coronary syndrome is unknown.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Genetic Research, JAMA, Ovarian Cancer, USPSTF / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Carol Mangione, M.D., M.S.P.H., F.A.C.P. Division Chief of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Professor of Medicine Barbara A. Levey, MD, and Gerald S. Levey, MD, endowed chair in Medicine David Geffen School of Medicine University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Professor of public health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Every year, too many American women are faced with the challenge of dealing with a cancer diagnosis related to potentially harmful mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.  However, the Task Force found that there are several steps women can take to determine if they’re potentially at increased risk for BRCA gene mutations – and if genetic counseling and BRCA testing are needed. It is important to note that while some women can benefit from risk assessment, counseling, and testing, these services are not for everyone. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Heart Disease, Stroke / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gwen Windham, MD MHS Professor of Medicine Memory Impairment & Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center University of Mississippi Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Silent infarctions are a primary cause of strokes in the brain, but they are also common in people without a history of a stroke. Infarctions are generally only reported if they are larger (at least 3mm) and are ignored clinically if they are smaller (less than 3mm). We examined 20 years of cognitive decline among stroke free, middle-aged people with and without smaller, and larger infarctions. The comparison groups included participants as follows: those with (1) no infarctions, the reference group; (2) only smaller infarctions; (3) only larger infarctions 4) both smaller and larger infarctions (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA, Medicare / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jose F. Figueroa, MD, MPH Instructor , Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Hospitalizations related to ambulatory-care sensitive conditions are widely considered a key measure of access to high-quality ambulatory care. It is included as a quality measure in many national value-based care programs. To date, we do not really know whether rates of these avoidable hospitalizations are meaningfully improving for Medicare beneficiaries over time. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Opiods, Social Issues / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Isaac Sasson, PhD Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Herczeg Institute on Aging Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Life expectancy at birth in the United States has been declining steadily since 2014, which is very unusual for a high-income country in times of peace. In fact, the last time that life expectancy declined in the US was in the early 1990s, and only briefly. Studies from the past few years have shown that the rise in mortality is concentrated among middle-aged Americans and particularly the lower socioeconomic classes. Our study analyzed over 4.6 million death records in 2010 and 2017 to understand which causes of death account for the rise in mortality among white and black non-Hispanic US adults. In addition, given the substantial socioeconomic inequality in health in the US, we broke down our results by level of education, which is a good proxy for socioeconomic status. Essentially, our goal was to measure how many years of life were lost, on average, to each cause of death across different social groups.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Guy German PhD Associate Professor Director of Graduate Studies Department of Biomedical Engineering Binghamton University Binghamton, NY 13902  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Photoageing from the sun is widely known to occur. The most obvious result of it is early onset of wrinkles. However we are trying to understand if solar light can degrade the mechanical integrity of human skin. Moreover, while solar ultraviolet (UV) light is considered to have the most damaging effect on the skin, the UV range that is most harmful remains a topic of significant debate. This research studies how different UV ranges and dosages impacts the mechanical integrity of the outermost layer of skin, called the stratum corneum. This tissue layer sits above the layers of melanin in skin, the pigment responsible for tanning. When stratum corneum ruptures, it stops working as a barrier to the outside world and can increase the risk of infections. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Erectile Dysfunction, JAMA / 26.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rachel Grashow PhD Research Associate Department of Environmental Health Football Players Health Study at Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It has been previously shown in small studies of boxers and military personnel that traumatic brain injuries can damage the pituitary gland, which serves as the "master controller" of hormone function in the brain. These studies on individuals at risk for repeated head injury found that hits on the head caused deficiencies in certain hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, which could have downstream effects on sexual function. Only one large study was conducted that used Taiwanese health insurance data and looked at single traumatic brain injuries and risk of erectile function (ED). In that study, men who experienced a single severe TBI were more than twice as like to report ED after their injury. In light of these findings, important questions remain regarding whether multiple head injuries are associated with pituitary or sexual dysfunction in a large population with other ED-related health issues. The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University asked former NFL players to fill out a questionnaire that interrogated demographic factors, football-related exposures and current health conditions. Specifically, we asked participants to self-report the frequency of ten different concussion symptoms experienced during professional play, as well as whether a clinician had ever recommended or prescribed medication for low testosterone or ED.   (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 26.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexandre Loupy, MD PhD Nephrologist, Department of Nephrology & Kidney Transplantation Necker Hospital, Paris Head of the Paris Transplant Group (Inserm)  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The lack of organs for kidney transplantation is a major public health problem across the world, due to its attributable mortality and excess cost to healthcare systems while waitlisted patients are maintained on chronic dialysis. Nearly 5,000 people in the US and 3,500 people in Europe die each year while waiting for a kidney transplant. Yet in the US, over 3,500 donated kidneys are discarded annually, representing almost 18% of the available organs, while the discard rate in France is only 6,8%, though these countries have similar organ allocation systems and offer the same treatments to patients after transplant. We thus compared the use of donated kidneys in the US to France from 2004-2014 in much more depth, using a new approach based on validated analytic methods and computer simulation.  (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Sleep Disorders / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chenlu Gao, MA Graduate Student Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Baylor University Michael Scullin, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Baylor University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: According to the World Alzheimer Report, dementia affects 50 million adults worldwide, and this number is expected to approach 131 million by 2050. Dementia patients often require assistance with daily activities from caregivers. The Alzheimer’s Association reported that, in the United States, 16 million caregivers spend on average 21.9 hours per week providing care for patients with dementia. Being a caregiver is stressful, which not only challenges emotional, cognitive, and physical health, but is also associated with shorter and poorer sleep at night. If a caregiver cannot obtain restorative sleep at night, their quality of life and their abilities to perform the caregiving role can be compromised. For example, sleep loss may jeopardize caregivers’ memory, causing them to forget medications or medical appointments for the patients. Sleep loss can also impair immune functions, causing the caregivers to suffer from illnesses. In the long-term, sleep loss is associated with cortical thinning and accumulation of beta-amyloid and tau, which increase the risks of dementia. Undoubtedly, there is a need to systematically study whether caregivers sleep less or worse during the night and whether we can improve their sleep quality through low-cost behavioral interventions. To answer these questions, we systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed 35 studies with data from 3,268 caregivers of dementia patients.     (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Ulf Ekelund PhD Professor in Physical Activity and Health Department of Sport Medicine Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Oslo, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We know that physical activity of a moderate or vigorous intensity (such as brisk walking) is good for your health. More recently, it has also been shown that prolonged sitting is also linked to an increased risk for many chronic diseases and premature death. Current physical activity recommendations suggest that all adults should participate in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity and that prolonged sitting should be avoided. However, how much sitting is too much? This is not specified and is widely debated. In addition, are levels of physical activity below those recommended still beneficial for health and does light intensity physical activity still count? Answering these questions have huge relevance for health promotion. We therefore performed a study analysing data from eight studies in which physical activity was assessed precisely with an activity monitor in about 36000 individuals followed for about six years during which more than 2500 died.  (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Diabetes, Lipids, Omega-3 Fatty Acids / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lee Hooper PhD, RD Reader in Research Synthesis, Nutrition & Hydration Norwich Medical School University of East Anglia England, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The World Health Organization asked us to carry out a set of studies (systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials) assessing health effects of omega-3 and omega-6, which are polyunsaturated fats. This is because the WHO are planning to update their dietary guidance on fats in the near future. Worries about effects of long chain omega-3 on control of diabetes have long existed, and some experimental studies have suggested that omega-3 supplementation and diets high in PUFA and omega-3 raise fasting glucose. Pollutants such as methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyl levels exceeding recommended thresholds are rarer now, but have been reported in seafoods and fish oil supplements; elevated mercury levels interrupt insulin signalling, raising fasting glucose, in mouse models. Body concentrations of organic pollutants are correlated with prevalence of diabetes in the US, but other cross sectional studies have suggested either no association with or benefits of eating fish on glycaemic control. Systematic reviews of observational studies have suggested both positive and negative associations with glucose metabolism, but strong evidence shows that omega-3 supplements reduce raised triglycerides and have little or no effect on body weight. Theories suggest that omega-3 and omega-6 fats compete in some metabolic pathways so that the omega-3/omega-6 ratio is more important than absolute intakes of either.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. Lukas Flatz MD Institute of Immunobiology Kantonsspital St Gallen, St Gallen Switzerland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Toxicity is an important limiting factor of treatment with checkpoint inhibitors. We aimed in investigating the relationship between immune-related adverse events during anti-PD-1 therapy and tumor mutational burden by comparing large scale surveillance data of irAEs with the median tumor mutational burden across multiple cancer types. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Memory / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Claude Alain PhD Senior Scientist Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Adults carrying a gene associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease had a harder time accessing recently acquired knowledge, even though they didn’t show any symptoms of memory problems.  MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?  Response: Researchers found that older adults carrying a specific strain of the gene, apolipoprotein E4, otherwise known as APOE4, weren’t able to tap into information they had just learned to assist them on a listening test. These findings suggest greater difficulty for these individuals to access knowledge from their memory to guide their attention in ways that would have improved their performance. This work could lead to the development of new ways to detect individuals at risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, Pulmonary Disease, Stem Cells, University of Pennsylvania / 22.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrew E. Vaughan, PhD Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences School of Veterinary Medicine University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Severe respiratory infections, including influenza, can progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), wherein barrier function and gas exchange are compromised.  It’s a very life threatening scenario.  This is due in part to loss of alveolar type 2 (surfactant producing) and type 1 cells (gas exchanging).  Interestingly alveolar type 2 cells are also stem cells in the lung.  We wondered whether transplant of these cells might aid in recovery from severe influenza infection, and sure enough, it did! (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, Nutrition, Vegetarians / 22.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Megu Baden, MD, PhD Department of Nutrition Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA02115  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you give an example of healthful vs non-healthful plantbased diet? Response: Plant-based diets are recommended for health and recently also for their environmental benefits. However, most previous studies defined it as either vegetarian or non-vegetarian, and importantly, without differentiation for the quality of plant foods. As you know, not all plant foods are equally good to our health. Therefore, to capture the quality of plant-based diets, we established overall, healthful and unhealthful plant-based diet indices. A higher score on the overall plant based diet index indicates greater intake of all types of plant foods and less of animal foods. A higher score on the healthful plant based diet index indicates greater intake of only healthy plant foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee), and less of less healthy plant foods (fruit juices, refined grains, potatoes, sugar-sweetened beverages, sweets/desserts) and animal foods. A higher score on the unhealthful plant based diet index indicates greater intake of only less healthy plant foods, and less of healthy plant foods and animal foods. In this study, we used these plant-based diet indices and investigated the associations between 12-year changes in plant-based diet quality and subsequent total and cause-specific mortality in two large US cohorts. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Lipids, Omega-3 Fatty Acids / 22.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ann Skulas-Ray, PhD. Assistant Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences University of Arizona MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The prior guidance from the AHA regarding omega-3 fatty acids and high triglycerides was published in 2002, prior to the availability of prescription omega-3 concentrates and results from many of the clinical studies we were able to review. Our advisory was able to address questions such as dose and concomitant use of statin therapy. Another unique feature of our advisory is that we evaluated studies of the effects of omega-3 fatty acids in people with triglycerides (TG)  > or = 500 mg/dL and 200-499 mg/dL separately, so we were able to see patterns relating to dose of omega-3 fatty acids and baseline triglyceride values. We came to separate conclusions for populations above and below TG of 500 mg/dL and concluded that 4 g/d was most effective. In contrast, the 2002 guidance recommended 2-4 g/d EPA + DHA under a physician's care for high triglycerides.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Global Health / 22.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cong Liu, PhD Department of Environmental Health School of Public Health Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Numerous time-series studies have examined the short-term associations between particulate air pollution (PM10 and PM2.5) exposures and daily mortality. However, most evidence has been obtained from studies in single cities, regions, or countries. There are challenges in comparing these results and in synthesizing effect estimates because of different modeling approaches and potential publication bias. Furthermore, there has never been a global representative concentration-response function for risk assessment and policy making. We and our co-authors established the Multi-City Multi-Country (MCC) Collaborative Research Network to perform a global assessment of the effects of weather or climate on mortality. This network allowed us to examine and compare the associations of PM concentrations with daily mortality at the global, regional, and country level with the use of a standardized analytic framework. (more…)