Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Surgical Research, UCSF / 27.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carter Lebares, MD Assistant Professor of Surgery Director, Center for Mindfulness in Surgery Department of Surgery, UCSF  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: This study was inspired by extensive evidence of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for mitigating stress and enhancing performance in other high-stress populations like police and the military.  We know that overwhelming stress is related to burnout and to cognitive errors - two critical issues within surgery, today. This prompted us to tailor and streamline an MBI specifically for surgeons, and to test it in our trainees. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, Hospital Readmissions, JAMA, Stanford, Surgical Research / 27.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: hospital-frailty-surgeryKara Anne Rothenberg.MD Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vascular Surgery Shipra Arya, MD SM FACS Associate Professor of Surgery Stanford University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is a growing body of literature showing that frailty, a syndrome where patients have increased vulnerability to a stressor (such as surgery), is associated with increased postoperative complications, failure to rescue, and hospital readmissions. The Risk Analysis Index (RAI), is an easy to use frailty measurement tool that better predicts postoperative mortality than age or comorbidities alone. As the rates of outpatient surgeries rise nationwide, we noted that most of the surgical frailty studies focus only on inpatient surgeries. Elective, outpatient surgery is generally considered low risk for complications and unplanned readmissions, however we hypothesized that for frail patients, it might not be. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, NIH, Stroke / 27.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lenore J. Launer, PhD. Chief Neuroepidemiology Section Intramural Research Program National Institute on Aging MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The prevalence of cerebral infarction on MRI can be as high as 30% in community-based studies. These lesions detected on brain MRI, are often clinically silent, but are associated with impairments in cognitive and physical function and can increase the risk for clinical events. For a large number, the origin of these brain lesions is unknown. There is also a lack of population-based data on unrecognized myocardial infarction, which is associated with an increased for clinical coronary disease and mortality. Unrecognized MI was detected in 17% of participants using state-of-the-art cardia MRI, a more sensitive measure of the lesions, than the standard ECG. We investigated the contribution to these lesions of recognized and unrecognized myocardial infarction [MI] identified on cardiac MRI. We found both recognized and unrecognized myocardial infarction increased the risk for cerebral infarction, and that in particular unrecognized MI was associated with cerebral infarction of embolic origins of an unknown source. Given their prevalence, unrecognized MI may be an underestimated contributor to the risk for cerebral infarction in older persons.  (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research, UCSD / 25.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Davide Dulcis, PhD Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry, UCSD School of Medicine University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093-0603 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Previous studies in humans have shown that pre-natal and early life exposure to nicotine can lead to altered children behavior and propensity for drug abuse, but the precise mechanisms involved are still unclear. In this pre-clinical study we showed how nicotine “primes” neurons of the mouse brain’s reward center for a fate they normally would not have taken, making them more susceptible to the effects of nicotine when the animals are again exposed to nicotine later in life, said Dr. Benedetto Romoli, first author of the research article.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Gender Differences / 24.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tom Chang PhD, BS, MIT Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics Marshall School of Business MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There have been many studies showing that women prefer higher indoor temperatures than men, however nobody looked at the effect of temperature on performance. We show that the battle for the thermostat is not just about the comfort. It is much more – in our experiment, women’s cognitive functioning is the best at high temperatures, whereas men’s at low temperatures. Significantly, the positive effect of increased temperatures on women’s performance is much stronger than the negative effect on men. The most surprising was that the effect of temperature on women is so strong. For instance, at low temperatures, men outperform women in a simple math task. However, when we increase the temperature, women become better and better (1.76% increase of solved tasks with each 1 Celsius increase), and at high temperatures women and men perform on the same level – the gender difference disappears.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Hearing Loss, JAMA, NIH, NYU / 24.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jan Blustein, MD PhD Professor of Health Policy and Medicine Wagner Graduate School and School of Medicine New York University, New York MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s largest public funder of health research, provides annual reports about levels of funding for many diseases and conditions.  These reports, issued as part of the NIH’s Research, Condition and Disease Categorization (RCDC) process, allow members of the public to track funding across key conditions and across time. Hearing loss is not included among the reported conditions. This runs counter to two of the NIH’s stated goals, according to researcher Jan Blustein (M.D., Ph.D.), professor of health policy and medicine at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, in a Research Letter in the May 15th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery. “First, the NIH is committed to transparency about how it divides funds across diseases and conditions,” said Dr. Blustein.  “Second, it has said that it will prioritize its funding to those conditions that cause the greatest disease burden.”  Hearing loss causes great disease burden, ranking 10th in the U.S. among all conditions as a contributor to Disability Adjusted Life Years (a widely-used measure of disease burden), according to the World Health Organization. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, Opiods, Pain Research / 23.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Katie Suda, PharmD, M.S. Associate Professor College of Pharmacy University of Illinois at Chicago Dr. Susan Rowan, DDS Clinical Associate Professor, Executive Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs College of Dentistry University of Illinois at Chicago,  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Dr. Katie Suda: Dentists treat a lot of pain – we have all probably had the experience of a terrible tooth ache. All dentists treat pain worldwide so we would not expect a large difference in which pain medication is prescribed. However, our results show that US dentists prescribe opioids more frequently than is likely needed. This is especially true because studies have shown that non-opioid pain medications are similar or more effective for the treatment of oral pain.  (more…)
Allergan, Author Interviews, Bipolar Disorder, Mental Health Research / 23.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Stephen Stahl MD PhD Professor of Psychiatry University of California San Diego  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does cariprazine differ from other medications for bipolar depression?  MedicalResearch.com: It is important to note that cariprazine, a dopamine D3-preferring D3/D2 receptor and serotonin 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist, is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia (1.5-6 mg/d) and bipolar mania (3-6 mg/d) in adults. It is not yet approved for depressive episodes related to bipolar I disorder (bipolar depression). In these data that focus on the investigational use for the treatment of bipolar depression, cariprazine has demonstrated efficacy vs placebo (PBO) in 3 phase 2/3 studies of patients with bipolar depression (NCT01396447, NCT02670538, NCT02670551). These analyses investigated the efficacy of cariprazine in patients with bipolar depression and concurrent manic symptoms (mixed features).  (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Cognitive Issues, Technology / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Henry W. Mahncke PhD Research neuroscientist CEO of Posit Science Corporation  MedicalResearch.com: What makes this study newsworthy?  Response: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) is a complex condition to treat. Patients can report many symptoms (e.g., cognitive deficits, depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, pain, sleep difficulties, disorientation, emotional issues). Prior to this study, conducted at five military and veterans’ medical centers, there has been no highly-scalable intervention to treat the cognitive deficits associated with mTBI. This study showed that a plasticity-based, computerized, brain-training app can drive statistically and clinically significant gains in overall cognitive performance. Given the number of service members and vets with persistent cognitive deficits from TBIs, that’s a big deal. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Lipids, Pediatrics / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amanda Marma Perak, MD, MS Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Preventive Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Blood cholesterol is a critical initiator of atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries that can lead to heart attack in adulthood. It is well established that these changes in the blood vessels occur already in childhood. Thus, it is important to know the status of cholesterol levels in youth to inform public health efforts aimed at preventing cardiovascular disease in the population. In the US there have been changes in childhood obesity prevalence (which may worsen cholesterol levels), the food supply (such as reduction of trans fats which may improve cholesterol levels), and other factors in recent years. We therefore designed a study to examine trends in cholesterol levels among youth in recent years. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dan Ly, MD, MPP Ph.D. Program in Health Policy Harvard MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is some mixed evidence regarding whether state level tort reform reduces defensive medicine, or the practicing of medicine in such a way to reduce medical liability. This includes “positive” defensive medicine, or performing certain tests and procedures to reduce such liability. Other research finds that the perception of malpractice risk drives such defensive medicine, including the use of diagnostic imaging, such as CT scans and MRIs. I was interested in exploring what influenced the perception of this risk, hypothesizing that, for a physician, a report of an injury against one’s colleague might increase the perception of this risk and lead to an increase the use of diagnostic imaging. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Technology / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Coleman Drake, PhD Assistant Professor, Health Policy and Management Pitt Public Health University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Telemedicine is frequently proposed as a solution to improve access to care in rural areas where driving to the nearest physician can take up to several hours. However, there needs to be sufficient broadband infrastructure for patients to actually use telemedicine. We found that broadband infrastructure is often insufficient to support telemedicine in the most rural areas, particularly in areas where there is inadequate access to primary care physicians and psychiatrists.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Colon Cancer / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Reinier G. S. Meester, PhD Postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Medicine Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Stanford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Incidence of colorectal cancer has increased for decades in adults under age 50 years in the United States. However, there is still uncertainty regarding the underlying causes of this increase. We studied the patterns in the stage at diagnosis from cancer registry data to assess whether the increases may be due more common use of colonoscopy in the ages 40-49 years, which account for nearly 3 out of 4 young-onset cases. If the increase in incidence were the result of earlier detection from increased colonoscopy use, earlier stage at diagnosis would be expected, whereas if the increased incidence were the result of true rises in risk, relatively later stage at diagnosis would be expected. Our results suggest that the incidence of late-stage (metastatic) colorectal cancer increased at almost twice the relative rate since 1995 (2.9% per year) compared to earlier stages (1.3-1.4% per year). Over 1 in 4 young-onset cases are now diagnosed at a late stage vs. approximately 1 in 5 cases in the 1990s. (more…)
Author Interviews, Immunotherapy, NEJM, Pulmonary Disease / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gerard J. Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP Chair and Professor, Thoracic Medicine and Surgery Lewis Katz School of Medicine Temple University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: An earlier, Phase II trial of benralizumab found a non-statistically significant reduction in COPD exacerbation rate for patients with eosinophilic inflammation in the airways. In this Phase III trial, the researchers sought to discover whether benralizumab's ability to deplete the airways of blood eosinophils in patients with eosinophilic inflammation would lead to a reduction in COPD exacerbations. The Phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trials GALATHEA and TERRANOVA evaluated the efficacy and safety of benralizumab for the prevention of exacerbations in patients with moderate to very severe COPD, eosinophilic inflammation, and increased risk of exacerbations. Benralizumab is a type of drug called an interleukin-5 receptor alpha-directed cytolytic monoclonal antibody. It is approved by the FDA for the treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Sexual Health, STD / 21.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lee Warner, PhD Chief of the Women’s Health and Fertility Branch Division of Reproductive Health CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous research has found lower prevalence of condom use combined with the most effective reversible contraceptive methods among teens, but this is the first study to our knowledge to confirm the finding among sexually active teen mothers in the postpartum period. Our new paper finds that only 3 in 10 postpartum teen mothers report using condoms combined with a more effective contraceptive method (either long-acting reversible contraception or LARC or a non-LARC hormonal method). Dual use was 50 percent lower among LARC users compared with users of non-LARC hormonal methods. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 20.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeffrey Colvin, MD, JD Department of Pediatrics Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas City, MO 64111  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior studies have found that infants spend an average of 5-6 hours a day in sitting devices. Sitting devices include car seats, swings, infant seats, and strollers. Given how much time infants are spending in sitting devices, we wanted to know if sleep-related infant deaths (such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or "SIDS") was occurring in those devices. We examined over 10,000 infant sleep-related deaths from 45 states. We found that 3% (or 348) of the deaths occurred in sitting devices. Two-thirds of the deaths in sitting devices were in car seats. What was most surprising was that less than 10% of the deaths in car seats occurred in cars. Instead, the great majority occurred in the child's home or the home of a relative, friend, or babysitter. In 1/3 of the deaths in car seats, the supervising adult was asleep.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Readmissions, JAMA, Neurology, Outcomes & Safety, University of Pennsylvania / 20.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sameed Khatana, MD Fellow, Cardiovascular Medicine, Perleman School of Medicine Associate Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There has been a growing use of quality metrics and indices in the US healthcare system. Much attention has been paid to quality measurement programs used by public payors, however, the use of such programs by commercial payors is much less studied. "Centers of excellence" are one type of quality designation program that is growing in use by commercial payors where certain hospitals are determined to be "high quality" for a certain disease state or procedure based on meeting certain criteria. For some people, this is even impacting the choice of providers and hospitals they can use by payors. We evaluated centers of excellence programs from three large commercial payors, Aetna, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield, targeted at cardiovascular diseases and interventions and examined publicly reported outcomes for all hospitals performing percutaneous coronary interventions (cardiac stenting) in New York State.  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA / 20.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: XinQi Dong Director, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor of Population Health Sciences Professor, Department of Medicine - Division of General Internal Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Interpersonal violence is a substantial public health issue across all socio-demographic and socioeconomic strata globally. A depth of prior studies have found that victims of childhood sexual abuse might have higher risks of re-experiencing sexual violence as adults. But the “re-victimization” phenomenon has been insufficiently examined among the rapidly growing aging populations. There lacks examinations about life-course violence experiences and the accumulative effect of which in older ages. Our study examined three most common forms of interpersonal violence (child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse) across the life span and found an interconnectedness among them. Individuals with a history of child maltreatment and/or intimate partner violence had two to six times higher risks of elder abuse compared to those without a past experience of the violence.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Ophthalmology / 20.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thulasiraj Ravilla Executive Director – LAICO & Director – Opeations Aravind Eye Care System Tamilnadu, India  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a visual consequence of diabetes and various other studies have reported that in India, 10% to 30% of adults with diabetes have DR, with higher rates found in older people and urban areas. Undetected DR leads to vision loss and eventually blindness. Thus early identification of DR is critical to initiate appropriate treatment to reduce the rate of vision loss. Conventional approaches of requesting diabetologists to refer patients with diabetes to an ophthalmologist has been ineffective due to compliance issues, both by the diabetologists and the patients. Similarly screening through outreach eye camps have not been found to be effective in India and other developing countries owing to inadequate eye care resources. Teleretinal screening for Diabetic Retinopathy is increasingly being used in India. Evidence from randomized clinical trials on the benefits of teleretinal screening is limited. Whatever evidence is there are from high income countries, which often have little relevance to developing countries. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Sexual Health / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Leif Edward Ottesen KennairDepartment of PsychologyFaculty of Social and Educational SciencesNorwegian University of Science and TechnologyProf. Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair Department of Psychology Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences Norwegian University of Science and Technology MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Previous studies on intercourse frequency mainly focused on individual data, with no possibility to verify the perceived initiative or frequency. Couples data gave us that possibility. Previous studies had also mainly treated relationship quality as one measure. Therefore it was also interesting to distinguish between various aspects of relationship qualities to try to disentangle how these different aspects were related to frequency of intercourse. In addition we had some ideas about how a measure of sexual personality or sociosexuality—how interested in short-term sex one is—might be relevant for compromise within the relationship? (more…)
Author Interviews, Emory, Heart Disease, JAMA, Pediatrics, Sugar / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean A. Welsh, RN, MPH, PhD Departments of Epidemiology and Pediatrics Emory University Wellness Department, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Atlanta, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the evidence has accumulated regarding the health risks associated with sugar-sweetened beverages, I’ve wondered about fruit juices.  Though they have a kind of healthy halo, their main ingredients are the same as sugar-sweetened beverages, sugar and water.  We know that young children drink a lot of fruit juice, and I’ve wondered if older children and adults might switch to drinking more as concern grows about soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, FSAHM Dr. Halpern-Felsher Professor of Pediatrics Director of Fellowship Research Department of Pediatrics Director of Research, Division of Adolescent Medicine Associate Director, Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program Co-leader, Scholarly Concentrations, Pediatrics Residency Program Stanford University Hoda S. Abdel Magid, MHS, PhDPostdoctoral ScholarDepartment of Health Research & PolicyStanford UniversityHoda S. Abdel Magid, MHS, PhD Postdoctoral Scholar Department of Health Research & Policy Stanford University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Dr. Hoda Magid, my former graduate student, and I wanted to examine whether owning promotional items for e-cigarettes and other non-cigarette products predicted youth use of those products.  Other studies have examined whether ownership of coupons, samples, and other promotional materials influenced cigarette use, but no longitudinal study examined other tobacco products. Our findings show that non-tobacco using youth who own items to promote e-cigarettes and other alternative tobacco products are twice as likely to use alternative tobacco products a year later. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Science, Surgical Research, Technology / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Haishan Zeng, PhDDistinguished ScientistImaging Unit - Integrative Oncology DepartmentBC Cancer Research CentreProfessor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Physics, University of British ColumbiaVancouver, BC, Canada Haishan Zeng, PhD Distinguished Scientist Imaging Unit - Integrative Oncology Department BC Cancer Research Centre Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Physics, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We developed a fast multiphoton microscope system that enables clinical imaging of the skin at the level of cellular resolution. With this system, we can see microstructures inside of the skin without cutting into it. We subsequently conceived the idea of directly treating the microstructures that are responsible for disease. We increased the laser power to generate intense localized heat to destroy the targeted structure. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of this new treatment by targeting and closing single blood vessels using our new microscope.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nina Niu Sanford, M.D.  Assistant Professor UT Southwestern Department of Radiation Oncology Dallas TX 75390  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study is that we know cancer survivors are at risk for uninsurance or underinsurance and the most commonly cited reason for this is cost of insurance.  However, there have been no prior studies assessing from the patient perspective the reasons for not having insurance. In addition, there has been further recent controversy over the Affordable Care Act, including threats from the current administration to dismantle it.  Thus assessing the impact of the ACA among at risk populations including cancer survivors is timely. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research / 17.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tove Fall PhD Senior author of the study Associate Professor in Epidemiology Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Dog ownership is common in the Western society but little is known about what actually makes people get a dog. We conducted a twin study to understand whether the genetic make-up has an influence on this choice. We found that more than 50% of the differences in dog ownership is explained by genetic variants.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Ophthalmology, Regeneron / 17.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert L. Vitti, MD, MBA Vice President and Head, Ophthalmology Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Dr. Vitti discusses the recent announcement that the FDA has approved EYLEA to treat all stages of diabetic retinopathy. MedicalResearch.com: Can you provide additional background on this approval? Would you briefly explain diabetic retinopathy and it's impact on patients? Response: The FDA has approved EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection to treat all stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). DR is the leading cause of blindness among working-aged American adults. Approximately 8 million people live with DR, a complication of diabetes characterized by damage to the blood vessels in the retina (per 2010 data). The disease generally starts as non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and often has no warning signs or symptoms. Over time, NPDR often progresses to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), a stage in which abnormal blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina and into the vitreous cavity, potentially causing severe vision loss. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, OBGYNE, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 17.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily Petersen, MD. Lead for the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System Division of Reproductive Health   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: About 700 women die of pregnancy-related causes each year in the United States. The new analysis provides much-needed perspective on the circumstances surrounding pregnancy-related deaths and summarizes potential strategies to prevent future deaths. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Diabetes, Neurology / 17.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: foot-neuropathyMonica Perazzolo Research Centre for Musculoskeletal Science and Sports Medicine School of Healthcare Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our research on motor control in diabetes focussed on the effect of diabetic peripheral neuropathy on driving. Drivers with diabetic peripheral neuropathy showed a less well controlled use of the accelerator pedal and sometimes larger, faster steering corrections needed to stay in lane when driving a simulator compared to healthy drivers and people with diabetes but no neuropathy. Despite these negative findings, an important result is that drivers with diabetic peripheral neuropathy demonstrated an improvement in their driving with practice.  (more…)