Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 15.10.2014

Andre Kalil, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Medicine Director, Transplant ID Program University of Nebraska Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE 68198-5400MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andre Kalil, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Medicine Director, Transplant ID Program University of Nebraska Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE 68198-5400 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kalil: In recent years, physicians treating staph infections with vancomycin have seen an increase in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent that inhibits the growth of a microorganism. This condition is referred to as vancomycin “MIC creep.” It is an indicator that the bacteria might be developing a reduced susceptibility to vancomycin. There also have been reports suggesting that elevations in vancomycin MIC values may be associated with increased treatment failure and death. To determine the effectiveness of vancomycin and other newer antibiotics used to treat Staphylococcus aureus, the UNMC team analyzed nearly 8,300 episodes of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections from patients around the U.S. and in several other countries. The adjusted absolute risk of mortality among patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections with high-vancomycin MIC was not statistically different from patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections with low-vancomycin MIC. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Mental Health Research / 15.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Phil Tully PhD Early Career Research Fellow, Discipline of Medicine University of Adelaide Australia and Abteilung für Rehabilitationspsychologie und Psychotherapie Institut für Psychologie, Universität Freiburg Freiburg Germany Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: The systematic review indicated that anxiety disorders ascertained by clinical interview are highly prevalent in patients with verified coronary heart disease. Also, approximately 50% of anxiety disorders were comorbid with depression. There was however some uncertainty in prevalence estimates with high level heterogeneity observed between studies. It was also evident that studies measuring generalized anxiety disorder in outpatient samples reported an increased prognostic risk for major adverse cardiac events in the longer term, when adjusted for confounding factors, however there was limited data. There were no randomized controlled trials targeting anxiety disorders in this population. (more…)
Surgical Research, Weight Research / 15.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Donna Tepper, M.D. Henry Ford Hospital Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Tepper: We looked at 94 patients who underwent bariatric surgery at Henry Ford from 2003 through 2013. Of those, 47 subsequently had body recontouring procedures, such as body lift, abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), arm lift, thigh lift, face lift.  We recorded the patients’ body mass index prior to bariatric surgery, and then again at 6 months, 1, 2.5, 4, and 5 years.  Of the patients who underwent contouring surgery, the average decrease in BMI was 18.24 at 2.5 years, compared to a statistically significant 12.45 at 2.5 years for those who did not have further surgery.  This is statistically significant.  This 3 point change in BMI is an 18-21 pound difference depending on patient height.  Furthermore, the BMI in the body contouring group continues to be lower at 4 and 5 years from bariatric surgery compared to the bariatric surgery alone group. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Transplantation / 15.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elvira Cicognani PhD Department of Psychology School of Psychology and Education, University of Bologna Piazza Aldo Moro, 90 - Cesena, Italy - Viale Berti Pichat, 5 - Bologna, Italy Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Cicognani: The study is part of a larger project of the Italian National Transplant Center (Centro Nazionale Trapianti, CNT), started in 2008, in collaboration with Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Centro Studi Isokinetic, University of Bologna, Cimurri Impresa e Sport and Patients’ associations. The general aim is to encourage transplant patients to practice physical activity and even sport activity, in view of its benefits in enhancing recovery and quality of life after transplantation. In this study we assessed Health-related quality of life on 118 active kidney transplant patients practicing different sports at low to moderate intensity and compared them with those of 79 sedentary kidney transplant patients and with 120 active healthy control subjects. Active transplant patients reported higher levels of quality of life than sedentary patients on most dimensions of quality of life and similar to active healthy controls. In brief, practicing sports may allow patients to achieve a level of quality of life similar to the general population of active individuals. (more…)
Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Nutrition / 15.10.2014

Sara N. Bleich, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Health Policy and Management Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD 21205 MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation Sara N. Bleich, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Health Policy and Management Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD 21205 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bleich: Large chain restaurants appear to be voluntarily reducing the calories in their newly introduced menu items which contain an average of 60 fewer calories than items only on the menu in the prior year. This decline is primarily driven by new lower calorie salads and sandwiches. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Lipids, UCSF / 15.10.2014

MedicalResearch.comInterview with: Mary Malloy, M.D. Co-director of the Adult Lipid Clinic and the director of the Pediatric Lipid Clinic UCSF Medical Center Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Malloy: We studied an individual whom we found to be homozygous for a rare loss of function mutation in apolipoprotein E. Because apolipoprotein E is necessary for clearance of lipoproteins from plasma, he has very high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in blood, and unusual and very severe xanthomas. He had no evidence of neurocognitive or retinal defects. (more…)
Author Interviews, End of Life Care, Erasmus / 15.10.2014

F.E. (Erica) Witkamp RN MSc Senior lecturer University of Applied Sciences Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Institute Rotterdam, The Netherlands.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: F.E. (Erica) Witkamp RN MSc Senior lecturer University of Applied Sciences Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Institute Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: We investigated the experiences of 249 bereaved relatives (response 51%) of patients who had died in the hospital, after a hospitalization of at least six hours. The main outcome measure was their global score of the quality of dying (QOD) on a 0-10 scale, with zero being “very poor” and ten “almost perfect”. Further, we assessed multiple experiences in the last days of life, such as symptom burden, preparedness for life closure, awareness of impending death, and care in the last days of life. We analyzed which of these factors was related to the quality of dying score, and subsequently whether the related factors represented specific domains of the dying phase. Relatives rated the overall score of QOD on average at 6.3 (sd 2.7) with a range from 0-10. During the last day(s) of life, 26% of the patients, and 49% of the relatives had been fully aware of imminent death. In the end 39% of the patients and 50% of the relatives had said goodbye; 77% of the patients had died in the presence of a relative. According to relatives patients had suffered moderately to severely from on average 7 out of 22 symptoms. In 53% relatives reported that in the last 24 hours symptoms had sufficiently been alleviated; efforts to control symptoms had been sufficient in 75%. In 64% relatives had been informed by the physician about the imminence of death, and in 70% they were satisfied about their involvement in decision making. In 55% relatives had experienced sufficient attention to individual preferences and wishes, and in 70% hospital facilities had been sufficient. Patients had been sufficiently affirmed as a person in 63%. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Imperial College, Nature / 15.10.2014

Dr. David Hodson PhD Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medicine Imperial College LondonMedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Dr. David Hodson PhD Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medicine Imperial College London Medical Research: What is the background for this research? Dr. Hodson: Type 2 diabetes represents a huge socioeconomic challenge. As well as causing significant morbidity due to chronically elevated glucose levels, this disease is also a drain on healthcare budgets (~$20billion in the UK per year). While current treatments are effective, they are sometimes associated with side effects, usually due to off-target actions on organs such as the heart and brain. In addition, the ability to regulate blood glucose levels more tightly may decrease complications stemming from type diabetes (e.g. nerve, kidney and retina damage). As a proof-of-principle that the spatiotemporal precision of light can be harnessed to finely guide and control drug activity, we therefore decided to produce a light-activated anti-diabetic. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, Mediterranean Diet, Metabolic Syndrome, Nutrition / 15.10.2014

Jordi Salas-Salvadó Professor of Nutrition Human Nutrition Unit Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology IISPV School of Medicine. Rovira i Virgili University CIBERobn, Instituto Carlos IIIMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jordi Salas-Salvadó Professor of Nutrition Human Nutrition Unit Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology IISPV School of Medicine. Rovira i Virgili University CIBERobn, Instituto Carlos III Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: In this large, multicenter, randomized clinical trial conducted in Mediterranean individuals at high cardiovascular risk, Mediterranean-diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil was associated to a lower increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to the advice on a control low-fat diet. However, no beneficial effect of Mediterranean-diet on the incidence of metabolic syndrome among participants free of this condition at baseline was observed. Therefore, the lower increase in prevalence was especially due to the reversion of metabolic syndrome in those individuals with metabolic syndrome at baseline. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC / 15.10.2014

Nils P. Johnson, M.D., M.S. Assistant Professor - Cardiovascular Medicine Department of Internal Medicine University of Texas Health Science Center Houston TexasMedicalResearch.com Interview with Nils P. Johnson, M.D., M.S. Assistant Professor - Cardiovascular Medicine Department of Internal Medicine University of Texas Health Science Center Houston Texas Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Johnson: Our study had 3 main findings.
  • First, the numeric fractional flow reserve (FFR) value related continuously to risk, such that clinical events increased as FFR decreased and revascularization showed larger net benefit  for lower baseline FFR values.
  • Second, fractional flow reserve measured immediately after  stenting also showed an inverse relationship with prognosis, likely due to its relationship with diffuse disease.
  • Third, an fractional flow reserve-assisted strategy led to revascularization roughly half as often as an anatomy-based strategy, but with 20% fewer adverse events and 10% better angina relief. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 15.10.2014

Jaime Hart, ScD Instructor in Medicine Channing Division of Network MedicineMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jaime Hart, ScD Instructor in Medicine Channing Division of Network Medicine Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: The main findings are, that among 107,130 women in the Nurses' Health Study, even after adjusting for a number of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, those women living within 50 meters of a major roadway had a 38% increased risk of sudden cardiac death and 24% increased risk of fatal coronary heart disease, compared to women living 500 meters or more away. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 13.10.2014

Dr Jelena Kornej Department of Electrophysiology Heart Center Leipzig Leipzig Germany;MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Jelena Kornej Department of Electrophysiology Heart Center Leipzig Leipzig Germany; Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Komej: Both atrial fibrillation (AF) and renal impairment are known to coexist and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. However, there is only limited data on changes of renal function after AF catheter ablation and predictors thereof. This is the largest study analyzing the effects of atrial fibrillation catheter ablation on renal function and changes thereof in a contemporary population during mid-term follow-up. We found that lower baseline eGFR was associated with higher CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores and that both scores were independently associated with eGFR changes after atrial fibrillation catheter ablation as were atrial fibrillation recurrences. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pulmonary Disease, Toxin Research / 13.10.2014

Adam Spanier, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP Associate Professor of Pediatrics Division Head, General Pediatrics & Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Medical Director, Pediatrics at Midtown Department of Pediatrics University of Maryland Midtown Campus Baltimore, MD 21201MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Spanier, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP Associate Professor of Pediatrics Division Head, General Pediatrics & Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Medical Director, Pediatrics at Midtown Department of Pediatrics University of Maryland Midtown Campus Baltimore, MD 21201 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Spanier: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is present in many consumer products (lining of canned foods, some plastics, some receipt paper, etc). We found that higher maternal Bisphenol A levels during pregnancy were associated with increased odds of persistent wheezing in children and a decrease in lung function at age four. Child BPA levels were not associated with these poor lung health outcomes. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, JACC / 13.10.2014

Zainab Samad, M.D., M.H.S. Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke University Medical Center Durham, North CarolinaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zainab Samad, M.D., M.H.S. Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke University Medical Center Durham, North Carolina Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Samad: This was a sub study of REMIT, an NHLBI funded study. Our research team headed by Dr. Wei Jiang conducted the REMIT study between 2006-2011 at the Duke Heart Center. We found that women and men differ significantly in their physiological and psychological responses to mental stress. We explored sex differences across various domains felt to have implications towards cardiovascular disease pathophysiology and prognosis. We found that women had greater negative emotion, less positive emotion, while men had greater blood pressure increases in response to mental stress. On the contrary, women showed greater platelet reactivity compared to men in response to mental stress. A greater frequency of women had cardiac ischemia in response to mental stress compared to men. (more…)
Author Interviews, JCEM, Lipids, Prostate Cancer / 13.10.2014

Emma H. Allott PhD Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine Cancer Prevention, Detection, and Control Program, Duke Cancer Institute Division of Urology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center Durham Durham, North Carolina.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emma H. Allott PhD Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine Cancer Prevention, Detection, and Control Program, Duke Cancer Institute Division of Urology Veterans Affairs Medical Center Durham Durham, North Carolina. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Allott: Relative to normal triglyceride levels, high triglycerides (≥150 mg/dl) were associated with 35% increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence. In addition, we found that each 10 mg/dl increase in total serum cholesterol above the abnormal cut-off value of 200 mg/dl was associated with a 9% increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence, while each 10 mg/dl increase in HDL (high density lipoprotein; “good” cholesterol) below the abnormal cut-off value of 40 mg/dl was associated with a 39% increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence. These findings suggest that normalization, or even partial normalization, of serum lipid levels among men with dyslipidemia may reduce the risk of prostate cancer recurrence. (more…)
Author Interviews, C. difficile, Gastrointestinal Disease, JAMA / 13.10.2014

Dr. Ilan Youngster, MD, MMSc Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital Boston, MassachusettMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr.  Ilan Youngster, MD, MMSc Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Youngster: The main finding is that oral administration seems to be as safe and effective as more traditional routes of delivery like colonoscopy or nasogastric tube. This is important as it allows Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to be performed without the need of invasive procedures, making it safer, cheaper and more accessible to patients. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Insomnia / 13.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jen-Hao Chen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Chen: In this study, we mapped four commonly-reported insomnia symptoms (feeling rested when waking up, having trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early and not being able to fall asleep again) to direct assessment of sleep characteristics in the general population of U.S. older adults. While we know older adults frequently complain about their sleep, we know little about how these complain reflect older adults’ actual sleep outcomes. Using innovative actigraphy data of 727 older adults aged 62-91 from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, we found that two of these four common report of insomnia symptoms did not match specific objective sleep characteristics as these questions intends to index. The question of feeling rested was not related to any objective sleep characteristic. The question of difficulty falling asleep was not related to the objective measure of time to fall sleep but was related to other objective sleep characteristics. For waking up during the night question, high frequency was associated with more wake time after sleep onset and numbers of wake bout (but was also related to other objective sleep characteristics). For waking up too earlier question, answer of this question was related to earlier wake up time. But again, other objective sleep characteristics also predicted frequency of waking up earlier. In sum, many of the relationships and non-relationships found in this study were unexpected. Findings suggested that these widely used questions did not related to older adults’ sleep outcomes as exactly as the wording suggested. Thus, while older adults’ report of these questions are related to objective sleep characteristics in some ways, insomnia symptoms and objective sleep characteristics did not complete match each other as expected. (more…)
Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Infections, Surgical Research / 11.10.2014

Michael S. Calderwood, MD MPH Department of Population Medicine Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Boston, MAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael S. Calderwood, MD MPH Division of Infectious Diseases Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Calderwood: "In our study, we found that the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) following total hip arthroplasty and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is higher for Medicare patients undergoing surgery in U.S. hospitals with lower surgical volume. This suggests that volume leads to experience, and experience leads to improved outcomes." "We found a significantly higher risk of surgical site infection in U.S. hospitals performing <100 total hip arthroplasty procedures and <50 CABG procedures per year on Medicare patients. In the lowest volume hospitals, 1 out of 3 infections following total hip arthroplasty and 1 out of 4 infections following CABG were in excess of expected outcomes based on experience in the highest volume hospitals." (more…)
Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, HIV / 11.10.2014

Dr Daniel Bradshaw Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, LondonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Daniel Bradshaw Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bradshaw: Over 40% of men with hepatitis C (HCV) infection have HCV RNA in their semen, although the level of RNA was much lower than blood (usually 4 log less than blood). Neither HIV nor acute hepatitis C led to increased shedding of HCV RNA in semen. Interestingly, however, in acute HCV, HIV-positive men with higher blood levels of HCV RNA were more likely to shed RNA in their semen. (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Infections / 11.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sana Dastgheyb National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MDDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA and Dr. Noreen Hickok Department of Orthopedic Surgery Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Physicians have long been resigned to the fact that staphylococcal joint infections are among the most challenging to treat. Our study points towards a definitive mechanism whereby bacteria become insensitive to antibiotics in the human joint environment. We added MRSA to synovial fluid and observed dense, biofilm-like aggregates, as well as a relative insensitivity to antibiotics as compared to ideal medium. Our findings suggest that serum/extracellular matrix proteins within synovial fluid contribute greatly to staphylococcal antibiotic insensitivity in synovial fluid. Furthermore, pre-treatment of synovial fluid with the enzyme plasmin, which degrades extracellular matrix proteins, significantly inhibits aggregate formation, and restores normal antibiotic sensitivity to MRSA. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Dermatology / 10.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shawn Demehri, M.D., Ph.D. Instructor of Medicine Division of Dermatology Washington University in St. Louis andShawn Demehri, M.D., Ph.D. Instructor of Medicine Division of Dermatology Washington University in St. Louis and   Wayne M. Yokoyama, M.D. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Rheumatology Division Washington University Medical Center St. Louis, MO 63110-1093Wayne M. Yokoyama, M.D. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Rheumatology Division Washington University Medical Center St. Louis, MO 63110-1093 MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Research: This bedside to bench research has clearly demonstrated a cause and effect relationship between chronic allergic contact dermatitis and skin cancer development. This research originated from a clinical case of invasive skin cancer that developed in the context of chronic allergic contact dermatitis to a nickel-containing metal implant. Using animal models, we have demonstrated that chronic exposure to a contact allergen creates an inflammation that drive skin cancer development. (more…)
Author Interviews, C. difficile, General Medicine, Hospital Acquired / 10.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Esther van Kleef London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response:  Existing evidence reveals a wide variation in estimated excess length of hospital stay (LoS) associated with healthcare-acquired C. difficile infection (HA-CDI), ranging from 2.8 to 16.1 days. Few studies considered the time-dependent nature of healthcare-acquired C. difficile (i.e. patients that spent a longer time in hospital have an increased risk of infection), and none have considered the impact of severity of healthcare-acquired C. difficile on expected delayed discharge. Using a method that adjusted for this so-called time-dependent bias, we found that compared to non-infected patients, the excess length of stay of severe patients (defined by increased white blood cell count, serum creatinine, or temperature, or presence of colitis) was on average, twice (11.6 days; 95% CI: 3.6-19.6) that of non-severe cases (5.3 days; 95% CI: 1.1-9.5). However, severely infected patients did not have a higher daily risk of in-hospital death than non-severe patients. Overall, we estimated that healthcare-acquired C. difficile prolonged hospital stay with an average of ~7 days (95% CI: 3.5-10.9) and increased in-hospital daily death rate with 75% (Hazard Ratio (HR): 1.75; 95% CI: 1. 16 – 2.62). (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 10.10.2014

Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD New York University School of Medicine Department of Population Health New York, NY 10016MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD New York University School of Medicine Department of Population Health New York, NY 10016 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ladapo: We showed that the use of cardiac stress testing has risen briskly over the past two decades, with the use of imaging growing particularly rapidly. We also showed that national growth in cardiac stress test use can largely be explained by population and provider characteristics, but the use of imaging cannot. Importantly, nearly one third of cardiac stress tests with imaging tests were probably inappropriate, because they were performed in patients who rarely benefit from imaging. These tests--about 1 million each year--are associated with about half a billion dollars in healthcare costs annually and lead to about 500 people developing cancer in their lifetime because of radiation they received during that cardiac stress test. (more…)
Author Interviews, Transplantation / 09.10.2014

Stan Rose, PhD President & CEO of Transplant Genomics Dr. Rose is also a kidney transplant recipientMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stan Rose, PhD President & CEO of Transplant Genomics Dr. Rose is also a kidney transplant recipient MedicalResearch: What is the background for these studies?  Dr. Rose: The studies by the founding scientists of Transplant Genomics (TGI) presented at the World Transplant Congress (WTC) 2014 represent years of work by our scientific founders and their collaborators at leading institutions in their search for  minimally invasive diagnostic and monitoring tools enabling earlier and more accurate detection and characterization of graft injury in organ transplant recipients. In kidney transplant recipients, for example, current methods consist of tracking creatinine levels and periodic direct assessment of grafts through biopsies. But by the time creatinine levels are elevated, more than 50% of kidney function may be lost. Biopsies, considered the gold standard for assessing graft status, are invasive, risky, unsuited for serial monitoring, and yield inconclusive results as often as 30% of the time. Transplant Genomics is addressing the need for better monitoring by developing a peripheral blood test for genomic biomarkers of transplant graft status to detect early signs of graft injury, differentiate between actionable causes and enable optimization of immunosuppressive therapy. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 09.10.2014

Bret R Rutherford, MD Assistant Professor ,Clinical Psychiatry Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Division of Geriatric Psychiatry New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY 10032MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bret R Rutherford, MD Assistant Professor ,Clinical Psychiatry Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Division of Geriatric Psychiatry New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY 10032 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Rutherford: In this meta-analysis of 105 trials of acute antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia, the placebo response was shown to be significantly increasing from 1960 to the present. Conversely, the treatment change associated with effective dose medication significantly decreased over the same time period. The average participant of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) receiving an effective dose of medication in the 1960s improved by 13.8 points in the BPRS, whereas this difference diminished to 9.7 BPRS points by the 2000s. The consequence of these divergent trends was a significant decrease in drug-placebo differences from 1960 to the present. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Schizophrenia / 09.10.2014

Christoph U. Correll, MD Professor of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine Hofstra North Shore LIJ School of Medicine Medical Director, Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program The Zucker Hillside Hospital Investigator Feinstein Institute for Medical Research North Shore Long Island Jewish Health SystemMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christoph U. Correll, MD Professor of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine Hofstra North Shore LIJ School of Medicine Medical Director, Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program The Zucker Hillside Hospital Investigator Feinstein Institute for Medical Research North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Correll: The main findings of the study of 398 patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who were on average in their mid twenties are that:
  • 1) despite their young age, an average of only 47 days lifetime antipsychotic exposure and overweight/obesity figures that were comparable to similarly aged US population members, there was a clear pattern of increased smoking and several metabolic risk parameters compared to similarly aged persons in the general US population;
  • 2) dyslipidemia, a constellation of at least one relevant abnormal blood fat value, was as frequent as in a 15-20 years older general US population;
  • 3) body composition related risk markers were significantly associated with longer total psychiatric illness duration, whereas metabolic risk markers were significantly associated with the overall very short mean lifetime antipsychotic treatment duration; and
  • 4) relevant for treatment choice and recommendations for patients, significantly higher continuous metabolic risk factor values were associated with olanzapine treatment and, less so, with quetiapine treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 09.10.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Nicolas Garin MD Division of General Internal Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland Division of Internal Medicine, Hôpital Riviera-Chablais, Monthey, Switzerland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Garin: Empiric treatment with a betalactam drug (monotherapy) was not equivalent to the combination of a betalactam and a macrolide in patients hospitalized for moderate severity pneumonia (proportion of patients not having reached clinical stability at day 7 was 41.2 % in the monotherapy vs. 33.6 % in the combination therapy arm, between arm difference 7.6 %). This occurred despite systematic search for Legionella infection in the monotherapy arm. There was no difference in early or late mortality, but patients in the monotherapy arm were more frequently readmitted. Patients with higher severity of disease (in PSI category IV, or with a CURB-65 score higher than 1) seemed to benefit from combination therapy (HR 0.81 for the primary outcome of clinical instability at day 7), although it was statistically not significant. There was no difference in the primary outcome for patients in PSI category I to III. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, NEJM / 08.10.2014

Anders Perner, MD, PhD Overlæge / Senior staff specialist Professor / Professor in Intensive Care Dept of Intensive Care Rigshospitalet Copenhagen DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anders Perner, MD, PhD Overlæge / Senior staff specialist Professor / Professor in Intensive Care Dept of Intensive Care Rigshospitalet Copenhagen Denmark Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Perner: In the large international randomised trial, we showed similar outcomes in patients with septic shock with anemia transfused at a lower vs. a higher hemoglobin threshold. The lower threshold group received 50 % fewer transfusions and one-third of these patients were never transfused in ICU. (more…)
Cost of Health Care, MRSA / 08.10.2014

https://medicalresearch.com/cost-of-health-care/id_week_14_universal_mrsa_screening_may_be_too_expensive_to_implement/8166/Medical Research’s Interview with: James A. McKinnell, MD Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute   Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. McKinnell: Numerous experts and policy makers have called for hospitals to screen patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections and isolate anyone testing positive to prevent the spread of these so-called “Superbugs” in healthcare settings. Several states have enacted laws requiring patients be screened for MRSA upon admission. We conducted two studies, both of which were presented as abstracts at IDWeek, the annual scientific meeting for infectious disease specialists, which found universal MRSA screening and isolation of high-risk patients will help prevent MRSA infections but may be too economically burdensome for an individual hospital to adopt. Researchers at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, the University of California, Irvine and John Hopkins University examined the cost of a hospital infection prevention strategy that tested all patients for MRSA and then took precautions to avoid contact with potential carriers. We found that using the traditional method of testing for MRSA in the nose, or nares surveillance, and then isolating MRSA carriers prevented nearly three MRSA infections. But it cost the hospital $103,000 per 10,000 hospital admissions. More extensive screening, through the use of other testing methods, which included PCR-based screening, prevented more infections, but increased the cost. In the second study, we also evaluated the cost of a hospital infection prevention strategy that targeted high-risk patients. Again, we found the costs of the program exceeded the potential savings to the hospital that would be generated by preventing MRSA infections. We found nares screening and isolation of high-risk patients prevented fewer than one infection (0.6) per 1,000 high-risk admissions to the hospital and created a financial loss of $36,899 for the hospitals. Using more extensive MRSA screening – which included nares, pharynx and inguinal folds screening – prevented slightly more infections (0.8 infections per 1,000 high-risk admissions), according to the study. But our abstract reported an even larger financial loss of $51,478 with the more extensive screening. (more…)