Author Interviews, HIV, Social Issues, UCLA / 03.09.2013

Sean D. Young, PhD, MS Assistant Professor In-Residence Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine Department of Family Medicine University of California, Los AngelesMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sean D. Young, PhD, MS Assistant Professor In-Residence Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine Department of Family Medicine University of California, Los Angeles Dr. Young: Here's the main take-home point: There is a lot of excitement about the possibility of using technologies, big data, and mHealth to improve health outcomes and change behavior. However, 1) little work has been done on this topic using sound research methods (for example, studies have asked people to report whether a technology changed behavior rather than objectively measuring whether it actually changed behavior. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, University of Michigan / 03.09.2013

Afshinnia, Farsad, M.D., M.S. Research Fellow and Clinical Lecturer Department of Nephrology University of Michigan Health System MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Spontaneous Renal Artery Dissection (SRAD) is most commonly observed in middle aged individuals. Although SRAD can have no association with other comorbidities at the time of presentation, we have noticed association with a number of systemic disorders such as hypertension, cancer, congestive heart failure, and rheumatologic diseases. In particular clustering of Fibromascular dysplasia (FMD), Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, poly arteritis nodosa, Poland syndrome, and nail patella syndrome in our patients has been striking. The most commonly observed presenting symptom is sudden onset severe flank pain which may be spontaneous or following physical stress. Other presenting features may include uncontrolled hypertension, groin and/or testicular pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, fever, dysuria, hematuria and blurry vision. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Menopause / 03.09.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pascale Mauriège, PhD, Division of Kinesiology PEPS, Room 2148, Laval University, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: 1)    The impact of a 4-month brisk walking program (3 sessions/week of 45-min walking at 60% of heart rate reserve) on postmenopausal moderately obese (BMI=29-35 kg/m2) women’s perceived health, and more particularly the perceived ideal weight and stress level. 2)    The existence of a relationship between improvements in perceived ideal weight and fat mass reduction in the walking group. 3)    The lack of non respondents to our novel self-administered Short Perceived Health Questionnaire (SPHQ) that was completed within 2-3 min by all participant. 4)    The good reproductibility for five of six items of the SHPQ, and the validation of three questions against generic tools. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Weight Research / 03.09.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Søren Skøtt Andersen and Dr Michelle Schmiegelow Study done in collaboration between Roskilde University Hospital and Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The main finding of this study of young women was that a body mass index above or equal to 25 kg/m2 in metabolically healthy women was not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke) within 5 years of follow-up. A BMI >= 25 kg/m2 in women with any metabolic disorder was associated with a 4-fold significant increased risk of the end-point. As increasing BMI is strongly associated with risk of developing metabolic disorders, the key message of this study is to stress the importance of preventing the development of metabolic disorders in overweight/obese women during this possible "window of opportunity". (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 03.09.2013

Professor Sheena Reilly PhD FASSA Associate Director, Clinical and Public Health Research Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Professor of Speech Pathology Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 AustraliaProfessor Sheena Reilly PhD FASSA Associate Director, Clinical and Public Health Research Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Professor of Speech Pathology Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Reilly: Stuttering was more common than previously thought. The cumulative incidence of stuttering by four years old was 11%, which is more than twice what has previously been reported. Developmental stuttering was associated with better language development, non-verbal skills with no identifiable effect on the child’s mental health or temperament by four years of age. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, NEJM / 02.09.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Massimo Imazio, MD, FESC Dipartimento di Cardiologia/Cardiology Department Maria Vittoria Hospital-ASLTO2 via Cibrario 72 10141 Torino, Italy MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Imazio: In a multicenter, double-blind trial, eligible adults with acute pericarditis (idiopathic/viral, post-pericardiotomy syndromes and pericarditis related to a systemic inflammatory disease) were randomly assigned to receive either colchicine (at a dose of 0.5 mg twice daily for 3 months for patients weighing >70 kg or 0.5 mg once daily for patients weighing ≤70 kg) or placebo in addition to conventional anti-inflammatory therapy with aspirin or ibuprofen. The primary study outcome was incessant or recurrent pericarditis. After a mean follow-up of 22 months (minimum 18 months) the primary outcome occurred in 20 patients (16.7%) in the colchicine group and 45 patients (37.5%) in the placebo group (relative risk reduction in the colchicine group, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.30 to 0.72; number needed to treat, 4; P<0.001). (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Infections, JACC, Yale / 31.08.2013

Behnood Bikdeli, MD Yale/YNHH Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation One Church St, Suite 200 New Haven CT 0651MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Behnood Bikdeli, MD Yale/YNHH Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation One Church St, Suite 200 New Haven CT 0651 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
 Dr. Bikdeli: We determined the trends in hospitalizations and mortality from endocarditis among US older adults from 1999 to 2010. Endocarditis is the most serious cardiovascular infection and our study that had a very large sample, signified the high burden of endocarditis in this time period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Weight Research / 31.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Monique Hedderson, PhD Research Scientist Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland, CA 94612Monique Hedderson, PhD Research Scientist Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland, CA 94612 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?  Dr. Hedderson: It is fascinating to discover that metabolic abnormalities appear to be present, even years before pregnancy, in a large proportion of  women who develop gestational diabetes. The findings from this study emphasize the importance of the pre-pregnancy period in future pregnancy outcomes. (more…)
Author Interviews, Case Western, Cleveland Clinic, Cost of Health Care, Pain Research, Surgical Research / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Conor P. Delaney, MD MCh PhD FRCSI FACS FASCRS The Jeffrey L. Ponsky Professor of Surgical Education | Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery | Vice-Chair, Department of Surgery | Director, CWRU Center for Skills and Simulation | Surgical Director, Digestive Health Institute | University Hospitals Case Medical Center | Case Western Reserve University | 11100 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106-5047 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our goal was to see whether the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block reduced complications and shortened the hospital stay of patients undergoing colorectal operations.  The TAP block is a nerve block injection given at the conclusion of the operation which reduces pain in the operative area.  Results showed that the mean hospital stay dropped to less than 2.5 days after the surgical procedure, significantly lower than the 3.7 days which the University Hospitals Case Medical Center Care pathway had already described for more than 1,000 consecutive patients. In our new study, we employed the TAP block and the Enhanced Recovery Pathway (ERP) on 100 patients.  We found that 27 patients went home the next day and another 35 went home 48 hours after their operations. That is considerably better than the five or six days patients usually stay in the hospital after laparoscopic colorectal procedures, and certainly better than nine days often seen after an open operation.  With a third of patients leaving the day after colorectal resection, we feel these results are significant. (more…)
Author Interviews, Duke, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Arif Khan, MD Medical Director, Northwest Clinical Research Center Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry Duke University Medical Center and Christine Khan, Psychiatric Nurse 1951 – 152nd  Place NE Northwest Clinical Research Center Bellevue, WA 98007 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study?
  1. The original idea set in early 20th century that psychiatric patients discharged from mental hospitals had a shortened life span or faced early death was supported by this analysis of psychiatric patients participating in research trials for new medications.  There was no increased risk of early death or shortened life span for participating in these research clinical trials. 
  2. Life span shortening or increased risk of early death is highest among patients with schizophrenia, followed by patients with major mood disorders such as Bipolar Mood Disorder and Major Depression. (more…)
Author Interviews, JACC, Kidney Disease, Vitamin C / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Umar Sadat, MD, PhD Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge, United Kingdom MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sadat: Vitamin C offers significant nephroprotection against contrast induced-acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Patients receiving Vitamin C were observed to have 33% less risk of CI-AKI compared to those receiving placebo or other treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Outcomes & Safety, Rheumatology / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mwidimi Ndosi, PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), RN. Academic & Clinical Unit for Musculoskeletal Nursing (ACUMeN) Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine University of Leeds England MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The aims of this study was to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of nurse-led care for people with rheumatoid arthritis. The main findings were: (i)             Patients seeing clinical nurse specialists for their rheumatoid arthritis follow-up care do not get an inferior treatment. (ii)           Nurse-led care is safe and in some aspects presents added value to patients (iii)          Nurse-led care represents good value for money in terms of disease management for people with RA. (more…)
BMJ, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, General Medicine, Medical Research Centers / 30.08.2013

Qi Sun, MD ScD Assistant Professor of Medicine Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115MEDICALRESEARCH.COM: INTERVIEW WITH: Qi Sun, MD ScD Assistant Professor of Medicine Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Assistant Professor Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 MEDICALRESEARCH.COM: What are the main findings of the study? Response: We have three major findings.
  • First, we found that total fruit consumption was consistently associated with lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in these large scale studies among U.S. men and women.
  • Second, we found that different individual fruits were differentially associated with diabetes risk. For example, higher intakes of blueberries, grapes or raisins, apples or pears are particularly associated with a lower diabetes risk.
  • Last, we found that fruit juice was associated with a higher diabetes risk, and replacing fruit juices with whole fruits will likely lead to reduced diabetes risk. (more…)
Diabetes, Surgical Research / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ta-Liang Chen, MD, PhD Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Reply: Diabetes increases postoperative 30-day mortality, complications, and medical expenditures in patients undergoing in-hospital noncardiac surgeries. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Genetic Research, JAMA / 30.08.2013

Ekaterina Rogaeva, PhD Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaCambridge Institute for Medical Research and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, EnglandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ekaterina Rogaeva, PhD Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaCambridge Institute for Medical Research and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We tested the hypothesis that late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) might be in part explained by the homozygosity of unknown loci. In a genome-wide study of a Caribbean Hispanic population with noticeable inbreeding and high risk of AD we assessed the presence of long runs of homozygosity (ROHs) – regions where the alleles inherited from both parents are identical. Our results suggest the existence of recessive AD loci, since the mean length of the ROH per person was significantly longer in AD cases versus controls, and this association was stronger in familial AD. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JNCI, OBGYNE / 30.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ying Liu, MD, PhD Instructor, Division of Public Health Sciences Department of Surgery Washington University School of Medicine 660 South Euclid Ave Campus Box 8100 St. Louis, MO 63110 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Alcohol intake between menarche (first menstrual period) and first pregnancy was consistently associated with increased risks of breast cancer and proliferative benign breast disease. For every 10 gram/day alcohol intake (approximately a drink a day) during this specific time period, the risk for breast cancer increased by 11% and the risk for proliferative benign breast disease increased by 16%. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Exercise - Fitness / 30.08.2013

Jannique van Uffelen, PhD, MSc (epidemiology), MSc (human movement sciences), BHealth Senior Research Fellow Active Ageing INSTITUTE OF SPORT, EXERCISE & ACTIVE LIVING (ISEAL) VICTORIA UNIVERSITYMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jannique van Uffelen, PhD, MSc (epidemiology), MSc (human movement sciences), BHealth Senior Research Fellow Active Ageing INSTITUTE OF SPORT, EXERCISE & ACTIVE LIVING (ISEAL) VICTORIA UNIVERSITY MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We examined the link between sitting-time and physical activity with current and future depressive symptoms in 8,950 mid aged women, who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Both high sitting-time and low physical activity levels were associated with higher risk of current depressive symptoms, and in combination, the risk further increased. Compared with women sitting ≤4 hours/day and meeting the physical activity recommendations of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week, women who sat >7 hrs/day and who did no physical activity were three times as likely to have depressive symptoms. However, only lack of physical activity was associated with increased risk of future depressive symptoms, irrespective of sitting-time. Women who did no physical activity were 26% more likely to have future depressive symptoms than women meeting physical activity recommendations. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Case Western, Rheumatology / 29.08.2013

Dr Janet E Pope Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine The University of Western Ontario, St Joseph's Health Centre 268 Grosvenor Street, London, ON, Canada N6A 4V2MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Janet E Pope Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine The University of Western Ontario, St Joseph's Health Centre 268 Grosvenor Street, London, ON, Canada N6A 4V2   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?  Dr. Pope: We performed a RCT of patients who were stable for 6 months of etanercept added to methotrexate (inadequate responders to Mtx) who were randomized to stopping Mtx or continuing Mtx to determine if in the next 6 months (and later as the trial continues) the response rate would be the same if Mtx was discontinued. Overall, Mtx + etanercept was not statistically equivalent to etanercept alone (ie non-inferiority did not occur); implying 6 months after stopping Mtx, the etanercept patients on monotherapy performed slightly less well than those on combination therapy. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, OBGYNE / 29.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ms. Mølgaard-Nielsen Statens Serum Institut Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Use of oral fluconazole during early pregnancy did not increase the risk of birth defects overall in common therapeutic doses. We also looked at 15 individual birth defects of previous concern and oral fluconazole was not associated with an increased risk for 14 of these birth defects.  However, we did see an increase in the risk of tetralogy of Fallot, an uncommon congenital heart defect, but the number of exposed cases was few. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Health Care Systems, JAMA, UCSF / 29.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Marc Jaffe, MD Clinical Leader, Kaiser Northern California Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Program Clinical Leader, Kaiser National Integrated Cardiovascular Health (ICVH) Guideline Development Group Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF Endocrinology and Internal Medicine Kaiser South San Francisco Medical Center 1200 El Camino Real South San Francisco, California 94080 MedicalResearch.com:    What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Jaffe: In 2001, we set out to improve blood pressure control in among Kaiser Permanente (KP) members in Northern California, and we ended up creating one of the largest, community-based hypertension programs in the nation. The paper published in JAMA explores how we combined a number of innovations, including a patient registry, single-pill combination therapy drugs and more, to nearly double blood pressure control rates. If you had told us at the onset that blood pressure control among members would be more than 80 percent, and it was actually almost 90 percent in 2011, we wouldn’t have believed you. These results are truly incredible. During the study period, hypertension control increased by more than 35 percent from 43.6 percent to 80.4 percent in Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 2001 and 2009. In contrast, the national mean control rate increased from 55.4 percent to 64.1 percent during that period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Duke / 29.08.2013

S. Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke Cancer Institute twitter: @yzafarMedicalResearch.com Interview with: S. Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke Cancer Institute twitter: @yzafar MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Zafar: We found that cost-related medication non-adherence was prevalent among cancer patients who sought financial assistance. Nearly half of participating cancer patients were non-adherent to medications as a result of cost. Patients  used different cost-coping strategies, for example, trying to find less expensive medications, borrowing money to pay for medications, and otherwise reducing spending. We found that non adherent participants were more likely to be young, unemployed, and without a prescription medication insurance plan. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Genetic Research, Heart Disease, JAMA / 28.08.2013

Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Nutrition Harvard School of Public HealthMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Nutrition Harvard School of Public Health

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The main findings include, we for the first time identified a genetic variant predisposing to high risk of coronary heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, using genome-wide association (GWA) approach. More interesting, we demonstrated that the variant may affect expression of a gene involved in metabolism of amino acid glutamic acid, which has been related to insulin secretion and heart health in previous studies. (more…)
Author Interviews, JCEM, Weight Research / 28.08.2013

MedialResearch.com Interview with: Dr Catherine M. Phillips Health Research Board Centre for Diet and Health Research Room 4.033, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Western Gateway Building, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland MedialResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Obesity is associated with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease leading to reduced life expectancy. However in recent years it has been recognized that not all obese individuals are at increased risk – these individuals have been described as being metabolically healthy obese (MHO) in that despite carrying excess weight they do not have the typical abnormal metabolic features associated with obesity such as hypertension, insulin resistance and alterations to their lipid profile. It is not clear what factors determine whether an obese person becomes metabolically healthy or unhealthy. In this study conducted at the Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College Cork, Ireland, we examined levels of a range of inflammatory markers in 2047 middle-aged Irish adults to investigate to what extent differences between metabolically healthy and unhealthy obese and non-obese male and female adults are explained by inflammatory status. Participants, who were between the ages of 50 and 69, completed lifestyle questionnaires, physical and clinical assessments, and underwent blood testing so their body mass index (BMI), metabolic profiles and inflammatory markers could be determined. We found that, regardless of a person’s BMI, having a favorable inflammatory profile was associated with being metabolically healthy. Specifically metabolically healthy individuals presented with lower levels of complement component 3, C reactive protein, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 6, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, reduced white blood cell count and higher adiponectin levels compared to their metabolically unhealthy counterparts. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Prostate Cancer, Stanford / 28.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Janet L. Stanford, MPH, PhD Full Member, Research Professor Co-Head, Program in Prostate Cancer Research Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N. M4-B874 Seattle, WA 98109-1024Janet L. Stanford, MPH, PhD Full Member, Research Professor Co-Head, Program in Prostate Cancer Research Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N. M4-B874 Seattle, WA 98109-1024   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Stanford: The main finding from our research is that one or more cups of coffee per day is associated with a 56% to 59% reduction in the risk of prostate cancer recurrence or progression in men diagnosed with this common disease.  In our cohort of prostate cancer patients, 61% reported drinking at least one cup of coffee per day, with 14% reporting drinking 4 or more cups per day.  The lower risk for prostate cancer recurrence/progression observed in coffee drinkers, however, was seen even for those who consumed only one cup per day, suggesting that even modest intake of coffee may offer health benefits for prostate cancer patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Readmissions / 27.08.2013

Allan Garland, MD, MA Co-Head, Section of Critical Care Medicine Associate Professor of Medicine and Community Health Sciences University of Maniitoba 820 Sherbrook St / GF-222 Winnipeg, Manitoba R3A 1R9MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Allan Garland, MD, MA Co-Head, Section of Critical Care Medicine Associate Professor of Medicine and Community Health Sciences University of Maniitoba 820 Sherbrook St / GF-222 Winnipeg, Manitoba R3A 1R9   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer:   Our study evaluated consequences of leaving the hospital against medical advice (AMA).  It is a large, population-based analysis, that evaluated all hospitalizations from which patients were discharged alive, among all adults in the Canadian province of Manitoba over a 19 year period; this was over 1.9 million hospitalizations.  Outcomes assessed were hospital readmission and death over 6 months after the event.  Specifically, we compared these outcomes for those who left the hospital against medical advice, compared to those who remained in the hospital until their doctors felt it was safe to be discharged -- and these comparisons adjusted for a variety of patient and illness characteristics. Among the 1.9 million hospitalizations, there were 21,417 that ended with the patients leaving against medical advice, this is 1.1% of the total.  Without adjustment for other variables, leaving against medical advice was associated with double the rate of unscheduled hospital readmission within 30 days (24.0 vs. 12.1%); after adjustment, the odds of unscheduled hospital readmission within 30 days was 3-fold higher for someone who left against medical advice compared to one who did not.  After adjustment, the odds of death at 90 days were 2.51-fold higher for those who left against medical advice. (more…)
Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Depression / 27.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marcos A Sanchez-Gonzalez, M.D., Ph.D., EPC Postdoctoral Associate Department of Biomedical Sciences College of Medicine The Florida State University 1115 W Call Street BMS 2300-24 & The Family Institute Behavioral Cardiology Laboratory Longmire 301 Tallahassee, FL 32306 MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The findings of our study were the following: (1) The low frequency component of systolic blood pressure variability (LFSBP;  a marker of sympathovagal tone) was a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than conventional measures of cardiovascular functioning such as laboratory measurement of blood pressure and heart rate variability as well as home based ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (2) Depressive symptoms were associated with a blunted LFSBP response to sympathetic stimulation via cold pressor test; and (3) Participants with acute depression (a score of ≥16 using the CES-D scale) had higher LFSBP than those with normal depressive symptom scores.  These findings suggest that depressive symptoms evoke alterations in vascular sympathetic activity, and more importantly, this alteration is occurs early in the progression of the disease.  This is fascinating owing to the fact that we have documented a common pathway of disease between depression and cardiovascular diseases. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Depression / 27.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David A Richards, PhD Professor of Mental Health Services Research and NIHR Senior Investigator University of Exeter Medical School Sir Henry Wellcome Building University of Exeter Washington Singer Building The Queen’s Drive Exeter EX4 4QQ United Kingdom MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found that collaborative care improves depression immediately after treatment compared to usual care, has effects that persist to 12 month follow-up and is preferred bypatients over usual care. This difference in effect equated to a standardized effect size of 0.26 (95% CI 0.07 to 0.46). More participants receiving collaborative care than those receiving usual care met criteria for recovery (odds ratio 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.22 to 2.29); number needed to treat=8.4) and response (1.77 (1.22 to 2.58); 7.8 at 4 months. At 12 months follow up more participants in collaborative care than those in usual care met criteria for recovery (odds ratio 1.88 (95% confidence interval 1.28 to 2.75); number needed to treat=6.5) and response (1.73 (1.22 to 2.44); 7.3. Collaborative care is as effective in the UK healthcare system—an example of an integrated health system with a well developed primary care sector—as in the US. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Orthopedics / 27.08.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anna Eriksson MD, PhD Centre for Bone and Arthritis Research Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The main findings of the study are that low-grade inflammation as measured by high sensitive CRP (hsCRP) is a risk factor for fractures in men, and that this is mainly driven by an increased risk for vertebral fractures. Previous epidemiological research has shown that higher levels of hsCRP is associated with an increased risk for fractures in women but until now it has not been known whether this applies also to men. The associations between hsCRP and fracture risk remained also after controlling for a wide range of known risk factors for fractures. There were no associations between hsCRP and BMD in our study. This implies that low-grade inflammation is an independent risk factor for fractures. (more…)