MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:Dr. June Chi-Yan Lo Research Fellow
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Singapore
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Lo:The Duke-NUS study examined the data of 66 older Chinese adults, from the
Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study. Participants underwent
structural MRI brain scans measuring brain volume and neuropsychological
assessments testing cognitive function every two years. Additionally,
their sleep duration was recorded through a questionnaire. Those who slept
fewer hours showed evidence of faster brain aging and decline in cognitive performance.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Yves Reznik
Department of Endocrinology,
University of Caen Côte de Nacre Regional Hospital Center
Caen, FranceMedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Prof. Reznik: OPT2MISE definitively demonstrate that pump therapy is a valuable option for treating those type 2 diabetes patients with uncontrolled hyperglycemia despite a high dose insulin regimen including at least 3 injections per day of rapid-acting and slow-acting insulin analogues, the gold standard for intensified insulin therapy. Such benefit on glucose control is obtained with lower daily insulin doses and without weight gain in comparison with multiple injection therapy. Pump therapy is effective in a population of patients un-preselected for their ability to deal with a medical device.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jacques Baillargeon, PhD
Director, Epidemiology Division
Associate Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health
University of Texas Medical Branch
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Baillargeon: The main findings of the study were that older men who were treated with testosterone did not appear to have an increased risk of Myocardial Infarction. For men with high MI risk, testosterone use appeared to be modestly protective against MI.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Yalcin Basaran, MD
Gulhane Military Medical Academy School of Medicine
Ankara, Turkey.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Basaran: We designed a cross-sectional study to identify the relation between the gut microbiota composition and obesity and diabetes. 27 severely obese individuals (20 men and 7 women with mean BMI: 39.98±5.56 kg/m2), 26 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (18 men and 8 women with mean BMI: 28.63±5.08 kg/m2) and 28 healthy control subjects (22 men and 6 women with mean BMI: 23.02±1.70 kg/m2), between 18-65 years of age, were included in the present study. None of the participants was undergoing chronic treatment and no antibiotics, probiotics or prebiotics were taken within 3 months before collecting fecal material. Fecal samples were self-collected in sterile boxes, stored at -80o until analysis, and analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR for the presence of the most common types of intestinal bacteria.
Although tended to increase, we observed no significant difference between the three groups in regards to fecal concentrations of Bacteroidetes. There was also no considerable difference in the fecal Bifidobacteria, Firmicutes and Clostridium Leptum levels among the obesity and diabetes groups. However, Bifidobacteria, Firmicutes and Clostridium Leptum counts were all significantly lower in obese and diabetic patients compared with healthy control individuals. Additionally, logistic regression analysis showed that parameters of adiposity (weight, BMI and waist circumference) and those of glucose control (FBG and HbA1c) were related to the altered gut microbiota composition. This suggests that alterations in the gut microbiota composition may influence metabolic profile in humans. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Katja Pinker MD
Department of Radiology
Medical University of Vienna ·
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Pinker: We hypothesized that by imaging multiple key processes involved in cancer development and growth with multiparametric PET/MRI an improved non-invasive diagnosis of breast tumors is possible. To test this hypothesis, we conducted this first clinical feasibility study.
Mutliparametric PET/MRI allows an improved non-invasive differentiation of benign and mailgnant breast tumors than currently used contrast-enhanced MRI alone. By its use unnecessary breast biopsies in benign tumors can be avoided without missing cancer.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Scott A. Davis, MA
Research Administrative Coordinator
Department of Dermatology
Wake Forest School of Medicine
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: St. John’s wort (SJW), a common complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment for depression, is frequently used together with drugs that may interact dangerously with it. In data from the 1993-2010 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative survey of physician visits from the National Center for Health Statistics, SJW was prescribed together with drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), benzodiazepines, warfarin, statins, digoxin, verapamil, and oral contraceptives. Using SJW together with other antidepressants may cause serotonin syndrome, a potentially fatal condition.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with Sai-Ching Jim Yeung, MD, PhD, FACP
Professor of Medicine
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Emergency Medicine
Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders
Houston, Texas 77230-1402
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Yeung: We believe that this study has bridged a significant gap in knowledge between epidemiological data (the association of obesity and poor breast cancer prognosis) and biological mechanisms mediating the impact of obesity on cancer. This study provides an important mechanistic insight into the causal relationship between obesity and breast cancer growth.
Direct evidence for the links between obesity-associated changes in the biological processes and hallmarks of cancer in human estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.
It is well known that obesity is associated epidemiologicaly with decreased survival in ER+ breast cancer patients. Although a body of experimental literature exists to suggest important roles for estrogen, insulin/IGF-1 and adipokine signaling and inflammation in the mechanisms mediating the impact of obesity on cancer, direct evidence for these mechanisms and their importance relative to one another is lacking in cancers from obese humans.
Functional transcriptomic analysis of a prospective observation cohort with treatment-naïve ER+ breast cancer samples identified the insulin/PI3K signaling and secretion of cytokines among the top biological processes involved. Many of the obesity-associated changes in biological processes can be linked to cancer hallmarks. Upstream regulator analysis identified estrogen (?-estradiol), insulin (INS1), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1), and adipokines [vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), tissue necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-6 (IL6), oncostatin-M (OSM), chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5), leptin (LEP), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin (ADIPOQ), and interleukin-10 (IL10)] in mediating the impact of obesity on human ER+ breast cancer.
Experimental evidence that obesity causes accelerated oncogene-driven ER+ breast cancer carcinogenesis.
While it is not possible to conduct a human experiment to prospectively examine the causal relationship between obesity and breast cancer, we created a transgenic mouse model with genetically induced obesity and oncogene-driven breast cancer. With this model we found strong in vivo evidence using both longitudinal experiments and cross-sectional experiments that obesity accelerated oncogene-driven breast carcinogenesis.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Tommaso Sanna MD
Institute of Cardiology
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Rome, Italy
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Sanna: In patients with cryptogenic stroke, continuous ECG monitoring with an implantable device, called the Reveal XT Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM), discovered Atrial Fibrillation in 6.4 times more patients than conventional diagnostic strategies at six months, 7.3 times more patients at 12 months, and 8.8 times more patients at 36 months. In more detail, after 36 months of follow-up, 30% of patients with cryptogenic stroke had at least one episode of atrial fibrillation.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kaspar Truninger, MD, FMH
Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine
Langenthal, Switzerland
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Truninger: In our study, we investigated the effect of lifestyle exposure on DNA methylation. We measured genome-wide promoter CpG methylation in 1092 normal colon biopsies from 546 healthy females. We observed that fewer CpGs acquired age-dependent methylation in users of aspirin and hormonal replacement therapy compared with nonusers, whereas more CpGs were affected in smokers and individuals with a body mass index > 25 compared with nonsmokers and less obese females. Half of the CpGs showing age-dependent methylation gain were hypermethylated in tissue of colorectal cancer. These loci gained methylation with a higher rate and were particularly susceptible to lifestyle exposure compared to age-only methylated CpGs. In addition, these CpGs were enriched for polycomb regions. Finally, all effects were different according to the anatomic location along the colon.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Flora I Matheson PhD
Centre for Research on Inner City Health
St. Michael's Hospital
Toronto, ON, Canada
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Matheson:
We found that women were 10 per cent more likely to use mental health services than men.
And that within any 3-year period, women with physical illness used medical services for mental health treatment 6 months earlier than men.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Daniela P Ladner, MD, MPH, FACS
Assistant Professor Transplant Surgery
Department of Surgery, Division of Organ Transplantation
Director Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative (NUTORC)
Comprehensive Transplant Center
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Ladner: With the current kidney organ allocation system, there exists significant geographic disparity between the 58 Donor Services Areas (DSAs) in the US, which are distributed among 11 regions. This means that depending on where a patient lives it might take shorter or longer to receive a kidney organ for transplantation. Despite efforts, this has not improved over the course of 20 years and in most regions this has worsened. In 1991 and 1992 respectively, two states changed their kidney allocation system, such that kidneys would first be allocated with the DSA of procurement, then statewide, then regionally (which may include several states) and then nationally. Usually kidneys don’t get allocated statewide before regionally.
The main finding of this study is that in those two states (FL, TN), where a minor change to the kidney allocation was put into place, there was significant reduction in the geographic disparity between their Donor Services Areas. In other comparable states (equal numbers of DSAs within the state) the geographic disparity did not improve and in many the geographic disparity worsened. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: M Luca Lorenzoni
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Health Accounts, Asian Health and Social Policy Outreach
ELS/Health Division
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer:
The United States is an outlier in the scenery of OECD as it ranks first for health care expenditure, but last for coverage.
The slowdown in US health care spending during the past decade brought the growth rate closer to that of other high-spending countries -Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland- at around 1%. Previously in 2002, the US's health expenditure growth was around 7%, much higher than the approximate 3% which was the average for the other countries examined in the study
Higher health-sector prices (e.g., hospital care and prescription drugs) are thought to be the main driver of expenditure differences between the US and other high-spending countries, and recent price dynamics largely explain declines in health expenditure growth.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Sandeep Vijan, MD, MS
Center for Clinical Management Research
Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital,
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor MichiganMedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Vijan:The main finding was that the burdens and side effects of intensive glycemic treatment significantly detract from the overall benefit of lower risks of diabetes complications, often to the point where the treatments cause more loss than gain in quality of life. It takes many (often 15-20) years to gain benefit from treatment, but the burdens begin right away and continue throughout treatment. By the time you might experience treatment benefit in terms of reduced complication risk, you've had a lot of years to have the downsides of treatment - which commonly include significant weight gain, low blood sugars, gastrointestinal symptoms, not to mention having to take multiple pills or injections on a daily basis.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Robin L. Toblin
LCDR Robin L. Toblin, PhD, MPH (USPHS)
Clinical Research Psychologist
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
MedicalResearch: What...
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with Connie Celum, MD, MPH
Professor of Global Health and Medicine
Director, International Clinical Research Center
University of Washington
Harborview Medical Center
Seattle WA 98104
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Celum: We conducted a randomized, double blind study of daily oral tenofovir and tenofovir combined with emtricitabine (FTC) as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV among HIV serodiscordant couples (in which onepartner had HIV and the other partner did not) in Kenya and Uganda. Because of recent studies showing that tenofovir gel could reduce the chances of becoming HSV-2 infected, we studied the subset of HIV-uninfected partners who did not have HSV-2 and compared the rates who became HSV-2 infected during follow-up among those who received oral pre-exposure prophylaxis versus those who received placebo. We found that oral pre-exposure prophylaxis reduced HSV-2 acquisition by 30%.
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MedicalResearch.com: Interview with Dr. Domenico Accili MD
Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
New York, New York 10032
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Accili: By switching off a single gene (foxo1), scientists at Columbia University’s Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center have converted human gastrointestinal cells into insulin-producing cells, demonstrating in principle that a drug could retrain cells inside a person’s GI tract to produce insulin.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Daniel L. Riddle, PT, Ph.D., F.A.P.T.A.
Otto D. Payton Professor
Assistant department chair
Department of Physical Therapy
Virginia Commonwealth University
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Riddle: We used a classification system developed by researchers in Spain in the late 1990s and found that classifications of appropriate, inappropriate and inclusive ratings for persons undergoing knee replacement surgery were 44.0%, 21.7%, and 34.3%, respectively. We studied 175 persons who underwent unilateral total knee replacement in the Osteoarthritis Initiative study, an NIH and privately funded multi-year cohort study of persons with are at high risk for knee osteoarthritis. These findings need to be considered cautiously because the classification system was developed more than 15 years ago and was designed to place greatest priority on persons with end stage knee osteoarthritis and severe pain and functional loss.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with John D’Amore, President & CTO
Diameter Health
1005 Boylston St #304
Newton MA 02461
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: We examined C-CDA (Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture) documents from electronic health records and other health information technology vendors. C-CDA documents are an XML format for transmitting patient data (e.g. problems, allergies, medications, results, vital signs, smoking status). Usage of C-CDA documents is required for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use in the United States. Overall, we were readily able to extract data elements from these documents, but we found many places where clinical content could be improved. This leads to policy recommendations on improving C-CDA production and consumption. Since thousands of hospitals and many more physicians will be required to exchange these documents in the coming year, we believe our findings to be important and timely for those seeking to improve care continuity and information exchange.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eddie Hulten, MD MPH FACC FSCCT and
Ron Blankstein, MD FACC
Cardiovascular Imaging Noninvasive Cardiovascular Imaging
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bethesda, MD Boston, MA
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: Although any medical test should be used to change management, the extent to which CCTA (Cardiac computed tomography angiography) findings are associated with medication changes (aspirin and lipid lowering) is not previously extensively studied.
Thus, we conducted the largest and one of the longest follow up studies of preventive cardiovascular medications before and after coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). We demonstrated that CCTA findings are associated with significant changes in preventive medications after CCTA.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Johanna Petzoldt
Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
Chemnitzer Straße
Dresden, Germany
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: We investigated 286 mother-infant couples from the Maternal Anxiety in Relation to Infant Development (MARI) Study from Dresden (Germany) via standardized interview and questionnaire. We found a robust relation from maternal lifetime anxiety disorders as early as prior to pregnancy to excessive crying in the offspring. Also, the association increased when considering incident anxiety disorders during pregnancy and after delivery.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Wojciech Feleszko
Department of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases and Allergy
The Medical University of Warsaw
Działdowska Warsaw, Poland
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Feleszko: We combined data from nineteen population-based cohort studies of 24 000 children and we found that household exposure to tobacco smoke after birth has immunomodulating effects. We demonstrated an increased sensitivity to allergens, measured by serum IgE and skin testing which may contribute to the increased development of allergy in children exposed postnatally to household tobacco smoke. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kathryn A. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Department of Biostatistics
Ryals Public Health Bldg,
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL 35294
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Kaiser: Recommendations to increase or home delivery of fruits and vegetables to increase intake results in no significant weight loss or gain in adults studied over 8-16 weeks.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Su Ann Ding, MBBS
Research Fellow
Joslin Diabetes Center
Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer:We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of Roux-en- Y gastric bypass with an intensive diabetes and weight management program. We recruited 38 obese individuals (BMI 30-42 kg/m2) with type 2 diabetes. Participants had suboptimal glucose control and mean diabetes duration of 10 years.
Both surgical and non-surgical interventions led to patients losing a clinically significant amount of weight and keeping it off for 2 years, with average loss of approximately 57 pounds (25% of initial body weight) for the surgery group and 13 pounds (6% of initial weight) for the lifestyle and medication modification group. Other important health goals also improved more in the surgical group, including improvements in blood sugar control, blood pressure and lipid levels which together may contribute to reducing risk of developing coronary heart disease.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:James R. Klinger, MD, FCCP
Professor of Medicine, Brown University
Darren Taichman, MD, PhD, FCCP
Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Greg Elliott, MD, MACP, FCCP
Professor of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine
Background: The authors discuss the June 17, 2014 CHEST publication:
Pharmacological Therapy for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Adults: CHEST GuidelineMedicalResearch: How widespread is the problem of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)?Greg Elliott: PAH is an uncommon, but important disorder because untreated it is usually progressive and fatal, AND there are effective treatments. This makes the guidelines important for physicians, patients and insurers.
MedicalResearch: What are the most common causes of PAH?Greg Elliott: Common causes are connective tissues diseases like scleroderma, toxins like methamphetamine and cases for which the cause is not known, i.e. idiopathic. Some (about 20 %) idiopathic cases are caused by gene mutations.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. John A. Copland, PhD
Associate Professor of Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
Professor of Cancer Biology
Cancer Basic Science
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Copland: In our study we identified a pro-cancerous role for a novel protein- neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2). This protein, normally found expressed in brain and nervous system tissues, is highly overexpressed in kidney tumors at all stages of disease. It has never previously been associated with kidney cancer, nor has it been associated with an oncogenic function in any other cancer. NPTX2 appears to play a significant role in not only tumor cell survival, but it also promotes tumor cell migration through activation of the ionotropic glutamate receptor 4 (GluR4). GluR4, also commonly associated with nervous system tissues, appears to be manipulating the flow of calcium into the tumor cell. Both NPTX2 and GluR4 are not components of normal kidney cell function. Because calcium is an important co-factor for many signaling pathways controlling cell growth, survival, and mobility, unconstrained calcium levels in a cell can promote malignancy. We show that calcium calmodulin kinase and AKT, two oncogenic signaling pathways are activated by NPTX2 via calcium influx.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Juan P de Torres
Pulmonary Department
Clínica Universidad de Navarra
Pamplona, Spain;
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Torres:The BODE Index (BMI, Obstruction, Dyspnea, Exercise ) predicts mortality better than the GOLD ABCD (The Global Obstructive Lung Disease) grading and adding the COTE (Copd cO-morbidity TEst ) comorbidity Index to the BODE Index is complementary and provides an excellent predictive capacity for all-cause mortality in COPD patients.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Mojca Jensterle
Department of Endocrinology. Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases. University Medical Centre. Zaloska 7. Slovenia.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: This is the first report demonstrating that selective phosphodiesterase enzyme (PDE) 4 inhibitor roflumilast added to metformin (MET) was superior to metformin alone in reducing mean body weight after 12 weeks of treatment in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), primarily due to a loss of fat mass.
31 women with PCOS diagnosed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development criteria aged 33.8 ± 7.4 years with BMI 36.4 ± 5.1 kg/m2concluded the study. They were randomized to MET 1000 mg BID or combined treatment (COM) with MET 1000 mg BID and roflumilast 500 mcg QD. The primary outcome were changes in anthropometric measures of obesity.
At study endpoint subjects treated with COM lost on average 4.2 ± 2.8 kg compared to a 0.9± 2.5 kg weight gain in METgroup (p<0.001). BMI decreased for 1.6 ± 1.1 kg/m2 in COM arm compared to increase for 0.9 ± 2.4 kg/m2 in MET arm (p= 0.001). Total body fat decreased for 0.7±0.4 % in COM as opposed to 0.2 ± 0.1 % increase in MET and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) area as assessed by DXA decreased for 15.5 ± 1.6 cm2 in COM as opposed to 11.4 ± 5.3 cm2 increase in MET. The greater waist circumference reduction was noted in COM (4.2 ± 1 cm) compared with MET (0.8 ± 0.7 cm). The improvements of obesity measures were associated with beneficial effects on fasting glucose levels, insulin resistance and resolution of metabolic syndrome in affected women.
The hypothesis behind the weight decrease and beneficial metabolic impact observed with roflumilast is based on the PDE4 regulation of signaling pathways linked to GLP-1 release. In experimental rodent model a single treatment with roflumilast enhanced plasma GLP-1 levels up to 2.5 -fold.
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MedicalResearch:com Interview with:Stephen Honeybul FDS RCS (Eng), FRCS (SN), FRACS
Consultant Neurosurgeon
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
HOD Royal Perth Hospital
Perth WA Australia
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Honeybul: Amongst those patients who had been adjudged severely disabled or in a vegetative state at 18 months, remained as such at the three years follow up.
Most patients who were able to provide a response said that they would have provided consent to the "life saving" intervention even if they had known their final outcome
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr Sarah Cassidy PhD
Autism Research Centre,Department of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Cassidy: We found that adults with late diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome (31 years on average), were at significantly higher risk of contemplating suicide during their lifetime (66%) than those from the general UK population (17%), and a sample of patients with Psychosis (59%).
We also found that adults diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome with a history of depression, were significantly more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, and suicide plans or attempts, than those with Asperger Syndrome without a history of depression. A higher level of autistic traits was also a significant risk factor for having planned or attempted suicide.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frank H. Morriss, Jr., MD, MPH
Professor of Pediatrics - Neonatology
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Morriss: Our aim was to assess the association between surgery performed during the initial hospitalization of very low- birth-weight infants and subsequent death or neurodevelopmental impairment at 18-22 months’ corrected age. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of patients who were prospectively enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network Generic Database from 1998 to 2009. Surgery was classified by the expected anesthesia type as either major surgery that likely would have been performed under general anesthesia; or minor surgery, that is, procedures that could have been performed under non-general anesthesia and in general were shorter in duration. There were 2,186 major surgery patients and 784 minor surgery patients and more than 9,000 patients who did not undergo surgery.
We found that any surgical procedure increased the adjusted risk of death or neurodevelopmental impairment in low birth weight infants by about 30%. Not all surgical procedures were associated with increased risk, however. Compared with those who did not undergo surgery, patients who were classified as having major surgery had a risk-adjusted odds ratio of death or neurodevelopmental impairment of 1.52 (95% confidence interval 1.24-1.87). However, those who were classified as having minor surgery had no increased adjusted risk. Among survivors who had major surgery compared with those who did not undergo surgery the risk-adjusted odds ratio for neurodevelopmental impairment was 1.56 (95% confidence interval 1.26-1.93), and the risk-adjusted mean Bayley II Mental Developmental Index and mean Psychomotor Developmental Index values were significantly lower.
(more…)
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MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. June Chi-Yan Lo
Research Fellow
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Singapore
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lo: The Duke-NUS study examined the data of 66 older Chinese adults, from the
Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study. Participants underwent
structural MRI brain scans measuring brain volume and neuropsychological
assessments testing cognitive function every two years. Additionally,
their sleep duration was recorded through a questionnaire. Those who slept
fewer hours showed evidence of faster brain aging and decline in cognitive
performance.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jacques Baillargeon, PhD
Director, Epidemiology Division
Associate Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health
University of Texas Medical Branch
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Baillargeon: The main findings of the study were that older men who were treated with testosterone did not appear to have an increased risk of Myocardial Infarction. For men with high MI risk, 
