Author Interviews, CMAJ, Weight Research / 04.03.2014

Dr. Laurie K. Twells, PhD School of Pharmacy, Memorial University, St. John’s Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University St. John’sNewfoundland and LabradorMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Laurie K. Twells, PhD School of Pharmacy, Memorial University, St. John’s Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Twells: Obesity rates in Canada tripled between 1985 and 2011. Although class I obesity (BMI ≥ 30) appears to have increased at a slower rate, obese classes II (BMI ≥  35) and III (BMI ≥40) continued to increase disproportionately. Over the last decade, every province in Canada experienced increases in obesity rates. Overall obesity rates were lower in the west and higher in the eastern provinces and people over age 40 years were more likely to be overweight/obese than younger people. By 2019 it is projected that twenty-one per cent of Canadians will be obese but this will vary by province from 15.7% in British Columbia to 34.6% in Newfoundland and Labrador. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Lancet, Nursing, University of Pennsylvania / 04.03.2014

Professor Linda H Aiken PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, Professor of Sociology Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research University of Pennsylvania School of NursingMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Linda H Aiken PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, Professor of Sociology Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing MedicalResearch.com: Austerity measures and health-system redesign to minimise hospital expenditures risk adversely affecting patient outcomes. Against that backdrop, can you start by letting us know the background of the study?  Prof. Aiken: European Surgical Outcomes Study in 28 countries showed higher than necessary deaths after surgery. A comparable study in the US showed that despite the nation spending hundreds of millions of dollars on improving patient safety, there were no improvements in adverse outcomes after surgery in US hospitals between 2000 and 2009.  Clearly it is time to consider new solutions to improving hospital care for surgical patients, who make up a large proportion of all hospital admissions.  Our study was designed to determine whether there are risks for patients of reducing hospital nurse staffing, and what, if any, are the benefits to patients of moving to a more educated nurse workforce. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, Pulmonary Disease, Respiratory, Sleep Disorders / 03.03.2014

Dr. Vincent Yi-Fong Su Department of Chest Medicine Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei, TaiwanMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Vincent Yi-Fong Su Department of Chest Medicine Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei, Taiwan MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found interestingly that patients with sleep apnea experienced a 1.20-fold (95% CI, 1.10-1.31; p <0.001) increase in incident pneumonia compared to patients without sleep apnea. We also demonstrated an “exposure-response relationship,” in that the patients with more severe sleep apnea might have a higher risk for pneumonia than did those of milder severity. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Vitamin D / 03.03.2014

Dr. Jill A Poole MD Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep, and Allergy Division, Department of Medicine College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NebraskaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jill A Poole MD Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep, and Allergy Division, Department of Medicine College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Poole:  Our study found that adding vitamin D 4000 IU daily to a cocktail of anti-allergy medications resulted in a further 40% reduction in hive symptom scores at 3 months.  There was no further reduction in hive symptoms when 600 IU of vitamin D was added to the anti-allergy medications.  The anti-allergy regimen utilized was triple drug therapy with cetirizine (twice daily), ranitidine (twice daily), and montelukast (once daily).  No adverse reactions occurred. (more…)
Annals Thoracic Surgery, Author Interviews, Dental Research, Heart Disease, Infections, Mayo Clinic / 01.03.2014

Dr. Kendra J. Grim Department of Anesthesiology Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kendra J. Grim Department of Anesthesiology Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Grim: “The current guidelines say that if possible, treating the dental problems that patients have before heart surgery is best, to try to prevent both early and late heart infections. But the data is very unclear, because it’s very difficult to study. We found in our study that their risk of serious complications after having teeth removed may be higher than we thought. We were primarily looking at stroke, heart attack, renal failure and death. We found that actually the incidence of having one of those major morbidities was 8 percent.  Of that 8 percent, we had six patients, or 3 percent, of the total group who died between their dental surgery and scheduled heart surgery, so these patients never made it to their heart surgery. An additional 3 percent of patients died after heart surgery. “ (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Infections, Transplantation / 01.03.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Susan N. Hocevar MD Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GA 30333; MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Hocevar: This public health investigation uncovered microsporidiosis transmitted to 3 organ recipients who received organs from a common donor. This illness cluster was the first recognized occurrence of donor-derived microsporidiosis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hand Washing / 28.02.2014

Professor Didier Pittet, MD, MS Director, Infection Control Program and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine SwitzerlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with : Professor Didier Pittet, MD, MS Director, Infection Control Program and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Pittet:  The density of bacterial contamination of the stethoscope’s membrane is closely correlated with the density of bacterial counts on the doctor’s fingertips. This is true for both common skin comensals and multi-resistant nosocomial pathogens such as MRSA. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Outcomes & Safety, Pharmacology, Urinary Tract Infections / 28.02.2014

Dr. Jerome A. Leis, MD, MSc Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, CanadaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jerome A. Leis, MD, MSc Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Leis: We know that positive urine cultures from patients who lack signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection are a trigger FOR unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions in hospitals. This problem has not improved despite many educational initiatives.  We identified a subset of patients in our hospital where only 2% of all urine specimens sent to the laboratory were associated with symptomatic infection and decided to no longer routinely report positive results from these specimens on the electronic medical record, unless a special telephone request was made.  We found that with this simple change, unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions declined markedly and this did not require any education of care providers. Most importantly, based on our safety audits, patients who had a urinary tract infection all received appropriate treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dengue, Infections, NEJM, Respiratory / 27.02.2014

Valérie D'Acremont, MD, PhD Group leader Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute | Basel | Switzerland Médecin-adjointe, PD-MER Travel clinic | Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine | University hospital of Lausanne | SwitzerlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Valérie D'Acremont, MD, PhD Group leader Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute | Basel | Switzerland Médecin-adjointe, PD-MER Travel clinic | Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine | University hospital of Lausanne | Switzerland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. D'Acremont: We discovered that, in a rural and an urban area of Tanzania, half of the children with fever (temperature >38°C) had an acute respiratory infection, mainly of the upper tract (5% only had radiological pneumonia). These infections were mostly of viral origin, in particular influenza. The other children had systemic viral infections such as HHV6, parvovirus B19, EBV or CMV. Overall viral diseases represented 71% of the cases. Only a minority (22%) had a bacterial infection such as typhoid fever, urinary tract infection or sepsis due to bacteremia. Malaria was found in only 10% of the children, even in the rural setting. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension / 27.02.2014

Dr. Ido Weinberg MD MSc MHA Massachusetts General Hospital, Vascular MedicineMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ido Weinberg MD MSc MHA Massachusetts General Hospital, Vascular Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Weinberg: The study examined the relationship between blood pressure difference between arms and clinically meaningful outcomes such as death and new-onset (incident) cardiovascular disease including myocardial infarction and stroke. The main finding of the study was that an elevated inter-arm blood pressure difference correlated with these negative outcomes. We have also shown that the correlation was strong enough to be independent from the classic Framingham risk score. Adding an elevated inter-arm blood pressure to the risk score made it a more accurate. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 27.02.2014

Brian D'Onofrio, PhD Associate Professor Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Indiana University Bloomington, IN MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian D'Onofrio, PhD Associate Professor Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Indiana University Bloomington, IN MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study? Dr. D'Onofrio: The main finding from our study is that the specific associations between advancing paternal age at childbearing and offspring psychiatric and academic problems were much larger than in previous studies. In fact, we found that advancing paternal age was associated with greater risk for several problems, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, suicide attempts and substance use problems, whereas traditional research designs suggested advancing paternal age may have diminished the rate at which these problems occur. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Gender Differences, Stroke / 27.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gang Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, FAHA Assistant professor & Director, Chronic Disease Epidemiology Lab Adjunct assistant professor, School of Public Health, LSU Health Sciences Center Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LouisianaGang Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, FAHA Assistant professor & Director Chronic Disease Epidemiology Lab Adjunct assistant professor, School of Public Health LSU Health Sciences Center Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Gang Hu:  Our study suggests a graded association between HbA1c and the risk of stroke among female patients with type 2 diabetes and poor control of blood sugar has a stronger effect in women older than 55 years. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 26.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tobias Skillbäck, MD Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology Department of Neurochemistry, Sahlgrenska Academy University of Gothenburg Mölndal, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Skillbäck: There were two main findings in this study. First; Levels of t-tau and the T-tau/P-tau ratio in CSF of CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) patients are markedly increased, as compared to patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and they  are high enough to distinguish CJD against these important differential diagnoses. Secondly, levels of these biomarkers tend to increase rapidly with disease progress in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. This trend could not be observed for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and could also be used to clinically distinguish CJD and indicates that repeated CSF measurements might be of value if a clinical suspicion of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Diseaseis present. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Stroke / 26.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel Strbian, MD, PhD, MSc (Stroke Med), FESO Neurologist, Associate Professor Department of Neurology Helsinki University Central Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?  Dr. Strbian: That even if the SEDAN score had the best performance, none of the scores showed better than a moderate performance. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Nutrition / 26.02.2014

Dr. Ulf Risérus Associate Professor in Clinical Nutrition Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Uppsala Science Park, 75185 Uppsala Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala university SwedenMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ulf Risérus Associate Professor in Clinical Nutrition Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala university Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Risérus: It has previously been shown in animal studies that overfeeding polyunsaturated fat causes less fat accumulation than saturated fats, but this study is the first to suggest that this could be true also in humans. Overeating saturated fats caused significantly more accumulation of fat in the liver and intra-abdominally, as compared with overeating polyunsaturated fats from. This study suggests it does matter where the excess calories come from when we gain weight. If a high-caloric diet contains large amounts of saturated fats it seems to switch on some genes that may promote abdominal fat storage and insulin resistance, and thereby result in a more unfavorable fat storage. In contrast, such effects were not seen if the diet was lower in saturated fats but higher in polyunsaturated fats from non-tropical vegetable oils. This study also suggests a novel contributing factor regarding the tendency of some individuals to accumulate fat in the liver and abdomen, i.e. in some people excessive amounts of saturated fat in combination with sugars might induce more fat in their livers and a propensity towards abdominal visceral fat accumulation. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Diabetes, Diabetes Care / 26.02.2014

Steven A. Safren, Ph.D., ABPP Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School Director, Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Steven A. Safren, Ph.D., ABPP Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School Director, Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Safren:  The main findings of the study are that, in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and depression, a type of psychological treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that addressed both self-care and depression, resulted in improvements in both depressed mood, self-care, and glucose control.  This was a randomized controlled trial, and this cognitive-behavioral treatment worked better than lifestyle adherence and nutrition counseling alone; and the effects were sustained over 8 months. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Disability Research / 26.02.2014

Barbara H. Bardenheier PHD, MPH, MA Division of Diabetes Translation, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barbara H. Bardenheier PHD, MPH, MA Division of Diabetes Translation, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GA MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bardenheier: Our main findings were that older adults who become disabled, even mildly, are at increased risk of developing diabetes. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia / 25.02.2014

Dr. Erin Abner Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Epidemiology University of Kentucky College of Public Health Lexington, KentuckyMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Erin Abner Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Epidemiology University of Kentucky College of Public Health Lexington, Kentucky MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Abner:  The findings from this study are preliminary results from The Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease with Vitamin E and Selenium Study. This early look at the data indicates that very simple measures of memory change, in this case asking older men with no cognitive impairment about changes in their memory over the past year, and whether they believe those changes are a problem, can be used to predict cognitive impairment years later. Men who said at study baseline that the changes in their memory represented problems to them were over twice as likely as men who did not complain to develop clinically detectable cognitive impairment during follow-up. This is exciting because the field of Alzheimer’s research is moving toward earlier intervention in the disease process. As of now, our best methods for identifying individuals without cognitive impairment who are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future are procedures that many people find intimidating, like lumbar puncture and PET scanning. Identifying older adults at high risk for future cognitive impairment with low-cost, non-invasive screening techniques would help researchers to target potential therapies to the people who stand to benefit the most. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Weight Research / 25.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD, MRP Epidemiologist and Analysis Branch Chief NHANES Program/NCHS/CDC Hyattsville, MD 20782 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ogden: We continue to track obesity levels in the US population using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. New data are now available for 2011-2012. We found that 17% of youth and 35% of adults were obese.  Overall there has been no change in obesity levels among either youth or adults in the last 10 years. The prevalence of obesity among youth was 16.9% - exactly the same as in 2009-2010.  In separate age groups analyses we found a decrease in obesity among 2-5 year olds and an increase in obesity among older women 60+ years. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, Vaccine Studies / 25.02.2014

Signe Sørup, PhD Research Center for Vitamins and Vaccines (CVIVA) Bandim Health Project, Statens Serum Institut Artillerivej 5, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Signe Sørup, PhD Research Center for Vitamins and Vaccines (CVIVA) Bandim Health Project, Statens Serum Institut Artillerivej 5, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sørup: We found that admissions with any type of infection was reduced with 14 % for Danish children having the live, attenuated vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) as the most recent vaccine compared with children having the inactivated vaccine against Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, and Haemophilus Influenzae type b (DTaP-IPV-Hib) as the most recent vaccine. In Denmark herd immunity against measles, mumps, and rubella is high and only 26 of the more 42,000 admissions was related to measles, mumps, and rubella; so this finding cannot be explained by the specific protection against the targeted diseases. In Denmark MMR vaccination is recommended at 15 months of age, but only 50% of the children in the study had received MMR before 16 months of age. We estimated that one hospital admission between 16 and 24 months of age could be avoided for 201 children vaccinated with MMR before 16 months of age rather than later. These results are based on a retrospective cohort study including approximately half a million Danish children. The analyses are adjusted for age and a long range of background factors, including socio-economic factors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JACC, Kidney Disease / 25.02.2014

Dr. Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD FASN Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine Chief of Nephrology, Salem VA Medical CenterMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD FASN Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine Chief of Nephrology, Salem VA Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kovesdy: We describe significantly lower all-cause mortality rates in 141,413 non-dialysis dependent CKD (chronic kidney disease) patients who were de-novo users of ACEI/ARB. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Exercise - Fitness, Menopause / 25.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Nyberg Ph.D. Post-doc  Human Physiology and Exercise Physiology Integrated Physiology Group Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen and Jens Bangsbo, Dr. Sci., Ph.D. Professor of Human Physiology and Exercise Physiology Head of Integrated Physiology Group, Section of Human Physiology Head of Copenhagen Centre of Team Sports and Health Deputy Head of Department, research Copenhagen Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The main findings of the study were that despite being of similar age, the postmenopausal displayed higher blood pressure and higher blood levels of an early marker of atherosclerosis than women that had not reached menopause. Furthermore, just 12 weeks of floorball training twice a week for one hour improved the women’s conditions and reduced their blood pressure significantly. In addition, there was positive development in levels of substances vital to blood vessel function, including a decrease in the early marker of atherosclerosis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, General Medicine, Kidney Disease / 25.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eiji Ishimura, MD, PhD, FASN, FACP Osaka City University Hospital Professor,Department of Nephrology Osaka, JAPAN MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ishimura: Poor glycemic control is a major factor in the overestimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in diabetic patients. We found this simple conclusion by directly measuring GFR by use of inulin clearance. We have created new formulae to accurately assess the GFR in diabetic patients, with the correction of hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) or glycated albumin (GA) as followings; 1)      eGFRcr corrected by HbA1c=eGFRcr / (0.428 + 0.085 × HbA1c) 2)      eGFRcr corrected by GA=eGFRcr / (0.525 + 0.028 × GA) (more…)
ADHD, Author Interviews, JAMA / 25.02.2014

Jørn Olsen, M.D., Ph.D. Professor Institute of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology UCLA Aarhus University Aarhus,DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jørn Olsen, M.D., Ph.D.  Professor Institute of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology UCLA Aarhus University Aarhus,Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Olsen: Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is drug being used by many, including pregnant women. In our data about half of all pregnant women in 1995 to 2002 had used the drug all least once during their pregnancy. The drug has shown hormonal disruptor properties in animal studies. We found that women who used this drug during pregnancy gave birth to children who 5 – 10 years later slightly more often had behavioral problems or were treated for ADHD. The risk was highest for those who took the medication late in pregnancy and/or had taken the drug several times. The increased risk was about 10-30%. (more…)
Author Interviews, HIV, Johns Hopkins / 25.02.2014

Samuel R. Friedman PhD Institute of Infectious Disease Research National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. New York, NY Department of Epidemiology Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MDMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samuel R. Friedman PhD Institute of Infectious Disease Research National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Ny, NY Department of Epidemiology Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Friedman: The main finding is that programs that helped protect people who inject drugs from HIV and those that helped them to get medical care seem to be associated with less HIV disease and less death related to HIV disease among the heterosexual population of large United States metropolitan areas. This is important.  Drug users in the US are widely despised, and their has been a lot of political opposition to programs like syringe exchange and drug abuse treatment. Our findings show that these programs are associated with better health and less death in the broader population.  It makes more sense to help people--even those you despise--stay uninfected, and to get medical care, than to restrict or attack programs for them. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research / 25.02.2014

Nir Y. Krakauer Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering The City College of New York New York, New YorkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nir Y. Krakauer Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering The City College of New York New York, New York MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Krakauer: We studied the association between the recently proposed body shape index (ABSI) -- which combines waist circumference, height and weight measurements -- and risk of death in a United Kingdom population sample. We found that high ABSI predicted greater mortality hazard, with death rates increasing by about 13% per standard deviation increase in ABSI. Further, ABSI was a stronger predictor of early death than BMI, waist circumference, or other indices based on waist circumference such as waist to height ratio and waist to hip ratio. For a given starting ABSI value, reducing A Body Shape Index over a 7-year period was associated with lowered mortality risk, . (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, UCSF / 25.02.2014

Dhruv S. Kazi, MD, MSc, MS Assistant Adjunct Professor Division of Cardiology San Francisco General Hospital Department of Medicine, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California San FranciscoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dhruv S. Kazi, MD, MSc, MS Assistant Adjunct Professor Division of Cardiology San Francisco General Hospital Department of Medicine, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background of your study? Dr. Kazi: When we first asked the research question -what is the role of genotyping among patients receiving a stent for ACS, we quickly realized that there were no RCTs that had directly compared ticagrelor with prasugrel. But in our opinion, that was precisely the reason to build a model and systematically synthesize the available literature. There are nearly half a million PCIs for ACS in the US each year, and each time, the physician and patients have to examine the trade-offs between the various alternatives. What our model does is that it explicates the trade-offs - makes them transparent, and quantifies them.  So patients and physicians can make an informed decision on what is the optimal therapy for them. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JAMA, Vegetarians / 24.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yoko Yokoyama, Ph.D., M.P.H. National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan, MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Yokoyama: We found consistent evidence that a vegetarian diet has a significant blood-pressure-lowering effect, and this was clear both in observational studies of individuals who had chosen vegetarian diets on their own and in intervention trials in which people were asked to make diet changes. Our meta-analysis included 32 observational studies and 7 controlled clinical trials. In the observational studies, vegetarian diets were associated with blood pressures that were about 7 mmHg lower systolic and 5 mmHg lower diastolic. In the clinical trials, the reductions were about 5 mmHg systolic and 2 mmHg diastolic. These are pooled averages, so for some individuals, particularly those with higher body weights or higher blood pressures at the beginning, the blood-pressure-lowering effects could be much greater. (more…)