Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews
29 Sep Perjeta Extended Lives In Metastatic Breast Cancer
Posted at 18:27h
in Chemotherapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Giuseppe Curigliano M.D. Ph.D.
Medico Direttore, Director
Divisione Sviluppo Nuovi Farmaci per Terapie Innovative
Early Drug Development for Innovative Therapies Division
Via Ripamonti, Milano
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Curigliano: In the CLEOPATRA study, 808 patients from 25 countries with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer were randomised to receive first-line placebo/trastuzumab/docetaxel or pertuzumab/trastuzumab/docetaxel. Randomisation was stratified by geographic region and neo/adjuvant chemotherapy.
At ESMO 2014 the CLEOPATRA researchers reported results of a final prespecified OS analysis (February 2014). This overall survival (OS) analysis was planned when ≥385 deaths were reported. The log-rank test, stratified by prior treatment status and geographic region, was used to compare OS between arms, applying the threshold of p ≤ 0.0456. Subgroup analyses of OS were performed for stratification factors and other key baseline characteristics.At median follow-up of 50 months (range 0 to 70 months), the statistically significant improvement in OS in favour of pertuzumab/trastuzumab/docetaxel arm was maintained (HR = 0.68, p = 0.0002). Median OS was 40.8 months in the placebo arm and 56.5 months in the pertuzumab arm, with difference of 15.7 months. The PFS in pertuzumab arm was 18.7 vs 12.4 months in placebo arm, HR 0.68 (p < 0.0001).
29 Sep Adverse Reactions to Cephalosporin Antibiotics Reviewed
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eric Macy, MS, MS
Allergy & Immunology
Kaiser Permanente Medical Group-Allergy
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Macy:
- Cephalosporins are currently widely and relatively safely used in individuals with a history of a penicillin "allergy" in their medical record.
- Cephalosporin associated anaphylaxis is very rare, even in individuals with a history of penicillin "allergy".
- Cephalosporin associated serious cutaneous adverse reactions are extremely rare.
- Cephalosporin associated Clostridium difficile and serious nephropathy are relatively common.
29 Sep Moderate Physical Activity Could Protect Against Heart Failure in Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation with:
Dr. Iffat Rahman Ph.D.
Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rahman: Our study suggests that moderate to high level of physical activity could protect against heart failure in women.
29 Sep Increasing Skirt Size Linked To Increased Breast Cancer Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Usha Menon, Evangelia-Ourania Fourkala PhD and Matthew Burrell PhD Gynaecological Cancer Research Centre, Women's Cancer, UCL EGA Institute for Women's Health, University College London, UK Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Our study has shown that skirt size is a good proxy for central obesity. Each unit increase in UK skirt size every ten years between the age of 20 and 60 was associated with a 33% increase in postmenopausal breast cancer in our cohort.29 Sep Do Garlic Preparations Lower Blood Pressure?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. med. Alain Nordmann Innere Medizin FMH Basel, Switzerland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Nordmann: Based on available randomised controlled trials, garlic preparations seem to lower blood pressure in individuals with hypertension in the short term. However, the quality of the studies and the lack of long-term data preclude the routine use of garlic preparations to lower blood pressure in individuals qualifying for antihypertensive drug therapy.29 Sep Aspirin Response Predicts Outcome After Stent Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katharina Mayer MD Deutsches Herzzentrum München, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mayer: Patients whose platelets do not respond well to aspirin carry a higher risk of death or stent thrombosis. Platelet response to aspirin is an independent predictor of ischemic events in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).28 Sep Tallness May Be Protective Against Esophageal Cancer
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. Aaron P. Thrift PhD
Public Health Sciences Division
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Thrift: We conclude that height is inversely associated with risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, both in men and women. The association is not due to confounding from known risk factors or bias.
27 Sep Family-based Therapy May Effectively Treat Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Stewart Agras, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus
Stanford University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch: What was the study about?
Dr. Agras: Family-based treatment (FBT) has been shown to be more effective than individual psychotherapy for the treatment of adolescent anorexia nervosa. This treatment focuses on helping the family to re-feed their child. The question posed in this study was whether Family-based treatment would have any advantages over Systemic family therapy (SyFT) focusing on family interactions that may affect the maintenance of the disorder. The participants were 164 adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their families – one of the largest studies of its type.
27 Sep Generic Drug Discount Programs More Valued By Vulnerable Populations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Song Hee Hong PhD
Associate Professor,
Health Outcomes and Policy Research
Dept. Clinical Pharmacy
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Memphis, TN 38163
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hong: Use of GDDP (generic drug discount programs) increased to 23.1% in 2010 from 3.6% of patients receiving any prescription drugs in 2007.
Generic drug discount programs were more valued among the elderly, sicker and uninsured populations.
The lower use of Generic drug discount programs among racial/ethnic minorities observed when the program was deployed no longer existed when the program matured.
27 Sep Physical Activity Did Not Reduce Incidence of Kidney Stones
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pietro Manuel Ferraro, MD PhD Candidate
Division of Nephrology
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Rome Italy
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Ferraro: We analyzed the association between physical activity and energy intake and the risk of developing kidney stones in three large cohorts of U.S. health professionals. The 215,133 participants included did not have any history of kidney stones when follow-up began. During 20 years of follow-up, 5,355 of them developed a kidney stone. Initially, we found that participants with higher physical activity levels had a reduced risk of developing stones in two of the three cohorts. However, after accounting for a number of factors that could potentially confound the association such as age, body mass index and dietary intake, the association was no longer significant. Similarly, energy intake was not associated with a reduced risk of developing kidney stones.
26 Sep Memory Complaints May Presage Increased Risk Of Dementia
Posted at 21:44h
in Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, General Medicine, Mental Health Research, Neurology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Richard J. Kryscio, PhD, Professor
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
University of Kentucky
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kryscio: We followed 531 elderly over time assessing their cognition annually; of these 105 (about 20%) eventually were diagnosed with a serious cognitive impairment (either a mild cognitive impairment or a dementia) and 77% of the latter declared a subjective memory complaint prior to the diagnosis of the impairment. In brief, declaration of a memory problem put a subject at three times the risk of a future impairment.
26 Sep For Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Measure Lean Body Mass Rather Than Total Weight
Posted at 19:01h
in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, General Medicine, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tuomo Tompuri, MD
Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine
Kuopio University Hospital, Finland
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Tompuri: Measures of the cardiorespiratory fitness should be scaled by lean mass instead of body weight, while aiming to enable comparison between the subjects. Our result is physiologically logical and confirms earlier observations of the topic. Scaling by body weight has been criticized, because body fat, per se, does not increase metabolism during exercise. We did observe that scaling by body weight introduces confounding by adiposity.
26 Sep Low Maternal Iron May Be Autism Risk Factor
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rebecca J. Schmidt, M.S., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Health Sciences
The MIND Institute School of Medicine
University of California Davis
Davis, California 95616-8638
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Schmidt: Women who had children with autism reported taking iron supplements during pregnancy and breastfeeding less often than women who children who were typically developing. Mothers of children with autism also had lower average iron intake.
26 Sep Elevated Calcium May Presage Cancer Diagnosis
Posted at 16:48h
in General Medicine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Fergus Hamilton
University of Bristol, Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Social and Community Medicine, Canyngne Hall, Bristol UK.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hamilton: The findings of this study showed a stepwise increase in risk of cancer as calcium levels increase above the normal range, most notably in men. This relationship did occur in women, but was much less strong
26 Sep Most Gallbladder Surgery Can Wait Until Morning
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dennis Kim, MD
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute Researcher
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kim: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a minimally invasive procedure to remove the
gallbladder, is one of the most common abdominal surgeries in the U.S. Yet
medical centers around the country vary in their approaches to the procedure
with some moving patients quickly into surgery while others wait. Our study
found gallbladder removal surgery can wait until regular working hours
rather than rushing the patients into the operating room at night.
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ on the upper right side of the
abdomen that collects and stores bile, a digestive fluid produced by the
liver. Gallbladders may need to be removed from patients who suffer pain
from gallstones that block the flow of bile.
In a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, surgeons insert a tiny video camera and
special surgical tools through small incisions in the abdomen to remove the
gallbladder. Occasionally, surgeons may need to create a large incision to
remove the gallbladder, and this is known as an open cholecystectomy.
We conducted a retrospective study of 1,140 patients at two large urban
referral centers who underwent gallbladder removal surgeries. We found 11%
of the surgical procedures performed at night (7 a.m.-7 p.m.) were converted
to the more invasive procedure, open cholecystectomies. Only 6% of those who
underwent the surgery during the day required the more invasive form of
surgery.
26 Sep Yoga and Meditation Enhance Brain-Computer Interface
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Bin He M.S. Ph.D
University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering
Director of the University’s Institute for Engineering in Medicine.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. He: It is found that people with long term mind body awareness training including yoga and meditation can learn much faster and better the brain-computer interface skills to control a computer cursor by their minds.
26 Sep Obesity Expert Discusses Importance of Weight Maintenance
Posted at 00:28h
in Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Holly R. Wyatt, MD
Endocrine Society spokeswoman
Associate Professor, University of Colorado Denver
Medical Director, Anschutz Health and Wellness Center
Medical Director, ABC’s TV series “Extreme Weight Loss”.
MedicalResearch.com Editor’s note: Dr. Wyatt is a nationally known expert on obesity and weight control. Dr. Wyatt is co-founder of ‘The State of Slim’ behavioral weight management program and has been the National Program Director for the Centers for Obesity Research and Education (C.O.R.E.) since 1999. Dr. Wyatt publishes extensively in the obesity and metabolism literature including publications in the NEJM, Obesity, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition among others. Dr. Wyatt kindly answered questions regarding weight loss and maintenance for the MedicalResearch.com audience.
Medical Research: How did you become interested in weight control?
Dr. Wyatt: Basically, because I struggled with my weight all my life. I was always planning on going to medical school and had been interested in learning more about the science of weight gain and metabolism, but at the time the subject was not well studied. When I came to the University of Colorado for my medical residency, I met researchers who were investigating the growing problem of obesity and were passionate about finding effective strategies for weight management. I have been active in clinical practice and obesity research since that time.
Medical Research: Why does weight loss or even weight maintenance become so much harder as we age?
Dr. Wyatt: We don’t know all the reasons for certain, but the problem is most likely multifactorial.
- First, as we age we lose muscle mass. To a large degree, muscle mass determines our metabolic rate so even if our body weight stays stable, our metabolic engine slows down as we lose muscle and it becomes harder to maintain that weight.
- Secondly, there is some role with for hormonal changes, but this role is incompletely understood. With menopause we tend to store weight centrally in our bodies, which may be a hormonal effect.
- Perhaps most importantly, life changes as we get older and our lifestyle and environment evolves. We may not realize how much these changes affect the amount of energy we burn as our environment become more sedentary and obesogenic.
25 Sep Simple Home Improvement Can Reduce Injuries and Falls
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. MichaelD. Keall PhD Otago University, Wellington, New Zealand Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Keall: We found that home injuries from falls could be reduced by 26% by making some simple modifications to people’s homes, consisting of handrails for steps and stairs, grab rails for bathrooms, outside lighting, edging for outside steps and slip-resistant surfacing for outside surfaces such as decks and porches.25 Sep Longer Working Hours Linked To Increased Risk of Diabetes in Lower Socioeconomic Jobs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof Mika Kivimäki PhD
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health,
University College London, London, UK
Hjelt Institute, Medical Faculty, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Kivimäki: In our study, we pooled published and unpublished data from 222 120 men and women from the USA, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Of them, 4963 individuals developed type 2 diabetes during the mean follow-up of 7.6 years. This is the largest study to date on this topic.
In an analysis stratified by socioeconomic status, the association between long working hours and diabetes was evident in the low socioeconomic status group, but was null in the high socioeconomic status group. The association in the low socioeconomic status group did not change after taking into account age, sex, obesity, physical activity, and shift working. So, the association was very robust.
In brief, the main finding of our meta-analysis is that the link between longer working hours and type 2 diabetes was apparent only in individuals in the low socioeconomic status groups.
24 Sep Millions of US Children Do Not Receive Key Health Care Preventive Services
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Lorraine Yeung
Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Yeung: In this report, we looked at the percentages of children who received various recommended clinical preventive services. We found that millions of infants, children, and adolescents in the U.S. did not receive key clinical preventive services.
This report provides a baseline snapshot of the use of 11 key clinical preventive services before or shortly after the Affordable Care Act went into effect. A focus of the Affordable Care Act is on improving prevention of illness and disability and it does so by requiring new health insurance plans to provide certain clinical preventive services at no additional cost — with no copays or deductibles. This is important because we know increasing the use of these services can improve children’s health and promote healthy lifestyles that will enable them to reach their full potential.
Some of the important findings in this report were:
In 2007, parents of almost eight in 10 (79 percent) children aged 10-47 months reported that they were not asked by healthcare providers to complete a formal screen for developmental delays in the past year.
In 2009, more than half (56 percent) of children and adolescents did not visit the dentist in the past year and nearly nine of 10 (86 percent) children and adolescents did not receive a dental sealant or a topical fluoride application in the past year.
Nearly half (47 percent) of females aged 13-17 years had not received their recommended first dose of HPV vaccine in 2011.
Approximately one in three (31 percent) outpatient clinic visits made by 11-21 year-olds during 2004–2010 had no documentation of tobacco use status; eight of 10 (80 percent) of those who screened positive for tobacco use did not receive any cessation assistance.
Approximately one in four (24 percent) outpatient clinic visits for preventive care made by 3-17 year olds during 2009-2010 had no documentation of blood pressure measurement.
23 Sep Echo Useful In Measuring Cardiac Hemodyanamics In LVAD Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jerry D. Estep, M.D., FACC
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
Medical Director, Heart Transplant & LVAD Program
Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center
Houston Methodist Hospital
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Estep: There were two major findings:
1-Non-invasive Doppler echocardiographic and invasive measures of mean right atrial pressure (RAP) (r = 0.863; p < 0.0001), systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) (r=0.880; p<0.0001), right ventricular outflow tract stroke volume (r=0.660; p < 0.0001), and pulmonary vascular resistance (r = 0.643; p= 0.001) correlated significantly.
2-An algorithm integrating mitral inflow velocities, RAP, sPAP, and left atrial volume index was 90% accurate in distinguishing normal from elevated left ventricular filling pressures.
23 Sep Lifestyle Practices May Prevent Most Heart Attacks in Men
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Agneta Åkesson
Associate professor, senior lecturer Nutritional Epidemiology
IMM Institute of Environmental Medicine
Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Åkesson: Our study indicates that a healthy diet together with low-risk lifestyle practices such as being physically active, not smoking and having a moderate alcohol consumption, and with the absence of abdominal adiposity may prevent the vast majority of myocardial infarctions in men.
23 Sep SSRIs for Depression: Initial Dosing Important For Suicide Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Philippe Courtet MD PhD
Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Montpellier, Institut National de la Santé et de la Récherche Médicale ,
Université Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Courtet: Depressed outpatients who are beginning the treatment with a SSRI at higher dose than recommended present an increased risk (x2) of worsening of suicidal ideation during the first 6 weeks of treatment.
This is consistent with the study by Miller et al published in the same journal few weeks ago, reporting a double risk of suicide attempt in young subjects (<24 yrs) who are begun an SSRI at higher dose than recommended.
Our results showed that the increased suicide risk with the high dose of SSRI is not restricted to youngsters and is independent of the severity of the depression.
23 Sep Patient Hospital Gowns: More Can and Want To Wear Pants
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Todd C. Lee, MD, MPH Division of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Department of Medicine, McGill University Health Centre McGill Centre for Quality Improvement, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Lee: We found that in our cross-sectional study of six inpatient units in five hospitals that, in general, only 11% of patients were wearing lower body garments despite the fact that probably 55% of them could have been doing so. The remainder were wearing open backed gowns. When specifically asked, the majority of these patients would like to have been afforded the opportunity to wear more dignified attire and the patients were surprised that they were allowed to do so.22 Sep Statins May Have Additional Lipid Profile Benefit in Pre-Diabetes
\MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Moses Elisaf Professor of Internal Medicine University of Ioannina, Greece Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Elisaf: We evaluated the effects of rosuvastatin in two groups of hyperlipidemic patients: one group had impaired fasting glucose (IFG) while the second group had normal fasting glucose. After study end, both groups had similar changes in their lipidemic profile. However, patients with IFG had a significant greater decrease in the cholesterol concentration of the more atherogenic small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) particles (-65.7%) compared with controls (-38.5%). Moreover, a greater increase in the mean LDL particle size was observed in the impaired fasting glucose group (+1.5% vs +0.4%). In addition, redistribution from the more atherogenic sdLDL to large buoyant LDL (lbLDL) subfractions was observed in the IFG group.22 Sep MedicalResearch.com Powerpoint of This Week’s Top Medical Research Interviews
Posted at 17:44h
in Author Interviews
22 Sep Longer Shifts and Overtime May Lead To Lower Quality and Safety of Nursing Care
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Peter Griffiths PhD, RN
Centre for Innovation and Leadership in Health Sciences
University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Griffiths: This study found that hospital nurses who are working on a 2 shift system, where care is provided by nurses working long shifts of 12-13 hours, report lower quality and safety of care than nurses who work a traditional three shift system where nurses typically work shifts of 8 hours. We also found that nurses who were working overtime reported lower quality and safety of care. We found that these shifts are common in some European countries – most notably Poland, Ireland and England.
22 Sep Cigarette Smoking Prevalence Varies By Gender and Occupation
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Girija Syamlal MBBS, MPH , Epidemiologist Division of Respiratory Disease Studies National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health CDC, Morgantown, West Virginia CDC/NIOSH/DRDS Morgantown,WV 26505 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Syamlal: During 2004–2011, of the 141 million U.S. adults, 20.7% were current cigarette smokers. Smoking prevalences were higher among men (22.8%) than women (18.3%). In both men and women, cigarette smoking prevalence varied widely by occupational group. In certain occupations, the prevalence of smoking was three times greater than the Healthy People 2020 goal that aims to reduce cigarette smoking prevalence to 12%.22 Sep Pre-Processing May Reduce Patient Delays In Medical Education Settings
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Chester G. Chambers PhD
Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Baltimore, Maryland
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Chambers: The main findings of this study are that several metrics of system performance can be improved by using simple methods proven to be effective in many production settings.
Specifically, the idea of using “Pre-processing” as an aspect of medical education improves patient flow times, waiting times, system throughput, and system capacity.
When fixed costs are spread across more patients, we are effectively reducing the cost per patient as well.
In this context “Pre-processing” simply refers to the practice of having medical trainees present and review cases with the attending prior to patient clinic visits as opposed to doing it in the midst of the patient visit. This simple idea is common in many areas including surgery but tends to get omitted in other settings involving ambulatory care. Our simple experiment verified that this practice has real value in a wide array of settings.