Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews

28 Feb

Posted at 03:19h in Author Interviews, Infections, Outcomes & Safety, Pharmacology, Urinary Tract Infections
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.

27 Feb

Posted at 17:16h in Author Interviews, Dengue, Infections, NEJM, Respiratory
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.

27 Feb

Posted at 13:23h in Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension
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.

27 Feb

Posted at 01:14h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research
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.

27 Feb

Posted at 00:17h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Gender Differences, Stroke
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.

26 Feb

Posted at 23:32h in Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA
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.

26 Feb

Posted at 21:50h in AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Stroke
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.

26 Feb

Posted at 16:53h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Nutrition
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.

26 Feb

Posted at 02:09h in Author Interviews, Depression, Diabetes, Diabetes Care
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.

26 Feb

Posted at 01:26h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Disability Research
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 23:35h in Alzheimer's - Dementia
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 21:51h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Weight Research
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 21:48h in Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, Vaccine Studies
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 14:07h in Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JACC, Kidney Disease
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 12:06h in Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Exercise - Fitness, Menopause
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 11:48h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, General Medicine, Kidney Disease
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)

25 Feb

Posted at 03:43h in ADHD, Author Interviews, JAMA
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%.

25 Feb

Posted at 03:41h in Author Interviews, HIV, Johns Hopkins
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.

25 Feb

Posted at 03:31h in Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research
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, .

25 Feb

Posted at 03:23h in Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, UCSF
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.

24 Feb

Posted at 22:00h in Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JAMA, Vegetarians
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.

23 Feb

Posted at 12:51h in Author Interviews, Bipolar Disorder, Flu - Influenza
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Clinical Epidemiology College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University Director Unit in Birth Cohort Studies Division of Epidemiology New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY 10032Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Clinical Epidemiology College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University Director Unit in Birth Cohort Studies Division of Epidemiology New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, NY MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Brown: We found that a mother's exposure to influenza during pregnancy, documented by antibodies in her serum, increased the risk of bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms in her offspring.  We did not show a relationship between influenza and bipolar disorder not accompanied by psychosis.

23 Feb

Posted at 12:35h in Author Interviews, CHEST, Pulmonary Disease, Smoking
Chunxue Bai, MD & PhD Director, Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute Professor of Medicine, Chairman, Shanghai Leading academic discipline Chair, Chinese Alliance against Lung Cancer Vice President of Respiratory Society, Chinese Medical Association Editor-in-Chief, Translational Respiratory Medicine (Springer) Editor-in-Chief, International journal of Respiration (China) Editor-in-Chief, Perspectives of Respiratory Medicine (China)MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chunxue Bai, MD & PhD Director, Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute Professor of Medicine, Chairman, Shanghai Leading academic discipline Chair, Chinese Alliance against Lung Cancer MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bai: Recently, we found a dilemma phenomenon that the incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer has remained high in southwest China despite the 1976 National Stove Improvement Program for indoor air quality. However, little information is known to the public about a regional endemic related to Chinese waterpipe smoking, which is different from the Arabic waterpipe. The Chinese waterpipe has been traditionally misconceived as less harmful for three reasons:
  • (1) no charcoal was used in contrast to the Arabic waterpipe,
  • (2) tobacco smoke passed through the water as opposed to cigarette smoking and
  • (3) smoking through a large volume waterpipe could “improve lung function.”
In our study, we provide robust results that the large volume Chinese waterpipe use and exposure are associated with the elevated prevalence of COPD, which have been identified by epidemiologic, physiologic, radiology, and toxicologic findings for the first time.

23 Feb

Posted at 00:45h in Infections, NEJM
Dr. T. M. A van Dongen, MD Univ Med Ctr Utrecht Julius Ctr Hlth Sci & Primary Care, Dept Epidemiol Utrecht, Netherlands.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. T. M. A van Dongen, MD Univ Med Ctr Utrecht Julius Ctr Hlth Sci & Primary Care, Dept Epidemiol Utrecht, Netherlands. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We performed a pragmatic trial, in which we randomly assigned 230 children who had acute tympanostomy-tube otorrhea to receive antibiotic-glucocorticoid eardrops, oral antibiotics or to undergo initial observation. The primary outcome of our study was the presence of ear discharge, 2 weeks after study-group assignment. We also looked at, among others, the duration of the initial otorrhea episode and the total number of days of otorrhea and the number of otorrhea recurrences during 6 months of follow-up. We found that antibiotic–glucocorticoid eardrops were superior to oral antibiotics and initial observation for all outcomes.

22 Feb

Posted at 21:30h in Author Interviews, Brain Cancer - Brain Tumors, Cancer Research, NEJM
Minesh P. Mehta, M.B., Ch.B. F.A.S.T.R.O. Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine Radiation oncologist, University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, Chair, RTOG brain tumor committeeMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Minesh P. Mehta, M.B., Ch.B. F.A.S.T.R.O. Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine Radiation oncologist, University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mehta: RTOG 0825 was a clinical trial evaluating whether the addition of a novel drug that inhibits tumor vascular growth, bevacizumab, to the standard of care for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor, would prolong survival. Patients were allocated randomly to one of two different treatment regimens – the standard of care, which includes radiotherapy and a drug known as temozolomide, or another regimen of radiation, temozolomide and bevacizumab. The trial design was double-blinded, and therefore, on one arm patients received the bevacizumab, whereas on the other arm they received a placebo. The survival on both arms was equivalent, and therefore it was fairly concluded that bevacizumab failed to prolong survival when given initially as part of treatment for glioblastoma. Freedom from progression, referred to as progression-free survival was also measured on this trial, and although bevacizumab appeared to lengthen progression-free survival, this level of benefit did not meet the pre-defined goals, and is therefore regarded as statistically not demonstrating an improvement. Additional endpoints included outcomes reported by the patient, including the burden of symptoms, and the impact of these on the quality of life, as well as effects on the brain, known as neurocognitive changes. Bevacizumab did not improve these endpoints either.

22 Feb

Posted at 21:18h in Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, PLoS
Bodour Salhia, PhD Assistant Professor Integrated Cancer Genomics Division Translational Genomics Research Institute Phoenix, Arizona, 85004MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bodour Salhia, PhD Assistant Professor Integrated Cancer Genomics Division Translational Genomics Research Institute Phoenix, Arizona, 85004 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Salhia: Our study identified novel rare genomic and epigenomic events underlying breast cancer metastasis to brain. We demonstrated that we could molecularly subtype breast cancer brain metastasis the same way we can subtype primary breast cancer. From this analysis we found that the Luminal B subtype was the most common subtype in our cohort, followed by Her2+/ER- enriched tumors and Basal-like tumors. Each of these subtypes displayed genetic and epigenetic features reminiscent of primary breast cancer. We demonstrated that these tumors have a strong predilection to grow by activating pathways involved in G2/M cell cycle progression, whereas, many genes involved in cell migration were epigenetically silenced. Broad amplification of chromosome 8q was common, which resulted in the upregulation of important genes.

22 Feb

Posted at 13:30h in Author Interviews, Colon Cancer, Gastrointestinal Disease, JNCI
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jiyoung Ahn, PhD Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Department of Population Health NYU School of Medicine New York, NY 10016Jiyoung Ahn, PhD Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Department of Population Health NYU School of Medicine New York, NY 10016 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ahn: Before we did our research, it was suspected that gut bacteria were related to colorectal cancer. We, for the first time, found colorectal cancer patients have a different gut bacteria composition than healthy subjects.

22 Feb

Posted at 02:04h in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA
Carlos A. Morillo, MD, FRCPC, FACC, FHRS, FESC
 Professor Department of Medicine, Cardiology Division
 Program Director Cardiac Electrophysiology and Autonomic Physiology Fellowship
 Arrhythmia & Pacing Service McMaster University-HHSC
 Director Syncope and Autonomic Disorder Unit
 Senior Investigator, Arrhythmia & Global Health, Population Health Research Institute
 Hamilton, ON, CanadaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carlos A. Morillo, MD, FRCPC, FACC, FHRS, FESC
 Professor Department of Medicine, Cardiology Division Program Director Cardiac Electrophysiology and Autonomic Physiology Fellowship
,Hamilton, ON, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Morillo: The main findings were that Ablation of atrial fibrillation was superior to conventional antiarrythmic drug therapy in patients with Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation that had not been treated with Antiarrhythmic medications. Ablation extended the time to first recurrence of atrial fibrillation within the 2 year follow-up of the study and significantly reduced the  recurrence of repeated episodes of AF.

21 Feb

Posted at 19:21h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Lancet
Norbert Stefan, MD Heisenberg Professorship for Clinical and Experimental Diabetology Department of Internal Medicine IV University Hospital Tübingen Tübingen, GermanyMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Norbert Stefan, MD Heisenberg Professorship for Clinical and Experimental Diabetology Department of Internal Medicine IV University Hospital Tübingen Tübingen, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Stefan: Currently there is little evidence for an effective and safe pharmacological treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Based on the fact that inhibition of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), the enzyme, that converts inactive cortisone into active cortisol in metabolic tissues such as liver and adipose, was found to be effective to improve lipid metabolism in animals, we hypothesized that inhibition of 11β-HSD1 may also prove to be effective to decrease liver fat content in patients with NAFLD. In our 12 week trial in 82 patients with NAFLD, inhibition of 11β-HSD1 with RO5093151 resulted in a 14 % decrease of liver fat content and in a resolution of NAFLD in 20 % of the patients. This was accompanied by a decrease of liver enzymes. Furthermore, inhibition of 11β-HSD1 brought about a reduction of body weight and total body- and visceral adipose tissue mass, while insulin sensitivity did not change. In agreement with findings from other trials, also in our study 11β-HSD1 inhibition was well tolerated and safe.