Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews
26 Feb Stroke: Symptomatic Intracranial Hemorrhage After Thrombolysis
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 OverEating Saturated Fat May Build More Fat But Less Muscle
MedicalResearch.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 Diabetes and Depression: Cognitive Therapy Improved Both
MedicalResearch.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 Disabilities Increase Risk of Diabetes
MedicalResearch.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 Alzheimer’s Disease: Subjective Memory Complaints May Predict Future Cognitive Decline
Posted at 23:35h
in Alzheimer's - Dementia
MedicalResearch.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 Obesity Prevalence: No Change in Youth or Adult Levels in 10 years
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 Routine Vaccinations May Also Protect Against Unrelated Infections
MedicalResearch.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 Chronic Kidney Disease: ACEI/ARB Use and Survival Benefit
MedicalResearch.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 Post Menopause: Exercise Reduced Blood Pressure, Atherosclerosis Marker
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 Common Measurement of Kidney Function Altered by Poor Glycemic Control
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 ADHD and Acetaminophen During Pregnancy
MedicalResearch.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 Programs That Protect Drug-Users from HIV Also Help General Population
MedicalResearch.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 Body Shape Index and Death Rates
MedicalResearch.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 Acute Coronary Syndrome: Genotyping Guided Antiplatelet Therapy After Stent Surgery
Posted at 03:23h
in Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, UCSF
MedicalResearch.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 Vegetarian Diet and Blood Pressure Lowering Effect
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.24 Feb Powerpoint of Recent Medical Research Interviews
Posted at 12:42h
in Author Interviews
MedicalResearch.com - Medical Research Interviews Week in Review from Marie Benz , MD FAAD ...
23 Feb Maternal Influenza and Offspring Bipolar Disorder
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
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 COPD: Risk from Chinese WaterPipe Smoking
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.”
23 Feb After Ear Tubes: Eardrops Found Superior to Oral Antibiotics for Ear Discharge
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 Glioblastoma: Avastin Did Not Improve Survival or Symptoms
MedicalResearch.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 Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis: Genomic and Epigenomic Analysis
MedicalResearch.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 Colon Cancer Patients Have Less Diverse Gut Bacteria
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiyoung 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 Atrial Fibrillation: Ablation Found Superior to Conventional Drug Therapy
MedicalResearch.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 Promising Approach to Treat Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Visceral Obesity
MedicalResearch.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.
21 Feb Many Pregnant Women Have Not Taken Folic Acid to Reduce Neural Tube Defects
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Nicholas J. Wald
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine
Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Queen Mary University of London
London, United Kingdom
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof Wald: The percentage of women who become pregnant without having taken folic acid supplements to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect declined from a relatively low proportion (35%) to an even lower one (31%) between 1999 and 2012.
Moreover such use of folic acid in some groups of the population is much lower for example 17% in Afro-Caribbean women and 6% in women aged under 20.
21 Feb Sitting Time Linked to Increased Disability
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dorothy D Dunlop, PhD
Professor, Medicine-Rheumatology
Center for Healthcare Studies - Institute for Public Health and Medicine and Preventive Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Dunlop: We know being active, especially doing moderate activity like taking a brisk walk, is good for health. We know a sedentary lifestyle leads to health problems. What we do not know is whether or not those are two ways of looking at the same question. Does being sedentary like sitting just reflect insufficient activity OR is sedentary time is a separate and distinct risk factor for health problems. Our physical activity research group looked at national US data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This is an important study because they monitored physical activity using an accelerometer. We found sedentary behavior such as sitting was its own separate risk factor for disability.
20 Feb Blood Clot Risk Elevated for 12 Weeks After Childbirth
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr.Hooman Kamel MD
Department of Neurology and the Brain and Mind Research Institute
Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kamel: The risk of thrombotic events remains higher than normal for twice as long after childbirth as previously thought. However, the absolute risk in any given patient is low, especially after the first 6 weeks.
20 Feb Advanced Cervical Cancer: Adding Avastin to Chemotherapy Prolonged Survival
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Krishnansu S. Tewari, MD, FACOG, FACS| Professor & Director of Research
Principal Investigator - The Gynecologic Oncology Group at UC Irvine, Division of Gynecologic Oncology
University of California, Irvine Medical Center
Orange, CA 92868
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Tewari: The main findings of this study were that the addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy resulted in a significantly improved survival of 3.7 months in a population of patients that have very limited options. This improvement in overall survival was not accompanied by any significant deterioration in quality of life and serious side effects were limited to 3% to 8% of the study population.
20 Feb Good Sleep Habits for Children: Early Consistent Bedtime, No Evening TV
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Abi Fisher PhD
Senior Researcher, Cancer Research UK
Health Behaviour Research Centre
University College London
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?