Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews
23 Nov Pancreatic Cancer: Frequent Nut Consumption May Reduce Risk
Posted at 11:13h
in Antioxidants, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Medical Research Centers, Nature, Nutrition, Pancreatic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ying Bao, MD, ScD
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bao: Frequent nut consumption is inversely associated with risk of pancreatic cancer in women, independent of other potential risk factors for pancreatic cancer.
23 Nov Concussion: Gray Matter Abnormalities vs Self-Reported Symptoms
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Andrew R. Mayer, PhD
The Mind Research Network Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mayer:
a) Just because mTBI patients self-report reduced and/or no post-concussive symptoms does not mean that they have completed the healing process.
b) Current gold-standards in the clinical world (CT scans and self-report) may not be accurately capturing brain health after injury.
c) Diffusion imaging shows promise for being a more sensitive biomarker for measuring recovery than currently used techniques.
22 Nov Bullying: Sexual Risk Taking Among Adolescents
MedicalResearch.com
Melissa K. Holt, PhD
School of Education, Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Holt: Results from this study indicated that among the sample of adolescents surveyed, bullies and bully-victims (i.e., youth who are both perpetrators and targets of bullying) engaged in more sexual risk taking behaviors than their peers. Specifically, they were more likely to report casual sex and sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs. For instance, 33.8% of bullies and 23% of bully-victims reported sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs in contrast to 14% of youth not involved in bullying. Notably, findings suggested that bullying involvement might be a more salient predictor of sexual risk taking for heterosexual than GLBTQ adolescents.
22 Nov Burkitt’s Lymphoma: Effectivenss of Low-Intensity Therapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Kieron M. Dunleavy, M.D.
Metabolism Branch
Lymphoma Therapeutics Section
Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Dunleavy: We found that low-intensity therapy was highly effective in Burkitt's lymphoma and cured over 95% of patients with the disease.
22 Nov Coffee: Caffeine Improves Microvascular Endothelial Function
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Masato Tsutsui, MD, PhD, FAHA Professor and Chairman Department of Pharmacology Graduate School of Medicine University of the Ryukyus Okinawa 903-0215, Japan MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Tsutsui: A recent large prospective study reported that coffee consumption is associated with reduced mortality for cardiovascular disease (NEJM 2012). However, its precise mechanisms remain to be clarified. Our double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study demonstrated, for the first time, that caffeine contained in a cup of coffee ameliorates microvascular endothelial function in healthy individuals. These findings may explain, at least in part, the association of coffee consumption with reduced mortality for cardiovascular disease.22 Nov Ischemic Stroke after Synthetic Marijuana Use
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
W. Scott Burgin, MD
Professor and Chief, Cerebrovascular Division
Director, Comprehensive Stroke Center
Department of Neurology
USF College of Medicine
Tampa General Hospital Stroke Center.
MedicalResearch.com What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Burgin: Two cases of stroke, of embolic appearance, shortly after smoking synthetic marijuana.
22 Nov Cognitive Decline: Dietary Patterns Associations
MedicalResearch.com:
Samantha Gardener PhD Student
Senior Research Assistant for DIAN and AIBL Studies
McCusker Alzheimer's Research Foundation
2/142 Stirling Hwy
NEDLANDS
6009
Western Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study?
Answer: Our research indicates that consuming larger quantities of foods included in a western dietary pattern is associated with greater cognitive decline in visuospatial functioning after 36 months. Foods included in the western dietary pattern are red and processed meats, high fat dairy products, chips, refined grains, potatoes, sweets and condiments. Visuospatial functioning is an area which includes distance and depth perception, reproducing drawings and using components to construct objects or shapes.
In contrast, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, a healthy eating pattern is associated with less decline in executive function. Foods included in the Mediterranean diet are vegetables, fruits and fish. Examples of executive function include planning and organising, problem solving and time management.
21 Nov Type 2 Diabetes: Ambulatory Treatment in US
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Caleb Alexander, MD, MS
Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Division of General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Alexander:
- There have been large shifts in the types of treatments used to treat Type 2 diabetes during the past decade in the United States.
- We document large declines in the use of glitazones and sulfonylureas and important increases in the use of the newer DPP-4 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists.
- We also found large shifts in the types of insulins used, with substantial reductions in the use of regular and intermediate insulins, and large increases in the use of long-acting and ultra short-acting therapies.
- Costs have increased significantly over the past 5 years, driven primarily by insulin and DPP-4 inhibitors
- All of these changes notwithstanding, biguanides continue to remain a mainstay of therapy.
21 Nov Metabolically healthy obese still at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Carlos Lorenzo, MD
Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center
7703 Floyd Curl Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78229
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lorenzo: Metabolically healthy obese individuals are at increased risk of developing of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These findings were demonstrated in men and women and in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites.
Management of excess weight and any metabolic abnormality appears to be important for all individuals.
Our study is also in agreement with previous studies that indicate that metabolically unhealthy normal weight individuals are at increased risk of developing of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
21 Nov Hospital Readmissions: Best US Hospitals Reduce Globally
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kumar Dharmarajan MD MBA
Fellow in Cardiovascular Medicine
Columbia University Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What were the main findings of the study
Dr. Dharmarajan: In the United States, 1 in 5 older patients is readmitted to the
hospital within 30 days of hospital discharge. However, there is great
variation in rates of 30-day readmission across hospitals, and we do
not know why some hospitals are able to achieve much lower readmission
rates than others.
We therefore wondered whether top performing hospitals with low 30-day
readmission rates are systematically better at preventing readmissions
from particular conditions or time periods after discharge. For
example, are hospitals with low 30-day readmission rates after
hospitalization for heart failure especially good at preventing
readmissions due to recurrent heart failure or possible complications
of treatment? Similarly, are top performing hospitals especially good
at preventing readmissions that occur very soon after discharge, which
may signify poor transitional care as the patient moves form the
hospital back home?
21 Nov Pulmonary Fibrosis: Strongly Associated with a Herpes Virus
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gerard Nuovo MD
Professor College of Medicine, The Ohio State University
Satellite Laboratory, Ohio State Univ Comprehensive Cancer Center
Phylogeny Inc, Powell, Ohio
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Nuovo: The main finding of the study was that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was strongly associated with an infection by a herpesvirus. The data that supported this main finding included:
- 1) detection of the viral DNA by in situ hybridization in each case of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and in none of the controls;
- 2) the localization of the viral DNA to the nucleus of the cell that orchestrates IPF, the regenerating epithelial cell (herpes viruses localize to the nucleus of the target cell);
- 3) the demonstration that the viral DNA co-localized with "pirated proteins" that the virus makes during productive infection (these were IL-17. cyclin D, dihydrofolate reductase, and thymidylate synthase); this combination of proteins are rarely if ever co-expressed in lung disease and their co-expression per se was highly suggestive of a viral infection;
- 4) the demonstration by RTPCR that the cyclin D RNA in IPF comes from the virus and not the human cells;
- 5) the recognition that this family of herpesviruses (called gammaherpesvirus) causes IPF in other animals including horses, mice, and donkeys;
- 6) the cloning of part of the gene of the virus from a clinical IPF sample that showed 100% homology to the published sequence of the likely viral pathogen - herpesvirus saimiri.
21 Nov Atrial Fibrillation: Effects of Weight Reduction
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Prashanthan Sanders
Director, Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders
University of Adelaide | Royal Adelaide Hospital | SAHMRI
NHMRC Practitioner Fellow
Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders
Department of Cardiology | Royal Adelaide Hospital
Adelaide 5000 | Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Aggressive treatment of risk factors and weight reduced the symptom burden associated with atrial fibrillation. It is therefore important that in a similar manner to how we treat coronary artery disease, in atrial fibrillation there should be management directed at the reasons why these individuals got AF in the first place.
19 Nov Binge Eating May Predispose to Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Alison E. Field, ScD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics Boston Children's Hospital
Division of Adolescent Medicine
Boston, MA 02115
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Girls who engage in frequent binge eating are much more likely than their peers with the same BMI to develop diabetes. The risk was greatest among girls with binge eating disorder.
19 Nov Less Sleep: More Illness in Adolescents
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Kathryn Orzech PhD
Postdoctoral fellow,Charting the Digital Lifespan
University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
MedicalResesarch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Orzech: We found that acute illnesses, such as colds, flu, and gastroenteritis were more common among healthy adolescents with shorter sleep. Specifically, our main analysis found that reported bouts of illness (analyzed on a bouts-of-illness-per-interview basis) declined with longer sleep for both male and female high school students. Longer sleep was also generally protective against school absences that students attributed to illness. There were sex differences, with males reporting fewer illness bouts than females, even with similar sleep durations. This is consistent with another recent study that showed a lower impact of shorter sleep on male adolescents (in that case the outcome was male adiposity), but more research is needed.
We also conducted a secondary analysis to examine total sleep time in matched 6-day windows before illness and before wellness in the same adolescents. Although the number of participants who met our strict criteria for a healthy 6-day window before illness or wellness was only 18 (I was amazed at how difficult it was to find adolescents who reported being completely well for 6 consecutive days), we were able to see a trend in the data toward shorter sleep before illness vs. wellness. Because of the difficulty in comparing sleep before illness vs. wellness, we conducted a qualitative analysis as well, choosing two 17 year old males who were both shorter sleepers, but who reported very different illness profiles - 0 days of illness vs. 35 days of illness across the school term. An in-depth look at notes made by interviewers allowed us to create brief case studies to illustrate that not all shorter sleepers are alike. More irregular sleep timing across weeknights and weekends (much shorter sleep during the week and longer sleep times on the weekend), and a preference for scheduling work and social time later in the evening hours may both contribute to differences in illness outcomes.
19 Nov Childhood Asthma: Novel Susceptibility Gene Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation Klaus Bønnelykke MD, PhD The Faculty of Health Sciences University of Copenhagen The Danish Pediatric Asthma Center Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte Ledreborg Alle 34 DK-2820 Copenhagen Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: First, we identified CDHR3 as a novel susceptibility gene. This is likely to represent a yet unknown mechanism of childhood...
18 Nov Personality Disorders and Higher Medical Resource Utilization with Aging
Dr. Abigail Powers PhD Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow Emory University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Powers: Personality disorders (i.e., problematic personality patterns that cause significant distress and dysfunction in individuals’ lives across many areas of functioning) are associated with many negative health outcomes in young adulthood. The goal of this research study was to determine the relationship between personality pathology and medical resource utilization as individuals age and develop new physical health problems. Among community-dwelling later middle-aged adults (ages 55-64), we found that personality pathology was related to higher reported medical resource utilization (including doctor visits, hospitalizations, and number of outpatient procedures) independent of health status. Of the 10 DSM-IV personality disorders assessed, narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder features were associated with greater medical resource utilization independent of the presence of physical health problems. Also, among individuals with a greater number of physical health problems, histrionic and dependent personality disorder features were related to greater medical resource utilization, suggesting that important interactions between personality pathology and health conditions may occur in older age and impact resource use.18 Nov Colon Cancer: Racial Disparities in Metastatic Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
James Murphy, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies ,UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
La Jolla, CA 92093
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Murphy: This study evaluated racial disparity in metastatic colorectal cancer. In a large population-based cohort we found of over 11,000 patients we found that black patients were less likely to be seen in consultation by a cancer specialist, and were less likely to receive treatment with chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation. Furthermore, we found that this disparity in treatment accounted for a substantial portion of the race-based differences between black and white patients.
18 Nov Sleep Disorders: Accuracy of Portable Sleep Tests
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mohamed El Shayeb MD, MSc
Health Technology and Policy Unit
University of Alberta
3025 Research Transition Facility
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G2V2
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. El Shayeb: Our study shows that limited channel level-3 portable devices, used at home, are of good diagnostic value compared to the comprehensive reference-standard level-1 sleep tests conducted in lab in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (the most common subtype of sleep disordered breathing.)
Were any of the findings unexpected?
None of the findings were unexpected. Level-3 portable devices are commonly used in clinical practice; however, this technology has been widely disseminated, without solid evidence about their diagnostic performance or the subpopulation of sleep disordered breathing patients who are most appropriately diagnosed with them. Our research provides a high level of evidence on the diagnostic performance of these devices, and most importantly, defines the subgroup of patients who are eligible for this test (patients with simple obstructive sleep apnea, and without significant comorbidities.)
18 Nov Thyroid Dysfunction and Hyperlipidemia
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Angela M. Leung, MD, MSc
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine
University of California Los Angeles
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Leung: Despite current guidelines to screen for thyroid dysfunction as a secondary cause of newly-diagnosed hyperlipidemia, this was performed only about 50% of the time by primary care providers in over 8,700 patients at a large, urban Boston academic medical center. Approximately 5% of patients who had thyroid function checked were found to have hypothyroidism. The majority of hypothyroid patients who received treatment with levothyroxine had successful correction of the initial hyperlipidemia within one year.
18 Nov Gun violence in PG-13 movies has tripled since 1985
Gun Violence Trends in Movies
Brad J. Bushman, PhD
Professor of Communication and Psychology, Margaret Hall and Robert Randal Rinehart Chair of Mass Communication
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio;
VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bushman: Gun violence in PG-13 movies has tripled since 1985, the year the PG-13 rating was introduced. When the PG-13 rating was introduced, PG-13 films had about as much gun violence as G and PG films. Now PG-13 films have significantly more gun violence than R-rated films.
16 Nov Food Addiction and Obesity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Guang Sun MD, PhD Professor, Discipline of medicine Faculty of medicine, Memorial University Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sun: Plenty of anecdotal reports on how ‘Food Addiction’ may be a potential culprit of the rising prevalence of obesity. However to date no scientific study, based on a comprehensive criterion of the diagnosis of Food Addiction, has been performed at the population level. The main findings are in the following fours aspects: 1) Food Addiction is indeed an important contributing factor in the development of obesity. 2) The prevalence of Food Addition was 5.4% and increased concomitantly with obesity status defined by either body mass index (BMI) or body fat percentage (%BF). In another word, there is one food addict in every twenty adults (Newfoundland Province, Canada) 3) Clinical Symptom Count(s) of Food Addiction is strongly associated with the severity of obesity. 4) Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with “Food Addiction” than men.16 Nov Sleep Quality and Quantity Affects Cardimetabolic Markers in Children
Posted at 11:36h
in Allergies, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Nina Berentzen
Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven
The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study in 11-12 year old children shows that self-reported characteristics of sleep quality were not associated with blood pressure and HbA1c; and that in girls, but not in boys, some sleep characteristics were associated with anthropometric outcomes (BMI, waist circumference) and cholesterol levels. More specifically, in girls, longer time in bed was associated with lower BMI and waist circumference; having night-time awakenings with higher total cholesterol, going late to bed while rising early with higher total and HDL cholesterol; and feeling sleepy/tired during daytime with lower HDL cholesterol and with higher total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio. We report new findings for daytime outcomes of sleep quality that were not studied before in relation to cardiometabolic risk; e.g. difficulty with getting up in the morning, feeling rested after waking, and feeling sleepy or tired during the day. Our study therefore offers insight not only in characteristics of sleep at night, but also in consequences of sleep during the day.
16 Nov Mental Illness: Elderly Patients and Healthcare Utilization
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Hugh C. Hendrie, MB ChB, DSc
Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine
Center Scientist, Indiana University Center for Aging Research
Research Scientist, Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Our findings of higher rates of emergency care, longer hospitalizations and increased frequency of falls, substance abuse and alcoholism suggest that seriously mentally ill older adults remain a vulnerable population.
16 Nov After Bariatric Surgery: Risk of Preterm Babies
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Olof Stephansson MD, PhD Associate professor, senior consultant in obstetrics and gynaecologyDepartment of Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Women’s and Children’s Health, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Women with a history of bariatric surgery have an increased risk of preterm delivery, a doubled risk for small-for-gestational-age births and a reduction in large-for-gestational-age births. Also when considering maternal weight, education, age, parity and year of birth. There was no increased for stillbirth or neonatal mortality.15 Nov Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Gender-Specific Adiposity and Metabolic Syndrome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Emilia Mazzuca Biomedical Department of Internal and Specialistic Medicine (DIBIMIS) Section of Pneumology and Dr. Maria R Bonsignore, MD Associate Professor in Respiratory Medicine University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our main goal was to investigate gender-related interactions between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity while taking associated metabolic abnormalities into account. We analyzed 423 men and 105 women previously studied for the association of OSA and the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) (Bonsignore et al, Eur Respir J, 2012), to assess whether markers of general and visceral obesity were differently associated with OSA in men and women. Multivariate analysis showed that in men the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), an indicator of OSA severity, was associated with waist circumference, a marker of visceral obesity, and body mass index (BMI); conversely, in women AHI was associated with hip circumference, a marker of subcutaneous fat deposition, and neck size. The results were similar when patients without a diagnosis of MetS were analyzed; conversely, in patients with MetS, waist circumference was the only significant marker of OSA in both genders.14 Nov Acute Cystitis in Premenopausal Women: How Valuable is Midstream Urine Culture?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thomas M. Hooton M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Vice Chair for VA Affairs,
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Associate Chief of Staff, Medical Service, Miami VA Healthcare System
Clinical Director, Division of Infectious Diseases
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hooten: The main findings from this study are:
· Voided urine colony counts of E. coli as low as 101 to 102 cfu/mL are highly sensitive and specific for their presence in bladder urine in symptomatic women (growth of bacteria in bladder urine is the gold standard for the etiology of UTI). Moreover, even when E. coli is found along with other mixed flora in voided urine, it should not be considered a contaminant since it likely represents true bladder infection.
· On the other hand, enterococci and Group B streptococci, which are frequently isolated from voided urine, are rarely isolated from paired catheter specimens, suggesting that these organisms only rarely cause acute uncomplicated cystitis. In our study, E. coli frequently grew from the urines of these women and is the likely cause for UTI symptoms in such episodes.
· Organisms usually considered contaminants, such as lactobacilli, occasionally grow from catheter urines, but they are rarely found alone with pyuria, suggesting that these bacteria rarely cause acute uncomplicated cystitis.
· The etiology of a quarter of acute uncomplicated cystitis episodes is unknown. It is possible that some of these women have E. coli urethritis, which has been documented in some women with UTI symptoms, but we did not do further studies to evaluate this. It is possible also that enterococci and Group B streptococci may also cause urethritis, but there is no published evidence of this in young women with UTI symptoms.
· Although voided urine cultures growing mixed flora are common in women with acute cystitis, true polymicrobic cystitis, as determined by sampling bladder urine, appears to be rare in this population.
13 Nov Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism: Life-Long Oral Anticoagulation?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
MedicalResearch.com:
Matteo Nicola Dario Di Minno, MD
Dept. of Clinical Medicine and Surgery
Regional Reference Center for Coagulation Disorders
Federico II University, Naples, Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In our study, patients with unprovoked VTE treated for a definite time with oral anticoagulants (ie, 3–12 months) had annual recurrence rates >5% in the presence of both overt and mild antithrombin deficiency and <5% with normal antithrombin levels, with these differences being statistically significant. Although these findings should be confirmed in further studies, a life-long oral anticoagulation might be considered in patients with unprovoked VTE.
12 Nov High Chocolate Intake and Lower Body Fat
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Magdalena Cuenca García, PhD
University of Granada
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine
Avd. Madrid 12; 18012 Granada (Spain)
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In conclusion, the results of the present study showed that a higher chocolate consumption was associated with lower levels of central and total fatness in European adolescents. Of note is that the observed association was independent of total energy intake and saturated fat intake as well as objectively measured physical activity. In addition, results remained unchanged after adjusting for foods with high catechins concentration as fruit, vegetables and tea; as well as other products such as coffee that could influence the observed association between chocolate consumption and markers of total and central body fat.
12 Nov Flu: Media Reporting and Competing Interests
MedicalResearch.com with:
Dr Kate Mandeville MD MPH
Clinical Research Fellow, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for your study?
Dr. Mandeville: The UK spent nearly one billion pounds on pharmaceutical drugs during the swine flu pandemic, including vaccine and antiviral drugs. After the swine flu pandemic, it was revealed that some scientists on the World Health Organization’s advisory committee had links with the pharmaceutical industry. Scientists often provide commentary for journalists on emerging health risks and we set out to see whether scientists commentating on swine flu were also more likely to have links to pharmaceutical companies. We analysed UK newspaper coverage of the swine flu pandemic between April and July 2009. This was the period in which the UK government was making decisions on how best to respond to the emerging pandemic, including providing the public with vaccine and antiviral drugs. We looked for how often scientists were quoted in articles on the pandemic from a wide range of newspapers. We then examined these comments in more detail to see if scientists made an assessment of the risk to the public from swine flu, and compared these against assessments made by official agencies like the Department of Health. We also judged whether the scientists promoted or rejected the use of vaccines or antiviral drugs. For each scientist, we then looked for links with the pharmaceutical industry – or what we formally call competing interests - from a variety of sources, including scientific papers and the internet.