Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews
11 Sep Prostate Cancer: Validation of Upgrading Risk Tool
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David F Jarrard, MD
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs
Professor of Urology
John Livesey Chair in Urologic Oncology
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Jarrard: We have developed and externally validated an accurate nomogram for predicting Gleason score 6 upgrading for use in low-risk prostate cancer patients. This nomogram incorporates only variables available at the time of diagnosis and is unique in its assessment of clinical as well as pathological factors. Furthermore, we externally validated this study in patients with Gleason 6 prostate cancer of which 90% met the D’Amico criteria for low-risk cancer at 2 other centers (total 2000 patients). This nomogram will aid in the decision-making process of patients diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer.
11 Sep HIV and Increased Risk of Need for Dialysis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Magnus G. Rasch MD Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen 1455 København K, Denmark Department of Infectious Diseases Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Rasch: In the study “Increased risk of dialysis and end-stage renal disease among HIV patients in Denmark compared with the background population” we found that the risk of acute renal replacement therapy (aRRT) and the risk of chronic renal replacement therapy (cRRT) was increased substantially in HIV patients compared with the background population. The risk of aRRT was highest the first year after HIV diagnosis. Factors associated with increased risk of aRRT were intravenous drug use, hypertension and an AIDS-defining illness. Risk factors for cRRT were hypertension and baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate.11 Sep COPD: Comparing Tiotropium Delivery Devices
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Robert A. Wise MD
Professor of Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle
Baltimore, MD 21224
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Wise: The TIOSPIR trial was a landmark study, one of the largest ever conducted for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It was designed to test the comparative safety and effectiveness of two delivery devices of tiotropium, a long-acting bronchodilator. One formulation is the Respimat multi-dose soft mist inhaler and the other formulation is the single dose HandiHaler dry powder inhaler.
After following more than 17000 patients for an average of 2.3 years, TIOSPIR showed that there was no difference in either the safety in terms of mortality or adverse cardiovascular events between the two devices. Moreover, both devices showed similar effectiveness in terms of time to first COPD exacerbation.
A lung function substudy in 1370 patients showed that the 5 microgram dose of Respimat was equivalent to the HandiHaler as a bronchodilator, but the 2.5 microgram dose was not quite as effective.
11 Sep Childhood Obesity Prevention: Improving Household Routines
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Elsie Taveras
Massachusetts General Hospital for Children
Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics
100 Cambridge St, 15th Floor
Boston, MA 02114
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Taveras: The main findings of the study were that, overall, the body mass index of children in the intervention group dropped an average of 0.18, while it rose 0.21 in the control group. Children in the intervention group were sleeping about 45 minutes longer than children in the control group. Time spent watching television on weekends dropped about an hour per day in the intervention group, leading to a significant difference from the control group, which increased weekend TV viewing. Both groups had a small reduction in weekday TV viewing, with a greater decrease in the intervention group, as well.
11 Sep Diabetes: (Hp) 1-1 genotype Less Favorable Cardiac, Cognitive Profiles
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ramit Ravona-Springer M.D., Psychiatrist Director of Memory Clinic, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: In a cohort of elderly, cognitively normal type 2 diabetes (T2D) subjects, those with Haptoglobin (Hp) 1-1 genotype present lower cognitive performance compared to Hp 2 carriers (Hp 1-2 and Hp 2-2). The contribution of cardiovascular risk factors to cognition was significantly higher in subjects with Hp1-1 genotype compared to Hp 2 carriers.11 Sep Effects of Positive Mood and Exercise on Mortality and Hospitalizations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Madelein Hoogwegt, MSc
Promovenda
Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic diseases (CoRPS)
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology
Kamer P711 Tilburg University 5000 LE Tilburg
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The main finding was that we found a significant relation between positive affect and mortality, and that exercise explained this relationship. With respect to the second outcome, hospitalization, we found a significant relation between positive affect and hospitalization, a significant relation between positive affect and hospitalization, but exercise did not mediate this relationship.
11 Sep Methamphetamine: Research Aims to Disrupt Drug-Associated Memories
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Courtney A. Miller, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Metabolism & Aging
Department of Neuroscience
The Scripps Research Institute
Jupiter, FL 33458
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Miller: The relapse rate for drug abusers, smokers and alcoholics is high because abstinence is so difficult. A major factor is the craving that drug associations can trigger. These range from seeing the neighborhood where someone used to buy, in the case of illicit drugs, to social drinking for a smoker. We’ve found a way to disrupt these drug-associated memories without affecting other, more benign memories.
11 Sep Barrett’s Esophagus, Erosive Esophagitis, GI Symptoms and H. Pylori
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joel H. Rubenstein, MD, MSc, FACG, FASGE
Research Scientist, Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research
Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Michigan Medical School
VA Medical Center Ann Arbor, MI 48105
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rubenstein: In a set of case-control studies within the same population, we found that H. pylori was inversely associated with erosive esophagitis, and with Barrett’s esophagus, but we did not find such a relation with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
11 Sep Diabetes: Cardiovascular Events and Geriatric Scale Scores
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean-Pierre Le Floch, MD Diabetology-Endocrinology Villecresnes Medical Hospital 94440 Villecresnes MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Answer: The main finding of the study is the association between classical macrovascular complications of diabetes and impaired scores of five geriatric scale scores exploring cognition, activities of daily life, instrumental activities, mood and nutrition.11 Sep Severe Stroke and IV-tPA Treatment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
R. Gilberto González, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department of Radiology, PO Box 9657
Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. González: Administration of IV tPA to patients with a severe stroke syndrome caused by occlusion of the distal internal carotid artery and/or the proximal middle cerebral arteries results in good outcomes in 35% compared to 17% of similar patients who did not receive tPA.
11 Sep Pediatric Cardiology Chest Pain Guideline Validation
David R. Fulton, M.D.
Associate Cardiologist-in-Chief for Administration
Tommy Kaplan Chair in Cardiovascular Studies
Chief, Cardiology Outpatient Services
Department of Cardiology
Children's Hospital Boston
Boston, MA 02115
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Fulton: The main findings of this study demonstrated that using a quality improvement methodology (SCAMPs), a diverse population of children and adolescents with chest pain could be managed with relative uniformity and cost effectiveness in a multi-center collaborative. Only 2 patients of the 1016 children who formed the basis for this review were shown to have a cardiac etiology. The clinicians were able to screen and reach a diagnostic conclusion in a large segment of this population using history, physical examination and ECG.
11 Sep ICU Critical Care: Costs and Perceived Futility
Posted at 00:01h
in Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thanh N. Huynh, MD, MSHS
Clinical Instructor
UCLA Division of Pulmonary Critical Care
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Huynh: Our study shows that it is common for ICU doctors to recognize that futile treatment is provided to patients who cannot benefit from it. In our study, 11% of ICU patients were perceived as receiving futile treatment. The outcomes of these 123 patients were uniformly poor, with 85% dying within 6 months. Advances in critical care medicine has allowed us to save lives, but it has also allowed us provide aggressive life-sustaining treatments that may not benefit all patients. When aggressive treatment is poorly matched with a patient’s prognosis, doctors will consider such treatment as futile and our study shows that this is not an uncommon occurrence in our health system.
10 Sep At-Risk Patients for Psychosis and Impaired Functional Outcomes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ricardo E. Carrión, PhD Division of Psychiatry Research The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, New YorkCenter for Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System, Manhasset, New York MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study: Answer: Reduced neurocognition, poor functioning, and other behavioral symptoms at baseline were associated with an increased risk of long-term social difficulties and school/work problems in adolescents and young adults at high clinical risk for psychosis.10 Sep Colon Cancer Detection Using Gene Mutation Study of Stool Samples
Dr. Bettina Scholtka
Universität Potsdam
Institut für Ernährungswissenschaft
Abt. Ernährungstoxikologie
Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114-116
14558 Nuthetal, Germany.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The extremely high sensitivity of the WTB-HRM technique allows to find
very low amounts of different types of colon cancer initiating gene
mutations even in stool samples of patients. The method is able to
find the expected mutations as well as unknown mutations. So, by
applying WTB-HRM to a panel of especially selected marker genes, it is
possible to detect cancer precursors in feces before they progress
into a malignant stage.
10 Sep Weight Loss: Influence of Genetics on Success of High-Fat vs Low Fat Diets
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Assistant Professor of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: It has been known that weight loss diets may improve metabolic status, in parallel with reduction of body weight. We found that the beneficial of various weight loss diets, such as high-fat and low-fat diets, may be different for people carrying different genotype.
10 Sep DNR: Clinical Perspectives
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Amy Sanderson MD
Department of Anesthesiology
Perioperative & Pain Medicine
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sanderson: There is substantial variability in the interpretation of a DNR order. 66.9% of clinicians believed that a DNR order indicates limitation of resuscitative measures only on cardiopulmonary arrest, whereas 33.1% considered a DNR order to be the threshold for the limitation of treatments not specifically related to resuscitation. 68.7% of clinicians reported that the care of a patient changes once a DNR order is written. Of those reporting changes in care, 11.2% reported that this happens only if a cardiopulmonary arrest occurs, while 36.7% believed that there is an increased attention to comfort. Finally, 52.1% reported that care changes beyond both resuscitative measures and focusing on comfort, including limitation or withdrawal of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Most clinicians reported that resuscitation status discussions happen later in the illness course than is ideal.
10 Sep Diabetes: Stroke and Measure of Kidney Function, GFR
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yongjun Wang, MD Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, China MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our study demonstrated that reduced eGFR was independently associated with all-cause mortality and other post-stroke outcomes in type 2 diabetic patients; stroke subtype analysis in our cohort showed that this association was only evident in ischemic stroke and TIA. We also observed a U-shaped relationship between variation of eGFR and post-stroke outcomes, that is, increased odds ratios were seen among those with low and high levels of eGFR. The cutoff points of eGFR associated with poor outcomes of stroke were eGFR<45 ml/min/1.73m2 and≥ 120 ml/min/1.73m2, respectively.10 Sep Myocardial Infarction Survival and Diet Quality
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shanshan Li, MD, MSc, ScD Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts On behalf of Drs. Chuive, Flint, Pai, Forman, Hu, Willett, Mukamal and Rimm. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: In our prospective study of diet quality among MI survivors, we found that a higher diet quality post-MI, measured by Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010, was associated with 24% lower death rate and 26% lower death rate from cardiovascular disease. Greater improvement of diet quality from pre- to post-MI was associated with 30% lower death rate and 40% lower cardiovascular disease death rate. In addition to reducing the bad fats intake, for example, saturated and transfat intake, MI patients also tended to reduce the good healthy polyunsaturated fats.08 Sep Powerpoint of Recent Medical Research Interviews
Posted at 11:36h
in Author Interviews
07 Sep ICD Implantation and Cardiac Perforation Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jonathan Hsu, MD, MAS Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology University of California, San Diego (UCSD) MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Hsu: We found that the prevalence of cardiac perforation during modern day ICD implantation is 0.14%. We also found that specific patient and implanter characteristics predict cardiac perforation risk: older age, female sex, left bundle branch block, worsened heart failure class, higher left ventricular ejection fraction, and non-single chamber ICD implant are associated with a greater odds of perforation, whereas atrial fibrillation, diabetes, previous cardiac bypass surgery, and higher implanter procedural volume are associated with a lower odds of perforation.05 Sep Cardiac Surgery: How Do Short Vacation Breaks by Surgeons Affect Patient Outcomes?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Marco D. Huesch, MBBS, Ph.D.
Assistant professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Adjunct professor with Duke’s School of Medicine and Fuqua School of Business.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study asked whether ‘learning by doing’ works backwards too, as ‘forgetting by not doing’. In an nutshell, the answer is ‘no’ among the Californian cardiac surgeons I examined with short breaks of around a month.
05 Sep Rhabdomyolysis: Risk Prediction Score for Kidney Failure or Mortality
Posted at 11:04h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA, Kidney Disease, Medical Research Centers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gearoid M. McMahon, MB, BCh
Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts Framingham Heart Study, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Center for Population Studies, Framingham, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study examined the incidence, causes and outcomes of rhabdomyolysis in two large University Teaching hospitals. Rhabdomyolysis is a characterized by an increase in serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and results from muscle damage from a variety of causes. The most important complication of rhabdomyolysis is acute kidney injury which can result in a need for dialysis. Using a series of laboratory and clinical variables that are readily available on admission, we constructed a risk score that can predict with some accuracy the likelihood that a patient with rhabdomyolysis might die or need dialysis during an admission. The final variables included in the model were age, gender, the cause of rhabdomyolysis and the admission CPK, creatinine, phosphate, bicarbonate and calcium. One of the advantages of this study was, because we had access to data from two institutions, we were able to derive the risk score in one hospital and confirm its accuracy in the second institution.
05 Sep Your Blood Pressure Affected by Spouse’s Social Network
Posted at 10:46h
in Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Medical Research Centers, PLoS, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bert Uchino PhD
Department of Psychology and Health Psychology Program
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah,
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Uchino: The main findings from our paper is that independent of one’s own social network quality, the quality of a spouse’s social network was related to daily life ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) levels. More specifically, the more supportive (positive) ties, and the less aversive (negative) or ambivalent (both positive and negative) ties in a spouse’s social network, the lower was one’s own ABP. In addition, looking at the social networks of couples as a whole showed that couples who combined had more supportive ties and less aversive or ambivalent ties showed lower ABP.
04 Sep ACL Injuries and Landing Strategies
Marc F. Norcross, PhD, ATC
Assistant Professor
School of Biological & Population Health Sciences, Exercise & Sport Science Program
College of Public Health and Human Sciences
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Norcross: In the scientific community, there remains considerable disagreement over which direction of knee loading is most responsible for causing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury event. Many researchers tend to fall into one of three “camps” in which they believe quadriceps loading (sagittal plane), “knock-kneed” landing (frontal plane), or twisting (transverse plane) is the essential factor in the injury mechanism. However, we know from cadaver studies that combined loading from all of these different planes puts the most strain on the ACL. We found that men and women are equally likely to use a sagittal plane landing strategy that we believe increases the risk for ACL injury. However, females were about 3.6 times more likely than males to use a higher risk frontal plane landing strategy. This suggests that the increased likelihood of greater frontal plane loading in women coupled with the equal likelihood of using a high-risk sagittal plane strategy is likely at least partly responsible for women’s 2-6 times greater risk for ACL injury.
04 Sep Female Physicians Continue to Earn Less than Male Physicians
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Seth A. Seabury, PhD
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Seabury: We studied the trends in the earnings of male and female physicians in the US from 1987-2010 using nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). We found that, while the number of female physicians grew significantly, male physicians continue to have significantly higher earnings than female physicians. The difference in the median earnings of male physicians compared to female physicians actually increased from $33,840 in 1987-1990 to $56,019 in 2006-2010, though the difference across years was not statistically significant. Our approach controlled for differences in hours worked, so earnings gap was not driven by differences in work hours, though it could be explained by other factors we did not observe in our data (e.g., specialty choice).
Looking at other occupations in the US health care industry, the male-female earnings gap was smaller for pharmacists and registered nurses and decreased over time, but was large and increased for physicians assistants. On the other hand, our numbers indicate that outside of the health care industry, the male-female earnings gap fell by more than 45%. Even though significant gender inequality persists across the US, female physicians do not appear to have benefited from the relative gains that female workers outside the health care industry have.
03 Sep HIV Prevention: Using Social Networking
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sean D. Young, PhD, MS
Assistant Professor In-Residence Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine Department of Family Medicine University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Young: Here's the main take-home point:
There is a lot of excitement about the possibility of using technologies, big data, and mHealth to improve health outcomes and change behavior. However,
1) little work has been done on this topic using sound research methods (for example, studies have asked people to report whether a technology changed behavior rather than objectively measuring whether it actually changed behavior.