Overdiagnosis of Penicillin Allergy Can Lead To Unintended Side Effects

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Shenoy

ESS= Erica S. Shenoy, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Kimberly G. Blumenthal MD, MSc Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Dr. Blumenthal

KGB= Kimberly G. Blumenthal MD, MSc
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology
Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital,Boston

Dr. Macy

EMM= Eric M. Macy MD, MS
Department of Allergy
Southern California Permanente Medical Group
San Diego Medical Center

Dr. Rowe

TR= Theresa Rowe, DO, MS
General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this review?

ESS: A key component of reducing antimicrobial resistance is improving how antimicrobials are prescribed—both reducing inappropriate use (i.e., not prescribing when not needed) and favoring the use of narrow-spectrum agents that are less likely to contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance.

KGB: Because unverified penicillin allergy labels are so prevalent with greater than 32 million Americans affected, and these labels lead to the use of alternative antibiotics that are often more broad-spectrum, we now know that penicillin allergy evaluations are an emerging important component of antibiotic stewardship. When patients with a reported penicillin allergy are tested, more than 95% of them are not allergic, and thus could (and should) receive penicillins, and often related drugs, when appropriate.

Continue reading →

Single-Dose Tafenoquine to Prevent Malaria Relapse

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gavin C.K.W. Koh, MB BChir MA PhD MCRP DTM&H
Department of Drug Discovery Unit for Diseases of the Developing World
GlaxoSmithKline | GSK

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Malaria still remains one of the greatest global healthcare challenges so, as part of GSK’s efforts to fight diseases that disproportionately impact the poorest, we have been working on tafenoquine as a potential medicine for malaria for over 20 years. In 2008, GSK entered into a collaboration with the not-for-profit product development partnership, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), to develop tafenoquine as an anti-relapse medicine for patients infected with a particular species of malaria called Plasmodium vivax malaria.

vivaxmalaria is estimated to cause around 7.5 million clinical infections every year. The disease may cause fever, chills, vomiting, malaise, headache and muscle pain, and in some cases, can lead to severe malaria and be fatal.

Unlike other malaria species such as P. falciparum, P. vivax also has the ability to lie dormant in the liver from where it may periodically reactivate to cause relapses of P. vivax malaria. A single P. vivax infection may therefore give rise to multiple episodes of malaria, in the absence of a new mosquito bite. These relapses can occur weeks, months or even years after the initial infection. The dormant liver forms of the parasite cannot be treated with most other antimalarial treatments.

Another issue is that the only medicine currently available to stop the relapse is primaquine, a medicine approved in the 1950s, which must be given for 14 days. Given this length of treatment course, many people do not comply with the full course, which results in reduced effectiveness.

The aim of the DETECTIVE study was to look at the effectiveness of treatment in preventing relapse over six months with a 1-day course of tafenoquine, a 14-day course of primaquine, or placebo, with all patients also receiving a 3-day course of chloroquine, a medicine that is used to treat the initial infection.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: The DETECTIVE study met its primary endpoint. A significantly greater proportion of patients in the tafenoquine group did not have relapses compared to patients in the placebo group. A similar result was observed for the patients in the primaquine group compared to the placebo group. When considering the compliance issue of primaquine in the real-world setting, we saw that more than 95% of patients in the primaquine group took their treatment as instructed in the setting of a clinical study. From a safety perspective, adverse events from the study were consistent with the known safety profile of tafenoquine.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: The positive results of the DETECTIVE study demonstrate the efficacy and safety of tafenoquine in an unprecedented single-dose for relapsing malaria. These data supported the approval of the medicine by the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2018 marking it as the first new medicine for the radical cure of P. vivax malaria in more than 60 years. Having the data published in the NEJM will help other P. vivax malaria endemic countries as they strive towards malaria elimination.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: The DETECTIVE study was conducted in adult patients with P. vivax malaria and a significant part of the global burden of the disease is in children. GSK and MMV are therefore studying the use of tafenoquine in paediatric patients aged 6 months to 16 years (TEACH study). In addition, since vivax malaria in Indonesia is frequently resistant to chloroquine, we are conducting another study that is looking at tafenoquine plus dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine as the blood schizonticide (INSPECTOR study) in patients with P. vivax malaria in Indonesia.

Disclosures: The DETECTIVE study was supported by GSK and MMV.

Citation:

Single-Dose Tafenoquine to Prevent Relapse of Plasmodium vivax Malaria
Marcus V.G. Lacerda, M.D., Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas, M.D., Srivicha Krudsood, M.D., Chanthap Lon, M.D., David L. Saunders, M.D., Rezika Mohammed, M.D., Daniel Yilma, M.D., Dhelio Batista Pereira, M.D., Fe E.J. Espino, M.D., Reginaldo Z. Mia, M.D., Raul Chuquiyauri, M.D., Fernando Val, Ph.D., et al.

January 17, 2019
N Engl J Med 2019; 380:215-228
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1710775

Jan 18, 2019 @ 1:24 am

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College Students at Increased Risk of Meningitis

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Mbaeyi

Sarah Anne Mbaeyi MD MPH
Division of Bacterial Diseases
CDC

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: College freshman living in residence halls, though not college students overall, have previously been identified as being at increased risk for meningococcal disease. However, these evaluations were conducted in the 1990s when rates of disease were higher, serogroup C was the predominant cause of disease, and before the availability of quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) or serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccines.

MenACWY vaccine is routinely recommended for all adolescents at age 11 years and 16 years, as well as unvaccinated or undervaccinated college freshmen living in residence halls. MenB vaccine is not routinely recommended for all adolescents or college students, but may be administered to persons aged 16-23 years, with the preferred age of 16-18 years, based on clinical decision-making. Meningococcal vaccines are also recommended during an outbreak, and in recent years MenB vaccines have been used during multiple outbreaks on college campuses.

In this evaluation, we aimed to describe the current epidemiology of meningococcal disease among college-aged young adults in the United States.

Continue reading →

Hospitalist Workforce in the US is on a Growing Spree

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Lauren Williams
Marketing Manager and Research Analyst
MedicoReach
TwitterHandle: https://twitter.com/Lauren7321

MedicalResearch.com: What is the driving force behind the research and market study for estimating the hospitalist number in the US?

Response: The existing physician’s database available in the industry comprises details that don’t specify the number of hospitalists in particular. As a result, it is turning out challenging to track and count the hospitalists amidst other specialties. There are a lot of incorrect estimations that are circulating, giving no clear picture.

In a vast and growing industry like healthcare, there is no scope for wrong data as it can mislead others. Even the Physician Masterfile that the American Medical Association (AMA) offers do not cover the complete hospitalist population. This is because earlier the hospitalist specialty was not a part of the list of physicians.

Hospitalists work as primary care providers specializing in inpatient medicine. They play a significant role, coordinating with specialist physicians and other healthcare professionals. As a caregiver, they provide quality hospital care and boosts efficiency through effective hospital resource allocation. And so, how can we let their presence go overlooked? Our research aimed to bring out their actual numbers before the industry. That is why our research team came up with the research and market study to fetch real facts. Continue reading →

ILARIS® (canakinumab) Not Cost Effective For Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Sehested

Thomas S. G. Sehested MD
Department of Cardiology
Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte

Jenny Bjerre, MD Department of Cardiology Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev and Gentofte Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Health Research and Policy Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, California

Dr. Bjerre

Jenny Bjerre, MD
Department of Cardiology
Copenhagen University
Department of Health Research and Policy
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: n 2017, the results from the much-awaited Canakinumab Anti-inflammatory Thrombosis Outcome Study (CANTOS) trial were published, confirming the inflammatory hypothesis, i.e. that targeting inflammation can reduce cardiovascular disease. The trial tested the monoclonal antibody canakinumab in a population of post-myocardial infarction patients with elevated inflammation markers (hs-CRP). Canakinumab is currently used for rare diseases and carries an orphan drug price: the 150mg dose used in CANTOS costs approximately $73,000 per year.

Due to the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease, millions of patients could potentially be eligible for treatment with this high-priced anti-inflammatory drug. Therefore, we wanted to investigate the cost-effectiveness for canakinumab for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, using the reported results from CANTOS.

Continue reading →

Medical Marijuana Users Preferred Cannabis to Pharmaceuticals

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Kruger

Daniel J. Kruger, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
University of Michigan

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: We study health-related behaviors, such as diet and the consumption of caffeine and alcohol.

Given the recent trends in legalization of cannabis for medical and even recreational purposes, we were concerned with the narrow focus of current public health efforts regarding cannabis. Although some in the field take a harm-reduction approach to substance use, too many efforts focus solely on abstinence. These programs are a legacy from the era of prohibition, and we know that there are disadvantages to such a restricted scope in public health.

For example, municipalities that eliminated or blocked accurate and effective sex education had increases in teenage pregnancy rates. There are so many public health-related aspects of cannabis, beyond risks and adverse effects, which need to be addressed by systematic scientific research. Because of the legal history of cannabis, there is little integration with the mainstream health care system.

The focus of the current study was investigating how medical cannabis users perceived medical cannabis in comparison to pharmaceutical drugs and other aspects of the mainstream health care system and how they navigated they relationships between these currently separate systems

Continue reading →

Variations in Humans Related to Both Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Zaidi

Arslan Zaidi PhD
University of Pennsylvania and

Kateryna Makova, Ph.D.
Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Professor
Director, Center for Medical Genomics
Department of Biology
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Mitochondria are organelles that are involved in vital functions in eukaryotic cells, e.g., energy production. Even though they carry their own DNA (mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA), most of the proteins required for mitochondrial function are encoded by the nuclear genome. Thus, mitochondrial and nuclear proteins must work together in a coordinated manner for proper mitochondrial function. These interactions can sometimes be disrupted leading to phenotypic consequences in inter-species and inter-population laboratory crosses of model organisms when the ancestry of the mitochondrial genome is very different from the nuclear genome.

While human populations are genetically not very different from each other, it has been suggested that recent admixture between geographically distant populations might also have phenotypic consequences in humans. We investigated whether there is evidence for this in six different recently admixed populations from the Americas.

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Value of Postconditioning after Heart Attack May Be Seen only on Long Term Followup

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Traverse

JAY H. Traverse, MD, FACC, FAHA
Director of Research
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
Associate Professor of Medicine
Cardiovascular Division
University of Minnesota School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Reperfusion injury may contribute a significant amount to final infarct size in setting of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Several studies from Europe and Asia have suggested that modifying reperfusion with an angioplasty balloon of an occluded artery called postconditioning can reduce infarct size. However, not all studies show a benefit.

We hypothesized that patient selection of STEMI patients could contribute to these inconsistent findings so we performed the first postconditioning study in the US sponsored by the NIH using the strictest enrollment criteria of any study to minimize factors that influence infarct size (ischemic time, collaterals, pre-infarction angina, TIMI 0 flow) designed to maximize the benefit of postconditioning to see if it can actually reduce infarct size.

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Ulcerative colitis: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Can Induce Remission

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Costello

Samuel P. Costello MBBS
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Service,
Department of Gastroenterology
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Australia

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that has high rates of persistent or relapsing symptoms despite available therapies. Many of these therapies also have the potential for unacceptable side effects including allergy, intolerance, serious infection and malignancy due to long-term immunosuppression. It is for these reasons that new therapies for Ulcerative colitis are required; particularly therapies that target novel pathways and are not immune suppressing.

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Toilet Stools May Make Going to the Bathroom Easier

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Stanich

Dr. Peter Stanich MD
Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
and College of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We knew of toilet stools from popular culture and wanted to study this in a scientific way. This is something that patients, family and friends always ask about and we wanted to start the process of assessing it more rigorously to see if they are beneficial. Continue reading →

Increase Risk of Blistering Disorder with Diabetes Medication

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Example of Bullous Pemphigoid
Derm NZ image

Dong Hyun Kim M.D.
Associate professor
Department of Dermatology
CHA Bundang Medical Center
CHA University School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: As a dermatologist, we see many patients with newly diagnosed with bullous pemphigoid (BP), many of whom have diabetes.

The use of DPP-4 inhibitors is a common treatment for diabetes, we have noted previous case reports that DPP-4 inhibitors may be the cause of BP. For this reason, we started this study.

The most important thing in my article is DPP-4 inhibitors, particularly vildagliptin, may be associated with the development of bullous pemphigoid in male patients with diabetes. We have confirmed these points based on the nationwide, population-based study. It is very meaningful because there have been few studies using large sample sizes so far.

Continue reading →

Vaccine Preventable Infections Common After Pediatric Organ Transplantation

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Feldman

Amy G. Feldman, MD, MSCS
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics-Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Program Director, Liver Transplant Fellowship
Children’s Hospital Colorado
University of Colorado Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Pediatric solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk for vaccine preventable infections due to life-long immunosuppressive medications. The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate in pediatric solid organ transplant recipients the number of hospitalizations for vaccine-preventable infections in the first five years post-transplantation and 2) determine the associated morbidity, mortality and costs.

In this multicenter cohort study of 6980 children who underwent solid organ transplantation from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2011, at a center participating in Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), 15% of individuals had at least 1 hospitalization for a vaccine-preventable infection in the first 5 years after transplant. Children who received transplants when they were younger than 2 years and recipients of lung, intestine, heart, and multi-visceral organs were at increased risk for hospitalization with a vaccine-preventable infection. Transplant hospitalizations complicated by a vaccine-preventable infection were $120,498 more expensive (median cost) and were on average 39 days longer than transplant hospitalizations not complicated by vaccine-preventable infections Continue reading →

Group B Streptococcus Remain Significant Threat to US Infants

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Nanduri

Dr. Srinivas Acharya Nanduri, MBBS, MD, MPH
Respiratory Diseases Branch, National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Roybal Campus
Atlanta, GA 3033

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of serious illness such as meningitis and sepsis in infants. Among infants, there are two main types of GBS disease. Early-onset GBS disease occurs during the first week of life and late-onset GBS disease occurs from the first week through three months of life. Rates of early-onset disease in the United States have decreased significantly since the 1990s through widespread implementation of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) guidelines. However, IAP does not prevent late-onset disease. Maternal immunization represents a nonantibiotic strategy to prevent both early and late-onset disease. Multivalent polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines are under development against GBS capsular types, with candidate vaccines in phase I and II trials.

Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) conducts active surveillance for early and late-onset GBS disease among infants in select counties of 10 states, covering about 10% of live births across the United States. We analyzed data from early and late-onset GBS cases identified from ABCs between 2006 and 2015 to describe their epidemiology, incidence trends, and associated strain characteristics. Continue reading →

Mental Illness Risk Increased in Young Onset Diabetes

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Chan

Juliana CN Chan MD
Chair Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics
Head, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics
Director, Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity
Director, Clinical Research Management Office
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The prevalence of young onset diabetes (YOD) is increasing world-wide with doubling of its prevalence in the last 10 years in many developed nations. Using the Hong Kong Diabetes Register established since 1995, we first reported that 1 in 5 Chinese adults with diabetes were diagnosed before the age of 40 years. These young patients had poor control of multiple risk factors with 1.5 fold higher risk of premature death and cardiovascular-renal complications compared to patients with usual onset of diabetes after the age of 40 (Chan JC et al AJM 2014, Luk A et al Diabetes Care 2014). Due to the multisystem nature of diabetes, we asked the question whether these young patients might have recurrent hospitalizations during their 3-4 decades of complex clinical course.

Using a territory-wide diabetes database involving 0.42 million people followed up between 2002 and 2014, we compared the hospitalization rates accrued till the age of 75 years and found that patients with young onset diabetes had the highest hospitalization rates by attained age. Compared to patients with usual onset of diabetes, patients with YOD had 1.8- 6.7 higher risk of hospitalizations due to all-causes, notably renal disease compared to those with usual onset of disease.

Amongst patients with young onset diabetes, over one-third of the bed-days were due to mental illness before the age of 40 years. We used mathematical modeling and estimated that intensified risk factor control in YOD can reduce the cumulative bed-days by 30% which can be further reduced by delaying the onset of diabetes. These original data is a wakening call to the community regarding the complex nature of YOD involving interactions amongst environment, lifestyles and personal factors (e.g. genetics, education and socioeconomic status) and the biomedical-psychological-behavioral needs of these high risk population, which if undiagnosed, untreated or suboptimally managed, can have huge economic impacts on health care system and loss of societal productivity, leaving personal suffering aside. Continue reading →

Reporters Covering Drugs Should Include 1-800-662-HELP In Their Stories

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Ayers

John W. Ayers, PhD MA
Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health
Department of Medicine, University of California
San Diego, La Jolla

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national helpline (1-800-662-HELP) is the only free, federally managed and endorsed US drug treatment referral service, helping callers find the best local services that match their needs. Are millions suffering simply because they are not aware that lifesaving help is a phone call away?

In our new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Mark Dredze, Alicia Nobles and I delved into Americans’ engagement with 1-800-662-HELP following singer Demi Lovato’s July 24, 2018 hospitalization for a reported overdose that on-the-scene investigators originally linked to heroin. Lovato has since recovered.

Continue reading →

Periodic Low Calorie Days Can Extend Lifespan (at least in mice)

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Longo

Valter Longo, PhD
Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology
Professor of Biological Sciences
Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
Director of the USC Longevity Institute
USC

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The use of a low calorie diet that mimics fasting for 4 days twice a month starting at middle age can extend lifespan and rejuvenate mice.

In humans a similar diet once a month causes improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure , inflammation, fasting glucose etc consistent with rejuvenation

Continue reading →

Midurethral Sling Complications May Be Associated with Psychological Stress, esp in Young Women

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Welk

Blayne Welk MD, MSc, FRCSC
Associate Professor of Surgery
St. Joseph’s Hospital
Western University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: I found that when I was referred women with midurethral sling complications, they were often quite emotional and described a significant period of time when they struggled with the complications before they were referred to someone to assess them.

The study looked at the rate of depression and self-harm behavior of women who had surgery for midurethral sling complications compared to women who did not have midurethral sling complications.

I found that there was an increased risk of both of these outcomes among women who had surgery for complications, however this risk was primarily present in younger women.

Continue reading →

Less Than Six Hours of Sleep May Raise Risk of Heart Disease

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Ordovás

José M. Ordovás, PhD
Director Nutrition and Genomics
Professor Nutrition and Genetics
JM-USDA-HNRCA at Tufts University
Boston, MA 02111

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The current knowledge supports the notion that poor sleep is associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Besides, there is some proof that poor sleep might be related to the development of atherosclerosis; however, this evidence has been provided by studies including few participants and, in general, with sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea. Our research has used state-of-the-art imaging technology to measure plaque buildup in the arteries, and objective measures of sleep quantity and quality in about 4000 participants of the PESA CNIC- Santander Study. Moreover, this is the first study to look at the multiterritory development of plaques versus other studies that looked exclusively at the coronary arteries. Therefore, this combination provides stronger evidence than previous studies about the risk of poor sleep on the development of atherosclerosis.

Continue reading →

Diabetes: Study Find Statins Protect Against Vision Loss

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. Illustration depicting diabetic retinopathy

Illustration depicting diabetic retinopathy

Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang, MD.
House Staff,
Department of Ophthalmology
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Chang Gung University, School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: More and more patients suffered from diabetes mellitus (DM) around the world, as well diabetic complications such as diabetic retinopathy (DR). DR is one of the major causes of blindness in working-age adults. In addition to the cost of treatment for patients with advanced DR, loss of visual function also yields a great burden to the family and society. For advanced DR, surgical interventions such as retinal laser, intravitreal injection, and vitrectomy are needed. However, those surgical interventions for severe DR can only retard or stop disease progression. If DR can be prevented or slowed by medical treatments, the burden of medical costs for treating severe DR may be decreased.

Statin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, was discussed frequently in the recent years. Multiple functions of statins besides their lipid lowering effect were discovered. Previous investigations have reported that statin therapy could reduce mortality rate and decrease risk of cardiovascular diseases.

In our study, we wanted to figure out if statin therapy may have any association between diabetic retinopathy. Continue reading →

Loss of Deep Sleep Associated With Early Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Lucey

Brendan P. Lucey, MD, MSCI
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Director, Sleep Medicine Section
Washington University School of Medicine
Saint Louis, Missouri 63110

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Alzheimer’s disease and sleep are currently thought to have a two-way or bidirectional relationship.

First, sleep disturbances may increase the risk of developing AD.

Second, changes in sleep-wake activity may be due to Alzheimer’s disease pathology and our paper was primarily focused on this aspect of the relationship. If sleep changes were a marker for AD changes in the brain, then this would be very helpful in future clinical trials and possibly screening in the clinic.

Continue reading →

Why Are There So Few Minority Dermatologists?

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Yssra S. Soliman, BA
Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: As the population of the United States becomes increasingly diverse, certain fields within medicine have not followed this trend. Dermatology is the least diverse field after orthopedics. We wanted to understand what barriers prevent medical students from applying to dermatology and whether these barriers differed based on students’ racial, ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds.

The main findings of this study are that certain groups are more likely to cite specific barriers than non-minority students. These barriers are significant deterrents to applying to dermatology and include the lack of diversity in dermatology, negative perceptions of minority students by residency programs, socioeconomic barriers such as lack of loan forgiveness and poor accessibility to mentors. Continue reading →

Maternal Obesity Raises Risk of Congenital Heart Defects

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Persson

Martina Persson, M.D, PhD
Karolinska Institute

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: It is well known that maternal obesity increases risks of adverse fetal outcomes, including congenital malformations of the heart. However, it is unclear if maternal overweight and obesity associate with risks of specific and more complex congenital heart defects. We conducted a population-based cohort study in Sweden using data from several health registries. The study included more than 2 million live, singletons born between 1992-2012. Risks (prevalence rate ratios) of complex heart defects (Tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries (TGA), atrial septal defects (ASD), aortic arch defects, and single ventricle heart) and several specific heart defects were estimated in infants to mothers with overweight and increasing degree of obesity.

We found that risks of aortic arch defects, ASD and patent ductus arteriosus (in term infants) increased with maternal obesity severity. On the other hand, we found no clear associations between maternal BMI and risks of several other complex and specific heart defects. Continue reading →

Obesity in Childhood Adversely Impacts Lung Development

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Garcia-Aymerich

Judith Garcia Aymerich
Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases and Environment Programme
ISGlobal

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Several studies have assessed the associations of overweight and obesity with lung function in children and adolescents, but they have found contradictory results. An important limitation of these studies is that most of them considered only overall body weight and did not take into account for the different contribution of lean body mass and fat mass, and their relative proportions that vary by age and sex. Continue reading →

First Patient Dosed in Phase 3 AGENT Study for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com interview with:

Anders Rabbe

Anders Rabbe
CEO of Isofol Medical

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How common is colorectal cancer?

Response: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common forms of cancer with more than 1.8 million new cases identified globally every year. Due to a lack of new therapeutic options and a high mortality rate, colorectal cancer is a disease with a significant unmet need for effective new treatments.

Isofol is developing arfolitixorin (Modufolin®) to improve the efficacy of standard of care chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Arfolitixorin is the company’s proprietary drug candidate currently being studied in a global Phase 3 AGENT study (ISO-CC-007) as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), which just enrolled its first patient in December of 2018. Continue reading →

All Travelers to Pakistan At Risk of Getting Drug Resistant Typhoid Fever

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Chatham-Stephens

Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, MPH, FAAP
CDR U.S. Public Health Service

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria. It spreads when someone consumes food or water that has been contaminated with feces (poop) from someone carrying the bacteria. About 12–27 million cases of typhoid fever occur worldwide every year.

About 350 culture-confirmed cases of typhoid fever in the United States are reported to CDC each year. Most of these cases occur among international travelers.

Symptoms of typhoid fever often include high fever, weakness, stomach pain, cough, and loss of appetite. Some people have diarrhea or constipation. Typhoid fever can be prevented through vaccination and safe food and water practices. Typhoid fever is treated with antibiotics, although most infections diagnosed in the United States cannot be successfully treated with the class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones.

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