Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Ovarian Cancer / 25.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fabian Coscia PhD Department of Proteomics and Signal Transduction, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, German and Ernst Lengyel MD PhD Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Section of Gynecologic Oncology University of Chicago, Chicago, IL  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Ovarian cancer is a very aggressive disease. Only one in six patients survives more than 10 years after the first diagnosis. This high mortality is primarily because the disease is usually detected late in its course, when the tumor has already spread from the ovaries to the surrounding organs in the abdomen. In an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Munich, the University of Chicago and the University of Copenhagen, we performed deep tissue proteomics on archived biobank material to identify drivers of long-term patient survival.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology, Urinary Tract Infections / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: SMARTPHONE, M.D. A NEW APP TO DIAGNOSE URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS Michael J. Mahan PhD Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Dept of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology University of California, Santa Barbara, CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) cause nearly 10 million doctor visits each year in the United States. Women are much more likely to have a UTI than men, and are particularly harmful to pregnant women and can cause miscarriage. Thus, there is a medical need for rapid, low-cost, on-site testing — particularly in resource-limited settings. We developed a new app that enables a smartphone to identify (ID) bacteria causing UTIs in just one hour — a fraction of the time and cost of clinical diagnostics. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maarten Persenaire, MD Co-founder, Chief Medical Officer TELA Bio MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: OviTex Reinforced BioScaffolds (RBSs) are a novel distinct class of surgical implants that combine biologic and synthetic materials in a unique embroidered construction and design for hernia repair and soft tissue reconstruction. The two recent publications reported clinical results of OviTex RBS performance in inguinal and hiatal hernia repair. Case series published in the International Journal of Surgery Open evaluated the role of OviTex RBSs in inguinal hernia repair to reduce the incidence of chronic postoperative pain. Thirty-one consecutive patients who had inguinal hernia repaired with OviTex RBSs were followed for an average of 12.6 months, during which time there were no reported recurrences, complications requiring surgical intervention or infections. None of the patients reported postoperative inguinal pain beyond the first days after surgery and none required a narcotic pain medication refill. The second study published in the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons is the first reported series describing the use of OviTex RBSs in hiatal hernia repair. A retrospective chart review of 25 consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic or open hiatal hernia repairs with mean follow-up of 14.2 months showed no recurrences. The hiatal hernia repairs with OviTex RBSs resulted in good to excellent control and resolution of symptoms, including heartburn, dysphagia, regurgitation, nausea and vomiting, dyspnea, and chest pain or discomfort.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, CDC, JAMA, Pediatrics / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Juliet Haarbauer-Krupa, PhD Senior Health Scientist Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
  • Traumatic brain injury in children results in a large number of emergency department visits each year and can result in long term difficulties
  • The purpose of this study was to estimate lifetime prevalence of TBI in children based on a nationally representative sample of U.S. parents/adults and to describe the association between TBI and other childhood health conditions.
  • CDC researchers examined the National Survey of Children’s Health, a cross-sectional telephone survey of U.S. households, to provide a national estimate of TBI in children.
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Abuse and Neglect, Addiction, Author Interviews, CDC, JAMA, Pediatrics / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michelle M Johns, MPH, PhD Health Scientist Division of Adolescent and School Health CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Gender nonconformity is an under-researched area of adolescent health that is often linked to negative health outcomes. To address this gap, we analyzed Youth Risk Behavior Survey data to describe the associations between gender nonconformity and risk behaviors, including mental distress, and substance use. Gender nonconformity was associated with feeling sad and hopeless, as well as suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors among female and male students. In addition, gender nonconformity was strongly associated with substance use among male students. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, CT Scanning, Emergency Care, JAMA, Pediatrics / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Erik P. Hess MD MSc Professor and Vice Chair for Research Department of Emergency Medicine UAB Medicine he University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham Alabama 35249 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: 450,000 children present to U.S emergency departments each year for evaluation of head trauma.  Physicians obtain head computed tomography (CT) scans in 37%-50% of these patients, with less than 10% showing evidence of traumatic brain injury and only 0.2% that require neurosurgical treatment. In order to avoid unnecessary CT scans and to limit radiation exposure, the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) developed clinical prediction rules that consist of 6 readily available factors that can be assessed from the history and physical examination.  If none of these risk factors are present, a CT scan is not indicated. If either of 2 high risk factors such as signs of a skull fracture are present, CT scanning is indicated. If 1 or 2 non-high risk factors are present, then either CT scanning or observation are recommended, depending on considerations such as parental preference, clinician experience and/or symptom progression. In this study we designed a parent decision aid, “Head CT Choice” to educate the parent about the difference between a concussion – which does not show up on a CT scan – and a more serious brain injury causing bleeding in or around the brain.  The decision aid also shows parents their child’s risk for a serious brain injury – less than 1% risk in the majority of patients in our trial – what to observe their child at home for should they opt not to obtain a CT scan, and the advantages and disadvantages of CT scanning versus home observation. In our trial, we did not observe a difference in the rate of head CT scans obtained in the ED but did find that parents who were engaged in shared decision-making using Head CT Choice were more knowledgeable about their child’s risk for serious brain injury, has less difficulty making the decision because they were clearer about the advantages and disadvantages of the diagnostic options, and were more involved in decision-making by their physician.  Parents also less frequently sought additional testing for their child within 1 week of the emergency department visit. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Neurology, Parkinson's / 23.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fudi Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Qiushi Chair Professor Nutrition Discovery Innovation Center School of Public Health/School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310058, ChinaFudi Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Qiushi Chair Professor Nutrition Discovery Innovation Center School of Public Health/School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou  China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting approximately 10 million people around the world. To date, the cause of PD remains poorly understood. It is reported that 90% PD cases have no identifiable genetic cause. What’s worse, few therapeutic advances for the treatment of PD have been made in the past decades. Nevertheless, growing prospective longitudinal studies shed lights on the potential beneficial effect of lifestyle factors on reducing the risk of developing Parkinson disease. In this study, we performed a a dose-response meta-analysis of more than half a million participants. We found that physical activity, particularly moderate to vigorous physical activity, could significantly reduce PD risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Pediatrics, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 23.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie Flom, MD MPH Clinical Fellow Division of Allergy & Immunology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Women who are minorities and of lower socioeconomic have particularly high rates of exposure to chronic ongoing adversity such as poverty as well as traumatic stressors in their lifetime and are also more likely to have low birthweight infants.  Not all women exposed to chronic adversity or trauma transfer this risk to the next generation – it is primarily when the trauma results in changes in her bodies’ ability to handle ongoing stress that the developing child can be impacted. Our group undertook a study to investigate whether women with increased exposure to traumatic stressors over her lifetime were at higher risk of having low birthweight infants and also whether effects of trauma would only be evident among women who produced higher levels of cortisol, the major stress response hormone, while pregnant. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Genetic Research, JAMA, Yale / 22.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael F. Murray, MD, FACMG, FACP Director for Clinical Operations in the Center for Genomic Health Yale School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Population screening for the cancer risk associated with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes has been suggested by some.  We screened a cohort of about 50,000 adult patient volunteers at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania for this risk.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 22.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eyal Cohen, MD, MSc, FRCP(C) Associate Scientist and Program Head (interim), Child Health Evaluative Sciences Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children Staff Physician, Division of Paediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Professor, Paediatrics and Health Policy Management & Evaluation The University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Having a child with a major birth defect can be a life-changing and stressful event for the child's mother.  This stress may be associated with higher risk of premature cardiovascular disease. We found that mothers of infants born with a major birth defect had a 15% higher risk of premature cardiovascular disease that a comparison group of mothers.  The risk was more pronounced, rising to 37% among mothers who gave birth to a more severely affected infant (and infant born with major birth defects affecting more than one organ system). The risk was apparent even within the first 10 years after the birth of the child. (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, JAMA, Prostate Cancer, UCLA / 22.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amar U. Kishan, MD Assistant Professor Department of Radiation Oncology University of California, Los Angeles MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Three large randomized trials demonstrated an overall survival (OS) benefit when androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is combined with radiotherapy (RT) for high-risk prostate cancer (PCa). The duration of ADT in these seminal studies ranged from six months to lifelong. Because ADT has multiple attendant adverse effects--including bone loss, altered metabolism, diminished muscle mass, gynecomastia, hot flashes, and possibly increased cardiovascular events--shortening the duration of ADT without compromising oncologic effectiveness has been an area of active study. Five trials have compared various durations of ADT, reaching conflicting conclusions with respect to overall survival outcomes, with some suggesting an improvement with longer durations of ADT and others failing to show a uniform survival benefit. Most of these trials have amalgamated Gleason grade group 4 (Gleason score 8) PCa with Gleason grade group (GG) 5 (Gleason score 9-10) PCa. Emerging data indicate that GS 9-10 PCa constitutes a distinct subset of high-risk PCa with inferior outcomes and earlier progression than GS 8 disease. With the knowledge that GS 9-10 PCas constitute a distinct, more aggressive form of PCa, one might hypothesize that longer durations of ADT may be more advantageous in both augmenting local control and controlling potential micrometastatic disease. Alternatively, as GS 9-10 lesions by definition contain highly de-differentiated Gleason pattern 5 disease foci and may proceed to a castrate-resistant state more rapidly, one may also hypothesize that GS 9-10 lesions are less responsive to ADT, and longer durations may be counter-productive. In order to identify differences in the impact of ADT duration on clinical outcomes of patients with GG 4 and GG 5 PCa, we performed an individual patient-level meta-analysis of six randomized trials. Our working hypothesis was that longer durations of ADT would offer significant survival benefits in both groups. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, CDC, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 21.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kameron Sheats PhD Licensed Psychologist; Behavioral Scientist Centers for Disease Control and Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This study updates literature on racial disparities in violence between black and white youth using data capturing different severity levels in violent outcomes such as homicide versus assault. This study also seeks to increase the understanding of the impact of these disparities by examining associations between disparities in childhood adversity (e.g., child abuse and neglect, exposure to violence, household challenges) and adult health conditions. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Cost of Health Care, Dermatology, Emory, JAMA, Medicare / 21.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Actinic Keratosis” by Ed Uthman is licensed under CC BY 2.0Howa Yeung, MD Assistant Professor of Dermatology Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, GA 30322  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what is meant by actinic keratoses? Response: Actinic keratoses are common precancerous skin lesions caused by sun exposure. Because actinic keratoses may develop into skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma, they are often treated by various destructive methods. We used Medicare Part B billing claims to estimate the number and cost of treated actinic keratoses from 2007 to 2015. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?  Response: While the number of Medicare Part B beneficiaries increased only moderately, the number of actinic keratoses treated by destruction rose from 29.7 million in 2007 to 35.6 million in 2015. Medicare paid an average annual amount of $413.1 million for actinic keratosis destruction from 2007 to 2015. Independently billing non-physician clinicians, including advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants, are treating an increasing proportion of actinic keratosis, peaking at 13.5% in 2015. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: Readers should understand that the burden of actinic keratosis treatment is increasing in the Medicare population. There is also an increasing proportion of actinic keratoses being treated by advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Gluten, Lancet, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 21.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Knud Josefsen, senior researcher Bartholin Institute, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen K, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In a large population of pregnant women, we found that the risk of the offspring being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before the age of 15.6 years (the follow up period) was doubled in the group of women ingesting the highest amounts of gluten (20-66 g/day) versus the group of women ingesting the lowest amounts of gluten (0-7 g/day). For every additional 10 grams of gluten ingested, the risk for type 1 diabetes in the child increased by a factor of 1.31. It the sense that it was a hypothesis that we specifically tested, we were not surprised. We had seen in animal experiments that a gluten-free diet during pregnancy protected the offspring from diabetes, and we wanted to see if we could prove the same pattern in humans. There could be many reasons why we would not be able to show the association, even if it was there (sample size, low quality data, covariates we could not correct for and so on), but we were off course pleasantly surprised that we found the association that we were looking for, in particular because it is quite robust (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Microbiome, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anita Kozyrskyj PhD Professor in Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry School of Public Health University of Alberta MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Data for this study were collected in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) cohort of over 3,500 full-term infants born between 2009 and 2012. When infants were 3-4 months of age, parents provided a sample of their poop. At that time, parents checked-off responses to questions about their home, including type and frequency of cleaning product use. The infant poop was initially frozen, then thawed later to extract DNA from the sample and identify microbes on the basis of their DNA sequence.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lipids / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Luca A. Lotta, MD, PhD Senior Clinical Investigator MRC Epidemiology Unit University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
  • Drugs that enhance the breakdown of circulating triglycerides by activating lipoprotein lipase (LPL) are in pre-clinical or early-clinical development.
  • It is not known if these drugs will reduce heart attacks or diabetes risk when added to the current first line therapies (statins and other cholesterol-lowering agents).
  • Studying this would require large randomised controlled trials, which are expensive (millions of GBPs) and time-consuming (years).
  • Human genetic data can be used to provide supportive evidence of whether this therapy is likely to be effective by “simulating” a randomised controlled trial.
  • Our study used naturally occurring genetic variants in the general population (study of ~400,000 people) to address this.
  • Individuals with naturally-lower cholesterol due to their genetic makeup were used as model for cholesterol-lowering therapies (eg. Statins).
  • Individuals with naturally-lower triglycerides due to genetic variants in the LPL gene were used as model for these new triglyceride-lowering therapies.
  • We studied the risk of heart attacks and type 2 diabetes in people in different groups.
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Asthma, AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Pulmonary Disease / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tosh Butt, MBA VP Respiratory AstraZeneca MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How is benralizumab different from more traditional treatments for asthma?
    • BORA is a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, Phase III extension, and is one of six Phase III trials in the WINDWARD program in asthma. The current analysis includes results for 1,926 patients from the two placebo controlled exacerbation trials, SIROCCO (48 week) and CALIMA (56 weeks). BORA provides evidence that add on maintenance treatment with FASENRA (benralizumab) resulted in a consistent safety profile over a second year of treatment, with no increase in the frequencies of overall or serious adverse events, and sustained efficacy in terms of reducing asthma exacerbations, and improving lung function and asthma symptoms. The BORA trial results could provide confidence to patients with severe eosinophilic asthma and physicians that the positive outcomes they may be seeing with benralizumab can be maintained over a second year of treatment.
  • FASENRA, a different kind of respiratory biologic, has a strong clinical profile which includes the ability to show lung function improvement after the first dose, the potential to reduce – or even stop - oral steroid use, and the convenience of 8-week dosing (no other respiratory biologic offers this dosing). FASENRA is approved for add-on maintenance treatment of patients with severe asthma ages 12 years and older, and with an eosinophilic phenotype. FASENRA binds directly to the IL-5a receptor on an eosinophil and uniquely attracts natural killer cells to induce apoptosis, or cell death. Other biologics currently available are anti-IL5s – a passive approach that primarily acts to block differentiation and survival of the eosinophil.
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Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Vida Maralani PhD Associate Professor Department of Sociology Cornell University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Breastfeeding is a time-intensive and culturally and emotionally charged topic in the U.S. with many different stakeholders. Women hear the strong message that they should breastfeed their infants for the first year of life, yet it is unambiguously clear that they find these guidelines hard to follow in practice. We were interested in exploring how breastfeeding duration is associated with how many children women go on to have. Our results show that women who breastfeed their first child for five months or longer are more likely to have three or more children, and less likely to have only one child, than women who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all. Women who initiate breastfeeding did not differ in how many children they expected to have before they started their families. Rather, the number of children women actually bear differs by how long they breastfeed their first child. Women who breastfeed for shorter durations are more likely to have fewer children than they expected than to have more children than expected. In contrast, women who breastfeed longer are as likely to achieve their expectations as to exceed them, and they are nearly as likely to have more children than they expected as they are to have fewer. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Christina Elliott PhD Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Old Age Psychiatry King’s College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Amyloid-beta (Aβ) and its precursor protein, APP have been long implicated in pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease but how they contribute to disease is not fully understood.  This has been further compounded by numerous failed clinical trials which attempted to target Aβ therapeutically. In Alzheimer’s Disease there is an overproduction of Aβ, which can disrupt how neurons communicate at structures called synapses.  It is thought that progressive synapse loss underpins cognitive impairments commonly seen in Alzheimer Disease patients such as memory loss. Our previous work highlighted a central role of the signalling pathway Wnt signalling in Aβ mediated synapse loss through the induction of dickkopf-1 (Dkk1), a well-known modulator of Wnt signalling. The aim of this study was to further investigate the molecular mechanisms of Aβ mediated synapse loss and explore whether this is connected to the overproduction of Aβ.  By dissecting out the key signalling events involved we hoped this would allow us to identify drugs which could be putative therapeutics for Alzheimer’ Disease.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Pain Research / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Cannabis” by Don Goofy is licensed under CC BY 2.0Martin De Vita, MS Doctoral Candidate Clinical Psychology Department Syracuse University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Despite widely held beliefs that cannabis is effective for pain relief, experimental trials have produced mixed results. As result, the analgesic properties of cannabinoid drugs have remained poorly understood. We aimed to clarify these findings by extracting data from every available experimental pain study and analyzing the results as a whole. We found that numerous aspects of pain were being influenced in different ways. We found that cannabinoid drugs did not significantly reduce the intensity of experimental pain, but they did produce small-sized reductions in pain unpleasantness. Cannabinoids produced significant analgesic effects on pain threshold and tolerance. There was no significant effect of cannabinoids on mechanical hyperalgesia. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, USPSTF, Weight Research / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chyke Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H. Harrison McCrea Dickson, M.D. and Clifford C. Baker, M.D. Presidential Professor Associate Professor of Epidemiology Senior scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Obesity is an important public health issue that affects nearly 4 in 10 American adults. It increases the risk for many chronic health conditions as well as premature death from diabetes, coronary heart disease, various types of cancer, and other conditions. As such, it was important for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to review the current evidence and update the recommendation on this topic. Based on a review of the most recent studies, we found that intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions are safe and effective. They can help people lose weight, maintain their weight loss, and reduce the risk of obesity-related conditions such as diabetes in people with high blood sugar. Therefore, the Task Force is recommending that clinicians offer or refer adults with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 kg/m2 or higher to these behavioral interventions.    (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Mediterranean Diet, Stroke / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Vegetables” by Wagner T. Cassimiro "Aranha" is licensed under CC BY 2.0Professor Phyo Kyaw Myint MBBS MD FRCP(Edin) FRCP(Lond) Clinical Chair in Medicine of Old Age Academic Lead: Ageing Clinical & Experimental Research & Director of Clinical Academic Training Development The Lead Academic, Aberdeen Clinical Academic Training (ACAT) Programmes School of Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition College of Life Sciences & Medicine, University of Aberdeen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: While Mediterranean Diet has been linked to reduced stroke risk it remains unclear (1) its impact on populations within non-Mediterranean countries; (2) its specific impact on different gender; (3) the effect observed when using more robust dietary assessments; and (4) which specific components of the diet are most protective. We therefore studied more than 23 thousand men and women (mainly British Caucasian) aged 40 years or older in Norfolk, UK as part of EPIC-Norfolk study and we found that the greater adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern is linked to a significant reduction in stroke risk in women but not in men. This benefit was seen across the whole middle and older age population (particularly for women) regardless of their existing risk factors such as high blood pressure. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, CT Scanning, JAMA, Medical Imaging / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: PET scanner Wikipedia imageRik Ossenkoppele -PhD Lund University & VU University Medical Center Oskar Hansson - Lund University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: [18F]flortaucipir is a relatively novel PET tracer that can be used to detect tau pathology in the living human brain. Previous studies have shown a robust signal in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but in patients with other types of dementia the signal was more variable. We aimed to assess the ability of [18F]flortaucipir PET to distinguish Alzheimer’s disease from other neurodegenerative disease in more than 700 study participants. T he main finding was that [18F]flortaucipir discriminated Alzheimer’s disease patients from patients with other neurodegenerative diseases with high accuracy. Furthermore, [18F]flortaucipir PET outperformed established MRI markers and showed higher specificity than amyloid-β PET.  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, OBGYNE / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Pollen” by John S. Quarterman is licensed under CC BY 2.0Bircan Erbas, Associate Professor Reader/Associate Professor, Department of Public Health School of Psychology & Public Health La Trobe University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Around the world allergic respiratory diseases especially in children is a major problem. Studies have already shown that cord blood IgE can be used to identify children at risk for allergic diseases. Our previous research showed that exposure to high levels of outdoor pollen, especially grass, in the first couple of months after birth increased risk of allergic respiratory diseases. Based on this, we suspected that exposure to high grass pollen during pregnancy could be also important. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research / 19.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor David Taylor Trinity Centre for Bioengineering Trinity College Dublin The University of Dublin, Ireland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The study was motivated by the emerging clinical problem of the failure of surgical mesh products used for transvaginal operations. Increasing numbers of women are experiencing the failure of mesh used to treated vaginal prolapse, urinary incontinence and other pelvic organ conditions. I carried out a survey of all existing research, including medical case reports, meta studies of clinical outcomes and biomechanics research on the material, which is a knitted plastic mesh. A phenomenon known as "mesh erosion" causes damage to surrounding tissues and organs and can leave the person in severe and lasting pain.  (more…)