Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, JAMA, Melanoma / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Sunscreen” by Tom Newby is licensed under CC BY 2.0Dr Caroline Watts  PhD Post-doctoral Researcher The University of Sydney. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The study analysed data collected from nearly 1700 young Australians who participated in the Australian Melanoma Family Study, a population-based case-control-family study that focused on people who had a melanoma under 40 years of age and compared them with people the same age who did not have a melanoma. We examined sunscreen use during childhood and adulthood and its association with melanoma risk and found that compared to people who did not use sunscreen, regular sunscreen use during childhood reduced melanoma risk by 30-40 per cent.  (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Boehringer Ingelheim, McGill, Pharmacology / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samy Suissa, PhD Director, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute Professor, Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and of Medicine McGill University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sulfonylureas are widely used oral antidiabetic drugs that are recommended as second-line treatments after first-line metformin to treat patients with type 2 diabetes. While their safety has been studied extensively, studies in patients with poorly controlled diabetes in need of pharmacotherapy escalation have been sparse and limited. Our study evaluated whether adding or switching to sulfonylureas after initiating metformin treatment is associated with increased cardiovascular or hypoglycaemic risks, compared with remaining on metformin monotherapy. Using a large cohort of over 77,000 patients initiating treatment with metformin monotherapy, we found that adding or switching to sulfonylureas is associated with modest increases of 26% in the risk of myocardial infarction and 28% in the risk of death, as well as an over 7-fold major increase in the risk of severe hypoglycaemia leading to hospitalisation. In particular, we found that switching from metformin to sulfonylureas was associated with higher risks of myocardial infarction and death, compared with adding sulfonylureas to metformin.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Circadian Rhythm, Nutrition / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Christmas Roast and Ham Dinner. Had Tamales for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. #Roast #Ham #ChristmasDinner #Christmas #Champagne #Dinner #Foodstagram” by Yvonne Esperanza is licensed under CC BY 2.0Manolis Kogevinas, MD, PhD Research Professor NCDs & Environment Group Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) - Campus MAR Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) (office 194) Barcelona, Spain MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We did the study for two main reasons. (i) breast and to a less extent prostate cancer are the cancers that have been associated with night shift work and resulting circadian disruption (disruption of the natural day-light cycle); (ii) experimental studies in animals indicate that timing of diet is important. For example, giving an hypercaloric diet to mice during the day results in obesity, while giving the same diet during the night does not. Mice are nocturnal animals and this means that there normal eating time is the night when they can metabolise what they eat. So, would something similar affect humans? When we eat in late hours at a time when “normally” (normally in the sense of evolution) we would be resting. In this study we show that adherence to a more diurnal eating pattern and specifically an early supper and a long interval between last meal and sleep are associated with a lower breast and prostate cancer risk. Specifically having super before 9pm and having an interval of 2 hours between the last big meal and sleep, were both associated with an approximately 20% prevention of breast and prostate cancer) compared to those who have supper after 10pm or those who eat and then sleep very close after supper. Also, the strongest protection was found in “morning types” as compared to “evening types”. Morning types are expected to function worse than evening types in late evening so late suppers may have more adverse effects on them. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Fertility / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “sperm” by Iqbal Osman is licensed under CC BY 2.0Elena Ricci, ScD, PhD Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The role of alcohol drinking on male fertility is still controversial. A negative association between alcohol intake and semen quality has been suggested by some authors, although other studies did not confirm this finding. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cohort study on subfertile couples, and found that men with a moderate alcohol intake (4 to 7 units of ethanol per week - 1unit=12.5 grams ) had higher semen volume and sperm total count than men with both lower and higher intake. Abstainers had a better sperm concentration, but the small size of this group prevented us from drawing any significant conclusions. Alcohol was not associated to sperm motility.  (more…)
Addiction, Alcohol, Author Interviews / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “undefined” by Iñaki Queralt is licensed under CC BY 2.0Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM Chair and Professor,Department of Community Health Sciences Boston University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Most of what we know about the time course of drinking too much (at-risk use) is from people in treatment or special groups and not adults in the US population at large. That’s why we did this study. We need to know how often at-risk drinking persists, how often it resolves, and how often it appears de novo. Risky drinking means exceeding limits that are associated with health consequences. It includes people with an alcohol use disorder but the vast majority of people drinking risky amounts do not have a disorder, they are simply drinking amounts that can harm their health. Even low amounts can harm health (e.g. breast cancer risk increases at <1 drink a day) but substantial increases in risk occur over 7 in a week on average (for women, and 14 for men) or >5 for men (>4 for women) on an occasion. The latter are associated with acute consequences (e.g. injury, unwanted sex), and the former with chronic conditions (e.g. cirrhosis). People should be aware of their risks and then they can make choices about what risks they want to take (and for those with a disorder, they may need help with those choices and help changing behavior like treatment). These are all useful thing to talk to any young adults about before they set off on a stag do in Krakow or any other city! The main findings were….that 3 years later, 3/4ths of adults drinking risky amounts were still doing so. But importantly, a quarter had stopped drinking risky amounts. It is important to know that things change. One factor associated with that positive change was having kids—presumably a positive social change even if stressful. Of those adults not drinking risky amounts when first interviewed, 15% started doing so 3 years later. Again having children was protective but the main factor associated with starting was young age, particularly those who became of legal drinking age. Despite the fact that youth may be able to access alcohol illegally, this finding confirms that the drinking age of 21 in the US does in fact restrict access, and that turning 21 increases use and risky use by making alcohol more accessible. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sherry Pagoto, PhD Director, UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media President, Society of Behavioral Medicine UConn Institute for Collaboration in Health, Interventions, and Policy Professor, Department of Allied Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06268 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Recent research has shown that while physical activity is associated with reduced risk for many cancers, it is associated with an increased risk for melanoma. We are not sure why this is the case, however, we have noticed that popular gym chains (e.g., Planet Fitness) often offer tanning beds, which are carcinogenic. We surveyed over 600 people who had used a tanning bed at least once in their life to see how many had used tanning beds in gyms. About one-quarter had used tanning beds in gyms and those folks actually tanned significantly more than people who had not tanned in gyms.  Gym tanners were also more likely to show signs of “tanning addiction.”  We also found an association between tanning and physical activity, such that the people who were the most physically active were the heaviest tanners.  (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mark H. Eckman, MD Posey Professor of Clinical Medicine Director, Division of General Internal Medicine Director, Center for Clinical Effectiveness University of Cincinnati Medical Center Cincinnati, OH  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: People who are infected with hepatitis C virus and have kidney failure need a kidney transplant. Recent studies have found that it is possible to transplant kidneys from donors who are infected with hepatitis C virus into patients who need a transplant and are already infected with the virus. In addition, drugs are available to cure most patients of hepatitis C virus, including those who have kidney failure. Infected patients who need a kidney transplant have 2 options. One option is to receive an infected kidney and then use drugs after the transplant to cure themselves and the transplanted kidney of the virus. Another option is to use the drugs first to get rid of the virus and then to receive a kidney from a donor who does not have hepatitis C virus infection. For the more than 500,000 patients receiving dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD), less than 4% receive kidney transplants. Because of the limited organ availability, hemodialysis is the final treatment for most patients with ESRD. Of the 10% or so of U.S. patients receiving dialysis who are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), some are willing to accept HCV-infected kidneys, in part, because the wait times for such kidneys are shorter than those for HCV-uninfected kidneys. Because the yearly mortality rate for patients receiving hemodialysis is so high, between 4% and 16%, reducing the time to kidney transplant can have a dramatic effect on both survival and quality of life. Because it may not be possible to do this type of research with actual people, we created a model that allowed us to estimate possible outcomes without using actual people. The model was a computer program that combined the best available information to approximate what might happen to participants in a real-world clinical trial. (more…)
Antioxidants, Author Interviews, Nutrition, Pulmonary Disease, Supplements / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Scott D Sagel MD PhD Professor of Pediatrics University of Colorado School of Medicine Aurora, Colorado MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Inflammation is an important feature of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease and contributes to lung damage and lung function decline in CF. We need safe and effective anti-inflammatory treatments in CF. Anti-oxidant therapy has been an area of promise, but with mixed results in CF. This clinical trial, conducted at 15 CF centers affiliated with the cystic fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Development Network, enrolled 73 patients who were 10 years and older (average age 22 years), with pancreatic insufficiency, which causes malabsorption of antioxidants. Subjects were randomized to either a multivitamin containing multiple antioxidants including carotenoids such as beta(β)-carotene, tocopherols (vitamin E), coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and selenium or to a control multivitamin without antioxidant enrichment. The antioxidants used in the study were delivered in a capsule specifically designed for individuals with difficulties absorbing fats and proteins, including those with cystic fibrosis. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, Melanoma, Occupational Health / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Brad at Santa Monica Pier on Ferris Wheel” by Brad Cerenzia is licensed under CC BY 2.0Sonia Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor, College of Nursing The Ohio State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior to conducting a tobacco cessation study with Operating Engineers, I conducted a survey of 498 Operating engineer and found that many of them were at risk for sun burning, which can lead to skin cancer.  So as a follow up study, I conducted a study to prevent sun burning, which randomized 357 Operating Engineers to were randomized to four interventions: education only; education and text message reminders; education and mailed sunscreen; and education, text message reminders, and mailed sunscreen. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, Weight Research / 17.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Home-Grown Chilis” by barockschloss is licensed under CC BY 2.0Baskaran Thyagarajan, M. Pharm., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics and Neuroscience Molecular Signaling Laboratory University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy Laramie, Wyoming 82071  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The culinary benefit of chili peppers is known for decades. Previous research works have identified the benefits of chili peppers for treating pain and metabolic diseases.  Recently, we have discovered that CAPSAICIN, the chief ingredient in natural chili peppers, triggers the conversion of energy storing white adipocytes into energy expending brown like (Beige or brown in white, BRiTE, cells). This increases thermogenesis and counters  high fat diet-induced obesity without modifying energy intake (in other words, without causing appetite suppression). Our published research clearly demonstrates the expression of capsaicin receptor in the white and brown adipose tissues and activation of these receptors (TRPV1, transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily 1) by capsaicin underlies its anti-obesity effect. Since capsaicin is pungent, we have developed a polymer coated orally bioavailable formulation of capsaicin. This polymer coating decreases the burst release of capsaicin, which reduces its pungency. Also, the polymer coating sustains the release of capsaicin for longer period of time, which will enhance its (capsaicin’s) bioavailability in the body. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Cocaine, Genetic Research / 17.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Cocaine concealed in washing powder” by The National Crime Agency is licensed under CC BY 2.0 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing neuropsychiatric disease that affects 15.5 million people in Europe at a cost of 65.7 billion euros per year. All addictive drugs have in common to cause an artificial increase in the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine, a very basic effect that can be found in all studied animal species from the fly to the man. The release of dopamine takes place in a region of the brain called the ventral striatum, or Nucleus Accumbens (NAc), which is directly involved in reward and reinforcement processes. An excess of dopamine release by the dopaminergic neurons projecting to the NAc from the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) triggers long-term changes in the brain, which can lead to addiction. Cocaine is a prototypical addictive drug, since it is heavely abused in Western societies and extensively studied in animal models as well as humans. We discovered that mice lacking the Maged1 gene showed a marked decrease in cocaine-elicited release of dopamine in the NAc and were entirely unresponsive to cocaine at behavioral level. In fact, they did not show any behavioral reaction normally observed after cocaine treatment, such as cocaine-elicited hyperlocomotion, sensitization (an increased effect of the drug following repeated administrations) or addictive behaviors, such as increased preference for places where the animal expects to obtain a cocaine reward or cocaine self-administration. In a subsequent set of experiments, the researchers tried to identify what brain regions are responsible for Maged1 influence on cocaine effects and found that Maged1 expression is specifically required in the prefrontal cortex, and not in the neurons producing dopamine in the VTA, for the development of cocaine sensitization and dopamine release.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, JACC, Outcomes & Safety / 17.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Mamas Mamas (BM BCh, MA, DPhil, MRCP) Professor of Cardiology at Keele University and an Honorary Professor of Cardiology at the University of Manchester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Discharge against medical advice occurs in 1 to 2% of all medical admissions but little / no data around how frequently this occurs in the context of PCI or the outcomes associated with such a course of action. We undertook this study to understand both how commonly discharge against medical advice occurs, the types of patients it occurs in and outcomes in terms of both readmission rates and causes of readmisison.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, JAMA / 17.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David L. Brown, MD, FACC Professor of Medicine Cardiovascular Division Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, MO 63110 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is very little high quality data for use of IVC filters in general and no high quality data for using them in the population of patients who have had a DVT or PE and have a contraindication to anticoagulation. However, this is the patient population for which filters are most commonly placed. Using administrative, observational data, we found that IVC filter placement in this all-comer population was associated with an increased risk of 30-day mortality after adjusting for baseline differences and immortal time bias. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Nutrition, Stroke / 16.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Milk” by Mike Mozart is licensed under CC BY 2.0Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, PhD, FAHA Assistant Professor Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences University of Texas Houston, TX 77030-3900 | MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our research adds to a growing body of evidence showing no harm in relation to heart disease or overall mortality associated with consumption of whole-fat dairy foods. The findings also indicate that one of three fatty acids present in dairy fat was linked to lower risk of stroke among older adults. To the best of our knowledge, ours was the first large study to use repeated measures of fatty acids over time and evaluate association with mortality in older adults, which allowed us to expand and contribute to this important debate regarding fat intake and health. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, PLoS / 16.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “TOMATOES” by RubyGoes is licensed under CC BY 2.0Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Wilfried Schwab Technical University of Munich Center of Life and Food Science Weihenstephan Biotechnology of Natural Products Freising, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The prevalence of food allergy is an increasing health problem. Although tomatoes are one of the most consumed vegetables worldwide and have health beneficial effects lowering the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, patients suffering from birch pollen allergy can develop cross-reactivity after consumption of fresh tomatoes. The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method for the quantification of the birch-pollen homologous allergen Sola l 4 in various tomatoes cultivars. Furthermore, the effect of conventional or organic cultivation as well as processing techniques on Sola l 4 content was investigated. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pain Research / 16.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, FASCO Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology Leader, Breast Cancer Program Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center Columbia University Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Aromatase inhibitors are effective in reducing the risk of recurrence in hormone sensitive breast cancer, however they commonly cause joint pain and stiffness that can lead to early discontinuation of treatment. We know that women who stop early do not get the same benefits as those who continue for the full duration. Acupuncture has been shown to improve a variety of pain syndromes. We conducted a large multicenter trial among women with joint pain on aromatase inhibitors and randomized patients to true acupuncture, sham acupuncture and a waitlist control arm. We found that acupuncture resulted in more pain reduction than the other 2 control groups. Measuring pain can be challenging in clinical trials. We now know that a meaningful reduction for a patient is 2 points on a 10 point scale. We found that nearly 60 percent of women in the true acupuncture group experienced at least a 2-point reduction in pain, versus 33 percent of the sham acupuncture group and 31 percent of the controls. These results where highly statistically significant.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, JAMA, OBGYNE / 15.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Pearson, PhD Lecturer in Psychiatric Epidemiology Centre for Academic Mental Health School of Social & Community Medicine University of Bristol MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: We know depression and anxiety are common in young women and during pregnancy when there are also implications for the developing child. It is therefore important to investigate whether symptoms are rising given the pressures of modern life. We found that compared to their mothers generation in the 1990s young pregnancy women today are more likely to be depressed. This was driven largely by symptoms of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed rather than feeling down.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Circadian Rhythm, Microbiome, Occupational Health, PNAS / 15.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hans Van Dongen, PhD Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center. ELSON S. FLOYD COLLEGE OF MEDICIN Washington State University Spokane, WA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Night shift workers are at increased risk of metabolic disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and cancer. Although it is believed that the biological clock – the master circadian clock in the brain – plays an important role in these adverse chronic health consequences of night shift work, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. (more…)
Author Interviews, Schizophrenia, Technology / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bo Cao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry University of Alberta Edmonton MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder that comes with delusions, hallucinations, poor motivation, cognitive impairments. The economic burden of schizophrenia was estimated at $155.7 billion in 2013 alone in the United States. Schizophrenia usually emerges early in life and can potentially become a lifetime burden for some patients. Repeated untreated psychotic episodes may be associated with irreversible alterations of the brain. Thus, it is crucial to identify schizophrenia early and provide effective treatment. However, identifying biomarkers in schizophrenia during the first episode without the confounding effects of treatment has been challenging. Limited progress has been made in leveraging these biomarkers to establish diagnosis and make individualized predictions of future treatment responses to antipsychotics. In a recent study by Dr. Cao and his colleagues, they successfully identified the first-episode drug-naïve schizophrenia patients (accuracy 78.6%) and predict their responses to antipsychotic treatment (accuracy 82.5%) at an individual level by using a machine learning algorithm and the functional connections of a brain region called the superior temporal cortex.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Neurology, Stroke / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Perttu J. Lindsberg, MD, PhD Professor of Neurology Clinical Neurosciences and Molecular Neurology Research Programs Unit, Biomedicum Helsinki University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The past 20 years in shaping the Helsinki model in stroke thrombolysis have proven that we can be very fast in examining the patient, completing the imaging and starting thrombolytic therapy. This is a university hospital center that receives roughly three stroke suspects per day for evaluation of recanalization therapies. Already seven years ago we were able to push the median ’door-to-needle’ time permanently below 20 minutes. What we had not been monitoring was how well we had kept up the accuracy of our emergengy department (ED) diagnostic process. Prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) have been trained to focus on suspecting thrombolysis-eligible stroke and we usually get also pre-notifications of arriving stroke code patients during transportation, but the diagnosis on admission is an independent clinical judgment as the CT findings are largely nondiagnostic for acute changes. The admission evaluation of suspected acute stroke is therefore a decisive neurologic checkpoint, building the success of acute treatments such as recanalization therapy, but is complicated by differential diagnosis between true manifestations of stroke and numerous mimicking conditions. Although we have invested a lot on training and standardized ED procedures, time pressure and therapy-geared expectations may blur the diagnostic process. With this background, we embarked on an in-depth-analysis of the admission and final diagnoses of stroke code patients, as well as misdiagnoses, immediate treatment decisions and their consequences. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, PLoS / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nine-banded armadillo image credit: Dr. Richard Truman, USPHS, Public Domain (2014)John S. Spencer, Ph.D. Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Where can armadillos be found? What are the main findings?  Response: The ancient disease leprosy, a disease causing skin lesions, nerve damage, disfigurement and disability, is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, and is mainly spread by aerosol infection (coughing and sneezing) from human to human. It is rare in the United States (less than 200 cases on average per year), while it is endemic in Brazil, where over 25,000 new cases were diagnosed last year. In addition, zoonotic transmission of leprosy by nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcintus, pictured at left) has been shown to occur in the southern United States, mainly in Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Nine-banded armadillos originated from South America, and expanded their range from Mexico into Texas in the 1800’s, eventually spreading north and east throughout the gulf states. People in Brazil, particularly in rural areas, hunt and kill armadillos as a dietary source of protein. In the small town of Belterra in western Pará state in the Brazilian Amazon region, a survey of 146 residents showed that around 65% of people had some contact with armadillos, through hunting, preparing the meat for cooking, or by eating them. A group of individuals who ate armadillos most frequently (more than once per month and up to twice a week) had a significantly higher antibody titer towards the M. leprae-specific antigen PGL-I and an almost two-fold higher risk of being diagnosed with disease, a significant risk.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jennifer L. Kuk, PhD Associate Professor York University School of Kinesiology and Health Science Toronto, Ontario MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Most of the literature on metabolic health obesity has shown that individuals with 'metabolically healthy obesity' are still at increased mortality risk. However, most of these studies have defined healthy as zero or one metabolic risk factor.  This is problematic as hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia alone increase your mortality risk and should preclude you from the 'healthy' group. We show that individuals with obesity and no other metabolic risk factors are no more likely to die than normal weight individuals with no metabolic risk factors.  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Environmental Risks / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Subaru cars waiting for ride” by JackeOb is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0Dr. Peng Liu, Assistant Professor Department of Industrial Engineering College of Management and Economics Tianjin University, China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Self-driving vehicles promise to considerably reduce traffic crashes. However, they cannot eliminate all crashes. On March 18, 2018, a female pedestrian was killed after being struck by an autonomous Uber vehicle in the self-driving mode in Arizona, USA. This fatal crash triggered a widespread public debate over the safety of self-driving vehicles. So, how safe is safe enough for self-driving vehicles? Our findings show that our participants implicitly think self-driving vehicles should be four to five times as safe as the current human-driven vehicles.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Neurological Disorders, Neurology, Personalized Medicine, Radiology, Surgical Research / 13.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yasser Iturria-Medina, PhD Primary Investigator, Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery Faculty of Medicine McGill University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are millions of patients following therapeutic interventions that will not benefit them. In this study, we aimed to illustrate that it is possible to identify the most beneficial intervention for each patient, in correspondence with the principles of the personalized medicine (PM). Our results show that using multimodal imaging and computational models it is possible to predict individualized therapeutic needs. The predictions are in correspondence with the individual molecular properties, which validate our findings and the used computational techniques. The results highly also the imprecision of the traditional clinical evaluations and categories for understanding the individual therapeutic needs, evidencing the positive impact that would have to use multimodal data and data-driven techniques in the clinic, in addition to the medical doctor's criterion/evaluations.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, PLoS, UCSF / 12.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lara Cushing PhD Assistant Professor of Health Education, College of Health and Social Sciences San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA 94132 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: More and more countries are adopting cap-and-trade programs as a way to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to address climate change. These efforts can lead to short-term health benefits because when you reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you usually also reduce emissions other harmful air pollutants that can cause cardiovascular disease, asthma and cancer. However, environmental equity concerns were raised early on about whether cap-and-trade would result in localized differences in emissions reductions that would also result in uneven reductions in harmful co-pollutants, such as particulate matter and air toxics. This is because companies can trade pollution permits under a cap-and-trade system and choose to buy more permits rather than reduce their emissions locally. Prior studies show that low income communities and communities of color are much more likely to live near polluting industries. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Microbiome, UCSF / 12.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: James R. Bagley, PhD Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Director, Muscle Physiology Lab Co-Director, Exercise Physiology Lab Research Director, Strength & Conditioning Lab San Francisco State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The human body contains many billions of bacteria cells, and the type of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract (termed gut microbiota) has been linked to certain diseases. Most of your gut microbiota falls into two categories: Firmicutes (F) or Bacteroidetes (B). The relative gut F/B ratio has been used to assess microbiota health. Our study was the first to examine potential relationships among F/B ratio and cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and diet in healthy young men and women We recruited 37 healthy adults to undergo a battery of physiological tests and collected stool samples to analyze their gut F/B ratio using qPCR. We found that F/B ratio was significantly correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness, but with no other variables. In fact, this correlation was so strong that a person’s fitness level explained ~22% of the variance in their gut bacteria composition. (more…)
Author Interviews / 12.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: James Beck, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer Adjunct Associate Professor Department of Neuroscience and Physiology New York University Langone School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The most frequently cited study for prevalence in the US was based on a door-to-door survey conducted in 1978 in a rural county in Mississippi.  Only 26 cases of Parkinson’s disease (PD) were identified.  That has been extrapolated to our current US population of 330,000,000 people.  To give a sense of how long ago that was, Microsoft was considered a startup company.  Therefore, to provide an improved estimate of who has Parkinson’s disease, the Parkinson’s Foundation lead the Parkinson’s Prevalence study to do just that, using datasets that were from more geographically and ethnically diverse communities that can better reflect the US population as a whole. The main finding is that we know now that there are nearly 1,000,000 people living with PD – and that number is expected to increase dramatically as our population ages. (The biggest risk factor for Parkinson’s disease is age.) (more…)
Author Interviews, NYU, Sexual Health, Sleep Disorders / 11.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dustin T. Duncan, ScD Associate Professor Director, NYU Spatial Epidemiology Lab Department of Population Health NYU School of Medicine NYU Langone Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Sleep and sleep hygiene have emerged as one of the major determinants of health and wellbeing (alongside good diet, regular exercise, and not smoking). However, a small number of studies have used population-representative samples to examine sexual orientation disparities in sleep. Our study aimed to fill this gap in knowledge. (more…)