Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, PLoS, Vitamin D / 22.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42650" align="alignleft" width="130"]Cedric F. Garland, Dr.P.H., F.A.C.E. Adjunct Professor Division of Epidemiology Department of Family Medicine and Public Health University of California San Diego La Jolla, California 92093-0620 Dr. Garland[/caption] Cedric F. Garland, Dr.P.H., F.A.C.E. Adjunct Professor Division of Epidemiology Department of Family Medicine and Public Health University of California San Diego La Jolla, California 92093-0620 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Studies mapping death rates from female breast cancer in the US, the former USSR and Canada by Drs. Edward Gorham, and Frank and Cedric Garland revealed for the first time in history that death rates from breast cancer tracked latitude where people lived. The rates were highest in the least sunny northern tier of states, lowest in the sunny southwest. This led these scientists to be the first to theorize that vitamin D prevents breast cancer” said study first author Sharon McDonnell.
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Sexual Health / 22.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42641" align="alignleft" width="128"]Billy A. Caceres, PhD, RN, AGPCNP-BC NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing New York, NY 10010 Dr. Caceres[/caption] Billy A. Caceres, PhD, RN, AGPCNP-BC NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing New York, NY 10010 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Although current evidence, primarily based on self-reported data, suggests gay and bisexual men report higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors (such as poor mental health and tobacco use) than heterosexual men, few studies have examined heart disease risk in this population. This study is one of the few studies to examine heart disease risk in gay and bisexual men using biological measures. Using data from a nationally representative sample we identified higher rates of mental distress, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes among bisexual men compared to exclusively heterosexual men after adjusting for traditional risk factors (demographic characteristics, mental distress, and health behaviors). We also included men who identified as heterosexual but report a history of same-sex sexual behavior. Gay and heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men displayed similar risk profiles to exclusively heterosexual men.
Author Interviews, Hospital Acquired, Infections / 22.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42636" align="alignleft" width="309"]CRE bacteria - CDC image CRE bacteria - CDC image[/caption] Richard Stanton, PhD Health Scientist, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) that occurred in an acute care hospital in Kentucky over a six month period in late 2016. The outbreak included 18 cases of CRE.
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, PLoS, Probiotics / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42623" align="alignleft" width="133"]Daniel Reis MA Graduate Student Clinical Psychology University of Kansas Daniel Reis[/caption] Daniel Reis MA Graduate Student Clinical Psychology University of Kansas MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Probiotics have generated considerable interest as a possible treatment for numerous forms of physical and mental illness. Preliminary evidence from both preclinical and clinical studies suggest that probiotics may be able to reduce anxiety. Our goal was to comprehensively review and summarize existing preclinical and clinical studies. Overall, probiotic administration reduced anxiety-like behaviors in rodents, but only in those with some form of experimentally-induced disease (such as early-life stress or socieal defeat). Probiotics did not reduce anxiety in humans.
AACR, Aging, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Melanoma / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42605" align="alignleft" width="200"]Ashani Weeraratna, Ph.D. The Ira Brind professor and Co-program leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program The Wistar Institute Member of Wistar’s Melanoma Research Center Philadelphia  Dr. Weeraratna[/caption] Ashani Weeraratna, Ph.D. The Ira Brind professor and Co-program leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program The Wistar Institute Member of Wistar’s Melanoma Research Center Philadelphia  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response:  This study shows for the first time that older patients, especially those who have had prior MAPKi therapy fare better than younger patients when treated with anti-PD1. We found that tumors in younger patients and younger mice have higher levels of Tregulatory cells, the cells that regulate other immune cells. This is not true systemically, only within the tumor microenvironment. We were surprised because we expected that, as with targeted therapy, older patients would have a poorer response to immunotherapy, given what we perceive as a poorer immune system in older patients. 
Author Interviews, Bone Density, Dermatology, Osteoporosis / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24142" align="alignleft" width="128"]Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois Dr. Jonathan Silverberg[/caption] Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Persons with atopic dermatitis have a number of risk factors for osteopenia and osteoporosis, including systemic atopy and inflammation, being less physically active and using a lot of topical and/or systemic corticosteroids. We aimed to determine whether adults with atopic dermatitis in fact have higher rates of physician-diagnosed osteopenia and osteoporosis.
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lipids / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42545" align="alignleft" width="135"]Dr. Stephen Burgess PhD Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit University of Cambridge Dr. Burgess[/caption] Dr. Stephen Burgess PhD Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Lipoprotein(a) is a lipoprotein subclass, and an important biomarker for coronary heart disease. As a clinical biomarker, it has a similar story to LDL-cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), in that it is thought to be a causal risk factor for coronary heart disease, and so is a potential target for drug development. However, while drugs that lower LDL-cholesterol, such as statins, have been successful in reducing coronary heart disease risk, drugs that lower lipoprotein(a) have not as yet been successful. New drugs are currently in development that specifically target lipoprotein(a) and can lower lipoprotein(a) concentrations by 80-90%. We performed this study to investigate whether these drugs are likely to be successful in reducing coronary heart disease risk. We compared individuals with naturally-occurring genetic variants that predispose them to a higher or lower lifetime concentration of lipoprotein(a) as a way of mimicking a randomized controlled trial. This approach has previously been undertaken for other biomarkers, including LDL-cholesterol. We found that having 10mg/dL lower genetically-predicted concentration of lipoprotein(a) was associated with a 5.8% reduction in coronary heart disease risk. However, associations between genetically-predicted LDL-cholesterol and coronary heart disease risk are quantitatively much stronger than the proportional effect of LDL-cholesterol lowering on coronary heart disease risk as estimated by statin trials. This is because differences in genetic variants reflect lifelong changes in LDL-cholesterol, whereas statin trials only lower LDL-cholesterol for a few years. Hence, using the ratio between the genetic and trial estimates for LDL-cholesterol, we estimate that lowering lipoprotein(a) by 10mg/dL in a short-term clinical trial would only reduce coronary heart disease risk by 2.7%. To obtain the same reduction in coronary heart disease risk of around 20% as observed in statin trials, lipoprotein(a) would have to be lowered by around 100mg/dL. This explains why previous trials of less specific and less potent lipoprotein(a)-lowering drugs have failed to demonstrate benefit.
Author Interviews, JAMA, Karolinski Institute, Mental Health Research, PTSD, Rheumatology / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42513" align="alignleft" width="150"]Huan Song Associated Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet Huan Song[/caption] Huan Song Associated Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Earlier findings from our group (e.g. Fang et al., NEJM 2012; Arnberg et al., Lancet Psychiatry 2015; Lu et al., JAMA Oncol 2016; Shen et al., BMJ 2016; Zhu et al., Ann Oncol 2017) have identified pathways through which stressful events contribute to deterioration in human health. With strong animal models and human data supporting a role of stress in immune dysregulation, the hypothesis linking mental distress with autoimmune is indeed plausible. However, the evidence is as yet limited to clinical observations and a few larger observational studies on US veterans, most of them on men only, and some of which have cross-sectional designs and various other methodological shortcomings.
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Heart Disease, JACC, Medical Imaging / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42363" align="alignleft" width="125"]Jeffrey M. Levsky, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Radiology Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology) Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center  Dr. Levsky[/caption] Jeffrey M. Levsky, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Radiology Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology) Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Millions of Americans are evaluated each year for acute chest pain in the Emergency Department.  There are multiple modalities that can be used to triage these patients and there have only been a few studies comparing different imaging methods. We chose to study Stress Echocardiography and Coronary CT Angiography, two exams that have not been compared directly in this population.  We found that Stress Echocardiography was able to discharge a higher proportion of patients in a shorter amount of time as compared to Coronary CTA. 
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42587" align="alignleft" width="200"]Thomas Hadberg Lynge MD The Department of Cardiology The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark Dr. Hadberg Lynge[/caption] Thomas Hadberg Lynge MD The Department of Cardiology The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Congenital heart defects are common and affect ≈0.8% of all live births. Despite substantially improve survival over the past decades, morbidity and mortality remain significant, in particular among patients with complex congenital heart defects. This decreased life expectancy is in part explained by an increased risk of sudden cardiac death among people with congenital heart defects. However, the incidence of sudden cardiac death among people with congenital heart defects is largely unknown in an unselected and nationwide setting. Sudden cardiac death can occur both at rest and during exercise and it is well-known that exercise is associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death during activity. Fear of sudden cardiac death has led to restrictions of physical activity among patients with congenital heart defects and these patients have lower levels of physical activity compared with healthy peers. Appropriate counseling of these patients requires estimates on risk of sudden cardiac death in relation to physical activity. Nationwide fetal ultrasound screening was implemented in Denmark in 2005 and this together with improved surgical and medical treatment during the study period, is likely to have changed the epidemiology of sudden cardiac death in people with congenital heart defects. It was therefore also an important aim of the study to examine temporal changes in sudden cardiac death in people with congenital heart defects.
Author Interviews / 20.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42567" align="alignleft" width="160"]Juergen Hahn Professor and Department Head Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Prof. Hahn[/caption] Juergen Hahn,  Professor and Department Head Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a large group of early‐onset developmental disorders that are collectively characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication as well as the expression of restricted, repetitive behaviors and interests. ASD is currently estimated to affect 1 in 59 children in the US. Despite this high prevalence, relatively little is know about the pathophysiology of ASD. The result of this is that no lab test exists for ASD and the diagnosis is based upon observations of the child. The average age of diagnosis is 4 years of age, but it is generally acknowledged that diagnosis at 2 years of age is possible and desirable.
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, PLoS / 20.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Alcohol” by zeevveez is licensed under CC BY 2.0Andrew Kunzmann Research Fellow Queen's Universit Belfast MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: We decided to conduct this research because the messages about the health effects linked to light-moderate drinking are less consistent. Previous studies suggest that light-moderate drinking is linked to an increased risk of cancer but a lower risk of mortality than never drinking. The international guidelines around what constitutes drinking in moderation also differ, with UK guidelines now recommending intakes below 6 pints of beer or 175ml glasses of wine per week (equivalent to less than 1 per day) but other guidelines recommending intakes of 2 drinks or less per day. We wanted to see what the risk of getting either of these conditions (cancer or mortality) were to give a more comprehensive and less confusing message about the health effects of light-moderate drinking. This was part of a well-established collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast and the National Cancer Institute in the US. We used data from a cancer screening trial in the US that contained data on over 100,000 people from the US, who were free from cancer at the start of the study and who completed a questionnaire asking how much alcohol they consumed at different periods of their adult life. This was then linked to data over an average of 9 years after they completed the questionnaire to see which individuals developed cancer or died from any cause. We then assessed whether risk of cancer and mortality differed based on lifetime alcohol intakes after accounting for a number of other factors such as age, educational attainment, smoking and dietary intakes.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, JACC / 20.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42561" align="alignleft" width="200"]Martin J Holzmann MD, PhD Dr. Holzmann[/caption] Martin J Holzmann MD, PhD Functional Area of Emergency Medicine Department of Internal Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We wanted to investigate how the introduction of the new high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) assay affected incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) use of coronary angiography, cardiac revascularizations, and prognosis in patients with myocardial infarction. We found that the incidence of MI increased by approximately 5%, with no change in mortality, but with an 11% reduced risk of reinfarctions, and a small increase in coronary angiographies, and cardiac revascularizations by 16%, and 13%, respectively. 
Author Interviews, CDC, JAMA, NIH, Weight Research / 20.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42530" align="alignleft" width="200"]Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD, MRP Chief, NHANES Analysis Branch Epidemiologist, NCHS/CDC Hyattsville, MD 20782 Dr. Ogden[/caption] Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD, MRP Chief, NHANES Analysis Branch Epidemiologist, NCHS/CDC Hyattsville, MD 20782 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: 40% of adults and over 18% of youth in the US have obesity. Disparities in obesity have been reported by demographics and urbanization. We looked at the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity by demographics and by level of urbanization – rural, small/medium metro and large urban. We also looked at trends over time in urban and rural areas. Obesity and severe obesity rates were higher in rural areas than large urban areas among adults. Among youth, severe obesity rates were higher in rural areas compared to large urban areas. Differences in age, smoking, education or race/ethnicity between urban and rural areas did not explain the differences we found between urban and rural areas. Between 2001-2004 and 2013-2016 severe obesity among men in rural areas more than tripled and among women more than doubled. Increases in severe obesity also occurred in urban areas in men and women but they were not nearly as large.
Author Interviews, CMAJ, OBGYNE / 19.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Birth” by Sharon Mollerus is licensed under CC BY 2.0Giulia Muraca, PhD, MPH Postdoctoral Fellow School of Population and Public Health BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute Faculty of Medicine University of British Columbia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: While cesarean delivery rates have increased in Canada over the last few decades, as in most industrialized settings, the rate of forceps and vacuum deliveries have declined. These opposing trends have led to recommendations to increase forceps and vacuum delivery rates as a strategy to reduce cesarean delivery rates. We found that the rate of obstetric trauma in Canada increased significantly in recent years, especially among forceps deliveries. In first-time mothers, the rate of obstetric trauma increased by 7% among forceps deliveries (from 19.4% in 2004 to 26.5% in 2014) and in women who had a previous cesarean delivery, the rate of obstetric trauma among forceps deliveries increased by 9% (from 16.6% to 25.6%). We found that a 1% increase in the forceps and vacuum delivery rate in Canada was associated with approximately 700 additional cases of obstetric trauma and 18 additional cases of severe birth trauma annually among first-time mothers alone. 
Addiction, Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Opiods / 19.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42541" align="alignleft" width="184"]Marc R. Larochelle, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Boston University School of Medicine Boston MA Dr. Larochelle[/caption] Marc R. Larochelle, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Boston University School of Medicine Boston MD  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In this study we examined more than 17,000 individuals who survived an opioid overdose in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2014. We were interested in identifying how many went on to receive one of the three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and whether or not they were associated with mortality. We found that only 3 in 10 received MOUD and that receipt of buprenorphine and methadone were associated with 40-60% reduction in all-cause and opioid-related mortality. We found no association between naltrexone and mortality though the confidence of this conclusion is limited by the small number who received naltrexone in this cohort.
Author Interviews, Pain Research, Rheumatology, Weight Research / 19.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42538" align="alignleft" width="200"]Wake Forest professor of Health and Exercise Science Steve Messier, Friday, June 15, 2018. Prof. Messier[/caption] Professor Steve Messier Director of the J.B. Snow Biomechanics Laboratory J.B Snow Biomechanics Laboratory Wake Forest University MedicalResearch.com: Why did you undertake this study? Response: This was a secondary analysis of the Intensive Diet and Exercise for Arthritis (IDEA) clinical trial originally published in JAMA in 2013, Volume 310, Number 12, pages 11263-1273. We were interested to see if losing 20% of your body weight had any additional benefits compared to a 10% weight loss that we previously have shown to be beneficial.
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Pediatrics, PLoS, Toxin Research / 19.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42533" align="alignleft" width="200"]Cheryl Rosenfeld PhD DVS Professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, and research faculty member for the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurobehavioral Disorders University of Missouri Dr. Rosenfeld[/caption] Cheryl Rosenfeld PhD DVS Professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, and research faculty member for the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurobehavioral Disorders University of Missouri MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: My laboratory has been examining the effects of developmental exposure to the endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), bisphenol A (BPA) on later neurobehavioral responses in a variety of rodent models, including California mice. This species is unique in that both parents rear the pups and they have monogamous social structure, similar to most human societies. We had previously found that developmental exposure to BPA or another EDC, ethinyl estradiol (EE), disrupted later maternal and paternal care by F1 offspringto their F2 pups. Rodent pups use vocalizations both in the range of human hearing (20,000 hertz or below) and outside of the range of human hearing (20,000 hertz) to communicate with each other and their parents, and for the latter, such communications serve as a trigger to provide additional parental care in the form of nutrition or warmth to the pups. Thus, in the current studies we sought to determine if exposure of the grandparents to BPA or EE could lead to disruptions in their grandoffspring (F2 generation) pup communications that might then at least partially account for the parental neglect of their F1 parents. We found that early on female BPA pups took longer to call to their parents but later during the neonatal period they vocalized more than pups whose grandparents were not exposed to either chemical. Such vocalization changes could be due to multigenerational exposure to BPA and/or indicate that the pups are perceiving and responding to the reduced parental care and attempting but failing to signal to their F1 parents that they need more attention.
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Gastrointestinal Disease, Pediatrics / 18.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42526" align="alignleft" width="300"]“button battery of Apple Remote” by tsurutakoji is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Example of Button Battery[/caption] Kris R. Jatana, MD, FAAP, FACS Associate Professor Director, Pediatric Otolaryngology Quality Improvement Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Nationwide Children's Hospital & Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: More than 2,500 pediatric button battery ingestions occur annually in the United States. When lodged in the esophagus, rapid injury can occur from the tissue and saliva connecting the circuit of the battery. Serious injury can occur in a matter of hours. This results in a highly alkaline caustic injury that dissolves tissue, a process called liquefactive necrosis. There was a need for novel mitigation strategies to slow the progression of esophageal injury caused by presence of a button battery. This study aimed at identifying a palatable liquid that can be given at home or hospital setting to reduce esophageal injury until the battery can be removed.
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Gout, Heart Disease, Rheumatology / 18.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Gout in my foot” by vagawi  is licensed under CC BY 2.0Seoyoung C. Kim, MD, ScD, MSCE Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Since patients with gout are at an increased risk of cardiovascular events, we wanted to examine comparative cardiovascular safety of the two most commonly used urate-lowering drugs – febuxostat and allopurinol. Using claims data from US Medicare, we conducted a cohort study of 24,936 febuxostat initiators PS-matched to 74,808 allopurinol initiators. We found the risk of the primary cardiovascular endpoint (MI or stroke) was similar between the two groups. Analyses on secondary endpoints as well as all-cause mortality showed similar findings except that febuxostat was associated with a modestly reduced risk of heart failure exacerbation among patients with preexisting heart failure. In our sensitivity analysis, the risk of all-cause mortality associated with long-term use of febuxostat v. allopurinol appears to be increased but statistically not significant.
Author Interviews, Orthopedics, Rheumatology / 18.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42517" align="alignleft" width="300"]Hip Replacement NIH Image Hip Replacement
NIH Image[/caption] Samuel Hawley | Research Assistant (NIHR PhD Project) | Pharmaco- and Device Epidemiology Group | Centre for Statistics in Medicine | NDORMS | University of Oxford  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The aim was to disentangle some of the potential reasons for the recent decline in joint replacement rates among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in the developed world. The main findings from our UK patient-level analysis indicated that joint replacement rates were not significantly different for users of TNF inhibitors versus the patients who remained only on conventional synthetic DMARDS, however we did find that TNF inhibitor use amongst older RA patients was associated with a 40% reduction in hip replacement rates.
AHA Journals, Allergies, Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 17.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Lone Star Tick” by Katja Schulz is licensed under CC BY 2.0Jeffrey Wilson, MD, PhD Research Fellow, Allergy & Immunology University of Virginia  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Galactose-α-1,3-galactose (α-Gal) represents an oligosaccharide that is present in mammalian products and is the causal allergen in a syndrome of delayed red meat allergy (commonly called α-Gal syndrome). Sensitization to this allergen has been linked to tick bites, specifically the lone star tick in the United States. Thus, sensitization to α-Gal (and the prevalence of subjects with symptomatic red meat allergy) is relatively common where the lone star tick is common, i.e- the southeast. For a variety of reasons we hypothesized that specific immune sensitization (which relates to IgE antibody production) to α-Gal would be a risk factor for coronary artery disease. To address this possibility we measured IgE specific to α-Gal in 118 adults subjects from central Virginia who had undergone advanced cardiac imaging with a technique called intravascular ultrasound. Out of the cohort 26% of the subjects in the study had the sensitivity to α-Gal. The main finding was that subjects with the IgE sensitization to α-Gal had greater amounts of atherosclerosis, as well as atherosclerotic plaques with more unstable characteristics. This association was significant when controlled for traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and lipids levels.
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Infections, Zika / 17.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Bromeliad” by Selena N. B. H. is licensed under CC BY 2.0André Wilke, Ph.D. Post Doctoral Associate Division of Environment & Public Health Department of Public Health Sciences University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Clinical Research Building Miami, Florida 33136 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As vector-borne diseases pose an increasing public health threat to communities in South Florida and elsewhere, a new study led by public health researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has revealed that ornamental bromeliad plants contribute to breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito—a key culprit for the Zika outbreak that hit Miami-Dade County and other areas of Florida and the Americas in 2016. In addition to Zika, bites from the Aedes aegypti mosquito can cause dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya. Zika has been linked to microcephaly and other birth defects in unborn babies when pregnant women contract the disease. The family of diseases linked to the Aedes aegypti can cause other severe symptoms. Yellow fever can be fatal.
Author Interviews, Infections, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Vaccine Studies / 17.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42486" align="alignleft" width="200"]Sylvia Becker-Dreps, MD MPH Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine Associate Director, Office of International Activities (Latin America Focus) Director, UNC Program in Nicaragua University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7595 Dr. Becker-Dreps[/caption] Sylvia Becker-Dreps, MD MPH Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine Associate Director, Office of International Activities (Latin America Focus) Director, UNC Program in Nicaragua University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7595 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Pertussis (or whooping cough) is a respiratory infection caused by bacteria. It has been becoming more common in the US over the past two decades. Infants are more likely to be hospitalized and die of the disease. They are especially vulnerable in the first months of life because they have not yet had time to complete the DTaP vaccine series themselves. (Currently, infants receive 3 doses of DTaP at 2,4, and 6 months of age.) Immunizing mothers allows the mothers to pass antibodies against pertussis through the placenta and provide passive immunity to infants early in life. In early 2013, the CDC recommended that pregnant women receive a Tdap vaccine in every pregnancy. That recommendation was based on studies of the immune response to the vaccine, not real cases of pertussis. Our study examined clinical cases of pertussis in over 675,000 infants throughout the US. We found that in the first six months of life, infants of vaccinated mothers (those that received Tdap during pregnancy) had 75% less pertussis hospitalizations and 50% less pertussis cases overall. 
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Rheumatology / 16.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42495" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr. Lisa van Baarsen PhD Principal Investigator at the Amsterdam Rheumatology and Immunology Cente Academic Medical Center the Netherlands. Dr. van Baarsen[/caption] Dr. Lisa van Baarsen PhD Principal Investigator at the Amsterdam Rheumatology and Immunology Cente Academic Medical Center the Netherlands  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The discovery that autoantibodies can be present years before the onset of clinical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) enables us to study autoantibody positive individuals who are at risk of developing RA. In patients with established disease the target tissue of RA, the synovial joints, is characterized by cellular infiltration and inflammation. Moreover, successful therapy decreases this synovial inflammation. In the past, our department already showed (PMID: 21177292; PMID: 24574210) that in autoantibody positive at risk individuals there is no overt cellular infiltration present in the synovium. In the current study we performed a so called discovery-based approach to investigate at a genome-wide gene expression level (using microarrays) whether the synovium is altered at a molecular level before onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Our molecular and microscopic studies on synovial biopsies obtained from autoantibody positive individuals indeed revealed interesting differences between those at risk individuals who developed disease after follow up and those who did not.
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Opiods / 16.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42483" align="alignleft" width="137"]Herbie Duber, MD, MPH, FACEP Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine Adjunct Associate Professor Department of Global Health Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation University of Washington Dr. Duber[/caption] Herbie Duber, MD, MPH, FACEP Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine Adjunct Associate Professor Department of Global Health Adjunct Associate Professor Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation University of Washington MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Opioid use disorder (OUD) and opioid overdose deaths are a rapidly increasing public health crisis.  In this paper, we review and synthesize current evidence on the identification, management and transition of patients from the emergency department (ED) to the outpatient setting and present several key recommendations. For patients identified to haveOpioid use disorder, we recommend ED-initiated mediation-assisted therapy (MAT) with buprenorphine, an opioid agonist.  Current evidence suggests that it safe and effective, leading to improved patient outcomes.  At the same time, a coordinated care plan should be put into motion which combines MAT with a rapid transition to outpatient care, preferably within 72 hours of ED evaluation.  Where possible, a warm handoff is preferred, as it has been shown in other settings to improve follow-up.  Outpatient care should combine MAT, psychological interventions and social support/case management in order to maximize impact
Author Interviews, Rheumatology / 16.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maarten Boers, MSc, MD, PhD Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics VU University Medical Center--F wing MedFac Amsterdam, Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Mortality in rheumatoid arthritis is increased. Recent (short-term) studies suggest the situation is improving, but in studies with long (>10-year) follow up the increased mortality persists. We have been following a trial cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients treated right from the beginning of disease (the COBRA trial) for 23 years and now, for the first time, show normal mortality compared to the general population.
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Johns Hopkins / 15.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42477" align="alignleft" width="174"]Prurigo Nodularis credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine Prurigo Nodularis
credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine[/caption] Dr. Shawn Kwatra MD Assistant Professor of Dermatology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what is meant by prurigo nodularis?  Response: Prurigo nodularis is a skin condition where patients develop extremely itchy nodules throughout the body. Little is known about why this happens or which groups of people are predisposed to develop this condition. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response We found that prurigo nodularis disproportionately affects African-Americans as compared to the general population. Diabetes, Hepatitis C, chronic kidney disease, and HIV are also more common in patients with prurigo nodularis than the general population or patients with other inflammatory skin diseases studied, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. We also found that people with prurigo nodularis are more likely to be depressed than patients with other inflammatory skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis or psoriasis. 
Addiction, Author Interviews, Cannabis, Mental Health Research / 15.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Cannabis sativa” by Manuel is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Leen Naji, BHSc, MD Family Medicine Resident McMaster University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Cannabis use has consistently been linked to suicide attempt in the general population, but little data exists linking the association between cannabis use and suicide attempt amongst patients with psychiatric disorders. This is important data as we know that patients with psychiatric disorders are both more likely to use cannabis and to attempt suicide. Therefore, our goal was to study the association between cannabis use and suicide attempt amongst patients with psychiatric disorders. Additionally, since we know that women are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders, are more likely to attempt suicide and are more likely to incur the deleterious consequences of drug use at lower doses, we sought to compare the association between cannabis use and suicide attempt in men and women amongst our study population. We conducted our analysis on a large sample of over 900 adults with psychiatric disorders (465 men, 444 women), of whom 112 men and 158 women had attempted suicide. The average age of our study sample was 40 years. We found that cannabis use is not associated with an increased risk of suicide in patients with psychiatric disorders, though this association may vary when looking at specific subpopulations and/or amount of cannabis use. For instance, we found that heavier cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of suicide attempt amongst men with psychiatric disorders. Specifically, there was a 3% increased risk of suicide attempt for every day of cannabis use per month in men with psychiatric disorders. We also found that amongst those with psychiatric conditions, women, unemployed individuals and those with a mood disorder were at increased risk of suicide attempt.