Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Kidney Disease / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rita Magriço MD Hospital Garcia de Orta Almada, Portugal 
  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The SPRINT trial showed that in non-diabetic patients with high cardiovascular risk, intensive systolic blood pressure treatment (<120 mmHg) was associated with lower rates of major cardiovascular events and mortality. However, intensive treatment was unexpectedly associated with increased kidney function decline. We thought that lowering blood pressure could compromise kidney perfusion, evaluated by mean arterial pressure (MAP). If so, the magnitude of MAP reduction was expected to be associated with kidney function decline. We hypothesized that a greater difference between the baseline MAP and the lowest achieved MAP may be associated with a higher risk of kidney function decline. Our analysis supports this hypothesis. We discovered that MAP reduction >20 mmHg in patients with a target systolic BP <120 mmHg was associated with higher incidence of kidney function decline. The benefit-risk balance of intensive treatment seemed to be less favourable with greater MAP reduction. Prospective studies evaluating the effect of MAP reduction in addition to hypertension treatment target on kidney function decline and cardiovascular events are warranted. (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Global Health / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “air pollution, beijing” by 大杨 is licensed under CC BY 2.0Longjian Liu, M.D., Ph.D. MSc (LSHTM), FAHA Associate Professor Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Dornsife School of Public Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor, College of Medicine Drexel University Nesbitt Hall-RM515, 3215 Market ST Philadelphia PA, 19104  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This is an international collaborative project, supported by Drexel Office of International Programs, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The main findings are air pollution has posted a serious public health issue in China, specifically in urban cities. MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report? Response: Air pollution is an international issue, we must take action, specifically in developing counties with rapid urbanization, like China.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Mayo Clinic, NEJM / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. TorresVicente E. Torres, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the Mayo Clinic Translational Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Experimental work pioneered by Dr. Jared Grantham showed that cyclic AMP, an intracellular signaling molecule, promotes the development and growth of cysts. Vasopressin, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, stimulates the production of cyclic AMP in the collecting ducts, from which most cysts derive in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). While this effect of vasopressin is necessary for the kidneys to concentrate and reduce the volume of urine, it promotes the development and growth of cysts in patients with ADPKD. Dr. Vincent Gattone realized that inhibiting the action of vasopressin could be protective in polycystic kidney disease. Work in our and other laboratories confirmed that suppression of vasopressin production, release or action reduces cyst burden, protects kidney function, and prolongs survival in rodent models of the disease. This experimental work provided a strong rationale for clinical trials of tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist. Tolvaptan reduced the rate of kidney growth in the TEMPO 3:4 trial, in patients with early ADPKD. It also reduced the rate of decline in kidney function, measured by the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), from 10.1 to 6.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 over three years. The eGFR benefit was maintained during two additional years when all the patients were treated with tolvaptan in an open label extension of the TEMPO 3:4 trial (TEMPO 4:4). Safety laboratory tests performed every four months showed elevations of liver transaminases in blood in 4.4% of tolvaptan and 1% of placebo-treated patients. Three of 1,271 tolvaptan-treated patients during TEMPO 3:4 and TEMPO 4:4 had evidence of potentially serious drug-induced liver injury. These abnormalities occurred all within the first 18 months of exposure to tolvaptan. Based on the TEMPO 3:4 results, tolvaptan was approved for the treatment of rapidly progressive ADPKD in Japan, Canada, European Union, Switzerland and South Korea. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration requested additional data to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of this drug. The REPRISE trial was performed to determine the efficacy and safety of tolvaptan in patients with later stage ADPKD. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Opiods, Pain Research / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sebastiano Mercadante, MD Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit and Pain Relief and Palliative Care Unit La Maddalena Cancer Center Department of Anesthesia, Intensive Care & Emergencies University of Palermo Palermo, Italy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are many clinical experiences suggesting that methadone, when optimally used by skilled physicians, has invaluable properties in the management of cancer pain. Methadone used as first opioid may provide interesting advantages due to the low tendency to induce tolerance, while providing a clinical profile similar to that of other opioids. Moreover, methadone possesses other extra-opioid effects that can be of interest. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yue-Harn Ng, MD University of New Mexico MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: ​African Americans (AA) have a higher incidence of end-stage renal disease but lower rates of kidney transplantation (KT) compared to whites (WH).  Disparities persist after adjusting for medical factors.  We assessed the relationship of non-medical (eg. cultural, psychosocial, knowledge) factors with kidney transplantation wait-listing (WL) within the context of racial differences. ​In this longitudinal cohort study, we found that African American patients were less likely to be wait-listed compared to White patients.  This difference was influenced by factors including age, comorbidities, socio-economic status, being on dialysis, having a living donor, transplant knowledge and social support. (more…)
Author Interviews, Fertility, Geriatrics, Kidney Disease / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Silvi Shah, MD, FACP, FASN| Assistant Professor Division of Nephrology University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Elderly represent the fastest growing segment of incident dialysis patients in Unites States. The annual mortality in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients is very high ~ 20%. Since most of the deaths occur in the first year of dialysis, it is possible that health conditions present prior to initiation of dialysis may impact long-term outcomes. In this study, we determined the impact of poor functional status at the time of dialysis initiation and pre-dialysis health status on type of dialysis modality, type of hemodialysis access and one-year mortality in elderly dialysis patients. We evaluated 49,645 adult incident dialysis patients (1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008) from the United Data Renal Data System (USRDS) with linked Medicare data for at least 2 years prior to dialysis initiation. Mean age of our study population was 72 years. At dialysis initiation, 18.7% reported poor functional status, 88.9% has pre-dialysis hospitalization, and 27.8% did not receive pre-dialysis nephrology care. Patients with poor functional status had higher odds of being initiated on hemodialysis than peritoneal dialysis, lower odds of using arteriovenous access as compared to central venous catheter for dialysis and higher risk of one-year mortality. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Kidney Disease / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Charat Thongprayoon, MD Bassett Medical Center Cooperstown, NY 13326 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We conducted a meta-analysis including 5 observational studies with 536,902 patients to assess the risks of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and/or end-stage kidney disease (ESRD) in patients who are taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and/or H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs). We found a statistically significant association between the use of PPI and 1.3-fold increased risk of CKD or ESRD development. Compared with H2Ras, the use of proton pump inhibitors was significantly associated with 1.3-fold higher risk for CKD development. Conversely, there was no significant association between the use of H2RAs and chronic kidney disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, NEJM, UCLA / 05.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bruno Péault PhD Professor and Chair, Vascular Regeneration Center For Cardiovascular Science MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine Scientific Director, BHF Laboratories The University of Edinburgh and Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095-7358 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Kidney, lung, liver, muscle, heart are among the many organs which can be severely affected by fibrosis, a natural scarring process whereby healthy tissues are replaced by a fibrous non-functional substitute. For instance, the billions of cardiac muscle cells that die after a heart infarct, consequently to blood supply interruption, are replaced by a fibrotic scar that cannot contract, reducing the capacity of the heart to pump blood, and leading often to heart failure. There is currently no efficient treatment of fibrotic scars, the basic cellular component of which is the myofibroblast, a cell of unremarkable appearance and unclear origin. The transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) molecule triggers fibrosis development after being activated, via the extra-cellular matrix, by αv integrins, which are adhesion molecules present at the surface of the target cells. To gain further insight into the cells that drive fibrosis in the heart and skeletal muscle, and explore ways to control this deleterious process, mice were used in which cells expressing the β receptor for PDGF (platelet derived growth factor) have been genetically tagged with a green fluorescent protein, a system previously used by Prof. Neil Henderson to trace fibrosis in the diseased liver (cells naturally expressing PDGFRβ are, in their vast majority, perivascular cells surrounding small blood vessels, as well as some interstitial fibroblasts). Skeletal muscle was injured by a small incision or with a targeted injection of cardiotoxin, a snake venom compound that locally kills myofibers, while the heart was damaged by prolonged infusion of angiotensin II. In both settings, progression of fibrosis was followed over time and contribution of green fluorescent cells – i.e. those expressing PDGFRβ – was assessed. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, Kidney Disease / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Silvi Shah, MD, FACP, FASN Assistant Professor, Division of Nephrology University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Elderly represent the fastest growing segment of incident dialysis patients in Unites States. The annual mortality in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients is very high ~ 20%. Since most of the deaths occur in the first year of dialysis, it is possible that health conditions present prior to initiation of dialysis may impact long-term outcomes. In this study, we determined the impact of poor functional status at the time of dialysis initiation and pre-dialysis health status on type of dialysis modality, type of hemodialysis access and one-year mortality in elderly dialysis patients. We evaluated 49,645 adult incident dialysis patients (1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008) from the United Data Renal Data System (USRDS) with linked Medicare data for at least 2 years prior to dialysis initiation. Mean age of our study population was 72 years. At dialysis initiation, 18.7% reported poor functional status, 88.9% has pre-dialysis hospitalization, and 27.8% did not receive pre-dialysis nephrology care. Patients with poor functional status had higher odds of being initiated on hemodialysis than peritoneal dialysis, lower odds of using arteriovenous access as compared to central venous catheter for dialysis and higher risk of one-year mortality. (more…)
Author Interviews, Geriatrics, Kidney Disease / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Charuhas Thakar, MD Professor Director of the Division of Nephrology Kidney CARE program University of Cincinnati MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Based on the plausibility that pre-dialysis health status can impact outcomes after initiation of chronic dialysis, we examined large national USRDS dataset with linked Medicare claims prior to dialysis. We found that 88% of patients who initiate dialysis experience at least one acute care hospitalization in two years preceding their dialysis start. If they do, that is associated with a significant increase in the risk of mortality at one year. We also examined effect of different types of hospitalizations in the pre-dialysis period – Cardiovascular, Infections, both, and neither of the two. There were statistical differences in the effect of type of hospitalization and post dialysis mortality. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Memory, Mental Health Research / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Keenan A. Walker, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is quite a bit of evidence linking immune function with dementia. For example, several of the risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease are known to play a key role in immune functioning and the regulation of inflammation. We conducted the current study to determine whether systemic inflammation earlier in life might be a risk factor for neurodegeneration decades later. This long temporal window allows us to get closer to understanding causality. That is, which comes first – systemic inflammation or brain volume loss. Using a large community sample, we found that individuals with higher levels of blood inflammatory markers during midlife tended to have smaller brain volumes in select regions and reduced memory ability as older adults. We found the strongest associations between systemic inflammation and brain volume loss in brain regions most vulnerable Alzheimer’s disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Insomnia, Kidney Disease / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jun Ling (Lucy) Lu, MD, CCRP Senior Clinical Research Coordinator in the Department of Medicine Csaba P Kovesdy MD FASN Fred Hatch Professor of Medicine Director, Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Nephrology Section Chief, Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis TN, 38163  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Around one third of the world’s population suffers from insomnia. Previous studies showed that sleep disorders affect the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the sympatho-adrenal system, which may cause abnormalities in several organ systems and pathways causing metabolic or cardiovascular abnormalities. However, there is inadequate evidence of an association between chronic insomnia and adverse renal outcomes. After examining 938,473 US veterans (4.4% of them had chronic insomnia) with baseline estimated eGFR >60 ml/min/1.73m2, we found that chronic insomnia is associated with a 43% higher risk of all-cause mortality, a 2.5-fold higher incidence of eGFR ≤45ml/min/1.73m2, a 2.3-fold higher ESRD risk, and with rapid loss of kidney function. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Kidney Disease / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Coffee Wikipedia imageMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Miguel Bigotte Vieira, MD Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte Lisboa, Portugal Response: An inverse relationship between coffee consumption and mortality has been reported in the general population. However, the association between caffeine consumption and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. We examined the association between varying levels of caffeine consumption and mortality among 2328 patients with CKD in a prospective nationwide cohort, using the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010. A dose-dependent inverse association between caffeine and all-cause mortality was observed in patients with CKD. This association was independent of influential factors including age, gender, race, annual family income, education level, estimated GFR, albumin/creatinine ratio, hypertension, smoking status, dyslipidemia, body mass index, previous cardiovascular events and diet: consumption of alcohol, carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids and fibers. Comparing with 1st quartile of caffeine consumption, adjusted HR for death was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.68-1.44) for 2nd quartile, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.60-1.01) for 3rd quartile and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.59-0.97) for 4th quartile (p=0.027 for trend across quartiles) (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Hormone Therapy, JCEM / 04.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexandra Ycaza Herrera, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Scholar Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Department of Psychology University of Southern California Los Angeles, Ca 90089  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: ​Previous research has shown that estradiol treatment after menopause can reduce the stress response when exposed to a stressor, including the cortisol response to stress. Other work has shown that stress can impair certain types of memory​. We wanted to test whether post-menopause estradiol treatment would not only attenuate the cortisol response to stress, but if it could also reduce the negative effects of stress on memory. In particular, we tested the effects on a type of memory called working memory. Working memory allows us to maintain and update information we need to readily access in short-term memory. For example, imagine you stop at the grocery store after work and only have a mental list of the items you need to make dinner. Working memory is the memory type engaged in helping you maintain and update your mental list of items as you grab items off the shelves and check them off your list. We recruited women through the Early versus Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol, a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Women who participated in our study had received nearly 5 years of either estradiol or placebo. We found that women receiving estradiol showed significantly smaller cortisol responses to stress and less of an effect of stress on working memory than women that had been receiving placebo. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology / 03.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexander Egeberg, MD PhD Gentofte Hospital Department of Dermatology and Allergy Denmark  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In recent years, a number of studies have examined associations between atopic dermatitis and various comorbidities.  However, although comorbidities are extensively being examined, cause-specific mortality in patients with atopic dermatitis has not been examined. We examined 8,686 adults with atopic dermatitis, and compared these with 86,860 age- and sex-matched individuals from the general population. In total, patients with atopic dermatitis had a 27% higher relative risk of all-cause mortality over a five-year period. Specific causes of death were due to infectious-, cardiovascular-, and urogenital diseases, respectively. (more…)
AHRQ, Author Interviews, Emergency Care / 03.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ruirui Sun, Ph.D. AHRQ MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Homeless people are more likely than the members of the general public to use emergency department (ED) services, and it is usually at teaching hospitals when they seek medical care (Kushel et al., 2001; Bowdler and Barrell, 1987). This Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Statistical Brief studies patient characteristics, insurance coverage and clinical profile of the ED visits among homeless individuals by hospital teaching status, during 2014 from eight States (AZ, FL, GA, MA, MD, MO, NY, and WI). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Cognitive Issues, HIV / 03.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM Department of Community Health Sciences Boston University School of Public Health Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicin Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center Boston , Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Many people living with HIV infection use alcohol and other drugs including marijuana. People with HIV infection are also susceptible to cognitive dysfunction from many causes from HIV infection itself to aging. The main findings were that among people with HIV and substance use disorder, lifetime marijuana and alcohol use were not associated with cognitive dysfunction, likely due to competing risks.  But current marijuana use was associated with cognitive dysfunction. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, CDC, Opiods / 03.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “no drugs” by Anderson Mancini is licensed under CC BY 2.0Julie K. O’Donnell, PhD Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The opioid overdose epidemic has killed over 300,000 Americans from 1999 to 2015—including 33,091 in 2015. Over this time, the epidemic has evolved from being primarily driven by prescription opioids to increasingly being driven by illicit opioids. The first wave of the epidemic began in 1999 with a steep increase in deaths involving prescription opioids, such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine. The second wave began in 2010 with rapid increases in overdose deaths involving heroin. The third wave of the epidemic began in 2013, with significant increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids—particularly those involving illicitly-manufactured fentanyl (IMF), which are commonly laced into heroin products. Most recently, the IMF market continues to evolve, with an ever-widening array of illicitly manufactured fentanyl analogs being distributed. This report indicates that over half of people in 10 states who died of opioid overdoses tested positive for fentanyl during the second half of 2016. The report found that out of a total of 5,152 opioid overdose deaths, almost 3,000 tested positive for fentanyl, and over 700 tested positive for drugs that have similar chemical structures to fentanyl (fentanyl analogs) – including the extremely potent fentanyl analog, carfentanil, which is used to sedate large animals. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Genetic Research / 02.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Mandy Peffers BSc MPhil PhD BVetMed FRCVS Wellcome Trust Clinical Intermediate Fellow Institute of Ageing & Chronic Disease Faculty of Health & Life Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The project was an extension of Louise Pease’s MSc research project in bioinformatics which aimed to re-analyse existing RNA-seq data to determine age related changes in gene expression in musculoskeletal tissues that may lead to the development of degenerative diseases.  From existing literature we identified that degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis and tendinitis were more prevalent in females and became more frequent following menopause.  We looked at the biology of the cohort we were trying to assess and discovered a gender imbalance, we hypothesised that this was why few results had been obtained from the original analysis. So we developed a research proposal that detailed extending the existing data to publicly available data and merging the experiments; to increase the number of replicates available and balance the experimental design.  We conducted multiple analyses and discovered that splitting samples by age and gender obtained the most significant results, and that whilst in a lot of cases the same genes were being differentially expressed, they were changing in opposite directions.  Louise remembered her statistics lecturer Gerard Cowburn (Ged) taught her about the assumptions of statistical tests, in particular covariance analysis (which has previously been used to show that age and gender do not affect gene expression) assumed that under the conditions being tested data points were not opposites.  Realising that this assumption had been violated by the data she began to think about what other assumptions we were working with and how to test their validity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Kidney Disease / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Miguel Bigotte Vieira MD Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte Lisbon, Portugal  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  An inverse relationship between coffee consumption and mortality has been reported in the general population. However, the association between caffeine consumption and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. We examined the association between varying levels of caffeine consumption and mortality among 2328 patients with CKD in a prospective nationwide cohort, using the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010. A dose-dependent inverse association between caffeine and all-cause mortality was observed in patients with CKD. This association was independent of influential factors including age, gender, race, annual family income, education level, estimated GFR, albumin/creatinine ratio, hypertension, smoking status, dyslipidemia, body mass index, previous cardiovascular events and diet: consumption of alcohol, carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids and fibers. Comparing with 1st quartile of caffeine consumption, adjusted HR for death was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.68-1.44) for 2nd quartile, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.60-1.01) for 3rd quartile and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.59-0.97) for 4th quartile (p=0.027 for trend across quartiles) (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Lipids, NEJM / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: M. Loredana Marcovecchio, M.D. Clinical Scientist and Professor David Dunger M.D. Director of Research Professor of Paediatrics University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The efficacy and safety of ACE Inhibitors and statins in adolescents have been shown in the context of hypertension and familial hypercholesterolemia, respectively. However, there is a lack of data on the long-term use of these drugs in those with type 1 diabetes and, in particular, there is no clear indication for their use in patients with increased albumin excretion. The Adolescent type 1 Diabetes cardio-renal Intervention Trial (AdDIT) was a multi-centre, international study, set up by investigators in the UK, Australia and Canada to explore if drugs already used to lower blood pressure (ACE inhibitors) and cholesterol levels (Statins) in adults with diabetes could reduce the risk of kidney, eye and cardiovascular disease in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. Neither ACE inhibitors nor statins significantly reduced the albumin-creatinine ratio during the 2-4 year trial period. However, some of the secondary outcomes suggest that the drugs may have important benefits. Treatment with the ACE inhibitor resulted in a 43% reduction in the rates of progression to microalbuminuria, which was not statistically significant, but it could have important clinical implications. Preventing even intermittent cases of microalbuminuria is known to reduce the future risk of kidney and cardiovascular complications. Statin therapy led to reduced levels of lipid levels, which could reduce long-term risk for cardiovascular complications. These findings could translate into long-term benefits, but follow-up of this unique cohort will be essential. The essential biological samples and data provided by the participants will continue to inform our future understanding and our options for effective therapies for this vulnerable group of young people with type 1 diabetes. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Flu - Influenza, Infections / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ana Falcón Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology National Center for Biotechnology Spanish National Research Council (CNB-CSIC) Madrid, Spain MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Influenza A virus (IAV) infection can be severe or even lethal in toddlers, the elderly and patients with certain medical conditions. Infection of apparently healthy individuals nonetheless accounts for many severe disease cases and deaths, suggesting that viruses with increased pathogenicity co-circulate with pandemic or epidemic viruses. IAV virulence and pathogenesis are dependent on complex, multigenic mechanisms involving the viral genetic characteristics, the host conditions, the virus-host interactions, and the host response to the infection. Influenza virus pathogenicity has been studied in depth for many years, and several amino acid changes have been identified as virulence determinants, however, a general pathogenicity determinant has not been characterized. A proportion of influenza virus particles have defective genome RNAs (Defective Viral Genomes-DVGs) due to internal deletions of viral segments. The DVGs have the 3’ and 5’ ends of the parental RNA segments, and most have a single, large central deletion that generates viral RNAs of 180–1000 nucleotides. The presence of DVGs potentiates the host response in cultured cells and in animal models and leads to attenuated infection, possibly through recognition of double-stranded RNA by receptors that activate antiviral signaling cascades. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eliot N. Mostow, MD, MPH Professor & Chair, Dermatology Section Department of Internal Mediciine Northeast Ohio Medical University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for the study is my continued interest in what is sometimes called health services research. That is, how do we improve our ability to deliver optimal medical care from a healthcare system perspective? Simply put, one of the most frequent criticisms about getting a dermatologist to see if patient is that there are delays in scheduling (wait times are too high). I’m not sure this is really justified, as it seems to take a long time to get into psychiatrists, gynecologists, and other specialists in our community as well. That being said, since I’m in the dermatology community and our community has been utilizing physician assistants and nurse practitioners more frequently for many years now, we thought it was worthwhile to explore whether this was having an impact on wait times to get a visit in a dermatologist’s office. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Chocolate, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jorge E. Chavarro, MD, ScD Associate Professor Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Channing Division of Network Medicine Department of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, MA 02115 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It is well known that sugared sweetened beverages (SSBs) promote excessive weight gain and obesity in children. The excess sugars in chocolate milk and other flavored milks puts them in a category that may be closer to sugared sweetened beverages than to plain milk. However, data on whether flavored milks promote weight gain is scarce. We followed a cohort of 5,321 children and adolescents over a four year period to evaluate whether intake of chocolate milks was related to weight gain. We found that children who increased their intake of flavored milk gained more weight than children whose intake of flavored milk remained stable over this period. Moreover, among those children who did not drink any chocolate milk at baseline, those who started drinking chocolate milk over the course of the study gained substantially more weight than children who remained non-consumers of chocolate milk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Environmental Risks, JAMA, OBGYNE / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yu-Han Chiu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D Department of Nutrition Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Animal experiments suggest that ingestion of pesticide mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations decreases the number of live-born pups. However, it is unclear whether intake of pesticide residues has any adverse effects in humans, especially for susceptible populations such as pregnant women and their fetuses. Therefore, in this study we examined the association of preconception intake of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables with pregnancy outcomes among 325 women undergoing assisted reproduction. A pesticide is far cheaper than pest control services, like termite control los angeles, so it makes sense why most farmers choose to use pesticide for their farmhouse and crops. However, this isn't necessarily the best procedure for human health, or consumption! We found that intake of high pesticide residue fruits and vegetables were associated with higher risks of pregnancy loss, while low pesticide residue fruit and vegetable intake was associated with lower risks of early pregnancy loss. These data suggest dietary pesticide exposure within the range of typical human exposure may be associated with adverse reproductive consequences (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 31.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alicia J. Kowaltowski, MD, PhD Professor of Biochemistry Departamento de Bioquímica, IQ, Universidade de São Paulo Cidade Universitária São Paulo, SP, Brazil MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We recently found that brain mitochondria from calorically-restricted animals can take up more calcium than mitochondria from animals that eat ad libitum (or "all they can eat"; doi: 10.1111/acel.12527). Calcium is a well-know regulator of energy metabolism, as is caloric intake, but this was the first evidence that limiting caloric intake changed calcium handling by mitochondria, the main hub for energy metabolism. As a result, we decided to investigate if this result was specific for the brain or happened in other tissues, focusing on the liver because of its central importance in metabolic control. We found that liver mitochondria from calorically-restricted mice take up substantially more calcium than ad libitum fed mice. We also found that this result is related to a change in the amount of ATP within the mitochondria; ATP can complex calcium ions effectively due to its negative charges. Finally, we were able to correlate the increase in calcium uptake by liver mitochondria to a very strong protection of caloric restriction livers against ischemia/reperfusion damage. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, Psychological Science, Social Issues / 31.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Angeline Lillard PhD Professor of Psychology University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Montessori education was developed in the first half of the last century, but has been subject to little formal research. Prior research on its outcomes was problematic in using poor control groups, very small samples, demographically limited samples, a single school or classroom, or poor quality Montessori, or data from just a single time point and limited measurements. This study addressed all these issues: it collected data 4 times over 3 years from 141 children, experimental children were in 11 classrooms at 2 high quality Montessori schools at which the control children were waitlisted and admission was done by a randomized lottery, family income ranged from $0-200K, groups were demographically equivalent at the start of the study, and many measures were taken. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Menopause, Ophthalmology, UCLA / 31.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anne L. Coleman, MD, PhD Center for Community Outreach and Policy, Stein Eye Institute David Geffen School of Medicine Director, UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health UCLA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cataracts are a leading cause of vision loss worldwide, and cataract surgery is an intervention that is known to be extremely effective to address the vision loss related to cataract. However, it is unclear if there are benefits of cataract surgery beyond vision improvement in people with cataracts. Previous studies have suggested that in addition to improving vision, cataract surgery may decrease the risk of fractures and accidents, improve mental health, and improve overall quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate the potential benefits of cataract surgery and to determine if cataract surgery was associated with increased survival in people with cataracts. (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, Opiods, Pain Research, Surgical Research / 31.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Philipp Gerner MD Candidate - Class of 2018 University of Massachusetts Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Over 1 million patients undergo total joint replacement surgery in the United States alone every year, with many experiencing significant pain postoperatively. These procedures often require large amounts of pain medication to keep patients comfortable, which historically has been treated with opioids. Currently, increasing awareness of safe opioid prescribing has created an increased interest in other ways to effectively treat post-operative pain without the dangers and side-effects of opioids. As part of an analysis of the impact of multimodal pain management (i.e. multiple drug classes or procedures to treat post-operative pain) and opioid usage, we conducted this study to considered how trends have changed over the last 10 years. Our data shows that opioid use for post-operative pain has declined substantially in patients undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA & TKA), two very common and often painful orthopedic procedures. Patients being treated with opioids alone for THA decreased from 47.6% in 2006 to 7.5% in 2016, with similar trends being seen in TKA patients. Importantly, our data also showed that patients are increasingly being treated with a multimodal approach to pain control; especially patients being treated with 3 or more different pain modalities increased sharply in the last 10 years for both procedures in our study. This allows patients the benefit of managing their pain without many of the side-effect associated with large doses of a single pain medication. This trend was found to be especially true in small and medium sized hospitals, compared to larger hospitals. With increasing emphasis on limiting opioid use, this data shows us that the medical community is actively pursuing alternate possibilities for successfully treating post-operative pain. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Nature / 30.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hyun Ji Noh PhD Computational Scientist, Medical and Population Genetics Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder, characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. OCD is estimated to affect roughly 80 million people worldwide, but its neurobiology remains poorly understood. To understand the disorder’s underpinnings, we searched for genetic mutations that are associated with OCD. For this, we first identified 608 genes that were most likely to be important  in OCD - some that have previously been identified in OCD-like behaviors in dogs and mice, and others in human autism, which also involves repetitive behaviors. We compared these genes in 592 people with OCD and 560 people without OCD, and found that 4 of these genes were significantly different between people with and without OCD: NRXN1, HTR2A, CTTNBP2 and REEP3. All of these four genes have important functions in the brain. Specifically, we found that the variants in NRXN1 are likely to change its ability to bind other synaptic proteins. Synaptic proteins link neurons together, and are critical for transmitting signals through the brain. We also found that the variants in CTTNBP2 and REEP3 don’t actually change the proteins made by these genes, but instead probably affect gene regulation (for example, how much of the protein is made). These ‘regulatory’ variants disrupt the binding of transcription factors (proteins that regulate expression of genes in the body) near the gene. (more…)