Author Interviews
20 Dec Zika Virus Infection in Pregnant Women in Rio de Janeiro
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30670" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Karin Nielsen[/caption]
Karin Nielsen, MD, MPH
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Director, Center for Brazilian Studies
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our research was a prospective study in which pregnant women in Rio de Janeiro who developed a rash in the last 5 days between the end of 2015 to mid 2016 were screened for possible infection with Zika virus by a special molecular test (PCR) which looked for the virus in blood or urine. Women who were found to have Zika virus in either blood, urine or both were followed throughout time to look for pregnancy and infant outcomes. We also followed women who had a negative PCR test for Zika as a comparison group. By July 2016, we had outcomes known for 125 Zika affected pregnancies, of these 58 had abnormal outcomes, with 9 fetal losses and 49 babies who had abnormal findings on physical exam or brain imaging, all consistent with neurologic abnormalities. This meant 46% of the pregnant women in our study had an abnormal pregnancy outcome, and 42% of live birth infants were found to have an abnormality in the first few months of life.
19 Dec How Strong is the Scientific Basis of Sugar Intake Guidelines?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30649" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Bradley Johnston[/caption]
Bradley C. Johnston, PhD
Prevention Lab, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute
Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning
Toronto, Ontario
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: I am scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children and a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Toronto and McMaster University in Canada. I have a particular interest in research methodology and preventive medicine. As a research methodologist I am interested in how researchers get to their conclusions. In particular I am interested in the “uncertainty” in estimated treatment or exposure effects.
Many guidelines have methodological issues but it was suspected that the nutritional guidelines were especially problematic. Our study in Annals of Internal Medicine set out to document the issues systematically with respect to sugar intake recommendations from authoritative guidelines.
19 Dec Marital History Linked to Survival After Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30645" align="alignleft" width="153"]
Dr. Mathew Dupre[/caption]
Matthew E. Dupre, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Community and Family Medicine &
Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI)
Duke University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: There have been a handful of recent studies showing how divorce and widowhood increase one’s risk of suffering a serious health event such as a heart attack or stroke. Our research is the first to show that an individual’s marital history can have significant consequences for their prognosis after having a stroke.
We found that people who never married and those with a history of marital loss were significantly more likely to die after suffering a stroke than those who were stably married. We also found that adults who experienced more than one divorce or widowhood in their lifetime were about 50% more likely to die after having a stroke than those in a long-term stable marriage. We were also somewhat surprised to find that remarriage did not seem to reduce the risks from past marital losses.
19 Dec Protein Loss in Urine Associated With Increased Risk of Dementia
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30638" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Kay Deckers[/caption]
Kay Deckers, MSc
PhD student
School for Mental Health and Neuroscience
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology
Maastricht University
The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In an earlier review (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25504093), we found that renal dysfunction was one the new candidate risk factors of dementia and needed further investigation.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: Albuminuria is associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment or dementia.
19 Dec Multiple Sclerosis: Brain Atrophy Linked to Leaked Hemoglobin
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30641" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Charles Bangham[/caption]
Charles Bangham PhD ScD
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine
Imperial College London
London, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease of the brain and spinal cord, often beginning in the 20s and 30s which can cause both attacks (relapses) and disability over time. Most people with the condition have intermittent episodes of illness at first, but about two-thirds go on to develop a progressive form, known as secondary progressive MS. In this form, there is a gradual loss of nerve cells in the brain, resulting in shrinkage of the brain and progressive disability.
Neither the initiating cause of Multiple sclerosis nor the reasons for this brain shrinkage are known, and existing treatments for the early phase of the condition are unsatisfactory.
18 Dec New Strategy for Malaria Control Uses Non-Toxic Steroid Agonists
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30621" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Catteruccia[/caption]
Flaminia Catteruccia PhD
Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Mosquito control via lethal insecticides is a key method for reduction of malaria transmission. As insecticide resistance is spreading, new intervention methods are urgent. Our study demonstrates that studies on mosquito biology can provide novel, much needed tools for malaria control. We show how key aspects of mosquito physiology and Plasmodium development can be significantly disrupted in the female Anopheles mosquito by agonists of the insect steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E). Modeling of the data predicts that the integration of 20E agonists in malaria control programs would significantly reduce malaria prevalence to a similar extent as insecticides, but without imposing severe costs to mosquito populations
17 Dec Cancer Susceptibility Genes Common In Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30499" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Heather Hampel[/caption]
Heather Hampel, MS, LGC
Associate Director, Division of Human Genetics
Associate Director, Biospecimen Research
Professor, Internal Medicine
Licensed Genetic Counselor
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbus, OH 43221
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This study was part of the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Prevention Initiative, a statewide study being conducted at 50 hospitals that includes universal tumor screening for Lynch syndrome. For the subset of 450 colorectal cancer patients diagnosed under age 50, we performed multi-gene cancer panel testing regardless of the results of their tumor screening for Lynch syndrome since early age of diagnosis is a red flag that a cancer might be hereditary.
17 Dec Does Skin Pigmentation Affect Accuracy of Pulse Oximetry in Infants?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30505" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Elizabeth Foglia[/caption]
Elizabeth Foglia, MD MSCE
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Attending Neonatologist
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive method of monitoring oxygen saturation that is frequently used to monitor ill newborns and infants. Previous studies of adults with hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels) demonstrated that pulse oximetry is less accurate in adults with dark skin, compared to adults with light skin. We sought to determine if skin pigment affects the accuracy of pulse oximetry in infants with hypoxemia.
We studied 2 widely used pulse oximeters, and we did not find evidence that skin pigment affects the accuracy of pulse oximetry in infants with hypoxemia.
However, the overall performance (combined accuracy and precision) of both oximeters was poor. In addition, one oximeter (the Nellcor Oximax) consistently overestimated the measured blood oxygen level.
17 Dec Gum Disease Linked to Autoimmunity in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Posted at 13:37h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Dental Research, Infections, Rheumatology, Science
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_30609" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Maximilian F. Konig[/caption]
Maximilian F. Konig, MD
Division of Rheumatology,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Current affiliation:
Department of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response:The idea that rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease that leads to chronic joint inflammation and destruction, may be initiated by a bacterial infection is not novel, but has been posited for more than a century. Based on the clinical observation that patients with RA frequently have severe periodontal disease (gum disease), gum inflammation has long been thought to contribute to disease development in RA. However, limited understanding of the mechanisms that fuel and sustain the autoimmune attack in RA made it difficult to pinpoint a specific bacterial trigger.
In recent years, our understanding of the abnormal immune response that attacks the joints in patients with RA has grown exponentially, and we now know that disease-specific autoantibodies (ACPAs) target modified self-proteins (this modification is known as citrullination). It is this abnormal immune response against citrullinated proteins that appears to drive the joint (and sometimes lung) inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis. Recent studies from our laboratory at The Johns Hopkins University (led by principle investigator Felipe Andrade, MD, PhD) suggested that an immune cell called the neutrophil, which normally protects us from infection at sites like the oral cavity or anywhere else in the body, also appears to be the source of the proteins attacked in RA. We were therefore interested to understand what drives the association of gum disease, an inflammation commonly triggered by bacteria, with RA.
17 Dec Annual Report of Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30605" align="alignleft" width="132"]
Dr. Frederick Grover[/caption]
Frederick L. Grover, M. D.
Professor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Past Chair, Department of Surgery
University of Colorado School of Medicine-Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, CO
Past President, Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Vice Chair, Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Following approval of the first transcatheter aortic heart valve late in 2011 the TVT-R was established and data entry was mandated by CMS for all patients who were undergoing transcatheter valve therapy. Data is currently collected on transcatheter aortic valves (TAVR) from two companies, transcatheter mitral clip procedures (TMC), transcatheter mitral valve in valve or valve in ring procedures and aortic valve in valve procedures. A report is published annually jointly in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS). This report contains data from the beginning of 2012 through December 31, 2015. Peoperative risk factors, operative details and outcomes data are collected prior to procedures, during the hospitalization, 30 days post procedure and at one year and later data can be collected by linking to CMS administrative data.
For this annual report we concentrated on touching on some of the highlights since the length of the manuscript is limited. We discussed the trends in TAVR, since this is the most common procedure performed, the last two years’ experience in mitral clips since a very detailed paper was published on this last year, and the mitral valve in valve and ring since the results for this procedure were impressively good.
In regard to TAVR, 418 sites perform this procedure and the number of cases in 2015 increased from 16,295 in 2014 to 24,808. Very importantly, mortality and complications have been decreasing each year, probably related to improvements in the technology with smaller catheter and sheath sizes leading to less vascular complications, greater experience of those doing the procedures, a less sick group of patients going initially from those too ill to do an open operation on, to very high risk to high risk according to approval criteria. The age of the patients however is most often in the 80s.
17 Dec MRI Can Better Diagnose Fetal Brain Abnormalities in-Utero
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof Paul D Griffiths, FRCR and Cara Mooney, Study Manager: MERIDIAN Clinical Trials Research Unit The University of Sheffield MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Around three in every 1000 pregnancies is complicated by a fetal abnormality. In the UK Ultrasonography (USS) has, for many years, been the mainstay of antenatal screening and detailed anomaly scanning to detect such abnormalities. However previous studies have suggested that in utero Magnetic Resonance (iuMR) imaging may be a useful adjunct to USS for detecting these brain abnormalities in the developing fetus. This study was designed to test the diagnostic accuracy and clinical impact of introducing fetal MR in to the diagnostic pathway. Our results show that iuMR has an overall diagnostic accuracy of 93% compared to ultrasound at 68%, this is an increase in diagnostic accuracy of 25%. When divided into gestational age group the improvement in diagnostic accuracy ranged from 23% in the 18-23 week group, and 29% in the 24 week and over group. IuMR provided additional diagnostic information in 49% of cases, changed prognostic information in at least 20% and the contribution to clinical management was felt to be at least ‘significant’ in 35% of cases. IuMR also had high patient acceptability with at least 95% of women stating that they would have an iuMR if a future pregnancy were complicated by a fetal brain abnormality.17 Dec Relationship Between Physician Burnout and Quality of Care
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30593" align="alignleft" width="128"]
Dr. Salyers[/caption]
Michelle P. Salyers Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology
Director, Clinical Psychology Program
Director, ACT Center of Indiana
Affiliated Scientist, Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis, IN
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Professional burnout among healthcare providers is receiving more attention in research and in public press. There have long been speculations that the level of burnout may be related to quality of care provided, and many studies have been done linking provider burnout with different aspects of quality of care.
This study brings together that literature, to summarize and quantify the link between professional burnout in healthcare provider and the quality of care they provide. We were able to combine data from 82 independent samples, across health care disciplines, settings, and types of quality indicators. We found small to medium relationships between provider burnout and indicators of quality of care.
17 Dec STEM Enrichment Activities Did Not Improve Math or Science Scores
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30588" align="alignleft" width="162"]
Dr. Banerjee[/caption]
Pallavi Amitava Banerjee, PhD
Lecturer, Graduate School of Education
University of Exeter, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Science technology engineering mathematics skills are highly valued in the UK as in most other developed countries of the world. Concerns were raised in the past by the Royal Society, Science Council and other learned societies and the UK Parliament about the insufficient number of young people wanting to take up these subjects beyond school. What then followed were a range of STEM enrichment and enhancement activities delivered at the local and national level. These activities were run to help young people appreciate science and math better to break the myth that these are only for the brainy. Students from secondary schools did hands-on practical activities, had STEM ambassador visits and several other events organized.
16 Dec Bleeding Risk Reduction in Relation to Predicted Factor IX Levels in Hemophilia B Patients Receiving Idelvion (rIX-FP)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30583" align="alignleft" width="140"]
Dr. Jerry Powell[/caption]
Jerry Powell MD
Medical Director
North America Commercial Operations
CSL Behring
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The new IDELVION results presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) are from a pooled analysis of clinical studies from the global PROLONG-9FP clinical development program. The analysis assessed the relationship between estimated factor IX activity levels and clinical bleeding risk in adult hemophilia B patients treated with IDELVION using prophylaxis or on-demand (episodic) treatment.
The PROLONG-9FP clinical development program included five Phase I through Phase III open-label, multicenter studies evaluating the pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of IDELVION in children and adults with hemophilia B.
16 Dec Young Smokers Have Drastic Increase in Heart Attack Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30578" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Kevin Campbell[/caption]
Dr. Kevin Campbell MD FACC
Wake Heart and Vascular
Assistant Professor of Medicine, UNC School of Medicine
Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology in Raleigh, Smithfield and Wilson
North Carolina
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In this study, data was analyzed from nearly 1800 patients who had ST elevation MI. Findings were published in Heart. They found that younger smokers (age under the age of 50) had an 8-fold increased risk of acute STEMI , when compared to ex- and never smokers.
In addition, researchers found that current smokers of all ages were 3.26 times more likely to have STEMI than ex- and never-smokers—suggesting that if you stop smoking, you can reduce your risk for heart attack.
16 Dec Cellular Reprogramming May Slow or Reverse Aging
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30573" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Belmonte[/caption]
Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte PhD
Professor, Roger Guillemin Chair
Salk Institute of Biological Science's Gene Expression Laboratory
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Previous studies from different laboratories including ours demonstrated that cellular reprogramming to pluripotency has the capacity to rejuvenate old cells in culture (in a dish) to a younger state. In 2011, we published a study in Nature demonstrating that cellular reprogramming could rejuvenate cells from patients suffering from Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a premature aging syndrome. The current study started after this publication back in 2012 and the two major questions that we had were:
-Could partial, but not complete, cellular reprogramming rejuvenate cells?
-Could partial reprogramming rejuvenated cells in a living organism improving its health and lifespan?
16 Dec Child Abuse By Members of Military May Be Grossly Underreported
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30569" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Joanne Wood[/caption]
Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Research Director, SafePlace
Faculty, PolicyLab
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Each year the U.S. Army Family Advocacy program (FAP) investigates between 6000 to 9000 reports of alleged abuse or neglect involving children of Army service members. In approximately 48% of reported cases FAP determines a child was a victim of maltreatment, substantiates the report, and collaborates with local civilian child protection service (CPS) agencies in providing services and ensuring safety. Thus, FAP plays a key role in supporting Army families and protecting children. But FAP can only investigate and respond to cases of child abuse and neglect about which they are aware.
16 Dec PCSK9 Inhibitor Praluent Substantially Reduced LDL-C Cholesterol
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30566" align="alignleft" width="100"]
Dr. Eli Roth[/caption]
Dr. Eli M. Roth MD, FACC
President, Medical Director
Sterling Research Group
Cincinnati, OH
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: At this year’s AHA 2016, we presented a pharmacodynamics analysis of ODYSSEY CHOICE I, which evaluated the effects of Praluent 300 mg administered every four weeks (Q4W) for 24 weeks in hypercholesterolemia patients at moderate to very high cardiovascular risk who were on maximally tolerated statin or no statin and/or other lipid-lowering therapies.
The pharmacodynamic analysis of CHOICE I in patients on statins supports the use of Praluent 300 mg Q4W as an alternative starting dose for patients who prefer a Q4W dosing regimen and demonstrates the value of LDL-C based dosing interval adjustment. The findings from this analysis were consistent with prior ODYSSEY Phase 3 studies, showing that Praluent substantially reduced circulating free PCSK9 concentration, resulting in significant LDL-C reductions. Additionally, Praluent was generally well tolerated.
16 Dec Preventing Telomere Shortening May Delay Some Chronic Diseases and Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30561" align="alignleft" width="70"]
Dr. Jerry Shay[/caption]
Jerry W. Shay PhD
Professor
Department of Cell Biology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What did you find?
Response: Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes and they gradually shortened with every cell division. There have been multiple studies proposing that shortened telomeres correlate with human aging. Most cancers overcome the shortening of telomeres and aging by activating the enzyme, telomerase. Surprisingly, the human telomerase gene (hTERT) is very close to the telomere on chromosome 5p. During human development telomerase is active until about 18 weeks of gestation. It has been a mystery until this present work of what actually causes telomerase to become silenced. We found in this current work that when telomeres are long during development the telomere loops over and helps to silence the telomerase gene. However, as we age and telomeres get progressively shorter, then telomerase becomes permissive for activation and possibly initiation of cancer. This study in part explain why most cancers are in the 65 and older segment of the population.
16 Dec Results of Molecular Testing Highly Influenced By Type of Genetic Test
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30502" align="alignleft" width="142"]
Dr. C. Anthony Blau[/caption]
C. Anthony Blau, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology
University of Washington School of Medicine
Co-Director, University of Washington Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine
Director, Center for Cancer Innovation
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Matching cancer treatment to the molecular composition of a patient’s tumor holds promise for making cancer therapies more effective, and molecular testing for cancer patients has become widespread in recent years.
Recently molecular testing of tumor samples has been complemented by blood tests that characterize tumor DNA that has been shed into the bloodstream. Blood tests are attractive because they are much less invasive than obtaining tumor tissue via biopsies.
16 Dec Physicians Perceive Health Insurance as Barrier to Weight Management Efforts
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ruchi Doshi, MPH MD Candidate 2017 | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Current guidelines recommend that physicians collaborate with non-physician health professionals to deliver weight management care. While several studies have looked at barriers physicians face in providing these services, few studies have looked at the barriers that the non-physician health professionals face. Ultimately, we found that one quarter of these health professionals found insurance coverage to be a current challenge to providing weight management care, and that over half of them felt improved coverage would help facilitate weight loss. These findings were consistent regardless of the income level of the patient populations.16 Dec AARP: Retail Price of Brand Name Drugs Rising Sharply
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30552" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Leigh Purvis[/caption]
Leigh Purvis, MPA
AARP PPI Director of Health Services Research
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This report is part of an ongoing series that AARP has been publishing since 2004. The report focuses on brand name prescription drugs that are widely used by older Americans and found that, on average, their retail prices increased almost 130 times faster than general inflation in 2015. The report also found that the average annual cost for one brand name medication used on a chronic basis was more than $5,800 in 2015, almost $1,000 higher than the average annual cost of therapy in 2014.
16 Dec How Does Candida Elude the Immune System?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30421" align="alignleft" width="144"]
Prof. Al Brown[/caption]
Professor Alistair J P Brown DSc FSB FAAM FRSE
Aberdeen Fungal Group, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology,
University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences,
Foresterhill, Aberdeen UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Most of us harbor the yeast Candida albicans, and most of the time it does us no harm. However, under certain circumstances it can break out to cause nasty infections of the mouth or genitalia (thrush), or potentially fatal infections in vulnerable intensive care patients. Indeed, over half of women will suffer at least one episode of vulvovaginal candidiasis in their lifetime, and over 5% of women suffer recurrent episodes (four or more episodes per annum). Also, it has been estimated that there are over 400,000 life-threatening systemic Candida infections worldwide per annum, of which over 40% are fatal (see Science Translational Medicine (2012) vol. 4, 165rv13). A key to this is the potency of our immunological defenses: the weaker our defenses the more vulnerable we are to fungal infection. Therefore, we in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Medical Mycology – and other groups worldwide – are studying the mechanisms by which our immune cells recognize and kill invading Candida cells, thereby protecting us from infection.
16 Dec Technical and Clinical Considerations for Facial Feminization Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Raúl J. Bellinga, MD, FEBOMS FACIALTEAM Surgical Group, Marbella High Care International Hospital, Marbella, Málaga, Spain MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Feminization rhinoplasty is one of the most common and important procedures in Facial Feminization Surgery. In this study our surgical group has evaluated...
16 Dec Non-Invasive Interface Allows Subjects To Control Objects With Just Thoughts
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30535" align="alignleft" width="118"]
Dr. Bin He[/caption]
Bin He, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Engineering in Medicine
Director, Center for Neuroengineering
Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Medtronic-Bakken Endowed Chair for Engineering in Medicine
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This work is aimed at developing a noninvasive brains-computer interface to allow disabled patients to control their environment by just thinking about it.
We found 8 human subjects were able to accomplish 3D reach and grasp tasks without using any muscle activities but just thinking about it.
16 Dec Active Memory Blocker Prevents Experiences During Sleep From Being Remembered
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Long-term memory after an experience takes many hours to be reach its final form. During the consolidation period, the nascent memory is labile: the consolidation can be interrupted by new experiences, or new experiences that are too insignificant to be remembered can capture the consolidation process, and thereby be remembered. To avoid potentially maladaptive interactions between a new experience and consolidation, a major portion of the consolidation is deferred to the time in which we sleep, when new experiences are unlikely. For over 100 years, studies have demonstrated that sleep improves memory formation. More recent studies have shown that consolidation occurs during sleep, and that consolidation depends on the synthesis of products that support memory formation. Consolidation is unlikely to be shut off immediately when we are awakened from sleep. At this time, even a transient experience could capture the consolidation, leading to a long-lasting memory of an event that should not be remembered, or could interfere with the consolidation. We have identified a mechanism that prevents long-term memories from being formed by experiences that occur when awakened from sleep.15 Dec Anti–HIV Drug Candidate Prevents Intestinal Inflammation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Jamal Tazi Director, Institute for Molecular Genetics CNRS and University of Montpellier and Executive Committee Member ABIVAX MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Its long been established that people with HIV, even those treated successfully with antiretroviral treatment, exhibit significantly higher levels of chronic inflammation than HIV-negative people. The causes of this inflammation are many – ongoing viral replication, often in the so-called viral reservoirs, leaky gut syndrome, concomitant viral infections (eg CMV, hepatitis etc).15 Dec Surgery Versus 5% Imiquimod for Nodular and Superficial Basal Cell Carcinoma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hywel C. Williams DSc, FMedSci, NIHR Senior Investigator Director of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta Professor of Dermato-Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology, http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cebd/index.aspx University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham UK [caption id="attachment_30519" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Basal Cell Skin Cancer-Wikipedia image[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our clinical trial of 5% imiquimod cream versus surgery for low risk basal carcinoma (BCC) of the skin was first prompted by a shocking lack of randomised controlled clinical trials for what is the commonest form of human cancer.
We had conducted a Cochrane systematic review prior to starting the study and found very few long term studies. An emerging literature on imiquimod cream at the time suggested that it might have a clinically useful effect for low risk BCC. All the studies were short term and industry supported, so with the support of Cancer Research UK (UK largest cancer charity), we undertook a large independent study to see how the cream compared to the reference standard of excision surgery with a 4mm margin for low risk superficial and nodular BCC.
Our three year results, published in Lancet Oncology, showed that surgery is clearly superior to imiquimod cream, with a success rate (absence of initial failure and no signs of recurrence at 3 years) of 98.4% compared to 83.6% for imiquimod. Nevertheless, the 83.6% success rate is still potentially useful, so we wanted to see whether these 3 year results were sustained. So we followed up your study participants for a total of 5 years and found that the response rates at 5 years were almost the same as those at 3 years (97.7% and 82.5% for surgery and imiquimod respectively).
Most treatment failures with imiquimod occurred early on ie in the first year of treatment. Our study shows that if initial treatment works, the benefits are sustained.
15 Dec Interventions to Improve Rate of Successful Extubation in Preterm Infants
Posted at 13:08h
in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA, Pediatrics, Pulmonary Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kristin N. Ferguson, BSc
The Royal Women’s Hospital and
Deakin University
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Weaning preterm infants from mechanical ventilation, thereby minimising the risks of having an endotracheal tube in situ which may further damage their fragile lungs, is something all neonatal clinicians are keen to do. We provide clinicians with a straightforward list of safe and effective strategies to help them in this task, as well as pointing out some treatments to either avoid or use with caution.