Author Interviews, JAMA, Nutrition, Social Issues / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD | Professor and Director Nutrition Coordinating Center Division of Epidemiology and Community Health School of Public Health, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55454-1087 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is interest in considering ways to reshape SNAP so that it better meets meet its objective to help families buy the food they need for good health. Prohibiting the purchase of foods such as soft drinks with SNAP benefits is one of the proposed program changes. Offering an incentive for the purchase of fruits and vegetables is another program change that is being discussed. Little is known about the effects of prohibitions and restrictions on food purchasing and consumption. Consequently, we carried out an experimental trial to evaluate effects. In our study we found that a food benefit program that includes both prohibitions on the purchase of less nutritious foods and incentives for purchasing nutritious foods may lead to a number of favorable changes in diet. To elaborate, we found those enrolled in a food benefit program that prohibited the purchase of sugar sweetened beverages, sweet bakes goods, and candies with food program benefits and provided a 30% financial incentive for fruit and vegetable purchases had a number of favorable dietary changes that were significantly different from changes among those enrolled in a food benefit program that had neither prohibitions or incentives. These favorable changes included reduced consumption of calories, sugar sweetened beverages, sweet baked goods, and candies; and increased consumption of fruit. The overall nutritional quality of the diet also improved. Fewer nutritional improvements were observed among those enrolled in food benefit programs that included prohibitions or incentives only. (more…)
Author Interviews, Autism, Biomarkers, JAMA, NIH, Pediatrics / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Yong Cheng, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow NIH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which affect about 1 in 68 children in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is an important moderator in neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity, and studies have suggested the involvement of BDNF in ASD. Although some clinical studies show abnormal expression of BDNF in children with ASD, findings have been inconsistent. Therefore, we undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature, using a meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize clinical data on blood BDNF levels in children with ASD, compared with healthy peers. (more…)
Author Interviews, JCEM, Microbiome, Pediatrics, Weight Research, Yale / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nicola Santoro, MD, PhD Associate Research Scientist in Pediatrics (Endocrinology) Yale University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study start from previous observations showing an association between the gut microbiota and obesity. Similarly to what previously described in adults and in children, we found an association between the gut microbiota and obesity. We took a step further and also observed that the gut flora is associated to body fat partitioning (amount of fat in the abdomen). Moreover, we observed that the effect of microbiota could be mediated by the short chain fatty acids a product of gut flora. (more…)
Author Interviews, ENT, Surgical Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with electrolube-surgicalTim Reese, president of Eagle Surgical Products, LLC, Sales and distribution company for Electro Lube® MedicalResearch.com: What is the background of Electro Lube®? Response: Developed in 2004, Electro Lube® is an anti-stick solution for electrosurgery designed to keep instruments clean. The product is a mixture of natural, non-synthetic, non-flammable, non-allergenic biocompatible phospholipids without any known side effects associated with patient use. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Opiods, Pain Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas Alfieri, PhD Director, Medical Affairs Strategic Research Purdue Pharma L.P. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: When researchers assess the abuse potential of opioids, they follow current FDA guidance, which stipulates that questions such as “Do you like this drug?” and “How much would you like to take this drug again?” be asked of recreational drug users. We think that assessing abuse potential among recreational users provides useful information, however, we believe that the questions designed to be asked of recreational users are not appropriate for use with pain patients. These items can confuse the liking of a drug for pain relief with the liking of a drug to get high – two very different reasons that a pain patient might want to take a drug again. In theory, abuse potential could be overestimated among pain patients because of the somewhat general nature of the items used in the survey instrument. (more…)
Author Interviews, Sexual Health / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Andrea Fagiolini, MD University of Siena Italy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have tested sexual and physiological responses to bright light and found that regular, early-morning, use of a light box – the same that we used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder - led both to increased testosterone levels and greater reported levels of sexual satisfaction in man with difficulty with sexual desire or with sexual arousal. We recruited 38 men who had been attending the Urology Department of the University of Siena and had a diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder or sexual arousal disorder – both conditions which are characterised by a lack of interest in sex. The 38 subjects were then divided the men into two groups. One group received regular treatment with a light box whereas the control (placebo) group was treated via a light box which had been adapted to give out significantly less light. Both groups were treated early in the morning, with treatment lasting half an hour per day. After two weeks of treatment or placebo, we found fairly significant differences between those who received the active light treatment and the controls. Before treatment, both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of around 2 out of 10, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction scores of around 6.3 – a more than 3-fold increase on the scale we used. In contrast, the control group only showed an average score of around 2.7 after treatment. Also, we found that testosterone levels increased in men who had been given active light treatment. The average testosterone levels in the control group showed no significant change over the course of the treatment – it was around 2.3 ng/ml at both the beginning and the end of the experiment. However, the group given active treatment showed an increase from around 2.1 ng/ml to 3.6 ng/ml after two weeks. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Opiods, Pain Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jaren Howard, PharmD, BCPS Associate Director, Medical Affairs Strategic Research Purdue Pharma L.P. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Opioid abuse, dependence, overdose, and poisoning (referred to collectively for the purposes of this study as “abuse”) represent a costly public health concern to payers. Excess annual costs for a diagnosed opioid abuser range from $10,000-$20,000 per patient. Current literature does not sufficiently address the drivers of excess costs in terms of medical conditions driving costs or places of service. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Geriatrics, Melanoma / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: José Antonio Avilés-Izquierdo, PhD Department of Dermatology Hospital Gregorio Marañón Madrid, Spain MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Melanoma is responsible for most of skin cancer-related deaths and the cancer with the highest cost per death and the highest lost of productive-life years in Europe. Despite the importance on early diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma, there are few studies analyzing the reasons that lead patients with melanoma to consult. The impact on prognosis in patients with melanoma according to who first detects melanoma have not been established. (more…)
Author Interviews, Opiods, Pain Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Angela DeVeaugh-Geiss, PhD Director, Epidemiology, Purdue Pharma L.P. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Due to widespread abuse, including abuse via non-oral routes (eg, snorting, injecting), OxyContin was reformulated with abuse deterrent properties in August 2010. In this study we explored changes in nonmedical use of OxyContin after the reformulation using public use data files from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). NSDUH has included questions about nonmedical use of OxyContin (including pill images) since 2004. Nonmedical use is defined as use without a prescription or use that occurred simply for the experience or feeling the drug caused. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Journal Clinical Oncology, Melanoma / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Reza Ghiasvand, PhD Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo. Oslo, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: To date, findings from studies have been inconsistent. Some studies found a decreased risk of melanoma among sunscreen users, while others found no association or a higher risk of melanoma among sunscreen users. Several studies found that many sunscreen users do not apply sunscreens properly and do not reapply as recommended and stay longer in the sun after using sunscreen and as a result get sunburn and increase their risk of skin cancer. Our findings suggest higher UV exposure among sunscreen users compared to nonusers. However, those who used sunscreen with high SPF had 33% lower risk of melanoma compared to users of low SPF sunscreens. (more…)
Author Interviews, Tobacco Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maciej L. Goniewicz, PhD PharmD Assistant Professor of Oncology Department of Health Behavior Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Roswell Park Cancer Institute Elm & Carlton Streets / Carlton House A320 Buffalo, New York 14263, USA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have previously identified several ingredients in e-cigarettes that may be potentially dangerous to users. The long-health effects of inhaling aerosol from e-cigarettes is currently unknown and we are looking for alternative ways to test the products safety. We have noticed previously that various brands and types of e-cigarettes differ in the toxicant levels and their potential toxic effects. So we systematically evaluated various product features and we were able to identify device power and flavoring additives as key components that significantly affect the potential toxicity of e-cigarettes. Interestingly, it was not nicotine or nicotine solvents but other additives in e-cigarettes that affected respiratory cells used in our study. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nancy Davidson, MD President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Director,  Cancer Institute University of Pittsburgh Dr. Davidson discusses the 2016 AACR Cancer Progress Report. “The report serves as an educational document for both Congress and the public, alike. The report is a call to action, designed to urge Congress and the American public to stand firm in their commitment to the conquest of cancer”. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background and goals for this report? Dr. Davidson:
  • This is the sixth edition of our annual Cancer Progress Report.
  •  The annual report is the cornerstone of the AACR’s educational and advocacy efforts:
  • The report outlines efforts to increase public and Congressional understanding of cancer and the importance of cancer research to public health and
  • Efforts to advocate for increased federal funding for the NIH, NCI, FDA, and other federal agencies that are vital for fueling progress against cancer
  • The first report was written in 2011, the year that marked the 40th anniversary of the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971, to commemorate the advances in cancer research that had been made to date and to paint a picture of where the science was leading us.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Heart Disease, JACC / 20.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. dr. P. van der Harst Interventional Cardiologist Scientific Director Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory University Medical Center Groningen Groningen The Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The electrocardiogram harbors important clues for the development and progression of heart diseases. We studied the voltages of the QRS-complex, a measure of cardiac hypertrophy which is associated with heart failure and various cardiomyopathies. We carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and identified 52 regions in the genome that were associated with one or more QRS characteristics. 32 of these were novel. In these 52 regions we found 67 candidate genes that are might play a role in the adequate function of the human heart and the development of heart disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, NYU, Transplantation / 20.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ariane K. Lewis, MD Division of Neurocritical Care Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery NYU Langone Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Death by neurologic criteria (DNC, also known as brain death) is widely accepted by physicians, lawyers, and ethicists as being equivalent to cardiopulmonary death. Declaration of DNC is based on strict criteria written by the American Academy of Neurology in 1995 that require: • Identification of a definitive etiology for catastrophic brain injury; • Confirmation that prerequisite conditions are met (normal blood pressure and temperature, exclusion of complicating factors such as medications or laboratory abnormalities that could impact the exam); and • Demonstration that a patient is comatose, lacks brainstem reflexes, and is incapable of breathing spontaneously. If a portion of the examination cannot be performed, an ancillary test such as an electroencephalogram or angiogram is used to confirm lack of brain activity or blood flow to the brain. If a patient is pronounced dead by neurologic criteria, organ support is discontinued unless organ donation is planned. An independent representative from an organ donation team approaches families to discuss donation, and if families agree to donation, organs are given to patients on the 120,000 person waitlist in the United States based upon need. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, CDC, Compliance, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew Ritchey, DPT, PT, OCS, MPH Epidemiologist Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and death. Unfortunately, almost one in three U.S. adults (around 75 million) has high blood pressure, and nearly half of that group (about 34 million) doesn’t have it under control. As part of CDC’s ongoing efforts to monitor trends and risk factors contributing to cardiovascular disease, we collaborated with colleagues at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to look at blood pressure medicine nonadherence among Medicare Part D enrollees ages 65 and over. Being nonadherent means that patients skip doses of their medicine or stop taking it altogether. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Heart Disease, JACC, Kidney Disease / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elvira Gosmanova MD Department of Nephrology University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis TN, 38163 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It has been long known that elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for numerous adverse health-related outcomes. However, the majority of individuals do not have blood pressure in a constant range. In contrary, blood pressure measured in the same individual tends to fluctuate over time. Moreover, some individuals have more blood pressure fluctuation, as compared with others. The impact of fluctuation in blood pressure is still poorly understood. Smaller studies suggested that increased fluctuation in blood pressure may be associated with hazardous health outcomes. However, large scale studies were still lacking. Therefore, we conducted a study involving close to 3 million US veterans to investigate the association of increased visit-to-visit variability of systolic blood pressure (which was our measure of fluctuation of blood pressure over time) and all-cause mortality, and incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and end-stage renal disease. We found that there was strong and graded increase in the risk of all the above outcomes with increasing visit-to-visit variability of systolic blood pressure. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Genetic Research, Weight Research / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. John C. Mathers Director, Human Nutrition Research Centre Institute of Cellular Medicine and Newcastle University Institute for Ageing Newcastle University Biomedical Research Building Campus for Ageing and Vitality Newcastle on Tyne MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: More than 90 different genetics variants are associated with body fatness and, of these, the FTO gene has the biggest effect. People who are homozygous for the unusual variant of FTO i.e. carry two copies of the risk allele, are on average 3kg heavier than those not carrying the risk allele. In addition, they have 70% greater risk of being obese. Since the FTO gene is associated with being heavier, we wondered whether it made it more difficult for people to lose weight. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, NIH, OBGYNE / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pauline Mendola, PhD Investigator, Epidemiology Branch Division of Intramural Population Health Research Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH Bethesda, MD 20892 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Efforts to monitor and reduce maternal mortality during and around the time of pregnancy largely focus on causes physiologically related to the pregnancy, despite the fact that increasing evidence suggests violent death – including homicide and suicide – are leading causes. In this study, we analyzed US death certificates from 2005-2010 from states that include pregnancy information on the death record in order to estimate rates of pregnancy-associated homicide and suicide, and to determine if risk of violent death was increased for women during pregnancy and postpartum. Given the large proportion of death records with unknown pregnancy status, we adjusted for a range of possible misclassification and found that pregnancy-associated homicide risk ranged from 2.2-6.2 per 100,000 live births, while pregnancy-associated suicide risk ranged from 1.6-4.5 per 100,000 live births. Overall, homicide risk was 1.8 times higher among pregnant/postpartum women compared to non-pregnant women in the population. The risk of suicide was 38% lower among pregnant/postpartum women than the general population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Cancer - Brain Tumors, Case Western, MRI, Radiology, Technology / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Pallavi Tiwari PhD Assistant Professor biomedical engineering Case Western Reserve University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: One of the biggest challenges in neuro-oncology currently is distinguishing radionecrosis, a side-effect of aggressive radiation, from tumor recurrence on imaging. Surgical intervention is the only means of definitive diagnosis, but suffers from considerable morbidity and mortality. The treatments for radionecrosis and cancer recurrence are very different. Early identification of the two conditions can help speed prognosis, therapy, and improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this feasibility study was to evaluate the role of machine learning algorithms along with computer extracted texture features, also known as radiomic features, in distinguishing radionecrosis and tumor recurrence on routine MRI scans (T1w, T2w, FLAIR). The radiomic algorithms were trained on 43 studies from our local collaborating institution - University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and tested on 15 studies at a collaborating institution, University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. We further compared the performance of the radiomic techniques with two expert readers. Our results demonstrated that radiomic features can identify subtle differences in quantitative measurements of tumor heterogeneity on routine MRIs, that are not visually appreciable to human readers. Of the 15 test studies, the radiomics algorithm could identify 12 of 15 correctly, while expert 1 could identify 7 of 15, and expert 2, 8 of 15. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, Geriatrics, Lancet, Technology / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anat Mirelman, PhD Director- Laboratory of Early Markers of Neurodegeneration (LEMON) Center for the study of Movement , Cognition and Mobility (CMCM) Department of Neurology Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv 64239, Israel MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The main aim of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of using a motor cognitive training using virtual reality in reducing fall frequency and fall risk in older adults. Falls are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults. The prevalence of falls is huge, with one out of every 3 adults aged 65 years or older will fall at least once per year, with approximately half of these fallers suffering multiple falls in this period . These statistics are even higher in neurodegenerative conditions such as in Parkinson’s disease and in people with cognitive impairments. For example, studies have shown that as much as 80% of people with Parkinson’s disease fall each year. So many older adults are falling. The consequences of falls are huge. The most dramatic result is hip fracture. But this is relatively rare. However, even in the absence of a fracture or other injury, falls often lead to fear of falling, social isolation, and depression, which in turn often leads to inactivity, muscle weakness, impaired balance and gait, more falls, more social isolation. In other words, falls often start a vicious cycle, which has many important negative health consequences. Falls are associated with morbidity and mortality and they also have a huge economic impact. In many western countries, 1-2% of healthcare dollars are spent on falls. For many years, age-associated changes in muscle strength, balance and gait were viewed as the key factors that contribute to the risk of falls. However, more recently, we and others showed that certain aspects of cognition are also critical to safe ambulation. For example people with AD often fall, almost to the same amount as people with PD, highlighting the cognitive component of falls. This makes sense intuitively if we Imagine the cognitive skills we need just to cross a busy intersection. These tasks require executive function, specially, planning, the ability to avoid obstacles, and the ability to perform two or more tasks at the same time. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Infections, Outcomes & Safety / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: James Baggs, PhD Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We used medical claims data to estimate the amount of antibiotics used in US hospitals from 2006 - 2012. Data came from the Truven Health MarketScan Hospital Drug Database, which included about 300 hospitals and more than 34 million discharges. Antibiotic use in hospitals was very common with more than half of patients receiving at least one antibiotic during their hospital stay. Overall rates of antibiotic use in U.S. hospitals did not change over time; however, there were significant changes in the types of antibiotics prescribed. Importantly, the types of antibiotics with the largest increases in use were the types of antibiotics often considered to be the most powerful. Of particular concern, there was a 37% rise in the use of carbapenems, commonly referred to as “last resort” antibiotics. (more…)
Author Interviews, Memory, Scripps / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ron L. Davis, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Neuroscience Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: While calcium’s importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons—in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory—has been less well defined. Our new study, published in the journal Cell Reports, offers new insights how calcium in mitochondria—the powerhouse of all cells—can impact the development of the brain and adult cognition. Specifically, we show in fruit flies, a widely used model system, that blocking a channel that brings calcium to the mitochondria called “mitochondrial calcium uniporter” causes memory impairment but does not alter learning capacity. That surprised us – we thought they wouldn’t be able to learn at all. This is important because defects in the same calcium channel function have been shown to be associated with intellectual disability in humans. (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Prostate, Prostate Cancer, Testosterone, Urology / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jesse Ory Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine Dalhousie University, Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The use of Testosterone Therapy (TT) in men diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer (CaP) has been highly controversial for several decades. Unfortunately, this controversy is largely founded on the results of a single patient in a study by Huggins and Hodges in the 1940s [1]. This wasn't challenged until recently, when Morgentaler reviewed the literature on the topic and found no scientific basis for the assumption that TT will act like fuel on the fire of prostate cancer [2]. He also proposed a mechanism, the "saturation hypothesis" that helps account for why TT may in fact be safe for men with prostate cancer. [3]. Over the past decade, retrospective evidence has been accumulating that supports the safety of Testosterone Therapy in hypogonadal men with CaP on Active Surveillance, or in those who have been definitively treated for prostate cancer.. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, Ovarian Cancer, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Vitamin D / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bo (Bonnie) Qin, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Associate Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey New Brunswick, NJ 08903 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer in the US. African-American patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer tend to have a worse 5-year survival rate compared to their European-American patients. Therefore, identifying preventive factors in African-Americans women is particularly important. African Americans tend to consume less calcium and vitamin D from dietary sources, due to a higher prevalence of lactose intolerance, and supplemental intake. Meanwhile, darker color of the skin reduces the synthesis of vitamin D upon sun exposure. They together place African-American women at risk for calcium and vitamin D deficiency. It remains unknown whether calcium, vitamin D, lactose and dairy products are associated with ovarian cancer risk in African-American women and our study aimed to answer this question. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Hormone Therapy / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jon Rasmussen, MD, PhD fellow Department of Internal Medicine Herlev Hospital, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids has become highly prevalent among young men involved in recreational strength training. A recent meta-analysis estimated that approximately 18% of young men involved recreational strength training abuse anabolic steroids. Well-known adverse effects following abuse of anabolic steroids include hypogonadism (For those who have interest, we have recently published a paper concerning this issue, it can be read and downloaded at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161208). Yet, we have a poor understanding on the adverse effects these compounds might have on the metabolism and insulin sensitivity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, OBGYNE / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anastasia Katsarou PhD LUND University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study is using data from the Mamma study which screened pregnant women during 2003-2005. During this period, we gathered results from the oral glucose tolerance tests that the women underwent at the 28th week of pregnancy. We used data on the 2hour blood glucose levels from these tests and the frequency of women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes and grouped them into months and seasons. We gathered also data on the mean monthly temperatures from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. We observed that the 2hour glucose levels and the frequency of women diagnosed with gestational diabetes were statistically significantly higher during the summer months. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Diabetes, Pancreatic / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Pavel Škrha Charles University, Prague Czech Republic MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Incidence of pancreatic cancer (PAC) is still increasing. The main problem is in the late diagnosis of the cancer. It was found, that diabetes mellitus was much more frequent in the pancreatic cancer patients than in the general population. DM can be already the first symptom of the disease (secondry T3cDM). In our study nearly 80 % of all the pancreatic cancer patients had DM/prediabetes and it was of new-onset (less than 2 years before the cancer diagnosis) in 73 % out of them. We have measured the current marker of PAC (CA 19-9) together with serum microRNA-196 and -200 (that we have chosen in the previous pilot study). All the markers were significantly elevated in the pancreatic cancer patients, without any difference between the subgroups according to DM presence/absence. While the sensitivity of CA 19-9 alone (to detect the cancer) was 85 % (specificity 73 %), combining all the three markers improved it to 95 % (specificity 77 %). In the pancreatic cancer group, there were only six patients with T1 or T2 stage (others had an advanced stage of the disease - T3, T4). While CA 19-9 alone identified only 2 patients of them, the combined test identified all the six patients (data not shown in the poster). (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Surgical Research / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nish Patel, MD and Nileshkumar J. Patel, MD University of Miami Miller School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is estimated to affect approximately 300,000 people in the United States annually. Pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) contributes 23-54% of OHCA patients, with the median values at the lower end of this range. Coronary artery disease is thought to be responsible for up to 70% of these OHCA cases. It has been suggested that urgent coronary intervention in unconscious patients after cardiac arrest may improve survival. In the 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines, coronary angiography is recommended in patients with OHCA patients with a suspected cardiac etiology and ST elevations (STE) on ECG (Class of recommendation I, Level of evidence B), and it should be considered in patients after cardiac arrest presenting without STE but with suspected cardiac etiology of cardiac arrest (Class of recommendation II a, Level of evidence B). However, there is paucity of information about the use of coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and its potential benefit for the VT/VF OHCA patient population. Therefore, we reviewed the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), to examine temporal trends of coronary angiography and PCI in VT/VF OHCA in the United States, for patients with and without STE. We also studied the temporal trends of survival to discharge in these patient populations. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Heart Disease / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Islam Elgendy, MD Cardiology Fellow University of Florida MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The optimal systolic blood pressure target in adults with coronary artery disease is not well known. The Eighth Joint National Committee Panel recommended a target therapeutic goal <150 mm Hg for adults aged ≥60 years and <140 mm Hg in those aged <60 years. These recommendations are inconsistent with the different society guidelines (such as American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology, and American Society of Hypertension) which recommended a therapeutic target < 140 mm Hg. Given that the dyad of hypertension and coronary artery disease is the most prevalent chronic disease dyad among adults, we aimed to assess the long term risk of all-cause mortality with the different systolic blood pressure targets. Using the extended follow-up data from the US cohort of the INVEST trial, we demonstrated that achieving a systolic blood pressure of 130 to <140 mm Hg in the initial 2-3 years of treatment is associated with reduced all-cause mortality after ≈11.6 years of follow-up in hypertensive patients with coronary artery disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mayo Clinic, Nutrition, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 17.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David R. Jacobs, Jr., PhD Mayo Professor of Public Health Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN 55454-1075 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults) is on ongoing longitudinal study which began by screening middle and secondary school students in the Minneapolis and St Paul Metropolitan are. Students were the 11-18 years old (average age 15), then followed up at average ages 20 and 25. We had devised an eating pattern in about 2006, which a) predicts a lot of things in several different studies (including total mortality in the Iowa Women's Health Study) and b) looks a great deal like the recently released 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). We call our diet pattern A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS) and think of it as close to or in the style of a Mediterranean/prudent/healthy diet. We hypothesized that this pattern would be associated with lower weight (in general with better long term health, but the focus in Project EAT was weight and BMI), probably least so at age 15. The minimal hypothesized effect in adolescence relates to the very large energy expenditure in adolescent growth years; we thought that diet composition would be less important for body weight at that time than energy intake (and APDQS is about diet composition). (more…)