Author Interviews, Dermatology, Science / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Devin M. Barry, PhD, postdoc fellow Center for the Study of Itch,. Department of Anesthesiology Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, MO 63110 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our group is interested in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underly itch sensation. Our study focused on peripheral sensory neurons of the DRG that mediate responses to itch-inducing stimuli, in particular the inflammatory mediator histamine and the antimalarial drug chloroquine. It has been shown that histamine and chloroquine activate distinct G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) in sensory neurons innervating the skin. Two members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of ion channels, TRPV1 and TRPA1, have been found to be important mediators of histamine- and chloroquine-induced itch signaling, respectively. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Health Care Systems, Hospital Readmissions / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas P. Meehan, MD, MPH Associate Medical Director Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Qualidigm, Wethersfield Quinnipiac University, North Haven CT MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is a national effort to decrease preventable hospital readmissions in order to improve both the quality and cost of healthcare. Part of this national effort includes local quality improvement projects which are organized and conducted by a variety of organizations working by themselves or with others. We describe one statewide quality improvement project which was led by a Medicare-funded Quality Improvement Organization and conducted with a hospital association and many other collaborators. We document our activities and a relative decrease in the statewide 30-day aggregate readmission rate among fee-for service Medicare beneficiaries of 20.3% over four and a half years. While we are extremely proud of our work and this outcome, we recognize that there are many factors that impacted the outcome and that we can’t claim sole credit. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, Stroke / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Yago Leira, DDS Pre-Doc researcher at Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Periodontal disease is a chronic oral inflammatory disease caused by bacterial infection, which affects 20% to 50% of the adult population. Lacunar stroke, a type of cerebral small vessel disease, is responsible for almost 25% of the ischaemic strokes. It may be hypothesized that chronic periodontitis leads to a low-grade state of systemic inflammation altering endothelial function and blood vessels health, which could be related to the onset of atherosclerosis. Moreover, lacunar stroke could be linked with an inflammation process that can be associated with endothelial dysfunction. In the last decade, several observational studies have suggested an association between periodontal disease and ischaemic stroke. However, none of them have studied the relationship between chronic periodontitis and lacunar stroke independently of known vascular risk factors that both diseases may share (e.g., ageing, hypertension, diabetes mellitus or hypercholesterolemia). (more…)
Author Interviews, Karolinski Institute, Mental Health Research / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lorena Fernández de la Cruz | Assistant Professor Department of Clinical Neuroscience | Karolinska Institutet Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center Stockholm MedicalResearch.com: What is OCD? Response: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. OCD has a lifetime prevalence of about two per cent in the general population, generally runs a chronic course, and is often associated with a significantly reduced quality of life. Despite this, the risk of suicide in OCD has traditionally been considered low, probably due the particular personality profile of this patient group, typically described as “harm avoidant”. However, we have seen that the risk of suicide is higher than previously thought. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, JAMA, Pediatrics / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andy Menke PhD Social & Scientific Systems, Inc. Silver Spring, MD, 20910 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Limited information was available on the prevalence of diabetes among adolescents in the US, particularly the percentage that are undiagnosed and unaware of the condition. We found that 0.8% of adolescents 12-19 years of age had diabetes and 18% had prediabetes. Of those with diabetes, 29% overall were unaware of it and this increased to 40% among Hispanic adolescents and 50% among non-Hispanic black adolescents. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Lipids, PLoS / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Fumiaki Imamura Ph.D. MRC Epidemiology Unit University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There was insufficient evidence for effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) intake or blood biomarkers on the development of type 2 diabetes. For instance, previous studies using PUFA biomarkers had a maximum of only 673 type 2 diabetes cases. In the EPIC-InterAct Study - a large European collaborative, prospective study where 12,132 diabetes cases were ascertained during its follow-up - we found diverse associations of blood levels of different types of PUFAs with incidence of type 2 diabetes. Despite this diversity, clinically relevant results were observed for major polyunsaturated fatty acids. Higher blood levels of total omega-6 PUFAs and the major omega-6 PUFA (linolenic acid) were associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Likewise, levels of alpha linolenic acid, known as a plant-origin omega-3 PUFA, were associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk. Marine-origin omega-3 PUFAs, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), showed inconsistent associations with type 2 diabetes risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Fertility, JAMA, OBGYNE / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexandra W. van den Belt-Dusebout, PhD Department of Epidemiology The Netherlands Cancer Institute The Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In vitro fertilization (IVF) is commonly used, but because of the relatively recent use of IVF, long-term breast cancer risk is not yet known. Female sex hormones have been shown to affect breast cancer risk. Because sex hormone levels during hormonal stimulation of the ovaries for IVF are up to 10 times higher than in natural cycles, IVF was expected to increase breast cancer risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Prostate Cancer / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Adam Weiner MD Urology Resident Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: There has been a lot of controversy over the past decade regarding whether PSA screening for prostate cancer prevents death from prostate cancer. Accordingly, the US preventive services task force (USPSTF) recommended against PSA screening for older men in 2008 and for all men in 2012. This was mainly based on information from a large clinical trial in the US. Recently it was discovered that men in the non-screening part of this trial received even more PSA screens than men in the screening part of the trial, suggesting the results were likely diluted. In a large European trial, PSA screening was shown to reduce both death from prostate cancer and the number of men diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer, an incurable and deadly form of prostate cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Menopause, University of Pittsburgh / 20.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Thurston, Ph.D. Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry and Epidemiologist, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Vasomotor symptoms – or hot flashes and night sweats - are the “classic” symptom of the menopause transition. Most women will get vasomotor symptoms, yet there have been striking gaps in our knowledge about them, including what their natural history is. The traditional thinking has been that vasomotor symptoms last a few years around the final menstrual period for most women. However, in this and several other papers we have debunked this myth. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Infections, Technology / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kerry Zang Founder of the Arizona Institute of Footcare and Dr. Robert Sullivan Clinical Director, Midleton Foot Clinic MedicalResearch.com Editor's note: Dr. Zang and Dr. Sullivan discuss the recent announcement of FDA approval of the Lunula Laser for the treatment of Onychomycosis. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this new technology? Response: “For two decades, Erchonia Corporation studied the clinical utility of low-level laser devices for the treatment of numerous medical ailments. Dr. Sullivan and I worked with Erchonia on the Lunula laser to revolutionize the way the medical community treats onychomycosis. Lunula underwent four independent clinical investigations for the treatment of onychomycosis. More than 500 subjects participated with increasingly effective results and each completed without a single adverse event.” - Dr. Kerry Zang Response: “There has never been a non-pharmaceutical treatment for onychomycosis. When I became aware that there was a small study completed by Dr. Zang, I became interested in the potential of this new technology. Erchonia was very helpful in bringing me up to speed with what this technology may do. The results of my extended study were unbelievable.” -Robert Sullivan (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Memory / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeff Boissoneault, PhD Research Assistant Professor Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health Department of Clinical and Health Psychology University of FloridaJeff Boissoneault, PhD Research Assistant Professor Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health Department of Clinical and Health Psychology University of Florida MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Many older adults are regular moderate drinkers. Although moderate drinking is considered to be a low risk behavior, growing evidence suggests older adults may be more susceptible to the cognitive and behavioral effects of moderate alcohol intake than younger people. We have previously shown that blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) below the legal limit for driving in the United States, 0.08 g/dL, affect working, or short-term, memory performance in older but not younger adults. For this study, we examined frontal theta power (FTP) and posterior alpha power (PAP), which are electrophysiological measures of brain activity associated with cognitive effort and maintenance of visual information, during a working memory task in both older and younger social drinkers. We found that during a nine-second delay period during which participants held briefly-displayed images in memory, moderate alcohol intake increased PAP in younger adults but decreased PAP in older adults. Examining the relationship between PAP and behavioral performance (accuracy and reaction time) suggested older adults may attempt to compensate for moderate alcohol-induced working memory impairment by prioritizing quick responding over the protection of their mental representation of the task images from environmental distractions. Younger adults did not show this effect. (more…)
Author Interviews, Microbiome, Pharmacology / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mark Pimentel, MD Associate Professor, Medicine Director, GI Motility Program Director, GI Motility Laboratory Cedars-Sinai IBS-C Clinical Advisory Board (Chair) at Synthetic Biologics Los Angeles, CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Pimentel: The SYN-010 program is based on research from my group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and other researchers and collaborators worldwide, investigating the role of intestinal methane production in functional gastrointestinal disorders. Low levels of intestinal methane are a ubiquitous by-product of normal intestinal microbial digestion; however, elevated intestinal methane levels are correlated with decreased intestinal motility and increased symptom severity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). Methane in humans is produced almost exclusively by the intestinal microorganism Methanobrevibacter smithii (M. smithii). Highest levels of M. smithii are found in the colon; however, overgrowth of M. smithii into the small intestine has also been observed. Previous work from my laboratory demonstrated that methane production by M. smithii in stool samples from IBS-C patients is inhibited by the lactone form of lovastatin. Lovastatin lactone does not appear to eradicate microbial species in the intestine, which should reduce the risk of intestinal dysbiosis and/or the development of microbial resistance. SYN-010 is a proprietary, modified-release, oral formulation of lovastatin lactone, designed to protect lovastatin lactone from the stomach and release the active ingredient in two different locations of the intestinal tract where the M. smithii reside. SYN-010 exerts its therapeutic effect at the level of the intestinal microbiome and does not require absorption into the systemic circulation or conversion of the active ingredient (lovastatin lactone) to the cholesterol lowering β-hydroxyacid form. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, JAMA, Pharmacology / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Principal investigator A/Prof Suetonia Palmer PhD University of Otago, New Zealand Senior investigator Prof. Giovanni Strippoli MD, PhD, MPH, MM University of Sydney, Australia and Diaverum, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Network meta-analysis is a new technique that allows us to evaluate ALL medical therapies for a specific clinical problem. We wondered whether any of the usual drugs used to treat glucose levels in people with diabetes were safest or most effective. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mammograms / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr-Brian-SpragueBrian L. Sprague, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Surgery Assistant Professor Department of Biochemistry University of Vermont MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Having dense breasts makes mammography more difficult to interpret and is also an independent risk factor for developing breast cancer. About half of all U.S. states require that information on the density of a woman's breasts be made available to her after a mammogram, and in some states the report must also inform such women that there are additional tests, such as breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), that may detect breast cancer in women who have dense breasts and normal mammograms. Such laws are controversial because of the large number of women affected (around 40% of women aged 40-74) and due to a lack of consensus in the medical community regarding the benefits and harms of supplemental screening strategies. An additional concern is the subjective nature of breast density assessment, which is based on the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) that provides four possible categories for breast density. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Melanoma / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Berger, MD, FACS Vice Chair for Clinical Research Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Philadelphia , PA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Dr. Berger: Perhaps the most important point for consideration in the adoption of a new diagnostic test is: “Will this test impact patient management decisions for the patient that is sitting in front of me?” If the answer is no, then I would not order the test. If this answer is yes, the next question is how does it alter or impact patient management. The DecisionDx-Melanoma test is a 31-gene expression profile test that has been shown to accurately separate or stratify patients with cutaneous melanoma identified to be at high risk of metastasis (“Class 2” test result) from those who are at an extremely low risk of disease progression (“Class 1” test result). In two peer-reviewed publications from 2015 and three studies presented between April and June of this year, the DecisionDx-Melanoma test showed a Negative Predictive Value of 98% or 99% for death from melanoma or disease free-survival in patients with Stage I and II melanoma. (more…)
Author Interviews, PTSD, Sleep Disorders / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jim Burch, MS, PhD Associate Professor Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics Cancer Prevention & Control Program Arnold School of Public Health University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC and Health Science Specialist WJB Dorn Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Columbia, SC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over 21 million Veterans live in the U.S., and nearly 9 million of them receive healthcare through the Veterans Health Administration, which is the largest integrated healthcare system in the U.S. The military population is particularly vulnerable to sleep disturbances due to their work schedules, living conditions, and other physical and psychological factors that accompany their jobs. However, previous studies have not comprehensively described the scope and characteristics of sleep disorders among Veterans. Sleep is considered a physiological necessity. Inadequate sleep has been associated with a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including an increased risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer, psychiatric disorders, reduced quality of life, and increased mortality. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: For the past 5 years or so, my collaborators and I have been working on several issues leading to the realization of the so-called “Windows to the Brain (WttB)” platform. WttB are transparent nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized-zirconia (nc-YSZ) cranial implants capable of replacing portions of the skull to allow non-invasive optical interrogation of the brain on an ongoing recurring basis. This new technological advancement could eventually afford for: a) advancing understanding of the brain, by facilitating the clinical translation of emerging optogenetic neurotechnologies; and b) facilitating the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of brain pathologies and neurological disorders, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain cancer, and others. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Evan L. Thacker, PhD. Assistant Professor College of Life Sciences Brigham Young University Provo, UT MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is diagnosed more commonly in whites than blacks in the United States. This seems paradoxical because blacks have higher prevalence of many risk factors for AF. Various explanations for this paradox have been proposed, including biological explanations as well as potential biases in research studies. We investigated one such bias – selection bias – as a potential explanation for the paradox. We did this by comparing the racial difference in atrial fibrillation prevalence among people who enrolled in an epidemiologic study versus people who were eligible to enroll in the study but did not enroll. (more…)
Asthma, Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, JAMA / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sara Rasmussen PhD Student Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Department of Environmental Health Sciences Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, Maryland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Residents of communities undergoing unconventional natural gas development (the “fracking” industry) and those nearby can be exposed to noise, light, vibration, heavy truck traffic, air pollution, social disruption, and anxiety related to rapid industrial development of one’s community. In Pennsylvania, development began in the mid-2000s and by 2012, 6,253 wells were drilled. In our study, we found increased odds of asthma hospitalizations, asthma emergency department visits, and asthma oral corticosteroid medication orders (a medication used for asthma exacerbations) among asthma patients residing near bigger or larger numbers of active unconventional natural gas wells compared to those residing farther away. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Carmen Pace MPsych (Clin Child) PhD AMACPA Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow Murdoch Childrens Research Institute The Royal Children’s Hospital Flemington Rd Parkville, Victoria AUS MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We know that mothers of very preterm infants (born prior to 32 weeks gestation) are at higher risk for psychological distress compared to mothers who have healthy full term infants. However, detailed longitudinal research looking at how symptoms evolve over the first weeks and months is limited, and fathers are largely neglected in the literature. We addressed these gaps by assessing symptoms of depression and anxiety in both mothers and fathers every two weeks for the first twelve weeks after birth, and again at six months. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Seamus Kent, MSc, Research Fellow and Borislava Mihaylova, MSc DPhil, Associate Professor Health Economics Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Niacin lowers the LDL cholesterol and increases the HDL cholesterol and it was hoped this would translate into reduced risks of vascular events. This hypothesis was assessed in the Heart Protection Study 2 – Treatment of HDL to Reduce the Incidence of Vascular Events (HPS2-THRIVE) trial in which over 25,000 adults aged 50 to 80 years with prior cardiovascular disease were randomised to either niacin-laropiprant or placebo, in addition to effective LDL-cholesterol lowering therapy, and followed for about 4 years. Previously published results from the study demonstrated that niacin-laropiprant did not significantly reduce the risk of major vascular events but did significantly increase the risk of various adverse events including infections, bleeding, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, skin, and diabetes-related events. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, Technology / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren J. Myers, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Psychology Department Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Many families with young children use video chat to connect with family and friends--but what do children understand about the on-screen people and content of these interactions? The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages screen time for kids under 2 years because children who watch a lot of media often have poor language skills, and they miss out on other activities that would be more developmentally appropriate. However, in this study we wondered whether there is a difference between putting a baby in front of a television and having an interactive exchange via video chat. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Nutrition, Red Meat / 17.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Woon-Puay KOH | Professor Office of Clinical Sciences| Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore 169857 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is a growing burden of chronic kidney disease worldwide, and many progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant. Hence, urgent efforts are needed in risk factor prevention, especially in the general population. Current guidelines recommend restricting dietary protein intake to help manage patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, and slow progression to ESRD. However, there is limited evidence that overall dietary protein restriction or limiting specific food sources of protein intake may slow kidney function decline in the general population. Hence, we embarked on our study to see what dietary advice may be helpful to the general population in order to reduce the risk of ESRD. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, End of Life Care, JAMA / 16.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Gramling, MD, DSc Division of Palliative Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington Department of Family Medicine Burlington Vermont School of Nursing and Department of Public Health Sciences Center for Communication and Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine, and Division of Palliative Care, Center for Community Health, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: Patients with advanced cancer often misunderstand their doctor's expectations about the length of life they have remaining and this misunderstanding is relevant to their preferences for sharing in treatment decisions at end of life. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Zika / 16.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Martin Cetron, MD Director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: According to the Brazilian Tourism Board, approximately 350,000 – 500,000 international visitors and athletes from 207 countries are expected to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This travel volume represents a very small fraction – less than 0.25% – of the total estimated 2015 travel volume to Zika-affected countries. CDC conducted a risk analysis to predict those countries at risk for Zika virus importation exclusively attributable to the Games. (more…)
Author Interviews, Immunotherapy, Prostate Cancer / 16.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie Graff, M.D. Oncologist specializing in prostate cancer Knight Cancer Institute Oregon Health & Science University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Men with metastatic prostate cancer that is not responding to second-line androgen receptor blockade (such as enzalutamide) have a very limited life expectancy. We found that adding immunotherapy to enzalutamide in men whose prostate cancer is no longer responding to enzalutamide could exert a very strong anti-cancer effect. Previous experience with this type of immunotherapy in prostate cancer patients suggested this type immunotherapy does not work in patients with prostate cancer. What we have found will lead to more studies of this agent. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer, Cancer Research, Lung Cancer / 15.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jan Marie Eberth, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Deputy Director, SC Rural Health Research Center Core Faculty, Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program Arnold School of Public Health University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Large, randomized clinical trials have shown that chest x-rays do not reduce mortality from lung cancer. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening, however, was shown to reduce lung cancer mortality by 20% in the National Lung Screening Trial. The most significant risk of LDCT screening is the high rate of false-positives (about 25%), which subsequent studies have shown can be reduced by using new nodule management criteria such as Lung-RADS. Less than half of the physicians surveyed in our study reported reduced lung cancer mortality as a benefit of LDCT screening. Many also reported concerns about radiation exposure (50%) and unnecessary follow-up procedures (88%) as risks. Since the majority of family physicians surveyed did not know that organizations such as the US Preventive Services Task Force or National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend high-risk individuals receive annual LDCT screening, it is not surprising that some family physicians would continue to order a chest x-ray for screening, despite the lack of scientific evidence. Similarly, only 36% of physicians reported that high-risk patients should be screened annually (vs. every 6 months, 2 years, or 3 years). (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Health Care Systems, Outcomes & Safety / 15.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD PhD Cardiothoracic surgeon Associate professor of surgery and assistant professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Columbus, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Crew Resource Management (CRM), a training for all health care providers, including doctors, nurses, staff and students, focusing on team communication, leadership, and decision-making practices, was implemented throughout a large academic health system - across eight departments spanning three hospitals and two campuses. All those in the health system, inclusive of those that took the training, took a survey measuring perceptions of workplace patient safety culture both before CRM implementation and about 2 years after. Safety culture was significantly improved after Crew Resource Management training, with the strongest effects in participant perception of teamwork and communication. This study was the first health-system wide CRM implementation reported in the literature. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Memory, Neurological Disorders / 15.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D Floyd A. Davis, M.D., Endowed Chair of Neurology Professor, Departments of Neurological Sciences, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Rush University Medical Center VA Scientist, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center Chicago, IL 60612 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Individual difference in learning and educational performance is a global issue. In many cases between two students of the same background studying in the same class, one turns out to be a poor learner and does worse than the other academically. Little is known on what changes occur in the brain of poor learners and how to improve performance in poor learners. Here, we have demonstrated that cinnamon, a common food spice and flavoring material, converts poor learning mice to good learners. Results of the study were recently published in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Neurological Disorders / 15.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aleksey G. Kazantsev, PhD Associate Professor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School Drug Discovery Laboratory MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is no cure (disease modify therapy) for any neurodegenerative disorders (ND), most common Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s or orphan like Huntington’s diseases. Numerous studies show that the pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases at molecular levels are similar but highly complex. No single neurodegenerative mechanism has emerged as predominant, slowing a development of efficient therapy. While gene and cell-based therapeutic approaches are still evolving, we relay on discovery of small molecule drugs as essentially the only strategy with approved track record in human subjects. However, so far a traditional approach of targeting single cellular pathway was unsuccessful for CNS drug development. The current study demonstrated a novel approach of using small molecule with multiple putative neuroprotective activities, which is essentially a combinatorial approach to use compound distinct activities to ameliorate/bock/prevent not one, but a few neurodegenerative pathways. (more…)