Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Social Issues / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Robb Rutledge UCL Institute of Neurology and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research University College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Rutledge: As we get older, dopamine levels in the brain gradually decline. Dopamine has long been associated with risk taking and we have recently found that it is related specifically to how willing people are to take risks for potential rewards. It is widely believed that older people are risk averse, but this is controversial, and it is unknown whether age-related changes in dopamine are responsible for changes in risk taking. In this study, we tested over 25,000 people using a smartphone app called The Great Brain Experiment where players tried to win as many points as they could by choosing between safe and risky options. We found that older people were less willing to takes risks for potential rewards than young people, the same situations dopamine is known to be involved in. (more…)
Author Interviews, Opiods / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hsien-Yen Chang PhD Assistant Scientist Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Health Policy & Management Center for Drug Safety & Effectiveness MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Chang: Prescription opioid addiction and non-medical use are significant public health problems, responsible for about 44 daily overdose deaths in the United States. Although there are no magic bullets to address these issues, policy makers play an important role in shaping regulatory, payment and public health policies to reduce opioid-related injuries and deaths. For example, state policy-makers in the United States have used prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and “pill mill” laws to address the prescription opioid epidemic. While there is growing evidence regarding the effect of these approaches on opioid sales, little is known about how they affect specific groups of prescribers. This is important, as approximately 20% of U.S. physicians are responsible for prescribing 80% of all opioid analgesics. Therefore, in this study we evaluated the impact of PDMPs and pill mill laws on the clinical practices of high-risk prescribers in Florida, such as their total number of prescription-filling patients with an opioid prescription. Furthermore, we also characterized the concentration of opioid volume and prescriptions among this group of prescribers as well as how the policies of interest impacted these measures. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Geriatrics, Johns Hopkins / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Halima Amjad, MD, MPH Post-doctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Amjad: Safety is an important aspect of dementia care. Dementia is underdiagnosed, however, and there is limited understanding of safety issues in people with undiagnosed dementia. We wanted to better understand potentially unsafe activities and living conditions in all older adults with dementia and specifically examine these activities in undiagnosed dementia. We found that in all study participants with probable dementia, the prevalence of driving, cooking, managing finances, managing medications, or going to physician visits alone was over 20%. The prevalence was higher in older adults with probable dementia without a diagnosis, and even after accounting for sociodemographic, medical, and physical impairment factors, the odds of engaging in these activities was over 2.0 in undiagnosed versus diagnosed probable dementia. Potentially unsafe living conditions including unmet needs and performance on cognitive tests were similar between these groups. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zhenmei Zhang, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Sociology Michigan State University East Lansing, MI48824 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Zhang: Blacks are especially hard hit by cognitive impairment and dementia. Recent estimates of dementia prevalence and incidence were substantially higher for blacks than whites. Reducing racial/ethnic disparities in dementia has been identified as a national priority by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2011. So I really want to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the origins and pathways through which racial disparities in cognitive impairment is produced. If we have a better understanding of the factors contributing to racial disparities in cognitive impairment in later life, more effective interventions can be conducted to reduce the racial disparities. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Kaiser Permanente, Pediatrics / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrea C. Wickremasinghe, MD Neonatologist Kaiser Santa Clara California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Neonatal jaundice is common and is often treated with phototherapy. Phototherapy is typically considered to be benign. In the past decade, phototherapy use has increased and it is sometimes started at bilirubin levels below recommended treatment thresholds. Beginning in the 1970’s, in-vitro and in-vivo studies have shown phototherapy to be associated with cellular changes implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer. Epidemiologic studies have yielded mixed results, with some studies showing associations between phototherapy and leukemia and other studies failing to show this association. In this study, we used a large statewide administrative dataset to investigate the relationship between neonatal phototherapy and cancer in the first year after birth. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, FASEB / 03.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Soo Jung Park, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Division of Bioconvergence Korea Basic Science Institute in Seoul, South Korea MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Diabetes is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The elevated level of blood glucose (hyperglycemia) can induce the cell death of the pancreatic beta cells which are responsible for the production of insulin. Loss of β-cell number and function underlies much of the pathology of diabetes. However, the mechanism is not fully understood, and we found the novel regulator for hyperglycemia induced beta cell death. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: TSPAN2 protein levels dramatically increased in response to high glucose. High TSPAN2 levels upregulated phosphorylated-JNK (p-JNK) and induced apoptosis. p-JNK enhanced the phosphorylation of β-catenin (p-β-catenin) and Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1). Dkk1 knockdown by siRNA upregulated nuclear β-catenin, suggesting that it is a JNK/β-catenin-dependent pathway. siRNA-mediated TSPAN2 depletion in RNAKT-15 cells increased nuclear β-catenin. This decreased Bax activation, leading to marked protection against high glucose-induced apoptosis. Bax subfamily proteins induced apoptosis through caspase-3. Thus, TSPAN2 might have induced Bax translocation and caspase-3 activation in pancreatic β cells, thereby promoting the apoptosis of RNAKT 15 cells by regulating the JNK/β-catenin pathway in response to high glucose concentrations. (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Environmental Risks / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Eveline Claes Jessa Ziekenhuis Hospital Hasselt, Belgium MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background of this study was the presence of noise in our ICU, and patients complaining about it. We wanted to look into the problem. The main findings were that there is indeed too much noise in our ICU compared to the WHO recommendations, but the measured sound levels were comparable with other ICU's. (more…)
Author Interviews, Circadian Rhythm, Endocrinology, Lifestyle & Health, Occupational Health, Sleep Disorders, Stroke / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Earnest, Ph.D. Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Earnest: When body clocks are disrupted, as they are when people engage in shift work or go to bed and get up at radically different times every few days, more severe ischemic strokes can result. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Dr. Earnest:  Whenever possible, go to bed and get up at the same time each day and keep regular mealtimes. If you do need to keep an irregular schedule, it is especially important to be mindful of stroke risk and try especially hard to eliminate other risk factors, such as hypertension and obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, Rheumatology / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chih-Hung Kuo, M.B., B.S. Peter McCluskey, M.D. Clare L. Fraser, M.B., B.S. University of Sydney Sydney, NSW, Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Giant cell arteritis is a life and sight threatening systemic inflammatory condition, which remains difficult to diagnose. Jaw claudication (cramping of muscle from ischemia) is a highly specific symptom with significant diagnostic and prognostic (risk of permanent blindness) values. The reporting of jaw symptoms may be affected by many factors, such as diet. There remains no standardized clinical test available for clinicians. We study the use of chewing gum as a standardized test (like a stress test for angina pain) to better characterize this critical symptom. The pilot study of two cases with abnormal results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Chewing gum at a rate of 1 chew/second can reproduce the jaw claudication symptom around 2-3 minutes. In one case, the jaw claudication was unmasked by the test with a subsequent positive biopsy result. The test result became negative after corticosteroid treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Weight Research / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Yann C. Klimentidis PhD Assistant Professor Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department The University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85724 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Klimentidis: There is a large gender disparity in obesity rates among African-Americans. African-American women have much higher rates of overweight and obesity as compared to African-American men. We hypothesized that genetic factors may partly explain this difference. So we tested whether the influence of West-African genetic ancestry on obesity differed among men and women. We found that greater West-African genetic ancestry was associated with protection against central obesity in men, but no such effect was observed in women. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Acquired, NEJM, Urinary Tract Infections / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH Chief of Medicine VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System George Dock Professor of Internal Medicine & Senior Associate Chair - Department of Internal Medicine University of Michigan Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Saint: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a common, costly, and morbid complication of hospitalization. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common device-related infections in the United States. CAUTI rates rose nationally between 2009 and 2013. We put in place a national program to reduce CAUTI. Specifically, we enrolled 926 intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU hospital units in 603 hospitals spread over 32 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico between March 2011 and November 2013. By the end of the 18-month program, UTI rates among hospital patients in general wards had dropped by a third. Specifically: • The rate of CAUTIs dropped from 2.40 per 1000 days of catheter use to 2.05 (a ~14 percent overall drop). • Nearly all of the decrease in CAUTI rates was due to changes in infection rates in non-ICUs, which went from 2.28 to 1.54 infections per 1,000 catheter-days – a drop of 32 percent. In non-ICUs, the overall use of catheters decreased by 7%. • ICUs didn’t see a substantial change in either CAUTI or catheter use, likely because the nature of patients treated in ICUs means more frequent urine output monitoring and culturing of urine, so UTIs are more likely to be spotted. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pharmacology / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Neil Carragher Principal Investigator Drug Discovery Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine University of Edinburgh MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Prof. Carragher: The aim of the study was to generate novel small molecule inhibitors that target breast cancers using a strategy which we named: "dual ligand based phenotypic screening". From initial derivation of a small chemical library based on a promiscuous kinase inhibitor PP1, iterative screening across a suite of breast cancer phenotypic assays guided chemical design towards the novel compound eCF506. eCF506 is a highly potent, orally bioavailable and specific inhibitor of Src Kinase. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cleveland Clinic, Heart Disease, Microbiome / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. W.H. Wilson Tang M.D. Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (NC10) Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute Cleveland, Ohio 44195 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our group has recently described the mechanistic link between intestinal microbe-generated phosphatidylcholine metabolite, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), and the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) and its adverse clinical outcomes. Here in a separate, independent, contemporary cohort of patients undergoing coronary angiography, we demonstrated the association between elevated fasting TMAO levels and quantitative atherosclerotic burden (as measured by SYNTAX and SYNTAX II scores) in stable cardiac patients and is an independent predictor for the presence of diffuse (but not focal) lesion characteristics. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, Microbiome / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ettje Tigchelaar MSc PhD student from department of Genetics University of Groningen, Groningen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A gluten-free diet is used by celiac disease patients to alleviate their symptoms. Previous research in these patients has shown differences in gut microbiota composition when on habitual gluten containing diet (HD) compared to a gluten-free diet (GFD). Recently more and more individuals without celiac disease also started to adopt a gluten-free diet to improve their health and/or control weight. We studied changes in gut microbiota composition in these healthy individuals on a gluten-free diet. We observed changes in the abundance of specific bacteria, for example the abundance of the bacterium family Veillonellaceae was much lower on a gluten-free diet versus HD, whereas it was higher for the family Clostridiaceae. We also looked at the function of the bacteria in the gut and found that many of those bacteria that changed because of the gluten-free diet played a role in metabolism of starch. This makes sense since starch is like gluten highly present in wheat containing products, thus when eliminating gluten from the diet, the intake of starch also changes and the gut bacteria processing this dietary starch change accordingly. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: rsz_1pasfoto_mark_de_jongMark de Jong, MD, Psychiatrist Yulius Academy, Yulius Mental Health Barendrecht, the Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Compulsory psychiatric admission, defined as admission against the will of the patient, has a strong effect on psychiatric patients and their relatives, and can be traumatic. Compulsory admission also conflicts with human rights, principles of autonomy, shared decision making, and recovery focused care. We also see, that rates of compulsory admissions in several European countries are tending to rise. So, interventions that prevent patients from being compulsory admitted are urgently needed. We reviewed and meta-analyzed all currently available RCTs, that were designed to reduce compulsory admission rates in adult psychiatric patients with severe mental illnesses in outpatients settings. We found, that advance statements, like crisis plans, showed a significant 23% risk reduction in compulsory admissions. In contrast, community treatment orders and interventions for compliance enhancement showed no significant risk reduction in compulsory admissions. Although RCTs on integrated treatment showed no statistically significant risk reduction, we found a potentially clinically relevant risk reduction of 29%. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Colon Cancer, Stem Cells / 02.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ajay Goel, Ph.D. Professor, and Director of Center for Epigenetics and Cancer Preventio Baylor Scott & White Research Institute Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Goel: One of the areas in which I am interested is examining the activity of natural compounds as it relates to cancer prevention, progression, and treatment. Polyphenols have known antioxidant and anti-cancer activity, but it is important that we better understand the mechanisms of action. I have found in my research on curcumin and boswellia that these plants contain compounds that work on an epigenetic level and can influence microRNA in ways that chemotherapeutic agents cannot. MicroRNA is important because it is like a master control panel that turns on and off a multitude of genetic “switches.” Influencing the activity of microRNA influences a wide array of genetic expression. If you tell the general of the army what to do, it has a much greater impact than directions given to a private, because the general influences so many more soldiers. Because grape seed extract contains oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) that are also quite active in influential cancer mitigating genetic pathways, I wanted to determine its effects more exactly. I chose specifically tannin-free, low molecular weight OPCs because there is some evidence that the larger sized OPCs are not absorbable. (more…)
Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, CHEST, Medical Imaging, Outcomes & Safety, Radiology / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel R. Murphy, M.D., M.B.A. Assistant Professor - Interim Director of GIM at Baylor Clinic Department of Medicine Health Svc Research & General Internal Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Murphy: Electronic health records (EHRs) have improved communication in health care, but they have not eliminated the problem of patients failing to receive appropriate and timely follow up after abnormal test results. For example, after a chest x-ray result where a radiologist identifies a potentially cancerous mass and suggests additional evaluation, about 8% of patients do not receive follow-up imaging or have a visit with an appropriate specialist within 30 days. Identifying patients experiencing a delay with traditional methods, like randomly reviewing charts, is not practical. Fortunately, EHRs collect large amounts of data each day that can be useful in automating the process of identifying such patients. We evaluated whether an electronic “trigger” algorithm designed to detect delays in follow up of abnormal lung imaging tests could help medical facilities identify patients likely to have experienced a delay. Of 40,218 imaging tests performed, the trigger found 655 with a possible delay. Reviewing a subset of these records showed that 61% were truly delays in care that required action. We also found that the trigger had a sensitivity of 99%, indicating that it missed very few actual delays. (more…)
Author Interviews, Prostate Cancer, Weight Research / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aurora Perez-Cornago, PhD Cancer Epidemiology Unit Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Excessive body size and adiposity have been proposed to influence several metabolic and hormonal mechanisms that can promote cancer development. We found that men who have greater adiposity have an elevated risk of high grade prostate cancer, an aggressive form of the disease, and prostate cancer death. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, JAMA / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. med. Johannes Neumann Resident physician University Heart Center Hamburg Department of General and Interventional Cardiology Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The early decision making in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction is important. Current guidelines recommend measurement of cardiac troponin at admission and after 3 hours. In our study we evaluated the performance of a high-sensitivity troponin I assay with a rapid measurement after only 1 hour. We included 1040 patients with new onset chest pain and could show, that a low cutoff concentration of 6 ng/L after 1 hour allows safe rule-out of acute myocardial infarction. The results were comparable to the recommended 3-hour approach and were validated in 2 external cohorts. When using the 99th percentile to rule-out myocardial infarction, as recommended by current guidelines, the negative predictive value was much lower. Furthermore, a troponin I concentration above 6 ng/L in combination with an absolute change of 12 ng/L after 1 hour showed a high positive predictive value for the final diagnosis of myocardial infarction. This allows early decision making after only 1 hour. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cancer Research, Genetic Research / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Nicholas Turner Academic Consultant Medical Oncologist Team leader at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre Institute of Cancer Research, London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Turner: Prior laboratory research had identified that gastric cancers with a particular mutation, amplification of the gene FGFR2, were potential sensitive to a drug that inhibits FGFR2. We conducted a trial and showed that gastric cancers with this FGFR2 amplification respond to FGFR inhibition with a drug AZD4547. The amplification is rare, occurring in only a few percent of gastric cancers, so we designed a blood test to identify which patients have the amplification in their cancer, and we are not using the blood test to screen patients for the study. (more…)
ADHD, Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Pediatrics / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nicole Pratt PhD Senior Research Fellow Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences University of South Australia Adelaide South Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Pratt: The cardiac safety of methylphenidate has been debated. This study aimed to measure the risk of cardiac events in a large population of children treated with these medicines. We found that there was a significantly raised risk of arrhythmia in time periods when children were treated with methylphenidate compared to time periods when they were not. While the relative risk of cardiac events was significant the absolute risk is likely to be low as cardiac events are rare in children. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Environmental Risks / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tao Liu Ph.D Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Hypertension is the most important cause of disability and the leading risk factor for death globally and causes approximately 16.5% of all deaths. Since the 1990s, many epidemiological studies have investigated the associations between air pollution exposure and hypertension, the two most common public health concerns. However, their results remain controversial. Some studies found an association between them, while other studies sowed either no association or an association only for selected pollutants. In order to quantitatively synthesize and interpret these inconsistent and controversial results, here we used a new analysis method (Meta-analysis) to combine results from different previous studies to estimate the overall effect of every air pollutant on hypertension. This is the first study to simultaneously estimate the effects of short-term and long-term exposure to air pollutants on hypertension by meta-analysis. These results could provide more explicit information for policy decisions and clinical use. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Heart Disease, Pediatrics / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Nina Berentzen PhD National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven, the Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Berentzen: Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes often occur together and share risk factors including an unhealthy diet, a lack of physical activity, and being overweight or obese. This study is the first to investigate the occurrence of both diabetes and CVD across two generations of parents and grandparents, and relate it to measurable risk factors in children. We found that one third of the 12-year-olds studied had a strong family history of one or both of cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction and stroke) and type 2 diabetes. Children had a ‘strong family history’ if they had one affected parent, or at least one grandparent with early disease onset, or 3–4 grandparents with late disease onset. These children had higher levels of total cholesterol, and a higher ratio of total/HDL cholesterol than children with no family history of disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Infections, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Markus Juonala, MD, PhD Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville Victoria, Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Juonala: This is an epidemiological follow-up study investigating whether childhood infections and socieconomic status are associated with cardiovasular risk factor and early chances in vasculature. The main finding was that childhood infections were associated with obesity and impaired vascular function in adulthood among those individuals with low socioeconomic status. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Margitta Elvers, PhD Institute of Hemostasis, Hemotherapy and Transfusion Medicine University Clinic of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf Düsseldorf Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Prof. Elvers: Platelets are the main players in hemostasis and thrombosis, but are also recognized to be involved in the pathology of different neurodegenerative diseases. It is well known that amyloid-beta is able to activate platelets and to induce platelet activation. In Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients, platelet activation is enhanced and a correlation between AD and vascular diseases such as stroke and atherosclerosis was shown in different studies However, a direct contribution of platelets to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was an open question for many years. In the last years our group in Düsseldorf, Germany, provided strong evidence for platelets to play a relevant role in the progression of AD, because AD transgenic mice showed enhanced platelet signaling that translated into almost unlimited thrombus formation in vitro and accelerated carotid artery occlusion in vivo suggesting that these mice are at high risk of arterial thrombosis leading to cerebrovascular and unexpectedly to cardiovascular complications that might be also relevant in AD patients. In the recent study, we analyzed the contribution of platelets, which accumulate at vascular Abeta deposits, to cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a vascular dysfunction in most of  Alzheimer’s disease patients, characterized by deposits of Abeta in the wall of cerebral vessels. We found that synthetic monomeric Abeta is able to bind to integrin alphaIIbbeta3 via its RHDS (Arg-His-Asp-Ser) sequence thereby stimulating the release of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and clusterin from platelets. ADP enhanced integrin activation via the ADP receptors P2Y1 and P2Y12 and further increased platelet clusterin release and Abeta fibril formation. Clopidogrel, an antiplatelet drug which irreversible inhibits P2Y12, inhibited Abeta aggregation in human and murine platelet cell cultures. Treatment of AD transgenic mice with clopidogrel for three months reduced clusterin plasma levels and the incidence of CAA. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Immunotherapy / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin M. Perry, DO Silver Falls Dermatology Salem, OR 97302 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Perry: Our interest in this subject developed when a patient came into our clinic with concern of multiple new nevi developing on palmoplantar surfaces following initiation of treatment with Rituximab. We conducted a review of the existing literature and found that this wasn’t a known adverse effect. From that point, we wanted to know the pathogenesis, prognosis, and management for eruptive nevi that developed in the setting of medication use. A collective review had not been previously performed on this subject. In essence, we had questions that were unanswered and set out to find the answers. (more…)
Author Interviews, Prostate, Urology / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kevin T. McVary, MD, FACS Chair, Division of Urology The Pavilion at St. John’s Hospital Springfield, IL Chair and Professor of Urology SIU School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. McVary: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a localized enlargement of the prostate gland in aging adult men. It affects approximately 75% of men over the age of 65. This excess growth of tissue compresses and obstructs the urethra, reducing the flow of urine from the bladder and sometimes blocking it entirely. As the symptoms increase, they can greatly impact a man’s quality of life. Both BPH and the existing treatments for it can negatively affect an individual’s sex life. The Rezūm II IDE pivotal study was a prospective, multicenter, randomized (2:1) controlled trial that enrolled 197 patients across 15 clinical sites in the U.S. The main finding showed that radiofrequency generated convective water vapor thermal therapy provides rapid and sustainable improvement of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to BPH and urinary flow over a 12-month period without negative effects on erectile and ejaculatory function. These results support the application of convective water vapor energy (WAVE) technology as safe and effective minimally invasive therapeutic alternative for symptomatic BPH. Additionally, no treatment or device related de novo erectile dysfunction occurred after thermal therapy, ejaculatory bother score improved 31% over baseline, and 27% of subjects achieved minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) in erectile function scores at 1 year, including those with moderate to severe ED. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, Women's Heart Health / 01.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Norman C. Wang, M.D., M.S., Assistant professor University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Samar R. El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H., Assistant professor of Epidemiology University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We studied 252 middle-aged women with no known cardiovascular disease from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation [SWAN] Heart Study to determine if 5 blood biomarkers associated with abnormal inflammation/hemostasis were associated with increasing amounts of calcium detected in coronary arteries on computed tomography scans, or coronary artery calcium progression. Only higher blood levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 was associated with coronary artery calcium progression. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, HIV, JAMA / 31.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Steven Grinspoon, MD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School MGH Endowed Chair in Neuroendocrinology and Metabolism Director, MGH Program in Nutritional Metabolism and Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard MGH Boston, MA 02114 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Grinspoon: Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown that people living with HIV face a 1.5 to 2-fold increased risk of heart attack, or myocardial infarction, as compared to individuals without the virus. Mechanisms underlying the increased risk of myocardial infarction in HIV are incompletely understood. It is possible that among people living with HIV, increased systemic immune activation fuels arterial inflammation. Arterial inflammation may, in turn, promote the development of high-risk morphology coronary atherosclerotic plaque, which is liable to rupture and result in myocardial infarction. For people diagnosed with HIV, the overall health benefits of immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) are clear. However, the effects of newly-initiated antiretroviral therapy on arterial inflammation have not previously been studied. In this study, we set out to assess among a cohort of treatment-naive HIV-infected subjects, the effects of newly-initiated ART with a contemporary regimen on both immune function and arterial inflammation. We found that among treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals without clinical cardiovascular disease, newly initiated combined antiretroviral therapy has discordant effects to restore immune function without reducing the degree of arterial inflammation. (more…)