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Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Stem Cells / 11.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Timothy D. Henry, MD, MSCAI Director, Division of Cardiology Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Henry: Heart failure it the #1 cause of morbidity, mortality and cost in the United States today.  Patients with Class 3 heart failure, despite optimal medical therapy and device therapy have limited options beyond heart transplantation and left ventricular cyst device. Transplantation and LVAD are expensive and are challenged by both availability and complications.  Therefore, treatment for patients with ongoing symptoms despite medical therapy is an admiral goal.  Stem cell therapy appears to be an attractive choice for these patients, in particular patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. The ATHENA trial was designed to treat patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and ongoing ischemia with autologous adipose-derived regenerative cells.  Patients would undergo liposuction with onsite processing of their stem cells in 1 ½ - 2 hours, followed by intramyocardial injection of adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADCRs) vs. placebo. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pharmacology, Science / 11.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lynda Harris PhD Lecturer in Pharmaceutics University of Manchester Manchester Pharmacy School Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre Manchester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Harris: Pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction remain a problem despite advances in antenatal care, and impact heavily on future health: small size at birth is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in later life. Drugs to improve pregnancy outcome are severely lacking, as pregnant women are considered a high risk cohort by drug companies, who fear expensive lawsuits associated with side effects and teratogenicity. The majority of pregnancy complications are caused by a poorly growing or poorly functioning placenta. A number of potential drugs have been identified that enhance placental function in vitro, and improve fetal growth in animal models; however, there is currently no means of restricting their actions to the placenta, and systemic administration of these drugs to pregnant women is not feasible due to the risk of adverse effects in other tissues. To address this issue, we have identified a series of placental “homing peptides” which we have used to create nanocarriers for targeted delivery of drugs to the placenta. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, University Texas, Weight Research / 11.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sanghamitra Mohanty, MD MS FHRS Director, translational research, Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute and Associate Professor (affiliate) Dell Medical School What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mohanty:  In the last few years, several trials from a research group in Australia have generated tremendous interest in life-style modifications to manage AF more effectively. These studies reported significant decrease in arrhythmia burden and symptom severity and improvement in ablation outcome in patients with paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation. We investigated the impact of weight-loss on procedure outcome in terms of arrhythmia burden, quality of life and arrhythmia-free survival in long-standing persistent (LSPAF) patients undergoing catheter ablation. Our main findings were the following;
  1. In patients with long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation, weight loss improved quality of life but had no impact on symptom burden and long-term ablation outcome
  2. No change in AF type or status was detected after the weight loss
  3. Extensive ablation including pulmonary vein (PV) isolation plus ablation of posterior wall and non-PV triggers resulted in comparable outcome in both groups at 1-year follow-up, irrespective of weight-loss interventions (63.8% vs 59.3%, p=0.68).
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Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Technology, University Texas / 11.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sanghamitra Mohanty, MD MS FHRS Director, translational research, Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute and Associate Professor (affiliate) Dell Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Mohanty: In patients with atrial fibrillation, Focal Impulse and Rotor Modulation (FIRM)-ablation alone or in combination with pulmonary vein (PV) isolation has been documented to possibly be a better alternative to PV isolation only. However, none of those trials had a randomized study design. The current study was the first attempt to compare 3 ablation strategies namely FIRM ablation alone (group 1), FIRM +PV isolation (group 2) and PV isolation combined with ablation of non-PV triggers (group 3) in a randomized controlled trial in persistent and long-standing persistent AF. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Dr. Mohanty: Our main findings were the following: 1)      Procedure time was significantly shorter in group 3 (no FIRM ablation) compared to group 1 and 2 (with FIRM ablation) 2)      FIRM-ablation alone had very poor outcome in terms of arrhythmia recurrence (86%) 3)      FIRM ablation plus PV isolation had significantly longer procedure time and lower efficacy than PV isolation + non-PV trigger-ablation (52.4% vs 76%, p=0.02). (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Prostate Cancer / 11.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael K. Brawer, MD Northwest Prostate Institute Northwest Hospital Seattle, Washington MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Brawer: Prolaris (Cell Cycle Progression Test) is a prostate-cancer prognostic genetic tests that determines how aggressive is a patient’s cancer.  The goal is to reduce the over treatment of tumors that are likely to be harmless while still spotting those that are lethal.  Our key study at AUA (American Urological Society) is a meta-analysis of 440 prostate cancer patients with a Gleason score less than or equal to 6 who were tested with Prolaris. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Stones, UCSF / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ryan Hsi MD Clinical Fellow, UCSF Medical School and Mathew Sorensen, MD, MS Residency Program Director Department of Urology University of Washington Director, Comprehensive Metabolic Stone Clinic Puget Sound VA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Kidney stones affect 1 in 11 people, and the incidence is rising.  When kidney stones pass, they can be very painful, and if they obstruct urinary flow as they pass, they can be a cause of kidney injury and sepsis.  It is well-known that kidney stones are associated with diseases such as coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.  Less well established is the relationship with kidney stones and pre-clinical markers of these diseases.  That is, before a person has a heart attack, a person may develop atherosclerosis first - are kidney stones associated with these early warning signs of future disease? MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: This study evaluated the association of coronary artery calcium and kidney stones.  Coronary artery calcium is a measure of calcification of the blood vessels that supply the heart, and it is a predictor of future cardiovascular events.  Our study of the Muli-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis evaluated individuals who had coronary artery calcium measured and compared those who had a history of none, one, or multiple kidney stones.  We found that individuals who had a history of multiple kidney stones were associated with higher levels of coronary artery calcium. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Urology / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hiten D. Patel, MD, MPH Resident, Urological Surgery James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Baltimore, Maryland 21287  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Patel: The study reports results of a systematic review contracted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality based on input from stakeholders. Part of the motivation was due to the American Urological Association's desire to use the results as a basis to update relevant clinical guidelines. There are four major management options for clinically localized small renal masses diagnosed on imaging including active surveillance, thermal ablation, partial nephrectomy, and radical nephrectomy. The body of research evaluating these management options is broad, but many of the studies performing comparative analyses have limitations. Therefore, the systematic review aimed to evaluate a number of outcomes (e.g. overall survival, cancer specific survival, local recurrence, metastasis, renal function, complications, and perioperative outcomes) based on available comparative studies in the literature. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, Stroke / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Craig Anderson Professor of Stroke Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney Institute of Neurosciences of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Prof. Anderson: Intravenous use of the clot-busting drug, alteplase (or rtPA), at a dose of 0.9 mg/kg body weight is the only proven medical treatment of acute ischemic stroke.  However, a  major drawback to the treatment is an increased risk of major bleeding in the brain, or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), that occurs in about 5% of cases, and can be fatal.  This balance of effectiveness (recovery from disability) and risks (ICH, and bleeding elsewhere and uncommon drug allergic reactions) has led to much of the controversy over the net benefit of the drug.  The optimal dose of the drug has never been established, but the Japanese drug safety regulatory authority, has approved a lower dose (0.6mg/kg) on the basis of a small, non-randomized, open study which showed comparable outcomes and lower risk of ICH than historical controls.  This ‘east-west’ divide over the approved dose of alteplase has led to much variation in the dose of alteplase used in clinical practice in Asia – according to a doctor’s perceived risk of ICH in individual patients and the affordability of this relatively expensive treatment in low resource settings.  Data from the Get-with-the Guidelines Quality Registry in the United States suggests Asian patients are at higher risk of ICH after standard-dose alteplase than non-Asians. Our research aimed to resolve this uncertainty over the optimal dose of alteplase, as an international, active-comparator, open-label, blinded outcome assessed, clinical trial of low-dose (0.6 mg/kg) versus standard-dose (0.9mg/kg) in 3310 patients recruited from over 100 hospitals in 13 countries between 2012 and 2015. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Cancer, Cancer Research / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Corinne Leach, MPH, MS, PHD Strategic Director, Cancer and Aging Research American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30303 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Leach: Using linked data from cancer registries and the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey, we prospectively examined the short-term impact of cancer on the functioning, development of and worsening of age-related health conditions among 921 older adults who developed cancer compared to 4,605 propensity score matched controls. We found that cancer groups demonstrated greater declines in activities of daily living and physical functioning compared to controls with the greatest change for lung cancer patients. Having a cancer diagnosis increased risk for depression but did not increase the odds of developing arthritis in the hand/hip, incontinence (except for prostate cancer), or vision/hearing problems. Having a cancer diagnosis also did not exacerbate the severity of arthritis or foot neuropathy. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, Pediatrics, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Atul Sharma MD, MSc(Statistics), FRCPC Researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba; Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba; Senior Consultant, Biostatistics Group, George and Fay Yee Center for Healthcare Innovation MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Sharma: Between 1978 and 2004, a previous comparison of directly measured heights and weights demonstrated an alarming increase in the prevalence of overweight or obesity in Canadian children aged 2-17y, from 23.3% (95% CI = 20.5-26.0) to 34.7% (33.0-36.4) based on the new 2007 WHO criteria. In Canada, the definitions of overweight and obesity changed with the introduction of the new '2010 WHO Growth Charts for Canada’, Previous definitions were based on Body Mass Index (BMI) percentiles from the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth chart’s. In addition to revising the percentile thresholds for diagnosing overweight or obesity, the WHO charts were based on a very different reference population. As a result, the proportion of Canadian children being classified as overweight or obese increased with the introduction of the new WHO charts. Our current study applied current Canadian definitions of overweight and obesity to a contemporary sample of Canadian children age 3-19y to assess recent trends in the rates of overweight and obesity. By pooling data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS, cycle 2.2) and the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS, cycles 2 and 3), we were able to study a representative sample of more than 14000 Canadian children from the period 2004-2013.  The sample was evenly split between boys and girls and approximately 80% white. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Nature / 10.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Serena Nik-Zainal MD PhD Wellcome Beit Fellow & Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics CDF Group Leader Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute United Kingdom  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Nik-Zainal: We have used the massive improvement in speed of "sequencing" (reading the human genetic material) in order to obtain comprehensive whole genome maps of 560 human breast cancer patients. This is the largest whole genome sequencing study of a single cancer type in the world. We wanted to forensically search these cancers, find all the important genes that drive breast cancer, find all the important mutation patterns that tell us something about why breast cells turn into cancer cells and then to pull it altogether for each patient. We wanted to be able to "profile" each cancer patient, to see if we could further our understanding of personal cancer genomes. In all, we had 556 female and four male patients, and they were sought from all over the world – USA, Europe and Asia. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan S. Go, MD, chief of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Conditions Research at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research Jamal S. Rana, MD, PhD, cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center and adjunct investigator with the Division of Research MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2013, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association published the Pooled Cohort risk equation for estimating the likelihood of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events. However, the equation was developed from several groups of enrolled volunteers primarily conducted in the 1990s with limited ethnic diversity and age range, so its accuracy may vary in current community-based populations. To determine whether the risk equation might be improved by being recalibrated in “real world” clinical care, we examined a large, multi-ethnic, community-based population of Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California whose cholesterol levels and other clinical measures could theoretically trigger a discussion about whether to consider starting cholesterol-lowering therapy based on estimated risk using the ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort tool. The study followed a population of 307,591 men and women aged 40 to 75 years old, including non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Asian, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics, from 2008 through 2013 and had complete five-year follow-up. The study population did not include patients with diabetes, prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or prior use of lipid-lowering therapy such as statins, as the application of this risk tool is meant for primary prevention of heart disease and stroke. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, OBGYNE / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Robert H. Keefe PhD, LMSW, ACSW School of Social Work, University at Buffalo State University of New York, Buffalo, New York  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Keefe: The study focuses on recommendations mothers of color, who have histories of postpartum depression, would make to service providers that they believe would improve service effectiveness.  The study is timely inasmuch as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandates ongoing research to better understand and address differences in treatment needs among mothers from racial and ethnic groups and to develop culturally competent, evidence-based treatment approaches. We were concerned that the research on postpartum depression relies heavily on White mothers, who have access to care, ongoing relationships with service providers, are married or otherwise coupled, and from middle-class backgrounds.  While the limited research on mothers of color notes their rates of postpartum depression are markedly higher than White mothers, it does little to address how their treatment needs differ from White mothers. We undertook this study to get recommendations from the mothers and discovered that many of the issues that inhibit the mothers from accessing services are the very issues that lead mothers to have postpartum depression.  For example, many of the mothers report because they have poor-paying jobs, no health benefits, and limited transportation, they are unable to keep appointments despite wanting to do what is best for their newborn babies.  Furthermore, because they missed appointments, the service provider would terminate the mother from a service the mother needs, or worse contact Child Protective Services to report the mother for neglect.  The mothers were not at all neglectful.  They were all invested in their child’s wellbeing; but various life problems kept mounting up so that they and their babies were not receiving ongoing care. Consequently, the recommendations these mothers make have little to do with psychotherapy.  In fact, most of the mothers reported they had no time to be depressed and that psychotherapy was a luxury they could not afford. Instead, the mothers wanted service systems in place that would allow them to receive the care they need so that they and their new-born babies could live happy and health lives. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, PLoS, Women's Heart Health / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexander Turchin, MD, MS Associate Physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Medicine Endocrinology Boston, MA 02115  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Turchin: It is known that fewer women than men at high risk for cardiovascular disease are treated with statins. However, the reasons for this sex disparity are not fully understood. Our study identified 4 factors that accounted for over 90% of the difference in statin therapy between women and men with coronary artery disease:
  • Age (women were older than men),
  • Amoking (men were more likely to smoke),
  • Evaluation by a cardiologist (men were more likely to have been seen by a cardiologist) and
  • History of adverse reactions to statins (women were more likely to have experienced an adverse reaction). This is the first time that a near-complete explanation for the sex disparities in statin therapy was found.
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Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Anna Pease Senior Research Associate University of Bristol MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Pease:  We tried to gather evidence of whether there was an association between swaddling for sleep and SIDS. This was a review, not a new original study, but it is the first time these data have been brought together to try to quantify any risk between swaddling and SIDS. We only found 4 studies and they were quite different making it difficult to pool the results. We did find, however, that the risk of SIDS when placing infants on their side or front for sleep increased when infants were swaddled. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean-Philippe Chaput, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa Research Scientist, Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Chaput: Folklore has associated behaviors of animals and humans, and even werewolves, to moon phases of the lunar cycle. However, the empirical evidence that the moon exerts an influence on behaviors is weak and very limited. In order to verify if the full moon is associated with sleep and physical activity of children (and possibly debunk this myth), we used a 12-country study involving 5,812 participants and providing 33,710 24-hour accelerometer recordings of sleep and activity behaviors. Overall, we observed that sleep duration was 5 minutes (1%) shorter at full moon compared to new moon, while activity behaviors were not significantly associated with the lunar cycle in this global sample of children drawn from all inhabited continents. However, the magnitude of this effect on sleep duration is unlikely to be clinically significant from a public health standpoint and people should stop worrying about the full moon. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Fertility, OBGYNE / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Scott Sills MD, PhD Medical Director at the Center for Advanced Genetics an IVF program based in Carlsbad, California  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Sills: Often regarded as a miracle procedure by many infertile couples, in vitro fertilization (IVF) can be financially difficult for those without insurance coverage for the treatment. This prohibitive cost leads many would-be parents who pursue IVF to transfer multiple embryos at once, to increase their chances of getting a baby and minimize the need for additional attempts. This new study now reports that the economic impact of IVF deserves a closer look. As corresponding author E. Scott Sills, MD PhD noted, rates of cesarean-section deliveries, premature births, and low birth weight of babies are all greater with two or more embryos transferred to the mother at once, compared to a lower risk, single-embryo pregnancy. The data derived from a comprehensive analysis of all IVF cases in Vermont (UVM) and was recently published in the journal Applied Health Economics & Health Policy. It is believed to be the first effort to calculate the difference in infant hospital costs based on the number of embryos transferred. Sills and his team had access to UVM Medical Center records of patients who conceived through IVF and delivered at least 20 weeks into their pregnancies between 2007 and 2011. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Vaccine Studies / 09.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie H. Shakib, DO, MS, MPH Assistant Professor of Pediatrics | University of Utah Medical Director | Well Baby and Intermediate Nursery Salt Lake City  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Shakib: Immunization against influenza in the first six months of life is ineffective  due to an immature immune response. Passive protection via maternal immunization offers an alternative but only a few studies have evaluated the efficacy of this immunization strategy. We found that in infants born to women immunized against influenza during pregnancy, the risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza and influenza-related hospitalization were reduced by 70% and 81% in their first 6 months of life, respectively.This large study provides more evidence that when women are immunized against influenza during pregnancy, their infants are much less likely to be diagnosed with influenza in their first 6 months. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Diabetes, Genetic Research / 08.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wenpeng You, PhD student Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit University of Adelaide | School of Medicine Adelaide, Australia  Maciej Henneberg, PhD, DSc, FAIBiol Wood Jones Professor of Anthropological and Comparative Anatomy University of Adelaide School of Medicine; Institute for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich Editor in Chief, Journal of Comparative Human Biology HOMO MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Type 1 diabetes disease has very strong genetic background. Prevalence of type 1 diabetes has been increasing globally. Previous studies focusing on regional genetics and environmental factors cannot fully explain this phenomenon. Due to insufficient medical knowledge up until early 20th century, people with type 1 diabetes disease would most commonly die during their teens or early 20s. Therefore, they did not have the opportunity to pass on their genes providing background for the development of type 1 diabetes to their next generations. Since discovery and introduction of insulin to modern medicine in early 1920s, more and more type 1 diabetes patients have been able to survive their reproduction cycle (up until and past 50 years of age). This has made more and more genes related to type 1 diabetes to accumulate in human populations. We applied the Biological State Index which measures a probability to pass genes on to the next generation at population level.  We found that the rapid increase in type 1 diabetes over the last few decades was correlated with increases of the Biological State Index and its proxy, human life expectancy, especially in more developed world in which natural selection has been relaxed most. This correlation was found after statistically excluding differences in countries income, levels of urbanization, sugar consumption and obesity prevalence. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, PLoS, Sexual Health, STD / 07.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Charu Kaushic. PhD. Professor OHTN Applied HIV Research Chair Department of Pathology and Mol. Medicine McMaster Immunology Research Center, McMaster University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kaushic: Female sex hormones, estradiol and progesterone have been shown to regulate immune responses in many experimental and clinical studies. We and others have shown previously that these hormones also regulate susceptibility to and outcome of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Chlamydia, HSV-2, SIV and HIV-1. Most studies show that progesterone generally increases susceptibility while estradiol generally confers protection against STIs. This has recently gained much more widespread attention because of the controversy surrounding use of injectable hormonal contraceptives in geographical areas where there is high prevalence of HIV-1. The most frequently used injectable contraceptive uses a progestin-based formulation which has been correlated with 2-fold increase in HIV acquisition and transmission in epidemiological studies. Oral contraceptives that contain a combination of estradiol and progesterone do not show similar correlation with increased infection. This is currently a very important women’s health issue, which is being carefully monitored by many public health agencies, including WHO. Many researchers are focusing efforts in understanding how sex hormones can increase or decrease susceptibility of women to STIs. We have published in this area for more than a decade, including a series of papers showing that in a mouse model, the outcome of genital herpes (HSV-2) infection can depend on which hormone we treat the mice with. A few years ago, we showed for the first time that mice that received an HSV-2 vaccine under the influence of estradiol were much better protected and showed less disease pathology (Bhavanam et al, Vaccine 2008). These results were reproduced a year later by another group, using an actual HSV-2 vaccine formulation. Since then, we have been working to understand at a cellular level, the underlying mechanism of estradiol-mediated enhanced protection. In this PLOS Pathogens paper, we report for the first time a cellular mechanism by which estradiol was seen to enhance immune protection against HSV-2 infection in mice. The main findings are that estradiol primes dendritic cells in the vaginal tract to induce enhanced anti-viral T cell responses. Dendritic cells are key immune cells that decide what type of immune responses will be mounted against an infection. Under the influence of estradiol, the dendritic cells in the vaginal tract of mice induced Th17 cells which in turn helped enhance anti-viral T cell responses (Th1), resulting in better protection against genital HSV-2. This regulation of anti-viral immunity was seen only in the reproductive tract. (more…)
ALS, Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Nature / 07.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ana Pereira, MD Instructor in Clinical Medicine Bruce McEwen's laboratory Rockefeller University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Pereira: The neurons most susceptible to dying in Alzheimer’s disease are the ones that use glutamate as a neurotransmitter (chemical messengers that enable neurotransmission). Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and its regulation is critical for learning and memory. When glutamate is not located in the correct place and amount, it causes several deleterious effects to neurons that can ultimately lead to cell death. Importantly, the glutamate transporter EAAT2 is the dominant regulator of glutamate levels and it is highly depressed in Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, glutamatergic dysregulation is implicated in several pathological mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease including the release and toxicities of the proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease: amyloid-beta (which form amyloid plaques) and tau (which form neurofibrillary tangles). Better regulation of glutamatergic neural circuits is critically important to effectively treat age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, Lancet / 07.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Riyaz Bashir MD, FACC, RVT Professor of Medicine Director, Vascular and Endovascular Medicine Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Diseases Temple University Hospital Philadelphia, PA 19140 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bashir: The use of compression stockings in the prevention of post thrombotic syndrome following an episode of deep vein thrombosis is common in clinical practice. However, the evidence to suggest its efficacy has been put into question by the recent publication of the SOX trial. Since this was the largest randomized controlled trial to date addressing this issue, it has led to clinicians questioning whether compression stockings should be used at all in these patients. The main finding of this meta-analysis was that in patients with deep venous thrombosis, use of elastic compression stockings does not significantly reduce the development of post thrombotic syndrome. However the current body of evidence is limited and we believe at present it is too early to give up on the use of this therapy, which may benefit many subgroups of patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lipids, Pharmacology / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Martha M. Rumore, PharmD, JD, MS, LLM, FAPhA Associate Professor, Social, Behavioral & Administrative Pharmacy Touro College of Pharmacy New York, NY 10027 & Of Counsel Sorell, Lenna, & Schmidt, LLP MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Rumore: The management of lipid therapy is only one component that affects overall cardiovascular outcomes.This study is one of the first to look at the benefits of dose titration versus intensity-based statin therapy.  To evaluate whether patients titrated on statin therapy using ATPIII algorithm with an LDL goal of <100mg/dL also met the 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline for Management of Blood Cholesterol goal of ≥40% LDL reduction from baseline compared to inpatients initiated on high-moderate intensity statin (HIS).  Other objectives included comparison of algorithms to lower LDL ≥40%, final dose, adverse drug events (ADEs), clinic visits to goal, and cardiovascular event occurrence. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Dr. Rumore: 981 patients were included- 43% were titrated and 57% achieved LDL<100; 38% achieved both LDL <100mg/dL and LDL ≥40% reduction; 58% received HIS and 53% achieved LDL <100; 43% achieved both LDL <100mg/dL and LDL ≥40% reduction. Initiating patients on  High Intensity statins was not more effective than dose titration in achieving <100mg/dL and ≥40% LDL reduction;X2=0.006,N=159,p=0.938. A 50% LDL reduction in patients that also achieved an LDL <100 was 54% and 48%, in titration and HIS groups, respectively; X2=0.611,N=159,p=0.434.  The titration group required an average of 4.3 clinic visits to achieve goal, compared to 3.1 visits for HIS; p=0.309; 95% CI(-1.36,1.06). (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: T. Jared Bunch, MD Director of Heart Rhythm Research Medical Director for Heart Rhythm Services Intermountain Healthcare System MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bunch: Approximately 6 years ago we found that patients with atrial fibrillation experienced higher rates of all forms of dementia, including Alzheimers disease.  At the time we started to ask the questions of why this association existed.  We know that atrial fibrillation patients experience higher rates of stroke.  These patients are placed on blood thinners, most commonly warfarin, to lower risk of stroke which at the same time expose that patient to a higher risk of intracranial bleeding.  One possibility to explain the association was that perhaps dementia in the manifestation of many small clots or bleeds in the brain that in total lead to cognitive decline.  If this is the case, then the efficacy and use of anticoagulation is very important in atrial fibrillation patients. We conducted additional studies that showed this to be the case.  In patients with no history of dementia, managed long-term with warfarin anticoagulation, those that had levels that were frequently too higher or too low that resulted in poor times in therapeutic range, experienced significantly higher rates of dementia.  The risk was highest in younger atrial fibrillation patients that were less than 80 years of age.  We then found that in atrial fibrillation patients that were frequently over anticoagulated and also use an antiplatelet agent, aspirin or plavix, the dementia rates nearly doubled.  At this point we raised the question if atrial fibrillation increased the risk beyond anticoagulation, or does anticoagulation efficacy drive most of the risk.  This question formed the background of the current study. (more…)
Author Interviews, HIV, University of Pennsylvania / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Bonacci MPH, MD Candidate’16  University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: During the mid-2000’s, the HIV incidence rate stubbornly persisted around 50,000 infections per year. Responding to this trend, President Obama released the first comprehensive US National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) in 2010. The NHAS hoped to spur a more coordinated national response and set ambitious targets for reducing HIV incidence (25 percent) and the transmission rate (30 percent), among other goals, by 2015. To evaluate whether the U.S. achieved the NHAS goals by 2015, we used mathematical models drawing on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on HIV prevalence and mortality for 2007 to 2012, and our own previously published incidence estimates from 2008-2012. Changes seen from 2010 through 2012 were extrapolated for the time period 2013 through 2015. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Hearing Loss, Occupational Health / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elizabeth A. Masterson, PhD CPH Dr. Masterson is an epidemiologist in the NIOSH Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Masterson: Occupational hearing loss, primarily caused by high noise exposure, is the most common work-related illness in the United States. It is a permanent but entirely preventable condition. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared the prevalence of hearing impairment within nine industry sectors and the associated impact on quality of life for noise-exposed workers. Hearing impairment is hearing loss that impacts day-to-day activities. The Mining sector had the highest prevalence of workers with any hearing impairment, and with moderate or worse impairment, followed by the Construction and Manufacturing sectors. Impact on quality of life was measured by calculating disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). DALYs represented the number of healthy years lost because of hearing impairment. This study found that 2.5 healthy years were lost each year for every 1,000 noise-exposed U.S. workers because of hearing impairment. These lost years of good health were shared among the 13% of workers with hearing impairment (about 130 workers out of each 1,000 workers). Mining, Construction and Manufacturing workers lost more healthy years than workers in other industry sectors (3.5, 3.1 and 2.7 healthy years lost, respectively, each year for every 1,000 workers). Mild impairment accounted for 52% of all healthy years lost and moderate impairment accounted for 27%.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mammograms / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ragnhild Falk PhD Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology Research Support Services Oslo University Hospital and Solveig Hofvind PhD Department of Screening Cancer Registry of Norway and Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences Oslo, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The issue of overdiagnosis has been heavily debated, and a variety of results have been presented. However, the exact proportion of overdiagnosis is unknown as one do not know what would have happen in the absent of screening. We have split the proportion of overdiagnosis into two parts based on the time at which the death occur; scenario 1 as the proportion of women diagnosed with a screen-detected breast cancer and who died within the lead-time period, and scenario 2 as women detected with slow growing tumors that never would have caused any harm during the women’s life if she had not attended screening. In principle, all screening programs will detect breast cancer among women who die of other causes in the near future since there exist competing risk of death among women targeted by screening. Although the all-cause mortality rates are low, it is inevitable. We wanted to focus on the first scenario and estimated the number of women diagnosed with screen detected breast cancer who died within the estimated lead-time period caused by screening. We estimated his proportion to be less than 4 percent of all screen-detected cases in the given England & Wales and the Norwegian setting. (more…)
Author Interviews, Columbia, Pediatrics, Vaccine Studies / 06.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, FAAP Florence Irving Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Family Health Columbia University - College of Physicians & Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health Medical Director, New York-Presbyterian Hospital Immunization Registry (EzVac) Co-Director, Primary Care Clinician Research Fellowship in Community Health New York, NY 10032  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Stockwell: Fragmentation of immunization records place children at risk for underimmunization and overimmunization. Nearly all 50 states, 5 cities, and the District of Columbia operate an immunization information system, which is a system that collects and centralizes immunization data for children and adolescents from immunization providers at a regional or state level. More than 75% of US office-based physicians have adopted an electronic health record (EHR), but until recently, clinicians wanting to access patient immunization information in an IIS generally had to manually look up the patient data on a state or local IIS website, that data was not available to them within their own EHR. In this study, we demonstrated that exchange of immunization information between an immunization information system (IIS) and an EHR at point of care had a significant impact on up-to-date rates, overimmunization, and immunization record completeness for low-income, urban children and adolescents. (more…)