Author Interviews
26 Feb Peanut Allergy: Predictors of Safety for Preschool Oral Immunotherapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58820" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Chan[/caption]
Edmond S. Chan MD, FRCPC, FCSACI, FAAAAI
Head | Division of Allergy & Immunology | Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
Clinical Professor, The University of British Columbia
Clinical Investigator, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute
BC Children's Hospital, Allergy Clinic
Vancouver, BC Canada
Treasurer, CSACI (Canadian Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology)
MedicalResearch.com: What prompted you to look at the safety of peanut oral immunotherapy specifically in this patient population?
Response: Our previous research has investigated the overall safety of peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) in preschool populations. However, we have not investigated the relationship between specific patient characteristics and the safety of OIT. Previous literature has shown that patient factors, such as age, gender, baseline sIgE levels, and atopic comorbidities have been shown to impact the safety of OIT for other food allergies and in older patients. However, no data exist on which factors predict safety of peanut OIT in preschool populations.
22 Feb Leg Wounds: Topical Timolol Accelerated Healing Times in Elderly Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58815" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Chen[/caption]
Chih-Shan Jason Chen, MD, PhD
Director, Dermatologic and Mohs Micrographic Surgery Unit
Memorial Sloan Kettering Skin Cancer Center at Hauppauge
Attending Mohs Surgeon, Dermatology Service
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Chief, Dermatologic Surgery Northport VA Medical Center
Associate Professor of Clinical Dermatology
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Managing a surgical wound on the lower leg can be a challenge. Often, higher wound tension, atrophic skin, edema, and compromised circulation result in higher risks of wound dehiscence and infection, and significantly limit the capacity of wound closure post-surgically. Therefore, healing by secondary intention is a practical option for many lower leg Mohs defects. However, a secondary intention wound on the lower leg is expected to take a longer time to heal. Certain factors such as older age and health conditions of the host may adversely affect healing time.
Timolol is a nonselective beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist that has FDA approval for the treatment of glaucoma. In addition to this FDA-approved indication, topical timolol has several off-label uses in dermatology, such as for the treatment of infantile hemangiomas, venous stasis ulcers, and refractory wounds. Although timolol solution has been used in chronic wounds, knowledges of the efficacy and utility of timolol in an acute post-surgical wound setting is lacking.
17 Feb Childhood Insomnia: Parents and Providers Should Not Assume Symptoms Will Go Away
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58809" align="alignleft" width="153"]
Dr. Fernandez-Mendoza[/caption]
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, PhD, CBSM, DBSM
Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health
Sleep Research & Treatment Center
Director, Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Is insomnia familial?
Response: Consistent research has shown that about 25% of school-age children have insomnia symptoms consisting of difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep. However, what has remained unknown is to what extent those insomnia symptoms persist all the way into adulthood, or whether they developmentally remit (go away with age) as the child grows into adolescence or young adulthood. This is the question that our study focused on.
17 Feb LSD: Study Examines Effects of Repeated Microdosing
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_58805" align="alignleft" width="150"] Harriet De Wit, PhD[/caption]
Harriet De Wit, PhD Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience University of Chicago
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There are numerous reports that psychedelics like LSD, taken in very small ‘microdoses’, help boost mood, cognitive function and productivity. The practice is popular in Silicon Valley and among media figures, who report remarkable beneficial effects from regular use of these microdoses. The possible antidepressant effects of LSD are plausible from a neurobiological perspective, as the drug acts directly on serotonin receptors, the same systems where SSRI’s act. However, the effects of microdosing have not yet been validated in controlled research. In our study, we recruited healthy men and women to ingest repeated, low doses of LSD under double blind conditions. They attended four laboratory sessions, separated by three to four days. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups who received the same drug on all four sessions: placebo, 13 micrograms of LSD or 26 micrograms of LSD. Subjects were not told exactly what drug they were receiving until the end of the study. We measured their mood, emotional reactivity and cognition.
16 Feb Syphilis and Adverse Neonatal Outcomes Rising Sharply in US
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58781" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Stafford[/caption]
Irene A. Stafford, M.S., M.D.
Associate Professor
Associate Program Director Maternal - Fetal Medicine Fellowship
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine
McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We have observed disproportionately high-rates syphilis in the US over the last several years, and here in Texas. As this is now leading to health alerts in our cities, it is key we bring attention to this infection regarding risks to the pregnant patient and her fetus.
Syphilis carries a nearly 40% neonatal mortality rate, so testing and treating is key in preventing this devastating neonatal infection. We need to encourage and offer testing at intake to pregnancy care, and any time a patient desires to be tested for STI.
16 Feb VIP StarNetwork Expands Mobile Framework to Serve Difficult-to-Reach Communities
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Johonniuss Chemweno
CEO of VIPStarNetwork
MedicalResearch.com: What is the mission of VIP StarNetwork?
Response: VIP StarNetwork’s mission is to expand access to healthcare services and information, especially in underserved and underprivileged communities. Our comprehensive group of health experts, leading physicians, and healthcare executives are working to create a meaningful and safe environment to ensure that patients have equitable and streamlined access to vaccines and other forms of care.
16 Feb Faster Growth in Early Childhood Linked to Earlier Puberty
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58751" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Aris[/caption]
Izzuddin M Aris, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute
Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Puberty is a key stage during child development. Previous research indicates that children in the United States are entering puberty at younger ages. These children may be in danger of developing certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, later in life. A better understanding of how early life factors affect puberty development is important for combating earlier puberty onset. .
15 Feb COVID-19 Hospital Bills Not Just a Problem for the Uninsured
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_54411" align="alignleft" width="148"]
Dr. Kao-Ping Chua[/caption]
Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Department of Pediatrics
Assistant Professor,
Health Management and Policy
School of Public Health
University of Michigan
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In 2020, most insurers waived the cost of COVID-19 hospitalization for patients. In early 2021, many major insurers started to abandon those waivers. By August 2021, the vast majority of insurers had started billing patients for COVID-19 hospitalizations again.
15 Feb ED May Be Manifestation of Long COVID
The clinical phenotype of COVID-19 can result in multi-organ damage, both in its acute and chronic forms; sexual dysfunctions, and erectile dysfunction in particular, are among the potential consequences of infection...
14 Feb CDC: Effectiveness of COVID-19 Booster Wanes with Time But Still Best Protection Against Severe Illness
CDC is continuing to closely monitor the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to help inform public health efforts. ...
10 Feb COVID-19: Immune Response at One Year Differs Between Vaccinated and Recovered Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carmit Cohen, PhD, MDV – Laboratory manager Infection Prevention and Control UNIT Sheba Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We, Professor Regev-Yochay research group, began this study when the first COVID-19 patients were diagnosed in Israel. We followed humoral immune response kinetics of recoverees in the first year of the pandemic for a year (before the introduction of the Delta variant) and compared them to a matched cohort of two doses Pfizer vaccinated that was followed for up to eight month (until they received the third dose).
08 Feb Singh Biotechnology: Fighting Cancer, Eye Disease with Small Antibodies That Can Cross Cell Membranes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58765" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Singh[/caption]
Dr. Saundra Singh M.D., Ph.D.
Founder & CEO/President
Singh Biotechnology
MedicalResearch.com: What is the mission of Singh Biotechnology?
- Our mission is to develop medicine and therapeutics that dramatically improve and save the lives of people worldwide suffering from diseases, including cancer.
- The average human antibody is 150 Kd in size and works on the outside of the cell. The advantage of the single domain nanobody is that it is significantly smaller, in fact, it is one-tenth the size (approximately 15 Kd) of the human antibody. A smaller nanobody is more useful therapeutically because, unlike many cancer drugs currently on the market, it can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the blood-retina barrier, and the cell membrane. Moreover, our SBT-100 drug has been shown to be non-toxic in animal models.
08 Feb Fertility Treatments Associated with Increased Risk of Preterm Births
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gang Chen, MD, PhD Deputy chief of cardiovascular surgery Children's Hospital of Fudan University Shanghai, Chin MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Preterm birth is a crucial global health issue. The relation between fertility treatment and preterm birth of singletons have not been fully clarified. In this cohort study of over 14 million pregnant women included in the US National Vital Statistics, fertility treatment, including both assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and non-ART treatment, was found positively correlated with preterm birth in singletons and infants conceived after fertility treatment were more strongly associated with higher rates of very preterm and extremely preterm birth.
04 Feb Political Affiliation and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among US Hispanics
Posted at 18:32h
in Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_58758" align="alignleft" width="158"] Bianca V. Sanchez[/caption]
Bianca V. Sanchez
Department of Medical Education
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Scranton, Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for the study?
Response: Hispanic populations have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as evident by their increased rate of infection with the virus, hospitalizations, and mortality. Previous literature has indicated that many of these individuals demonstrate increased rates of vaccine hesitancy, subsequently increasing their risk for infection.
This study aimed to characterize the reasoning behind vaccine hesitancy in Hispanic populations in the hopes of addressing their concerns through targeted educational interventions.
04 Feb Number of Extremely Preterm Births Varies with Season
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58736" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Hviid[/caption]
Anders Hviid M.Sc.,Dr.Med.Sci.
Head of Department (acting),
Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology,
Department of Epidemiology Research
Statens Serum Institut
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: An unusually low number of extremely preterm births have been observed in some countries during the initial covid-19 lockdowns. We speculated that this could be because of fewer infections, reduced activity levels, less stress etc. These are also factors that change with the seasons, and we hypothesized that extremely preterm birth might be associated with seasonality.
04 Feb Study Finds Buprenorphine Can Reduce Harmful Effects of Fentanyl on Respiration
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Laurence Moss MD, PhD candidate Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) Department of Anesthesiology Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) Geert Jan Groeneveld, MD, PhD Neurologist | Clinical Pharmacologist | Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology CMO/CSO Centre for Human Drug Research Leiden, The Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major source of morbidity and mortality, and the opioid epidemic in the Unites States (but increasingly in Europe also) has been well documented and reported on by the media. The alarming rise in opioid related mortality is largely driven by the increasing use of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, often surreptitiously mixed with heroin or other drugs such as psychostimulants or prescribed opioids. Opioid-induced respiratory depression in particular is a leading cause of opioid-related fatalities. Buprenorphine has been proven as an effective medication for the treatment of OUD. Buprenorphine is a semi-synthetic partial agonist for the opioid receptor that firmly binds to these receptors and displays only partial respiratory depressive effects, meaning it does not cause the complete cessation of breathing as is the case with other potent opioids such as fentanyl. Due to its firm receptor binding, we hypothesized that at sufficient buprenorphine receptor occupancy, the effect of fentanyl on respiration would be limited, even at high fentanyl doses. This study aimed to provide proof of principle for this hypothesis, and demonstrate whether buprenorphine could reduce fentanyl-induced respiratory depression.
03 Feb COVID-19: Study Finds Narrow Window For Convalescent Plasma Effectiveness
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58722" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Troxel[/caption]
Andrea B. Troxel, ScD (she/her/hers)
Professor and Director, Division of Biostatistics
Department of Population Health
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
NYU Langone Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This study represents an international collaboration across four continents and six countries, to pool information from studies in different patient populations to generate robust information about the possible benefits of convalescent plasma in treating COVID-19. Because the study was so large and the methods so rigorous, we were able to show that while CP doesn’t benefit all patients, it may have positive effects in certain subgroups.
03 Feb Residential Segregation Contributes to Hypertension in Black and Hispanic Adults
Posted at 18:25h
in AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Xing Gao, MPH, lead author and doctoral candidate in
Dr. Mujahid's research group
Mahasin Mujahid, MS, PhD, FAHA
Lillian E. I. and Dudley J. Aldous Chair in the School of Public Health
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Director, Epidemiology & Biostatistics Master of Public Health Program
UC Berkeley, School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
- Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and persistent racial and ethnic inequities in hypertension remain an urgent public health challenge.
- Public health researchers need a more nuanced understanding of how structural factors contribute to these inequities, which has a direct application to improving the cardiovascular health of marginalized populations.
- This study examined associations between racial residential segregation, a product of historical and contemporary racially discriminatory policies, and hypertension in a multi-racial cohort of middle-aged and older adults.
03 Feb UCSB Scientists Adapt Smartphone/Lab App to Cheaply and Accurately Detect COVID
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58711" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Mahan[/caption]
Michael J. Mahan Ph.D
Professor
Dept of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9625
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A critical need exists in resource-poor settings for low-cost, low-tech, yet highly reliable and scalable testing for SARS-CoV-2 virus that is robust against circulating variants.
03 Feb Masking in Early Child Care Programs Linked to Fewer Closures
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58724" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Murray[/caption]
Thomas Murray MD PhD
Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics, Infectious Disease and Global Health
Associate Medical Director, Infection Prevention
Yale New Haven Children's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This study was performed by Yale- CARES (Children and Adults Research in Early Education Study Team) a multidisciplinary group of researchers that are interested in learning how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted early child care programs in the US including the effects on both the children and those who care for them in this setting. This is important because when child care programs close it becomes very difficult for working families to find safe, affordable alternative care.
We surveyed over 6000 child care workers from across the US in May/June 2020 with a follow up survey in May/June 2021. This includes both center based and home based child care programs. One question we were interested in was what things they were doing in their programs to reduce the risk of COVID-19. We then asked whether their program closed at any time in that year because of COVID-19.
03 Feb Social isolation and Loneliness Independently Increase Cardiovascular Risk in Women
[caption id="attachment_58733" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Golaszewski[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Natalie Golaszewski, PhD
Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Social isolation and loneliness are growing public health concerns as they are associated with health conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease including obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
02 Feb USPSTF: Screening for Atrial Fibrillation in Adults over 50
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_56129" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Ogedegbe[/caption]
Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH
Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Population Health
Director, Division of Health & Behavior
Director Center for Healthful Behavior Change
Department of Population Health
NYU Langone Health
NYU School of Medicine
Member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is the most common type of irregular heartbeat and a major risk factor for stroke, and it often goes undetected. For this recommendation, the Task Force evaluated whether screening adults over the age of 50 who do not have any signs or symptoms of AFib can help prevent strokes.
In its evidence review, Task Force expanded its scope to include a search for studies on portable and wearable devices such as smartphones and fitness trackers in addition to electrocardiography (ECG). Despite this consideration, the Task Force found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening for AFib. This is consistent with the Task Force’s 2018 recommendation.
28 Jan COVID-19: Convalescent Plasma Not Uniformly Effective for All Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58730" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Petkova[/caption]
Eva Petkova, PhD
Professor, NYU School of Medicine
Department of Population Health
Division of Biostatistics
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York, NY 10016
Senior Scientist, Nathan Kline Institute of Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The COMPILE study is based on real-time collection of individual patient data from 8 international completed, terminated early and ongoing randomized clinical trials testing the efficacy of convalescent plasma for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Recruitment covered the period from March 2020 to March 2021 in Asia, Europe, North and South America. Total of 2369 patients were enrolled and data from 2341 patients were used in the analysis. COMPILE, the largest study of convalescent plasma for hospitalized COVID-19 patients to date, provided robust information on a diverse patient population, which allowed rigorous evaluation of questions related to convalescent plasma efficacy.
The main findings are that convalescent plasma might have only a moderate efficacy on average, but that there is a huge heterogeneity in the benefits for individual patients.
27 Jan Differences in Sun-Protective Behaviors Among Asian American Subgroups
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58708" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Yeung[/caption]
Howa Yeung, MD MSc | He/him/his
Assistant Professor of Dermatology
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA 30322
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States but are underrepresented in health research. Existing research often categorize Asian Americans into a single racial category, which may mask differences in health behaviors and outcomes subgroups.
We sought to examine potential differences in skin cancer-related risk factors and screening among Asian Americans in a large, nationally representative study.
26 Jan COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Declined Faster Among Black Americans
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58692" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Padamsee[/caption]
Tasleem J. Padamsee, PhD
Co-Leader C3-REACH -- Committed to Communities Collaborative: Research and Engagement to Advance beyond COVID to Health EquityPrincipal Investigator
The Daughter Sister Mother Project: Empowering Women and their Healthcare Providers to Fight Familial Cancer
Lead Qualitative Investigator WOW Project: Washington & Ohio Workers Study
Assistant Professor
Division of Health Services Management & Policy, College of Public Health
Faculty Affiliate, James Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Ohio State University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This is a study about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States. Although there has been a lot of discussion about vaccine hesitancy as a barrier to achieving high rates of COVID-19 vaccination, there have been few studies of changes in hesitancy - or how it might vary across groups. As COVID-19 vaccines were becoming available in the US there was a lot of discussion about worrisome rates of vaccine hesitancy, particularly among communities of color.
Our team suspected, however, that these high rates might be short-lived, and that Black Americans in particular might become willing to use COVID-19 vaccines after a short period of time - as they became reassured that they would be safe, effective, and protect communities.
25 Jan COVID 19: Risk of Myocarditis Highest Following Second Vaccine Dose Among Adolescent and Young Adult Males
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58700" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Oster[/caption]
Matthew Oster, MD, MPH
CDC COVID-19 Response
CDC Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
Pediatric Cardiologist, Sibley Heart Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Emory University School of Medicine
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: More than 192 million people ages 12 years and older in the U.S. received at least one dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from December 2020 through August 2021. From this population, VAERS (the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) received 1,991 reports of myocarditis, 1,626 of which met the case definition of myocarditis. Rates of myocarditis were highest following the second dose of an mRNA vaccine among males aged 12–15 years (70.7 per million doses of Pfizer), 16-17 years (105.9 per million doses of Pfizer), and 18–47 years (52.4 and 56.3 per million doses of Pfizer and Moderna, respectively).
Of those with myocarditis, the median age was 21 years and the median time from vaccination to symptom onset was two days. Males accounted for 82% of patients for whom sex was known. Approximately 96% were hospitalized, 87% of whose symptoms had gone away by the time they were discharged from the hospital. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (589/676, 87%) were the most common treatment.
24 Jan The CD6/ALCAM Pathway Promotes Lupus Nephritis via T cell–Mediated Responses
[caption id="attachment_58695" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Connelly[/caption]
Stephen Connelly, PhD
Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Equillium, Inc.
San Diego, California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that predominantly affects women in the reproductive age range. Approximately 50% of SLE patients experience lupus nephritis (LN), a serious complication that is accompanied by significant morbidity and mortality. Progression of LN to chronic kidney disease is common, with 10% of patients with LN developing end-stage kidney disease.
T cells, play a central role in the pathogenesis of both SLE and LN by mediating tissue damage and enhancing the production of autoantibodies by promoting B cell differentiation, proliferation, and maturation. These T cells express CD6, a costimulatory receptor that through its binding to activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM), expressed on immune cells and tissues, modulates both the activity and trafficking of effector T cells (Teff). The expression of both CD6 and ALCAM (CD6-ALCAM pathway) have been associated with pathogenic effector T cell activity and trafficking in multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Based on a comprehensive screen of more than 1100 urine proteins, soluble urinary ALCAM (uALCAM) was identified as one of only a few molecules that were elevated in the urine of patients with SLE with active renal involvement compared with patients with quiescent or no prior nephritis. However, no studies had been conducted to characterize the cellular sources of the soluble ALCAM and questions remained about the relevance of this protein and whether it was associated with the pathology of the disease.
23 Jan Socially Isolated Older Adults Have Accelerated Loss of Teeth
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58688" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Bei Wu[/caption]
Bei Wu, PhD
Dean's Professor in Global Health
Vice Dean for Research
Rory Meyers College of Nursing
Affiliated Professor, College of Dentistry
Co-Director, NYU Aging Incubator
New York University New York, NY 10010
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Social isolation and loneliness are global public health concerns. Social isolation is the lack of social contacts and having few people to have regular interactions; while loneliness is the distressing feeling of being alone or separated. Approximately 24% of community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and above are considered to be socially isolated in the United States, and 43% adults aged over 60 years old report feeling lonely. Increasing evidence suggests that social isolation and loneliness are risk factors for older adults’ health outcomes, such as depression, comorbidities, cognitive impairment and dementia, and premature mortality. However, one key limitation in the literature is that only a few studies have examined the impact of social isolation and loneliness on oral health.
20 Jan Wrist Fractures: Study Compares Casting to Surgical Fixation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58670" align="alignleft" width="150"] Prof. Costa[/caption]
Prof. Matthew Costa
Professor of Orthopaedic Trauma
University of Oxford
Honorary Consultant Trauma Surgeon,
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Fixation with metal implants provides reliable functional outcomes for patients after a manipulation of a displaced fracture of the distal radius, but such surgery carries risk for the patient and is expensive.
A moulded plaster cast is a safer and cheaper intervention but may not provide the same functional outcome.
It is not known which of these treatments is superior.