Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Nature / 19.12.2014

Dr Catherine Olsen | Senior Research Officer QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Royal Brisbane Hospital, QLD 4029MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Catherine Olsen  |  Senior Research Officer QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Royal Brisbane Hospital, QLD 4029 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs)are the second most common skin cancer occurring in white skinned populations. They cause significant morbidity as they can invade local structures (often the nose or ears) and they also have the potential to metastasize although most are successfully treated before any spread occurs. They are also very expensive cancers to treat because they are so common, posing a significant burden on health care budgets. NSAIDS have been shown to be protective for other cancers (e.g. colorectal and oesophageal cancer). This prompted use to evaluate all of the available evidence on NSAIDs use and SCC by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Melanoma, Occupational Health, UCSF / 18.12.2014

Martina Sanlorenzo, MD Department of Dermatology Mount Zion Cancer Research Center University of California, San FranciscoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Martina Sanlorenzo, MD Department of Dermatology Mount Zion Cancer Research Center University of California, San Francisco Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Sanlorenzo: We recently performed a meta-analysis and found an increased risk of melanoma in pilots and cabin crew. One of the possible occupational hazards responsible for this risk is UV radiation. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Sanlorenzo: We performed UV measurements in airplane cockpits during flight and we found that windshields blocked UV-B but allowed UV-A transmission. We compared the UV-A dose in airplanes with the UV-A dose in tanning beds, whose use is a known risk factor for melanoma. Pilots flying for 56.6 minutes at 30,000 feet received the same amount of UV-A carcinogenic effective radiation of a 20-minute tanning beds session. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC / 18.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dexter Canoy, PhD Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford, United Kingdom Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Over a million middle-aged women in the UK who took part in our study between 1996 and 2001 provided information regarding their health and lifestyle, including their reproductive history such as age when they had their first menstruation. We followed them for over 10 years and identified those who developed heart disease (and other vascular diseases) by obtaining information on hospitalizations and death records. Our study demonstrates that on average, women with menarche before age 13 or after this age have slightly increased risks of developing heart disease, stroke and hospital admissions associated with hypertension. The increased risks for these vascular diseases were highest in women with menarche at age 10 years or younger, or age 17 years or older. This U-shaped association was consistently found among lean, overweight and obese women, among never, past or current smokers, or among women in low, middle or high socioeconomic group. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pain Research, Rheumatology / 18.12.2014

Sandra Goldsmith, MA, MS, RD Director of Public and Patient Education at Hospital for Special Surgery New York City.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sandra Goldsmith, MA, MS, RD Director of Public and Patient Education at Hospital for Special Surgery New York City. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Almost 50 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of musculoskeletal disorder, which can affect their mobility and quality of life. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and affects more than 70 percent of adults between the ages of 55 and 78. Research has shown that there is a connection between being physically active and maintaining joint health, pain relief and improved quality of life. This study attempts to support the efficacy of Hospital for Special Surgery’s hospital-based exercise programs in increasing physical activity and improving quality of life through pain relief and improved stiffness, fatigue and balance in the older adult community. This study found that after taking the exercise classes, fewer participants reported experiencing a high level of muscle/joint pain from their condition (56 percent before the program started vs. 47 percent after completing the program). The study also reported improved quality of life, as evidenced by statistically significant reductions in how much their pain interfered with their general activities, ability to walk, mood, sleep and enjoyment of life. In addition, 83 percent of participants indicated a reduction in stiffness; 82 percent said they felt their balance improved; and 67 percent said they experienced less fatigue as a result of taking part in the program. Health outcomes were also related to the type of exercise class participants chose, with the greatest reduction in muscle/joint pain reported by those who took t’ai chi. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Weight Research / 18.12.2014

Mohammed Elfaramawi , MD PhD MPH MSc Assistant Professor Epidemiology Department College of Public Health University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little rock, AR 72205 MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mohammed Elfaramawi , MD PhD MPH MSc Assistant Professor Epidemiology Department College of Public Health University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little rock, AR 72205 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Elfaramawi: A substantial increase in prevalence of obesity has been documented globally. In the USA, overweight and obesity are the second leading cause of preventable death in the USA, affecting ∼97 million adults. Evidence has accumulated showing that visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. This study is one of few studies which explored the relationship between obesity and visit-to-visit blood pressure variability. (more…)
Author Interviews, End of Life Care, Pain Research / 18.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melissa Garrido, PhD Research Health Science Specialist GRECC, James J Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY Assistant Professor Brookdale Department of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY and Holly G. Prigerson, PhD Center for Research on End of Life Care Weill Cornell Medical College New York, NY 10065 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Recent proposals in Congress encourage patients to engage in advance care planning and to complete advance directives. That is, patients are encouraged to have conversations about end-of-life care preferences and to document these preferences in writing (through living wills or medical orders such as do not resuscitate (DNR) orders) or to designate a durable power of attorney who can honor their preferences. The goal of advance care planning is to ensure that seriously ill patients receive care that matches their values. In this study, we used data from a prospective study of patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers to examine whether living wills, durable powers of attorney, and DNR orders were associated with better quality of life and lower estimated costs of care in the week before death. We examined these relationships among patients who did and did not express preferences for “heroic” end-of-life care (everything possible to remain alive). Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: DNR orders were associated with better quality of life in the week before death among the entire sample. If patients have DNR orders completed, they are likely to have a better quality of life/quality of death than if they do not complete a medical order like this. We did not find any evidence of a relationship between DNR orders and costs of care, nor did we find evidence of relationships among living wills or durable powers of attorney, quality of life, and costs of care. There was no evidence that relationships among advance care planning and outcomes differed by patient preferences for heroic care. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, NYU / 17.12.2014

Uzma Samadani, MD. PhD. FACS. Chief Neurosurgeon New York Harbor Health Care System Co-Director Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for PTSD and TBI Assistant Professor Departments of Neurosurgery, Psychiatry and Physiology & Neuroscience New York University School of Medicine New York , NY 10010MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Uzma Samadani, MD. PhD. FACS. Chief Neurosurgeon New York Harbor Health Care System Co-Director Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for PTSD and TBI Assistant Professor Departments of Neurosurgery, Psychiatry and Physiology & Neuroscience New York University School of Medicine New York , NY 10010 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Samadani: Eye tracking has been used for 30 years to investigate where people look when they follow particular visual stimuli.  Tracking has not, however, been previously used to assess underlying capacity for eye movement.  We have developed a very unique eye tracking algorithm that assesses the capacity of the brain to move the eyes. What we show in this paper is that with our eye tracking algorithm we can show (1) normal people have eye movements that, within a particular range, have equal capacity for vertical and horizontal movement, (2) people with specific weaknesses of the nerves that move the eyes up and down have decreased vertical capacity, (3) people with weaknesses in the nerves that move the eyes to the side have decreased horizontal capacity, (4) swelling in the brain can affect the function of these nerves and be detected on eye tracking, (5) eye tracking may be useful as a potential biomarker for recovery from brain injury. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cocaine, Heart Disease / 17.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Luis F. Callado M.D., Ph.D. Department of Pharmacology University of the Basque Country CIBERSAM Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Callado: Cocaine is the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in Europe. The use of cocaine has become a major issue for drug policy, with also important health implications, including potentially lethal cardiovascular complications. In this way, several case series have suggested a relationship between cocaine use and cardiovascular diseases in young adults. Furthermore, cocaine use has been also associated with sudden and unexpected death. Our results demonstrate that the recent use of cocaine is the main risk factor for sudden cardiovascular death in persons between 15 and 49 years old. Thus, persons that consumed cocaine recently presented a 4 times higher risk for sudden cardiovascular death than those who did not use cocaine. The morphological substrate of sudden cardiovascular death associated to cocaine use is a structural pathology not diagnosed in life. Usually, sudden death is the first manifestation of the disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pharmacology / 17.12.2014

Dong Wook Shin, MD, MBA, DrPH Assistant Professor, Center for Health Promotion/Dept.of Family Medicine Seoul National University HospitalMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dong Wook Shin, MD, MBA, DrPH Assistant Professor, Center for Health Promotion/Dept.of Family Medicine Seoul National University Hospital Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In South Korea, the National Health Insurance provides universal coverage and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) oversees claims reviews. HIRA has reported the rates of antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory tract infections in each clinic via web site since 2006. We assessed the effect of public disclosure. The main findings are that decreases of antibiotic uses were observed since the public disclosure of the prescription rates regardless of hospital level. (more…)
Author Interviews, Colon Cancer, Erasmus / 17.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Reinier G.S. Meester, M.Sc Department of Public Health, ErasmusMC, Rotterdam, Netherlands Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Despite decreasing death rates from colorectal cancer over the past decades, it still ranks as the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Screening for colorectal cancer is highly effective, but only 58% of the eligible population reported up-to-date with screening. This suggests that a substantial proportion of current colorectal cancer deaths in the U.S. are avoidable. We found that approximately 60% (32,200 deaths) of current deaths from colorectal cancer may be due to not receiving screening. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, University of Pittsburgh / 17.12.2014

Dr. Ryan Hartmaier PhD Postdoctoral Associate Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer InstituteMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ryan Hartmaier PhD Postdoctoral Associate Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The inhibition of signaling through the estrogen receptor is a major target in breast cancer therapy. However, within recurrent disease others have recently identified point mutations within the estrogen receptor as a mechanism of resistance to this therapy. We undertook a comprehensive study of breast cancer progression by applying many next-generation sequencing technologies to a collection of paired primary-metastasis tissue samples from 6 patients. We placed special emphasis on the identification of structural variants (i.e. translocations, duplications, inversions, and deletions) acquired in metastatic breast cancer. In one patient with recurrent disease while on endocrine therapy, we identified a fusion gene between ESR1 (estrogen receptor alpha) and DAB2 (disabled-2). In vitro functional studies indicate that this fusion is constitutively active and hormone independent. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Imperial College / 17.12.2014

Fiona Larner, PhD Postdoctoral Research Associate Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fiona Larner, PhD Postdoctoral Research Associate Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Zinc has been identified to have a role in breast tissue and breast cancer for over a decade. Zinc has several isotopes (different versions of zinc due to varying numbers of neutrons), which require slightly different amounts of energy to go through biological processes. By measuring the changes in the zinc isotopic signature, we can probe it's behaviour to a greater resolution to that currently available in medical institutions. We looked at the isotopic signatures in different tissues of healthy patients and those with breast cancer in order to understand the mechanisms involved in more detail and in search for a biomarker that uses these signatures to diagnose breast cancer. We found that preferentially retains the lighter isotopes of zinc to a greater extent than healthy breast tissue. This means that the partnering heavy isotopes must be ejected from the cell, and may provide a biomarker for cancer in the future. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education / 17.12.2014

Francesco Brigo, MD Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences. Section of Clinical Neurology. University of Verona. Division of Neurology, "Franz Tappeiner" Hospital. Merano (BZ), ItalyMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Francesco Brigo, MD Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences. Section of Clinical Neurology. University of Verona. Division of Neurology, "Franz Tappeiner" Hospital. Merano (BZ), Italy Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Brigo: Millions of people surf the Internet every day as a source of health care information looking for materials about symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and their possible adverse effects, or diagnostic procedures. The increasing number of online searches conducted using popular Web search engines, such as Google, generates so-called ‘big data’. This data provides information about online health-related behavior. In this study, I found that the highest peak in Google search volumes related to the terms “Parkinson´s disease” since January 2004 was observed on 15th August 2014, the day after Robin Williams' wife has revealed the late actor, who died of suicide on 11th August, was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease.  I proposed to call the phenomenon of increased online searches for a certain disease driven by news of celebrities having that disease as “Robin Williams´ phenomenon”, in honor of the American actor. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Cost of Health Care, Smoking / 17.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xin Xu, Ph.D. Senior Economist Office on Smoking and Health and Darryl Konter Health Communications Specialist McNeal Professional Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office on Smoking and Health Atlanta, GA 30341 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Tips From Former Smokers (Tips), the first federally funded national mass media antismoking campaign, launched by the CDC, provides a unique opportunity to assess the cost effectiveness of a nationwide public health intervention that meets the ad exposure recommendation in CDC’s 2014 Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs.  The 2012 campaign spent $393 per year of life saved—far less than the $50,000 per year of life saved figure used as a common threshold for cost-effectiveness. The campaign  added about 179,000 healthy life years, at $268 per healthy year gained. The campaign spent about $480 per smoker who quit. The campaign averted more than 17,000 premature deaths, at a cost of about $2,200 per premature death averted. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Dermatology, Emergency Care, JAMA / 16.12.2014

Gery P. Guy Jr., PhD, MPH Health economist Division of Cancer Prevention and Control’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch CDCMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gery P. Guy Jr., PhD, MPH Health economist Division of Cancer Prevention and Control’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch CDC Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Guy: Indoor tanning exposes users to intense UV radiation and is associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. However, little is known about the more immediate adverse outcomes of indoor tanning. This study provides the first national estimates of visits to emergency departments related to indoor tanning. We examined cases from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a national probability sample of hospitals in the U.S. and its territories. Patient information is collected from each NEISS hospital for every emergency visit involving an injury associated with consumer products. From this sample, the total number of product-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms nationwide can be estimated. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, NEJM / 16.12.2014

Prudence A. Francis, M.D Associate Professor , Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Melbourne, AustraliaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prudence A. Francis, M.D Associate Professor, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Melbourne, Australia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study was the observation that premenopausal women diagnosed with hormone receptor positive breast cancer under age 35, had an increased risk of recurrence, as compared with older premenopausal women. We postulated that this might be because this age group was less likely to enter menopause after receiving chemotherapy, and so their ovaries were continuing to produce estrogen, which might have the effect of stimulating any remaining cancer cells. The main findings were that while not all premenopausal women benefit from the addition of treatment with ovarian function suppression to , the women who underwent chemotherapy and remained premenopausal (median age 40) did have improved breast cancer outcomes. This same group of women had even further improvement in recurrence rates if the ovarian suppression was combined with an aromatase inhibitor exemestane, as compared with tamoxifen. The effects of including ovarian suppression were particularly striking in women under 35 years of age. Those premenopausal women who did not receive chemotherapy (median age 46) after discussion with their doctor, did well with tamoxifen alone and do not appear to benefit from ovarian suppression currently. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 16.12.2014

Winnie Nelson PharmD, MS, MBA Director, Health Economics & Outcomes Research Janssen PharmaceuticalsMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Winnie Nelson PharmD, MS, MBA Director, Health Economics & Outcomes Research Janssen Pharmaceuticals Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Nelson: Although warfarin has long served as the standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), research has shown nearly one-third of international normalized ratio (INR) levels among stabilized patients on warfarin are out-of-range. Data recently published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy underscores the potential complications of out-of-range INRs, with the aim of informing patient care. The analysis of a U.S. Veterans Health Administration dataset showed out-of-range INRs were associated with a significantly increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes, including stroke and major bleeding. Of particular interest, the study also showed the magnitude of risk of thromboembolic events – such as ischemic stroke – was several folds higher in sub-therapeutic INR levels (i.e., INR <2) than risk of bleeding events when INR measures were >3. In another words, the research found more risks to patients when INRs were too low than when INRs were too high. (more…)
Author Interviews, FASEB, Weight Research / 15.12.2014

Dr. Richard Phipps PhD Department of Environmental Medicine and Flaum Eye Institute, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New YorkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Richard Phipps PhD Department of Environmental Medicine and Flaum Eye Institute, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Obesity has risen dramatically over the past 30 years in the United States and throughout the world. Obesity increases morbidity and mortality by increasing health problems such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Thus, obesity is one of our greatest challenges worldwide. Our laboratory has been studying a protein called Thy-1 for several decades. Until now its’ true function was unknown. The main finding from our research is that when cells express this protein on their surface, they are inhibited from becoming fat cells. We show in a mouse model system that mice, which lack Thy-1, and given a high fat diet, increase weight much faster than mice that express Thy-1. These mice that lack Thy-1, also have increased levels of many proinflammatory mediators in their blood. In human cells, those that express high levels of Thy-1 are blocked in their ability to become fat cells, unlike the human cells from different tissues that do not express Thy-1. Thus, the main finding is that learning how to manipulate Thy-1 expression could lead to reduced fat cells and reduced fat production. Not only is this an important finding for obesity, but there are many human diseases that are caused by excess fat production in organs, such as, the orbit of the eye, the liver, and the bone marrow. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 15.12.2014

Susanne Mandrup Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Odense M · DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susanne Mandrup Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Odense M · Denmark Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Prof. Mandrup: Obesity affects more than 1 billion adults globally and represents one of the greatest current threats to human health. Paradoxially, the fat tissues in the human body that stores excess calories might hold the key for a future obesity treatment. Most human fat depots are white fat tissues that store energy as fat; however, humans also have small amounts of brown fat, which primarily acts as an effective fat burner for the production of heat. Recent studies have shown that it is possible to “brown” white fat tissues (e.g. by prolonged cold-exposure) leading to an increase in the energy consumption of the body. The challenge is to understand how energy storing white fat cells are reprogrammed into so-called "brite" (brown-in-white) fat cells in the white adipose tissue and thus make adipose tissue burn off excess energy as heat instead of storing it. In this study we have for the first time investigated how the genome of white fat cells is reprogrammed during browning. We stimulated browning in human white adipocytes by a drug used to treat type II diabetes and compared white and "brite" fat cells. This showed that "brite" fat cells have distinct gene programs which, when active, make these cells particularly energy-consuming. Furthermore, we identified an important factor in the browning process - the gene regulatory protein KLF11 (Kruppel Like Factor-11). (more…)
Author Interviews / 15.12.2014

Bradley M. Gray, PhD American Board of Internal MedicineMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bradley M. Gray, PhD American Board of Internal Medicine Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Gray: The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is committed to evaluating the impact its physician certification programs, including Maintenance of Certification (MOC). That motivated us to investigate the relationship between the MOC requirement and the practice patterns of internists subject to it. We looked to see whether the original MOC requirement was associated with health care costs and measures of hospitalizations drawn from Medicare claims. Our primary measure of hospitalizations was Prevention Quality Indicators, which were developed by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality to measure impacts of primary care. These include such things as hospitalizations for an amputation due to diabetic complications. Our health care cost measure included outpatient and inpatient costs. To examine these associations, we took advantage of a natural experiment that occurred when one group of general internists who originally certified in 1991 were subject to the MOC requirement by 2001, while another group of internists, who originally certified just two years earlier in 1989, were grandfathered out of this requirement. In essence we can think of the 1991 required group of internists as a group treated by the effects of MOC and the 1989 grandfathered group as a control group in a natural experiment. We estimated associations with this requirement by comparing outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries treated by the required group of internists before and after the requirement took effect in 2001. Also before and after the 2001 requirement, we compared this difference to a similar difference in outcomes for a control group of beneficiaries treated by the grandfathered group of internists. At base line before 2001, these beneficiaries had almost identical characteristics and co-morbidities as the beneficiaries treated by the required group of internists. We did this to account for the natural increase in hospitalizations and health care costs that occur as beneficiaries age, as well as other important factors that might have been coincident with the MOC requirement. (more…)
Author Interviews, Stroke, Technology / 15.12.2014

Dr. Emmanuel Tsekleves Senior Lecturer in Design Interactions ImaginationLancaster LICA |Lancaster UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Emmanuel Tsekleves Senior Lecturer in Design Interactions ImaginationLancaster LICA |Lancaster University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings Dr. Tsekleves: The study was influenced by the anecdotal use of the Nintendo Wii in therapy in NHS physiotherapy clinics back in 2010/11. This led to the need for conducting a study with therapists and patients (33 questionnaires and 10 interviews were completed) to explore the current use of the Nintendo Wii console technology in physical rehabilitation programmes across four NHS Trusts in London. The study revealed that although respondents felt the Wii helped with rehabilitation, over half of them  reported difficulty using equipment (such as using the hand-held remote controls). Therapists believed use of standard Wii was limited due to the high level of dexterity, movement and coordination necessary to operate the system. Adapting Nintendo Wii To Enhance Stroke Rehabilitation The results of the aforementioned study informed the development of a personalised stroke treatment, using adapted Wii technology, for arm re-education post-stroke (that is reported in the article http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/17483107.2014.981874). The developed system was tested for acceptability with three stroke survivors with differing levels of disability. Participants reported an overwhelming connection with the system and avatar. A two-week, single case study with a long-term stroke survivor showed positive changes in all four outcome measures employed (Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Nine Hole Peg Test, Motor Activity Log – Amount of Use  sub-scale] and the Modified Ashworth Scale), with the participant reporting better wrist control and greater functional use. Activities, which were deemed too challenging or too easy were associated with lower scores of enjoyment/motivation, highlighting the need for activities to be individually calibrated. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, PLoS, Vaccine Studies / 15.12.2014

Adrian Egli, MD PhD Research Group leader Infection Biology Laboratory Department of Biomedicine University of Basel and University Hospital Basel Basel, SwitzerlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adrian Egli, MD PhD Research Group leader Infection Biology Laboratory Department of Biomedicine University of Basel and University Hospital Basel Basel, Switzerland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Egli: Infections with influenza viruses are associated with a high morbidity and mortality. In particular, people with a weak immune system are at danger for more severe complications. This includes elderly people, pregnant women, patients after transplantation, patients with HIV infection, chronic diseases such as diabetes and many more. In these high-risk groups, annual vaccination is clearly recommended. However, due to the immunsuppressive condition the immune response to the influenza vaccine is often reduced. The seroconversion rate - a 4-fold antibody titer increase upon vaccination - is one of the key markers for a successful vaccination. In young adults the seroconversion rate is normally >85%; however, in patients with immunosuppression, this can be lower than 40%. Improving vaccine efficacy is one of the key focuses of my research group. We try to understand, how to improve vaccines and better protect the people at the highest risks for influenza-associated complications. In this study, we could show that an important cytokine, called Interferon lambda, is clearly associated with the vaccine induced antibody response upon influenza vaccination. We could show that genetic polymorphisms, in one of the Interferon lambda gene family (IFNL3), are modulating the expression of this gene. This strongly affects the cross talk between the innate and adaptive immune response in the context of vaccination. We observed that, the more Interferon lambda is present, the lower the antibody response is. People with a lower expression of Interferon lambda had a significant higher response to the vaccine. Therefore, we developed substances to block the effect of Interferon lambda. We could show in vitro, that due to the Interferon lambda blockade, the antibody production was improved. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Nature, Sleep Disorders / 14.12.2014

Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology, Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, IllinoisMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology, Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Silverberg: Chronic itch related to childhood eczema has been shown to cause worsened sleep quality with shorter sleep duration, more frequent and prolonged awakening, and overall lower sleep efficiency. However, little is known about the sleep disturbances that occur in adults with eczema. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, HPV, McGill, Vaccine Studies / 14.12.2014

Leah M. Smith PhD Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health (Smith, Kaufman, Strumpf) McGill University, Montréal, QuebecMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leah M. Smith PhD Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health  (Smith, Kaufman, Strumpf) McGill University, Montréal, Quebec   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Smith: The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects against types of HPV that cause cervical cancer and anogenital warts. The vaccine first became available in 2006. Since then, it has faced a great deal of controversy surrounding, in part, some of the unanswered questions about the real-world effects of the vaccine, especially on the young girls targeted for immunization. One issue that has received a great deal of public attention has been the concern that HPV vaccination might give girls a false sense of protection against all sexually transmitted infections that might lead them to be more sexually active than they would otherwise. As a result, some parents have been reluctant to have their daughters vaccinated. It is also reason why some religious groups have spoken out against the vaccine. This question is further important from a public health perspective because increases in risky sexual behaviour would inevitably also lead to increases in teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (excluding anogenital warts), which would of course undermine the potential health benefits of the vaccine.  In this study, we directly addressed the question of whether HPV vaccination has led to increases in pregnancy and non-HPV-related sexually transmitted infections (both of which are proxies for risky sexual behaviour) among adolescent girls. In our study of over 260,000 girls, we did not find any evidence that the HPV vaccine had a negative impact on these outcomes. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Surgical Research / 14.12.2014

Dr Aneel Bhangu Clinical Lecturer in Surgery Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Aneel Bhangu Clinical Lecturer in Surgery Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bhangu: Randomised clinical trials are widely regarded as the type of evidence in medical research most likely to change practice and improve patient care. However, they are challenging to perform, expensive to deliver and rely on patients’ willingness to participate for the benefit of their wider community. Results of these studies should be disseminated widely in order to promote new medical knowledge. Unfortunately, some clinical trials are terminated early or fail to reach publication after completion. This leads to lost data and wastage of finite resources. Clinical trials within surgical disciplines present unique challenges, which may further impact on dissemination of evidence. We aimed to investigate the fate of surgical trials. Disappointingly, we found that 1 in 5 surgical trials are terminated early before completion, most commonly due to poor recruitment of research participants. Of trials which do reach completion, 1 in 3 are not published, indicating a significant waste of resources. A systematic approach to contact trial investigators during the study proved largely unsuccessful, implicating further hidden barriers to identifying trial data. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pulmonary Disease, Vitamin C / 14.12.2014

Harri Hemilä, MD PhD Department of Public Health University of Helsinki, POB 41 Helsinki, FinlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Harri Hemilä, MD PhD Department of Public Health University of Helsinki, POB 41 Helsinki, Finland   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hemilä: I have a two decade interest in the effects of vitamin C on respiratory symptoms and I am the first author of the Cochrane review on vitamin C and the common cold. Since there is very strong evidence that vitamin C is better than placebo, in the Cochrane review we encourage common cold patients to try if vitamin C helps them. In 2009, I was taking a look at the Cochrane review on vitamin C and asthma. I was puzzled with the text and figures since my own impression of the RCTs on vitamin C and asthma was quite different from what the review presented. Therefore I took a close look at the Cochrane review and I saw that it was sloppy. There were severe errors in data extraction and data analysis. For example, they used un-paired t-test when they should have used the paired t-test. That types of questions are very basic in biostatistics. I wrote a feedback to that Cochrane review and the review was withdrawn in 2013. It had been misleading readers for a decade. As a positive result of that incident, I became interested in the effects of vitamin C on asthma and I conducted a meta-analysis of three RCTs on vitamin C and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). I calculated that vitamin C caused a 48% reduction (95% CI 33% to 64%) in the postexercise FEV1 decline. That study was published in BMJ Open in 2013 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23794586). (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JNCI, Mayo Clinic / 14.12.2014

Dr. Matthew P. Goetz, MD Associate Professor of Pncology Mayo ClinicMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Matthew P. Goetz, MD Associate Professor of Pncology Mayo Clinic Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Goetz: There has been conflicting data with regard to the importance of metabolism as measured by CYP2D6 genetic variation.   Two large “negative” studies were reported simultaneously in 2012 and these were referenced by guidelines that CYP2D6 should not be used to select hormonal therapy.   Our findings demonstrated that these studies were flawed in part based on analytical validity issues.  In short, the use of tumor tissue to derive CYP2D6 germline genotype leads to genotyping error in up to 45% of samples. (more…)
Author Interviews, Parkinson's / 14.12.2014

Filip Scheperjans MD Department of Neurology Helsinki University Central Hospital Department of Neurological Sciences University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Filip Scheperjans MD Department of Neurology Helsinki University Central Hospital Department of Neurological Sciences University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Scheperjans: In Parkinson’s disease (PD), the first neurodegenerative changes are seen in the olfactory bulb and enteric nervous system. Correspondingly, most Parkinson’s disease patients suffer from hyposmia and gastrointestinal symptoms, frequently years before motor symptoms evolve. Therefore, it has been suggested that an environmental factor acting through the nose or gut, could be involved in Parkinson’s disease. Interestingly, those two habitats are where our body gets mostly exposed to environmental agents, including microbes. Previous attempts to identify microbes related to Parkinson’s disease pointed to Helicobacter pylori and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, but in the end had been somewhat inconclusive. But there possibly was a signal. We saw next generation sequencing approaches as a new opportunity to revisit the microbe theory in PD. Studies of gut microbiome composition in neurodegenerative disease have not been published before, although alterations in gut microbiota have been demonstrated in many other diseases and gut microbiota are in close interaction with the central nervous system. The fecal microbiome of Parkinson’s disease subjects clearly differed from that of matched controls and this difference was independent of the potential confounders that we assessed. The most significant finding was that the abundance of bacteria from the Prevotellaceae family was reduced by 78% in Parkinson’s disease patients. A low abundance of Prevotellaceae was 86% sensitive for PD, but rather unspecific. However, a combination of 4 bacterial families increased specificity for PD to 90%. So microbiome analysis performed quite well in distinguishing Parkinson’s disease patients from control subjects. Another interesting finding was that, within the Parkinson’s disease group, abundance of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria was related to the motor symptoms of patients. They were positively associated with the severity of postural instability and gait difficulty. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Mayo Clinic, Outcomes & Safety / 14.12.2014

Atsushi Sorita, MD, MPH Mayo Clinic, Division of Preventive Medicine Rochester, MN 55905.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Atsushi Sorita, MD, MPH Mayo Clinic, Division of Preventive Medicine Rochester, MN 55905.   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Sorita: Prior studies have suggested that patients with heart attack who are admitted during off-hours (weekends, nights and holidays) have higher risk of death when compared with patients admitted during regular hours. In our study, we found that patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions for heart attack who were admitted during off-hours did not have higher mortality or readmission rates as compared with ones admitted during regular hours at a highly-integrated academic center in the United States. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Smoking / 14.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Darryl Konter Health Communications Specialist McNeal Professional Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office on Smoking and Health Atlanta, GA 30341 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Darryl Konter:         Fifty years after the first Surgeon General’s report, tobacco use remains the nation’s leading preventable cause of death and disease, despite declines in adult cigarette smoking prevalence. Smoking-attributable healthcare spending is an important part of overall smoking attributable costs in the U.S.         Data came from the 2006–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to the 2004–2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The MEPS is a nationally representative survey of civilian non-institutionalized families and individuals, their medical providers, and employers that collects information on individual healthcare utilization and medical expenditures.         By 2010, 8.7% of annual healthcare spending in the U.S. could be attributed to cigarette smoking, amounting to as much as $170 billion per year.  More than 60% of the attributable spending was paid by public programs, including Medicare, other federally-sponsored programs, or Medicaid. (more…)