Author Interviews
25 Aug Many Parents Who Refuse Infant Vitamin K Refuse All Vaccinations For Their Children
MedicalResearch.com interview with:
Dr. Shannon MacDonald PhD
Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary and
Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. MacDonald: We found that vitamin K was refused by only a very small number of parents in our study population (0.3%) but that the number appears to be increasing (almost doubling in the past 7 years). The parents that refused vitamin K for their child were more likely to be those that delivered at home and/or with a midwife. We also found that parents who refused vitamin K for their child were also much more likely to go on to refuse all vaccinations by 15 months of age.
24 Aug Non-White Diabetics Have Higher Incidence of Early Kidney Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Satyesh K Sinha, PhD
Assistant Professor
Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science
Los Angeles, CA-90059
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sinha: Our main finding is that compared to Whites, African Americans (AAs) and Hispanics, with diabetes, have a higher prevalence of early chronic kidney disease (CKD) which is significantly associated with urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and/or C-reactive protein (CRP).
23 Aug Medical Research Powerpoint of This Week’s Top Medical Interviews
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in Author Interviews
MedicalResearch.com - Medical Research Week in Review from Marie Benz , MD FAAD ...
23 Aug Fluoroquinolones Linked To Increased Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mahyar Etminan PharmD, MSc
Scientist I Pharmaceutical Outcomes Programme (POPi)
Faculty of Medicine | Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
The University of British Columbia | Child and Family Research Institute (CFRI) Vancouver, BC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Eiminan: Current users of Fluoroquinolones are at a twice their risk of developing peripheral neuropathy than non users.
23 Aug Skin Irritants Increase Risk of Urinary Tract Infections
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Steve J. Hodges MD
Associate Professor, Department of Urology
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Hodges: The main findings of this study were that skin irritants (typically urine) may cause vulvitis in prepubertal girls, which leads to an alteration of their perineal microbiome, with increased colonization by uropathogenic bacteria, increasing the risk of UTI.
22 Aug Extracorporeal Support May Increase Availability of Organs For Transplantation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Alvaro Rojas-Pena, MD
Research Investigator, Laboratory Coordinator
Robert H. Bartlett – Extracorporeal Life Support Laboratory
Department of Surgery, Section of Transplantation Surgery
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rojas-Pena: During the first 10 years’ experience of the University of Michigan using Extracorporeal Support (ECS) for organ donation in controlled donors after circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) we were able to increase the pool of organs suitable for transplantation by 20%.
A total of 48 renal grafts, 13 livers and 1 pancreas were successfully transplanted from 37 cDCDD. Kidneys transplanted after extracorporeal support assisted donation had a delayed graft function (DGF) rate of 31%, compared to the rate of renal grafts procured without extracorporeal support (64%). DGF was defined as the need of hemodialysis within the first 7 days post transplantation
Finally, the 3-year survival rate of the renal transplant recipients is within the national standard for all renal recipients of cDCD at our institution.
22 Aug Diabetic Lifestyle Interventions Reduced Hospitalizations, Medications and Costs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mark A. Espeland PhD Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Sticht Center on Aging Center for Diabetes Research
WFU Primate Center Center for Integrative Medicine
Translational Science Institute
Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Espeland : Over 10 years, overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes who were provided a lifestyle intervention targeting sustained weight loss and increased physical activity, lowered their rates of hospitalizations and medication use and reduced the costs of their health care by over $5,000.
22 Aug Lyme Disease A Year Round Threat in Northern California
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel Salkeld, PhD
Lecturer & Research Associate
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Professor
Colorado State University
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study that were just published in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases?
Dr. Salkeld: The primary findings of this new study show that western black-legged ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease, are active throughout the year in Northwest California, making the threat of Lyme disease year-round phenomenon.
More specifically, my colleagues from California Department of Public Health Vector-borne Disease Section and University of California, Berkeley and I found that the activity of Western Black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus), which are the ticks most commonly known to carry Lyme disease (caused by Borrelia burgdorferi) in Northwest California, is largely predictable and year-round. In general, tick larvae (newly hatched immature ticks) are active April to June, and sometimes activity extends into October, while adult ticks are active from October to May. Nymphal ticks (the tick stage following larvae and preceding adults) are active from January to October but peak from April-June. This is important because nymphs are responsible for most Lyme disease infections.
22 Aug Fraility, Not Age Determines Surgical Outcomes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Bellal Joseph MD FACS
Associate Professor of Surgery
Medical Director, Southern Arizona Telemedicine and Telepresence (SATT) Program
Program Director, International Research Fellowship
Liaison, Multi-Specialty Surgery Clinic at UAMC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Joseph: Chronologic age is frequently used as the determinant of outcomes when treating elderly and treatments are tailored accordingly. However, the findings of our study challenge this dogma and suggest that it’s not the chronologic age rather frailty status of the individual that determines outcomes. We found frailty Index (quantitative measure of frailty) as a better predictor of in-hospital complications and discharge disposition in elderly compared to the chronologic age.
22 Aug Closing in On Effective Treatment for RSV Virus Infections
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
John DeVincenzo, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Infectious Diseases
Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry
University of Tennessee School of Medicine.
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Memphis, Tennessee
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. DeVincenzo: The main findings are
- a) This is the first time that anyone has shown that the infection caused by the RSV virus can be effectively reduced in a human after the infection has already started.
- b) We also show for the first time that once we reduce the amount of virus in the patient, that very quickly, they start to feel better. This clinical improvement was not expected to occur so rapidly.
- c) The antiviral appeared safe and it was easy to give.
21 Aug Coronary Arteries Supply Stem Cells To Generate New Heart Muscle
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Antonis Hatzopoulos, PhD, FAHA
Associate Professor of Medicine- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology
Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37232-6300
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hatzopoulos: Using cell tracking in the normal adult mouse heart, we found that endothelial cells can function as cardiac stem cells to generate new heart muscle. Our results show that besides heart muscle, endothelial cells produce quiescent and proliferating cardiac progenitor cells that reside in the media and adventitia layers of the coronary arteries, respectively.
21 Aug Future Uncertainty, Financial Issues Add to Stress in College Students
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ashley Merianos, PhD, CHES Health Promotion & Education Program University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0068 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Merianos: Our study found that college students are unhappy and have difficulty with stress management. Specifically, the majority (61.0%) of participants reported having high stress, and were most stressed about school, lack of time, and with their future career. Although high levels of stress were reported, most (72.0%) students reported low frequency in using stress management techniques. Our study shows that students who reported low happiness reported higher stress levels and lower emotional closeness to others.21 Aug Recurrent Hypoglycemia Raises Stroke Risk in Kidney Disease Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Chia-Huang Kao From the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science Department of Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine and PET Center Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Kao: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at high risk for hypoglycemia; several factors are reported to contribute to hypoglycemia in these patients. However, most previous studies were limited by the relatively small number of patients with CKD included in the study by the exclusion of cases with CKD. In the present study, the incidence rate of hypoglycemia in patients with CKD was 4.5%, which is approximately twice the value noted in previous reports and multivariate analysis revealed a 2.53-fold increase in the risk of death for CKD patients with hypoglycemia after adjusting for related confounding factors including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and antidiabetic drugs.21 Aug Atrial Fibrillation Risk Lower In Postmenopausal Women Who Exercise
Posted at 10:41h
in AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Stanford
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Marco Perez, MD
Instructor in Cardiovascular Medicine
Director, Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Clinic
Stanford University Medical Center
Cardiac Electrophysiology & Arrhythmia Service
Stanford, CA 94305-5233
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Perez: It was already known that obesity is an important risk factor for atrial fibrillation. We studied over 80,000 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative who were followed for the onset of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm associated with stroke and death. We found that those who exercised more than 9 MET-hours/week (equivalent to a brisk walk of 30 minutes six days a week) were 10% less likely to get atrial fibrillation than those who were sedentary. Importantly, the more obese the women were, the more they benefited from the exercise in terms of atrial fibrillation risk reduction.
21 Aug Study Addresses Suicide “Tourism” to Switzerland
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Julian Mausbach RA Geschäftsführer Kompetenzzentrum Medizin - Ethik - Recht Helvetiae Zürich, Switzerland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: 611 cases of suicide tourism were found in the canton of Zurich between 2008 and 2012. More than half of the suicide tourists were women with a median age of 69 years. After an initial decrease in 2009, cases of suicide tourism increased from then on onwards and doubled in 2012. The underlying diseases varied considerably. Main reasons for the assisted suicide were neurological diseases, followed by cancer, rheumatic diseases. Approximately one third of the study population had more than one disease.21 Aug Is Pre-Pregnancy Diet Linked to Pregnancy Loss?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Audrey J. Gaskins, Sc.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Nutrition Harvard School of Public Health Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answers: In our large prospective cohort study, we found that higher adherence to several healthy dietary patterns (e.g. the Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010, Alternate Mediterranean Diet, and Fertility Diet) prior to pregnancy was not associated with risk of pregnancy loss.21 Aug Post Concussion: Returning To Activity Brings Variable Risks
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Li-Shan Chou, Ph.D
Professor and Department Head Department of Human Physiology
University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1240
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Li-Shan Chou: The findings from this study indicate that pre return-to-activity (RTA), the adolescents with concussion reduced their medial/lateral displacement and velocity during dual-task walking, suggesting an improvement in gait balance control, while significantly increasing these frontal plane motion variables during dual-task walking post RTA, suggesting a worsening of frontal plane COM control following RTA. These data suggest that frontal plane motion during dual-task walking are sensitive to the effects of return to activity following concussion and may reveal a possible regression in gait stability following return to activity.
20 Aug Intensive Blood Pressure Treatment Did Not Increase Falls or Fractures
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Karen Margolis, M.D., M.P.H.
Senior Investigator (Director of Clinical Research)
HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research
Minneapolis, MN, 55440-1524
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Margolis: The study compared falls and fractures in patients aged 40-79 with diabetes who were treated for high blood pressure. One group received treatment that aimed at getting systolic blood pressure under 120, while the other group received treatment to achieve systolic blood pressure under 140. The results show that patients who received intensive blood pressure treatment did not fall more than less intensively treated patients, nor did they incur more fractures over an average follow-up of about five years.
20 Aug Chronic Kidney Disease Checklist Improves Primary Care Management
Posted at 20:26h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Compliance, Kidney Disease, Primary Care
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mallika L. Mendu, M.D.
Division of Renal Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Boston, MA 02115.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mendu: Our study found that implementation of a chronic kidney disease (CKD) checklist, a tool that succinctly and clearly outlines CKD management guidelines, in a primary care clinic improved adherence to a number of significant management guidelines. We conducted a prospective study during a one year period among 13 primary care providers, four of whom were assigned to use a CKD checklist incorporated into the electronic medical record during visits with patients with CKD. Patients whose providers utilized a CKD checklist had higher rates of adherence to annual albuminuria testing, parathyroid hormone testing, phosphate testing, achieving a hemoglobin A1c target<7, documentation of avoidance of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin-receptor blocker and vaccination for annual influenza and 5-year pneumococcus.
20 Aug Patient Satisfaction and Quality of Care May Not Be Directly Associated
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sosena Kebede, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Associate Faculty, the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Faculty, Department of Health Policy and Management and
Baltimore, MD 21287
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kebede: There were 3 main findings in this study:
1. Patients’ understanding of aspects of their hospital care is suboptimal on the domains of knowledge of diagnoses, indications for the medications they take and the types of procedures/tests they get. Some forms of poor shared understanding could have potentially serious implications for their health and for future care such as identifying a prescribed antidepressant as a blood thinner or mistaking an echocardiogram a left heart catheterization or thinking a liver cyst is a liver cancer. Other forms of poor shared understanding such as not accurately identifying why a procedure is done or what the results of the procedure show (a finding not discussed in the research letter) may seem less consequential but raise the issue of informed consent, patient empowerment and may alsoraise questions about patient and physician behavior towards appropriate use of in-patient procedures. Some of the questions we could ask here include: would patients demand more or less procedures if they had better understanding of what the procedures entail, and why they are beingordered? Conversely, would physicians recommend more or less of in-patient procedures, when they encounter patients whose understanding of procedure indications are optimal?
20 Aug Yoga May Improve Cognitive Health in Older Adults
Medical Research Interview with:
Neha P. Gothe, PhD
Division of Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Gothe: The yoga group was speedier and more accurate on tests of information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than it had been before the intervention. Participants in the yoga group showed significant improvements in working memory capacity, which involves continually updating and manipulating information. They were also able to perform the task at hand quickly and accurately, without getting distracted.
20 Aug Study Suggests Common Bile Duct Stones Should Be Removed
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mats Möller MD Department of Surgery, Ersta Hospital Department of Clinical Sciences Karolinska Institutet Danderyds Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Möller: The natural course of common bile duct stones seem not as favorable as previous studies have suggested. Leaving stones with no measures taken has in our study a less favorable outcome compared to removing the stones.20 Aug Implantable Defibrillators Decrease Mortality in Heart Failure Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, FAHA
Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science
Director, Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center
Co-Chief of Clinical Cardiology, UCLA Division of Cardiology
Co-Director, UCLA Preventative Cardiology Program
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1679
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Fonarow: Drawing on data from the Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting (IMPROVE HF), 15,177 heart failure patients were followed over two years to measure the benefits of implantable device therapy on survival in community practice settings. The study demonstrated that ICD device therapy reduced the likelihood of death during the two-year period by 36 percent, with no significant differences by race or ethnicity. The study also demonstrated a 45 percent reduction in mortality during the two-year period with CRT therapy, again without any significant differences device benefit by race or ethnicity.
20 Aug Can Skipping The Car Commute Make You Thinner?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Ellen Flint, BA MSc PhD, Research Fellow
Department of Social & Environmental Health Research
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Tavistock Place, London
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Flint: Men and women who commuted to work by cycling, walking or public transport had significantly lower BMI and percentage body fat than their car-using counterparts. This was the case despite adjustment for a range of factors which may affect both body weight and commuting mode preference (e.g. limiting illness, age, socioeconomic position, sports participation and diet). The differences were of a clinically meaningful magnitude. For example, compared to car users, men who commuted via active or public transportation modes were on average 1 BMI point lighter. For the average man in the sample this would equate to a difference in weight of almost half a stone (3kg).
20 Aug Quality Program Improved Outcomes in Neonatal ICUs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Prakesh S Shah MSc, MBBS, MD, DCH, MRCP, FRCPC
Professor, Departments of Paediatrics and HPME
Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto
CIHR Applied Research Chair in Reproductive and Child Health Services and Policy Research
Director, Canadian Neonatal Network
Toronto Ontario Canada M5G 1X5
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Shah: The main findings of our study are that by embracing collaborative quality improvement program in 25 of 28 Neonatal ICUs in the country, we were able to show significant reduction in adverse outcomes of necrotizing enterocolitis, severe retinopathy of prematurity and nosocomial infections among preterm neonates born at less than 29 weeks of gestation. This resulted in significant overall reduction of composite outcome of mortality or severe morbidities and improved overall outcomes over 3 years of study period.
19 Aug Pediatric Bronchiolitis: Improved Oxygen Saturation Reduced Hospitalizations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Suzanne Schuh, MD, FRCP(C), FAAP, ABPEM
Staff Paediatrician, Division of Paediatric Emergency Medicine
Senior Associate Scientist, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children
Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Schuh: Our study shows that in previously healthy infants presenting to the Emergency Department with mild to moderate bronchiolitis (a viral lower respiratory tract disease producing breathing distress) who had their oxygen saturation measurements artificially elevated by a physiologically small amount experienced significantly reduced rate of hospitalizations within 72 hours compared to infants with unaltered oximetry readings.
19 Aug More Attention To Cognitive Effects of Anesthesia May Be Needed
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jan G. Jakobsson Institution for Clinical Science Karolinska Institutet, Danderyds Hospital Stockholm, Sweden Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Jakobsson: We found that anaesthesiologists and nurse anaesthetists were concerned about the risk for neurocognitive side effects, but there routines and practice for preoperative identification of patients at risk, intraoperative management to minimise risk and assessment and management of patients showing signs and/or symptoms of neurocognitive side effects after anaesthesia was rarely at place.19 Aug African Americans Have Highest Rates of Diabetic Macular Edema
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rohit Varma, MD, MPH
Grace and Emery Beardsley Professor and Chair
USC Department of Ophthalmology
Director, USC Eye Institute
Associate Dean for Strategic Planning and Network Development
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Varma: Our research demonstrates African-Americans bear a heavier burden of diabetic macular edema (DME), one of the leading causes of blindness in diabetic patients in the United States, compared to Non-Hispanic whites. The study points to a need for improved screening and greater attention to vision loss by clinicians and patients particularly those who are at high risk of developing diabetic macular edema.