Author Interviews, Education, Heart Disease, Technology / 02.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51701" align="alignleft" width="200"]Tiffany G. Munzer, MD Department of Pediatrics University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor Dr. Munzer[/caption] Tiffany G. Munzer, MD Department of Pediatrics University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There’s been such a rise in the prevalence of tablet devices and the recommendation for families of young children has been to engage in media together because children learn the most from screens when they’re shared with an adult. However, little is known about how toddlers and adults might behave and interact using a tablet.
ADHD, Author Interviews, Depression, Education, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics / 25.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51452" align="alignleft" width="200"]Jeremy Brown Jeremy Brown[/caption] Jeremy Brown BA MSc RESEARCH DEGREE STUDENT IN PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Given the way schools typically work, children in the same year as each other can be almost a whole year apart in terms of age. We’ve known for a while that children who are young in their year at school are also more likely to be diagnosed as having hyperactivity disorders and tend to do less well academically than the older children in the year. They also seem to be at increased risk of suicide. This is thankfully an extremely rare occurrence in children, but there is little evidence about whether younger children are more likely to be diagnosed with depression. We used electronic health records for just over a million children in the UK to see if there was any association between how old the children were in their year and whether they got diagnosed with ADHD, intellectual disability and depression.
Author Interviews, Education, Exercise - Fitness, Orthopedics, Pediatrics / 24.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51581" align="alignleft" width="200"]Alison E. Field, ScD Professor and Chair of Epidemiology Brown University School of Public Heath Providence, RI  Prof. Field[/caption] Alison E. Field, ScD Professor and Chair of Epidemiology Brown University School of Public Heath Providence, RI  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over past couple of decades there has been a large change in youth sports from playing different sports in each season to more and more specialization where children are playing the same sport for three or more seasons. The concern with that change is that specialization at young ages will lead to more injuries, as well as athlete burnout.  
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Opiods, Social Issues / 28.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51077" align="alignleft" width="180"]Isaac Sasson, PhD Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Herczeg Institute on Aging Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel Dr. Sasson[/caption] Isaac Sasson, PhD Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Herczeg Institute on Aging Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Life expectancy at birth in the United States has been declining steadily since 2014, which is very unusual for a high-income country in times of peace. In fact, the last time that life expectancy declined in the US was in the early 1990s, and only briefly. Studies from the past few years have shown that the rise in mortality is concentrated among middle-aged Americans and particularly the lower socioeconomic classes. Our study analyzed over 4.6 million death records in 2010 and 2017 to understand which causes of death account for the rise in mortality among white and black non-Hispanic US adults. In addition, given the substantial socioeconomic inequality in health in the US, we broke down our results by level of education, which is a good proxy for socioeconomic status. Essentially, our goal was to measure how many years of life were lost, on average, to each cause of death across different social groups. 
Author Interviews, Education, Gender Differences, JAMA, Surgical Research / 07.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50581" align="alignleft" width="86"]Maria S. Altieri, MD, MS Invasive surgery fellow Washington University, St. Louis, MO Dr. Altieri[/caption] Maria S. Altieri, MD, MS Invasive Surgery Stony Brook, NY MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: For majority of residents, training years coincide with prime child bearing years.  Historically, surgical residency has not been conducive for having children, as it is one of the most demanding experiences, requiring long hours, high stress levels, and the acquisition of clinical and technical skills over a short period of time. However, with recent trends towards a more favorable work-life balance and the 80-hour work week, more male and female residents are having children or considering having children during training.  Thus, the topic of parental leave during residency is becoming more fundamental.  However, there is little research on the attitudes of residents towards their pregnant peers and parental leave. We wanted to examine the perceptions of surgical trainees towards parental leave and pregnancy during residency.  Through understanding the perceptions of current residents, obstacles could be identified which could lead to potential changes in policies that could help to normalize parenthood and parental leave during surgical training.   
Author Interviews, Education, Opiods, Social Issues / 16.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49776" align="alignleft" width="149"]Arline T. Geronimus Sc.D Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education School of Public Health Research Professor Population Studies Center Institute for Social Research University of Michigan Member, National Academy of Medicine Dr. Geronimus[/caption] Arline T. Geronimus Sc.D Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education School of Public Health Research Professor Population Studies Center Institute for Social Research University of Michigan Member, National Academy of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The gap in life expectancy between less and more educated Americans grew over the last 30 years, a deeply troubling fact. We are alone among western nations in these trends. We aimed to determine what causes of death account for this growing educational gap in life expectancy and whether the gap has continued to grow in the most recent years. Disturbingly, we found the educational gap in life expectancy has continued to grow. Why? A common theory is that this growing inequality is due to the opioid epidemic. Some even speculate that the less educated are dying from a composite of what they call “deaths of despair” – opioid and other drug overdose, suicide and alcoholic liver disease – with the theory being that as less educated and working class Americans have faced job loss and stagnating wages, they experience hopelessness and despair and turn to drugs, alcohol, or even suicide to ease or end their pain and feelings of hopelessness. However, while opioid, suicide and alcoholic liver disease deaths have increased among white youth and young adults and is cause for concern, this does not imply that these deaths should be grouped together as “deaths of despair” (DOD) or that they explain the growing educational gaps in life expectancy across all groups – men, women, whites, blacks, or older as well as younger adults.
ASCO, Author Interviews, Education, Gender Differences, Surgical Research / 04.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com – Responses [caption id="attachment_49547" align="alignleft" width="200"]Marina Stasenko, MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Dr. Stasenko
Photo: MSKCC[/caption] Marina Stasenko, MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that includes gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. A recent report in Fortune magazine noted that over half of US women have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lives. Until recently, much of the conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace has been relegated to private discussions behind closed doors. However, the MeToo movement has shined a spotlight on the pervasive nature of sexual harassment in various fields, like media and business world. Although there are more female physicians in practice today than ever before, with women accounting for over 50% of young physicians, sexual harassment and gender disparities continue to plague the field of medicine. Despite the large female representation, gynecologic oncology is not immune from gender disparities. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology is a professional organization of over 2000 physicians, scientists, allied health professionals, nurses, and patient advocates dedicated to the care of patients with gynecologic cancer. As of 2015, 46% of members of the SGO were women, and that number is steadily growing. SGO leadership is also increasingly female – with 2 of the last 3 presidents being women. Despite the large female representation, gynecologic oncology is not immune from gender disparities. The 2015 SGO practice survey noted that while 22% of male Gynecologic Oncologists held the rank of professor, only 11% of their female counterparts held the title. They also noted that the mean annual salary for male physicians was nearly 150,000$ greater than salary for female physicians. Given the fact that there is little objective data on sexual harassment in gynecologic oncology, the objective of our study was to evaluate perceptions of sexual harassment and gender disparities among physician members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology.
Author Interviews, Education, Neurology, NYU / 17.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Rebecca Stainman Dr. Arielle Kurzweil MD Adult Neurology Program Director New York University School of Medicine NYU Langone Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Physician burnout is prevalent. Neurologists have among the highest burnout rates, ranked third among specialties in a 2011 study, and over half of US Neurologists report at least 1 symptom of burnout in a 2016 survey.  Efforts to address burnout in training programs have mostly been aimed at implementing wellness curricula and offering mental health resources. Training neurology residents to effectively identify, address, and help impaired colleagues is equally crucial in these efforts, yet there is a paucity of literature on this topic. We used simulation as a means of addressing this topic, via identifying and addressing an impaired colleague through an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). 
Author Interviews, Education, Outcomes & Safety / 08.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Veronica Toffolutti PhD Postdoctoral researcher working with Professor David Stuckler Department of Sociology Bocconi University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Openness has been linked with better patient safety and better understanding of patients’ care goals. In addition, more open environments appear to be linked with positively ranked quality of teamwork, which in turns lead to better health care. Yet if the expected benefits are to be achieved, it is necessary to show that greater openness actually corresponds to improvements in performance or lower mortality rates. To the best of our knowledge our is the first study to show an association between hospital mortality and openness and more precisely one point increase in the standardized openness score leads to a decrease of 6.48% in the hospital mortality rates. With the term openness we refer to an environment in which communication among patients, staff members and managers is open and transparent. 
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Education, JAMA / 06.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48973" align="alignleft" width="169"]Arabella L. Simpkin,  MD, MMScAssociate Director, Center for Educational Innovation and Scholarship, MGHAssociate Program Director, Education and Curriculum, Internal Medicine Residency, MGHInstructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA 02114 Dr. Simpkin[/caption] Arabella L. Simpkin,  MD, MMSc Associate Director, Center for Educational Innovation and Scholarship, MGH Associate Program Director, Education and Curriculum, Internal Medicine Residency, MGH Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA 02114 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The academic health care environment has changed in unprecedented ways over several decades, with mounting evidence that faculty are becoming increasingly more unhappy, dissatisfied, and burnt out in their work. Concern for faculty wellbeing is high, with much speculation about causes of burnout. Comprehending what affects satisfaction at work in academic health care centers is critically important to stem this epidemic of discontent. For physicians, satisfaction has been reported to be associated with quality of care delivered, particularly as measured by patient satisfaction; faculty retention and job satisfaction are intricately linked, with dissatisfied physicians more likely to leave the profession and to discourage others from entering. Other industries that have suffered similar rises in employee discontent have found that demonstration of respect is the most important leadership behavior in improving employees satisfaction. To our knowledge this factor has not been looked at in healthcare professionals. To address this gap, we sought to determine key variables influencing satisfaction at work for faculty in a large academic medical center in the United States.
Addiction, Author Interviews, Education, Mental Health Research / 16.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48618" align="alignleft" width="200"]Lina Begdache, PhD, RDN, CDN, CNS-S, FANDAssistant ProfessorHealth and Wellness Studies Department GW 15Decker School of NursingBinghamton University Dr. Begdache[/caption] Lina Begdache, PhD, RDN, CDN, CNS-S, FAND Assistant Professor Health and Wellness Studies Department GW 15 Decker School of Nursing Binghamton University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: College students engage in activities such as binge drinking, abuse of ADHD medications as "study drugs" or use of illicit drugs during a critical brain developmental window that supports maturation of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) necessary for emotional control, cognitive functions and regulation of impulsive behaviors. These activities not only affect brain function, thus mental health and cognitive functions, but may dampen brain development with potential long-lasting effects. As for findings, we were able to identify neurobehavioral patterns that associate with mental wellbeing and mental distress in young adults. Based on evidence from the literature, we constructed conceptual models that describe how one behavior may lead to another until virtuous or vicious cycles set-in. 
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, University of Pennsylvania / 16.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48540" align="alignleft" width="180"]Krisda Chaiyachati, MD, MPH, MSHPAssistant Professor , Medicine, Perelman School of MedicineClinical Innovation Manager, Penn's Center for Health Care InnovationPerelman School of MedicineMedical Director, Penn Medicine's FirstCall Virtual Care Dr. Chaiyachati[/caption] Krisda Chaiyachati, MD, MPH, MSHP Assistant Professor Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine Clinical Innovation Manager Penn's Center for Health Care Innovation Perelman School of Medicine Medical Director, Penn Medicine's FirstCall Virtual Care   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The United States spends more than $12 billion annually on training young doctors who have rates of burnout and depression at an alarmingly high rate. Yet, we have limited evidence as to what they are doing while training in the hospital. We sought to glimpse into how their day is spent. In the largest study to date, we observed 80 first-year internal medicine physicians (“interns”) for nearly 2200 hours across 194 work shifts at 6 different sites. Our research sought to understand what medical residents did by categorizing training activities into themes such as time spent in education or patient care. 
Author Interviews, Education, Health Care Systems / 14.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47964" align="alignleft" width="200"]Nicholas A. Rattray, Ph.D.Research Scientist/InvestigatorVA HSR&D Center for Health Information and CommunicationImplementation Core, Precision Monitoring to Transform Care (PRISM) QUERIRichard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical CenterIndiana University Center for Health Services & Outcomes ResearchRegenstrief Institute, Inc.Indianapolis, Indiana Dr. Rattray[/caption] Nicholas A. Rattray, Ph.D. Research Scientist/Investigator VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication Implementation Core, Precision Monitoring to Transform Care (PRISM) QUERI Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center Indiana University Center for Health Services & Outcomes Research Regenstrief Institute, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana on behalf of study co-authors re: Rattray NA, Flanagan ME, Militello LG, Barach P, Franks Z, Ebright P, Rehman SU, Gordon HS, Frankel RM MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: End-of-shift handoffs pose a substantial patient safety risk. The transition of care from one doctor to another has been associated with delays in diagnosis and treatment, duplication of tests or treatment and patient discomfort, inappropriate care, medication errors and longer hospital stays with more laboratory testing. Handoff education varies widely in medical schools and residency training programs. Although there have been efforts to improve transfers of care, they have not shown meaningful improvement. Led for the last decade by Richard Frankel, Ph.D., a senior health scientist at Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University and professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, our team has studied how health practitioners communicate during end-of-shift handoffs. In this current study, funded by VA Health Services and Research Development, we conducted interviews with 35 internal medicine and surgery residents at three VA medical centers about a recent handoff and analyzed the responses. Our team also video-recorded and analyzed more than 150 handoffs. Published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, this study explains how the person receiving the handoff can affect the interaction. Medical residents said they changed their delivery based on the doctor or resident who was taking over (i.e., training level, preference for fewer details, day or night shift). We found that handoff communication involves a complex combination of socio-technical information where residents balance relational factors against content and risk. It is not a mechanistic process of merely transferring clinical data but rather is based on learned habits of communication that are context-sensitive and variable, what we refer to as “recipient design”. In another paper led by Laura Militello, we focus on how residents cognitively prepare for handoffs. In the paper published in The Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety®, researchers detailed the tasks involved in cognitively preparing for handoffs. A third paper, published in BMC Medical Education, reports on the limited training that physicians receive during their residency. Residents said they were only partially prepared for enacting handoffs as interns, and clinical experience and enacting handoffs actually taught them the most.  
Author Interviews, Education, Health Care Systems, Outcomes & Safety, University of Pennsylvania / 07.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47812" align="alignleft" width="179"]Jeffrey H. Silber, MD, PhDDirector, Center for Outcomes ResearchNancy Abramson Wolfson Endowed Chair in Health Services ResearchChildren's Hospital of PhiladelphiaProfessor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology and Critical CarePerelman School of Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaProfessor of Health Care ManagementWharton School, University of Pennsylvania Dr. Silber[/caption] Jeffrey H. Silber, MD, PhD Director, Center for Outcomes Research Nancy Abramson Wolfson Endowed Chair Health Services Research Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Health Care Management Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This was a year-long randomized trial that involved 63 internal medicine residency programs from around the US.  In 2015-2016, about half of the programs were randomized to follow the existing rules about resident duty hours that included restrictions on the lengths of shifts and the rest time required between shifts (the standard arm of the trial) and the other half of the programs didn’t have those shift length or rest period rules (the flexible arm of the trial).  We measured what happened to the patients cared for in those programs (the safety study), and other studies examined how much sleep the residents received, and how alert they were at the end of shifts (the sleep study), and previously we published on the educational outcomes of the interns. To measure the impact on patient outcomes when allowing program directors the ability to use a flexible shift length for their interns, we compared patient outcomes after the flexible regimen went into place to outcomes the year before in the same program. We did the same comparison for the standard arm. Then we compared the difference between these comparisons. Comparing before and after the implementation of the trial within the same program allowed us to be more confident that a particularly strong or weak program, or a program with especially sick or healthy patients, would not throw off the results of the study. The trial was designed to determine, with 95% confidence, if the flexible arm did not do more than 1% worse than the standard arm. If this were true for the flexible arm, we could say the flexible regimen was “non-inferior” to the standard regimen.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Education, Social Issues / 04.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47767" align="alignleft" width="128"]Marja Aartsen, PhDResearch professor at NOVA - Norwegian Social Research / OsloMetOslo Metropolitan University Dr. Aartsen[/caption] Marja Aartsen, PhD Research professor at NOVA Norwegian Social Research / OsloMet Oslo Metropolitan University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our study is part of a larger project “Life course influences on health trajectories at older age” conducted at the University of Geneva, of which dr. Stéphane Cullati is the principle investigator (see for more information on the project https://cigev.unige.ch/index.php?cID=887). The aim of that research project is to examine in what way retrospective life course precursors from childhood to late adulthood have long-term impacts on current health trajectories at older age. A number of studies in this project are now published among which our study on childhood conditions and cognitive functioning and cognitive decline in later life. In our research, we were particularly interested in the origins of cognitive decline in later life.  Studies among children show that the childhood is an important phase in the development of the brain. Growing up in environments in which people are cognitively stimulated stimulates the brain to develop more complex neuronal networks and larger brain reserves, which may compensate for the neuronal losses that occur when people get older. This effect is long visible, even at old age as a number of important studies recently provided quite solid evidence for the beneficial effect of advantaged childhood conditions on level of cognitive functioning in later life. However, not many studies investigated the relation between childhood conditions and the speed of cognitive decline in later life. Those that did found inconsistent results. We reasoned that part of the inconsistencies in study findings might stem from differences in the analytical approach (not sensitive enough), too little cognitive change because of a short follow-up, too young people, or too small sample (all causing too little power to find statistically significant effects) or differences in the measurement of the childhood conditions. To overcome these potential limitations, we used a large study sample with long follow-up, used a multidimensional measurement of childhood condition, and applied a powerful analytical technique. 
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Education, JAMA, Pediatrics / 06.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47306" align="alignleft" width="150"]Niels Skipper PhD Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Business Economics Aarhus University Dr. Skipper[/caption] Niels Skipper PhD Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Business Economics Aarhus University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It is unclear if there is an association between type 1 diabetes and school performance in children. Some studies have found type 1 diabetes to be associated with worse performance, while others have found no differences. However, most of the existing literature are based on smaller, non-random samples of children with diabetes. In this study we used data on all public school children in the country of Denmark, involving more than 600,000 schoolchildren where approximately 2,000 had a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. The children were tested in math and reading using a nationally standardized testing procedure, and we found no difference in the obtain test scores between children with diabetes compared to children without diabetes. 
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Pediatrics / 03.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47176" align="alignleft" width="178"]Sheri Madigan, Ph.D, R.Psych Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute University of Calgary Dr. Madigan[/caption] Sheri Madigan, Ph.D, R.Psych Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute University of Calgary MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Parents are reporting that screen time is one of their major concerns, so we wanted to find out more about how large of a role screen time was playing on children’s developmental outcomes. We were especially interested in the long-term impact of screens, which is why we followed children over time, from ages 2 to 5 and repeatedly assessed both screen time use and children’s achievement of developmental milestones. There are three main findings:
  1. Our study revealed that on average children were viewing screens for 2.4, 3.6 and 1.6 hours per day at two, three and five years of age, respectively. This means that the majority of the participants in our sample are exceeding the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guideline.
  2. We found statistically significant, albeit small effects suggesting that greater amounts of screen time at two and three years predict poorer child outcomes at three and five years, respectively. Thus, screen time has a lasting influence on children’s development.
  3. The opposite pattern was not observed. That is, we did not find evidence that children showing poor performance in terms of achieving developmental milestones were more likely to be place in front of screens to help cope with their potentially challenging behaviors.
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Education / 13.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yssra-SolimanYssra S. Soliman, BA Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: As the population of the United States becomes increasingly diverse, certain fields within medicine have not followed this trend. Dermatology is the least diverse field after orthopedics. We wanted to understand what barriers prevent medical students from applying to dermatology and whether these barriers differed based on students' racial, ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds. The main findings of this study are that certain groups are more likely to cite specific barriers than non-minority students. These barriers are significant deterrents to applying to dermatology and include the lack of diversity in dermatology, negative perceptions of minority students by residency programs, socioeconomic barriers such as lack of loan forgiveness and poor accessibility to mentors. 
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Social Issues / 21.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with "Pregnancy 1" by operalynn is licensed under CC BY 2.0Josephine Funck Bilsteen, MSc Department of Pediatrics, Hvidovre University Hospital, Hvidovre, Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The background of this study is that there is increasing recognition of the longer-term health and social outcomes associated with preterm birth such as independent living, quality of life, self-perception and socioeconomic achievements. However, much less is known about differences in education and income among adults born at different gestational weeks in the term period. In this study shorter gestational duration, even within the term range, was associated with lower chances of having a high personal income and having completed a secondary or tertiary education at age 28 years. This is the first study to show that adults born at 37 and 38 completed weeks of gestation had slightly lower chances of having a high income and educational level than adults born at 40 completed weeks of gestation. 
Author Interviews, Education / 11.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Kirti Magudia, MD, PhD Diagnostic RadiologyResident, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Clinical Fellow, Radiology, Harvard University
Dr. Magudia


Kirti Magudia, MD, PhD
Diagnostic RadiologyResident, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Clinical Fellow, Radiology, Harvard University




Debra F. Weinstein, M.D.
Vice President, Graduate Medical Education, Partners Health Care
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Christina Mangurian, MD,MAS
Professor and Vice Chair at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry
Weill Institute for Neurosciences
Core Faculty, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations
Affiliate Faculty, UCSFPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies

Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil
Professor and DeputyChair, Department of Radiation Oncology
Director, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine
University of Michigan

MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? 
What are the main findings?

Response: Training lengths for medical specialties are increasing and many people are starting training later. Hence, many more trainees are having children during training, an especially difficult time due to long and inflexible work hours. Given the match system, trainees may not have complete control over where they end up in training and thus may not have an optimal support system nearby. Many of the top training institutions are also in high cost of living areas. Since trainees are essentially temporary employees, changing policies to their benefit is challenging. For all of these reasons, prospective and current trainee parents are especially vulnerable.

Parental leave is important to both male and female trainees. We found that just over half of the 15 top graduate medical education (GME) sponsoring institutions associated with the top 12 medical schools did not have parental leave policies. Without these policies, trainees are at the mercy of their departments and program directors. Those institutions that do have parental leave policies for trainees offer significantly less leave to trainees than to faculty. Even then, trainees may not be encouraged to take leave afforded by policy as, depending on specialty board regulations, the leave may extend training time.

Author Interviews, Education, Sleep Disorders / 04.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_46377" align="alignleft" width="200"]Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Director, Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory Baylor University Waco, TX 76798  Dr. Scullin[/caption] Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Director, Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory Baylor University Waco, TX 76798  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: There is a gap between what health behaviors individuals know they should adopt, and what those individuals actually end up doing. For example, a growing literature shows that simply educating students on the importance of sleep does not change their sleep behaviors. Thus, we need to think outside of the box for solutions. In three classes, we have now investigated a motivational solution: if students can earn extra credit on their final exam for sleeping better, will they do so even during finals week?
Author Interviews, Autism, Education, Exercise - Fitness, Pediatrics / 26.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Marcus Smith PhD Reader in Sport and Exercise Physiology University of Chichester Co-founder, Clem Burke Drumming ProjectDr. Marcus Smith PhD Reader in Sport and Exercise Physiology University of Chichester Co-founder, Clem Burke Drumming Project MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The research group first started to examine rock drumming from a scientific perspective in 1999 through collaboration with Clem Burke, drummer with the iconic band ‘Blondie’. In 2008 the Clem Burke Drumming Project (CBDP) was formed (visit clemburkedrummingproject.org for further information) where academics from different disciplines came together to not only explore the physiological demands of rock drumming but also the potential use of rock drumming as an intervention in research studies. Rock drumming is attractive to the scientist in that it is a unique activity that requires the coordination of multiple limbs to produce the required drumming pattern. Inherent demands relating to timing, tempo and volume must also be met. Therefore, the ability to manipulate these facets of drumming performance in a research setting is very appealing. In relation to potential research populations drumming has a universal fascination regardless of age, gender, culture, language competency and ethnicity. Anecdotal evidence suggests that drumming is a ‘cool’ activity that has a unique ‘language currency’ in terms of stimulating communication within and between those who can and cannot play the drums. The impetus for our research study came from parents of autistic children contacting us to express their belief that drumming was having a positive effect on their child’s physical and psychological behaviour. A review of the literature showed a range of anecdotal evidence in support of such statements (Freidman 2000) and an increase in empirical drumming based research being undertaken (Bungay 2010). More recent studies have reported psychosocial benefits such as enhanced communication (Maschi et al. 2010; 2012), emotional processing and tension reduction (Flores et al. 2016; Maschi et al. 2010; 2012), group cohesion and connectedness (Blackett et al. 2005), concentration, psychomotor coordination and posture (Chen et al. 2017). The majority of this work was undertaken with adolescents with very little work focused on younger age groups.
Author Interviews, Education, Exercise - Fitness / 14.09.2018

“Girl Playing Soccer” by Bold Content is licensed under CC BY 2.0MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Craig Pulling. MSc, PGCE, BA (Hons), FHEA Head of Physical Education University of Chichester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Successful perceptual-cognitive skill in team-sports such as football requires players to pick up task-relevant information during the control of action in complex and dynamic situations. It has been proposed that players could perform visual exploratory activity (VEA) to be able to recognise important cues in the playing environment. VEA is defined as: “A body and/or head movement in which the player’s face is actively and temporarily directed away from the ball, seemingly with the intention of looking for teammates, opponents or other environmental objects or events, relevant to perform a subsequent action with the ball” (Jordet, 2005, p.143). Research has suggested that VEA is an important facet of skilled performance in youth and adult football. However, it is currently unknown whether such evidence is commensurate with the views of coaches and whether coaching practices are utilised to develop VEA in training. In order to further current understanding on VEA and coaching practices, the present study developed an online survey to examine: (i) when VEA should be introduced in coaching; (ii) how VEA is delivered by coaches and (iii) how coaches evaluate VEA. Further, this study aimed to explore whether distinct groups of football coaches existed who differed in their approach to the delivery of VEA training and, if so, whether there were differences in the demographics of the coaches across these differentiated groups.
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Education, Gender Differences, JAMA / 03.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_44309" align="alignleft" width="200"]Prof-Lia E. Gracey Prof. Gracey[/caption] Lia E. Gracey, MD, PhD Department of Dermatology Baylor Scott & White Health Austin, Texas  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The co-authors and I were interested in this issue as new parent leave (or the lack thereof) is increasingly being examined in many professions.  As a mother who had children during dermatology residency, I felt the pressure to take a short new parent leave to avoid having to make up time at the end of my training. I came back to work only 3 ½ weeks after having my first baby. Anecdotally, other new parent residents (both men and women) reported similar concerns and we noticed a lack of data about new parent leave policies in dermatology residency training programs. We distributed surveys to dermatology residency program directors and residents and were struck by a basic lack of awareness by residents for whether their institution even offered new parent leave.  Less than 50% of surveyed residents were aware of a written new parent leave policy for their residency program, yet over 80% of program directors stated they had a policy in place. We also found discrepancies between resident and program director perceptions of sufficiency of new parent leave and the availability of pumping facilities for breastfeeding mothers. 
Author Interviews, Education / 30.08.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Lecture Hall” by Sholeh is licensed under CC BY 2.0Dr. David P. Smith, NTF, BSc, PhD, SFHEA Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry / Course Leader MSc Molecular and Cellular Biology and National Teaching Fellow Sheffield Hallam University, in the UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Lectures are not going to go away, when done well they can be an effective method for teaching large groups of students. To make the lecture experience more effective we wanted to find out why students chose to sit in a given location such that we can better interact with them during taught sessions. We also wanted to find out the reasons they made this choice and if this choice of location had an effect on finial attainment (marks). 
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 09.08.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_43714" align="alignleft" width="150"]Ian M. Paul, M.D., M.Sc. Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences Chief, Division of Academic General Pediatrics Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs, Department of Pediatrics Penn State College of Medicine Hershey, PA 17033-0850 Prof. Paul[/caption] Ian M. Paul, M.D., M.Sc. Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences Chief, Division of Academic General Pediatrics Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs, Department of Pediatrics Penn State College of Medicine Hershey, PA 17033-0850 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: 20-25% of 2-5 year old children are overweight or obese in the US, and these children have increased risk of remaining overweight across the lifecourse. To date, research efforts aimed at preventing early life overweight have had very limited success. In our randomized clinical trial that included 279 mother-child dyads, a responsive parenting intervention that began shortly after birth significantly reduced body mass index z-score compared with controls at age 3 years.