Author Interviews, Emory, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Stem Cells / 07.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Arshed A. Quyyumi MD; FRCP Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology Emory University School of Medicine Co-Director, Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute Atlanta GA 30322 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Circulating progenitor or stem cells were discovered in adults 15 years ago. We now know that they may be stimulated by injury or ischemia, and they go down in number and function with aging, particularly when aging is associated with risk factors. Women with chest pain despite normal coronary arteries are thought to have ischemia because of microvascular dysfunction. We found that these women, with the worst microvascular function (measured as coronary flow reserve), had higher levels of circulating stem or progenitor cells. This implies that the mild ischemia they are having during their normal daily life, leads to stimulation of their stem cells. Also, the vascular abnormality may be a stimulus for repair. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Heart Disease, Pediatrics / 06.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Steven E. Lipshultz, MD, FAAP, FAHA Schotanus Family Endowed Chair of Pediatrics / Carman and Ann Adams Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research / Professor, Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics / Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Oncology, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Molecular Biology/Genetics, Family Medicine/Public Health Sciences, & Pharmacology /Professor in the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics Wayne State University School of Medicine President, University Pediatricians & Interim Director, Children’s Research Center of Michigan Pediatrician-in-Chief, Children’s Hospital of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Surviving childhood cancer has dramatically and increasing improved to the point where more than 80% will achieve a 5-year event free survival. Many of these survivors look forward to decades of active productive life. More than half of these survivors have been treated with therapies know to be associated with late cardiotoxicity that can be pervasive, persistent, and progressive and associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In this article we review both the course and prevention of this cardiotoxicity. We focus in part on anthracycline chemotherapy that is widely used and known to be cardiotoxicity. We further review studies we and others have conducted to examine the effectiveness of dexrazoxane, an iron chelator, that when given before each anthracycline dose results in anthracycline cardioprotection for long term survivors. In some reported studies this has allowed for higher cumulative anthracycline doses to be safely given. In other cases this has allowed for simultaneously being able to safely treat children with malignancies that would be refractory to conventional therapy more potent therapies that would normally have additive cardiotoxicity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease / 06.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Richard Moon, MD Professor of Anesthesiology Professor of Medicine Medical Director, Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC 27710 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: For several years we have been investigating the causes of immersion pulmonary edema (IPE, also known as swimming-induced pulmonary edema or SIPE). We determined that during exercise while immersed in cold water pulmonary artery and wedge pressures of individuals who are SIPE-susceptible are higher than normal. This demonstrated that SIPE is a form of hemodynamic pulmonary edema. It is certainly plausible that SIPE could cause death, and indeed a few fatal cases had been reported in the medical literature, mostly in scuba divers. After reading of deaths in young, apparently fit and healthy triathletes we hypothesized that some of these deaths were probably due to  swimming-induced pulmonary edema . It is easy to diagnose SIPE in a living individual, using a stethoscope or chest x-ray/CT. However, since almost anyone who dies from any cause, particularly if attempted resuscitation has occurred, will have pulmonary edema at autopsy. Before concluding that death has occurred due to SIPE, other clues are therefore necessary. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, Surgical Research / 04.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christian A. McNeely, M.D. Resident Physician - Internal Medicine Barnes-Jewish Hospital Washington University Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior research has demonstrated that readmission in the first 30 days after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is common, reported around one in six or seven Medicare beneficiaries, and that many are potentially preventable. Since 2000, there have been significant changes in the management of coronary artery disease and the use of PCI. Additionally, in the last decade, readmission rates have become a major focus of research, quality improvement and a public health issue, with multiple resulting national initiatives/programs which may be affecting care. Therefore, in this study, we sought to examine contemporary trends in readmission characteristics and associated outcomes of patients who underwent PCI using the Medicare database from 2000-2012. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, JACC, Outcomes & Safety, Surgical Research / 04.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Senthil Selvaraj, MD, MA and Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There has been significant controversy in the effect of off-hours presentation in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Off-hours presentation has been associated with longer treatment time, an independent predictor of worse outcomes in STEMI, though a number of other studies have shown no difference as well. Moreover, little data has been generated from clinical trials, which has the advantage of comprehensive and adjudicated outcomes. In our analysis of nearly 2,000 STEMI patients from the CHAMPION PHOENIX study (a randomized, controlled trial of cangrelor in percutaneous coronary intervention), we found that off-hours presentation was not associated with worse efficacy or safety outcomes at 48 hours or 30 days. More specifically, outcomes not typically reported in registry data, such as ischemia-driven revascularization and stent thrombosis, were not significantly different between the groups. Interestingly, treatment times were actually faster in the “off-hours” group as well. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Surgical Research / 02.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Marlous Hall PhD Senior Epidemiologist Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It is well known that death rates following heart attacks have fallen considerably over recent decades. Many studies have looked at the effect of medications and invasive strategies, and their association with better clinical outcomes is clear. However, a big question remains: why have heart attack deaths fallen? Is it due to increased use of medications and treatment, is the risk of patients simply lower over time due to things like earlier diagnosis or are patients generally healthier with fewer comorbidities such as diabetes? Answering this is not straightforward - as “gold standard” studies like clinical trials on historic data cannot be done. An alternative approach is to look for patterns in data observed from routine care to look at all these factors together. This study used a large and rich dataset covering heart attack care in the UK (Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP)). This dataset was linked to outcome data from the Office for National Statistics to allow us to look at all the different factors that could influence the change in mortality over time. (more…)
Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Diabetes, Health Care Systems, Heart Disease / 02.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD and Julia Akeroyd MPH Health Services Research and Development Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Houston MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Given the increase in the number of Americans seeking primary health care due to the Affordable Care Act, combined with current and anticipated physician shortages in the US, there is a growing need to identify other models of primary care delivery to address chronic diseases. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xiaobing Yang, MD Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital Southern Medical University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: AKI is a common complication in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and associated with increased death and worse clinical outcomes. Early detecting which patients are going to suffer progressive AKI or proceed to death could help physicians to plan and initiate timely managements. We analyzed data and samples of 732 ADHF patients from a prospective, multicenter study in China. We demonstrated that kidney injury biomarkers, measured at the first time of AKI clinical diagnosis, could predict which patients were going to have AKI progression or worsening of AKI with death. Notably, three urinary biomarkers, including urinary angiotensinogen (uAGT), urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL), urinary IL-18 (uIL-18), were all able to forecast which patients with the earliest stages of AKI were most likely to suffer progressive AKI. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, JACC, Pharmacology / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aaron S. Kesselheim, M.D., J.D., M.P.H. Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School Director, Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston MA 02120 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It has been previously reported that the number of new cardiovascular drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declined in recent years. So we sought to empirically assess trends in the development of new cardiovascular therapeutics. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lancet, Surgical Research / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof Lars Wallentin, MD PHD Senior Professor Cardiology Uppsala Clinical Research Center, Uppsala University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The FRISC2 study was performed 1996 – 1998 and reported 1999 for the first time a significant reduction in death and myocardial infarction by early invasive compared to non-invasive treatment strategy in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). The results at 6 months, 1, 2 and 5 years were published in The Lancet and pivotal in changing the treatment guidelines and thereby improving outcomes in patients with NSTE-ACS. These findings were within the next few years verified in the TACTICS-TIMI18 and RITA3 trials. However the later performed ICTUS trial, starting after these results were published and accordingly with a substantial early crossover to the invasive arm, showed neutral results. Recently the reduction in event rates by an early invasive strategy was again validated in patients above 80 years of age, which were less well represented in the initial trials. These benefits of an early invasive strategy have previously been shown sustained for at least five years based on results from the FRISC2, RITA3, and ICTUS trials. The FRISC2 and TACTICS-TIMI18 trials also showed that the benefits with an early invasive strategy seemed confined to patients with signs of myocardial necrosis as indicated by elevated troponin level at entry. In addition the FRISC2 trial found that the benefits were larger in patients with signs of inflammatory activity as indicated by a high level of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) at entry. These pivotal results have been the basis for the current international treatment guidelines recommending an early invasive treatment strategy in patients with NSTE-ACS and elevated troponin and/or other indicators of a raised risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, NEJM, Surgical Research / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kaare Harald Bønaa Principal investigator University of Tromsø, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The NORSTENT study was designed shortly after the “Barcelona fire storm” in 2006 that raised severe safety concerns against drug-eluting stents (DES). At that time there was evidence for increased risk of stent thrombosis with DES. How this could influence long term results compared to PCI with bare metal stents (MMS) was not known. Accordingly, we designed the NORSTENT study with the primary composite endpoint of all-cause mortality and non-fatal spontaneous myocardial infarction at a medial of 5 years of follow-up. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, Surgical Research / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jason H. Wasfy, MD, MPhil Assistant Medical Director, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Director of Quality and Analytics Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Reducing preventable readmissions after PCI is a way to both improve the quality of care for our patients and improve value for patients with coronary artery disease. Through a variety of tactics, we were able to reduce the 30 day readmission rate for patients after PCI by nearly half. Keep in mind that this is only the readmission rate to our hospital, so we will need to confirm these results with data including patients who may have been readmitted to other hospitals after a PCI at Mass General. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, NEJM, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Sleep Disorders / 30.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Craig Anderson, PhD Professor of Stroke Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience Medicine, The George Institute for Global Health University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We wished to prove whether treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP ) can modify the risk of cardiovascular disease. The is a lot of association data from epidemiological and clinical studies but no large scale international clinical trials assessing the effects of CPAP on the prevention of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. Our study in nearly 3000 adults with prior heart attack or stroke and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea showed that CPAP treatment did not prevent recurrent cardiovascular events or major cardiovascular risk factors. However CPAP did improve wearers' sense of wellbeing, mood and work productivity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Stem Cells / 30.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jolanta U Weaver, FRCP MRCS PhD CTLHE Senior Lecturer in Diabetes Medicine Honorary Consultant Diabetologist Newcastle MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Vascular stem cells, which are associated with an improvement of heart disease, are improved in type 1 diabetes by repurposing metformin, known to reduce heart disease in type 2 diabetes. We treated patients with type 1 diabetes with metformin for 8 weeks. The metformin dose varied between 500 mg a day to 2000 mg a day, depending on what patients were happy to take. Subjects were requested to keep diabetic control unchanged to study the direct effect of metformin on heart disease. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (vascular stem cells) count, Hill’s colonies and pro angiogenic cells function (in test tube) improved in comparison to patients, who did not take metformin but remained on standard therapy. Endothelial cells associated with vascular damage, on the other hand, were reduced following metformin therapy confirming improved vascular health. The glycaemic control remained unchanged (as planned at the onset of the study) to allow us to examine the effect of metformin ALONE on vascular health. Patients did not suffer any serious side effects. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, JACC, Transplantation / 30.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Laith Alshawabkeh MD ‎Senior Fellow Brigham & Women's and Boston Childrens Hospitals / Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the number of adults living with congenital heart disease continues to increase, there is paucity of evidence on the trajectories and patterns of their comorbidities. In all, heart failure is the leading cause of death in this group of patients. Unfortunately, landmark trials and advances in medical therapy which promoted increase survival in patients with the usual heart failure (non-congenital) has not been translated into those with congenital heart disease. Heart transplantation remains one of the (if not the only) sustainable option for many patients with congenital heart disease at the end stage of heart failure. Recent studies have shown that adults with congenital heart disease who underwent transplantation experienced higher risk of postoperative mortality compared to their non-congenital counterparts; however, patients with congenital heart disease who survived the first year post-transplantation enjoyed significantly better long-term survival, indicating that with careful selection those patients might benefit tremendously from transplantation. Much less is known about the outcome of these patients while they are waiting for an organ. As such, this study sought to examine the outcomes of patients with congenital heart disease while listed for heart transplantation and to investigate correlates of adverse outcomes (mortality and delisting due to clinical worsening). (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Stem Cells / 30.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Javed Butler, M.D., MPH, FACC, FAHA Chief of the Cardiology Division and Co-Director of the Heart Institute at Stony Brook University Stony Brook Heart Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It was previously assumed that stem cells must be delivered directly to the myocardium to improve patient outcomes. However, this delivery mechanism – either in the coronary artery or the myocardium – may not be feasible for millions of patients and for repeat injections. This study represents the first clinical trial to observe the effects of intravenous (IV) administration of ischemia-tolerant mesenchymal stem cells (itMSCs) in patients with chronic heart failure. Results show that an IV injection strategy is safe and well-tolerated.In addition, the data illustrate statistically significant improvement in 6-minute walk test, quality-of-life scores as assessed by Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and favorable immune modulatory benefits. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, Heart Disease, JACC, Surgical Research / 30.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gennaro Giustino MD Resident Physician - Department of Medicine The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: A period of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is required after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES). The pathophysiological rationale for DAPT after DES-PCI is predicated on the need to prevent stent-related thrombotic complications while vascular healing and platform endothelialization are ongoing, a process that seems to last between 1 and 6 months with new-generation DES. Whether to extend DAPT after this mandatory period in order to provide a broader atherothrombotic risk protection (for stent-related and non-stent-related atherothrombotic events) is currently a matter of debate. Current guidelines recommend at least 6 months of DAPT after PCI in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and at least 12 months of DAPT in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). While, several risk scores have been developed to guide clinical decision making for DAPT intensity and duration (namely the DAPT score and the PARIS risk scores) little attention has been payed so far to PCI complexity and the extent of CAD to guide duration of DAPT. In fact irrespective of clinical presentation, patients undergoing more complex PCI procedure (likely due to greater coronary atherosclerotic burden) may remain at greater risk for ischemic events and therefore may benefit of prolonged, or more intense, DAPT. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 26.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John A. Elefteriades, MD William W.L. Glenn Professor of Surgery Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery Yale New-Haven Hospital Director, Aortic Institute at Yale-New Haven Yale University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In the late 1990’s, Dr. Milewicz’s group in Texas and our group at Yale recognized that thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections (internal tears of the aorta) ran in families. This paper explores for the first time the ages at which aortic dissections occur among members within a family. Interestingly, we found that once one family member has suffered an aortic dissection, other family members tend to suffer dissection at about the same age (mostly within ten years of the age of the original dissector). (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Emory, Heart Disease / 25.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alvaro Alonso, MD, PhD Associate Professor Department of Epidemiology Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Atlanta, GA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a major public health problem. Each year, 300,000-400,000 Americans experience SCD and, in more than half of these cases, sudden cardiac death is the first manifestation of heart disease. To date, however, we lack effective strategies to identify those at higher risk of developing sudden cardiac death so targeted preventive strategies can be applied. In this study, we develop and validate the first model for the prediction of SCD in ~18,000 adults without a prior history of cardiovascular disease. We show that information on demographic variables (age, sex, race), some traditional cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, elevated blood pressure, diabetes, HDL cholesterol) as well as some factors more specifically related to SCD causes (electrocardiogram QT interval) and novel biomarkers (albumin, potassium in blood, kidney function) can be leveraged to predict risk of SCD and identify individuals more likely to suffer this event. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Heart Disease, HIV, Vanderbilt / 25.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew S Freiberg, MD, MSc Cardiovascular Medicine Division, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Tennessee Valley Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Nashville  TN Tasneem Khambaty, PhD Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida Jesse C. Stewart, PhD Department of Psychology, Indiana University–Purdue University , Indianapolis, Indianapolis MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Due to highly effective antiretroviral therapy, people with HIV are living longer. Unfortunately, these HIV-infected individuals remain at a higher risk for other chronic diseases, with cardiovascular disease (CVD) being one of the leading cause of death in this population. In the general population, depressive disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and dysthymic disorder, are associated with increased risk of new-onset CVD. Given that roughly 24-40% of HIV-infected individuals have a depressive disorder, we examined whether MDD and dysthymic disorder are also associated with an increased risk of new-onset CVD in people with HIV. (more…)
Author Interviews, Columbia, Heart Disease, JAMA, Medical Imaging / 25.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Castano, M.D., M.S. Division of Cardiology Columbia University Medical Center New York Presbyterian Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Traditionally, the gold standard for diagnosis has required an endomyocardial biopsy coupled with either immunohistochemistry or mass spectroscopy. These specialized tests are only performed at centers with experienced satff, do not yield prognostically useful information, may be inadvisable for frail older adults, and often present logistical challenges that lead to delayed care. Fortunately, single center studies have demonstrated excellent diagnostic accuracy using technetium 99m pyrophosphate (Tc99mPYP) cardiac imaging for noninvasively detecting ATTR-CA and differentiating it from another major type of cardiac amyloidosis called light chain (AL). But the diagnostic accuracy of this technique in a multicenter study and the association of Tc99mPYP myocardial uptake with survival were not known prior to this study. Therefore, we assessed in a multicenter study Tc99mPYP cardiac imaging as a diagnostic tool and its association with survival. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 229 patients evaluated at 3 academic specialty centers for cardiac amyloidosis and also underwent Tc99mPYP cardiac imaging. We measured retention of Tc99mPYP in the heart using a semiquantitative visual score (range 0-3) and a more quantitative heart-to-contralateral (H/CL) ratio calculated as total counts in a region of interest over the heart divided by background counts in an identical size region of interest over the contralateral chest. The outcome measured was time to death after Tc99mPYP imaging. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Diabetes, Heart Disease, JAMA, Medical Imaging, NIH / 24.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nehal N. Mehta, .MD., M.S.C.E. F.A.H.A. Lasker Clinical Research Scholar Section of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases NIH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Psoriasis is associated with accelerated cardiovascular (CV) disease; however, screening for CV risk factors in psoriasis remains low. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) score estimates the total burden of atherosclerosis. Psoriasis has been associated with increase CAC score, but how this compares to patients with diabetes, who are aggressively screened for CV risk factors, is unknown. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 20.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lu Qi, MD, PhD HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor Director,Tulane University Obesity Research Center Department of Epidemiology Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 1440 Canal Street, Suite 1724 New Orleans, LA 70112 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Gallstone disease has been related to various risk factors of cardiovascular disease, and several previous studies suggest potential link between gallstone disease and heart disease. Our study, for the first time, provide consistent evidence for the association between gallstone disease and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Heart Disease, Science / 19.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Johan LM Björkegren, MD, PhD Professor, Chief Clinical Science Officer Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The STARNET (Stockholm-Tartu Atherosclerosis Reverse Network Engineering Task) study was launched in 2007 by myself and Dr. Arno Ruusalepp MD, PhD, Chief Cardiac Surgeon at Tartu University Hospital in Estonia, and senior co-author on the study. Unlike similar studies, STARNET obtained samples of several key tissues from 600 clinically well-characterized patients with CAD during coronary artery bypass surgery. By using sophisticated data analysis techniques, the researchers found that the gene expression data from STARNET were highly informative in identifying causal disease genes and their activity in networks not only in CAD but also for other cardiometabolic diseases as well as Alzheimer’s disease. By analyzing gene-expression data from multiple tissues in hundreds of patients with coronary artery disease, we were able to identify disease-causing genes that either were specific to single tissues or acted across multiple tissues in networks to cause cardiometabolic diseases. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, JACC / 19.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Antonio Pelliccia, MD, FESC Chief of Cardiology Institute of Sport Medicine and Science Rome MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The awareness of the relevant role of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) as cause of athletic field events and the refined Task Force (TF) criteria for the diagnosis of the disease have prompted a large scientific interest and triggered a vast scientific literature on this issue. Indeed, the recent observations by Heidbuchel and La Gerche based on data from a selected group of ultra-endurance athletes, suggesting that strenuous, chronic endurance exercise may ultimately cause, per se, RV dysfunction have further stimulated the need to define the characteristics and limits of training-induced RV remodelling. At present, however, no studies have assessed the characteristic of physiologic right ventricular remodelling as derived from a large population of highly-trained athletes, including a sizeable number of women and comprising a broad spectrum of summer and winter Olympic sport disciplines. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease / 19.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leo F. Buckley, PharmD Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the prevalence and costs of heart failure are expected to increase through the year 2030, significant efforts have been devoted towards devising alternatives to inpatient hospitalization for the management of heart failure decompensations. Since loop diuretics are the mainstay of treatment during the majority of hospitalizations, administration of high doses of loop diuretics in the outpatient setting has increased in popularity. We intended to answer two questions with his study: first, can a patient-specific dosing protocol based on a patient’s usual diuretic dose achieve safe decongestion? and second, does this strategy alter the usual course of heart failure decompensation, which oftentimes culminates in inpatient hospitalization? (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lipids, Nutrition, Omega-3 Fatty Acids / 18.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Iggman, MD, PhD Unit for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences Uppsala University, Uppsala Center for Clinical Research Dalarna Falun, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is some controversy regarding which dietary fats are preferable and in what amounts, not least regarding the polyunsaturated fats. It is also challenging to adequately assess peoples intakes of dietary fats. The main findings of this study was that among fatty acids in the body (reflecting the intake during the last year or so), linoleic acid (omega-6) was associated with lower mortality in 71-year-old men with 15 years follow-up. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, Microbiome / 18.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lemin Zheng, Ph.D. Professor, Lab Director, and Principal Investigator The Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Institute of Systems Biomedicine Peking University Health Science Center Beijing  China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been considered as an ideal tool to characterize accurately atherosclerotic plaques and has potential to detect plaque rupture due to high-resolution (10-20 μm) cross-sectional images of tissue with near infrared light (1-3). Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbiota-dependent-generated metabolite which is associated with cardiovascular risk by a pathway involving dietary ingestion of nutrients containing trimethylamine, including phosphatidylcholine, choline, and L-carnitine (4-6). In the gut, choline, betaine and carnitine can be metabolized to trimethylamine (TMA) by gut flora microorganism. And TMA could be further oxidized to a proatherogenic species, TMAO, in the liver by flavin monooxygenases 3 (FMO3)4-6. These risk associations have been repeatedly shown in large observational trials (7-10). (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Electronic Records, Heart Disease, Primary Care / 18.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tom Marshall, PhD, MRCGP, FFPH Professor of public health and primary care Institute of Applied Health Research University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Shortly before the Health Checks programme began, a programme of targeted case finding was set up in Sandwell in the West Midlands. In general practices in the area a programme nurse searched electronic medical records to identify untreated patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease. The nurse then invited high risk patients for assessment in the practice and those who needed treatment were referred to their GP for further action. This was implemented in stages across 26 general practices, allowing it to be evaluated as a stepped wedge randomised controlled trial. The programme was successful, resulting in a 15.5% increase in the number of untreated high risk patients started on either antihypertensives or statins. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease / 17.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leo F. Buckley, PharmD Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Heart failure hospitalizations have become a significant burden for both patients and the healthcare systems. Significant efforts have been devoted to identifying alternative treatment pathways for acute decompensated heart failure that do not require hospitalization. Our group previously reported our initial experience with ambulatory intravenous diuretic therapy administered serially over several days to weeks in place of inpatient hospitalization. We found that the rate of hospitalization was significantly reduced compared to expected and that the high dose furosemide protocol utilized was safe and well tolerated by patients. (more…)