Author Interviews, Biomarkers, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 17.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Abdi Ghaffari, Ph.D. Associate Professor (adjunct) Dept. of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Queen’s University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected millions and changed our way of life by placing nearly 3 billion people under lockdown or some form of physical isolation. In the absence of a vaccine or reliable treatment, diagnostic testing must be a pillar of public health policy to control further spread of the virus and to guide gradual removal of lockdown measures. COVID-19 antibody diagnostic tests are being increasingly used to assess the protective immunity status in the population. There are over 100 different COVID-19 antibody tests developed by companies worldwide in an effort to address this need. However, companies’ reported performance data are not always in line with the actual performance of these diagnostic tests in the real-world. In this work, we conducted a systemic review of independent studies (sponsored by academic or government institutions) that aimed to validate the performance of currently available COVID-19 antibody tests on the market.  (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 17.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering Washington University in Saint Louis MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: At the onset of COVID-19, we developed a state-of-the-art epidemic progression model involving the susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered (SEIR) dynamics, the age-stratified disease transmissibility, and the possible large-scale undocumented asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 taking place in the US states. By informing our model with using epidemiological COVID-19 data for the US between March 19 and 28 – a period corresponding to the early stage of the epidemic when the impacts of social distancing on disease progression were yet to manifest – we investigated: “What is the medical cost benefit of implementing social distancing as the “only” non-pharmaceutical intervention policy to combat COVID-19 in the US?” As part of this study, we investigated three social distancing strategies – indefinite, finite-duration, and intermittent – on age-stratified US population and benchmark its effectiveness in reducing the burden on hospital beds. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, Infections, NEJM, Vaccine Studies / 15.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frederick Hayden MD Stuart S Richardson Professor Emeritus of Clinical Virology Professor Emeritus of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health University of Virginia  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although primary prevention approach for influenza infections is vaccination, vaccine efficacy is incomplete and uptake rates are variable in the population. Preventing people who have been exposed to someone with influenza from developing the disease is an important way to prevent its rapid spread, reduce the disruption to peoples' lives and, in some cases, reducing the risk of serious illness or even death.  Prior studies have shown that antivirals like oseltamivir and inhaled zanamivir can reduce the risk influenza illness in those exposed. The BLOCKSTONE study was designed to assess the efficacy of postexposure prophylaxis with a single oral dose of baloxavir for the preventing influenza in household contacts. This antiviral drug was approved first in 2018 for treatment of adults with uncomplicated influenza.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Infections / 10.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sabrina Annick Assoumou, MD, MPH Assistant Professor, Medicine Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center Boston University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: During the opioid epidemic there has been an increase in the number of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections due to transmission among persons who inject drugs (PWID). Federally qualified health centers (FQHC) provide care to an underserved and diverse patient population with a high proportion of both injection drug use and HCV. These health care facilities could provide opportunities to enhance HCV testing and treatment, especially at a time when recent data show that the United States is not on the list of high-income nations expected to achieve the World Health Organization’s goal of eliminating HCV by 2030. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics / 10.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cinnamon A. Dixon, DO, MPH Associate Professor of Pediatrics University of Colorado School of Medicine Children’s Hospital Colorado Senior Investigator | Center for Global Health Colorado School of Public Health Aurora, CO MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this commentary? Response: Dog bites are a long-standing public health problem. Each year there are approximately 4.5 million dog bites across the Unites States (US),1 and global estimates suggest tens of millions of these injuries worldwide.2 Children are the most vulnerable population with nearly 1 million annual dog bites in the US and more severe injury outcomes.1 National organizations espouse consistent strategies on how to prevent dog bites to children, however studies reveal that most children have never received dog bite prevention education.3,4 Furthermore, children lack critical knowledge of how to prevent dog bites in high-risk “resource guarding” situations (such as when a dog is eating or chewing on toys).4 During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of US households are experiencing restrictions in activities. Children now spend more time in the home environment and presumably have increased exposure to their pet dogs. Parents and caregivers likely experience greater stress with more potential for competing interests and resultant decreased supervision of their children and dogs. Finally, pet dogs may be affected by the increased tension of their environment and be more likely to mirror the emotions of their human caregivers. We hypothesized that these combined elements compound the risk of dog bites to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Infections / 09.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zhifeng Ren PhD M. D. Anderson Chair Professor Department of Physics Director Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH University of Houston Texas 77204 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading in the whole world in the past a few months, has infected more than 12 million and killed more than 0.5 million people. We have to find an effective way to catch and kill the SARS-CoV-2 viruses to stop the spread before the vaccine is ready. (more…)
Author Interviews, Columbia, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 09.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Syed Ali Husain, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York Presbyterian Hospital The Columbia University Renal Epidemiology Group New York, New York  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: One group of patients thought to be at a high risk of severe COVID-19 manifestations is kidney transplant recipients, since they take medications that suppress their immune system and they often have other medical problems that have been associated with severe infection. We wanted to understand whether it is safe to manage kidney transplant recipients who develop COVID-19 as outpatients, without admitting them to the hospital. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 07.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH Center on Society and Health Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine Richmond MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our concern since the pandemic began was that lives would be lost not only to the virus but also to the ripple effects of how society responds to the crisis, such as reduced access to health care, extreme economic hardships, and psychological stress.  (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 06.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samia Arshad, MPH Epidemiologist II Infectious Disease Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI I would like to start off by saying: We need to keep partisanship out of science. ​During this pandemic, we hope we can stick to science and help save lives with purposeful data driven facts.  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial and immunomodulatory agent has demonstrated antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. We are in an acceleration phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 25% of the world’s cases occurring in the United States. Currently there is no known therapy or vaccine for treatment of SARS-CoV-2, highlighting the urgency around identifying effective therapies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of hydroxychloroquine therapy alone and in combination with azithromycin in hospitalized patients positive for COVID-19.   (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, JAMA / 26.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Herman Anne MD Service de Dermatologie Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, several cases of acro-located lesions (on foot or hands) suggestive of chilblains have been reported and were possibly related to COVID-19. We wanted to determine if chilblains, observed in many patients recently referred to our department, are indicative of COVID-19. MedicalResearch.com: Would you briefly explain what is meant by chilblains? Response: Chilblains are frequent cold induced inflammatory lesions. Chilblains are typically seen in winter and occur after repeated exposure to cold temperatures. Clinical presentation includes erythema and swelling on toes and/or digits followed by red-purple macules or patches. However, given the large number of patients affected, and the exceptionally high outdoor temperatures for the spring season over the past month and at the time of case-observation, cold-exposure seemed unlikely. These lesions were, therefore, suspected to be associated with COVID-19. However, to date, no study has proven a pathological link between these lesions and COVID-19. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Heart Disease / 24.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Spyridon G. Deftereos MD PhD Prof. of Cardiology, Medical School National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Greece MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Research on COVID-19 early revealed that inflammation plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of the disease. Therefore, we designed GRECCO-19 study in order to evaluate the effect of colchicine, a relatively safe drug with known anti-inflammatory properties, in patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Vaccine Studies / 15.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Allison Kempe, MD, MPH Ergen Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Outcomes Research Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine Director of ACCORDS (Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science) University of Colorado School of Medicine | Children’s Hospital Colorado  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2019 the WHO designated vaccine hesitancy as one of the ten leading threats to global health. Although studies have assessed parental vaccine hesitancy in different localities and estimated vaccine refusals nationally, there is little recent US national data on the prevalence of hesitancy about routine childhood vaccines and national hesitancy rates for influenza vaccine have never been assessed. We used a hesitancy scale developed by the WHO to estimate levels of parental hesitancy for both routine childhood and childhood influenza vaccination  (more…)
Author Interviews, Circadian Rhythm, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Sleep Disorders / 15.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Christine Blume PhD Centre for Chronobiology Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel Transfaculty Research Platform Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences Basel MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In modern societies, human rest-activity rhythms and sleep are between the often-conflicting poles of external social time (e.g., work hours and leisure activities) and an individual’s internal biological time. This can lead to so-called “social jetlag”, which has repeatedly been associated with detrimental health effects. With the restrictions to control the pandemic, social timing relaxed as people many started working from home and public life came to a standstill. In an online survey with 435 respondents, we investigated the effects of the phase with the strictest COVID-19 restrictions on the relationship between social and biological rhythms as well as sleep during a six-week period (mid-March until end of April 2020) in three European societies (Austria, Germany, Switzerland). (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 11.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robin Gelburd President, FAIR Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals have been under prolonged stress, including the financial stress of widespread deferral of elective procedures. To investigate the pandemic’s impact on professionals’ utilization and revenue, FAIR Health analyzed data from its database of over 31 billion private healthcare claim records, the nation’s largest such repository, which is growing by over 2 billion claim records per year.  (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Weight Research / 11.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sarah Messiah, PhD, MPH Professor of epidemiology, human genetics, and environmental sciences UTHealth School of Public Health Dallas MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Given that obesity is a prevalent, serious, complex, chronic, and relapsing disease, and severe obesity is a deepening crisis, it is important to pay special attention to these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. This will avoid placing an even greater burden on individuals, health systems, and society in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase. Thus, it is critically important to document, in real time, how socioecological determinants of health are impacting behaviors among those with obesity. Before our study, how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting weight management, health behaviors, and psychosocial health in particular among people with obesity was unknown. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Environmental Risks, JAMA / 11.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mohammad Sajadi, MD Associate Professor Institute of Human Virology Global Virus Network Center of Excellence University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD 21201  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Because of geographical proximity and significant travel connections, epidemiological modeling of the epicenter predicted that regions in Southeast Asia, and specifically Bangkok would follow Wuhan, and China in the COVID-19 epidemic. When we saw this did not happen, we suspected that SARS-CoV-2 might be acting like a seasonal respiratory virus.  (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Infections / 10.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Edmond A. Hooker, MD, DrPH Professor, Department of Health Services Administration MHSA Associate Director for Accreditation Xavier University Cincinnati, Ohio  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Healthcare acquired infections are still a huge problem in the US. Most hospitals are not following the hospital bed manufacturers guidelines for cleaning these mattresses and bed decks (the metal bed frame). Many use only a single step, when the manufacturers recommend a 5-6 step process (pre-clean any obvious soil, clean, rinse off cleaner, disinfect, rinse off disinfectant, inspect mattress for damage). The problem is that, if done, this takes 45 minutes to 1 hours. Most hospitals turn over a hospital room in less than 30 minutes. The launderable bed cover allows the bed to be cleaned and turned over in minutes, not an hours.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Pediatrics / 05.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tracey Vlahovic  DPM, FFPM, FCPS Clinical Professor, Department of Podiatric Medicine Stanley and Pearl Landau Faculty Fellow Adjunct Professor, Department of Microbiology, Temple University School of Medicine On Behalf of Ortho Dermatologics MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: JUBLIA® was first approved in 2014 for people 18 years of age and older. However, more and more children are being diagnosed with onychomycosis, so the goal of the study was to determine the safety and efficacy of Jublia in this patient population. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics / 04.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Terence Sanger MD Pediatric Neurology Vice president of Research and Chief Scientific Officer CHOC Children's UC Irvine School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: During the current pandemic, publicly available data on the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers has been limited. This study sought to determine the COVID-19 viral prevalence in a population of healthcare workers within a pediatric emergency department in Orange County, Calif., during a time interval that overlapped with the state’s projected peak coronavirus-related use of hospital resources. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Infections / 04.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joseph Roth Graduate Student Dr. Roman Engel-Herbert PhD Assoc. Prof. of Materials Science & Engineering, Chemistry and Physics The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: UV disinfection is currently a hot topic as there have been many studies on its effectiveness against COVID-19. Typically, this disinfection is done with expensive, mercury containing gas discharge lamps that have major downsides including high power requirements, short lifetimes, and bulky form factors. Ideally these disinfection devices would be replaced with high performance UV LEDs that are far more energy efficient, long lasting, and compact. Currently the development of these LEDs is limited by a lack of effective UV transparent electrode materials. The introduction of an effective UV transparent electrode will greatly expedite the process of making UV disinfection devices widely available. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 02.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Margaret A. Turk, MD Vice-Chairman, PM&R Distinguished Service Professor Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Pediatrics, Public Health & Preventive Medicine SUNY Upstate Medical University All authors contributed to these responses. (Margaret A. Turk MD, Scott D. Landes PhD, Margaret K. Formica PhD, Katherine D. Goss MPH) MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Throughout this pandemic, there have been published reports related to vulnerable populations and severity of disease with COVID-19, however disability populations have not been studied. People with disabilities in fact report many of the risk factors for severe outcomes from this virus, usually at younger ages. One such population is people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), with estimates of  2.6 to 4 million people living in the US – and also with reported high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and pulmonary conditions. These comorbid health conditions are reported as common risk factors for severe outcomes with COVID-19, along with older age. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Lancet / 02.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Holger Schünemann, MD, PhD, FRCPC Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and of Medicine Co-Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases, Research Methods and Recommendations Director, Cochrane Canada and McMaster GRADE Centre Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact Canada  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Many countries and regions have issued conflicting advice about physical distancing to reduce transmission of COVID-19, based on limited information. In addition, the questions of whether masks and eye coverings might reduce transmission of COVID-19 in the general population, and what the optimum use of masks in healthcare settings is, have been debated during the pandemic. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Clots, Clots - Coagulation, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 29.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Tristan Morichau-Beauchant, MD. Intensive Care Unit Centre Cardiologique du Nord Saint-Denis, France MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: During the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in France, early reports on severe patients stated a highly increased inflammatory response associated with procoagulant changes in coagulation pathways and high D-Dimer levels. Preliminary reports from the intensive care community signaled frequent events of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) among this population. We decided to perform prospectively a venous ultrasonogram of the inferior limbs for all patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia at admission in our ICU.  All patients had acute respiratory distress syndrome according to the Berlin definition an required mechanical ventilation. Considering the high prevalence of venous thrombosis at admission we repeated a venous ultrasonography after 48 hours if the first exam was normal. All patients received standard anticoagulant prophylaxis since hospital admission. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 28.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Soumya Sen PhD McKnight Presidential Fellow Mary & Jim Lawrence Fellow of Carlson School Director of Research, MIS Research Center Associate Professor, Information & Decision Sciences Carlson School of Management University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded across the United States, one of the greatest barriers to understanding the extent of the problem was the lack of reliable and consistent data. Some of the metrics being reported, such as case count and death, are insufficient for hospital capacity planning. Case count is a conservative estimate of the actual number of infected individuals in the absence of community-wide serologic testing, while death count is a lagging metric and insufficient for proactive hospital capacity planning. A more valuable metric for assessing the effects of public health interventions on the health care infrastructure is hospitalizations. Therefore, the Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI) and the Management Information Systems Research Center (MISRC) at the Carlson School of Management launched the COVID-19 hospitalization tracking project in March to consistently track and report daily hospitalizations from all reporting states. Tracking daily hospitalization data is a major step forward in quantifying the current impact on local hospital systems, modeling and  forecasting future utilization needs, and tracking the rate of change in the disease severity. It is also useful for understanding the role of health policy interventions in slowing or reducing the impact of the pandemic. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 27.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jianfeng Zhou MD, PhD Department of Hematology, Tongji Hospital Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technolog Wuhan, Hubei, China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  There is accumulating evidence on the key pathophysiological role of cytokines during the severe stage of COVID-19. In the context of lack of vaccine and specific antiviral agents, testing of immunomodulatory agents to reduce excessive or uncontrolled inflammation before it results in irreversible multi-organ dysfunction infection has received increasing research attention. Although several important papers have proposed JAK inhibitors as potential therapeutic targets, the role of JAK inhibitors on COVID-19 patients needs to be clarified quickly, especially in severe COVID-19 patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 21.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Charles H. Hennekens, MD, DrPH Sir Richard Doll Professor Senior Academic Advisor FAU, Boca Raton, FL  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Blacks and other disadvantaged minorities in the United States have markedly reduced life expectancies compared with their white counterparts.  As is the case with most fatal diseases, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is already taking a disproportionate toll on blacks and other disadvantaged minorities. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, NYU / 21.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shadi Yaghi, MD Assistant Professor Department of Neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine Director, Clinical Vascular Neurology Research, NYU Langone Health Director, Vascular Neurology, NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our aim was to determine the characteristics of imaging proven ischemic stroke in the setting of COVID-19 infection and compare them to those of ischemic stroke but without COVID-19 infection. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 19.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paolo A. Ascierto, MD Melanoma. Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics Unit Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione "G. Pascale" Napoli - Italy  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: As we know, in Covid-19 pneumonia, especially in its complication “acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)”, a key role is played by the immune system. We know that when we treat a tumor with immunotherapy, it could give side effects because the stimulated immune system produces a series of substances to destroy the tumor. Sometimes, the immune system can also give side effects related to a hypersecretion of some cytokines, such as IL 6, the target of tocilizumab. This condition is called cytokine storm, or better, cytokine release syndrome (CRS).Oncologists use tocilizumab in the management of CRS that can occur following the use of bispecific antibodies, or recently, the use of CAR-T cell therapy, where such drug is approved for CRS treatment.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, STD / 19.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barbara Van Der Pol, PhD, MPH President, American STD Association President-Elect, International Society fo STD Research Professor of Medicine & Public Health Director, STD Diagnostics Lab Director, UAB STD Clinical Research Organization University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL  35294 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: For many decades, public health programs focused on control and prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STI) have relied on lab based tests that required a 1-day to 1-week wait for test results.  Efforts to shorten the duration of infection lead to treating at the time of the clinic visit based on the association between certain clinical signs or symptoms and the likelihood of infection. Unfortunately, more than ½ of infected persons do not have signs or symptoms so they receive no treatment until test results are available. Thus, a test that could be performed at the clinical site with a limited wait time would improve the accuracy of treatment and shorten the duration of infection. Such a strategy will hopefully reduce the number of return clinic visits, the possibility of transmission, and the potential for consequences of untreated infection such as infertility.  (more…)