Medical Research Centers
20 Aug Hospital Discharge Practice: Room for Improvement in Communication, Comprehension
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Leora I. Horwitz, MD, MHS
Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine,
Yale School of Medicine,
Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation,
Yale–New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We interviewed nearly 400 older patients who had been admitted with heart failure, pneumonia or heart attack within one week of going home from the hospital. We also reviewed the medical records of 377 of the patients. We found, for example, that:
- 40% of patients could not understand or explain the reason they were in the hospital in the first place;
- A fourth of discharge instructions were written in medical jargon that a patient was not likely to understand;
- Only a third of patients were discharged with scheduled follow-up with a primary care physician or cardiology specialist;
- Only 44% accurately recalled details of their appointments.
20 Aug Lung Cancer: Calcineurin Pathway Helps Enable Metastases
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sandra Ryeom, PhD,
Assistant professor of Cancer Biology,
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We identified an important pathway (calcineurin-NFAT-Angiopoeitin2) in the vasculature of early metastatic lung lesions that is critical for promoting lung metastases.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Answer: Since there is limited understanding of regulation of tumor angiogenesis at metastatic sites, identification of the calcineurin pathway and a newly identified target of calcineurin-NFAT signaling was all unexpected.
16 Aug Mitral Valve Regurgitation from Flail Leaflets: Early Surgical Intervention May be Warranted
Posted at 18:49h
in Author Interviews, General Medicine, Heart Disease, Mayo Clinic, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rakesh M. Suri MD, D.Phil.
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota
MedicalResearch.com: What might clinicians “take home” from this study?
Answers:
a. The contemporary outcomes of surgical correction of mitral regurgitation are excellent based upon results observed in this large multinational, multi-institutional study, Mitral valve surgery now has a low peri-operative risk of death or complications, and a very high likelihood of saving a patient’s own heart valve (>90% - repair); thereby avoiding the need for replacement with an artificial valve substitute.
b. All patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation are at risk for heart failure and/or death when surgical correction is delayed. A safe period of “watchful waiting” in those with severe mitral regurgitation due to flail leaflets, even in the absence of traditional Class I triggers for surgery (symptoms or left ventricular dilation/dysfunction) does not exist.
c. Prompt mitral valve surgery within months following the diagnosis of severe degenerative mitral regurgitation, even in those without symptoms, is associated with important and sustained long term benefits including a 40% decrease in death and 60% less heart failure risk, sustained many years following surgical intervention
16 Aug HIV plus Hepatitis C : Marjuana Did Not Worsen Liver Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Marina Klein, MD, MSc, FRCP(C)
Associate Professor of Medicine
McGill University Health Centre
Division of Infectious Diseases and Chronic Viral Illness Service
3650 Saint Urbain
Montreal, Quebec H2X 2P4
Disease in HIV–Hepatitis C Coinfection: A Longitudinal Cohort Analysis
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Klein: We showed that people with HIV and hepatitis C infection who smoked marijuana did not tend to progress more rapidly to liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease, even with increasing numbers of joints smoked per week. Previous studies that reported that marijuana was harmful to the liver were likely biased because they did not ensure that marijuana smoking occurred before the development of liver problems.
13 Aug Parkinson’s Disease: ApoA1 may be a Protection Marker
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with Alice Chen-Plotkin, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Parkinson's disease (PD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease. Many neurons die, but the neurons that make dopamine (dopaminergic neurons) are particularly vulnerable. We think that the disease actually starts well before the time when people show clinical symptoms. We were therefore interested in finding proteins from the blood that correlated with better or worse dopaminergic neuron integrity. Since it's hard to access the dopaminergic neurons directly, we looked at a tracer that labels the ends of the dopaminergic neurons in people who do not have Parkinson's disease but are at high risk for developing it, and we also looked at the age at onset of PD in people who are already symptomatic. Screening just under 100 different proteins from the blood, we found that higher plasma levels of apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) were correlated with better tracer uptake in the people who did not yet have PD, and with older ages at onset in the people who already had PD. These data suggest that plasma ApoA1 may be a marker for PD risk, with higher levels being relatively protective.
13 Aug Pregnancy in Early Twenties Reduces Mammary Gland Progenitor Cells and Breast Cancer Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02215
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Polyak: We found that when comparing normal breast tissue of women who have not had children (nulliparous) and those who had children in their early 20s, the largest changes are in breast epithelial progenitors. The frequency of these cells is lower in parous women (women who had children) and the properties are also altered in a way that they are less likely to proliferate. Women with high risk of breast cancer, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, have very high frequency of these cells, and also parous women who did get cancer have more than those who did not. These results indicate that the frequency of these cells may predict breast cancer risk.
12 Aug Chronic Kidney Disease: Novel variants of APOL1 gene may play a role in susceptibility
Posted at 11:07h
in Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Kidney Disease, Nature, University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Wen-Ya Ko, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, First author of the paper
Department of Genetics
School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
426 Clinical Research Building
415 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6145
Dr. Sarah Tishkoff, Ph.D., Senior author of the paper
David and Lyn Silfen University Professor
Departments of Genetics and Biology
School of Medicine
School of Arts and Sciences
University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In humans the APOL1 gene codes for Apolipoprotein L1, a major component of the trypanolytic factor in serum. The APOL1 gene harbors two risk alleles (G1 and G2) associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) among individuals of recent African ancestry. We studied APOL1 across genetically and geographically diverse ethnic groups in Africa. We have discovered a number of novel variants at the APOL1 functional domains that are required to lyse trypanosome parasites inside human blood vessels.
We further identified signatures of natural selection influencing the pattern of variation on chromosomes carrying some of these variants. In particular, we have identified a haplotype (a cluster of genetic variants linked along a short region of a chromosome), termed G3, that has evolved adaptively in the Fulani population who have been practicing cattle herding which has been historically documented as early as in the medieval ages (but which could have begun thousands of years earlier). Many of the novel variants discovered in this study are candidates to play a role conferring protection against trypanosomiasis and/or to play a role in susceptibility of CKD in humans.
12 Aug Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support – Factors Influencing Graft Survival
Posted at 01:56h
in Annals Thoracic Surgery, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Transplantation, Vanderbilt
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Simon Maltais MD PhD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery
1215 21st Ave S, MCE 5th Flr
Nashville, TN 37232-8808.
MedicalResearch.com: What did your study evaluate and why is this important?
Answer: We performed a rigorous, retrospective review of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) data base to evaluate donor, recipient, and technical characteristics associated with graft survival in patients undergoing mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device explantation at the time of heart transplantation surgery.
Donor and recipient characteristics has been well described in the medical literature for routine heart transplantation, however these characteristics in patients who were supported with a long term MCS device at the time of heart transplant was not known. Additionally, due to chronic donor heart shortages, an increasing number of patients with advanced heart failure are being bridged with MSC devices until a suitable donor heart can be obtained.
09 Aug Obesity in US: Aggravated by Agricultural Policy That Encourages High-Fat/Sugar Foods
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Caroline Franck, MSc Dvisions of Cardiology and Clinical Epidemiology McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found that, although subsidies are needed to protect farmers from production risks, the current allocation of payments encourages the sustained overproduction of a handful of grains and oilseeds. Overproduction contributes to making the end products cheaper, which are then processed into energy-dense and high-fat/sugar foods. Obesity should be treated as a systems problem, in which farm production plays an important role.09 Aug Lung Cancer: Micropapillary Morphology To Guide Resection vs Lobectomy Choice
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prasad Adusumilli MD, FACS
Associate Member, Thoracic Surgery
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The current standard of care of for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma, the common form of lung cancer is curative-intent surgery either by limited resection, LR (removal of tumor with clear margins) or lobectomy, LO (removal of one-third to one-half of the lung harboring the tumor). Although lung-sparing LR is preferable, there is a reported incidence of 30-40% of recurrences within the same lung. The causative factor/s for these local recurrences is not known.
In our study, we analyzed recurrence patterns and pathological features in patients who underwent 476 LO and 258 LR performed at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. We investigated the morphological patterns in pathology specimens utilizing the recently proposed International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer / European Respiratory Society / American Thoracic Society (IASLC/ERS/ATS) classification. We noticed that presence of micropapillary morphology was associated with three times higher recurrences in patients undergoing LR compared to LO, these recurrences were lower when there is an adequate margin (2 cm) resected beyond the tumor. In patients undergoing LO, the recurrences were 75% less.
08 Aug Intestinal Virus Populations Huge and Rapidly Changing
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Frederic D. Bushman, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Microbiology
Department of Microbiology
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
426A Johnson Pavilion 3610 Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bushman: Viral populations in the human gut are huge, and some of the viruses change rapidly over time.
08 Aug Alcohol dependence and PTSD: Simultaneous Treatment Improves Outcomes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Edna B. Foa, PhD Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Foa: Naltrexone was effective in decreasing the percentage of days drinking in people with alcohol dependence and posttraumatic stress disorder during active treatment. Six months after treatment discontinuation, participants who received prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD drank less than those who did not receive prolonged exposure. Participants who received a combined treatment of prolonged exposure and naltrexone had the lowest drinking level after six-month treatment discontinuation. The main message of the study is that simultaneous treatment of alcohol dependence and PTSD yield superior outcome than each treatment alone. Importantly, the findings indicated that prolonged exposure therapy was not associated with increased drinking or alcohol craving, a concern that has been voiced by some investigators. In fact, reduction in PTSD severity and drinking was evident for all four treatment groups. This finding contradicts that common view that trauma-focuses therapy is contraindicated for individuals with alcohol dependence and PTSD, because it may exacerbate PTSD symptoms and thereby lead to increased alcohol use.07 Aug Community Disasters: Mental Health Response
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Carol S. North, MD, MPE
The Nancy and Ray L. Hunt Chair in Crisis Psychiatry
Director, Program in Trauma and Disaster,
VA North Texas Health Care System
4500 S. Lancaster Rd., Dallas, TX 75216
Professor of Psychiatry and Surgery/Division of Emergency Medicine
UT Southwestern Medical Center
6363 Forest Park Rd. Dallas, TX 75390-8828
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In post-disaster settings, a systematic framework of case identification, triage, and mental health interventions can guide overall mental health response and should be integrated into emergency medicine and trauma care responses.
06 Aug Maternal Grandmother’s Smoking Affects Pediatric Asthma, Especially in Boys
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Virender Rehan, MD Professor of Pediatrics Chief, Division of Neonatology Director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Training Program Co-Director Perinatal Research Center Harbor UCLA Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Torrance, CA, 90502 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Rehan: The main findings of the study include the likelihood of transmission of asthma to third generation offspring following maternal smoking during pregnancy even when child’s mother didn’t smoke. And these effects seem to be more profound in the upper airways of males compared to that in females.03 Aug After Angioplasty: Quit Smoking, Live Longer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. R.T. van Domburg Clinical epidemiologist, Associate Professor Erasmus Medical Center Department of Cardiology Ba561 ‘s-Gravendijkwal 230 3015 CE Rotterdam MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study? Answer: We collected data from the first patients who underwent coronary angioplasty in the early 1980s and followed them for 25 to 30 years. We found that patients who were able to quit smoking in the year following their PCI lived on average more than two years longer than those who continued to smoke.31 Jul How Hospital Infections Spread from One Hospital to Another
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Bruce Y. Lee, MD MBA
Associate Professor of International Health
Director of Operations Research
International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
855 N. Wolfe Street Suite 600
Baltimore, MD 21205
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lee: Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) is every hospital’s problem. A VRE outbreak in one hospital, even if the hospital is relatively small or distant, can readily spread to other hospitals in a region because patients leaving one hospital often will go to other hospitals either directly or after an intervening stay at home. These patients can then carry VRE with them to other hospitals. Therefore, as long a single hospital has a problem with VRE or any other healthcare associated infection, all other hospitals are at risk. Conquering VRE then requires cooperation among hospitals.
30 Jul Tomosynthesis Reduces Mammogram Call-Backs for Additional Testing
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Brian Haas MD
Department of Diagnostic Radiology,Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Haas: We found that tomosynthesis helped to reduce the number of women who undergo a screening mammogram and are called back for additional imaging and testing. Specifically, the greatest reductions in patients being called back were seen in younger patients and those with dense breasts. Tomosynthesis is analogous to a 3D mammogram, and improves contrast of cancers against the background breast parenchyma.
25 Jul TAp73, a molecular relative of p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein, gives tumor cells a growth advantage
 MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Xiaolu Yang, Ph.D.
Professor of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute,
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Yang: TAp73 is a structural homologue of the preeminent tumor suppressor p53, but its role in tumorigenesis has been unclear. In this study, we show that TAp73 supports the proliferation of tumor cells. Mechanistically, TAp73 activates the expression of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), a rate-limiting enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway. This function of TAp73 is required for maintaining a robust biosynthesis and anti-oxidant defense in tumor cells. These finding connects TAp73 to oncogenic growth and suggest that G6PD may be a valuable target for tumor therapy.
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24 Jul Controlling Health Care Costs : US Physicians Views
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jon C. Tilburt, MD, MPH
Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Biomedical Ethics Program, Mayo Clinic
Knowledge & Evaluation Research Unit, Mayo Clinic
Healthcare Delivery Research Program, Center for the Science of Healthcare Delivery
Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Mayo Clinic
What did you set out to find, what was your objective in this study?
- We wanted to know physicians perceived roles and responsibilities in addressing health care costs as well as their enthusiasm for proposed strategies to contain health care spending.
- Practicing US physicians under age 65, we randomly selected 3900 physicians representing all specialties and mailed them an 8-page survey entitled “Physicians, Health Care Costs, and Society.” We received 2,556 completed surveys (65% response rate).
24 Jul Transthoracic Echocardiograms: Most Lead to No Appreciable Change in Patient Care
Posted at 22:17h
in Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, JAMA, Radiology, UT Southwestern
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Susan Matulevicius, MD, MSCS
Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Matulevicius: In our cohort of 535 transthoracic echocardiograms performed at a single academic medical center, we found that the majority (92%) of echocardiograms were appropriate by the 2011 Appropriate Use Criteria; however, only 1 in 3 echocardiograms lead to an active change in patient care while 1 in 5 resulted in no appreciable change in patient care.
23 Jul Study finds Current Medical Practices often Not Re-Evaluated, Many offer little Net Benefit
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Vinay Prasad, MD Medical Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Dr 10/12N226, Bethesda, MD20892. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Prasad: We reviewed all original articles in the New England Journal of Medicine over ten years. 1344 articles tested some medical practice-- which is a screening or diagnostic test, medication, procedure or surgery. Only 27% or 363 articles tested current medical practice. And of these articles 146 (40%) contradicted current standard of care, constituting a medical reversal.21 Jul Experimental Fish Oil DHA Extract Prevented Injury Induced Neuropathic Pain
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ru-Rong Ji, PhD
Professor, Chief of Pain Research
Department of Anesthesiology and Neurobiology
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710
Neuroprotectin/Protectin D1 protects neuropathic pain in mice after nerve trauma
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We found the pro-resolution lipid mediator protectin D1 (PD1), derived from the fish oil DHA, can effectively prevent nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. This treatment can also prevent nerve injury-induced neuroinflammation in the spinal cord (such as glial activation and expression of cytokines and chemokines, e.g., IL-1b, CCL2). These cytokines and chemokines are known to elicit pain.
19 Jul Pre-Diabetes: Early Weight Loss Reduces Longer-Term Diabetes Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nisa M. Maruthur, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology The Johns Hopkins University Early Response to Preventive Strategies in the Diabetes Prevention Program MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Maruther: For patients engaged in a lifestyle intervention to prevent diabetes, weight loss early on (at 6 months) is an extremely strong predictor of whether they will develop diabetes down the road. Even in the setting of substantial weight loss (>10%) at 6 months, it is still beneficial to lower fasting glucose. These results are unique in that we previously understood that weight loss over time (years) is important to prevent diabetes, but now we know the impact of early weight loss on longer-term diabetes risk.18 Jul Fish Oil DHA and Neuropathic Pain Prevention
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ru-Rong Ji, PhD Professor, Chief of Pain Research Department of Anesthesiology and Neurobiology Duke University Medical Center Box DUMC 3094, Durham , NC 27710 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found the pro-resolution lipid mediator protectin D1 (PD1), derived from the fish oil DHA, can effectively prevent nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. This treatment can also prevent nerve injury-induced neuroinflammation in the spinal cord (such as glial activation and expression of cytokines and chemokines, e.g., IL-1b, CCL2). These cytokines and chemokines are known to elicit pain.17 Jul Aortic Dissection Repair: Does the Lunar Cycle Affect Outcomes?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Frank Sellke, MD Chief of cardiothoracic surgery and co-director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Rhode Island, The Miriam and Newport hospitals MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sellke: The main findings of the study are that outcomes of repair of an ascending aortic dissection are improved under a full moon compared to other phases of the moon. This was with regard to both mortality and length of hospital stay. Interestingly, there was no correlation with season of the year.10 Jul Asthma: Genetic Risks of Development and Course
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel Belsky, PhD
NIA Postdoctoral Fellow
Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development
Duke University
Polygenic risk and the development and course of asthma: an analysis of data from a four-decade longitudinal study
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Belsky : We looked to the largest-ever genome-wide association study of asthma (that study by the GABRIEL Consortium included more than 26,000 individuals) to identify genetic variants that could be used to construct a genetic profile of asthma risk. We then turned to The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a unique cohort of 1,000 individuals who have been followed from birth through their fourth decade of life with extensive measurements of asthma and related traits. We computed a “genetic risk score” for each person based on the variants identified in GWAS. Then, we looked at who developed asthma, when they developed asthma, and what that asthma looked like in terms of allergic response and impaired lung function.
What we found:
(1) People with higher genetic risk scores were more likely to develop asthma and they developed asthma earlier in life.
(2) Among children who developed asthma, the ones at higher genetic risk were more likely to have persistent asthma through midlife.
(3) Genetic risk was specifically associated with allergic asthma that resulted in chronic symptoms of impaired lung function.
(4) People with higher genetic risk score developed more severe cases of asthma. As compared to people with a lower genetic risk, they were more often absent from school and work because of asthma and they were more likely to be hospitalized for asthma.
(5) The genetic risk score provided new information about asthma risk that could not be obtained from a family history.
03 Jul Coronary Heart Disease : What Correlates with Repeat Lipid Testing?
Posted at 12:43h
in Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD
Health Policy and Quality Program, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence, and Section of Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine,
Section of Cardiovascular Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, and Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, Texas
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Virani: The main findings of the study are that despite having cholesterol levels at goal (LDL cholesterol <100 mg/dL), about one-third of patients (9200 out of 27947) with coronary heart disease had repeat cholesterol testing in 11 months from their last lipid panel. As expected, no intervention was performed as a response to these lipid panels. Collectively, 12686 additional lipid panels were performed in these patients. Among 13,114 patients who met the optional treatment target of LDL-C<70 mg/dL, repeat lipid testing was performed in 8,177 (62.3% of those with LDL-C<70) during 11 months of follow-up.
Patients with a history of diabetes mellitus (odds ratio [OR], 1.16; 95% CI, 1.10-1.22), a history of hypertension (OR, 1.21; 95%CI, 1.13-1.30), higher illness burden (OR, 1.39; 95%CI, 1.23-1.57), and more frequent primary care visits (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.25-1.39) were more likely to undergo repeat testing, whereas patients receiving care at a teaching facility (OR, 0.74; 95%CI, 0.69-0.80) or from a physician provider (OR, 0.93; 95%CI, 0.88-0.98) and those with a medication possession ratio of 0.8 or higher (OR, 0.75; 95%CI, 0.71-0.80) were less likely to undergo repeat testing.
03 Jul Melanoma: Women Have Survival Advantage
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susan Swetter, MD
Professor of Dermatology
Director, Pigmented Lesion & Melanoma Program
Stanford University Medical Center & Cancer Institute
Melanoma Survival Disadvantage in Young, Non-Hispanic White Males Compared With Females
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Swetter: Women diagnosed with melanoma tend to fare better than men in terms of improved survival, and this has mostly been attributed to better screening practices and behaviors in women that result in thinner, more curable tumors, and/or more frequent physician visits in older individuals that result in earlier detection. Our study focused on survival differences between young men and women (ages 15-39 years) diagnosed with cutaneous (skin) melanoma, who constitute a generally healthy population compared to the older adults that have usually been studied. We found that young men were 55% more likely to die of melanoma than age-matched women, despite adjustment for factors that may affect prognosis, such as tumor thickness, histology and location of the melanoma, as well as presence and extent of metastasis. Our results present further evidence that a biologic mechanism may contribute to the sex disparity in melanoma survival, since adolescent and young adults see physicians less frequently and are less likely to have sex-related behavior differences in skin cancer screening practices than older individuals.02 Jul Vitamin C, Gene Activation and In-Vitro Fertilzation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Miguel Ramalho-Santos, Ph.D.
University of California - San Francisco stem-cell scientist,
Vitamin C induces Tet-dependent DNA demethylation and a blastocyst-like state in ES cells
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We found that Vitamin C has a profound effect in the regulation of gene activity in cultured mouse embryonic stem cells. Vitamin C specifically enhances the action of enzymes called Tet's, which remove certain chemical modifications to DNA (methylation). In this way, Vitamin C makes cultured mouse embryonic stem cells behave more like the early cells in the embryo that they represent.