Author Interviews, Diabetes, UT Southwestern, Weight Research / 03.04.2013

MedicalResearch.com Author Interview: Ildiko Lingvay, MD, MPH, MSCS Departments of Internal Medicine–Endocrinology and Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Lingvay: We found that the restrictive diet imposed after a bariatric procedure like RYGB is the key element to the rapid improvement in the diabetes seen immediately after surgery. (more…)
Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Medical Research Centers, Statins / 02.04.2013

Dr. Alexander Turchin M.D.,M.S.  Director of Informatics Research Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MAMedicalResearch.com Interview Dr. Alexander Turchin M.D.,M.S. Director of Informatics Research Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Turchi:  A large number of patients – 17% of individuals included in our study – report side effects to statins in routine care settings. Nearly 60% of these patients stopped the statin at least temporarily. However, overwhelming majority of patients who stopped taking a statin after experiencing a possible side effect, could tolerate a statin long-term if they tried taking one again. In other words, it appears that many statin-related events are tolerable, specific to individual statins or have other causes. These findings are consistent with the current guidelines that urge a conservative approach to statin discontinuation. They are particularly important because statins have been convincingly shown to save lives – they decrease all-cause mortality, and also cardiovascular mortality and incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with ischemic heart disease and / or elevated cholesterol levels. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Smoking, University of Pennsylvania / 01.04.2013

MedicalResearch.com Author Interview: Dr. Steven A. Branstetter, PhD The Pennsylvania State University, 315 E. HHD, University Park, PA 16810.Dr. Steven A. Branstetter, PhD The Pennsylvania State University, 315 E. HHD, University Park, PA 16810. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Branstetter: This study demonstrated that the time to the first cigarette of the day after waking is associated with increased levels of a NNAL, a metabolite of a powerful tobacco-specific carcinogen, NNK -- even after controlling for the total number of cigarettes smoked per day. For years, the time to the first cigarette of the day after waking was one of several questions assessing nicotine dependence on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the gold standard questionnaire int he field. Over time, it was found that much of the predictive validity of the FTND was due to the time to first cigarette item. Researchers have found that single time to first cigarette item was highly correlated with other measures of nicotine dependence, and was predictive of more difficulty quitting smoking and increased intake of nicotine. Our current study demonstrates that this behavioral measure, is predictive of exposure to the cancer-causing components of cigarettes, regardless of the total number of cigarettes smoked per day. The results suggest that researchers, clinicians and smokers can assess the level of nicotine dependence and potential cancer risk by looking at the time to the first cigarette of the day after waking. (more…)
Author Interviews, Prostate Cancer, University of Pennsylvania / 28.03.2013

MEDICALRESEARCH.COM INTERVIEW WITH Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H. Research Assistant Professor CCEB University of Pennsylvania MEDICALRESEARCH.COM: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Zeigler-Johnson: The main findings of the study are:
  • Younger African-American men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer at an early age (under the age of 60) are more likely to have had a personal history of early-onset baldness (baldness by age 30.)
  • For older patients, this is not necessarily the case, and future studies will need to focus on which factors place men in this age group at risk for prostate cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Duke, Genetic Research, Leukemia, MD Anderson, UT Southwestern / 23.03.2013

MedicalResearch.com Author Interview: Jun J. Yang, Ph.D. Assistant Member Dept. of Pharm. Sci. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Pl., MS313 Memphis, TN 38105 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Yang: We performed a comprehensive survey of inherited genetic variations for their contribution to the susceptibility of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common cancer in children. This is by far the largest study of its kind (in terms of the number of subjects involved), and also the first one to include multi-ethnic populations. We identified 4 genomic loci related to the predisposition to ALL, 2 of which contributed to racial differences in the incidence of ALL.  This study provided unequivocal evidence for inherited susceptibility of childhood ALL and pointed to novel biology of the pathogenesis of this disease. (more…)