Author Interviews, JAMA, Nutrition / 14.05.2013

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Mary Scourboutakos PhD student at the University of Toronto Mary R. L'Abbe, PhD Earle W. McHenry Professor, and Chair, Department of Nutritional Sciences Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto FitzGerald Building, 150 College Street, Rm 315 Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3E2 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found that chain restaurant meals on average contained half a day's worth of calories, almost a full day's worth of fat and saturated fat, and more than a day's worth of sodium. (more…)
JAMA, Macular Degeneration, Ophthalmology / 10.05.2013

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Emily Y. Chew, MD Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications National Eye Institute (NEI)/National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
 Dr. Chew: For patients who have intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or those with advanced AMD in one eye, we have recommended a mixture of vitamins and minerals (vitamin C, E and beta-carotene, and zinc oxide and cupric oxide), known as Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) formulation.  We tested the effects of adding carotenoids, lutein/zeaxanthin, or omega-3 fatty acids or both to the AREDS formulation.  Omega-3 fatty acids did not have any effect on AMD.  Addition of lutein/zeaxanthin provided an additional 10% increase in the reduction of progression to advanced AMD.  In persons with the lowest dietary intake of lutein/zeaxanthin, supplementation with lutein/zeaxanthin provided 25% reduction in rates of developing advanced AMD When we tested lutein/zeaxanthin directly against beta-carotene, the risk of progressing to advanced AMD was reduced by 20%. Furthermore, beta-carotene was found to increase the risk of lung cancer.  To improve the safety and efficacy of the AREDS formulation, we would suggest the elimination of beta-carotene and adding lutein/zeaxanthin.  Omega-3 fatty acids added no further benefit. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Medical Imaging, Mental Health Research, MRI / 26.04.2013

Medical Research.com eInterview with: Prof. Jean Decety PhD Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry The University of Chicago 5848 S. University Ave. Chicago, IL 6063Prof. Jean Decety PhD Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry The University of Chicago 5848 S. University Ave. Chicago, IL 60637 - USA Faculty Web page: http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/jdecety.shtml SCNL Web page: www.scnl.org Child NeuroSuite: www.childneurosuite.org MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Decety: In our study, psychopaths exhibited significantly less activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and brainstem relative to controls, but surprisingly showed greater activation in the insula.  The major difference in brain response between psychopaths compared to controls during the perception of others in pain was the lack of engagement of regions in the brainstem, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, UCSF / 26.04.2013

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Dr. David Perry UCSF School of Medicine Clinical Fellow in Neurology 675 Nelson Rising Lane San Francisco CA 94158 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Perry: We described two patients with clinical syndromes and brain imaging patterns that are consistent with Alzheimer’s disease. Both were found to have mutations in GRN, which are typically associated with inherited frontotemporal dementia. They both showed evidence of underlying Alzheimer’s pathology, in one case through autopsy confirmation (demonstrating Alzheimer’s disease in addition to TDP-43 pathology), and in the other case from a positive amyloid PET scan. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco Research / 16.04.2013

MedicalResearch.com Author Interview with Dr. Koon Teo, MB, PhD Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Teo: In this study we examined the prevalence of smoking cessation or avoidance, eating a healthy diet and undertaking regular physical activities in nearly 8000 individuals who had previously experienced a coronary heart disease event or stroke, on average 5 years after their events. The individuals were recruited from over 600 communities in 17 countries with varying incomes and economic development.  We found that although these healthy lifestyle activities could reduce the risk of further heart or stroke events, about one fifth of individuals continued to smoke, only one third undertook regular leisure or work related physical activities and about two fifths ate a healthy diet. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, JAMA / 12.04.2013

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with XinQi Dong, MD MPH APSA Congressional Policy Fellow/Health and Aging Policy Fellow Chair, IOM Global Violence Prevention Forum on Elder Abuse Senior Policy and Research Advisor, Administration on Aging Senior Policy Advisor (OCSQ), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director, Chinese Health, Aging and Policy Program Associate Director, Rush Institute for Healthy Aging Associate Professor of Medicine, Nursing and Behavioral Science Rush University Medical Center Chicago, IL 60612 www.chinesehealthyaging.org MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Dong and Simon investigated the prospective association between elder abuse and rate of hospitalization in a Chicago community population. From the Chicago Health and Aging Project, the study surveyed 6,674 older adults. After consideration of potential confounding factors, elder abuse victims compared to those without elder abuse had 2.7 times more frequent rate of hospitalizations in this Medicare population. Older adults who suffered psychological abuse, financial exploitation and caregiver neglect also had more frequent rate of hospitalization. Health care professionals should consider screening for elder abuse in hospital settings. Future research is needed to quantify impact of elder abuse and broader health service utilization in community-dwelling older persons. Elder abuse and neglect is something hundreds of thousands of senior citizens suffer from. It is advised to act if you suspect elder abuse is occurring by contacting the police. People may also see it fit to enlist the services of an elder neglect attorney to fight for the rights of the elderly (siegel-law-elder-abuse-neglect-attorney). (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Diabetes, JAMA, Medical Research Centers, Melatonin, Sleep Disorders / 04.04.2013

Dr. Ciaran McMullan MD from Channing Division of Network Medicine in Boston, a research division within the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MassMedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Ciaran McMullan MD from Channing Division of Network Medicine in Boston, a research division within the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Mass MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. McMullan: In this observational study performed in non-diabetic women we found that lower nocturnal melatonin secretion predicted future risk of developing type 2 diabetes. When we categorized the individuals by category of nocturnal melatonin secretion we found that those in the lowest category had twice the risk as those in the highest category of nocturnal melatonin secretion. This association remained even after adjusting for other well established risk factors for development of diabetes including body mass index, physical activity, dietary factors, family history of diabetes, smoking and hypertension. This increased risk translates into the lower melatonin secretion group having an additional 5 cases of incident diabetes per 1000 person years than the high melatonin secretion group. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Stroke / 19.03.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with Carron D. Gordon, PhD Section of Physical Therapy, University of the West Indies, Mona, Box 126, Kingston 7, Jamaica, West Indies MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Gordon: The walking group showed a 17.6% improvement in distance walked in six minutes (measure of endurance) compared to 4% in the control group and 16.7% improvement in SF36-Physical Component (health-related quality of life) compared to 2.6% in the control group. (more…)