MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Samuel Dominguez MD
Departments of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Children's Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado School of Medicine Aurora, CO
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Dominguez: Due to global poliovirus eradication efforts, clusters of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and/or cranial nerve dysfunction in children are rare and associated with few pathogens, primarily enteroviruses and flaviviruses. Our study reports the first geographically and temporally defined cluster of acute flaccid paralysis and cranial nerve dysfunction in children associated with an outbreak of EV-D68 respiratory illness, strengthening the potential link between EV-D68 and neurologic disease in children.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Amy Chan
BPharm(Hons) RegPharmNZ MPS ANZCP
Pharmacist / PhD candidate
Department of Paediatrics Auckland Hospital
Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences
University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Asthma is one of the most common childhood conditions, affecting 1 in 4 children in New Zealand. Although there are many effective medications available for asthma, of which the most important are inhaled corticosteroids, asthma control remains suboptimal due to poor adherence. In children, adherence to regular preventive asthma therapy is about 50%, and can be as low as 30%. Our randomised controlled trial looked at use of an electronic monitoring device with an in-built audiovisual reminder to see if it improved adherence and asthma control. We recruited 220 children aged between 6-15yrs, who presented to the emergency department with asthma and randomised them to receive the device either with the audiovisual function enabled or disabled. It found that those who received the audiovisual reminder (the intervention arm) took a median of 84% of their inhaled corticosteroids compared to just 30% in those who did not receive the reminder (control arm). This equates to a 180% improvement in adherence. We found significant improvements also in asthma control (including reduced asthma symptoms and increased participation in daily activities) and a reduction in reliever use from 17.4% to 9.5% in those who received the reminder. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. dr. Diederik van de Beek
Department of Neurology,
Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam
The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Dr. van de Beek: In adults with acute stroke, infections occur commonly and are associated with an unfavourable functional outcome. In the Preventive Antibiotics in Stroke Study (PASS) we aimed to establish whether or not preventive antimicrobial therapy with a third-generation cephalosporin, ceftriaxone, improves functional outcome in patients with acute stroke. PASS is an investigator-initiated, randomised, open-label, masked-endpoint trial that was undertaken between 2010 and 2014 in 30 Dutch centres and enrolled 2550 patients with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke. Randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either preventive antibiotic therapy or a control group, all patients received standard stroke unit care. Starting within 24 h after stroke onset, patients in the preventive antibiotic group were given additional treatment with ceftriaxone administered intravenously at a dose of 2 g every 24 h for 4 days. The main findings were that preventive ceftriaxone did not improve 3-month functional outcome on the modified Rankin Scale (adjusted common odds ratio 0·95 [95% CI 0·82–1·09]); however, clinically diagnosed post-stroke infections were significantly reduced (adjusted odds ratio 0·55 [0·44–0·70]). Preventive antibiotic therapy with ceftriaxone is a safe treatment. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Anita Kohli MD
Critical Care Medicine Department
NIH Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Clinical Research Directorate/Clinical Monitoring Research Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, National Laboratory for Cancer Research,
Frederick, MD,
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Kohli: While therapy using for 8-12 weeks of all oral directly acting antivirals (DAAs) has been shown to result in high SVR "cure" rates for hepatitis C, the optimal combination and minimum duration required for treatment of hepatitis C has not been defined. The development of the simplest, short duration regimen for hepatitis C possible with high cure rates is important given the ~180 million people infected globally.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?Dr. Kohli: Combination therapy with directly acting antivirals may allow for the further shortening of treatment duration for hepatitis C. Using the right combination of DAA's therapy for as short as six-weeks may results in high rates of SVR.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ahmad Haidar PhD
Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal
Montreal, QC, Canada
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We published a study in 2013 (Canadian Medical Association Journal 185.4 (2013): 297-305) where we did the first randomized trial comparing dual-hormone artificial pancreas against conventional pump therapy. We showed spectacular reduction in hypoglycemia (8-fold) with the artificial pancreas, but the first question people asked: Out of the improvement you showed, how much is due to simply closing the loop between the glucose sensor and the insulin pump, and how much is due to adding glucagon? In other words: if you just close the loop with insulin alone and use an advanced dosing algorithm, you may get a very high reduction of hypoglycemia that glucagon may not be needed (glucagon is associated with increased cost and device complexity). We were not able to answer this question with our study design.
Since then, there have been other studies by other groups either comparing single-hormone artificial pancreas vs conventional pump therapy, or comparing dual-hormone artificial pancreas vs conventional pump therapy, and most of these studies showed improvement of both artificial pancreas systems compared to conventional pump therapy. However, there has been no study comparing the three interventions to allow us to quantify the relative benefits of simply closing the loop between glucose sensor and insulin pump versus adding glucagon to the system. Quantifying the relative benefits of glucagon is important given the increased cost and device complexity of the dual-hormone artificial pancreas.
So our study compared the three interventions, and is the first study to do so.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Huachun Zou PhD on behalf of all authors.
Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Carlton, VIC,
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaMedical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and anal cancer are common among men who have sex with men (MSM) and preventable with the HPV vaccine. However, the optimal strategy for vaccinating MSM against HPV requires an accurate understanding of the age specific incidence of early HPV infection. In addition to understanding the optimal age at which to vaccinate young MSM, policy makers also need to know the vaccine coverage required in MSM. In this paper we aimed to provide estimates for the site specific incidence of HPV and to use this to estimate the probability of transmission per partner in a cohort of very young MSM aged 16 to 20 years. These data will assist governments in deciding what HPV vaccination strategy is likely to be the most effective in MSM.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Claudia Allemani PhD FHEA MFPH
Senior Lecturer in Cancer Epidemiology
Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group
Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London UK
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Allemani: Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control.
The first CONCORD study was published in 2008.1 It brought together data from 101 cancer registries in 31 countries, and included 1.9 million patients diagnosed during 1990-94 with a cancer of the colon, rectum, breast or prostate and followed up to the end of 1999. It revealed very wide international differences in five-year survival, and it confirmed the well-known racial discrepancy in cancer survival in the USA.
CONCORD-2 is the most comprehensive international comparison of trends in population-based cancer patient survival to date. It extends the first study in three ways:
it covers 10 common cancers: collectively, these account for almost two-thirds (63%) of all cancer patients diagnosed each year in both developed and developing countries
it includes data on more than 25 million cancer patients, provided by 279 cancer registries in 67 countries, in 40 of which the data provide complete (100%) coverage of the national population
it examines trends in cancer survival for patients diagnosed over the 15-year period 1995-2009 (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Martin Thornhill PhD
Department of Cardiology, Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust
Taunton, Somerset, UK
Medical Research:What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Dr. Thornhill: In 2008 NICE introduced controversial new guidance recommending that antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent infective endocarditis should no longer be used. It was a rational decision, given the evidence for the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis and potential concerns about costs, the development of antibiotic resistance and possible side effects from antibiotics, but it went against other guidelines from around the world that existed at the time.
The main findings are that in England:
There has been a large and significant decline in the use of antibiotic prophylaxis.
There has been a significant increase in the number of cases of infective endocarditis, above the baseline trend, using hospital coding data, corrected for changes in the size of the English population.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof Gavin D. Perkins MD
Clinical Professor in Critical Care Medicine Warwick Clinical Trials Unit Co-Director of Research;
Warwick Medical School and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?Prof. Perkins: Each year around 30,000 people in the United Kingdom suffer out of hospital cardiac arrests and less than one in twelve of those returns home alive. Early high quality Cardio- Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR – ventilation and chest compressions) is critical to survival. However maintaining high quality chest compressions during resuscitation is difficult for crews of emergency vehicles, especially if they are on their own, because of fatigue and the need to perform other actions. Chest compression is particularly difficult in moving vehicles.
A number of mechanical devices, suitable for out of hospital use, have been developed over the years to improve the quality of chest compressions and therefore attempt to improve patient outcomes. Some NHS organisations decided to purchase devices to use although there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. To equip all emergency vehicles in the NHS would cost tens of millions of pounds plus costs for on-going training and maintenance. This prompted the UK Joint Royal College Ambulance Liaison Committee to advise against the purchase of further mechanical chest compression devices until further research had been carried out.
The aim of this trial was to compare the effects of the mechanical chest compressions (LUCAS-2) device versus standard manual chest compressions (crew using their hands) on survival.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Tom Solomon, FRCP PhD
Director, NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections
Director, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Dr. Solomon: Since the Ebola outbreak began there has been concern about transmission to new countries by airline passengers who were infected, but didn’t know it. This was underscored by such transmission to Nigeria, and to USA. Screening for symptoms of Ebola virus disease in airline passengers whose journeys originated from the three most affected countries—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—has recently been introduced at some airports.
We examined the current growth rate of the epidemic in West Africa, and airline travel patterns to predict how many people with Ebola are likely to attempt to fly. Our research showed that we can expect approximately 29 infected passengers to try and leave West Africa by the end of the year. Based on the incubation period of the virus, and looking at how long people have symptoms before they are hospitalised, we estimated ten of these people with Ebola would have symptoms of the disease as they leave the affected countries, and so would be detected by exit screening. Of the remaining 19, one to two would be expected to fly to the UK, and up to three to the USA, based on current airline passenger data. At most one of these passengers would have developed symptoms by the time they arrive in the UK or USA, and thus would be detected by entry screening
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Prof Martin H Prins MD
Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Prins:Patients with active cancer, i.e. a cancer that was diagnosed or treated within 6 months before the episode, that was recurrent or metastatic, or that was diagnosed during treatment, who had a symptomatic episode of venous thromboembolism, were included in this pooled subgroup analysis of the Einstein DVT and PE studies. The incidence of recurrent venous thromboembolism was similar between groups. It occurred in 16 (5%) of 354 patients allocated to rivaroxaban and 20 (7%) of 301 patients allocated to enoxaparin and vitamin K antagonist (hazard ratio [HR] 0•67, 95% CI 0•35 to 1•30). Clinically relevant bleeding was also similar and occurred in 48 (14%) of 353 patients receiving rivaroxaban and in 49 (16%) of 298 patients receiving standard therapy (HR 0•80, 95% CI 0•54 to1•20). However, major bleeding was less frequent among rivaroxaban recipients and occurred in eight (2%) of 353 patients receiving rivaroxaban and in 15 (5%) of 298 patients receiving standard therapy (HR 0•42, 95% CI 0•18 to 0•99). Mortality was also similar.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Nita Forouhi, MRCP, PhD, FFPHM
Lead Scientist and Programme Leader
MRC Programme Leader and Consultant Public Health Physician
MRC Epidemiology Unit
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine
Cambridge Biomedical Campus Cambridge, UK
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Forouhi: This large study found that low blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], a clinical indicator of vitamin D status, were associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, but this did not appear to be a cause-effect relationship. To investigate these associations, we did two things. We first did a systematic review and meta-analysis across 22 published studies and confirmed that there was a strong inverse relation between vitamin D levels and the risk of future new-onset type 2 diabetes among people who did not initially have diabetes. We then used a genetic approach, called Mendelian randomisation, which allows us to test a cause-effect relationship, and found that genetically lower vitamin D levels were not related to risk of type 2 diabetes. This means that we were able to distinguish between association and causation, and concluded that the vitamin D levels did not have a causal link with type 2 diabetes. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Raul Santos
Unidade Clínica de Lipides InCor-HCFMUSP
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Santos: Evolocumab 420 mg injected subcutaneously every 4 weeks reduced LDL-C by 31% on average, in relation to placebo, in Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia patients that were using maximally tolerated lipid lowering therapy but not on lipid apheresis regimen. Patients were separated according to the type of LDL receptor mutation, those with at least one allele codifyng a defective mutation on the LDL receptor (residual receptor activity 2-25%) had on average a 41% reduction on LDL-cholesterol. The 2 patients homozygotes with alleles that codify a null mutation )receptor activity < 2%), did not respond to treatment. This was expected since PCSK9 inhibitors need a functional LDL receptor do work. Basically they increase the expression of the receptor that facilitates the clearance from plasma of circulating LDL particles. In those patients with defective LDL receptor mutations there was 24% reduction of lipoprotein(a) concentrations, an extra risk factor for cardiovascular disease in familial hypercholesterolemia patients.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor F. J. Raal
FRCP, FRCPC, FCP(SA), Cert Endo, MMED, PhD
Director, Carbohydrate & Lipid Metabolism Research Unit
Professor & Head, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg Hospital Johannesburg South Africa
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Raal: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH) is one of the most common inherited disorder in man affects between 1:250 to 1:300 persons worldwide. Thus, there are likely more than 3 million patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia in the United States and Europe alone. The RUTHERFORD-2 study was a large world-wide multinational study of the use of the PCSK9-inhibitor, evolocumab, in over 300 patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH). Evolocumab administered either 140 mg biweekly or 420 mg monthly as a subcutaneous injection, much like an insulin injection, was well tolerated with minimal side effects, and markedly reduced levels of LDL cholesterol or “bad cholesterol” by over 60% compared to placebo.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. MichaelD. Keall PhD
Otago University, Wellington, New Zealand
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Keall: We found that home injuries from falls could be reduced by 26% by making some simple modifications to people’s homes, consisting of handrails for steps and stairs, grab rails for bathrooms, outside lighting, edging for outside steps and slip-resistant surfacing for outside surfaces such as decks and porches.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof Mika Kivimäki PhD
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health,
University College London, London, UK
Hjelt Institute, Medical Faculty, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Prof. Kivimäki: In our study, we pooled published and unpublished data from 222 120 men and women from the USA, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Of them, 4963 individuals developed type 2 diabetes during the mean follow-up of 7.6 years. This is the largest study to date on this topic.
In an analysis stratified by socioeconomic status, the association between long working hours and diabetes was evident in the low socioeconomic status group, but was null in the high socioeconomic status group. The association in the low socioeconomic status group did not change after taking into account age, sex, obesity, physical activity, and shift working. So, the association was very robust.
In brief, the main finding of our meta-analysis is that the link between longer working hours and type 2 diabetes was apparent only in individuals in the low socioeconomic status groups.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith Trotman MBChB, FRACP, FRCPA
Associate Professor Concord Hospital
University of Sydney, Australia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Trotman: That PET-CT (applying the cut-off of ≥4 on the now internationally recommended 5 Point Scale) is a more powerful predictor of both Progression Free and Overall Survival than conventional CT in patients responding to first line immunochemotherapy for advanced follicular lymphoma. It is also a much stronger predictor than the pre-treatment prognostic indices FLIPI and FLIP2. Patients who achieve PET-negative status have a median PFS over 6 years compared to only 17 months in those who remain PET-positive.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview wth:Prof. dr. B.J. Slotman
VU University Medical Center Cancer Center
Amsterdam Netherlands
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?Prof. Slotman: This randomized trial showed that the use of thoracic radiotherapy in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer reduces the risk of intrathoracic progression by about 50% and improves 2 years survival from 3 to 13%.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Børge G. Nordestgaard, MD, DMSc
Professor, University of Copenhagen
Chief Physician, Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital
Dept. Clinical Biochemistry
Herlev Ringvej Herlev, Denmark
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Nordestgaard: Among all patients with diabetes in Denmark during 1996-2009 and compared with non-statin users, statin users had a 40% lower risk of diabetic retinopathy, a 34% lower risk of diabetic neuropathy, and a 12% lower risk of gangrene of the foot, while the risk of diabetic nephropathy was similar.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Edmund Silins PhD, Research Fellow
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
UNSW Medicine University of New South Wales
Sydney Australia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Silins: There were three particularly interesting aspects to the findings.
Firstly, we found clear and consistent associations between adolescent cannabis use and the young adult outcomes investigated.
Secondly, there was evidence of a dose-response effect such that the more frequently adolescents used cannabis the more likely they were to experience harms later in life.
Thirdly, for most outcomes, these associations remained even after taking into account a wide range of other factors which might potentially explain them.
The adverse effects were greatest for daily cannabis users. Specifically, adolescents who were daily cannabis users were, by the age of 25, more than 60% less likely to complete high school or obtain a university degree, seven times more likely to have attempted suicide, 18 times more likely to have been cannabis dependent, and eight times more likely to have used other illicit drugs, than adolescents who had never used the drug.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Mary J MorrellFaculty of Medicine, National Heart & Lung InstituteProfessor of Sleep & Respiratory Physiology
Imperial College, London
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Prof. Morrell:Our results showed that when older patients with obstructive sleep apnea were treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) they had significantly less daytime sleepiness than those not treated with CPAP. A comparison of the costs and benefits of treatment suggested that CPAP would meet the usual criteria for being funded by the NHS.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran MSc PhD.
Senior Lecturer in Statistical Epidemiology &
National Institute for Health Research Postdoctoral Fellow
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
London WC1E 7HT
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Bhaskaran: Body mass index was associated with the majority of cancer types studied, and for 10 cancers, including some of the most common like colon cancer and postmenopausal breast cancer, higher body mass index was clearly associated with higher risk.
The cancer type that was most strongly related to BMI was uterine cancer, the 4th most common cancer in women. For a woman of average height, each 2 stone (13kg) increase in weight increased risk by over 60%. Body mass index also had particularly large effects on risk of kidney and gallbladder cancers.
In total, we estimated that over 12,000 cases of the 10 affected cancers may be caused each year by excess weight, and that if average body mass index in the population continues to increase, there may be several thousand more cases of these cancers each year as a result.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Fritz H Schröder
Department of Urology, Erasmus University Medical Center
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Professor Schröder: I consider as the main finding that we could report a continuing effect of PSA driven screening on prostate cancer mortality for men aged 55 – 69 years in the screen arm of our study after 13 years of follow-up. The absolute reduction in the risk of death from prostate cancer amounts to 1.28 per 1000 men randomized to the screening arm. This translated into numbers to be invited to screening and numbers needed to be diagnosed to save one prostate cancer death of 781 and 27. These figures show an increasing effect with increasing time of follow-up. The relative risk reduction related to the control arm has remained unchanged with respect to the 11 year follow-up period. For men who actually participated and were screened the relative risk reduction amounted to 27%, the figure most applicable to men who consider to be tested.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview withDr. Richard Haynes
Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit
Roosevelt Drive, Headington
Oxford OX3
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Haynes: The main result from this analysis is that alemtuzumab-based induction therapy (ie, alemtuzumab followed by low-dose mycophenolate and tacrolimus with steroid avoidance) reduced biopsy-proven acute rejection by about half during the first 6 months after transplantation among a wide variety of different types of participant, compared to standard basiliximab-based induction therapy (basiliximab followed by standard dose mycophenolate, tacrolimus and steroids). This reduction was achieved despite the lower doses of tacrolimus used and there was no excess of infection observed.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: R Chris Williams PhD
Honorary Fellow, Musculoskeletal Division
The George Institute for Global Health
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Williams:We found that in addition to advice and reassurance, ‘regular’ or ‘as needed’ paracetamol did not improve recovery time for people with low back pain, compared to placebo. We also found the pain intensity and a range of other relevant measures, such as patient’s physical function was not different between the treatment groups.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Jean-Francois Rossignol, FRSC, FRCPath
Romark Laboratories, LC
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Prof. Rossignol: Nitazoxanide, a new orally administered drug in development for treating influenza, reduced the duration of symptoms of uncomplicated influenza compared to a placebo. The drug also reduced viral shedding. Side effects were similar for the drug and placebo treatment arms. The study was designed and conducted in compliance with FDA guidelines for studying new drugs for influenza.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Colette Smith: PhDResearch Department of Infection and Population Health
University College London, London, UKMedical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Smith: We followed a group of approximately 45,000 HIV-positive people from Europe, USA and Australia between 1999 to 2011. We found that the death rate approximately halved over the 12-year study period. For every 1,000 people, around 18 died per year in 1999-2001, reducing to 9 deaths per year in 2009-2011.
We also studied what people died of. We found that the death rate from AIDS and from liver disease decreased by around two-thirds. Deaths from heart disease approximately halved. However, the rate of cancer deaths (excluding cancers that are classified as AIDS events) remained constant over time.
One in three deaths were caused by AIDS in 1999 to 2011, and this decreased to one in five deaths in the last two years of the study. However, even in recent years it was the joint most common cause of death. The proportion of deaths from cancer increased over time. One in ten deaths were from cancer in 1999 to 2001, and this increased to one in five deaths in 2009 to 2011. By the end of the study it was the joint-most common cause of death.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pete Dodd (BA, BSc, MMath, PhD)
Research associate in health economic modelling
Health Economics and Decision Science
ScHARR
Regent Court Sheffield
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Dodd: We found that over 650,000 children under the age of 15 developed tuberculosis in the 22 highest burden countries in 2010, with around 7.6 million becoming infected with the bacillus and more than 50 million harboring latent infection.
Our work points to a much larger gap between notifications and incidence in children compared to adults.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Robert Foote MD
Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Foote: Charged particle therapy (mainly protons and carbon ions) provide superior overall survival, disease-free survival and tumor control when compared to conventional photon therapy. In particular, it appears that proton beam therapy provides superior disease-free survival and tumor control when compared to the state of the art intensity modulated radiation therapy using photons.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tamara Haegerich, PhD
Deputy Associate Director for Science
Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention
CDC - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Haegerich:In the first three decades of life, more people in the US die from injuries and violence than from any other cause. Approximately 60% of fatal injuries are unintentional (for example, from motor vehicle crashes, drug overdose, and falls), 20% are due to suicide, and 20% are due to homicide. Injuries and violence have been linked to a wide range of physical, mental health, and reproductive health problems, and chronic diseases. They take an enormous economic toll, including the cost of medical care and lost productivity. Importantly, injuries and violence are preventable through education, behavior change, policy, engineering, and environmental supports. For example, laws that promote the use of seat belts and child safety seats, and prevent drunk driving, can reduce motor-vehicle-related injuries. Early childhood home visitation, school-based programs, and therapeutic foster care are examples of evidence-based approaches to preventing violence. Improving proper prescribing of painkillers and access to treatment for substance misuse could prevent prescription drug overdoses. Improvements are possible by framing injuries and violence as preventable, identifying interventions that are cost-effective and based on research, providing information to decision makers, and strengthening the capacity of the health care system.
(more…)
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.