Medical Research Journals
05 Nov PCOS – Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Should it be Renamed?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Helena Teede MBBS, PhD, FRACP Director Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation -- MCHRI, And Head Womens Public Health Research, School Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University, in partnership with Monash Health Head Diabetes and Vascular Medicine, Monash Health President Elect- Endocrine Society of Australia NHMRC Practitioner Fellow 43-51 Kanooka Grove,...
05 Nov Atrial Fibrillation Increases Risk of Heart Attack
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Elsayed Z Soliman MD, MSc, MS, FAHA, FACC
Director, Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center (EPICARE)
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvs, Winston Salem, NC 27157
Atrial Fibrillation and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Soliman: Using data from the REGARDS study, one of the largest US cohorts, we examined the risk of incident myocardial infarction (MI) associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). Overall, AF was associated with almost double the risk of MI. When we adjusted for common cardiovascular risk factors and potential confounders, the risk remained significantly high; about 70% increased risk. When we looked at women, men, blacks, and whites separately, we found significant differences between races and sex. AF in women and blacks was associated with more than double the risk of MI. This compares to less than 50% increased risk of heart attack associated with AF in men and whites . So AF is basically bad for all, but the risk of MI associated with AF is more pronounced in women and blacks.
04 Nov Non-Publication of Medical Research Remains an Issue
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Christopher Jones MD
Attending Physician
Department of Emergency Medicine,
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
One Cooper Plaza, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Jones: We identified a group of 585 clinical trials with at least 500 participants which had been prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov and completed prior to 2009. Following an extensive search of the medical literature, we were unable to identify published manuscripts for 171 (29%) of these studies. For these unpublished studies we also determined whether results were available in the ClinicalTrials.gov results database, and we found that 133 studies had no results available either in the published literature or on ClinicalTrials.gov.
02 Nov How much would Sugary Drink Tax Reduce Obesity?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam D M Briggs Academic Clinical Fellow British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: For the first time this study estimates the impact of a sugary drinks tax in the UK on obesity. We estimate the tax would reduce the number of adults with obesity by around 180,000 or just over 1% of all adults who are obese, and the number of adults who are either overweight or obese by 285,000. The greatest reductions are seen in young adults. We also estimate that the effects of the tax will be similar across all income groups.02 Nov Diabetes: Renoprotective Effects of ACE Inhibitors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hon-Yen Wu, Lecturer Department of Internal Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings...
01 Nov Neglected Diseases: Research and Development Landscape
MedicalResearch.com Interview with :
Dr Belén Pedrique
Epidemiologist
Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative
DNDi, 15 Chemin Louis Dunant
1202 Geneva, Switzerland
MedicalResearch.com : What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Pedrique: Of the 850 new drugs and vaccines approved for all diseases in 2000-2011, 4% (37) were for neglected diseases, defined broadly as those prevalent primarily in poor countries: malaria, tuberculosis, 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), 11 diarrheal diseases, and 19 other diseases of poverty, excluding HIV/AIDS. Globally these neglected diseases represent an 11% health burden, based on a recent assessment of 2010 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs).
Most newly developed therapeutic products were repurposed versions of existing drugs. Of the 336 brand-new drugs (new chemical entities, or NCEs) approved for all diseases in 2000-2011, only four, or 1%, were for neglected diseases; three were for malaria, and one for diarrheal disease. None were for any of the 17 WHO-listed NTDs
Of 148,445 phase I-III clinical trials registered as of Dec 31, 2011, only 1% (2,016) were for neglected diseases.
29 Oct Smoking: Monday Most Popular Day to Quit
MediclResearch.com Interview with: John W. Ayers, PhD, MA Graduate School of Public Health San Diego State University, San Diego, California MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ayers: Our study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine was the first to describe daily rhythms in health behaviors. Because trends in quitting contemplations are usually described annually using telephone surveys, we had to use a novel data source that could capture daily patterns. By monitoring aggregate Internet search queries we can see precisely what the population is thinking about by the content of their queries and that the population is engaged in the issue by searching. We therefore analyzed daily search volumes for smoking cessation queries (e.g., "quit smoking") in six languages across the entire globe. We found that people search about quitting smoking more often early in the week, with the highest query volumes on Mondays, using a daily measure representing the proportion of quit smoking searches to all searches. This pattern was consistent across all six languages, suggesting a global predisposition to thinking about quitting smoking early in the week, particularly on Mondays. English searches, for example, showed Monday query volumes were 11 percent greater than on Wednesdays, 67 percent greater than on Fridays, and 145 percent greater than on Saturdays. In total for all six languages, Monday query volumes were 25 percent higher than the combined mean number of searches for Tuesday through Sunday. Practically these findings are very meaningful. For example, in English alone there are about 150,000 more quit smoking queries on Monday than on a typical day; about 8,000,000 over an entire year.28 Oct Diabetes and Heart Attack Mortality in Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marcin Sadowski Świętokrzyskie Cardiology Center, Kielce, Poland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sadowski: In multivariable analysis, diabetes was an independent risk factor of in-hospital and 1-year mortality in women treated for STEMI. In women with STEMI and diabetes one-year mortality was significantly lower in those treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention than in those on optimal medical therapy. Early and long-term prognoses after STEMI were the worst in diabetic women, compared with non-diabetic women and diabetic men.24 Oct Drug Hypersensitivity to Dapsone HLA Association
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jian-Jun Liu Shangdong Provincial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: · HLA-B*13:01 is associated with the development of dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome. · Carrying one copy of HLA-B*13:01 increases one’s risk by 34 times of getting DHS, while carrying two copies increases risk by 100 times as compared to not carrying this allele. · HLA-B*13:01 has a sensitivity and specificity of above 85% in predicting the risk of DHS, theoretically reducing the risk of DHS by 7 fold when implemented in clinical screening.23 Oct Stroke in Type I Diabetes with Nephropathy, Retinopathy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stefanie Hägg, MB Folkhälsan Institute of Genetics, Folkhälsan Research Center, Biomedicum Helsinki Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We studied the incidence of stroke in a large cohort of patients with type 1 diabetes in Finland. During 36,680 person-years of follow-up, we found that the incidence of total stroke, and the subtypes cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage was 406, 286, and 120 per 100,000 person-years, respectively, which is higher than in the Finnish general population, for whom the incidence of stroke varies between 135 and 236 per 100,000 person years. Furthermore, we studied the impact of two diabetic microvascular complications, diabetic nephropathy and severe diabetic retinopathy, on the risk of stroke, as well as for the subtypes of stroke. The incidence of stroke, cerebral infarction, and cerebral hemorrhage increased with both the presence of severe diabetic retinopathy and with advancing diabetic nephropathy. Furthermore, we found that both diabetic nephropathy and severe diabetic retinopathy increased the risk for all subtypes of stroke, independently of traditional risk factors. A novel finding was that already incipient diabetic nephropathy (microalbuminuria) increased the risk of stroke, cerebral infarction, and cerebral hemorrhage more than 3-fold, compared with patients free of renal disease. The highest risk of stroke was seen in patients with end-stage renal disease.22 Oct Number, Success of Donor Egg Cycles Increase over Decade
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jennifer Fay Kawwaas MD
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kawwaas: Using CDC National ART Surveillance System (NASS) data, we found an increasing trend from 2000 to 2010 in the number of donor egg cycles performed annually and in the percentage of donor cycles that resulted in a good outcome, defined as delivery of a full term infant weighing more than 5.5lbs. Donor and recipient ages remained relatively stable at 28 and 41, respectively, over the 11-year period.
Elective single embryo transfer is recommended when the donor is under 35 years old, regardless of recipient’s age; transfer of a single day 5 embryo was associated with an increased chance of good perinatal outcome.
Tubal or uterine factor infertility and non-Hispanic Black race were associated with a lower chance of good perinatal outcome.
18 Oct Antipsychotics: Financial Incentives to Improve Medication Adherence
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Professor Stefan Priebe, Dipl.-Psych., Dr. med. habil., FRCPsych
Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry
WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Development
Queen Mary, University of London
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Offering modest financial incentives can help patients to achieve better adherence to anti-psychotic maintenance medication.
18 Oct Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities: Heritable and Cultural Influences
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Kees-Jan Kan PhD
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University
Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We asked ourselves how well theories of intelligence actually predict empirical results. To this end, we reviewed and scrutinized the predictions from intelligence theories and collected relevant results that have been published in the scientific literature over the last decades. The results pertained to intelligence test scores from thousands of subjects across the world. We found that on essential aspects the empirical results were opposite of the predictions from the mainstream theories of intelligence, in which intelligence is interpreted as a biological trait.
18 Oct Heart Failure Care in Patients Admitted for Other Diagnoses
Posted at 11:23h
in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, JACC, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Saul Blecker, MD, MHS
Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine
Department of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Blecker: Inpatient quality of care has focused primarily on patients with acute heart failure, commonly identified by principal discharge diagnosis code. However, patients with heart failure are commonly hospitalized for other causes and should benefit from many of the same treatments.
We found that in our sample, as compared to patients with a principal diagnosis of heart failure, heart failure patients hospitalized with a non–heart failure diagnosis had lower rates of guideline-concordant care, including assessment of left ventricular function and prescription for an ACE inhibitor or ARB, at time of discharge. This is important as our study suggests that these therapies were associated with reduced mortality for patients hospitalized with heart failure, regardless of the reason for hospitalization.
17 Oct Diabetes: Type I Diabetics Still Make Small Amounts of Insulin
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Richard A. Oram, BMBCh, BA(hons), MRCP
NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility
University of Exeter Medical School, Barrack Road, Exeter, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Historically people with Type 1 diabetes were thought to progress to make absolutely none of their own insulin. Modern assays allow us to measure very low levels of insulin, and using these we can find very tiny amounts of insulin production in most people with Type 1 diabetes even if they have had the disease for many years.
16 Oct Preterm Infants and Effects of Antenatal Steroids
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Elizabeth V. Asztalos, MD, M.Sc., FRCPC
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room M4 230
Toronto, ON M4N 3M5
MedicalResearch.com What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study was focused to see if there were differences in the main neurodevelopmental outcomes of children whose mothers had participated in the original MACS trial. We found that there were no differences in the main outcomes of the trial as it related to the aspects of death and/or developmental.
15 Oct Vaccines: Delaying Measles Vaccination May Increase Risk of Seizures
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar PhD, MD, MPH
Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, Oakland, California
University of Washington
Department of Epidemiology Health Sciences
Seattle, WA 98195
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study?
Answer: We found that the magnitude of increased risk of fever and seizures
following immunization with the first dose of measles-containing
vaccines during the second year of life depends on age. Specifically,
the risk of seizures attributable to the vaccine during the 7 to 10 days
following vaccination was significantly greater among children 16-23
months of age (9.5 excess cases per 10,000 doses) than among children
12-15 months of age (4.0 excess cases per 10,000 doses).
14 Oct Hypovolemic Shock: Fluid Resuscitation with Colloids vs Crystalloids
MedicalResearch.com with:
Professor Djillali Annane MD, PhD
Raymond Poincaré Hospital, Garches, France
CH d’Etampes, Etampes, France
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The CRISTAL trial was designed in 2002 to clarify whether correction of acute hypovolemia in critically ill patients with colloids may increase the risk of death as compared to resuscitation with crystalloids. The trial has enrolled 2857 patients in 57 ICUs in France, Belgium, Canada and North Africa. The relative risk of death was at 28 day of 0.96 (95% CI: 0.88 to 1.04; P=0.26), and at 90 day of 0.92 (95%CI: 0.86 to 0.99; P=0.03) in favor of colloids. Colloids-treated patients had more days alive and off mechanical ventilation and off vasopressor both within 7 days and 28 days of randomization. There was no evidence for increased risk of kidney injury with colloids.
13 Oct Suicide: Bereavement Course in Close Relatives and Spouses
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Marieke de Groot, PhD
Senior Researcher
University of Groningen/University Medical Center Groningen
VU University Amsterdam, department of Clinical Psychology
The EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+)
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We investigated the long term course of bereavement through suicide in a community-based sample of 153 first-degree relatives and spouses of 74 suicide cases. Outcome measures were complicated grief, depression and suicide ideation. We found that outcomes are mutually strongly associated over the 8-10 years course. A history of attempted suicide predicts a increased risk of suicide ideation during the bereavement course. Depression is more likely predicted by factors generally associated with a increased risk of depression such as female gender and low mastery, whereas complicated grief is more likely predicted by the trauma of losing a child due to suicide. No significant associations were found between outcomes and the use of help resources except for mutual (or peer) support, which is associated with a increased risk of complicated grief. Time is the only factor (included in this study) predicting decrease of the risk of depression and complicated grief.
13 Oct Venous Thromboembolism: Detection and Surveillance Bias
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mila Ju, MD
Resident, Division of Vascular Surgery
Northwestern University
676 N. Saint Clair St., Ste 650
Chicago, IL 60611
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Ju: By using combined data from Hospital Compare, American Hospital Association, and Medicare claims databases, we found that better hospital venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis adherence rates were weakly associated with worse risk-adjusted VTE event rates. Moreover, hospitals with higher intensity of detecting VTE with imaging studies (such as venous duplex, chest computer tomography, etc.) had more VTE events (13.5 in highest VTE imaging quartile vs 5.0 in lowest VTE imaging quartile) per 1000 discharges. Our study suggests that VTE rates might be influenced by surveillance bias and not reflecting the true quality of care provided by the hospitals.
10 Oct Probiotics and Infant Colic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Valerie Sung MBBS(Hons) FRACP MPH NHMRC PhD Candidate Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, and Community Health Services Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Paediatrician, Centre for Community Child Health The Royal Children’s Hospital Parkville | 3052 | Victoria Australia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sung: The systematic review identified 12 studies (1825 infants) that investigated the use of probiotics to treat or prevent infant colic (excessive crying of unknown cause in babies less than 3 months old). Three of the 5 treatment trials concluded probiotics effectively treat colic in breastfed babies; one suggested possible effectiveness in formula-fed babies with colic, and one suggested ineffectiveness in breastfed babies with colic. The three effective trials used the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri in breastfed babies only; in two of these trials, the mothers were on a dairy-free diet. Five of the 7 prevention trials suggested probiotics to be ineffective in preventing colic.10 Oct Muscle Wasting in Critical Illness
Posted at 17:40h
in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA, Nutrition, Protein
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Zudin Puthucheary MBBS B.Med.Sci D.UHM EDICM MRCP FHEA
NIHR Research Fellow, Respiratory and Critical Care
Institute of Health and Human Performance, UCL
Post-CCT Fellow in Trauma and Critical Care,
Kings College Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: That muscle wasting occurs rapidly and early in critical illness, with up to 2-3% loss of muscle mass per day. This is related to the numbers of organs failed, and is made worse by the degree of acute lung injury, and increased protein delivery. Muscle wasting is the result of both decreased muscle protein synthesis and increased muscle protein breakdown. In addition 40% of these patients developed muscle necrosis over the study period.
09 Oct Twins Pregnancy: C-Section or Vaginal Delivery?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jon Barrett, M.B.Bch., FRCOG, MD, FRCSC
Associate scientist
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room M4 172a
Toronto, ON M4N 3M5
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Barrett: For twins at 32-38 weeks gestation where Twin A is presenting cephalic a policy of planned CS does not benefit the baby or the mother, compared to a policy of planned VB, and planned CS will result in delivery at a earlier gestational age.
09 Oct Patients With Coronary Stents: Adverse Cardiac Events Following Noncardiac Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Mary T Hawn MD
Center for Surgical, Medical Acute Care Research and Transitions (C-SMART), Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama
Section of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery
University of Alabama at Birmingham
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hawn: The risk of adverse perioperative cardiac events is elevated in patients with recent coronary stenting, but the risk does not differ by stent type and stabilizes for surgery more than 6 months following stenting.
08 Oct Breast Cancer: Axillary Node Interventions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Roshni Rao, MD
Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rao: That in most women with small breast cancer (<3.0cm in size), it is not necessary to removal all the lymph nodes underneath the arm, even if those nodes do have cancer. Radiation therapy, which is required after a partial mastectomy for breast cancer, can prevent these nodes from growing or becoming clinically significant.
08 Oct Node-Positive Breast Cancer: SLN after Chemotherapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kelly K. Hunt, MD F.A.C.S.
Professor, Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery
Chief, Breast Surgical Oncology Section, Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hunt: We found that 40% of women who had node positive disease at initial presentation (confirmed by needle biopsy) had no evidence of residual cancer in the lymph nodes after chemotherapy.
We performed sentinel lymph node (SLN) surgery followed by axillary lymph node dissection in all of the patients and found a false negative rate of 12.6% with the SLN procedure.
The false negative rate was lower when surgeons used two mapping agents (blue dye and radioisotope) to identify the sentinel nodes and when they removed more than 2 sentinel nodes.
07 Oct Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Universal Glove and Gown Use
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Anthony Harris, MD, MPH
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
Professor University of Maryland
School of Medicine
Acting Medical Director of Infection Control
University of Maryland Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Harris: The aim of the study was to understand if wearing disposable gowns and gloves for all patient contact in the ICU could help prevent the spread of MRSA and similar antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Secondarily we wanted to make sure this type of patient isolation did not result in any harm to patients. The results of the study were that gowns and gloves worn by healthcare workers for contact with all patients in the ICU did not decrease the number of patients who acquired VRE but did decrease MRSA about 40 percent. Also, wearing gloves and gowns did not adversely impact patient care. For our goal of studying all types of infection, we did not find a benefit to universal gown and glove use. However, for transmission of MRSA alone, the intervention decreased transmission by about 40 percent. Although previous studies have showed isolation is associated with falls, bed sores and other adverse events, we found gowns and gloves did not produce more of these negative events.
07 Oct Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Health Outcomes
Posted at 00:37h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Hormone Therapy, JAMA, Medical Research Centers, Menopause
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH Chief, Division of Preventive Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital Professor of Medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women's Health Harvard Medical School Boston , Massachusetts 02215 WHI investigators publish most comprehensive report to date on the two Hormone Therapy Trials and extend follow-up to 13 years:...
04 Oct Suicide: Impact of 2008 Global Economic Crisis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Shu-Sen Chang, MD, MSc, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention
The University of Hong Kong
2/F, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Building for Interdisciplinary Research, 5 Sassoon Road Pokfulam, Hong Kong
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Chang: The study shows a marked increase in suicide in 2009 following the 2008 global economic crisis, particularly in men in the 27 European and 18 American countries included in the study. There were estimated approximately 5000 excess suicides across all 54 study countries in 2009. The largest increase in Europe was seen in 15-24 year old men and in 45-64 year old men in America.