Medical Research Journals

03 Jul

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

Posted at 01:58h in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Melanoma, Stanford
Susan Swetter, MD Professor of Dermatology Director, Pigmented Lesion & Melanoma Program Stanford University Medical Center & Cancer InstituteMedicalResearch.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

Posted at 21:26h in Author Interviews, Infections, Lyme, NEJM
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sam R. Telford III, ScD Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health, Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA Borrelia miyamotoi Infection Presenting as Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis: A Case Report MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The study presents two additional cases of BMD (Borrelia miyamotoi disease) that add to our knowledge of the spectrum of illness of this recently recognized zoonosis.  Our report of the North American index case in NEJM in January 2013 described a case-patient who was elderly and immunocompromised and it was not clear whether that case was just very unusual.  With our Annals report, we describe cases in immune-intact individuals and suggest that cases of BMD may have been under our noses all along, just presumptively diagnosed as HGA and successfully treated with doxycycline with no followup (e.g., lab confirmation of diagnosis of HGA Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis).  Hence, individuals presenting with fever, headache, myalgia, and show leukopenia and elevated LFTs may have either HGA or BMD and confirmatory testing should be done accordingly.  It should be noted that all tick borne diseases are clinical diagnoses and treatment of an acute case should not depend on "lab tests".  Both these infections are effectively managed by oral doxycycline, hence those with these signs and symptoms might be empirically treated with doxycyline, which would be important in areas where RMSF and tularemia (which also produce leukopenia and elevated LFTs) co-occur with deer tick -transmitted infections such as Lyme disease; waiting for "lab tests" to confirm RMSF or tularemia might lead to a negative outcome.  RMSF and tularemia are the most dangerous of the tick American tick borne diseases, although I would certainly place the very rare deer tick virus and Powassan virus in the same category.

02 Jul

Posted at 00:17h in Author Interviews, Nature, UCSF, Vitamin C
Interview with: Miguel Ramalho-Santos, Ph.D. University of California - San Francisco stem-cell scientist,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.

28 Jun

Posted at 16:48h in Cost of Health Care, JAMA
Genevieve Kenney Ph.D Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Health Policy Center The Urban Institute 2100 M Street NW Washington DC 20037MedicalResearch.com  Interview with Genevieve Kenney Ph.D Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Health Policy Center The Urban Institute 2100 M Street NW Washington DC 20037 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kenney: Our study is the first published analysis that draws on physical examinations, laboratory tests, and patient reports to assess the health needs and health risks of uninsured adults who could be eligible for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act relative to the adults who are already enrolled in Medicaid. Our main findings are that the uninsured adults who could enroll under the ACA are less likely than the adults with Medicaid coverage to be obese and to have functional limitations and chronic health problems, such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes, but that the uninsured adults with these chronic conditions are less likely to be aware that they have them and less likely to have the condition under control. In comparison to the Medicaid population, the uninsured adults in our study were also less likely to have seen a health professional in the prior year and to have a routine place for care.  The rates of undiagnosed and uncontrolled chronic health care problems found in our study indicate that millions of low-income uninsured adults are currently at risk of premature mortality and other significant health issues.  These findings provide new evidence of the potential health benefits associated with the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

28 Jun

Posted at 02:33h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Fish, Nutrition
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Duo Li (PhD, MSc, BMed) Co-Editor, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition Associate Editor, Journal of Nutrigenetics & Nutrigenomics Professor of Nutrition Dept. of Food Science & Nutrition Zhejiang University 866 Yu-Hang-Tang Road Hangzhou 310058, China MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Li: The main finding is that intake marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) from both fish and fish oil lower the risk of breast cancer. Women with a high intake of marine n-3 PUFAs had a 14-percent reduction in risk of breast cancer compared with those who had a low intake. Every 0.1 g increase in marine n-3 PUFA per day was linked to a five-percent reduction in breast cancer risk.

28 Jun

Posted at 01:08h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, JAMA, Nutrition, Red Meat
MedicalResearch.com: An Pan, PhD

Research Associate, Dept Nutrition 655 Huntington Avenue Building 2, Room 351 Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Changes in Red Meat Consumption and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Three Cohorts of US Men and Women MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: -- Compared with people who did not change their intake of red meat, those who increased it by as little as half a serving a day (about 1.5 ounces) over a four-year period had a 48% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the subsequent 4 years. -- People who decreased their intake by half a serving a day over four years did not have an acute reduced risk in the next four years compared to people who did not change their intake, but had a reduced risk of developing the disease by 14% in the entire follow-up period, suggesting a prolonged effect. -- The findings included both processed meat such as lunch meat and hot dogs and unprocessed meats such as hamburger, steak and pork. And the association was generally stronger for processed red meat compared to unprocessed red meat. -- Adjusting for weight modestly reduced the association between red meat consumption and diabetes suggesting that weight gain played a role in the development of the disease.

26 Jun

Posted at 14:04h in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Medical Research Centers
Dr. Karen E. Joynt, MD MPH Cardiovascular Division Brigham and Women's Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public HealthMedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Karen E. Joynt, MD MPH Cardiovascular Division Brigham and Women's Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Joynt:  The main findings of the study were two-fold. First, high-cost patients in Medicare (the top decile of spenders) are responsible for about 80% of inpatient spending in the Medicare program, so understanding more about these patients' patterns of care is really important. Second, we found that only about 10% of acute-care spending for these high-cost Medicare patients were for causes that we generally think of as preventable in the short term, like uncontrolled diabetes, COPD, or heart failure. The rest of the spending was for acute conditions that we generally don't think of as preventable (at least in the short term), such as orthopedic procedures, sepsis, and cancer.

25 Jun

Posted at 10:48h in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Yale

Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan MD MBA Yale School of Medicine Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation (CORE)Contraindicated Initiation of β-Blocker Therapy in Patients Hospitalized for Heart FailureMedicalResearch.com  Interview with Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan MD MBA

Yale School of Medicine Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation (CORE)Contraindicated Initiation of β-Blocker Therapy in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? We found that among a large contemporary cohort of heart failure hospitalizations, beta blockers are frequently started in patients with markers of clinical instability such as residence in an intensive care unit (ICU), volume overload requiring intravenous diuresis, and poor cardiac output requiring intravenous inotropes. Approximately 40% of patients in whom a beta blocker is started has at least one of these three potential contraindications to treatment. This finding is concerning, as recent performance measures for heart failure recommend that a beta blocker be started during hospitalization for heart failure among patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. However, these performance measures also state that persons in whom a beta blocker is started "should not be hospitalized in an ICU, should have no or minimal evidence of fluid overload or volume depletion, and should not have required recent treatment with an intravenous positive inotropic agent." Moving forward, we are concerned that the unselective application of the new performance measure may lead to the further use of beta blocker therapy in patients at higher risk for adverse consequences of therapy.

21 Jun

Posted at 02:20h in HIV, Infections, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. H. Irene Hall, PhD Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC 1600 Clifton Road, MS E-47, Atlanta, GA 30333 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Hall: Our research finds that, across all populations, far too few Americans with HIV receive the care they need to stay healthy and reduce risk of transmission. According to our research, gaps in care are the largest among African Americans and young people. Moving forward, improving care for all HIV-infected people will be critical to achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation in America. More specifically, some of the key findings of the study include:
  • Overall, only a quarter of all Americans with HIV have a suppressed viral load – meaning the level of HIV in their bodies is low enough to stay healthy and dramatically reduce the chance of transmitting to others.
  • By race/ethnicity, African-Americans and Hispanics or Latinos are less likely to be aware of their infection compared to whites.
  •  By age, younger Americans are less likely to be in ongoing care and have a suppressed viral load; HIV care and viral suppression generally improved with age. For example:
  • Fifteen percent of those aged 25-34 were virally suppressed, compared to 36 percent of those aged 55-64.
  • In terms of ongoing care, 28 percent of those 25-34 years old were retained in care, compared to 46 percent of those aged 55-64.

20 Jun

Posted at 17:20h in Diabetes, JAMA, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:  Dr. Ezio Bonifacio, Ph.D. Professor, Preclinical Stem Cells/Diabetes Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden Technische Universität Dresden MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bonifacio: Children who develop multiple islet autoantibodies are destined to develop diabetes. Only a minority will be diabetes-free 15 years after developing islet autoantibodies. This is regardless of whether they have a family history of type 1 diabetes. Progression to diabetes after seroconversion varied from weeks to decades, and 20% of children had diabetes within 2 years from seroconverting. Progression was fastest in children who developed their islet autoantibodies before age 3 years. MedicalResearch.com:  Were any of the findings unexpected? Dr. Bonifacio: Unexpected is probably not the right word. The Eisenbarth model of chronic disease proposes that diabetes will happen some time after autoimmunity and the findings show the reality of it. Perhaps the unexpected finding is that it is not always chronic and that for a number of children, intervention would need to be applied quickly.

19 Jun

Posted at 21:05h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Rheumatology, Vaccine Studies
Marloes Heijstek MD University Medical Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital Department of Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology Room number KC 03.063.0 P.O. Box 85090 Lundlaan 6 3508 AB UtrechtMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marloes Heijstek MD University Medical Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital Department of Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology Room number KC 03.063.0 P.O. Box 85090 Lundlaan 6 3508 AB Utrecht MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Heijstek: The main findings of our study are that MMR booster vaccination does not affect JIA disease, does not cause flares of arthritis and induces high rates of protective immunity.

19 Jun

Posted at 20:51h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Hospital Acquired, Infections, Outcomes & Safety
Marin L. Schweizer Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marin L. Schweizer Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Iowa City, IA, USA MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Schweizer: A clinical bundle that includes nasally screening cardiac and orthopedic surgery patients for S. aureus (both methicillin-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus), decolonizing carriers, and changing antibiotic prophylaxis for MRSA carriers, can significantly reduce the number of gram-positive surgical site infections, S. aureus surgical site infections and MRSA surgical site infections.

10 Jun

Posted at 17:55h in Allergies, Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lilian Abbo, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Medical Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Jackson Memorial Hospital and University of Miami Hospita MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Abbo: We surveyed 744/1411 (53%) members of the Infectious Diseases Society...

06 Jun

Posted at 23:05h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Nutrition, Outcomes & Safety, Vegetarians
MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Michael J. Orlich, M.D. Program Director Preventive Medicine Residency Loma Linda University www.lluprevmedres.org Research Fellow, Adventist Health Studies www.adventisthealthstudy.org MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Orlich: The main findings were these. Vegetarians, as we defined them, had reduced risk of death during the study period compared to non-vegetarians. This was true also for particular vegetarian diets including for vegans, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and pesco-vegetarians.  Reduced risk was seen in particular for deaths related to disease of the heart, kidneys, and diabetes. Findings were stronger in men than women.

31 May

Posted at 17:20h in Author Interviews, Infections, Lancet, Vaccine Studies

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Fengcai Zhu Deputy Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Jiangsu provincial center for disease prevention and control

Fengcai Zhu

Deputy Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Jiangsu provincial center for disease prevention and control

MedicalResearch.com Editor's Note: HFMD = Hand Foot and Mouth Disease Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: From this trial, the inactivated alum-adjuvant EV71 vaccine showed a good protection for both the EV71-associated HFMD and EV71-associated disease. The vaccine gave 90% protection against clinical EV71-associated HFMD and 80.4% against EV71-associated disease (including neurological complications) for at least 12 months. The safety profile and immunogenicity of this vaccine is proved to be clinical acceptable. We also proposed a titre (1:32) of neutralization antibody as surrogate of protection against EV71-associated disease.

30 May

Posted at 22:16h in Author Interviews, Emergency Care, NEJM
MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Adam Z. Tobias, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA 15261Adam Z. Tobias, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA  15261 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We reviewed records of 11,920 in-flight medical emergency calls from five domestic and international commercial airlines to a physician-staffed medical communications center at the University of Pittsburgh.  We found that during the study period, there was one medical emergency per 604 flights (16 per 1 million passengers).  The most common problems were syncope or pre-syncope, respiratory symptoms, and nausea and vomiting.  Aircraft diversion to an alternative landing site occurred just over 7% of the time. About one quarter of patients were transported to a hospital and only 8.6% were admitted.

30 May

Posted at 10:08h in ADHD, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics
Kathryn L. Humphreys, M.A., Ed.M. Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student UCLA Department of Psychology 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90095MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Kathryn L. Humphreys, M.A., Ed.M. Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student UCLA Department of Psychology 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90095 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Our primary question was to answer whether the use of stimulant medication in the treatment of ADHD was associated with increased or decreased risk for a variety of substance use (ever tried) and substance use disorder (abuse or dependence) outcomes (alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, nicotine, and non-specific drug use). Prior research from individual studies of children have provided mixed evidence (i.e., some found medication increased later risk, some found medication decreased risk, and still others found no difference in risk). We examined available longitudinal studies (i.e., medication treatment preceded measurement of substance outcome) together using meta-analysis, a technique that aggregates findings from a number of studies, in order to examine this question in a much larger sample of individuals. Our main finding was that children with ADHD who received medication treatment did not differ in risk for lifetime substance use or abuse or dependence compared to those children with ADHD who did not receive medication treatment.

27 May

Posted at 16:03h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, CT Scanning, Medical Imaging, Medical Research Centers
prof_john_d_mathewsJohn D. Mathews, MBBS, MD, PhD, DSc Hon, DMedSc Hon, Professor of epidemiology at the School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia Cancer risk in 680 000 people exposed to computed tomography scans in childhood or adolescence: data linkage study of 11 million Australians MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof Mathews: We found that for persons having at least one CT scan before the age of 20 years, and followed for an average period of 10 years, the average risk of cancer was increased by 24% compared with unexposed persons matched for age, sex and year of birth. The cancer risk increased by 16% for each CT scan that preceded the cancer by more than one year. The proportional increase in risk was greater for persons exposed at younger ages.

27 May

Posted at 12:11h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Diabetes, Statins

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Muhammad Mamdani Director, Applied Health Research Centre, St. Michael's Hospital Scientist in the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Our study examined over 470,000...

23 May

Posted at 18:28h in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA

MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Luis Beck-da-Silva, MD, ScD Cardiology Division, Heart Failure Clinic Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2350 Sala 2060 Porto Alegre, RS 90035-903, Brazil MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The actual take home message is that fluid and sodium restriction may not be of any benefit...

22 May

Posted at 11:42h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Stroke
Dr. Rishi Gupta, MD Associate Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Radiology Emory University School of Medicine Director, Vascular Neurology Fellowship Program Director, Multi-Hospital Acute Stroke Network Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center Grady Memorial Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Gupta: The main findings of this study are that patients with more proximal cerebral arterial occlusion involving the middle cerebral artery and internal carotid artery appear to be the targets for endovascular reperfusion therapy trials. Moreover, previous clinical trials have used a NIHSS > 8 or > 10 threshold to include patients into randomzed trials comparing endovascular therapy versus IV tPA. The threshold may need to be higher and in our analysis we found that threshold to be 14 or greater.

14 May

Posted at 14:15h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Nutrition
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.

10 May

Posted at 14:39h in JAMA, Macular Degeneration, Ophthalmology
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.

02 May

Posted at 11:45h in Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Nature, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Professor David McDonald Taylor Emergency Department, Austin Health PO Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Overall, obese and non-obese patients have similar experiences during their ED stay. However, while obese patients tend to be younger and less sick, their more frequent presentation with potentially cardiac-related disease is reflected in their management. The excess of liver function tests and abdominal xrays performed on obese patients is likely to reflect examination difficulties and over investigation. Obese patients do experience more attempts at IV cannulation.

26 Apr

Posted at 15:56h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Medical Imaging, Mental Health Research, MRI
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 60637 - USA 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).

26 Apr

Posted at 11:49h in Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, UCSF
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.

16 Apr

Posted at 22:00h in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco Research
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.

12 Apr

Posted at 01:58h in Author Interviews, Nature, Nutrition, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com eInterview with Dr Emma Boyland Biopsychology Research Group. Liverpool Obesity Research Network. University of Liverpool. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Boyland: Children who were exposed to a TV commercial for Walker’s potato chips featuring a celebrity endorser showed a greater brand preference for Walker’s and consumed more Walker’s chips than a purported ‘supermarket brand’. Exposure to the celebrity endorser in a different, non-promotional context (presenting a soccer highlights TV program) also had a similar impact on brand choice and intake. This effect was not seen in response to another snack food commercial or a non-food commercial. Importantly, children did not reduce their consumption of the perceived ‘supermarket brand’ to compensate, they simply consumed more Walker’s crisps so this effect could contribute to overconsumption.