Medical Research Journals
01 Nov Physician Extenders Can Modestly Reduce Wait Times For a Dermatology Appointment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37811" align="alignleft" width="168"]
Dr. Mostow[/caption]
Eliot N. Mostow, MD, MPH
Professor & Chair, Dermatology Section
Department of Internal Mediciine
Northeast Ohio Medical University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The background for the study is my continued interest in what is sometimes called health services research. That is, how do we improve our ability to deliver optimal medical care from a healthcare system perspective? Simply put, one of the most frequent criticisms about getting a dermatologist to see if patient is that there are delays in scheduling (wait times are too high). I’m not sure this is really justified, as it seems to take a long time to get into psychiatrists, gynecologists, and other specialists in our community as well.
That being said, since I’m in the dermatology community and our community has been utilizing physician assistants and nurse practitioners more frequently for many years now, we thought it was worthwhile to explore whether this was having an impact on wait times to get a visit in a dermatologist’s office.
01 Nov Pesticide Residues On Fruits & Vegetables Associated With Increased Risk of Pregnancy Loss
Posted at 12:04h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Environmental Risks, JAMA, OBGYNE
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_37794" align="alignleft" width="300"]
“Pesticide spraying” by jetsandzeppelins[/caption]
Yu-Han Chiu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D
Department of Nutrition
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Animal experiments suggest that ingestion of pesticide mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations decreases the number of live-born pups. However, it is unclear whether intake of pesticide residues has any adverse effects in humans, especially for susceptible populations such as pregnant women and their fetuses. Therefore, in this study we examined the association of preconception intake of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables with pregnancy outcomes among 325 women undergoing assisted reproduction. A pesticide is far cheaper than pest control services, like termite control los angeles, so it makes sense why most farmers choose to use pesticide for their farmhouse and crops. However, this isn't necessarily the best procedure for human health, or consumption!
We found that intake of high pesticide residue fruits and vegetables were associated with higher risks of pregnancy loss, while low pesticide residue fruit and vegetable intake was associated with lower risks of early pregnancy loss. These data suggest dietary pesticide exposure within the range of typical human exposure may be associated with adverse reproductive consequences
31 Oct Cataract Surgery Linked To Improved Health and Survival, As Well As Sight
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37775" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Coleman[/caption]
Anne L. Coleman, MD, PhD
Center for Community Outreach and Policy, Stein Eye Institute
David Geffen School of Medicine
Director, UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic
Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health
UCLA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Cataracts are a leading cause of vision loss worldwide, and cataract surgery is an intervention that is known to be extremely effective to address the vision loss related to cataract. However, it is unclear if there are benefits of cataract surgery beyond vision improvement in people with cataracts. Previous studies have suggested that in addition to improving vision, cataract surgery may decrease the risk of fractures and accidents, improve mental health, and improve overall quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate the potential benefits of cataract surgery and to determine if cataract surgery was associated with increased survival in people with cataracts.
30 Oct Multispecies Study Identifies Critical Genes in OCD Neurobiology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37766" align="alignleft" width="127"]
Dr. Hyun Ji Noh[/caption]
Hyun Ji Noh PhD
Computational Scientist, Medical and Population Genetics
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder, characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. OCD is estimated to affect roughly 80 million people worldwide, but its neurobiology remains poorly understood. To understand the disorder’s underpinnings, we searched for genetic mutations that are associated with OCD.
For this, we first identified 608 genes that were most likely to be important in OCD - some that have previously been identified in OCD-like behaviors in dogs and mice, and others in human autism, which also involves repetitive behaviors. We compared these genes in 592 people with OCD and 560 people without OCD, and found that 4 of these genes were significantly different between people with and without OCD: NRXN1, HTR2A, CTTNBP2 and REEP3. All of these four genes have important functions in the brain. Specifically, we found that the variants in NRXN1 are likely to change its ability to bind other synaptic proteins. Synaptic proteins link neurons together, and are critical for transmitting signals through the brain. We also found that the variants in CTTNBP2 and REEP3 don’t actually change the proteins made by these genes, but instead probably affect gene regulation (for example, how much of the protein is made). These ‘regulatory’ variants disrupt the binding of transcription factors (proteins that regulate expression of genes in the body) near the gene.
30 Oct Cancer in Young Adults Disproportionately Affects Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37758" align="alignleft" width="110"]
Dr. Fidler[/caption]
Dr Miranda M Fidler, PhD
Section of Cancer Surveillance
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Lyon, France
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The burden of cancer among young adults has been rarely studied in depth. To our knowledge, we describe for the first time the scale and profile of cancer incidence and mortality worldwide among 20-39 year-olds, highlighting major patterns by age, sex, development level, and geographic region.
Although cancer is less frequent than that observed at older ages, its impact remains considerable because these individuals have a large proportion of their expected lifespans remaining, contribute substantially to the economy, and play a major role in caring for their families. Worldwide, almost 1 million new cases of cancer and 400 000 cancer-related deaths occurred among young adults aged 20–39 years in 2012.
Overall, the most common cancer types in terms of new cases were female breast cancer, cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, leukemia, and colorectal cancer, and the most common types of cancer-related deaths were those due to female breast cancer, liver cancer, leukemia, and cervical cancer. The burden was disproportionately greater among women, with an estimated 633 000 new cancer cases (65% of all new cancer cases in that age group) and 194 000 cancer-related deaths (54% of all cancer-related deaths in that age group) in 2012.
27 Oct Borderline Pulmonary Hypertension Patients Often Progress To Overt Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37714" align="alignleft" width="112"]
Dr. Brittain[/caption]
Dr. Evan L. Brittain, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The purpose of this study was to determine whether pulmonary pressure values below the diagnostic threshold for pulmonary hypertension (25mmHg) are associated with an increased risk of mortality. We studied over 4,000 consecutive individuals referred for right heart catheterization, the “gold-standard” procedure for measuring pulmonary pressure. We found that borderline levels of mean pulmonary pressure (19-24mmHg) were common, representing 18% of all patients referred for this procedure. Borderline mean pulmonary pressure values were also associated with 31% increase in mortality after accounting for many other clinical factors. Finally, we found that most of the patients with borderline pulmonary hypertension who underwent repeat catheterization often progressed to overt pulmonary hypertension.
This study suggests that patients with borderline pulmonary hypertension should be considered an at-risk group.
27 Oct Chewing Loading-Dose of Ticagrelor Enhanced Platelet Inhibition in Heart Attack Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37742" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Asher[/caption]
Elad Asher, M.D, M.H.A
Interventional Cardiologist,
Director Intensive Cardiac Care Unit
Deputy Director Heart Institute
Assuta Ashdod Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Dual antiplatelet therapy represents the standard care for treating ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. Given the higher risk of peri-procedural thrombotic events in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), there is a need to achieve inhibition of platelet aggregation (IPA) more promptly. Although chewing ticagrelor has been shown to be more efficient for IPA in stable coronary disease and in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS)/non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSETMI), there are no studies that have specifically assessed the efficacy and safety of chewing ticagrelor in STEMI patients. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate whether chewing ticagrelor (180mg) loading dose is associated with more favorable platelet inhibitory effects compared with the conventional way of swallowing whole tablets loading dose in STEMI patients undergoing PPCI.
27 Oct Focusing on Physical Activity Can Help Avoid Unnecessary Later Life Social Care Expenses
Posted at 11:25h
in Aging, Author Interviews, BMJ, Cost of Health Care, Exercise - Fitness, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Scarlett McNally
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeo
Eastbourne D.G.H.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: There are vast differences between older people in their abilities and their number of medical conditions. Many people confuse ageing with loss of fitness. Ageing has specific effects (reduction in hearing and skin elasticity for example) but the loss of fitness is not inevitable. Genetics contributes only 20% to diseases. There is abundant evidence that adults who take up physical activity improve their fitness up to the level of someone a decade younger, with improvements in ‘up and go’ times. Physical activity can reduce the severity of most conditions, such as heart disease or the risk of onset or recurrence of many cancers. Inactivity is one of the top four risk factors for most long-term conditions. There is a dose-effect curve. Dementia, disability and frailty can be prevented, reduced or delayed.
The need for social care is based on an individual’s abilities; for example, being unable to get to the toilet in time may increase the need for care from twice daily care givers to needing residential care or live-in care, which increases costs five-fold.
Hospitals contribute to people reducing their mobility, with the ‘deconditioning syndrome’ of bed rest, with 60% of in-patients reducing their mobility.
The total cost of social care in the UK is up to £100 billion, so even modest changes would reduce the cost of social care by several billion pounds a year.
26 Oct In Euthyroid Individuals, Higher Free Thyroid Levels Linked To Greater Risk of Atrial Fibrillation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christine Baumgartner MD Inselspital Universitätsspital Bern Bern, Switzerland Research Fellow, Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Overt and subclinical hyperthyroidism increase the risk of atrial fibrillation, but it is unclear whether subclinical hypothyroidism, which is known to increase cardiovascular events, or thyroid function in the normal range are also associated with incident atrial fibrillation. Given the high prevalence of atrial fibrillation and its associated morbidity and mortality, identifying potentially modifiable risk factors is important. Therefore, we aimed to assess the risk of atrial fibrillation in individuals with subclinical hypothyroidism or variations of thyroid function within the normal range. Our main findings are that higher free thyroxine levels are associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation in euthyroid individuals, but thyroid-stimulating hormone levels within the euthyroid or subclinical hypothyroid range was not related to atrial fibrillation risk.25 Oct Early Surgery for Drug Resistant Epilepsy May Limit Cognitive Disabilities
Posted at 21:47h
in Author Interviews, Epilepsy, NEJM, Neurological Disorders, Pediatrics, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Manjari Tripathi Professor, Epileptology, Neurology
Dr. P Sarat Chandra, Chief epilepsy Neurosurgeon
AIIMS, New Delhi
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?:
- Surgery for drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) is an accepted procedure for children and there have been multiple surgical series and surgical techniques published in literature. However, till date there are no randomized controlled trials (RCT) available to objectively demonstrate the safety and efficacy of surgical therapy in children with DRE. There are till date only 2 randomized trials for adult patients with drug resistant epilepsy (both for mesial temporal sclerosis only, Wiebe S et al, New Eng J Med, 2001 & Engel J et al, JAMA, 2012).
- Children constitute a significant proportion of patients undergoing surgical therapy for DRE (close to 50% in tertiary centers). They have unique problems associated due to uncontrolled epilepsy and some of these include epileptic encephalopathy and status epilepticus. In addition, surgery is also associated with problems like hypothermia, issues related to blood loss etc. Thus the senior author (Manjari Tripathi) and her team felt that a RCT would be very important to objectively assess the role of surgery and hence designed this study.
25 Oct Cardiovascular Study Demonstrates Clinical Trial Data Sharing Is Feasible
[caption id="attachment_37719" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Gay[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Hawkins C. Gay, MD, MPH
Resident Physician, Internal Medicine
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The National Academy of Medicine and other leading institutions have highlighted clinical trial data sharing as an important initiative for enhancing trust in the clinical research enterprise. More recently, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors stipulated that manuscripts published in their journals must clearly state plans for data sharing in the trial’s registration, and the National Institutes of Health now requires a data sharing plan as part of new grant applications. Many clinical trialists rightly debate the costs and time required to curate their data into a format that is usable by third part data analysts. Similarly, there has been debate about the most efficient platforms from which to distribute this data, and different models exist, including governmental (NIH BioLINCC), commercial (ClinicalStudyDataRequest.com), and academic (Yale Open Access Data Project [YODA]) platforms.
Our study sought to explore these questions by conducting a reproduction analysis of the Thermocool Smarttouch Catheter for Treatment of Symptomatic Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (SMART-AF) trial (NCT01385202), which is the only cardiovascular clinical trial available through the YODA platform. Reproduction analyses represent a fundamental approach for and outcome from data sharing but are uncommonly performed even though results change more than one-quarter of the time in reproduction analyses. SMART-AF was a multicenter, single-arm trial evaluating the effectiveness and safety of an irrigated, contact force-sensing catheter for ablation of drug refractory, symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in 172 participants recruited from 21 sites between June 2011 and December 2011.
The time from our initial proposal submission to YODA and the final analysis completion was 11 months. Freedom from atrial arrhythmias at 12 months post-procedure was similar compared with the primary study report (74.0%; 95% CI, 66.0-82.0 vs 76.4%; 95% CI, 68.7-84.1). The reproduction analysis success rate was higher than the primary study report (65.8%; 95% CI 56.5-74.2 vs 75.6%; 95% CI, 67.2-82.5). Adverse events were minimal and similar between the two analyses. We could not reproduce all analyses that were conducted in the primary study report; specifically, the analyses relating to contact force range and regression models. The primary reason for non-reproducibility was missing or un-locatable data in the analyzable dataset.
25 Oct Any Detectable High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T Level Associated With Adverse Outcomes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Martin Holzmann PhD Department of Medicine Functional Area of Emergency Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There has been a few studies in the general population that indicate that subjects with detectable and elevated high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-cTnT) levels have an increased risk of death and cardiovascular disease. However, in clinical practice troponins are not used for anything else than to rule in or rule out myocardial infarction in the emergency department. In addition, in a previous publication we have shown that patients with persistently elevated troponin levels are rarely investigated or followed-up to exclude heart disease. Therefore, we wanted to investigate how the association between different levels of hs-cTnT are associated with outcomes in patients with chest pain but no MI or other acute reasons for having an acutely elevated troponin level.25 Oct Robotic-Assisted Radical Nephrectomy: No Difference in Outcomes But Takes Longer and Costs More
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: In Gab Jeong, MD Associate Professor Department of Urology, Asan Medical Center University of Ulsan College of Medicine Seoul, Korea MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Use of robotic surgery has increased in urological practice over the last decade especially for the surgery that was difficult to perform with laparoscopic techniques such as radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer or partial resection of kidney cancer. However, the use, outcomes, and costs of robotic nephrectomy are unknown. We examined the trend in use of robotic-assisted operations for radical nephrectomy in the United States and compared the perioperative outcomes and costs with laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. The proportion of radical nephrectomies using robotic-assisted operations increased from 1.5% in 2003 to 27.0% in 2015. Although there was no significant difference between robotic-assisted vs laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in major postoperative complications, robotic-assisted procedures were associated with longer operating time and higher direct hospital costs. The rate of prolonged operating time (>4 hours) for patients undergoing the robotic-assisted procedure was higher than for patients receiving the laparoscopic procedure (46.3% vs 25.8%; risk difference, 20.5%; 95% CI, 14.2% to 26.8%). Robotic-assisted radical nephrectomy was associated with higher mean 90-day direct hospital costs ($19530 vs $16851; difference, $2678; 95% CI, $838 to $4519).23 Oct Significant Amount of Medical Literature Contaminated With Misidentified Cells
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37669" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Serge Horbach[/caption]
Serge Horbach MSc
Institute for Science in Society
Radboud University Nijmegen
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Since the late 60s, researchers have pointed to issues in biomedical research stemming from the misidentification of cells. Starting with controversy around HeLa cells, researchers became aware of cells invading other cell cultures. Currently, 488 cell lines have become mixed up with the wrong cells, still often HeLa cells. This leads to errors in reporting research. For example, some research papers have reported results for "lung cancer cells" that turned out to be liver cancer cells, or even mouse cells.
We wanted to know what happened to past research and set out to estimate the number of scientific publications affected by misidentified cells. By tracing misidentified cells of the ICLAC database in Web of Science, we found 32.755 contaminated publications, or 0,8% of all literature in cell biology. These articles are cited by at least 500.000 other publications.
More worryingly, it turned out that this problem is highly stubborn. Currently, still a few dozen new articles are published every month reporting on other cells than were actually used, leading to a total of 1200 each year. And this number is not decreasing, in spite of a database of misidentified cells, of genetic testing availability, requirements by some prominent journals, or attention for the problem in the literature. We were also able to establish that this is not just a problem for newly emergent countries in the international research community, but also for countries with well-establishments research traditions. In spite of great efforts, the problem of cell misidentification is not at all solved.
20 Oct “Shall Issue” Gun Law States Associated With Higher Homicide and Firearm Death Rates
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37491" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Prof. Siegel[/caption]
Michael Siegel, MD, MPH
Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02118
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A central question in the debate about public policies to reduce firearm violence is whether easier access to concealed handguns increases or decreases the rate of firearm-related homicides. Previous studies on the impact of concealed carry permitting laws have yielded inconsistent results. Most of these studies were conducted more than a decade ago. This study provided a reexamination of this research question with more recent data, up to and including the year 2015.
While all states allow certain persons to carry concealed handguns, there are 3 major variations in permitting policy. In 9 states, law enforcement officials have wide discretion over whether to issue concealed carry permits; these are referred to as “may issue” states because police chiefs can deny a permit if they deem the applicant to be at risk of committing violence, even if there is not a criminal history. In 29 states, there is little or no discretion; these are referred to as “shall-issue” states because permits must be issued if requisite criteria are met. In an additional 12 states, no permit is necessary to carry a concealed handgun.
20 Oct ACA Medicaid Expansion Linked To Decrease in Uninsured Cancer Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37620" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Aparna Soni[/caption]
Aparna Soni, MA
Department of Business Economics and Public Policy
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University, Bloomington
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Cancer is the leading cause of death among the non-elderly population in the United States. Unfortunately, uninsured people are less likely to get screened for cancer, and treatment is often unaffordable for those who are uninsured.
One of the key objectives of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to improve outcomes for cancer patients. Our objective in this study was therefore to assess changes under the ACA in insurance coverage among patients newly diagnosed with cancer.
Our main finding is that uninsurance among patients with newly diagnosed cancer fell by one-third in 2014.
19 Oct High Blood Pressure Is a Risk Factor For Mitral Regurgitation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37609" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Rahimi[/caption]
Professor Kazem Rahimi, FRCP MD DM MSc FES
Deputy Director, The George Institute for Global Health UK
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford
Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Mitral regurgitation, the most common heart valve disorder in high-income countries, has until now been considered a degenerative disorder, which results from damage over time due to ‘wear and tear’. As a result, the focus of medical practitioners has been on treating the disorder – by repairing or replacing the valve – rather than preventing it. This is partly because there has been a lack of large-scale, longitudinal studies investigating the effect of risk factors on the condition.
We set out to analyse data on 5.5 million patients in the UK over 10 years. Our findings show, for the first time, that elevated blood pressure is an important risk factor for mitral regurgitation. Consistent with prior evidence on blood pressure associations with other cardiovascular disease - such as stroke and heart attacks – we found an association with mitral regurgitation that is continuous across the whole spectrum of blood pressure. More specifically, every 20 mmHg higher baseline systolic blood pressure is associated with a 26% increased risk of mitral regurgitation, with no threshold below or above which this relationship is not true.
The association we found was only partially mediated by conditions that are established causes of secondary mitral regurgitation, which suggests that high blood pressure has a direct and independent effect on valve degeneration.
18 Oct Hospital Onset Clostridium difficile Infections Increased With Electronic Sepsis Alerts
Posted at 20:33h
in Author Interviews, C. difficile, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Infections, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_37568" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. Hiensch[/caption]
Dr. Robert Hiensch MD
Assistant Professor, Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: New sepsis guidelines that recommend screening and early treatment for sepsis cases appear to have significant positive impacts on patient outcomes. Less research has been published on what potential side effects may result from these guidelines.
Antibiotics are a cornerstone of sepsis treatment and early antibiotic administration is strongly recommended. We examined whether the introduction of an electronic based sepsis initiative changed antibiotic prescribing patterns at our hospital. Antibiotics, even when appropriate, contribute to hospital onset Clostridium difficile infections (HO CDIs). While the authors do not dispute the importance of antibiotic administration in sepsis, it is valuable to know whether the sepsis initiative coincided with both increased antibiotic administration and HO CDIs.
18 Oct Insulin Pump Therapy May Be Superior to Multiple Injections in Young People With Type 1 Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. med. Reinhard Holl Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Medical Faculty Aachen University, Aachen, Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry University of Ulm, Ulm Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Today there are two accepted strategies to treat type-1 diabetes: pump or multiple daily injections. In a large group of patients we compared both strategies, and our results indicate advantages for pump therapy with fewer severe hypos, fewer events of diabetic ketoacidosis, and better metabolic control.18 Oct With Increasing Westernization, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Becoming a Global Health Issue
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37559" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Kaplan[/caption]
Gilaad Kaplan, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Associate Professor
CIHR New Investigator & AI-HS Population Health Investigator
Co-Director, Environmental Health Research Group
Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases & Institute of Public Health
Departments of Medicine & Community Health Sciences
University of Calgary
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The aim of the study was to provide a global perspective on the epidemiology of the inflammatory bowel diseases in the 21st century.
During the 20th century IBD was considered a disease of the Western world. At the turn of the 21st century, IBD has become a global disease with accelerating number of cases in the developing world as it transition towards a westernized society.
17 Oct Interventional Cardiologists Can Face Risks To Brain From Unprotected Radiation Exposure
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37543" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Andreassi[/caption]
Dr. Maria Grazia Andreassi, PhD
Director, Genetics Research Unit
CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa- Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the health risks for contemporary interventional cardiologists who have a high and unprecedented levels of occupational ionizing radiation (IR) exposure. Because dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown in many human diseases, we investigated the differential expression of miRNAs in the plasma of interventional cardiologists professionally exposed to IR and unexposed controls.
In this study, our microarray analysis with 2,006 miRNAs and subsequent validation identified brain-specific miR-134 as one of the miRNAs that is highly dysregulated in the response to ionizing radiation exposure, supporting the notion that the brain damage is one of the main potential long-term risks of unprotected head irradiation in interventional cardiologists, with possible long-lasting cognitive consequences. Indeed, miR-134 was first identified as a brain-specific miRNA, which is involved in synapse development and directly implicated in learning and memory.
17 Oct More Evidence for Zika as a Causal Agent Of Guillain-Barré Syndrome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37584" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Dirlikov[/caption]
Emilio Dirlikov, PhD
Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer
CDC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In December 2015, Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDH) reported its first confirmed locally acquired case of Zika virus disease. In February 2016, PRDH reported the first person diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) who also had evidence of Zika virus infection. At the time, scientific evidence of the potential association between Zika virus infection and GBS was lacking, and rigorous studies were needed.
Through a collaboration between PRDH, CDC, and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), we conducted a case-control study to determine risk factors for GBS during the 2016 Zika virus epidemic. By prospectively enrolling case-patients, we shortened the time to enrollment, increasing the likelihood of detecting Zika virus nucleic acids to confirm Zika virus infection.
As a result, we found that an acute Zika virus infection confirmed by laboratory testing is a risk factor for developing Guillain-Barré syndrome. This is the first case-control study to find laboratory evidence showing this given the difficulty of confirming Zika virus infection among people diagnosed with GBS.
17 Oct Mouse Study Shows Intermittent Fasting Limits Obesity and Improves Metabolism
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37514" align="alignleft" width="140"]
Dr. Sung[/caption]
Dr. Hoon-Ki Sung MD PhD
Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and
Assistant Professor in Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology
University of Toronto
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Despite extensive research and medical interventions, the prevalence of obesity and associated metabolic disease is increasing. More and more studies show that obesity and its associated metabolic problems are often associated with unhealthy lifestyles and eating habits, including frequent eating (non-stop) throughout the day, resulting in a shorter period of physiological fasting. As such, various dietary approaches, such as calorie restriction and intermittent fasting have gained popularity as therapeutic strategies for obesity treatment. Intermittent-fasting is when one temporarily stops eating for a period of time, returns to normal food consumption, and then temporarily stops again.
In our study we examined the effect of an intermittent-fasting regimen, without restricting caloric intake, in mice. We found that an intermittent fasting regimen not only prevented obesity in mice, but also improved metabolism by changing the quality of fat in the body.
Our findings show that the health of the mice is significantly influenced by daily eating patterns. The addition of a 'stop eating' period converted inflammatory fat to brown-like (or beige) fat by anti-inflammatory immune cells, meaning it changed bad fat into good fat.
The results are exciting, because they show that weight loss is not the sole benefit of fasting. Fasting also restores the dual function of fat cells, which is to store energy and to release energy.
17 Oct Transfusions From Previously Pregnant Donors Add Risk To Younger Male Recipients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_37455" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Middelburg[/caption]
Rutger Middelburg, PhD
Assistant Professor in clinical epidemiology
Sanquin Research and LUMC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Six years ago we found transfusions from female donor to be associated with increased mortality among male recipients, especially under 50 years of age. This was an unexpected observation and we considered the probability of a false positive finding (i.e. a chance association) to be relatively high. We therefore immediately started a follow-up study with two main objectives. First, we wanted to confirm our findings in an independent and much larger cohort. Second, since some complications of blood transfusion are known to be related to pregnancy history of the donor, we wanted to study a possible relationship with previous pregnancy of the blood donors.
17 Oct Antidepressants in Youth Associated With Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mehmet Burcu, PhD, MS Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research University of Maryland, Baltimore MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Antidepressants are one of the most commonly used psychotropic medication classes in U.S. youth, with serotonin reuptake inhibitors representing a large majority of total antidepressant use in youth. The most interesting finding was that the current use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in youth was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and this increased risk intensified further with the increasing duration of use and with the increasing dose. A secondary analysis also revealed that the risk of incident type 2 diabetes was most apparent in youth who used serotonin reuptake inhibitors for longer durations AND in greater daily doses.17 Oct Refined Biomarker Model Can Guage Risk of Alzheimer’s In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment
Posted at 16:47h
in Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, JAMA, Personalized Medicine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ingrid S. van Maurik, MSc
Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Amsterdam Neuroscience
VU University Medical Center
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: CSF and MRI biomarkers are increasingly used in clinical practice, but their diagnostic and prognostic value is not perfect. Furthermore, criteria do not specify how to deal with conflicting or borderline results, or how to take patient characteristics into account. Therefore, optimal use of these biomarkers in clinical practice remains challenging.
As part of the ABIDE project, we constructed biomarker-based prognostic models (CSF, MRI and combined) that enable prediction of future Alzheimer’s disease, or any type of dementia, in individual patients with mild cognitive impairment. When using these models, any value can be entered for the variables, resulting in personalized probabilities with confidence intervals.
17 Oct Gestational Diabetes Associated With Greater Risk Of Heart Attack and Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_35407" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Zhang[/caption]
Cuilin Zhang MD, PhD
Senior Investigator
Epidemiology Branch
Division of Intramural Population Health Research
NICHD/National Institutes of Health.
Bethesda, MD 20817
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a common pregnancy complication. The American Heart Association identifies gestational diabetes as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women, based on consistent evidence for the relationships between gestational diabetes and subsequent hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Also, previous studies identify GDM as a risk factor for intermediate markers of CVD risk; however, few are prospective, evaluate hard cardiovascular disease end points, or account for shared risk factors including body weight and lifestyle.