Author Interviews, Infections, PLoS / 22.12.2014

Leonard A. Mermel DO FACP, FIDSA, FSHEA Professor of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Division of Infectious Diseases, Rhode Island Hospital Providence, Rhode IslandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leonard A. Mermel DO FACP, FIDSA, FSHEA Professor of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Division of Infectious Diseases, Rhode Island Hospital Providence, Rhode Island Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mermel: While talking to infectious diseases physicians some years ago in Israel, Greece, and Thailand, I learned that unlike my experiene here in the US, most of the bloodstream infections they see are far and away due to Gram-negative bacteria.  So, a hypothesis was generated, namely that the likelihood of Gram-negative bacteremia compared to Gram-positive bacteremia was greater the closer to the equator.  A writing group was formed, colleagues around the world graciously shared their data.  The main finding is that in fact, we unequivocally found that the likelihood of Gram-negative, compared to Gram-positive bacteremia is more common closer to the equator.  This difference was greatest during the warmer months of the year.  We also found that the % GDP spent on healthcare in a given country is also associated with more Gram-negative than Gram-positive bacteremia.  These findings may reflect differences in the human microbiome as one gets closer or farther from the equator as has been recently demonstrated, differences in survival of Gram-negative compared to Gram-positive bacteria under certain environmental conditions, and likely reflects differences in public health and other factors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, PLoS / 19.12.2014

Daniel Irimia, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor Division of Surgery, Science & Bioengineering Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Associate Director, BioMEMS Resource Center Boston, MA 02129MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel Irimia, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor Division of Surgery, Science & Bioengineering Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Associate Director, BioMEMS Resource Center Boston, MA 02129 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sepsis is affecting more than half of the patients with major burn injuries (20 percent of body surface) and is the leading cause of death among these patients.  Sepsis is also a significant complication for other critically ill patients. More than one million Americans are affected and it has been estimated that approximately 30% of these people die, despite significant advances in life support and antibiotics.  Early diagnosis is essential, and it has been calculated that every 6 hours of delay in a sepsis diagnosis decreases the chances of survival by 10 percent. We have found that the motility of the white blood cells called neutrophils, inside a microfluidic device, is significantly altered two to three days before sepsis develops. (more…)
Author Interviews, Flu - Influenza, PLoS, Vaccine Studies / 15.12.2014

Adrian Egli, MD PhD Research Group leader Infection Biology Laboratory Department of Biomedicine University of Basel and University Hospital Basel Basel, SwitzerlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adrian Egli, MD PhD Research Group leader Infection Biology Laboratory Department of Biomedicine University of Basel and University Hospital Basel Basel, Switzerland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Egli: Infections with influenza viruses are associated with a high morbidity and mortality. In particular, people with a weak immune system are at danger for more severe complications. This includes elderly people, pregnant women, patients after transplantation, patients with HIV infection, chronic diseases such as diabetes and many more. In these high-risk groups, annual vaccination is clearly recommended. However, due to the immunsuppressive condition the immune response to the influenza vaccine is often reduced. The seroconversion rate - a 4-fold antibody titer increase upon vaccination - is one of the key markers for a successful vaccination. In young adults the seroconversion rate is normally >85%; however, in patients with immunosuppression, this can be lower than 40%. Improving vaccine efficacy is one of the key focuses of my research group. We try to understand, how to improve vaccines and better protect the people at the highest risks for influenza-associated complications. In this study, we could show that an important cytokine, called Interferon lambda, is clearly associated with the vaccine induced antibody response upon influenza vaccination. We could show that genetic polymorphisms, in one of the Interferon lambda gene family (IFNL3), are modulating the expression of this gene. This strongly affects the cross talk between the innate and adaptive immune response in the context of vaccination. We observed that, the more Interferon lambda is present, the lower the antibody response is. People with a lower expression of Interferon lambda had a significant higher response to the vaccine. Therefore, we developed substances to block the effect of Interferon lambda. We could show in vitro, that due to the Interferon lambda blockade, the antibody production was improved. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research / 11.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Peter Würtz, PhD, Docent Head of Molecular Epidemiology, Computational Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Finland

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Würtz: Obesity is linked with unfavorable cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but the fine-grained metabolic consequences of excess body weight remain unclear. We used a novel profiling technology developed in our research group to examine the metabolic consequences of excess body weight. We profiled over 12,000 healthy young volunteers from the general population to determine the detailed metabolic effects of having higher BMI (body mass index). We found that higher BMI is causing adverse metabolic changes in the blood levels of many amino acids and lipids, as well as an altered balance of omega-fatty acids and sex hormones. These measures have been linked with higher risk for developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Importantly, the metabolic deviations were not limited to obese individuals, but were observed in a continuous manner including for those who are lean or overweight. In other words, the metabolic profile becomes more adverse for any increase in BMI, with no threshold below which an increase in BMI would not affect the cardiometabolic risk profile. Genetic information was used to demonstrate that the metabolic effects are actually caused by having higher BMI. On the positive side, even a modest weight loss helped to diminish the adverse metabolic influences of excess body fat. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lipids, PLoS / 11.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Erik Ingelsson, MD, PhD, FAHA Professor of Molecular Epidemiology and Andrea Ganna PhD student Uppsala University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Coronary heart disease (CHD) comprises a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Measurement of metabolites, small molecules, in the blood could allow earlier diagnosis and inform about mechanisms leading to CHD. We examined the metabolic profiles (including thousands of metabolites) of blood samples from more than 3,600 individuals from Sweden that had been followed-up for up to 10 years, and found two lipid-related metabolites, lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin that reduced the risk of developing coronary heart disease and another lipid metabolite, monoglycerides, that was instead associated with increased risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Outcomes & Safety, PLoS, UCSF / 06.12.2014

Barbara J. Drew, RN, PhD, FAAN, FAHA David Mortara Distinguished Professor in Physiological Nursing Research Clinical Professor of Medicine, Cardiology University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Physiological Nursing San Francisco, CA 94143-0610MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barbara J. Drew, RN, PhD, FAAN, FAHA David Mortara Distinguished Professor in Physiological Nursing Research, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Cardiology University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Physiological Nursing San Francisco

MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Drew: Hospital cardiac monitors are plagued with alarms that create a cacophony of sounds and visual alerts causing “alarm fatigue” which creates an unsafe patient environment because a life-threatening arrhythmia may be missed in this milieu of sensory overload. Our study is the largest prospective study to date on the alarm fatigue problem. We found a staggering total number of alarms (>2,500,000 in one month) in 461 consecutive patients treated in our 77 adult intensive care unit beds. Although many of these alarms were configured to be visual text messages, we still found a high audible alarm burden of 187 audible alarms per bed per day. A noisy alarm environment interrupts patients’ sleep and invokes fear in patients and their families. We analyzed nearly 13,000 arrhythmia alarms and found that 88% of them were false alarms. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Smoking, Weight Research / 05.12.2014

Marcus Munafò PhD Professor of Biological Psychology MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies School of Experimental Psychology University of Bristol United KingdomMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marcus Munafò PhD Professor of Biological Psychology MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies School of Experimental Psychology University of Bristol United Kingdom Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Munafo: We were conducting an analysis of data on smoking behaviour and body mass index (BMI), in order to better understand the potential causal effects of smoking on different measures of adiposity. Mendelian randomisation uses genetic variants associated with the exposure of interest (in this case smoking) as proxies for the exposure, in order to reduce the risk of spurious associations arising from confounding or reverse causality. As expected, we found that, among current smokers, a genetic variant associated with heavier smoking was associated with lower BMI, providing good evidence that smoking reduces BMI. However, we also unexpectedly found that the same variant was associated with higher BMI in never smokers. This suggests that this variant might be influencing BMI via pathways other than smoking. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lung Cancer, PLoS / 03.12.2014

dr_Martin_C_TammemägiMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Martin C. Tammemägi Professor (Epidemiology), Brock University Department of Health Sciences St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Tammemägi: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in North America and the world. Lung cancer survival following diagnosis is generally poor, in the range of 10% to 15%, and has improved little over the last four decades. The biggest recent breakthrough for reducing lung cancer mortality came with the findings of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), a large, well-conducted randomized screening trial, which demonstrated that low dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening versus chest X-ray (CXR) screening can reduce lung cancer mortality by 20%. Currently, most guidelines for selecting screenees for lung screening use the NLST enrolment criteria of 30 or more pack-years smoked, former smokers must have quit smoking within 15 years and ages between 55 and 74, or use a variant of the NLST criteria. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) essentially recommends using the NLST criteria but extended the inclusion age to 80 years. The current study applied the PLCOm2012 lung cancer risk prediction model1 to NLST data and identified that the risk above which lung cancer mortality is consistently lower in the LDCT arm compared to the CXR arm, is ≥1.51% 6-year risk (65th percentile). The USPSTF and the PLCOm2012 risk ≥0.0151 criteria were then applied to the Prostate Lung Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) intervention arm smokers (the PLCOm2012 was developed in PLCO controls) to determine who would be selected for lung cancer screening. Compared to USPSTF criteria, the PLCOm2012 risk ≥0.0151 threshold selected 8.8% fewer individuals, but identified 12.4% more lung cancers (sensitivity 80.1% vs. 71.2%), and had fewer false positives (specificity 66.2% vs. 62.7%). 26% of smokers who were USPSTF criteria positive had risks below the PLCOm2012 risk ≥0.0151 threshold. Of PLCO former smokers who quit more than 15 years ago, 8.5% had PLCOm2012 risk ≥0.0151, suggesting that they might benefit from screening (2.9% of them developed lung cancer in 6 year). None of 65,711 never-smokers in the PLCO had PLCOm2012 risk ≥0.0151, indicating that never-smokers should not be screened. Individuals age ≥65–80 years had significantly higher risks and more lung cancers than those 55-64 years. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, PLoS / 26.11.2014

Dr. Marcus Povitz MD Department of Community Health Sciences University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Adjunct Professor and Clinical Fellow Western University Department of Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Marcus Povitz MD Department of Community Health Sciences University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Adjunct Professor and Clinical Fellow Western University Department of Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Povitz: Both depression and obstructive sleep apnea are important causes of illness and have overlapping symptoms. Both feature poor quality sleep, difficulty with concentration and memory as well as daytime sleepiness or fatigue. Previous research showed that depression is common in individuals with sleep apnea, but studies investigating the effect of treating sleep apnea on depressive symptoms have had conflicting results. Our study combined the results of all randomized controlled trials of participants who were treated for sleep apnea with CPAP or mandibular advancement devices where symptoms of depression were measured both before and after treatment. We found that in studies of individuals without a lot of symptoms of depression there was still a small improvement in these symptoms after treatment with CPAP or mandibular advancement device. In 2 studies of individuals with more symptoms of depression there was a large improvement in symptoms of depression. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, PLoS / 07.11.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Roberto Lent Diretor, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Bloco K, sala 2-35 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Prof. Lent: Our group has been studying the absolute numbers of cells in the human brain, using a novel technique that we have developed. We have done it for the whole male brain, and arrived at a figure of 86 billion neurons and 85 billion glial cells, 15% less than the round number that became a neuromyth (one hundred billion neurons). We did it also for the demented brain, in this case working with females, and showed that it is dementia that is associated with a loss of neurons, because people with alzheimer, but no dementia, displayed normal numbers of neurons. The present paper focuses on sexual dimorphism in the olfactory bulb, and revealed that women have around 40% more neurons and glial cells than men, what correlates with their superior performance in many olfactory abilities. (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, PLoS / 05.11.2014

Anna Alassaad Pharmacist, PhD Student, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, SwedenMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anna Alassaad Pharmacist, PhD Student, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The main findings from our study are that patients with a low number of prescribed drugs benefited more from a comprehensive clinical pharmacist intervention than patients with a higher number of drugs. There was no difference in effect between the patients with higher and lower levels of inappropriate prescribing, as measured by two validated tools for inappropriate prescribing. Clinical pharmacist interventions have in several studies shown positive effects on inappropriate prescribing and clinical outcomes. Since the concomitant use of a large number of drugs is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events, it is often assumed that patients receiving a larger number of drugs would benefit most from interventions aiming to improve the quality of drug use. However, differences in the effects of clinical pharmacist intervention between different subgroups of patients have rarely been analyzed. We have, in a randomized controlled trial, previously demonstrated that a clinical pharmacist intervention at an acute internal medicine hospital ward reduces emergency department visits by 47%, revisits to hospital by 16%, and drug-related readmissions by 80% for patients aged 80 years or older. We aimed to investigate whether there was any difference in treatment effect of the clinical pharmacist interventions on number of subsequent revisits to the emergency department between the patients with less than five drugs and those with five or more drugs on admission to hospital. We also explored whether the effect of the intervention was consistent for patients with a high or low level of inappropriate prescribing. (more…)
Author Interviews, Melanoma, PLoS / 16.10.2014

Professor Robert Insall CR-UK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research Glasgow UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Robert Insall CR-UK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research Glasgow UK Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Insall: The principal message is that melanoma cells make their own steering signals, and thus drive themselves out of the tumour and into the bloodstream.  This comes in two parts: (a) The principal steering signal when we assay melanoma spread in vitro is lysophosphatidic acid, LPA.  LPA steers cells with really remarkable accuracy; blocking LPA receptors stops them from spreading without hurting their health or ability to move. (b) Where does the LPA gradient come from?  They make it themselves.  There seems to be lots of LPA around; they break down the LPA near them, leading to a gradient that's low near the cells and high further away.  This is the gradient that steers the tumour cells. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gender Differences, PLoS / 11.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eero Haapala, MSc in Exercise Medicine, BASc PhD student University of Eastern Finland,School of Medicine Institute of Biomedicine, Physiology Kuopio, Finland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our study is one of the first studies to investigate the different types of physical activity and sedentary behavior with academic achievement in children. Our main finding was that children who were more physically active during school recess were better readers in Grades 1-3 than less active children. We also found a direct relationship between physically active school transportation, which was mainly walking and cycling, and reading skills in boys. These findings suggest that particularly physical activity within a school day benefits academic achievement and that physical activity benefit academic achievement more in boys than in girls 6-8 years of age. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Technology / 04.09.2014

Giulio Ruffini PhD Starlab Barcelona Neuroelectrics Barcelona Barcelona, Spain.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Giulio Ruffini PhD Starlab Barcelona Neuroelectrics Barcelona Barcelona, Spain. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ruffini: We demonstrated that it is possible to transmit information directly from a brain to another one, without intervention of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) - e.g., the senses. By hyperinteraction we mean this: the technologically mediated transmission of information directly from one brain to another, bypassing our senses or effectors (all which require the intervention of the PNS). (more…)
Anesthesiology, Fish, PLoS, Toxin Research / 20.08.2014

Prof. Peter B. Marko Department of Biology University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HawaiiMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Peter B. Marko Department of Biology University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study Prof. Marko: The main finding of the study was that species substitutions and fishery stock substitutions together obscure a complex pattern of mercury contamination in Chilean sea bass (or Patagonian toothfish) that can put consumers unknowingly at risk of ingesting greater levels of mercury than the labeling would suggest.  Although it is well appreciated that mercury levels vary dramatically among different species of fish, and that species substitutions have the potential to expose consumers to unwanted mercury, our study shows that for Chilean sea bass, fish mislabeled as to their country or region of origin (but labeled as the correct species) have a high potential to expose consumers to unexpectedly high levels of mercury. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Mediterranean Diet, Nutrition, PLoS, Sugar / 01.08.2014

Effie Viguiliouk M.Sc. Candidate, Department of Nutritional Sciences University of TorontoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Effie Viguiliouk M.Sc. Candidate, Department of Nutritional Sciences University of Toronto Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Effie Viguiliouk: This systematic review and meta-analysis of the totality of evidence from 12 randomized clinical trials in 450 participants with type 2 diabetes found that eating about 1/2 a cup of tree nuts per day (equivalent to about 60 g or 2 servings) significantly lowered the two key markers of blood sugar, HbA1c and fasting glucose, in comparison to calorically matched control diets without tree nuts. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, PLoS / 26.07.2014

Michael A. Collins PhD Professor of Molecular Pharmacology Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Maywood IL 60153MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael A. Collins PhD Professor of Molecular Pharmacology Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Maywood IL 60153 Medical Research: What are the main findings of your study? Dr. Collins: There were several:
  • First, we found that a cadre of neuroinflammatory proteins which promote or are stimulated by increased oxidative stress were significantly altered in a brain neurodegeneration model involving high alcohol binges in adult (male) rats. Most surprising was that the alterations were selectively evident in the three brain regions that contain a lot of dying neurons, and not in regions lacking neurodamage.
  • Additionally, in an alcohol-binged adult rat brain cultures, the same neuroinflammatory protein alterations, along with the neuronal damage, were replicated.
  • We further observed that binging the cultures depleted a key omega-3 fatty acid, termed DHA, in brain membranes. When these binged brain cultures were then supplemented with DHA, the neuroinflammatory protein changes and the neurodegeneration were largely or completely inhibited.
  • The results link specific oxidative stress-associated neuroinflammatory routes to the brain neuronal demise arising from high binge alcohol exposures.
  • They also reveal that supplementation with an omega-3 fatty acid reported to be neuroprotective with respect to other insults may be effective as well in suppressing the brain-damaging effects of excessive alcohol binges.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Herpes Viruses, HIV, PLoS / 06.07.2014

Dr. Don C. Des Jarlais PhD Director, International Research Core, Center for Drug Use and HIV Research Research Fellow, NDRI Director of Research, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of MedicineMedicalResearch Interview with: Dr. Don C. Des Jarlais PhD Director, International Research Core, Center for Drug Use and HIV Research Research Fellow, NDRI Director of Research, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Des Jarlais: HIV infection among non-injecting users of heroin and cocaine doubled doubled over the last several decades, from 7% to 14%. Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) increases both susceptibility to and transmissibility of HIV. We examined HSV-2 infection among non-injecting heroin and cocaine user over the same time period using stored serum samples. HSV-2 infection was strongly related to HIV infection, and both increased over time. We calculated population attributable risk percentages (PAR%) to estimate the extent to which HSV-2 was driving increased HIV infection. HSV-2 infection was responsible for approximately half of the increase in HIV infection (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, PLoS / 07.06.2014

Professor Marion M. Hetherington BSc (Hons) DipEd DPhil Institute of Psychological Sciences University of Leeds , Leeds, EnglandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Marion M. Hetherington BSc (Hons) DipEd DPhil Institute of Psychological Sciences University of Leeds , Leeds, England MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Professor Hetherington: This study was part of a much larger, funded project called HabEat (European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement n°245012. In this study we investigated the effects of offering a new vegetable (artichoke puree) to 332 children in the UK, Denmark and France from weaning age to 38 months. During the experiment each child was given between five and 10 servings of at least 100g of the artichoke puree in one of three versions: basic; sweetened, with added sugar; or added energy, where vegetable oil was mixed into the puree. There was a strong effect of repeated exposure with no additional, clear benefit of adding sweetness or energy. Thus little difference in how much was eaten between children fed basic puree and those who ate the sweetened puree. This suggests that making vegetables sweeter does not make a significant difference to the amount children eat. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Toxin Research, UCSD / 30.03.2014

Beatrice A. Golomb MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Family and Preventive Medicine University of California, San DiegoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Beatrice A. Golomb MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Family and Preventive Medicine University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Golomb: The main finding is that veterans with Gulf War illness have bioenergetic defects -- dysfunction of mitochondria, the energy producing elements of cells -- that is evident in comparing affected veterans to matched healthy controls. An estimated 1/4 to 1/3 of the ~700,000 US veterans from the 1990-1 Gulf War developed chronic multisymptom health problems that entail fatigue, cognitive and other CNS problems, muscle pain, weakness and exercise intolerance, with high rates of gastrointestinal (especially diarrhea) and neurological problems, and other symptoms - as well as autonomic dysfunction. Evidence suggests these problems have not abated with time. Veterans from other nations that have conducted epidemiological studies, including the UK, Canada, and Australia, also show elevated rates of problems. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Pediatrics, PLoS, Psychological Science / 29.03.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Prof. Natalia N. Kudryavtseva Head of Neurogenetics of Social Behavior Sector, Institute of Cytology and Genetics SD RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Hostile environment and social instability stress can have a significant impact on adolescents, causing the development of anxiety and depression. (more…)
Cognitive Issues, General Medicine, PLoS, University of Pittsburgh / 15.03.2014

Dr Tobias Teichert Assistant Professor of Psychiatry University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15261MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Tobias Teichert Assistant Professor of Psychiatry University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15261 MedicalResearch.com:  What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Teichert:  "Our study provided three main findings: First, we measured how long it takes subjects to allocate attention to a relevant target and how effectively they can block out the distractors. We found that after 120 msec selective attention is fully engaged and completely blocks out the distractor. Based on this finding, we predicted that subjects should be able to improve decision accuracy by delaying decision onset, and that this should be more effective than simply prolonging the whole decision process. Most importantly, we found that subjects indeed use this more effective way of improving decision onset: On average, subjects delayed decision onset by about 50 msec when we asked them be as accurate as possible. The good news is that people seem to use this more optimal mechanism automatically, without being told to do so and without being aware of what they do. The bad news is that we don’t seem to be using this skill quite as effectively as we could. In our case, subjects could have improved accuracy even further by delaying decision onset by an additional 50 ms. However, taken together, our findings show that decision onset is to some degree under cognitive control, and that we might be able to devise training strategies to harness its full potential” (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research / 25.02.2014

Nir Y. Krakauer Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering The City College of New York New York, New YorkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nir Y. Krakauer Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering The City College of New York New York, New York MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Krakauer: We studied the association between the recently proposed body shape index (ABSI) -- which combines waist circumference, height and weight measurements -- and risk of death in a United Kingdom population sample. We found that high ABSI predicted greater mortality hazard, with death rates increasing by about 13% per standard deviation increase in ABSI. Further, ABSI was a stronger predictor of early death than BMI, waist circumference, or other indices based on waist circumference such as waist to height ratio and waist to hip ratio. For a given starting ABSI value, reducing A Body Shape Index over a 7-year period was associated with lowered mortality risk, . (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, PLoS / 22.02.2014

Bodour Salhia, PhD Assistant Professor Integrated Cancer Genomics Division Translational Genomics Research Institute Phoenix, Arizona, 85004MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bodour Salhia, PhD Assistant Professor Integrated Cancer Genomics Division Translational Genomics Research Institute Phoenix, Arizona, 85004 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Salhia: Our study identified novel rare genomic and epigenomic events underlying breast cancer metastasis to brain. We demonstrated that we could molecularly subtype breast cancer brain metastasis the same way we can subtype primary breast cancer. From this analysis we found that the Luminal B subtype was the most common subtype in our cohort, followed by Her2+/ER- enriched tumors and Basal-like tumors. Each of these subtypes displayed genetic and epigenetic features reminiscent of primary breast cancer. We demonstrated that these tumors have a strong predilection to grow by activating pathways involved in G2/M cell cycle progression, whereas, many genes involved in cell migration were epigenetically silenced. Broad amplification of chromosome 8q was common, which resulted in the upregulation of important genes. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, PLoS / 21.02.2014

Prof. Nicholas J. Wald Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London London, United KingdomMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Nicholas J. Wald Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London London, United Kingdom MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof Wald: The percentage of women who become pregnant without having taken folic acid supplements to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect declined from a relatively low proportion (35%) to an even lower one (31%) between 1999 and 2012. Moreover such use of folic acid in some groups of the population is much lower for example 17% in Afro-Caribbean women and 6% in women aged under 20. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, OBGYNE, PLoS / 18.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Sylvia Lui Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre The University of Manchester MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The research shows women who drink alcohol at moderate or heavy levels in the early stages of their pregnancy might damage the growth and function of their placenta – the organ responsible for supplying everything that a developing infant needs until birth (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, PLoS, Weight Research / 14.02.2014

Dorte Vistisen Senior researcher, MSc PhD 469 - Epidemiology DK-2820 Gentofte DenmarkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dorte Vistisen Senior researcher, MSc PhD 469 - Epidemiology DK-2820 Gentofte Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Vistisen: Our study highlights the complexity of type 2 diabetes. We show that in most people the development of type 2 diabetes is preceded by many years of overweight and not by massive weight gain. (more…)
Author Interviews, Colon Cancer, General Medicine, PLoS, University of Michigan, Weight Research / 09.02.2014

Jenifer I Fenton Assistant Professor Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jenifer I Fenton Assistant Professor Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Fenton: This was a cross-sectional study, and thus, a snapshot in time. Although it cannot infer cause or temporality of obesity and colon polyp risk in men, it does show that obese men were more likely to have a polyp than their lean counterpart. In addition, there were serum biomarkers also associated with this risk. This could eventually lead to future blood tests to identify individuals at greater risk for polyps and inform screening recommendations. (more…)
Author Interviews, General Medicine, PLoS / 23.12.2013

Dr. Beate Wieseler
 Head of Department Dept. Drug Assessment Institute for Quality and Efficiency 
in Health Care (IQWiG)
Im Mediapark Köln GermanyMedical Research.com Interview with: Dr. Beate Wieseler
 Head of Department Dept. Drug Assessment Institute for Quality and Efficiency 
in Health Care (IQWiG)
Im Mediapark Köln Germany MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Wieseler: Our study shows that unpublished clinical study reports, i.e. reports submitted to regulatory authorities during the approval procedure for a drug, provide substantially more information on patient-relevant outcomes than publicly available sources, i.e. articles published in medical journals and reports published in online clinical trial registries. (A “patient-relevant outcome” is an outcome describing morbidity, mortality or health-related quality of life.) (more…)