Social Issues

02 Dec

Posted at 22:11h in Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Ophthalmology, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Antoine Coutrot PhD CoMPLEX University College London London, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The human face is central to our everyday social interactions. Recent studies have shown that while gazing at faces, each one of us has a particular eye-scanning pattern, highly stable across time. Although variables such as culture or personality have been shown to modulate gaze behavior, we still don't know what shapes these idiosyncrasies. Moreover, most previous observations rely on analyses of small-sized eye-position datasets, often from the WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) population. Here we use a very large and diverse dataset (400+ participants from 58 nationalities) and show that among many observer characteristics, gender is the one that best explains the differences in gaze behaviour. When looking at faces, women are more exploratory than men and more biased toward the left side. We even trained a classifier able to infer the gender of observers only based on their gaze.

22 Nov

Posted at 23:07h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Pediatrics, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_29918" align="alignleft" width="200"]Charles Opondo, BPharm MSc PhD. Researcher in Statistics and Epidemiology National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford Oxford Dr. Charles Opondo[/caption] Charles Opondo, BPharm MSc PhD. Researcher in Statistics and Epidemiology National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford Oxford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our study measured fathers’ involvement in their child’s upbringing in infancy by looking at their emotional response to their child (e.g. feeling confident with the child, making a strong bond with the child), how involved they were in childcare (e.g. changing nappies, playing, night feeding, and also general care tasks around the house such as meal preparation) and their feelings of being a secure in their role as a parent (e.g. feeling included by mother in childcare, not feeling inexperienced with children). We found that the children of fathers who scored highly in terms of their emotional response and feeling like a secure parent were less likely to have symptoms of behavioural problems when they were 9 or 11 years. However, fathers being more involved in direct childcare did not seem to affect the child’s risk of having later behavioural problems.

18 Nov

Posted at 01:39h in Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_29749" align="alignleft" width="150"]Carlota Batres, Ph.D. Perception Lab School of Psychology and Neuroscience University of St Andrews UK Dr. Carlota Batres,[/caption] Carlota Batres, Ph.D. Perception Lab School of Psychology and Neuroscience University of St Andrews UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The background for this study is that previous research had found that people in different environments prefer different faces, which suggests that preferences change according to the environment. However, because previous research had never tracked the same participants across environmental changes, such a link could not be confirmed. Therefore, we sought to determine if, and to what extent, face preferences were malleable by repeatedly testing participants whose environment was not changing as well participants undergoing intensive training at an army camp.

19 Oct

Posted at 14:46h in AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam L. Beckman Yale College, New Haven, CT (at the time this work was completed) Erica S Spatz MD MHS Assistant Professor, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation Yale-New Haven Hospital Yale University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Beckman: Despite the expansion of insurance coverage, young adults face major challenges to obtaining affordable healthcare. We suspected women may experience greater challenges than men — they often have lower income and less complete medical coverage than men, and care for multiple generations of family, and that this may in part explain why young women have worse outcomes following a heart attack as compared with similarly-aged men.

14 Oct

Posted at 14:51h in Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28877" align="alignleft" width="200"]Anita P. Barbee, MSSW, Ph.D. Professor and Distinguished University Scholar President-Elect, International Association for Relationship Research Kent School of Social Work University of Louisville Louisville, KY 40292 Dr. Anita P. Barbee[/caption] Anita P. Barbee, MSSW, Ph.D. Professor and Distinguished University Scholar President-Elect, International Association for Relationship Research Kent School of Social Work University of Louisville Louisville, KY 40292 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2010, our team at the University of Louisville with colleagues from Spalding University, were awarded a Tier 2 grant from the Office of Adolescent Health to study innovative teen pregnancy prevention interventions. We assembled a fantastic team of staff, students, community members and twenty three community based organizations to work together collaboratively to recruit and retain close to 1450 youth from the most distressed areas of our metropolitan area in order to conduct a randomized controlled trial. We tested the efficacy of two interventions compared to a control condition. Our reason for this was to see how a new type of teen pregnancy intervention would perform compared to a more typical comprehensive sex education program, Reducing the Risk, which was already on the OAH list of evidence based interventions as well as to a control condition, which focused on community building but had no content on personal self esteem building, healthy relationships, dating violence or sexuality. The new program that was tested was Love Notes. Love Notes is a healthy relationship curriculum that addresses the context of sexual exploration as well as key points in preventing problematic outcomes of sexual activity such as the spread of disease, pregnancy and emotional heartache. The groups of youth that continue to have high rates of pregnancy tend to be disconnected from society through poverty and discrimination (minority and poor youth) or from family as a result of leaving home countries (refugees and immigrants), being removed from their homes due to child abuse or neglect (foster youth) or being rejected from families due to their LGBTQ orientations.

21 Sep

Posted at 16:07h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Nutrition, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28068" align="alignleft" width="133"]Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD | Professor and Director Nutrition Coordinating Center Division of Epidemiology and Community Health School of Public Health, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55454-1087 Dr. Lisa Harnack[/caption] Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD | Professor and Director Nutrition Coordinating Center Division of Epidemiology and Community Health School of Public Health, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55454-1087 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is interest in considering ways to reshape SNAP so that it better meets meet its objective to help families buy the food they need for good health. Prohibiting the purchase of foods such as soft drinks with SNAP benefits is one of the proposed program changes. Offering an incentive for the purchase of fruits and vegetables is another program change that is being discussed. Little is known about the effects of prohibitions and restrictions on food purchasing and consumption. Consequently, we carried out an experimental trial to evaluate effects. In our study we found that a food benefit program that includes both prohibitions on the purchase of less nutritious foods and incentives for purchasing nutritious foods may lead to a number of favorable changes in diet. To elaborate, we found those enrolled in a food benefit program that prohibited the purchase of sugar sweetened beverages, sweet bakes goods, and candies with food program benefits and provided a 30% financial incentive for fruit and vegetable purchases had a number of favorable dietary changes that were significantly different from changes among those enrolled in a food benefit program that had neither prohibitions or incentives. These favorable changes included reduced consumption of calories, sugar sweetened beverages, sweet baked goods, and candies; and increased consumption of fruit. The overall nutritional quality of the diet also improved. Fewer nutritional improvements were observed among those enrolled in food benefit programs that included prohibitions or incentives only.

17 Sep

Posted at 21:11h in Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Social Issues, Toxin Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28039" align="alignleft" width="151"]Dr. Katherine Ahrens PhD Office of Population Affairs Rockville, MD 20852 Dr. Katherine Ahrens[/caption] Dr. Katherine Ahrens PhD Office of Population Affairs Rockville, MD 20852 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Lead exposure among children is linked to many adverse effects on health and cognitive development, which can be irreversible. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has linked 1999 to 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to administrative data for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) largest rental assistance programs (1999 through 2014), and these linked data allow calculation of the first-ever national blood lead level estimates among children living in HUD-assisted housing. Here we compare blood lead levels among children 1 to 5 years of age in 2005 to 2012 who received housing assistance during 1999 to 2014 with levels among children who did not receive housing assistance during that period.

16 Sep

Posted at 13:34h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Social Issues, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27851" align="alignleft" width="200"]Professor Timothy Frayling PhD Professor of Human Genetics University of Exeter Medical School Exeter, UK Prof. Timothy Frayling[/caption] Professor Timothy Frayling PhD Professor of Human Genetics University of Exeter Medical School Exeter, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We know that genes and environmental factors influence our Body mass index. We know less about if and how they interact. We wanted to answer the question of whether or not aspects of the environment and our lifestyles accentuate any genetic predisposition to obesity. The question is important as it may highlight aspects of the environment that cause some people to be particularly susceptible to gaining weight. Previous, separate, studies have suggested that specific aspects of the environment are to blame. These included sugary drinks, fried food and TV watching.

15 Sep

Posted at 01:27h in Author Interviews, Duke, Medical Imaging, MRI, PLoS, Psychological Science, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27929" align="alignleft" width="133"]Kevin S. LaBar, Ph.D. Professor and Head, Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience Program Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Duke University Durham, NC Dr. Kevin LaBar[/caption] Kevin S. LaBar, Ph.D. Professor and Head, Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience Program Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Duke University Durham, NC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Emotion research is limited by a lack of objective markers of emotional states. Most human research relies on self-report, but individuals may not have good insight into their own emotions. We have developed a new way to identify emotional states using brain imaging and machine learning tools. First, we induced emotional states using film and music clips while individuals were in an MRI scanner. We trained a computer algorithm to identify the brain areas that distinguished 7 emotions from each other (fear, anger, surprise, sadness, amusement, contentment, and a neutral state). This procedure created a brain map for each of the 7 emotions. Then, a new group of participants self-reported their emotional state every 30 seconds in an MRI scanner while no stimuli were presented. We could predict which emotion was spontaneously reported by the subjects by comparing their brain scans to each of the 7 emotion maps. Finally, in a large group of 499 subjects, we found that the presence of the fear map during rest predicted state and trait anxiety while the presence of the sadness map predicted state and trait depression.

12 Sep

Posted at 20:32h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Social Issues, UCSF
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laura M. Gottlieb, MD, MPH Department of Family and Community Medicine, 2Center for Health and Community University of California, San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Numerous studies have demonstrated that childhood exposures to social adversities, like family financial insecurity, food insecurity, and housing instability, lead to poorer health outcomes across the life course. These social adversities disproportionately affect low-income and racial minority populations. In response to this evidence there have been calls to address social needs in pediatric clinical care settings. For example, recently the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Task Force on Childhood Poverty endorsed the promotion of evidenced-based strategies to reduce the negative health effects of poverty on low-income children, including by increasing the availability of clinic-based interventions addressing social risks. In response to these calls to action, a growing number of pediatric health care organizations are screening for and address families’ social needs. There is a critical need for more evidence on the effectiveness of these types of interventions. Many of the studies conducted so far have focused primarily on assessing program process outcomes or impacts on families’ social needs, but have not evaluated actual health outcomes resulting from program participation. To our knowledge, this study was the first randomized clinical trial evaluating the impacts of a pediatric social needs navigation program on child health. The reported number of social needs identified at baseline ranged from 0 to 11 out of 14 possible items, with a mean [SD] of 2.7[2.2] needs identified by participating families. Family participation in the navigation program intervention significantly decreased families’ reports of social needs by a mean (SE) of .39(0.13) vs. an increase of a mean (SE) of .22(0.13) in the active control arm. Participation in the navigation program also significantly improved parent-reported overall child health, with a mean (SE) change of -.036(0.05), compared to the active control arm with a mean (SE) change of -0.12(0.05). At 4 months post enrollment, the number of social needs reported by those that participated in the navigation program decreased by a mean (SE) of .39(0.13).

31 Aug

Posted at 15:28h in Author Interviews, Nutrition, Pediatrics, Social Issues, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27521" align="alignleft" width="133"]Kai Ling Kong, PhD, MS Assistant Professor Division of Behavioral Medicine Department of Pediatrics School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences State University of New York at Buffalo Dr. Kai Ling Kong[/caption] Kai Ling Kong, PhD, MS Assistant Professor Division of Behavioral Medicine Department of Pediatrics School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences State University of New York at Buffalo MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Infant temperament, or individual behavior styles, can be reliably measured and is related to weight status. However, we know very little about the association of infants’ temperament and their motivation to eat versus engage in other activities (relative food reinforcement). Examining such associations is an important step given the need to use behavioral strategies in obesity prevention in early life. The purpose of our study was to determine if infant temperament, specifically the factors that have been linked with obesity risk, are associated with infant relative food reinforcement.

22 Aug

Posted at 22:59h in Author Interviews, Leukemia, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27119" align="alignleft" width="132"]Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD Associate Professor Department of Medicine and UAB-CCC Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Program Birmingham, AL 35294 Dr. Luciano Costa[/caption] Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD Associate Professor Department of Medicine and UAB-CCC Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Program Birmingham, AL 35294 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Even though expected survival for multiple myeloma patients has increased over the last two decades, that improvement has not been much more pronounced among White than among patients of racial/ethnic minorities. It is possible that such discrepancy results from unequal access to care, particularly as treatment becomes more complex and expensive. We used a large dataset of patients with  multiple myeloma to explore how socioeconomic factors, specifically marital status, income and insurance affect outcome and how these factors relate to race/ethnicity.

19 Aug

Posted at 20:20h in Author Interviews, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily H. Starr, M.A. Doctoral Candidate City, Culture, & Community Tulane University, New Orleans MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study examines the relationship between work, partnering, and parenthood through the perspectives of bartenders working in the New Orleans metro area. Bartenders frame work, intimate relationships, and family as interlocking matrices and view their lack of legitimate work (or their lack of a normative 9-5 job with security, benefits, and a salary) as a prohibitive or complicating factor in their ability to assume the roles of partner and parent. Some of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor market are low-wage and low-skill jobs meaning that young people will increasingly grapple with hegemonic "white picket fence" ideologies that prescribe certain family forms and occupational/labor relationships as ideal. Moreover, the matrices of performative adulthood are gendered with women and men framing their work as incompatible with family life for different reasons. Women more often experience sexual harassment/objectification, feel their skills and abilities are called into question, and perceive that women bartenders are marginalized as "certain types of women." These perceptions lend themselves towards women bartenders framing barwork as incompatible or undesirable with mothering. Men express anxiety about their long-term earning potential and combating the stigma of low-status work through the professionalization of the craft cocktail and spirits industry. Thus, men are more concerned about their role as breadwinner rather than viewing bartending and fatherhood roles as mutually-exclusive. These findings suggest that bartenders draw upon dominant ideologies of normative adulthood and invoke traditional gender roles to frame their perspectives about bartending and family life. Importantly, the contours and realities of their working lives are the prohibitive factor in bartenders' perspectives about the possibility for participating in long-term intimate relationships and parenthood.

29 Jun

Posted at 21:22h in Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, OBGYNE, Sexual Health, Social Issues, UCSF
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_25598" align="alignleft" width="126"]Tami Rowen MD MS Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences UCSF Dr. Tami Rowen[/caption] Tami Rowen MD MS Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences UCSF MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study sought to answer the question of which women are engaging in genital grooming and understand their motivations. Prior studies have been limited by geography and age thus our goal was to provide a nationally representative sample of women.

21 Jun

Posted at 01:39h in Author Interviews, CDC, Fertility, Social Issues
[caption id="attachment_25318" align="alignleft" width="160"]MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ghenet Besera, MPH National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The Title X program, established in 1970, offers confidential family planning and related preventive services to both men and women. While most clients are women, Title X also promotes use of services by men through delivery of male-focused services. Men’s family planning needs include services not only relate to contraception, but also relate to preconception care, infertility, and STD/ HIV services, which affect their reproductive health and overall health. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: More men are visiting Title X Family Planning Program sites. From 2003-2014, a total of nearly 4 million men visited Title X service sites in the 50 states and District of Columbia. The percent of male clients nearly doubled from 4.5 percent in 2003 to 8.8 percent in 2014. The percentage of clients that were male also varied widely from state to state, from 1 percent or less in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama to 27.2 percent in the District of Columbia. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: The finding that more men are seeking these services at Title X sites is encouraging, especially given the opportunity to offer related preventive services at the family planning visit. More men are accessing services related to family planning, achieving pregnancy when desired, and services that can affect their overall health, such as preventing or addressing sexually transmitted infections. MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study? Response: Future research could examine men’s receipt of sexual and reproductive health services in other health care settings. This would be important to assess to see if the increase in males seeking family planning services at Title X clinics, is true for other healthcare settings. MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Response: In 2014, CDC and OPA published Providing Quality Family Planning Services: Recommendations of CDC and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs, which describes services that should be offered in a family planning visit, and guidance for providing those services to both men and women. Health care providers can adopt the framework used by Title X clinics to better provide family planning and related preventive health services to men. MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community. Citation: Besera G, Moskosky S, Pazol K, et al. Male Attendance at Title X Family Planning Clinics — United States, 2003–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:602–605. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6523a3. Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions. More Medical Research Interviews on MedicalResearch.com Ghenet Besera[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ghenet Besera, MPH National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The Title X program, established in 1970, offers confidential family planning and related preventive services to both men and women. While most clients are women, Title X also promotes use of services by men through delivery of male-focused services. Men’s family planning needs include services not only related to contraception, but also related to preconception care, infertility, and STD/ HIV services, which affect their reproductive health and overall health.

17 Jun

Posted at 11:36h in Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_25155" align="alignleft" width="142"]Kelli A. Komro, MPH, PhD, Professor Director of Graduate Studies Behavioral Sciences and Health Education Jointly Appointed, Epidemiology Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 Dr. Kelli Komro[/caption] Kelli A. Komro, MPH, PhD, Professor Director of Graduate Studies Behavioral Sciences and Health Education Jointly Appointed, Epidemiology Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Dr. Komro: Epidemiologists have done a thorough job describing the income-health gradient, which shows a clear association between income and health. That is, as income increases, exposure to health risks and premature mortality decreases. Each step down on the income ladder decreases one’s health for many reasons related to material resources, physical environment exposures and social circumstances. The income to health association begins at birth, and more than one in four women giving birth in the U.S. are below the poverty level, putting nearly 1 million babies at risk each year. Low-income mothers are more likely to give birth prematurely, to have low birth weight babies, and to suffer the death of their infant during the post-neonatal period (28 to 364 days old). Given the importance of the income-health gradient, we set out to test the health effects of policies that are designed to increase economic security among low-income families. Our main question is: Do policies designed to reduce poverty and improve family economic security also improve health? One relevant policy is minimum wage laws. A federal minimum wage was first enacted in 1938. The real value (in 2015 dollars) of the federal minimum wage reached a high of $10.85 in 1968. The current federal rate is $7.25. Many cities and states have passed minimum wage laws that are higher than the federal rate, and currently there is a range of minimum wage increases under active public and policymaker discussion. Given that some states pass minimum wage standards and others do not, and that laws within states change over time, we took advantage of all the changes that have occurred to design a natural experiment. Our natural experiment examined the effects of state minimum wage laws on infant health.

07 Jun

Posted at 20:46h in Author Interviews, Duke, Education, Genetic Research, Social Issues

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_25021" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Daniel Belsky[/caption] Daniel Belsky, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke University School of Medicine Durham, NC 27708 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Belsky: The genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment by the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium was the first large-scale genetic investigation of a...

03 Jun

Posted at 23:51h in Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Social Issues
[caption id="attachment_24901" align="alignleft" width="144"]Dr Robb Rutledge UCL Institute of Neurology and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research University College London Dr Robb Rutledge[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Robb Rutledge UCL Institute of Neurology and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research University College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Rutledge: As we get older, dopamine levels in the brain gradually decline. Dopamine has long been associated with risk taking and we have recently found that it is related specifically to how willing people are to take risks for potential rewards. It is widely believed that older people are risk averse, but this is controversial, and it is unknown whether age-related changes in dopamine are responsible for changes in risk taking. In this study, we tested over 25,000 people using a smartphone app called The Great Brain Experiment where players tried to win as many points as they could by choosing between safe and risky options. We found that older people were less willing to takes risks for potential rewards than young people, the same situations dopamine is known to be involved in.

03 Jun

Posted at 15:00h in Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24890" align="alignleft" width="132"]Zhenmei Zhang, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Sociology Michigan State University East Lansing, MI48824 Dr. Zhenmei Zhang[/caption] Zhenmei Zhang, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Sociology Michigan State University East Lansing, MI48824 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Zhang: Blacks are especially hard hit by cognitive impairment and dementia. Recent estimates of dementia prevalence and incidence were substantially higher for blacks than whites. Reducing racial/ethnic disparities in dementia has been identified as a national priority by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2011. So I really want to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the origins and pathways through which racial disparities in cognitive impairment is produced. If we have a better understanding of the factors contributing to racial disparities in cognitive impairment in later life, more effective interventions can be conducted to reduce the racial disparities.

27 May

Posted at 20:22h in Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jianghong Li, Senior Scientist (PhD) From the President’s Project Group, WZB Berlin Social Science Center (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung GmbH: www.wzb.eu) Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Jianghong Li: Commuting to work is a common phenomenon in developed countries. In the US full-time wage workers residing in urban counties on average commuted about 55 minutes to work. In the UK, workers commuted 42 minutes (round trip) for work in 2008. German workers commute 13 kilometers and 44 minutes both ways to work on average. The average daily commuting time for work in other European countries ranges from 29 minutes in Portugal to 51 minutes in Hungary. To make your commute a little easier, why not try the Moovit app with its handy tracking tools such as the metro map. Men commute longer than women to work and working fathers commute further to work than working mothers. Men who are employed full-time and with children commute longer than their counterparts without children, regardless of the age of the youngest child. Previous research has shown that long commuting to workplace is associated with reduced civic participation and social interactions, lower life satisfaction, elevated stress hormone and reduced task performance, and increased risk for marriage breakdown. Daily experiences of unreliable transport, conflicting time schedules, congested roads and crowded trains contribute to commuters’ physical and psychological stress. These health and psychosocial consequences of commuting raise a concern about its plausible negative impact on children’s well-being. Yet, there was no inquiry about the effect of commuting on children’s well-being, except one small-scale study in the US of mothers leaving welfare for employment.

24 May

Posted at 14:51h in Aging, Author Interviews, End of Life Care, NEJM, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24622" align="alignleft" width="200"]MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jill Cameron, PhD Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Rehabilitation Sciences Institute Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Cameron: In the world of critical illness, a lot of research has focused on helping people to survive – and now that more people are surviving, we need to ask ourselves, what does quality of life and wellbeing look like afterwards for both patients and caregivers? The aim of our research was to identify factors associated with family caregiver health and wellbeing during the first year after patients were discharged from the Intensive Care Unit. We examined factors related to the patient and their functional wellbeing, the caregiving situation including the impact it has on caregivers everyday lives, and caregiver including their sense of control over their lives and available social support. We used Pearlin’s Caregiving Stress Process model to guide this research. From 2007-2014, caregivers of patients who received seven or more days of mechanical ventilation in an ICU across 10 Canadian university-affiliated hospitals were given self-administered questionnaires to assess caregiver and patient characteristics, caregiver depression symptoms, psychological wellbeing, and health-related quality of life. Assessments occurred seven days and three, six and 12-months after ICU discharge. The study found that most caregivers reported high levels of depression symptoms, which commonly persisted up to one year and did not improve in some. Caregiver sense of control, impact on caregivers’ everyday lives, and social support had the largest relationships with the outcomes. Caregivers’ experienced better health outcomes when they were older, caring for a spouse, had higher income, better social support, sense of control, and caregiving had less of a negative impact on their everyday lives. No patient characteristics or indicators of illness severity were associated with caregiver outcomes. Poor caregiver outcomes may compromise patients’ rehabilitation potential and sustainability of home care. Identifying risk factors for caregiver distress is an important first step to prevent more suffering and allow ICU survivors and caregivers to regain active and fulfilling lives. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Dr. Cameron: Our findings suggest that family caregiver health and wellbeing outcomes are more closely related to characteristics of the caregiver and caregiving situation than patient characteristics including functional abilities and neuropsychological wellbeing. This suggests that when determining which caregivers are in need of support, we can't base this decision on the level of sickness of the patient. We need to screen the caregivers themselves to identify those in need of care and support. Our findings suggest caregivers with low levels of social support, poor sense of control over their situation, and whose caregiving is more likely to impact their everyday lives are more likely to experience poor outcomes and are in need of support from the health care system. MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study? Dr. Cameron: Future research should continue to be theoretically driven and follow caregivers longitudinally. Qualitative research involving in depth interviews will enhance our understanding of ways to assist, support, and care for family caregivers across the illness trajectory. Interventions and models of care that target those caregivers in need of support should be developed and tested and ultimately implemented into the health care system. MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Dr. Cameron: Ultimately, adopting a family centered model of care has the potential to improve the health and wellbeing of family caregivers and their care recipients. One example of adopting this approach concerns the transition of the patient back home. Patients and their caregivers should be assessed for their readiness to go home and provided with education and training to optimize this transition. Once home, families should continue to be monitored and provided with additional supports as needed as they adjust to life in the community. A family centered approach can be incorporated across the care continuum to optimize caregiver and patient outcomes. Citation: One-Year Outcomes in Caregivers of Critically Ill Patients Jill I. Cameron, Ph.D., Leslie M. Chu, B.Sc., Andrea Matte, B.Sc., George Tomlinson, Ph.D., Linda Chan, B.A.Sc., Claire Thomas, R.N., Jan O. Friedrich, M.D., D.Phil., Sangeeta Mehta, M.D., Francois Lamontagne, M.D., Melanie Levasseur, M.D., Niall D. Ferguson, M.D., Neill K.J. Adhikari, M.D., Jill C. Rudkowski, M.D., Hilary Meggison, M.D., Yoanna Skrobik, M.D., John Flannery, M.D., Mark Bayley, M.D., Jane Batt, M.D., Claudia dos Santos, M.D., Susan E. Abbey, M.D., Adrienne Tan, M.D., Vincent Lo, P.T., B.Sc., Sunita Mathur, P.T., Ph.D., Matteo Parotto, M.D., Denise Morris, R.N., Linda Flockhart, R.N., Eddy Fan, M.D., Ph.D., Christie M. Lee, M.D., M. Elizabeth Wilcox, M.D., Najib Ayas, M.D., Karen Choong, M.D., Robert Fowler, M.D., Damon C. Scales, M.D., Tasnim Sinuff, M.D., Brian H. Cuthbertson, M.D., Louise Rose, R.N., Ph.D., Priscila Robles, P.T., Ph.D., Stacey Burns, R.N., Marcelo Cypel, M.D., Lianne Singer, M.D., Cecilia Chaparro, M.D., Chung-Wai Chow, M.D., Shaf Keshavjee, M.D., Laurent Brochard, M.D., Paul Hébert, M.D., Arthur S. Slutsky, M.D., John C. Marshall, M.D., Deborah Cook, M.D., and Margaret S. Herridge, M.D., M.P.H., for the RECOVER Program Investigators (Phase 1: towards RECOVER) and the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group N Engl J Med 2016; 374:1831-1841May 12, 2016DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1511160 Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions. More Medical Research Interviews on MedicalResearch.com Dr. Jill Cameron[/caption] Jill Cameron, PhD Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Rehabilitation Sciences Institute Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Cameron: In the world of critical illness, a lot of research has focused on helping people to survive – and now that more people are surviving, we need to ask ourselves, what does quality of life and wellbeing look like afterwards for both patients and caregivers? The aim of our research was to identify factors associated with family caregiver health and wellbeing during the first year after patients were discharged from the Intensive Care Unit. We examined factors related to the patient and their functional wellbeing, the caregiving situation including the impact it has on caregivers everyday lives, and caregiver including their sense of control over their lives and available social support. We used Pearlin’s Caregiving Stress Process model to guide this research. From 2007-2014, caregivers of patients who received seven or more days of mechanical ventilation in an ICU across 10 Canadian university-affiliated hospitals were given self-administered questionnaires to assess caregiver and patient characteristics, caregiver depression symptoms, psychological wellbeing, and health-related quality of life. Assessments occurred seven days and three, six and 12-months after ICU discharge. The study found that most caregivers reported high levels of depression symptoms, which commonly persisted up to one year and did not improve in some. Caregiver sense of control, impact on caregivers’ everyday lives, and social support had the largest relationships with the outcomes. Caregivers’ experienced better health outcomes when they were older, caring for a spouse, had higher income, better social support, sense of control, and caregiving had less of a negative impact on their everyday lives. No patient characteristics or indicators of illness severity were associated with caregiver outcomes. Poor caregiver outcomes may compromise patients’ rehabilitation potential and sustainability of home care. Identifying risk factors for caregiver distress is an important first step to prevent more suffering and allow ICU survivors and caregivers to regain active and fulfilling lives.

16 May

Posted at 15:55h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24338" align="alignleft" width="130"]Dr. Tyler VanderWeele PhD Professor of Epidemiology Department of Epidemiology Department of Biostatistics Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Dr. Tyler VanderWeele[/caption] Dr. Tyler VanderWeele PhD Professor of Epidemiology Department of Epidemiology Department of Biostatistics Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. VanderWeele: There have been some prior studies on religious service attendance and mortality. Many of these have been criticized for poor methodology including the possibility of reverse causation – that only those who are healthy can attend services, so that attendance isn’t necessarily influencing health. We tried to address some of these criticisms with better methodology. We used repeated measures of attendance and health over time to address this, and a very large sample, and controlled for an extensive range of common causes of religious service attendance and health. This was arguably the strongest study on the topic to date and addressed many of the methodological critiques of prior literature. We found that compared with women who never attended religious services, women who attended more than once per week had 33% lower mortality risk during the study period. Those who attended weekly had 26% lower risk and those who attended less than once a week had 13% lower risk.

12 May

Posted at 10:42h in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24209" align="alignleft" width="148"]Erica Spatz, MD, MHS Assistant Professor, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation Yale University School of Medicine/Yale-New Haven Hospital New Haven, CT 06520 Dr. Erica Spatz[/caption] Erica Spatz, MD, MHS Assistant Professor, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation Yale University School of Medicine/Yale-New Haven Hospital New Haven, CT 06520 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Spatz: Rates of heart attack have declined during the last 15 years. But whether communities of different economic status or in different geographic regions experienced similar declines is unknown, especially as efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease and manage heart attacks may not have been equally successful in communities with different resource capacity. Our study shows that trends in the incidence of and mortality from heart attack were similar in low, average and high income communities. However, low-income communities had higher hospitalization rates than average and high income communities throughout the 15 year study period. Interestingly mortality rates were similar.

26 Apr

Posted at 21:27h in Author Interviews, Sexual Health, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lindsey Hicks Doctoral Student Social Psychology Florida State University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: My colleagues and I are very interested in the factors that differentially predict peoples’ self-reported relationship satisfaction and their gut-level feelings about their partners—the spontaneous feelings they have and may not articulate. Because explicit self-reports require conscious deliberation they are subject to the influence of biases and beliefs about relationships; gut-level, automatic attitudes do not require conscious deliberation and thus appear to better track actual experience. With that in mind, we examined whether sexual frequency influences automatic but not explicit evaluations of the partner. Previous research has yielded inconsistent results regarding the influence of sexual frequency on relationship satisfaction, and we thought such inconsistencies may stem from the influence of deliberate reasoning and biased beliefs regarding the sometimes taboo topic of sex. Thus, we tested the association between partners’ sexual frequency and their gut-level feelings about each other. Basically we found that the frequency with which couples have sex has no influence on whether or not they report being happy with their relationship, but their sexual frequency does influence their more spontaneous, automatic, gut-level feelings about their partners. This is particularly important in light of previous research done by my colleagues demonstrating that it these automatic attitudes ultimately predict whether or not they’ll end up becoming dissatisfied with their relationship.

26 Apr

Posted at 13:15h in Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, PNAS, Social Issues

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

[caption id="attachment_23783" align="alignleft" width="140"]Joan L. Luby, MD Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry Director, Early Emotional Development Program Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, Missouri Dr. Joan Luby[/caption]

Joan L. Luby, MD Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry Director, Early Emotional Development Program Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, Missouri

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Luby: The study was designed to investigate brain development in early onset mental disorders. The main findings validate depression in preschoolers with brain change evident this young similar to that known in adults. We also found effects of maternal support on brain development in this process which is what the current paper focuses on .

20 Apr

Posted at 13:47h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Social Issues, Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23586" align="alignleft" width="133"]Nicole Valtorta NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow Department of Health Sciences University of York, UK Nicole Valtorta[/caption] Nicole Valtorta NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow Department of Health Sciences University of York, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Lonely and socially isolated adults are at increased risk of mortality. The influence of social relationships on morbidity is widely accepted, but the size of the risk to cardiovascular health is unclear. We systematically reviewed the evidence from prospective cohort studies to investigate the association between loneliness or social isolation and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. We identified 23 papers reporting data from 16 longitudinal datasets, for a total of 4,628 CHD and 3,002 stroke events. Reports of eleven studies (CHD) and eight studies (stroke) provided data suitable for meta-analyses, the results of which indicated that deficiencies in social relationships are associated with an increased risk of developing CHD and stroke. People who were lonely or isolated had, on average, a 29% greater risk of incident CHD; similarly, the risk of developing stroke was 32% greater among isolated individuals.

15 Apr

Posted at 13:23h in Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Karolinski Institute, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zheng Chang, PhD Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Chang: More than 30 million people are released from prison worldwide every year. Despite reported decreases in violence in many countries, repeat offending remains high across many high-income and middle-income countries. Because there is considerable inconsistency and inefficiency in identifying those who are at high risk of reoffending and most in need of interventions, we developed and validated a clinical prediction rule to determine this risk in released prisoners. We did a cohort study of 47 326 prisoners released in Sweden between 2001 and 2009. We developed a 14-item model to predict violent reoffending, which includes modifiable risk factors and has been externally validated. The model showed good measures of discrimination and calibration. The study uses the methods to develop the prediction model on the basis of TRIPOD guidelines, and it is a brief, easy to use, and scalable tool. This tool has also been translated into a freely available web application (OxRec).

07 Apr

Posted at 12:55h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Simon Graff Department of Public Health Aarhus University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Graff: We knew that a substantial amount of evidence have accumulated, linking our mental wellbeing to our body. With that in mind we wanted to examine one of the (if not the most) most stressful life event; the loss of a partner! Former studies have ranked bereavement of a life partner as the most stressful life event we humans can experience. Our study reports that spousal bereavement is followed by a transiently increased risk of new onset of atrial fibrillation (AF). The risk was highest 8-14 days after the loss and remains elevated for one year.

05 Apr

Posted at 19:32h in Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23158" align="alignleft" width="154"]Paula Braitstein, PhD Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Department of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya 7Department of Epidemiology, Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis Regenstrief Institute Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana Dr. Paula Braitstein[/caption] Paula Braitstein, PhD Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Department of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya Department of Epidemiology, Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis Regenstrief Institute Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Braitstein: There are vast numbers of children and youth in the world who find themselves in street circumstances. Yet, there is an absence of consensus among academics, policymakers, stakeholders, and international organizations regarding the causes of child and youth street-involvement around the world. Without data concerning these reasons, policies are developed or implemented to mitigate street-involvement without taking these causes into account. Often, the prevailing paradigm assumes that children and youth on the street are juvenile delinquents and the government response is often characterized by social exclusion, criminalization, and oppression by police and civic authorities. Therefore we wanted to find out what reasons do children and youth self-report for their street-involvement globally. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?  Dr. Braitstein: We systematically reviewed the literature and compiled data from 49 studies representing 24 countries globally. Street-connected children and youth most frequently reported poverty, family conflict, and abuse as their reasons for street-involvement. They infrequently identified delinquent behaviours for their circumstances. There were no significant differences between males and females reported reasons, with the exception of females in developed regions who were more likely to report abuse.

08 Mar

Posted at 13:58h in Author Interviews, NYU/NYMC, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_22384" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr. Dayu Lin, PhD NYU Langone Medical Center Dr.Dayu Lin[/caption] Dr. Dayu Lin, PhD NYU Langone Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Lin: Decades of researchs including those from our labs have identified some key sites for aggressive actions, but the neural substrates of aggressive intention remain unclear. In this study, we designed a task to evaluate the aggressive intention of the mice in the absence of aggression provoking cues (another male mouse) and identified a small hypothalamic area, namely the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus, as a key brain region for aggressive motivation.