Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Education, Technology / 03.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barak Ariel, PhD Jerry Lee Fellow in Experimental Criminology and Lecturer in Experimental Criminology University of Cambridge Alex Sutherland, D.Phil. RAND Europe MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The very first randomised-controlled experiment on cameras in Rialto (California) was originally intended to ‘cut red tape’, but Rialto Police Department decided instead to look at whether wearing the cameras could help reduce complaints and police use-of-force. That study found that cameras did cut use-of-force and complaints, with the latter almost to zero in the 12 months of the experiment. Given that each complaint costs, millions of dollars in the US, there was a lot of interest following that study, and that research was seen as crucial in the widespread adoption of Body-Worn Cameras in the US and other countries. Although Rialto is typical of a lot of mid-sized police forces in the US, it is just one location at one time – so the roll out that was taking place had a very weak evidence base. The same results might not be found in other locations and given that many police forces started to roll out cameras without evidence, there was a strong justification for replicating the study. This paper (and two others already published) report results from x10 RCTs that took place in the UK and US, with more than 2 million residents, over a period of a year. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Technology / 23.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: biotricityWaqaas Al-Siddiq, Founder and CEO of Biotricity MedicalResearch.com: Would you tell us a little about yourself? How did you get interested in combining healthcare with technology? Response: I am the president and CEO of biotricity which is a healthcare technology company dedicated to providing diagnostic and post-diagnostic solutions for both the physician and consumer for long-term chronic care management. I got interested in combining healthcare and technology while I was doing research for monitoring remote environments in critical scenarios. I thought that it would be very interesting to apply that to healthcare because it’s a problem that no one has figured out how to solve yet. And it’s a problem that is driving healthcare costs out of control. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Nature, Technology / 23.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Natalie Artzi PhD principal research scientist MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Assistant professor of medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital With co-authors: Avital Gilam, João Conde, Daphna Weissglas-Volkov, Nuria Oliva, Eitan Friedman, Noam Shomron MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Metastases are the primary cause for mortality in breast cancer, the most common cancer in women regardless of ethnicity. Recent studies show that germline sequence variants, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNA-binding sites, can disrupt the downregulation by miRNAs, with a profound effect on gene expression levels and consequentially on the phenotype, including increased risk for cancer. In the current study, we aimed to determine the potential effect of SNPs within miRNA-binding sites on metastatic breast cancer progression and their potential use as suppression targets to prevent metastasis. Our collaborators at Tel-Aviv Universityin a research led by Dr. Noam Shomron found that the SNP, rs1071738, located in a target site for miR-96 and miR-182 on the 3’-UTR of the PALLD gene, encodes the Palladin actin-associated protein, which is a documented player in breast cancer motility. In vitro experiments revealed a functional downregulation of Palladin levels by miR-96 and miR-182, which subsequently reduces migration and invasion abilities of breast cancer cells. My lab then showed in an in vivo experiment that the use of nanoparticles embedded in a hydrogel scaffold as a miRNA delivery vehicle enables an efficient and specific delivery of miR-96/miR-182 directly to breast tumours, which results in marked reduction of breast cancer metastasis. We then proceeded to study the effect of combination therapy in which we will use a chemotherapy drug to shrink the primary tumor and the miRNAs to prevent metastasis. The intercalation of a chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, to the miR-conjugated nanoparticles further improved the effect, leading to significant reduction in both primary tumour growth and metastasis. Our study highlights the therapeutic potential of miRNAs, and specifically miR-96 and miR-182, and support the importance of Palladin regulation in breast cancer metastasis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Technology / 23.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Grace G. Bushnell PhD candidate Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study builds off of previous work from the Shea and Jeruss laboratories at the University of Michigan, which reported that implanted scaffolds can capture early metastatic cells in vivo prior to the colonization of other organs and serve as a platform for early detection of metastatic disease. Furthermore, the presence of a scaffold reduced the tumor burden in other metastatic locations. In this work, the major finding was that early detection using a scaffold combined with a therapeutic intervention led to a survival advantage relative to mice that did not receive a scaffold. The scaffolds had been designed to persist in vivo for longer periods of time than in the original study. Additionally, the scaffold was implanted prior to the inoculation of metastatic cancer cells in the mouse. The role of the immune system in the process was further refined, as the immune cell composition at the scaffold changed significantly after disease initiation. These studies demonstrate that early intervention in a metastatic setting can lead to enhanced survival. This principle of early intervention is well established for the primary tumor, and these studies suggest that this principle may be extended to metastatic disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, ENT, Surgical Research, Technology / 22.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alfred Marc Calo Iloreta, MD Assistant Professor Skull Base Surgery and Rhinology Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, New York MedicalResearch.com: Would you tell us a little about yourself? How did you become interested in ENT and your subspecialty in particular? Response: I am a ENT/Head and Neck Surgeon practicing in Manhattan at the Mount Sinai Hospital. I trained here in New York City for residency and also completed a fellowship in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery. I chose this field and sub-specialty because of the intricate and complex anatomy of the head and neck. In addition rhinology and skull base surgery utilizes multiple advanced technologies from high definition optics, to neuronavigation to allow us to work with this complex anatomy. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Cancer - Brain Tumors, Case Western, MRI, Radiology, Technology / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Pallavi Tiwari PhD Assistant Professor biomedical engineering Case Western Reserve University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: One of the biggest challenges in neuro-oncology currently is distinguishing radionecrosis, a side-effect of aggressive radiation, from tumor recurrence on imaging. Surgical intervention is the only means of definitive diagnosis, but suffers from considerable morbidity and mortality. The treatments for radionecrosis and cancer recurrence are very different. Early identification of the two conditions can help speed prognosis, therapy, and improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this feasibility study was to evaluate the role of machine learning algorithms along with computer extracted texture features, also known as radiomic features, in distinguishing radionecrosis and tumor recurrence on routine MRI scans (T1w, T2w, FLAIR). The radiomic algorithms were trained on 43 studies from our local collaborating institution - University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and tested on 15 studies at a collaborating institution, University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. We further compared the performance of the radiomic techniques with two expert readers. Our results demonstrated that radiomic features can identify subtle differences in quantitative measurements of tumor heterogeneity on routine MRIs, that are not visually appreciable to human readers. Of the 15 test studies, the radiomics algorithm could identify 12 of 15 correctly, while expert 1 could identify 7 of 15, and expert 2, 8 of 15. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, Geriatrics, Lancet, Technology / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anat Mirelman, PhD Director- Laboratory of Early Markers of Neurodegeneration (LEMON) Center for the study of Movement , Cognition and Mobility (CMCM) Department of Neurology Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv 64239, Israel MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The main aim of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of using a motor cognitive training using virtual reality in reducing fall frequency and fall risk in older adults. Falls are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults. The prevalence of falls is huge, with one out of every 3 adults aged 65 years or older will fall at least once per year, with approximately half of these fallers suffering multiple falls in this period . These statistics are even higher in neurodegenerative conditions such as in Parkinson’s disease and in people with cognitive impairments. For example, studies have shown that as much as 80% of people with Parkinson’s disease fall each year. So many older adults are falling. The consequences of falls are huge. The most dramatic result is hip fracture. But this is relatively rare. However, even in the absence of a fracture or other injury, falls often lead to fear of falling, social isolation, and depression, which in turn often leads to inactivity, muscle weakness, impaired balance and gait, more falls, more social isolation. In other words, falls often start a vicious cycle, which has many important negative health consequences. Falls are associated with morbidity and mortality and they also have a huge economic impact. In many western countries, 1-2% of healthcare dollars are spent on falls. For many years, age-associated changes in muscle strength, balance and gait were viewed as the key factors that contribute to the risk of falls. However, more recently, we and others showed that certain aspects of cognition are also critical to safe ambulation. For example people with AD often fall, almost to the same amount as people with PD, highlighting the cognitive component of falls. This makes sense intuitively if we Imagine the cognitive skills we need just to cross a busy intersection. These tasks require executive function, specially, planning, the ability to avoid obstacles, and the ability to perform two or more tasks at the same time. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Mental Health Research, Psychological Science, Technology / 15.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yu Chen, Ph.D. Post-doc researcher Department of Informatics University of California, Irvine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: College students are facing increasing amount of stress these days. We are interested in leveraging information technology to help them become happier. We week to implement happiness-boosting exercises in positive psychology using technology in a lightweight way. Since college students frequently take photos using their smartphones, we started to investigate how to use smartphone photography to help students conduct the happiness-boosting exercises. Participants were divided into three groups and instructed to take a photo per day in one of the following three conditions: 1) a smiling selfie; 2) a photo of something that makes himself/herself happy; 3) a photo of something that makes another person happy, which is then sent to that person. We found that participants have become more positive after purposefully taking the assigned type of photo for three weeks. Participants who took photos that make others happy also became calmer. Some participants who took smiling selfies reported becoming more confident and comfortable with their smiles. Those who took photos to make themselves happy reported becoming more reflective and appreciative. Participants who took photos to make others happy found connecting with strong ties help them reduce stress. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, Technology / 14.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jesus Pujol, MD Director of the MRI Research Unit. Department of Radiology. Hospital del Mar Barcelona MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The pros and cons of video gaming in children have been extensively debated. There are relevant amounts of data indicating both the positive and negative effects of video games. Nevertheless, a key question for many parents remains unanswered: How long should children play? To provide some clarity, we have investigated the relationship between weekly video game use and certain cognitive abilities and conduct-related problems. (more…)
Author Interviews, Ophthalmology, Pharmacology, Technology / 08.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Heather Sheardown PhD PEng FCAE Scientific Director 20/20 NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Network Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering Canada Research Chair in Ophthalmic Biomaterials McMaster University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Putting drops in the eye is well accepted from the standpoint of practitioners but is problematic for many patients. Therefore, particularly in cases where multiple drops are required in a day such as is the case with certain infections for example or a lifetime of drops is required such as is the case with diseases like glaucoma, patient compliance is a real issue. In addition, as much as 95% of any drop instilled in the eye is lost within the first 5 minutes, meaning that drug concentrations within the drop need to be higher to ensure that the required dose gets into the patient’s eye. Therefore there is a real need for a better alternative to traditional eyedrops is needed. We have developed a new method of formulating drugs for delivery as drops that adhere to the mucous layer of the tear film, allowing for smaller amounts of drug to be delivered over a prolonged period of time. This means that fewer drops with lower drug concentrations can be delivered. This is a micelle based system that allows for the formulation of more hydrophobic drugs. A mucoadhesive component associated with the micelle binds to the mucin layer of the tears, meaning that the residence time on the eye is similar to that of this layer - between 4 and 7 days. Drug is slowly released from the micelle, allowing for prolonged treatment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Technology / 04.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam G Alani, PhD Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences College of Pharmacy Oregon State University-Oregon Health & Science University Affiliate Assistant Professor Department of Biomedical Engineering School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University Oregon State University-Portland Campus at OHSU Portland Oregon MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Current chemotherapeutic regimens while effective are difficult for patients and affect their quality of life. Our research tackles this issue by designing a nanotherapy that can deliver multiple chemotherapeutic agents by targeting the entire tumor microenvironment and not just the cancer cells and by reducing drug resistance. This, then is intended to simplify the treatment regimen, reduce drug related side effects and extends the life of the drugs by preventing resistance should the patient need it in the future. Thus, the ultimate underlying goal is to improve the patient’s quality of life by not just maximizing the drug’s efficacy but also trying to decrease its impact on the overall lifestyle of the individual. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, NEJM, OBGYNE, Technology / 19.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Helen Murphy and Dr Zoe Stewart Institute of Metabolic Science University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Controlling blood glucose levels is a daily challenge for people with Type 1 diabetes and is particularly crucial during pregnancy. Previous research shows that women with type 1 diabetes spend only 12 hours per day within the recommended glucose target levels, leading to increased rates of complications including preterm delivery and large for gestational age infants. National surveys show that one in two babies suffer complications related to type 1 diabetes in the mother. The hormonal changes that occur in pregnancy make it difficult for women to predict the best insulin doses for every meal and overnight. Too much insulin causes low glucose levels harmful for the mother and too little causes problems for the developing baby. The artificial pancreas automates the insulin delivery giving better glucose control than we can achieve with currently available treatments. Previous studies show that the closed-loop system also known as artificial pancreas can be used safely in children and adults and our study aimed to investigate whether or not it was helpful for women with type1 diabetes during pregnancy. (more…)
Author Interviews, Technology, Weight Research / 18.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katherine Tweden Ph.D. Vice President, Clinical and Regulatory EnteroMedics® Inc St. Paul, Minnesota 55113 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This report summarizes 2 year outcomes of the pivotal study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of EnteroMedics’ vagal blockade (vBloc Therapy) delivered by our Maestro Rechargeable System neuromodulation device for the treatment of obesity. The study demonstrates that the device continues to have a promising safety profile and that the weight loss achieved through 2 years is clinically meaningful as shown by the positive impact of vBloc Therapy on participant’s co-morbid conditions, quality of life, and eating behaviors. Specifically, the study showed 21% excess weight loss and approximately 50% reduction in pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome for those participants who presented with the syndrome at baseline. In addition, cardiovascular parameters improved in those at risk with approximately 10 mmHg drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to baseline in participants with elevated blood pressure and 16 and 46 mg/dL drop in LDL and triglycerides, respectively, in participants with elevated lipids compared to baseline. In addition, metabolic parameters improved with a reduction in hemoglobin A1c of 0.3 percentage points. Participants’ quality of life improved by 20 units compared to baseline and their control over their eating behavior, such as hunger and the ability to control the amount they eat, was significantly improved by approximately 50% compared to baseline. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Technology / 16.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Theodore L. Schreiber MD President of the Detroit Medical Center Heart Hospital and DMC Cardiovascular Institute. Doctor Schreiber is involved in ongoing research in carotid artery stenting, has been the principal or co-principal investigator on numerous cardiovascular research studies and has written dozens of book chapters, articles and abstracts on interventional cardiology. Abbott announced July 5, 2016 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the company's Absorb bioresorbable heart stent, MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this stent? What are the main advantages? Response: The Absorb™ bioresorbable vascular scaffold is an advance in the treatment of coronary artery disease, which affects 15 million people in the United States and remains a leading cause of death worldwide despite decades of therapeutic advances. For this reason, DMC Heart Hospital, which serves a population at high risk of cardiovascular disease, was among the first in the state of Michigan to adopt this new stent. While stents are traditionally made of metal, the Absorb™ stent is made of a naturally dissolving material, similar to dissolving sutures. Absorb™ disappears (except for two pairs of tiny metallic markers that remain in the artery to enable a physician to see where the device was placed) in about three years, after it has done its job of keeping a clogged artery open and promoting healing of the treated artery segment. By contrast, metal stents are permanent implants. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Technology / 11.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexander Golberg, PhD Senior Lecturer Head of Environmental Bioengineering Laboratory Porter School of Environmental Studies Tel Aviv University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Wound care costs the U.S. healthcare system more than $20 billion each year, and care required to combat skin scarring represents an additional $12 billion burden. Hypertrophic scarring after trauma and burn injury remains a major clinical challenge that leads to physical, aesthetic, functional, psychological, and social stresses in thousands of patients. This is a stubborn clinical problem very difficult to solve. Inspired by previous works that pulsed electric fields kill cells precisely in tissue (procedure called irreversible electroporaiton, developed by UC Berkeley group of Boris Rubinsky and Rafael Davalo) and these ablated tissues regenerate with minimal scarring, we decided to test whether pulsed electric fields can reduce the scar formation if we treat the wound during healing. We found that partial irreversible electroporation using 200 pulses of 250 V and 70 µs duration, delivered at 3 Hz every 20 days during a total of five therapy sessions after the initial burn injury resulted in a 57.9% reduction of the scar area in comparison with untreated scars and structural features approaching those of normal skin. Noteworthy, unlike humans, rats do not develop hypertrophic scars. Therefore, the use of a rat animal model is the limiting factor of this work. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JAMA, Technology / 29.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren P. Wallner, PhD, MPH Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Online communication tools like email and social media could be used to support patients through their cancer treatment decision making and ongoing care. Yet, we know very little about whether and how newly diagnosed cancer patients use these tools and whether using online communication influences patients appraisals of their treatment decision making process. We surveyed 2,460 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer as part of the iCanCare Study about their use of email, texting, social media and web-based support groups following their diagnosis. Our findings suggest that women who more often used these online communication tools deliberated more about their surgical treatment and were more satisfied with their treatment decision. However, the use of social media in this diverse population was lower than we expected (12%), and was less common in older women, those with less education, and Black and Latina women. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Dermatology, Science, Technology / 28.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mei X. Wu, Ph.D. Associate Professor Wellman Center for Photomedicine Massachusetts General Hospital Dermatology Department Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: An abnormally low count of platelets, a disorder called thrombocytopenia, is life-threatening owing to a high risk of uncontrollable bleeding. The disorder can be caused by a variety of conditions like trauma, an autoimmune disorder that attacks platelets, side-effects of some drugs especially chemotherapeutic drugs, and in premature newborns and patients with HIV-infection or a genetic defect leading to insufficient platelet generation. Platelet transfusion is the most effective modality to treat the disorder, but it is associated with complications including allergic reaction, fever, infection, and immunosuppression and limited only to the most severe patients. Several FDA-approved drugs are currently used in the clinics or clinical trials to increase platelet levels, which however must be carefully dosed to avoid excessive platelet production that is also dangerous and are not suitable to many forms of thrombocytopenia. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Chemotherapy, Nature, Technology / 27.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Natalie Artzi PhD Assistant Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We have shown in the last years that dendrimer:dextran adhesive hydrogels represent a platform with ahuge potential for delivery. In 2015, we were able to report that these gels doped with smart nanoparticles could sense and differentially react with the disease microenvironment (e.g. can sense the tissue microenvironment by detecting the expression of specific genes related with multidrug resistance, Conde et al. PNAS 2015), potentiating targeted drug release and uptake in certain disease settings. Later, these hydrogels prove to be incredibly useful for miRNA delivery by using the self-assembly of a triple-helix forming miRNA structure that lead to nearly 90% levels of tumor shrinkage two weeks post-gel implantation (Conde et al. Nature Materials 2016a). Here, we took a step-forward, and used these hydrogels to develop a prophylactic patch for gene, chemo and phototherapy in a triple-combination approach to achieve complete tumor resection when applied to non-resected tumors and to the absence of tumor recurrence when applied following tumor resection (Conde et al. Nature Materials 2016b). This study also identifies the molecular and genetic pathways triggered in response to the three therapeutic modalities − photo-, gene- and chemo-therapy − by tumor gene expression profiling in treated mice. (more…)
Author Interviews, Orthopedics, Science, Technology / 21.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emilia Morosan PhD,  Professor Rice University Physics and Astronomy Houston TX 77005 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Morosan: My group works mainly on searching for compounds with magnetic properties. The first step in the characterization of such compounds is powder X-ray diffraction, which requires grinding the samples to fine powder. When we discovered such a compound based on (titanium) Ti and (gold) Au, we were unable to grind it because of its apparent hardness. This prompted the hardness measurement on the magnetic compound (with equal amounts of Ti and Au) and also on other mixtures of the two metals. The main result of this study was that the particular compound beta-Ti3Au was the hardest among all Ti-Au mixture in our study and compared to previous hardness measurements on these binary alloys. Most remarkable was the four-fold increase in hardens in beta-Ti3Au over Ti, or most other biocompatible engineering alloys. Furthermore, beta-Ti3Au also has higher wear resistance, meaning its durability extends beyond that of other alloys. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Infections, Technology / 19.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kerry Zang Founder of the Arizona Institute of Footcare and Dr. Robert Sullivan Clinical Director, Midleton Foot Clinic MedicalResearch.com Editor's note: Dr. Zang and Dr. Sullivan discuss the recent announcement of FDA approval of the Lunula Laser for the treatment of Onychomycosis. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this new technology? Response: “For two decades, Erchonia Corporation studied the clinical utility of low-level laser devices for the treatment of numerous medical ailments. Dr. Sullivan and I worked with Erchonia on the Lunula laser to revolutionize the way the medical community treats onychomycosis. Lunula underwent four independent clinical investigations for the treatment of onychomycosis. More than 500 subjects participated with increasingly effective results and each completed without a single adverse event.” - Dr. Kerry Zang Response: “There has never been a non-pharmaceutical treatment for onychomycosis. When I became aware that there was a small study completed by Dr. Zang, I became interested in the potential of this new technology. Erchonia was very helpful in bringing me up to speed with what this technology may do. The results of my extended study were unbelievable.” -Robert Sullivan (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: For the past 5 years or so, my collaborators and I have been working on several issues leading to the realization of the so-called “Windows to the Brain (WttB)” platform. WttB are transparent nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized-zirconia (nc-YSZ) cranial implants capable of replacing portions of the skull to allow non-invasive optical interrogation of the brain on an ongoing recurring basis. This new technological advancement could eventually afford for: a) advancing understanding of the brain, by facilitating the clinical translation of emerging optogenetic neurotechnologies; and b) facilitating the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of brain pathologies and neurological disorders, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain cancer, and others. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, Technology / 18.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren J. Myers, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Psychology Department Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Many families with young children use video chat to connect with family and friends--but what do children understand about the on-screen people and content of these interactions? The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages screen time for kids under 2 years because children who watch a lot of media often have poor language skills, and they miss out on other activities that would be more developmentally appropriate. However, in this study we wondered whether there is a difference between putting a baby in front of a television and having an interactive exchange via video chat. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Technology / 05.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Hood Thabit and Co-author: Dr Roman Hovorka University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science Cambridge UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Type 1 diabetes is an insulin-deficient condition, therefore people with type 1 diabetes need to be on life-long insulin therapy to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Currently insulin is delivered either by injections (with an insulin pen) or by infusion (with an insulin pump). In addition, they have to monitor their blood glucose regularly by performing fingerprick measurements several times a day, to avoid over- or under-dosing with insulin. Hypoglycaemia, or low blood glucose, can occur as a result of giving too much insulin; if severe or prolonged can lead to the patient being unconscious and in some cases sudden death. Hyperglycaemia, or high blood glucose, can occur as a result of giving too little insulin, and chronic hyperglycaemia can lead to diabetes related complications such as blindness, kidney failure and heart disease. Maintaining blood glucose within a normal range poses a daily challenge and struggle for many people with type 1 diabetes, who have to juggle with the variability and unpredictability of their glucose levels and insulin requirements due to meals, physical activity and stress. People with type 1 diabetes have on average 3 episodes of severe hypoglycaemia per year which requires third party assistance and sometimes hospitalisation. In the UK, the average HbA1c for people with type 1 diabetes is around 8.5% (69mmol/mol), which puts them at risk of diabetes complications and developing significant disability affecting their lives. There is therefore an unmet need of a novel therapeutic approach to be able to automatically modulate and change the amount of insulin delivered, based on real-time glucose levels. The artificial pancreas, or closed-loop insulin delivery, is an emerging technology which couples real-time sensor glucose levels with insulin delivery under the direction of a control algorithm, and automatically steps-up insulin delivery when glucose levels are going up, and reduces or suspends insulin delivery when glucose levels are going down. The longest home study to date was recently performed by researchers at the University of Cambridge and showed that compared to best available therapy, the artificial pancreas significantly improved long-term glucose control (HbA1c) and reduces the risk of hypoglycaemia. (more…)
Author Interviews, Melanoma, Technology / 21.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Orit Markowitz, MD Director of Pigmented Lesions and Skin Cancer The Mount Sinai Hospital and Assistant Professor of Dermatology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Director of Pigmented lesions clinic Brooklyn VA, Adjunct Professor, Dermatology SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY Chief of Dermatology Queens General Hospital, Jamaica, NY MedicalResearch.com Editors’ Note: As part of an ongoing series of occasional article on cancer prevention, Dr. Markowitz from The Mount Sinai Hospital discusses skin cancer and the use Optical Coherence Tomography in skin cancer diagnosis and treatment. MedicalResearch.com: How common is the problem of non-melanoma skin cancer? Are they difficult to detect and treat? Dr. Markowitz: Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. Non melanoma skin cancers, including basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, are the most common malignancies of the skin, constituting around 80 percent of all skin cancers. The annual cost of treating skin cancers in the U.S. is estimated at $8.1 billion, with $3.3 billion for melanoma. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Ophthalmology, Technology / 20.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeff C. Rabin, O.D., M.S., Ph.D., F.A.A.O., Dipl. Vision Science Professor and Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies, Research and Assessment Chief, Visual Neurophysiology Service University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry San Antonio, TX MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Rabin: The use of hand-held cellphones during driving has been widely banned but the impact of hands-free communication on visual performance remained unclear. Therefore, we used a standard automobile Bluetooth device suspended above our visual display and determined that hands-free communication significantly delayed response time to detect low contrast black-white and color targets. Moreover, hands-free communication decreased sensitivity of “color-blind” subjects to detect targets corresponding to their color deficiency and all subjects showed a tendency for decreased sensitivity for detection of small, low contrast black-white targets. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Technology, Yale / 17.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. James V. Freeman MD Assistant professor of cardiology and Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing Internal Medicine Yale School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Freeman: Randomized trials of left atrial appendage (LAA) closure with the Watchman device have shown varying results, and its cost-effectiveness compared to anticoagulation has not been evaluated using all available contemporary trial data. We used a Markov decision model to estimate lifetime quality-adjusted survival, costs, and cost-effectiveness of LAA closure with Watchman, compared directly with warfarin and indirectly with dabigatran, using data from the long-term (mean 3.8 year) follow-up of PROTECT AF and PREVAIL randomized trials. Using data from PROTECT AF, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) compared to warfarin and dabigatran were $20,486 and $23,422 per quality adjusted life year (QALY), respectively. Using data from PREVAIL, LAA closure was dominated by warfarin and dabigatran, meaning that it was less effective (8.44, 8.54, and 8.59 QALYs, respectively) and more costly. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, HIV, Sexual Health, Technology / 15.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. James M. Smith Ph.D Laboratory Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Smith: Our laboratory has been developing a macaque model for testing drug release, safety and efficacy of intravaginal rings (IVR) for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV for several years. The initial studies involved both matrix rings, where the drug is dispersed in the silicone matrix of the device, and reservoir rings, which are essentially a polymer tube filled with drug. In collaboration with the Oak Crest Institute of Science and Auritec Pharmaceuticals, Inc., we began testing a new type of intravaginal ring, the pod-IVR. In this innovative design the ring itself is a scaffold that contains compressed polymer-coated drug tablets, or pods, within the ring. Each pod is separate, allowing for a customizable release rate for each drug by varying the number and diameter of the drug release ports for each individual pod. The macaque pod-IVR can accommodate up to six pods whereas the human pod-IVR can accommodate up to 10 pods. The IVR design was developed to allow the delivery of drug combinations and for simple, cost-effective manufacturing. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cancer Research, Infections, Technology, University of Pittsburgh / 13.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Donald S. Burke, M.D. Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Burke: At the University of Pittsburgh we developed a unique method for detecting antibodies in the blood of patients in a proof-of-principle study that opens the door to development of simple diagnostic tests for diseases for which no microbial cause is known, including auto-immune diseases, cancers and other conditions. We used a technique pioneered by co-author Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., of the Scripps Research Institute, that synthesizes random molecular shapes called “peptoids” hooked onto microscopic plastic beads. The technique can produce millions of molecular shapes. The peptoids are not organic, but if they match to the corresponding shape on an antibody, that antibody will connect to them, allowing the scientist to pull out that bead and examine that peptoid and its corresponding antibody. My team chemically generated a huge library of random molecular shapes. Then, using blood from HIV-infected patients and from non-infected people, we screened a million of these random molecular shapes to find the ones that bound only to antibodies present in the blood of HIV-infected patients, but not the healthy controls. No HIV proteins or structures were used to construct or select the peptoids, but the approach, nonetheless, successfully led to selection of the best molecular shapes to use in screening for HIV antibodies. We then resynthesized that HIV-antibody-targeting peptoid in mass and tested it by screening hundreds of samples from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), a confidential research study of the natural history of treated and untreated HIV/AIDS in men who have sex with men (supported by the National Institutes of Health). Study co-author Charles Rinaldo, Ph.D., chair of Pitt Public Health’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and director of the Pittsburgh arm of the MACS, selected the samples, but blinded the testers to which samples were HIV-positive or -negative. The test distinguished between the samples of HIV-positive blood and HIV-negative blood with a high degree of accuracy. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology / 22.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Albert Mihranyan, PhD Pharm Professor of Nanotechnology Wallenberg Academy Fellow Nanotechnology and Functional Materials Department of Engineering Sciences Uppsala University Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mihranyan: We describe for the first time a paper filter that can remove even the worst-case viruses from water with high efficiency and at industrially relevant rates. The filter is produced from 100% naturally derived cellulose and is formed into paper sheets using very simple processing, which is essentially the same as that for making paper on a large scale. Filter paper is used ubiquitously in every day life from coffee filters to chemistry classrooms but these filters have normally too large pores to retain microbes, let alone viruses. We show for the first time that we can remove viruses as small as 20 nm! How is it possible? We use cellulose nanofibers from green algae and we possess know-how to control the distribution of the pores inside the paper to be able to remove such small particles. One important aspect, which we discuss in detail in the article, is the special internal layered structure of the filter, which is remarkably similar to French pastry mille-feuille- hence, the name mille-feuille filter. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Infections, Technology / 18.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sushanta K. Mitra, PhD, PEng Associate Vice-President Research Kaneff Professor in Micro & Nanotechnology for Social Innovation FCSME, FASME, FEIC, FRSC, FCAE, FAAAS Y York University Toronto  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mitra: As a mechanical engineer I got interested in the water problem when I had discussions with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India and the tertiary public health centre doctors near Mumbai, where the doctors had to deal with large number of patients with water-borne diseases. This was hugely a challenge from resource point of view as the doctors would much preferred to have their attention focused on more pressing diseases. They approached me about developing tools for rapid detection of water-borne pathogen in drinking water. Hence, my journey started on water quality monitoring. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mitra: Here, we have developed a low-cost compact E. coli and total coliform detection system, which uses commercially available plunger-tube assembly. We incorporate a hydrogel (porous matrix) inside the tube so that the plunger-tube assembly act as a concentrator and a detector at the same time. Specially formulated enzymatic substrates are caged inside the hydrogel so that an E. coli cell trapped within the hydrogel will be lysed and react with the  enzymatic substrates to produce a red color. (more…)