Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Lipids, Statins, UCSD / 26.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lori B. Daniels, MD, MAS, FACC, FAHA Professor of Medicine Director, Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit UCSD Division of Cardiovascular Medicine Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center La Jolla, CA 92037-7411  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The purpose of our study was to investigate whether there is an association between the use of statin medications and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Our study investigated all patients hospitalized for treatment of COVID at a major US academic medical center during the study period. We studied patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19, and compared those who had been taking statins for at least 30 days prior to admission, with those not on statins.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 25.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sarah E. Paul, BA , Graduate Student and Ryan Bogdan, PhD, Associate Professor BRAIN Lab Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO 63130 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Sarah Paul: This study was motivated by several trends in cannabis use, its legal landscape, and people's perception of risk. As more states legalize recreational cannabis use, cannabis has become more accessible as well as more potent. Over the past couple of decades, the percentage of adolescents and adults who think that cannabis use is risky or harmful has fallen substantially. Cannabis dispensaries have been reported to actually recommend cannabis to pregnant women for the treatment of pregnancy-related nausea. And finally, between 2002/2003 and 2016/2017, the percentage of women reporting cannabis use during their pregnancies rose 106%. Given these trends and the mixed literature regarding the potential consequences associated with prenatal cannabis exposure, we aimed to comprehensively examine a range of outcomes in a large, representative sample while accounting for a host of important potentially confounding covariates. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, CMAJ, Pediatrics / 23.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melanie Leung, M.D.,C.M. candidate 2021 4th-year medical student at McGill University Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children’s Hospital McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada Dr. Moshe Ben-Shoshan, MD, MSc Pediatric allergist and immunologist at the MCH (Montreal Children’s Hospital) and Scientist at the Research Institute of the MUHC (McGill University Health Center)   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In Canada, up to 9% of children have at least 1 food allergy. Anaphylaxis is the most severe and potential life-threatening manifestation of food allergy. Peanuts and tree nuts are the main culprits in food-induced anaphylaxis and account for most fatal cases in North America. Public awareness about peanut and nut anaphylaxis can help to prevent and to act promptly, in the case of anaphylactic reaction. However, the best timing for public awareness campaigns remained unknown, as no previous study looked at the potential association between specific times of the year, such as public holidays, and the incidence of peanut and tree nut anaphylaxis. Our aim was to evaluate the risk of peanut and tree nut-induced anaphylaxis on Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Chinese New Year, and Eid al-Adha. Data was collected from 1390 pediatric cases of peanut or nut-induced anaphylaxis across Canada (Newfoundland & Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, and British  Columbia), from 2011 to 2020. 62% of children were boys and the median age was 5.4 years. We compared the average daily number of cases during each holiday and compared it to the rest of the year (i.e.: non-holiday period). (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 23.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joon Seo Lim, PhD, ELS Clinical Research Center Asan Institute for Life Sciences Asan Medical Center, Songpa-gu Seoul, Republic of Korea MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to spread at an alarming rate in all parts of the world, and screening individuals based on symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, anosmia) does not seem to be effective in sufficiently curbing the transmission of the disease. This suggests that asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be a driving force of the ongoing pandemic, but empirical evidence on this issue has been lacking because asymptomatic individuals are likely to go unnoticed unless subjected to systematic contact tracing. A large-sized outbreak of COVID-19 from a single religious group in South Korea enabled us to identify and test a large number of asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 alongside symptomatic patients from the same cluster.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues / 22.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hailey Miller, PhD, RN Postdoctoral Associate Duke University School of Nursing Stephen P. Juraschek, MD PhD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Digital tools, such as the electronic medical record (EMR), are increasingly utilized to identify and recruit participants for clinical trials. These strategies offer a strong opportunity to increase recruitment yields, however, our previous work has demonstrated that patient portal users are disproportionately White, and therefore utilizing these strategies may contribute to the under-representation of Black Americans in clinical research. This study examined multiple recruitment strategies, including EMR-based strategies and other non-EMR strategies, such as community mailing, Facebook advertisement and newspaper advertisement, to understand if recruitment strategies influenced the demographic composition of trial participants. Given our previous finding that patient portal users are disproportionately White, one of our EMR-based strategies included postal mailing to individuals without a patient portal. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, ESMO, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues / 21.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ziad Bakouny, MD, MSc Post-doctoral research fellow Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected patients with cancer, with these patients unfortunately having worse outcomes than the general population. In fact, a recent report by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) showed that the mortality rate in patients with cancer who develop COVID-19, at 30 days median follow-up, was 16%. Although the adverse outcomes of patients with cancer who develop COVID-19 has received much attention, few studies have thus far investigated the effects of the potential disruption to cancer care delivery caused by the pandemic. Our aim in the COVID and Cancer Outcomes Study (CCOS) was therefore to evaluate this disruption to cancer care caused by the pandemic. This is a multicenter prospective cohort study that included patients seen in the outpatient setting at the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston during one week in March (between March 2 and March 6 2020). Data was collected 3 months before this index week and 3 months prospectively (during the first peak of the pandemic in the Northeastern United States). (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Education / 18.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas M. Selden Director of the Division of Research and Modeling Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Rockville, Maryland  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Across the United States, school districts are facing decisions about whether and how to reopen elementary and secondary schools.  We conducted this study to provide evidence on the risk of severe COVID-19 among adults who are connected to schools in some way – as teachers or other school workers or as household members of school-age children or school employees. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collects the data we used in this study as part of its longstanding Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), which is the nation’s most complete source of data on the cost and use of health care and health insurance coverage. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research / 17.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Arvin C. Dar, PhD Associate Professor Departments of Oncological Sciences & Pharmacological Sciences Tisch Cancer Institute Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Associate Director Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutic Discovery MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We were interested in better understanding the mechanism of action for the drug trametinib. We wanted to understand how the drug actually works – even though its clinically approved, the drug was a ‘serendipitous discovery’ and originally found through phenotypic screens. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, HIV, JAMA, Sexual Health / 14.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gordon Mansergh, PhD Senior Behavioral Scientist CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What would you say is the take home message from the study? Response: A small but notable subgroup of gay and bisexual men are sharing their PrEP medication with others. As PrEP continues to be more commonly used, it is important to better understand and address the context of PrEP sharing, and to emphasize messaging about provider monitoring of medication use over time for health and safety reasons. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Hospital Acquired, Infections, JAMA / 10.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chanu Rhee MD MPH Associate Hospital Epidemiologist Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine Assistant Professor of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Many patients have been avoiding essential care during the COVID-19 pandemic due to fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare settings. Little is known, however about the adequacy of infection control practices in preventing nosocomial COVID-19 in U.S. acute care hospitals. We therefore conducted this observational study to determine the incidence of nosocomial COVID-19 in patients hospitalized at a large academic medical center in Boston (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) during the first 12 weeks of the surge in Massachusetts.    (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 09.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Claudia Alteri, PhD Assistant Professor (RTD-B) in Microbiology And Clinical Microbiology Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology University of Milano  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the context of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, laboratories play a critical role in confirming the initial clinical suspicion of this disease, as confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 presence is essential to ensure the prompt initiation of containment and treatment protocols. This is of utmost importance to avoid further spread of the pandemic, and to assure the best clinical and therapeutic management of the infected patients in the hospital setting. Unfortunately, currently used rtPCR assays lack of the necessary sensitivity to identify all cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection (20% of false negative results [Li D et all, Korean J Rad 2020; Zhao et all CID 2020]). Complementary laboratory assays are therefore strongly needed. Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) is a highly sensitive assay for the direct detection and quantification of DNA and RNA targets. It has been increasingly used in infectious disease settings, especially thanks to its ability to consistently and reliably detect down to few copies of viral genomes. Standing the necessity of a limitation (as much as possible) of false negative results in COVID-19 diagnosis, the use of ddPCR could provide a critical support. In the context of COVID-19 diagnosis, two recent studies highlight the good performances of ddPCR in detecting low viral load samples (Suo T MedRxiv 2020; You F MedRxiv 2020)  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Genetic Research, Hepatitis - Liver Disease / 08.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Takanori Takebe MD Director for Commercial Innovation, Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Research and Medicine (CuSTOM) Assistant Professor, University Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Professor, Institute of Research Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is rare yet highly unpredictable disorder that oftentimes causes drug failure withdrawn from the market during clinical trial even at a very rare incidence of DILI (1/10,000). Indeed, one particular drug TAK875 (Fasigliam) was the case despite promising efficacy. This not only disappoints patient but impact significant financial risk to pharmaceuticals. In collaboration with DILI genomics consortium at US, EU and UK, we’ve found +20,000 genetic make up (variants) defines potential risk of developing Drug induced liver injury thru amplifying cellular stress signal cascades that were investigated by human cell, organoid and patient datasets. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 08.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Gadi Segal Director of the Internal Medicine Department Sheba Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The background is the need to learn about COVID-19 pathophysiology in order to better stratify patients according to current and future severity. Such classification will enable better triage in times of pandemic and health-care-system over-load. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 08.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yaa-Hui Dong PhD Faculty of Pharmacy National Yang-Ming University Taipei, Taiwan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous observational studies found that fluoroquinolones may be associated with more than 2-fold increased risk of aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection (AA/AD). However, these studies might not well address the influence of concurrent infection, which is also a suggested risk factor for AA. Moreover, most of these studies compared fluoroquinolone use versus no fluoroquinolone use, which might overestimate the risk with fluoroquinolones as patients on fluoroquinolones may have more severe infection versus those not on fluoroquinolones. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, Dermatology / 03.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yin Zhang MD Research Fellow in Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Among modern hair dyes, permanent hair dye is the most popular type, and is the most aggressive and extensively used type that has posed the greatest potential concern about cancer risk. Monitoring and investigating the carcinogenic hazard to people from personal use of permanent hair dyes has major public health implications. In 2008, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, after comprehensive reviewed prior evidence, classified occupational exposure to hair dyes as a probable carcinogen to humans (group 2A), whereas personal use of hair dyes was not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans (Group 3). Data on hair dye safety has also been continuously monitored by the USFDA. Prior epidemiological evidence may have been influenced by not discriminating between personal and occupational exposure, an inability to distinguish types and colors of hair dyes used, imprecise assessment of several critical domains of exposure history (duration, frequency and cumulative dose), and inadequate control for potential confounding. (more…)
Author Interviews / 03.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kyla Fergason Senior Undergraduate Student Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D. Principal Investigator Baylor University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There’s a fairly sizable literature suggesting that religious affiliation and religious engagement are associated with positive health outcomes. Therefore, we were surprised to find that agnostic/atheist individuals reported better sleep health than Christian individuals in the Baylor Religion Survey (BRS-5). 73% of agnostic/atheist individuals reported sleeping 7-9 hours/night whereas only 63% of Christian individuals met these consensus sleep guidelines. The most affected Christian denominations were Baptists (54.6%) and Catholics (62.3%). These results stood even after adjusting for age and gender. We predicted the opposite pattern. And, it wasn’t just about longer sleep durations. Agnostic/atheist individuals even reported greater ease falling asleep compared to Christian individuals.    (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Genetic Research, Immunotherapy, Melanoma, Surgical Research / 03.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Edmund K Bartlett, M.D. Department of Surgery/Division of Surgical Oncology Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, New York   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Indications for adjuvant therapy for resected, high-risk melanoma is a controversial and rapidly-evolving topic in melanoma treatment. Immunotherapy treatments targeting PD-1 have significantly improved survival in advanced-stage disease, but the magnitude of survival benefit in stage III disease--particularly stage IIIA--remains unclear. Recently, 31-GEP (a gene expression profiling assay) has been studied as a risk-stratifying tool to identify patients who are at higher risk for systemic recurrence. Ideally such a tool could identify patients most likely to benefit from immunotherapy treatment in the adjuvant setting (when all visible disease has been removed). (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Infections / 01.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hariom Yadav, PhD Assistant Professor, Molecular Medicine Wake Forest School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: As gut microbiota is linked with all kind of known human diseases, however, commonly studied microorganisms are bacteria. Our study is first-of-its kind to discover the role of fungi living in our gut to influence our brain health like Alzheimer’s disease pathology in humans. It also describes that a Mediterranean ketogenic diet can beneficially change fungi and bacteria populations to improve brain health.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Vitamin D / 28.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Juan C. Celedón, MD, DrPH, ATSF Niels K. Jerne Professor of Pediatrics Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Human Genetics University of Pittsburgh Division Chief, Pulmonary Medicine UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15224 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Findings from observational studies suggested that vitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml are associated with worse asthma and severe asthma attacks. Based on those results, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of vitamin D3 supplementation to prevent severe asthma attacks in 192 high-risk children with asthma aged 6 to 16 years who had moderately low vitamin D levels and were taking low-dose inhaled steroids. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Gastrointestinal Disease / 27.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Arvind J. Trindade, MD Director of Endoscopy Long Island Jewish Medical Center Associate professor at Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Division of Gastroenterology, Zucker School of Medicine Hofstra/Northwell, Northwell Health System New Hyde Park, NY MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although most patients with COVID-19 present with respiratory symptoms, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms have also been reported in up to 25% of patients. Some case reports have shown acute pancreatitis as the initial presentation in patients with COVID-19, however the literature supporting this is limited. Our study aimed to report the point prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 presenting with acute pancreatitis in a large health system and to compare outcomes of pancreatitis in patients without COVID-19. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lipids, Regeneron / 26.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor F. J. Raal, FRCP, FCP(SA), Cert Endo, MMED, PhD Director, Carbohydrate & Lipid Metabolism Research Unit Professor & Head, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The objective of this randomized phase 3 study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of evinacumab in adult patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), a condition that remains very difficult to treat. The primary endpoint was reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) from baseline with evinacumab compared to placebo at 24 weeks.  MedicalResearch.com: Would you briefly explain what is meant by homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia? How many individuals may be affected by this disorder? Response: HoFH, or homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, is the most serious and more rare form of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).  It is estimated that as many as 1 in 300,000 people worldwide and approximately 1,300 people in the U.S. are affected by HoFH. A person who has HoFH has inherited two FH genes, one from each parent. They therefore have LDL-C levels that are elevated 4-fold or greater from birth and are at high risk for premature atherosclerotic disease and cardiac events which can occur in childhood. While current treatment guidelines recommend early and intensive LDL-C lowering, people with HoFH tend to be less responsive (or unresponsive) to standard lipid-lowering therapies, including high-intensity statins and PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) inhibitors and often require lipid apheresis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, OBGYNE / 25.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Jack E. James, PhD Reykjavík University Reykjavík Iceland  MedicalResearch.com: What prompted this study?  Response: Chronic exposure to any chemical during pregnancy is cause for concern. There should be no exception simply because that chemical, caffeine, happens to be widely consumed. Caffeine is a habit-forming substance of no nutritional value. If anything, its widespread consumption suggests that it should be given special attention. Concern is heightened by what is known about the effects of caffeine on the human body, where it affects neural processes in the brain, including networks that control respiration and heart function. When consumed during pregnancy, caffeine readily crosses the placenta, exposing the fetus to the drug. Notably, the fetus is largely physically incapable of metabolising caffeine – that ability develops during the first year of life. Pregnancy studies have shown that caffeine can interfere with fetal heart function and oxygenation.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, JAMA, Pediatrics / 24.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kaleab Baye PhD Center for Food Science and Nutrition Addis Ababa University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Reducing child stunting is one of the most important objectives of the Sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the World Health Assembly (WHA). Progress is routinely measured using anthropometric indices such as height-for-age z score that compare child height to the World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards. Such comparisons rely on the assumption that children living in ideal home environment that promotes adequate growth have the same growth potential, irrespective of their genetic make-up. This assumption was confirmed by the Multicenter Growth Reference Study (MGRS), which was the origin of the development of the growth standards. However, the MGRS excluded sites above 1500 m above sea level (asl); hence, it remains unclear whether the widely adopted WHO growth standards are applicable to populations above the 1500 m asl threshold. This study investigated the association between altitude and linear growth faltering and evaluated whether the prescriptive WHO growth standards can apply to children residing at higher altitudes. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics / 22.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lael Yonker, MD Pediatric Pulmonology Director, MGH Cystic Fibrosis Center Principal Investigator, Pediatric COVID biorepository Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center Massachusetts General Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Children were initially felt to be spared from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we show that children can become sick from SARS-CoV-2 infection, and even if the initial illness is mild, some go on to develop a severe inflammatory illness after the initial illness. We also show that children can carry very high levels of virus early in the course of infection, suggesting they may play a larger role in spreading the virus than previously thought. (more…)
AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Pulmonary Disease / 22.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frank Trudo, MD MBA Vice President, US Medical Affairs Respiratory & Immunology AstraZeneca  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: ETHOS was a randomized, double-blinded, multi-center, parallel-group, 52-week trial to assess the efficacy and safety of PT010 in symptomatic patients with moderate to very severe COPD and a history of exacerbation(s) in the previous year. A subset of patients participated in the 4-hour pulmonary function test (PFT) sub-study, with the following primary endpoints: change from baseline in morning pre-dose trough FEV1 at Week 24 at (both doses of budesonide/glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate MDI versus glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate MDI), and FEV1 area under the curve from 0-4 hours at Week 24 (both doses of budesonide/glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate MDI vs budesonide/formoterol fumarate MDI).  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 21.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ashwini Sehgal, MD Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Professor, Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine Professor, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, School of Medicine Director and Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health Improvement, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, Case Western School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: News media and politicians frequently discuss the high toll of deaths from firearms and drug overdoses. They usually mention the numbers of deaths, citing figures like 40,000 firearm deaths last year, or death rates such as 20 overdose deaths per 100,000 population. But for most people, it's hard to grasp the real meaning of both the large absolute numbers and the small annual rates.  So in a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine, I used official death certificate data to calculate the chance that an American child will die from a gunshot or a drug overdose over the course of a lifetime. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA, Social Issues / 21.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Monik Carmen Jimenez, Sc.D Assistant Professor of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We wanted to get a comprehensive picture of the epidemiology of COVID-19 in carceral facilities that included jails and was not restricted solely to prisons. We utilized publicly available data collected in Massachusetts, pursuant to a court order. These data included prison and jail systems and were used to calculate rates of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and testing rates among incarcerated individuals. We were also able to compare those to changes in the population size within each system. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 19.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anura Ratnasiri PhD Senior Research Scientist (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) Benefits Division Department of Health Care Services Sacramento, CA 95899-7417 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Infant mortality rate (IMR) is a widely-reported indicator of population health and is used as a standardized measurement of deaths in the first year of life per thousand live births. While IMR has been steadily declining in the United States, it remains relatively high compared with other developed countries. Even though significant improvements have been made in the quality and access to neonatal and infant care during the past decade, large educational, socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, geographic and behavioral disparities persist, and appear to be responsible for significant differences in IMR among different subgroups. Certain maternal and infant characteristics have important associations with IMR, and this study attempted to quantify major maternal and infant predictors, and trace associated mortality trends during the study period. There were no recent studies on infant mortality using a large data set such as California State. Moreover, gestational age based on obstetric estimates from fetal ultrasound, prepregnancy obesity, and smoking during pregnancy were not available in prior population-based studies in California. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Lymphoma / 14.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ivana Špaková Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Košice, Slovakia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  The background is the plenty of space for studying "waste metabolites" which tell us more about the metabolism of the whole body as well as about the metabolism of the smallest compartment - cell. So we decided to study what is the difference in urine spectra (absorbance, excitation, and emission spectra) in patients with malignant melanoma and healthy subjects without positive cancer history. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: The main findings are "discovery" (it is not true discovery because the target molecules or metabolites are known for decades) of molecules{metabolites which together describe the stage of malignant melanoma. These findings could be used for future tracking the patient's response for treatment or for tracking the previously treated patients for malignant melanoma and are healthy at the moment of sampling. (more…)
Author Interviews, HIV, University of Pittsburgh / 14.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: James Egan, Ph.D., M.P.H. Assistant Professor Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Pitt Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: When taken as a daily pill, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, adhering to a daily medication regimen doesn’t work for everyone for reasons that include cost and individual concerns about the biological consequences of long-term medication. Previous studies have shown that there are certain periods when some men who have sex with men may be more vulnerable to contracting HIV, including when traveling, on vacation, moving to a new city or after a break-up. Our team set out to explore whether these men might be more receptive to adhering to PrEP treatment during these times. We followed 48 adult men from Pittsburgh or Boston who have sex with men in a pilot program to test the daily use of PrEP for 30 days that included an out-of-town vacation, with the men starting the medication seven days before the trip and continuing for at least seven days after vacation. The men were also given a brief session introducing them to the use of PrEP and discussion adherence. (more…)