Author Interviews, JAMA, USPSTF, Vitamin D / 22.04.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Silverstein M.D., M.P.H Professor of Pediatrics Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pediatrics Boston University School of Medicine   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Vitamin D is an important nutrient for keeping bones healthy, and it may also have a role in other aspects of good health. However, we do not have enough evidence to understand what levels of vitamin D people need to keep them healthy or what levels are too low. As a result, the Task Force determined there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against screening for vitamin D deficiency in adults who do not have signs or symptoms. It is our hope that with more research, we will be able to make a strong, evidence-based recommendation on screening for vitamin D deficiency in the future. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, Weight Research / 15.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leigh Frame, PhD, MHS Director for the Integrative Medicine Program School of Medicine and Health Sciences George Washington University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As food consumed in the U.S. becomes more and more processed, obesity may become more prevalent. Through reviewing overall trends in food, we concluded that detailed recommendations to improve diet quality and overall nutrition are needed for consumers, who are prioritizing food that is cheaper and more convenient, but also highly processed. When comparing the U.S. diet to the diet of those who live in "blue zones" - areas with populations living to age 100 without chronic disease - the differences are stark. Many of the food trends we reviewed are tied directly to a fast-paced U.S. lifestyle that contributes to the obesity epidemic we are now facing. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Orthopedics, Vitamin D / 26.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Clarke MD, FRCP, FFPH, FFPHI, MSc, DCH Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) Nuffield Department of Population Health University of Oxford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Approximately 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men aged 50 years or older will suffer from an osteoporotic fracture in their remaining lifetime. Hip fracture is the most serious type of osteoporotic fracture with an approximately 30% risk of death in the year following a hip fracture. Vitamin D is essential for optimal musculoskeletal health by promotion of calcium absorption, and mineralisation of osteoid tissue formation in bone and maintenance of muscle function. Low vitamin D status causes secondary hyperparathyroidism, bone loss and muscle weakness. Observational studies have reported that lower blood concentrations of vitamin D are associated with higher risks of falls and fractures. Combined supplementation with 800 IU/day vitamin D and 1200 mg/day calcium has been recommended for prevention of fractures in older adults living in institutions and in those with low vitamin D status. However, previous trials and meta-analyses of vitamin D alone, or in combination with calcium for prevention of fracture in either community-dwelling or general population settings reported conflicting results, with some reporting protective effects against fractures, but others demonstrated no beneficial effects. However, most of the previous trials had only limited power to detect differences in risk of fracture predicted by the observational studies, largely because of a combination of small sample size, relatively low equivalent daily doses of vitamin D, intermittent dosing regimens (>1 month), and short duration of follow-up. In addition, interpretation of the results of previous meta-analyses of such trials is complicated by use of variable inclusion criteria, inappropriate statistical methods, inclusion of multiple small trials with very few fracture events, in addition to failure to report achieved differences in blood 25(OH)D concentrations. We summarised the available evidence to guide clinical practice and future research, by conducting parallel meta-analyses of:
  • (i) observational studies of risks of fracture associated with prolonged differences in blood concentrations of 25(OH)D;
  • (ii) randomised trials of vitamin D alone versus placebo or no treatment for prevention of fracture; and
  • (iii) randomised trials of calcium and vitamin D versus placebo or no treatment for prevention of fracture.In addition, we reviewed the design of the ongoing randomised trials assessing the effects of higher doses of vitamin D alone or in combination with calcium for prevention of fracture.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, JAMA, Nutrition / 18.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Mathilde Touvier, MPH, PhD Head of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team Dr Bernard Srour, PharmD, PhD Inserm, Inrae, University of Paris MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We found that for an increase of 10 in the percentage of ultra-processed food quantity in the diet, we had a significant 15% increase in Type 2 diabetes risk. We have already shown, in the NutriNet-Santé cohort, associations between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and overall cancer, breast cancer, cardiovascular, coronary heart diseases risk, mortality and depressive symptoms. However, no prior study had studies the associations between ultra-processed food and Type 2 diabetes risk. We suspected that we would find these associations since some components of ultra-processed foods light have metabolic interactions with human health (some food additives for instance). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Primary Care / 11.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie Reiff BA Researcher Health Care Cost Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior studies have attempted to define primary care spending and quantify such spending. Using definitions from the Milbank Memorial Fund, we used Health Care Cost Institute data to calculate primary care utilization and spending among those age 0-64 with employer-sponsored insurance. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Prostate Cancer / 02.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Jeremy Clark University of East Anglia Norwich Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Earlier this year we published our pilot study which showed how useful we have found urine to be for diagnosing prostate cancer and predicting which cancers will get bigger and nastier up to 5 years later (Connell et al 2019). – Our PUR (Prostate Urine Risk) signatures separated men with low-risk cancer into two groups one of which had 8-times the rate of future development of aggressive cancer that the other. There is nothing in clinical use at present that can do this. The new development is our At-Home Urine collection system which means that we can now send out a urine collection kit to a man at home, he fills up a small pot with his first wee of the day and posts it back to us for PUR analysis. This makes the whole system so much less stressful for the patient. The idea behind it is as follows: the prostate lays just below the bladder, it is a secretory organ and these secretions carry cells and molecules from all over the prostate to the urethra which then get flushed out of the body on urination. If a cancer is present then tiny bits of the tumour are also carried with the secretions and we can detect these in the urine. As the prostate is constantly secreting the levels of biomarkers in the urethra will build up with time. Collecting from the first wee of the day means that overnight secretions can be collected which makes the analysis more sensitive and more robust. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health / 31.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wei Bao, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology College of Public Health, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242  and Yang Du University of Iowa MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2008, the US Department of Health and Human Services released the first federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which recommended that people should do at least 150 minutes moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. This key recommendation has been reaffirmed in the 2018 recently updated Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. In addition, the new 2018 Guidelines for the first time discussed health risks of sedentary behaviors. Insufficient physical activity and long sitting time have long been recognized as risk factors for major chronic diseases and mortality. Therefore, we were curious whether there have been a significant changes in adherence to the Physical Activity Guidelines in US adults since the release of the first edition of the federal guidelines in 2008 and whether sedentary behavior in US adults changed during the same period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Psychological Science / 15.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Wai-Man (Raymond) Liu, PhDAssociate ProfessorResearch School of Finance, Actuarial Studies & StatisticsCollege of Business & Economics BuildingThe Australian National UniversityProf. Wai-Man (Raymond) Liu, PhD Associate Professor Research School of Finance, Actuarial Studies & Statistics College of Business & Economics Building The Australian National University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In our study, we studied survey responses of over 26,000 people from the largest Australian household survey over a period of 14 years. The survey was funded by the government called “The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey”. The survey was conducted by the Melbourne Institute. In the survey more than 9,500 of these respondents had experienced the death of a close friend. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health, Stroke / 23.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Doug Manuel MD, MSc, FRCPC Professor and Senior Scientist Ottawa Hospital Research Institute | L’Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital d’Ottawa Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa Départment de Médicine Familiale Université d’Ottawa  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A lot of people are interested in healthy living, but often we don't have that discussion in the doctor's office," says Dr. Manuel, who is also a professor at the University of Ottawa. "Doctors will check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but they don't necessarily ask about lifestyle factors that could put you at risk of a heart attack and stroke. We hope this tool can help people — and their care team — with better information about healthy living and options for reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke." "What sets this cardiovascular risk calculator apart is that it looks at healthy living, and it is better calibrated to the Canadian population," says Dr. Doug Manuel, lead author, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and a senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).”  (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, Melanoma, Occupational Health / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Brad at Santa Monica Pier on Ferris Wheel” by Brad Cerenzia is licensed under CC BY 2.0Sonia Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor, College of Nursing The Ohio State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior to conducting a tobacco cessation study with Operating Engineers, I conducted a survey of 498 Operating engineer and found that many of them were at risk for sun burning, which can lead to skin cancer.  So as a follow up study, I conducted a study to prevent sun burning, which randomized 357 Operating Engineers to were randomized to four interventions: education only; education and text message reminders; education and mailed sunscreen; and education, text message reminders, and mailed sunscreen. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Genetic Research / 09.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “siblings” by Katina Rogers is licensed under CC BY 2.0Stacy L. Andersen, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Project Manager New England Centenarian Study Long Life Family Study Boston University School of Medicine Boston Medical Center Boston, MA 02118 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Exceptional longevity appears to run in families. Previous studies have found that people who have siblings who live into their 90s or who reach 100 years of age have a greater chance themselves of living longer than the general population. Yet it is supercentenarians, those who reach the age of 110 years, who represent the true extreme of the human lifespan.  We wanted to determine whether the parents and siblings of supercentenarians were more likely to reach very old ages than family members of younger centenarians. We collected family tree information for 29 participants of the New England Centenarian Study aged 110-119 years. Proof of age documents and familial reconstruction methods were used to validate ages and dates of birth and death of the supercentenarian as well as his or her parents and siblings. Mean age at death was compared to birth year and sex-specific US and Swedish cohort life table estimates conditional on survival to age 20 for siblings to omit deaths due to nonheritable factors such as infectious disease or accidents and survival to age 50 (the approximate age at which women are no longer able to reproduce) for parents.  (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Sleep Disorders / 07.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Woman sleeping” by Timothy Krause is licensed under CC BY 2.0Nathan E. Cross PhD, first author School of Psychology. Sharon L. Naismith, PhD, senior author Leonard P Ullman Chair in Psychology Brain and Mind Centre Neurosleep, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence The University of Sydney, Australia  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Between 30 to 50% of the risk for dementia is due to modifiable risk factors such depression, hypertension, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes and smoking. In recent years, multiple longitudinal cohort studies have observed a link between sleep apnoea and a greater risk (1.85 to 2.6 times more likely) of developing cognitive decline and dementia.  Furthermore, one study in over 8000 people also indicated that the presence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in older adults was associated with an earlier age of cognitive decline, and that treatment of OSA may delay the onset of cognitive impairment. This study reveals important insights into how sleep disorders such as OSA may impact the brain in older adults, as it is associated with widespread structural alterations in diverse brain regions. We found that reduced blood oxygen levels during sleep are related to reduced thickness of the brain's cortex in both the left and right temporal areas - regions that are important in memory and are early sites of injury in Alzheimer's disease. Indeed, reduced thickness in these regions was associated with poorer ability to learn new information, thereby being the first to link this structural change to memory decline. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Nutrition, OBGYNE / 05.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joshua L. Roffman, MD Department of Psychiatry Mass General Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Autism, schizophrenia, and other serious mental illness affecting young people are chronic, debilitating, and incurable at present.  Recent public health studies have associated prenatal exposure to folic acid, a B-vitamin, with reduced subsequent risk of these illnesses.  However, until this point, biological evidence supporting a causal relationship between prenatal folic acid exposure and reduced psychiatric risk has remained elusive. We leveraged the rollout of government-mandated folic acid fortification of grain products in the U.S. from 1996-98 as a "natural experiment" to determine whether increased prenatal folic acid exposure influenced subsequent brain development.  This intervention, implemented to reduce risk of spina bifida and other disabling neural tube defects in infants, rapidly doubled blood folate levels among women of childbearing age in surveillance studies. Across two large, independent cohorts of youths age 8 to 18 who received MRI scans, we observed increased cortical thickness, and a delay in age-related cortical thinning, in brain regions associated with schizophrenia risk among individuals who were born during or after the fortification rollout, compared to those born just before it.  Further, delayed cortical thinning also predicted reduced risk of psychosis spectrum symptoms, a finding that suggests biological plausibility in light of previous work demonstrating early and accelerated cortical thinning among school-aged individuals with autism or psychosis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Social Issues / 05.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jessica Wood, MSc PhD Candidate, Applied Social Psychology Department of Psychology University of Guelph MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We are at time in history where we expect more from our romantic partners than at any point in our recent past (e.g., love, emotional and financial support, sexual excitement/fulfillment, friendship etc.). This can place pressure on relationships and make it difficult for each person to have their needs fulfilled. Some choose to opt out of of relationships altogether to avoid disappointment, and some even purchase a real sex doll for fulfilment. Another option is consensually non-monogamous (CNM) relationships, where sexual and emotional needs are dispersed among multiple partners, potentially decreasing pressures placed on a primary relationship. However, CNM relationships are stigmatized and often viewed as less stable or satisfying. In our study, we assessed the legitimacy of this perception by comparing relational outcomes among CNM and monogamous individuals. We also examined whether the motives a person reports for engaging in sex was important to how fulfilled a person was in the relationship, and how this was linked to relational outcomes (such as relationship and sexual satisfaction). That is, having sex for more intrinsic/autonomous motives (e.g., pleasure, intimacy, valuing sex) has been associated with higher relationship quality. In contrast, having sex for more extrinsic reasons (e.g., feeling pressured, wanting to manage feelings of guilt or shame), has been linked to lower relational quality. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, NEJM / 05.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Dennis E. Hruby PhD Chief Science Officer of SIGA Technologies Corvallis, OR MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: Naturally occurring smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 following coordinated decades-long global vaccination campaigns. However, there is a significant concern that smallpox, which is both highly contagious and highly lethal, could be used as a potential bioweapon. DNA synthesis technology and the possibility of unaccounted for smallpox stocks pose significant risks. While there are two publicly acknowledged stocks of smallpox virus held by the United States and Russia, some believe that additional stores of the virus could be in the hands of governments or organizations that might use them to cause harm. The DNA sequence of the smallpox genome is in the public domain and could potentially be synthesized in a laboratory from scratch or created by genetically modifying a similar virus. Currently, there are no therapies approved for the treatment of smallpox infection. A smallpox bioterror attack could be especially damaging because the majority of today’s population is not immune to the virus, as routine vaccination ended in the 1970s. It is estimated that without vaccination or treatment, each person infected with smallpox would infect 5 - 7 others. Rapid spread from person-to-person can occur through speaking, breathing or touching. Smallpox also can be transmitted by direct contact with infected fluids and contaminated objects. Furthermore, vaccination must occur within 3-5 days of exposure to smallpox, when patients are still asymptomatic, to be effective. These limitations underscore the need for an effective smallpox antiviral therapy, in addition to any available vaccine. (more…)
Asthma, AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Immunotherapy, Lancet, Pulmonary Disease / 27.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Reynold A. Panettieri, Jr., M.D. Professor of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Vice Chancellor, Clinical & Translational Science Director, Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine & Science Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Child Health Institute of New Jersey Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New Brunswick, NJ  08901 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Severe asthma is characterized by Type 2 inflammation manifested by increases in IL-13, IL-4 and Il-5 levels in the airways that promotes airway hyperresponsiveness and in part irreversible airway obstruction.  These clinical manifestations profoundly increase asthma morbidity and mortality. To address an unmet therapeutic need, Tralokinumab was developed as a monoclonal antibody targeting soluble IL-13 with the goal of improving lung function and patient reported outcomes while decreasing annual exacerbation rates.  Stratus 1 and 2 represent two identical randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 clinical trials in severe asthma.  These international trials enrolled approximately 2000 subjects with severe asthma and examined whether Tralokinumab decreased annualized exacerbation rates (AER) as compared with placebo (primary outcome). (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Social Issues / 12.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Sara Singing for the IT MS Society” by Draft is licensed under PDM 3.0Filippos Filippidis MD, MSc, MPH, PhD Lecturer in Public Health School of Public Health Imperial College London London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous research suggests that big sports and international events are associated with happiness, productivity, suicides and homicides. Considering the popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Europe, we wanted to see if there is any association between performance in the competition and life satisfaction and suicides. We used interview data from more than 160,000 people in Europe collected from 2009 to 2015 and found that better performance in the contest was associated with higher levels of life satisfaction in the country. Winning the competition did not confer any additional advantage. When comparing bad performance in the ESC with no participation at all, we found that even bad performance was associated with higher satisfaction with life compared to absence from the competition. (more…)
Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Technology / 12.12.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Ian Stephen PhD Senior Lecturer Department of Psychology ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Perception in Action Research Centre Macquarie University, Sydney NSW, Australia   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Since the 1990s, the dominant view of attraction in the scientific community has been that it is an evolved mechanism for identifying appropriate, healthy, fertile mates. People who are attracted to appropriate, healthy, fertile people are more likely to have more, healthy offspring and therefore any genes for having these preferences will become more common. On the other hand people who are attracted to inappropriate, unhealthy, infertile people will be less likely to pass on their genes to the next generation, so genes for this attraction pattern will become less common. However, for this model to be correct, two things have to be true. First, we should be able to identify cues in the face and body that people find attractive/healthy looking. And second, these cues must be related to some aspect of actual physiological health. The first part of this is well established - cues like symmetry, skin color, body shape are all related to looking healthy and attractive. But there is much less research on the second part. The computer modeling techniques that we use allowed us to build a model based on 272 African, Asian and Caucasian face photographs that identifies three aspects of physiological health - body fat, BMI (a measure of body size) and blood pressure - by analysing facial shape. We then used the model to create an app that predicts what different faces would look like if those individuals increased or decreased their fatness, BMI or blood pressure. We gave this app to some more participants and asked them to make the faces look as healthy as possible. We found that, to make the faces look healthy, the participants reduced their fatness, BMI and (to a lesser extent) blood pressure. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Nutrition / 26.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Coffee” by Treacle Tart is licensed under CC BY 2.0Robin Poole Specialty registrar in public health Academic Unit of Primary Care and Population Sciences Faculty of Medicine University of Southampton MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Worldwide, over two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. Since such a lot of coffee is consumed it is important to understand whether this is beneficial or harmful to our health. Evidence to date has been mixed and this tends to vary between different outcomes. Coffee is a complex mixture of many bioactive compounds including caffeine, chlorogenic acids, and diterpenes. Laboratory experiments have previously highlighted the potential for coffee to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anti-cancer effects. Our research group is interested in liver conditions and we were aware of studies suggesting beneficial associations between drinking coffee and liver disease. We went on to conduct two meta-analyses and concluded that coffee drinking was beneficially associated with both liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Depression, JAMA, Pediatrics / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laura P. Richardson, MD, MPH Interim Chief | Division of Adolescent Medicine Director | UW Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program Professor | UW Department of Pediatrics Seattle Children's | University of Washington MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Adolescent depression is one of the most common mental health conditions during adolescence. Up to one in five adolescents experience an episode of major depression by age 18. Depressed youth are at greater risk of suicide, dropping out of school and poor long-term health. Treatments, including medications and psychotherapy, have been proven to be effective but most depressed teens don’t receive any treatment. Two years ago, we showed that the Reaching Out to Adolescents in Distress (ROAD) collaborative care model (a.k.a. Reach Out 4 Teens) designed to increase support and the delivery of evidence-based treatments in primary care was effective in treating depression in teens, significantly improving outcomes. We ran a randomized clinical trial at nine of Group Health’s primary care clinics and reported effectiveness results in JAMA. The current paper represents the next step in this work, examining the cost-effectiveness of collaborative care for adolescent depression in our intervention sample of 101 adolescents with depression, ages 13-17 years. (more…)
Author Interviews, General Medicine, Infections, NEJM / 26.08.2014

Medical Research Interview with: Brian Dannemann, MD, FACP Senior Director, JNJ Pharmaceutical Research and Development Titusville, NJ 08560 MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Dannemann : The final investigational 120-week results from the TMC207-C208 Phase 2 study demonstrated that bedaquiline (SIRTURO®) showed nearly twice an many patients in the bedaquiline group as in the placebo group were cured on the basis of the World Health Organization (WHO) outcome definitions for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis which was statistically significant (38 of 66 patients  [58%] and 21 of 66 patients [32%] respectively; p = 0.003). (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 24.08.2014

Satyesh K Sinha, PhD Assistant Professor Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science Los Angeles, CA-90059MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Satyesh K Sinha, PhD Assistant Professor Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science Los Angeles, CA-90059 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sinha: Our main finding is that compared to Whites, African Americans (AAs) and Hispanics, with diabetes, have a higher prevalence of early chronic kidney disease (CKD) which is significantly associated with urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and/or C-reactive protein (CRP). (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, mBio / 04.08.2014

Dr. Sridhar Mani MD Departments of Genetics and Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Sridhar Mani MD Departments of Genetics and Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY 10461

  Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mani: In a series of studies using cells grown in the lab and mouse studies, the researchers found that a metabolite called indole 3-propionic acid (IPA)—produced exclusively by so-called commensal bacteria —both strengthens the intestinal epithelium’s barrier function and prevents its inflammation by activating an orphan nuclear receptor, Pregnane X Receptor (PXR). Specifically, PXR activation suppresses production of an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-á) while increasing levels of a protein that strengthens the junctions between intestinal epithelial cells (makes the intestines less permeable to noxious substances). Loss of PXR protein and/or IPA results in a disrupted intestinal barrier and increased propensity towards intestinal inflammation and/or toxin induced injury to the intestines. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Mediterranean Diet, Nutrition / 30.07.2014

Dr Michelle Morris Research Fellow Nutritional Epidemiology Group School of Food Science & Nutrition University of LeedsMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Michelle Morris Research Fellow Nutritional Epidemiology Group School of Food Science & Nutrition University of Leeds Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Morris: The healthiest diets consumed by UK Women are the most expensive. This study is UK centric, using dietary patterns consumed by UK women and scored for healthiness according to the UK Department of Health Eatwell Plate. Cost of diet was estimated using average prices taken from an evaluated UK food cost database. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, JAMA / 21.07.2014

Riyaz Bashir MD, FACC, RVT Associate Professor of Medicine Director, Vascular and Endovascular Medicine Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Diseases Temple University Hospital Philadelphia, PA 19140MedicalResearch.com Interview with Riyaz Bashir MD, FACC, RVT Associate Professor of Medicine Director, Vascular and Endovascular Medicine Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases Temple University Hospital Philadelphia, PA 19140 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Bashir : Blood clots of legs called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a very common disease that occurs in about 1.0 person per 1000 population per year. This condition is responsible for more than 600,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States and approximately 6% of these patients will die within 1 month of the diagnosis. Amongst these patients 20% - to 50% will go on to develop chronic leg pains, swelling, heaviness, skin discoloration, and ulcers, in spite of conventional treatment with Blood thinning medications (anticoagulation) and compression stockings.This condition, which is called Post-thrombotic syndrome PTS markedly impairs the quality of life of these patients and is a significant economic burden (2.4 billion dollars and 200 million work days lost annually in US) on the society.In fact, many of these people lose their jobs because of the disability it causes. Several small studies have shown that early clot removal by minimally invasive catheter-based clot busting procedure called Catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) leads to a significant reduction in Post-thrombotic syndrome along with improvements in quality of life. Unfortunately, due to the small number of patients in these studies, we did not have any data about the safety of this treatment option. This has led to conflicting recommendations by various medical societies like the American College of Chest Physicians recommending against its use while the American Heart Association recommends Catheter-directed thrombolysis as first-line treatment for these patients. In light of these conflicting directives, we reviewed the frequency and safety of CDT versus conventional treatment in these patients with blood clots above the knees in the United States using Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from 2005 to 2010. (more…)
Author Interviews, Neurology, Stroke / 20.07.2014

Sang-Beom Jeon, MD, PhD From the Department of Neurology Asan Medical Center University of Ulsan College of Medicine Seoul, Republic of Korea.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sang-Beom Jeon, MD, PhD From the Department of Neurology Asan Medical Center University of Ulsan College of Medicine Seoul, Republic of Korea. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sang-Beom Jeon: In this MRI study of 825 stroke patients, we demonstrated that high plasma concentrations of homocysteine, also known as hyperhomocysteinemia, were associated with small-vessel disease (lacunar infarcts and leukoaraiosis) and large-vessel atherosclerosis of cerebral arteries. (more…)
Author Interviews, HIV, Lancet / 20.07.2014

Dr. Colette SmithMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Colette Smith: PhD Research Department of Infection and Population Health University College London, London, UK   Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Smith: We followed a group of approximately 45,000 HIV-positive people from Europe, USA and Australia between 1999 to 2011. We found that the death rate approximately halved over the 12-year study period. For every 1,000 people, around 18 died per year in 1999-2001, reducing to 9 deaths per year in 2009-2011. We also studied what people died of. We found that the death rate from AIDS and from liver disease decreased by around two-thirds. Deaths from heart disease approximately halved. However, the rate of cancer deaths (excluding cancers that are classified as AIDS events) remained constant over time. One in three deaths were caused by AIDS in 1999 to 2011, and this decreased to one in five deaths in the last two years of the study. However, even in recent years it was the joint most common cause of death. The proportion of deaths from cancer increased over time. One in ten deaths were from cancer in 1999 to 2001, and this increased to one in five deaths in 2009 to 2011. By the end of the study it was the joint-most common cause of death. (more…)