16 Apr COVID-19: Blood Type Does Not Affect Susceptibility or Severity
Potentially tying COVID risk to susceptibility or severity came from studies in China in May 2020 and Italy and Spain in October 2020. ...
JAMANetworkOpen Tag
25 Mar COVID-19: Steady Increase in Health Care Workers Acceptance of Vaccine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_57010" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Meyer, J.D.[/caption]
Michelle N. Meyer, PhD, JD
Assistant Professor & Associate Director, Research Ethics, Center for Translational Bioethics & Health Care Policy
Faculty Co-Director, Behavioral Insights Team, Steele Institute for Health Innovation
Assistant Professor of Bioethics
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Geisinger, PA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Earlier research had found people are less likely to say they'll receive a COVID-19 vaccine offered to them under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) than one offered to them following full FDA approval. Earlier surveys had also found that only around 30% of health care workers intended to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Because the public often looks to local health care workers for health advice, and in most prioritization schemes they were slated to be offered vaccines first, this was quite concerning for the prospect of achieving population immunity. Commenters had warned that if the FDA chose to make COVID-19 vaccines available under EUAs, that substantial efforts would need to be made to ensure trust. On Dec. 4, 2020, an announcement about anticipated vaccine availability was emailed to all 23,784 Geisinger employees, who were asked to indicate their intention to receive a vaccine when one was available to them and the reasons for any hesitation they might have.
22 Jan Disparities in Physician Density by Specialty Type in Urban and Rural Counties
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_56455" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Machado[/caption]
Sara Machado PhD
Fellow at the Department of Health Policy
London School of Economics and Political Science
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Physician distribution is a determinant of health care access, so knowing how physician density patterns evolve over time is important if we are trying to address disparities in access to care. Moreover, the last 10 years have brought about changes in health care coverage, across the US. Recent evidence points to an uneven physician distribution between urban and rural communities. We examined recent trends in physician density by physician category across rural and urban US counties.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We have two main findings.
- First, density of primary care physicians steadily decreased in more than half of rural counties (994 out of 1,976).
- Second, medical specialist density, which would care for cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, for example, has been largely stagnant in rural counties, at the lowest density levels (less than 10 physicians per 100,000), and increasing in metropolitan counties.
03 Dec Sharp Rise in Overdose Deaths During COVID-19 Pandemic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joseph Friedman, MD/PhD student David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Numerous researchers, clinicians, officials, harm reduction agencies, and people who use drugs have sounded the alarm that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the United States overdose crisis. However, data sources typically used to track overdoses in the US often have long lags that impede timely monitoring and response. For example, the CDC released preliminary overdose figures for 2019 in July 2020, and even these numbers may change. As they are available in near real-time, emergency medical services (EMS) data have increasingly been used as a source of up-to-date information to monitor epidemiological shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we used data from the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS), a large registry of over 10,000 EMS agencies in 47 states that represented over 80% of all EMS activations nationally in 2020. We used the data to track shifts in overdose-related cardiac arrests observed by EMS.
13 Nov AI Improves Accuracy of Prostate Cancer Grading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55940" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Steiner[/caption]
Dave Steiner MD PhD
Clinical Research Scientist
Google Health, Palo Alto, California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: For prostate cancer patients, the grading of cancer in prostate biopsies by pathologists is central to risk stratification and treatment decisions. However, the grading process can be subjective, often resulting in variability among pathologists. This variability can complicate diagnostic and treatment decisions. As an initial step towards addressing this problem, we and others in the field have recently developed artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that perform on-par with expert pathologists for prostate cancer grading. Such algorithms have the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of prostate biopsy grading, but the impact of these algorithms when used by pathologists has not been well studied. In the current study, we developed and evaluated an AI-based assistant tool for use by pathologists while reviewing prostate biopsies.
04 Aug Dramatic Drop in Newly Diagnosed Cancers During COVID Pandemic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55014" align="alignleft" width="200"] Harvey Kaufman[/caption]
Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, MBA, FCAP
Senior Medical Director, Medical Informatics
Quest Diagnostics
Needham, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine healthcare and in particular cancer screenings. We documented the impact on patients who were newly identified by cancer in the early months of the pandemic by analysis of Quest Diagnostics data.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We saw a 46% decline in newly identified patients with six common types of cancer. In accordance to healthcare recommendations, many patients didn’t receive mammograms, colonoscopies, low-dose CT scans, and avoided physician visits for minor complaints. When these patients return, some will present with more advanced stages of cancer than they would have without the disruption of the pandemic.
23 Mar Strong Placebo Effects in ED Drug Trials
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexander Stridh, MSc Department of Clinical Neuroscience Karolinska Institute Solna, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We wanted to investigate how large the effect size is in the placebo arm of clinical trials with PDE5Is for erectile dysfunction. The major findings in this study is that there is a placebo response in general in ED, though it is hard to tell if this is a genuine placebo effect rather than normal fluctuations in symptom severity among patients. Another interesting finding was that the placebo response seems largely more important when the cause of ED is mainly due to psychogenic factors, as in post traumatic stress disorder. Lastly there was an important finding that there was no difference between placebo and active drug with daily treatment of PDE5Is for long term recovery of erectile function after prostate cancer treatment, a practice which is common in some places and seems to be questionable.
20 Mar Meth Addiction: Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation To Reduce Impulsive Behavior
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53588" align="alignleft" width="158"]
Dr. Jiajin Yuan[/caption]
Jiajin Yuan, Ph.D
Professor of Psychology
Director, The Laboratory for Affect Cognition and Regulation,
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University,
Chongqing, China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Impulsivity is a critical symptom of methamphetamine addiction, and this symptom plays an important role in compulsive, unresistable drug-seeking behavioral and is thus detrimental to the rehabilitation. Impulsivity in drug addiction also contributes to disruption of people's goal pursuit/goal maintenance, and aggressive/violent behaviors after drug use. Also, lack of suitable intervention for addiction-related impulsivity is known to be a risky factor for the drug reuse after successful rehabilitation.
Thus, rehabilitaton targeted at impulsivity in methamphetamine addicts is important to comprehensive rehabilitation of the drug addiction and also to successful return to social life after rehabilitation
27 Feb Link Between Short Telomeres and Mortality Increases with Age
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53301" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Arbeev[/caption]
Dr. Konstantin G. Arbeev, PhD
Associate Research Professor
Biodemography of Aging Research Unit (BARU)
Social Science Research Institute (SSRI)
Duke University
[caption id="attachment_53302" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Aviv[/caption]
Dr. Abraham Aviv, MD
Department Pediatrics
Director, The Center of Human Development and Aging
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A body of research has shown that having comparatively short leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with increased risk of death in adults.
03 Feb Should Colon Cancer Screening Begin Before 50?
Posted at 12:54h
in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Colon Cancer, Gastrointestinal Disease, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_53015" align="alignleft" width="166"] Dr. Karlitz[/caption]
Jordan J. Karlitz, MD
Staff Gastroenterologist Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System
Associate Professor, Division of Gastroenterology
Director, GI Hereditary Cancer and Genetics Program,
Tulane University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Currently, there is debate over whether average-risk colorectal cancer screening should begin at age 45 or 50.
Given this controversy, we sought to conduct a colorectal cancer incidence rate analysis by yearly-age, as opposed to age range blocks (i.e. 30-39, 40-49 etc.) as has been done in the past. We believed that this type of "high definition" analysis would allow a better understanding of incidence rates of those approaching or at screening in age. We were particularly interested in the transition from age 49 to 50 as this is when average risk screening has historically been recommended.
27 Jan Free Sample Closets More Common in Smaller Primary Care Practices
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52969" align="alignleft" width="147"]
Prof. Woloshin[/caption]
Steven Woloshin, MD, MS
Professor of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine
Professor, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Industry spends more on detailing visits and free samples than any other form of prescription drug marketing. There is good evidence that these activities can lead to more use of expensive new drugs over equally effective cheaper options. Given these concerns there have been efforts by some hospitalls and practices to restrict these forms of marketing.
We asked physicians in group practices delivering primary care about how often pharmaceutical reps visit their practice and whether they have a free sample closet.
30 Dec How Have State Opioid Limits Affected Post-Surgery Prescribing?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sunil Agarwal, MD Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network Ann Arbor, MI MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Excess opioid prescribing after surgery often leads to misuse and diversion into the community. To prevent excessive prescribing for acute pain, 31 states have implemented legislation that limits the duration of opioid prescriptions. Our study examined the effect of prescribing limits and postoperative opioid prescribing on surgical patients in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the first two states to implement opioid prescribing limits for acute pain after the CDC guidelines were released.
28 Dec Insomnia: Lemborexant With Placebo vs Zolpidem Tartrate Extended Release
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52595" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Moline[/caption]
Margaret Moline, PhD
Lemborexant International Program Lead and Global Medical Lead
Executive Director, Neurology Business Group
Eisai, Inc.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
This study, called SUNRISE 1, is one of two pivotal Phase 3 studies in the lemborexant clinical development program that supported the recent FDA approval of DAYVIGO (lemborexant).
- On December 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved DAYVIGO (lemborexant) 5 mg and 10 mg, an orexin receptor antagonist indicated for the treatment of adult patients with insomnia, which is characterized by difficulties with sleep onset and/or sleep maintenance.1
- DAYVIGO will be commercially available following scheduling by the DEA, which is expected to occur within 90 days.
- SUNRISE 1 was a one-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo- and active-controlled, multi-center, parallel-group clinical trial in adult female patients age 55 and older and male patients 65 years and older who met DSM-5 criteria for insomnia disorder. Patients were randomized to placebo (n=208), lemborexant 5 mg (n=266) or 10 mg (n=269), or active comparator (n=263) once nightly.1
- The primary efficacy endpoint was the mean change in log-transformed latency to persistent sleep (LPS; defined as the number of minutes from lights off to the first 10 consecutive minutes of non-wakefulness) from baseline to end of treatment (Days 29/30), as measured by overnight polysomnography (PSG) monitoring.1
- The pre-specified secondary efficacy endpoints in Study 2 were the mean change from baseline to end of treatment (Days 29/30) in sleep efficiency (SEF) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) measured by PSG.1
- SUNRISE 1, lemborexant 5 mg and 10 mg demonstrated statistically significant superiority on the primary efficacy measure, LPS, compared to placebo. lemborexant 5 mg and 10 mg demonstrated statistically significant improvement in SEF and WASO compared to placebo.1
- The effects of lemborexant at the beginning of treatment were generally consistent with later timepoints.
20 Dec Variation and Disparities in Awareness of Myocardial Infarction Symptoms
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52488" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Mahajan[/caption]
Shiwani Mahajan, MBBS
Postdoctoral Associate
Yale/YNHH Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE)
New Haven, CT 06510
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Although the mortality rates among patients hospitalized for myocardial infarction (MI) have seen a decreasing trend, patients with MI continue to have a delayed presentation to the hospital and a large number of them die before reaching the hospital. One critical aspect of lowering mortality associated with MI is ensuring timely access to lifesaving emergency cardiac care, for which prompt recognition of symptoms of a MI and appropriate rapid emergency response are crucial. As such, in this study, we used nationally representative data to estimate awareness of 5 common symptoms of a MI (including chest pain or discomfort; shortness of breath; pain or discomfort in arms or shoulders; feeling weak or lightheaded; and jaw or neck or back pain), and the appropriate response to a MI (i.e. calling emergency medical services), among adults in the US.
18 Dec More Concussions Occur Off Playing Field Than On
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52509" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Breck[/caption]
John Breck, DO, CAQSM
Medical Services at University of Colorado, Boulder
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: To date, most concussion research has focused on sport-related concussion, though it is known that a substantial number of concussions occur outside of participating in sport.
Focusing solely on sport-related concussion may result in an underestimation of the underlying incidence and prevalence of concussion in the general population and leads to the widely held perception that most concussions are sport-related. An understudied population at risk for concussion are United States undergraduate college students.
05 Oct Marijuana Use More Common Among Adults With Medical Conditions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51463" align="alignleft" width="165"]
Dr. Hongying (Daisy) Dai[/caption]
Hongying (Daisy) Dai, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biostatistics | College of Public Health
University of Nebraska Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Although marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug at the Federal level, as of June 2019, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized one or more forms of marijuana; 11 states and the District of Columbia have approved both medical and recreational uses. Public opinion on marijuana has changed dramatically over the last two decades and support for legalization has doubled since 2010. However, very little is known about the prevalence and patterns of marijuana use among adults with medical conditions.
This study analyzed the 2016 and 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to report the prevalence and patterns of marijuana use among adults with self-reported medical conditions.
28 Sep BCG Vaccine Linked to Lower Risk of Lung Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Naomi E Aronson, MD, FIDA, FACP Professor and Director, Infectious Diseases Division Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: BCG is a live attenuated mycobacteria vaccine used to prevent tuberculosis which has been reported to have associated nonspecific effects such as treatment of diabetes, bladder cancer, prevention of severe respiratory infections in children, and suppressed autoimmune responses. In earlier reports in the 1970s, results of epidemiologic studies were divided as to whether BCG vaccine was associated with subsequent rates of malignancy, specifically leukemia (protective) and non Hodgkins lymphoma (higher rates). To further evaluate these observations we studied cancer data collected in the 60 year follow up of a controlled trial of BCG in American Indian/ Alaska Native schoolchildren.
28 Sep Biologic Aging Occurs More Quickly Than Previously Thought
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51628" align="alignleft" width="200"] Lara Puhlmann[/caption]
Lara Puhlmann, PhD student
International Max Planck Research School NeuroCom
Research Group Social Stress and Family Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Studies are increasingly investigating ways to influence the length of telomeres (i.e., protective chromosomal caps), with the aim of improving a person’s health and aging trajectory.
There is evidence that telomere length can change faster than previously thought, possibly taking just one to six months of mental or physical training to elongate. However, the broader biological implications of such short-term change in telomere length remain unclear.
13 Sep Slower Working Memory in Adolescence Associated With Motor Vehicle Crashes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51276" align="alignleft" width="170"] Dr. Elizabeth Walshe[/caption]
Elizabeth Walshe, PhD
Research Post-Doctoral Fellow
Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP)
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Motor vehicle crashes are a major public health concern and are the leading cause of death for adolescents in the US and other countries. Much of the research into why young driver crash rates are so high has focused on the role of driving experience and skills. But even among equally novice drivers, crash risk is still higher for younger novice drivers (17 year old new drivers have a higher crash risk than 20 year old new drivers). This suggests that crashes are related to development, and this is the focus of our research.
We know from the field of neuroscience that the frontal lobe of the brain is still developing across adolescence and into adulthood along with some cognitive abilities. One of these cognitive abilities, called working memory is particularly important for managing complex tasks, such as driving. It allows us to monitor and update information in the moment (e.g. monitor and update information about the environment and the vehicle), and attend to multiple subtasks simultaneously (like multitasking to control the steering and speed, as well as other vehicle controls, perhaps while talking to a passenger or listening to the radio). Working memory has been shown to develop later, and at different rates for different people: some teens develop at a faster rate, and some teens develop a little later, even as late as the mid-twenties. In parallel, while crash rates are high for teen drivers, we also know that not all teen drivers crash. So what is it about those who do crash? Could this be related to their developing working memory? That question is what motivated this study.
09 Sep Patient Preferences Could Drive Racial Disparities in EMS Emergency Room Transport
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51209" align="alignleft" width="142"] Dr. Hanchate[/caption]
Amresh D Hanchate, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
Boston University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: National guidelines require EMS transportation to the nearest suitable hospital. To what extent this occurs and whether this varies by the race and ethnicity of the patient is unknown since there is little to no prior research on destination patterns of EMS-transported patients to hospitals.
14 Aug FDA Identifies No New Safety Concerns Associated with Prostate Cancer Treatment Vaccine Sipuleucel-T
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50871" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Graca Dores (left) and Dr. Perez-Vilar (senior author)[/caption]
Dr. Graca Dores MD MPH
US Food and Drug Administration
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
Office of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Division of Epidemiology
Silver Spring, Maryland
Oklahoma City, OK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what Sipuleucel-T is used for?
Response: Sipuleucel-T was the first therapeutic vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010. It is indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic, metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC; prostate cancer that spreads while an individual is on hormone-blocking therapy). During the preparation of this product, the patient’s cells are collected (leukapheresis), sent for processing to generate a dose of patient-specific vaccine, and then administered intravenously back to the patient. This process is repeated approximately every two weeks for a total of three doses.
Except for the pre-marketing clinical trials that were reviewed during the sipuleucel-T approval process, post-marketing studies that have evaluated the safety profile of sipuleucel-T are scarce. Therefore, we used the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database to summarize the adverse events reported to FDA by industry, medical professionals, and consumers. We also assessed whether sipuleucel-T and specific adverse events (product-event pairs) were reported more than expected compared to all other drug/biologic-adverse event pairs in the FAERS database.
05 Jun Home Based Physical Therapy Can Help Prevent Falls in the Elderly
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49471" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Liu-Ambrose[/caption]
Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PT, PhD
Canada Research Chair (Tier II), Physical Activity, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Director, Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
University of British Columbia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Falls in older adults are the third-leading cause of chronic disability and the leading cause of hospitalization for adults over age 65. Older adults who experience multiple falls are at increased risk for disability, loss of independence, and even death. How to best prevent falls in this high risk group is not well established.
19 May Mortality Rate Increases With Each Sugary Drink
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean A. Welsh, RN, MPH, PhD Departments of Epidemiology and Pediatrics Emory University Wellness Department, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Atlanta, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the evidence has accumulated regarding the health risks associated with sugar-sweetened beverages, I’ve wondered about fruit juices. Though they have a kind of healthy halo, their main ingredients are the same as sugar-sweetened beverages, sugar and water. We know that young children drink a lot of fruit juice, and I’ve wondered if older children and adults might switch to drinking more as concern grows about soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages.
11 May Over a Million Opioid Prescriptions at Risk of Diversion by Family Members
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49122" align="alignleft" width="140"] Dr. Kao-Ping Chua[/caption]
Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Pediatrics
Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Doctor and pharmacy shopping is a high-risk behavior in which patients obtain opioid prescriptions from multiple prescribers and fill them at multiple pharmacies. Because this behavior is associated with a high risk of overdose death, there have been many efforts to help clinicians detect doctor and pharmacy shopping among patients prescribed opioids. For example, 49 states have a prescription drug monitoring program that provides information on patients’ prior controlled substance prescriptions.
In contrast, there has been little attention to the possibility that patients prescribed opioids may have family members who are engaged in opioid doctor and pharmacy shopping. Such family members may divert opioids prescribed to patients because of their access to these opioids.
06 May Few Valid Tools to Identify Pain Patients Who Can Be Safely Prescribed Opioids
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48970" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Klimas[/caption]
Jan Klimas, PhD, MSc
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow
BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU)
Vancouver, BC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Some individuals prescribed opioid analgesic medications for pain develop opioid use disorder. So, much research has been conducted to develop strategies to identify patients who can be safely prescribed opioid analgesics. However, this research has not been critically reviewed through rigorous quality assessment.
This study therefore sought to identify signs, symptoms & screening tools to identify patients with pain who can be safely prescribed opioids
01 May West Nile Virus: Lag Time in Reporting Precludes Accurate Public Health Decisions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48954" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. DeFelice[/caption]
Nicholas B. DeFelice, PhD
Department of Environmental Medicine & Public Health
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, New York
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Effective allocation of public health resources during an outbreak is complicated and often reactive. Thus, it is important that we develop quantitative tools that can accurately and rapidly forecast the progression of an outbreak and provide decision support. Recently, several advancements have been made in the realm of infectious disease forecasting: it is a field that is growing in exciting directions. However, for these forecasting tools to work in real time, we must understand how the forecasting apparatus and observational network work in real time to ensure they are sufficient to support accurate operational predictions.
We previously showed that accurate and reliable forecasts of West Nile virus outbreaks can be made using surveillance data and a mathematical model representing the interactions between birds, mosquitoes and risk of human spillover. This model system was able to retrospectively forecast mosquito infection rates prior to the week of peak mosquito infection, and to forecast accurately the seasonal total number of human West Nile virus cases prior to when the majority of cases were reported.
For this study, we were interested in the data flow process and the question of whether appropriate infrastructure is in place to support real time forecasting. If this forecast system were made operational in real time, public health officials would have an evidence-based decision-support tool to help
1) actively target control of infected mosquito populations (i.e., larviciding and adulticiding),
2) alert the public to future periods of elevated West Nile virus spillover transmission risk, and
3) identify when to intensify blood donor screening.
30 Apr Multiple Sclerosis: Elevated IgG Linked to Risk of More Severe Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48900" align="alignleft" width="140"] Prof. Hemmer[/caption]
Prof. Bernhard Hemmer MD PhD
Director of the Neurology Clinic
Technische Universität München
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The course of multiple sclerosis (MS) is still highly unpredictable and reliable markers to predict disability progression are largely missing. We found that patients with a high IgG Index, which means that the produce large amount of IgG within the CNS, have a higher risk of disease worsening during the first 4 years. I would consider patients with an elevated IgG index at a higher risk to run a more severe disease course. The marker could be used together with others to guide treatment decisions after multiple sclerosis diagnosis.
30 Apr Machine Learning Can Analyze Entire Transcriptome To Improve Diagnosis of Difficult Cancers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48863" align="alignleft" width="132"] Dr. Jones[/caption]
Steven J.M. Jones, Professor, FRSC, FCAHS
Co-Director & Head, Bioinformatics
Genome Sciences Centre
British Columbia Cancer Research Centre
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and
Jasleen Grewal, BSc.
Genome Sciences Centre
British Columbia Cancer Research Centre
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Cancer diagnosis requires manual analysis of tissue appearance, histology, and protein expression. However, there are certain types of cancers, known as cancers of unknown primary, that are difficult to diagnose based purely on their appearance and a small set of proteins. In our precision medicine oncogenomics program, we needed an accurate approach to confirm diagnosis of biopsied samples and determine candidate tumour types for where the primary site of the cancer was uncertain. We developed a machine learning approach, trained on the gene expression data of over 10,688 individual tumours and healthy tissues, that has been able to achieve this task with high accuracy.
Genome sequencing offers a high-resolution view of the biological landscape of cancers. RNA-Seq in particular quantifies how much each gene is expressed in a given sample. In this study, we used the entire transcriptome, spanning 17,688 genes in the human genome, to train a machine learning method for cancer diagnosis. The resultant method, SCOPE, takes in the entire transcriptome and outputs an interpretable confidence score from across a set of 40 different cancer types and 26 healthy tissues.
29 Apr Elevated PCBs Associated with Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48834" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Lind[/caption]
Monica Lind, PhD,
Professor, Environmental toxicologist
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Uppsala University Hospital
Visiting adress: Dag Hammarskjölds väg 60
Uppsala Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Previous studies in workers exposed to very high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have suggested hazardous health effects. However, circulating PCB levels are detected in almost all indivuduals in industrialized countries, but the health effects of moderately elevated levels as seen in the general population are not well established.
We investigated levels of PCBs in around 1,000 individuals, all aged 70 years, randomly chosen from the City of Uppsala, Sweden.
23 Apr Occupational Exposure to Pesticides: Poor Prognosis for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients
Posted at 11:21h
in Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, JAMA, Lymphoma, Occupational Health, Toxin Research
MedicalResearch.com interview with:
Sylvain Lamure, MD, Hematologist, Principal Investigator
Pascale Fabbro-Peray, MD, PhD , Epidemiologist, Senior Investigator
University of Montpellier, France
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Occupational exposure to pesticides is a well-documented associated factor for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The main biological mechanisms of both pesticides and chemotherapy are genotoxicity and reactive oxygen species generation. Cellular adaptation among patients exposed to low doses of genotoxic and oxidative compounds might hinder chemotherapy efficiency in lymphoma patients. T
hus, we have investigated the association of occupational exposure with response to immunochemotherapy and survival in the subgroup of diffuse large B cell lymphoma, whose treatment is standardized.