medical research Tag
17 Jun POTS – Postural Tachycardia Syndrome: May Be UnderRecognized and UnderTreated
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Prof. Julia I. Newton: Dean of Clinical Medicine & Professor of Ageing and Medicine Clinical Academic Office The Medical School Newcastle University MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Newton: In this study we have explored for the first time the characteristics of patients with Postural tachycardia in the UK- Postural Tachycardia Syndrome patients are predominantly female, young, well educated and have significant and debilitating symptoms that impact significantly upon their quality of life.
- Despite this, there is no consistent treatment, high levels of disability and associated comorbidity.
- Although individuals presented with symptoms at the same age, those attending a specialist clinic received a diagnosis quicker.
- Symptom burden for those with Postural tachycardia is high and comparable to that seen in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is recognized by the WHO as a neurological disorder and by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 as a disability. At the current time those with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome suffer to the same extent as those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but do not receive the same protection from the law.
- It is important that more work is done to understand the underlying autonomic abnormality in those with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome in order to allow us to develop targeted treatments that are effective and go beyond the currently available simply symptomatic management.
17 Jun Current Criteria May Mislabel Many Hospital Readmissions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Greg D. Sacks, MD, MPH
Department of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Sacks: This study evaluated the all-cause readmissions measure developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to penalize hospitals for unplanned readmissions. By evaluating readmissions of surgical patients at a single academic medical center, we found that the readmissions measure was able to identify only a third of the planned readmissions and mislabeled the remaining two thirds of planned readmissions as unplanned. This discrepancy was a result of the measure’s reliance on administrative claims data, which disagreed in 31% of cases with clinical data abstracted from the patient’s chart. Also, almost a third (27%) of the readmissions in this study were for reasons unrelated to the original hospitalization.
17 Jun Canola Oil May Improve Glycemic Control, Reduce Cardiovascular Risk Factors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David J.A. Jenkins
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism,
Dept. of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Jenkins: The main findings were that inclusion of just over an once (31g) of canola oil in low glycemic index diets of type 2 diabetes study participants, to further reduce the glycemic load (GL), reduced HbAIC more than a high cereal fiber diet, as predicted. However the Canola oil low GL diet also reduced serum TG and LDL-C and thus Framingham risk score for cardiovascular disease. The effect was seen most clearly in those at highest CHD risk and those with features of the metabolic syndrome.
17 Jun Uveal Melanoma: MEK Inhibition with Selumetinib Provided Clinical Benefit
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Richard D. Carvajal MD
Director, Developmental Therapeutics; Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Chair for Junior Faculty
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Carvajal: This is the first study to show that a systemic therapy provides significant clinical benefit in a randomized fashion to patients with advanced uveal melanoma, a population of patients who have very limited treatment options. This clinical benefit has never previously been demonstrated with other agents, both conventional or investigational.
16 Jun Waist Circumference May Not Be Associated With Cardiometabolic Factors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gerard Ngueta
Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit,
CHU de Québec Research Centre, Québec
Québec, Canada
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The main findings of our study are as follows :
1- Contrary to body mass index (BMI), the waist circumference alone (which indicate central obesity or fat distribution) is not associated with cardiometabolic factors under study (i.e., insulin, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure and high-density lipoproteins levels). Thus, the apparent association –as found in previous studies- appears to be mediated through overall obesity (i.e., BMI). In the other words, the association observed in the previous studies between waist circumference and the cardiometabolic risk factors cited above could be mainly due to the strong correlation between waist circumference and BMI.
2- It is possible to estimate the independent contribution of overall fat and central fat on cardiometabolic risk factors by applying the residual model as previously suggested by Willet and Stampfer.
16 Jun Type 2 Diabetes: Combination JANUVIA and Metformin May Delay Need for Insulin
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Peter Stein, M.D. Vice president, Clinical Research for Diabetes and Dndocrinology Merck Research Laboratories. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Stein: This late-breaking observational study assessed the differences in time to initiation of insulin use and the proportion of the population initiating insulin among patients with type 2 diabetes taking the combination of JANUVIA® (sitagliptin) and metformin, and patients taking the combination of a sulfonylurea and metformin. In this study, patients treated with a combination of JANUVIA and metformin initiated insulin therapy at a slower rate during the period of observation than patients treated with a combination of sulfonylurea and metformin. In this study, the percentages of patients initiating insulin by years one through six were 3.6, 8.4, 12.9, 17.7, 22.4, 26.6 for patients taking JANUVIA; and 4.1, 9.4, 14.6, 21.0, 27.1, 34.1 for patients taking a sulfonylurea. An analysis of the data overall (Kaplan-Meier method) showed that patients taking JANUVIA progressed more slowly to insulin use than patients taking a sulfonylurea (p=0.0034). The Cox proportional hazard regression analysis indicated that by year six, patients in the JANUVIA group were 24 percent less likely to initiate insulin during the period of observation compared to patients taking a sulfonylurea (HR = 0.76; p = 0.0011). Similar results were observed in the sub-group of patients with a baseline A1C of less than 9 percent (HR = 0.77; p = 0.0128]; however there was no statistically significant difference in time to insulin initiation in the sub-group with a baseline A1C of greater than or equal to 9 percent (HR = 0.75; p = 0.1818).16 Jun Obesity and Mortality: Association Varies By Age, Gender
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with
Tapan Mehta, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Health Professions
University of Alabama at Birmingham
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mehta: Grade 1 obesity’s (body mass index [BMI] 30 to < 35) association with reduced longevity has lessened over calendar time for older white men (age >60) but not for younger middle aged (age ≤60) men. For white women, there is evidence of a decline in the association of obesity, both for Grade 1 obesity and grade 2-3 obesity (BMI ≥35), with reduced longevity across all adult ages.
To the extent that these associations can be taken as indicators of causation, this implies that the harmfulness of obesity-mortality association has declined over calendar time in white women across all ages. However, the decline in the harmfulness of obesity-mortality association is limited to older grade 1 obese white men.
14 Jun Tennis Elbow: Study Finds Saline Injections As Good As PRP – Platelet Rich Plasma
Posted at 11:43h
in Rheumatology
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. Patrick Le Goux
Rheumatologist Hôpitaux universitaires Paris Ouest France
French Tennis Federation medical staff
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Le Goux: The therapeutic effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) of two ultrasound guided PRP injections at 4 weeks interval compared to two saline injections (as placebo or treatment of reference) is similar on a visual analogic scale for epicondylitis of recent evolution (3 months duration maximum) in a prospective randomized double blind study with 12 months follow up. We have no intrinsic or inherent benefit of the PRP injections.
14 Jun Hepatitis B: Antiviral Therapy May Lower Risk of Liver Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Stuart Gordon MD
Gastroenterologist
Henry Ford Hospital
Detroit, MI 48202.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Gordon: In a large American cohort of Hepatitis B patients, those who took antiviral therapy had a significantly lower risk of developing liver cancer than those who did not take such therapy.
13 Jun Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Hypertension Linked
Posted at 10:46h
in Author Interviews, NEJM, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, University of Pennsylvania, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Julio A. Chirinos, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, CTRC Cardiovascular Phenotyping Unit
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Director of Non-Invasive Imaging
Philadelphia VA Medical Center
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Chirinos: The main findings of the study is that, among patients with obesity and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, rather than OSA, appears to be the primary cause of inflammation, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. However, both obesity and obstructive sleep apnea appear to be causally related to hypertension. In this population, weight loss, but not CPAP, can be expected to reduce the burden of inflammation, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. However, CPAP, among patients who comply with therapy, can be expected to provide a significant incremental benefit on blood pressure. The latter is an important potential benefit of CPAP and should not be disregarded.
13 Jun Pediatric Diabetes: Association With Particular Gut Microbacteria
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Marcus de Goffau and Dr. Hermie Harmsen Department of Medical Microbiology University Medical Center Groningen MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Marcus de Goffau: In this study we aimed at analysing the gut microbiota composition of children aged 1–5 years with new-onset type 1 diabetes with the microbiota of age-matched healthy controls with a 16S rRNA based method (HITChip). The reason for this selection is that the increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes worldwide is particularly sharp under the age of 5 years; recent studies indicate that adverse changes in gut microbiota are associated with the development of type 1 diabetes, but little is known about the microbiota in children who have diabetes at an early age. In this study we found that the differences between healthy controls and diabetics change over time, highlighting the importance of a normal gut microbial development. Diabetic children younger than 3 years old often had lower numbers of the Clostridium clusters XIVa and IV, which contain many of the beneficial butyrate producers, than their healthy age-matched controls. The diabetic children older than 3 years have normal numbers of Clostridium clusters XIVa and IV yet not the right species composition; the ones which produce butyrate were underrepresented. The development of the microbiota of diabetic children appears to be one step behind that of healthy controls and/or appears to be going into an aberrant direction. The abundances of other bacteria such as Bacteroides and streptococci were also found to be aberrant in diabetic children.12 Jun Major Depressive Disorder: How Well Does Coding Reflect Adverse Events?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emma Maund, PhD student Nordic Cochrane Centre Copenhagen, DenmarkMedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study:
Answer: For statisticians to analyse adverse events recorded in a clinical trial, it is necessary that events described by the original investigators are coded to terms in a specialised medical coding dictionary. Our study assessed the effects of coding and coding conventions on summaries and tabulations of adverse events data on suicidality within clinical study reports of nine randomised controlled trials of duloxetine for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Trials used either the medical coding dictionary COSTART (Coding Symbols for a Thesaurus of Adverse Reaction Terms) or the larger and more recent dictionary MedDRA (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities). We found suicides were clearly identifiable in all formats of adverse event data. Suicide attempts in tables included both definitive and provisional diagnoses. Suicidal ideation and preparatory behaviour were obscured in some tables owing to the lack of specificity of the medical coding dictionary, especially in trials using COSTART where the closest matching term available was depression.12 Jun Obesity Gene May Facilitate Weight Gain By Shifting Endocrine Balance
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Christian Benedict PhD
Department of Neuroscience
Uppsala University
Uppsala, Sweden
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Benedict: By utilizing blood samples collected after an overnight fast, we demonstrated that humans carrying a common risk variant of the fat mass and obesity gene (obesity-associated gene (FTO)) (~16% of the population have two copies of this risk variant) had higher fasting blood concentrations of the hunger hormone ghrelin. In contrast, fasting serum levels of the satiety enhancing hormone leptin were lower.
12 Jun After Heart Attack: Encouraging Stem Cells To Regenerate Damaged Muscle
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Takuji Toyama MD Division of Cardiology Gunma Prefectural Cardiovascular Center Maebashi, Japan. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Toyama: The early start of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) therapy in acute myocardial infarction ( AMI) patients can improve myocardial perfusion, fatty acid metabolism and cardiac function in subacute and follow-up periods.12 Jun Community Based Palliative Care Teams May Reduce Unnecessary Acute Care at End of Life
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. Hsien Seow PhD
Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Health Services Research
Asst Professor, Dept of Oncology, McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
MedicalResearch: Why did you conduct this study?
Dr. Seow: While palliative care has gained recognition as a service that can improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs at the end of life, especially in hospitals and hospices, much less attention has focused on providing inter-disciplinary palliative care in the community and home. There have been several randomized trials that showed mixed evidence that inter-disciplinary teams of specialist palliative care providers can reduce acute care utilization in the community; however team size and team composition varied in prior trials. This variation has not been researched as a cause for the mixed outcomes.
12 Jun Osteoarthritis: Specific Micro RNAs As Predictors of Disease Severity
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Dr Christian Beyer Department of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Beyer: Our study aimed to identify specific micro RNAs as preditors for osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a progressive and long-standing disease. It's early and very early stages are clinically silent, which means that patients do not experience symptoms or present with obvious signs of the disease. Preventive measures and early therapies, however, would be probably most effective in treating this very common condition. Thus, markers to identify individuals at risk for osteoarthritis or in early clinical stages are highly important, but are not available for clinical routine yet. Micro RNAs are group of molecules that have signaling functions in the human body and that can reflect states of disease and health. Since they are very stable and easily accessible in the peripheral blood (by venous puncture without complicated procedures like biopsies), the represent promising biomarkers in many different fields of medicine. In this context, we wondered if specific micro RNAs might predict the development of severe osteoarthritis. Indeed, we could identify thre micro RNAs, named mir-454, mir-885-5p and let-7e, out of a total of 377 micro RNAs, that help to predict the risk for developing severe osteoarthritis.11 Jun Obstructive Sleep Apnea May Increase Risk of Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tetyana Kendzerska MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, ON
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kendzerska: Based on a large sample of more than 8,500 participants with suspected sleep apnea, our study shows that among people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and controlling for risk factors for diabetes development, initial OSA severity predicted risk for incident diabetes. Measures of the physiologic consequences of OSA (e.g., low level of oxygen, sleep deprivation) were also risk factors for diabetes in this population.
11 Jun Opioid-Induced Constipation: Use of Naloxegol in Patients With Non-Cancer Pain
Posted at 19:49h
in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, NEJM, Pain Research, University of Michigan
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, FACG, FACP, RFF
Professor of Medicine
Director, GI Physiology Laboratory
Co-director, Michigan Bowel Control Program
University of Michigan Health System
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Chey: Opiate analgesics are the most commonly prescribed medications in the US. GI side effects are common in patients who opiates. Constipation is the most common and most bothersome GI side effect of opiates. Peripherally acting mu opioid antagonists have been shown to benefit a subset of patients with opiate induced constipation. In 2 large, randomized, placebo controlled phase III trials, the peripherally acting, mu-opioid antagonist naloxegol was found to improve constipation in patients taking opioid analgesics for noncancer pain. Response rates were significantly higher with 25 mg of naloxegol than with placebo (intention-to-treat population: study 04, 44.4% vs. 29.4%, P = 0.001; study 05, 39.7% vs. 29.3%, P = 0.02) in both studies. Benefits were seen with the lower 12.5 mg dose in one of the studies (intention-to-treat population, 40.8% vs. 29.4%, P = 0.02). An interesting aspect of this study was the a priori inclusion of patients who had tried and failed to respond to other laxatives prior to enrollment. Response rates in this population were similar to the overall population (patients with an inadequate response to laxatives: study 04, 48.7% vs. 28.8%, P = 0.002; study 05, 46.8% vs. 31.4%, P = 0.01). Pain scores and daily opioid dosing were similar among the three groups before and after treatment.
11 Jun Pediatric Trauma Center Reviews Youth Ice Hockey Injuires
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stephanie F. Polites, MD Department of Surgery and Michael B. Ishitani, MD Department of Pediatric Surgery Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Though most injuries were in boys, 20% of the injuries occurred in girls. Extremity fractures and head injuries were the most common injuries with older children and boys more likely to sustain extremity fractures while younger children and girls were more likely to have head injuries or concussions. Life threatening injuries were rare, which is reassuring.11 Jun Breast Cancer: Choice To Use Needle Biopsy Influenced by Surgeon
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Benjamin D. Smith MD
Associate Professor
Department of Radiation Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX 77030
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Smith: Although use of needle biopsy to diagnose breast cancer increased during the time period we studied, it remained lower than targeted benchmarks. The patient’s surgeon seemed to exert a major influence on use of needle biopsy.
11 Jun Single Gene Mutation May Predispose to ADHD
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Anders Nykjaer MD, PhD
Mayo Clinic in Florida and
Aarhus University in Denmark
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Nykjaer: It is well known that ADHD is a complex condition caused by a number of factors including genetic and environment. However, approximately 75% etiology is considered to be genetic and a large body of investigations suggests that it is multiple genes each with a moderate effect that is responsible for conferring susceptibility to ADHD. We have here found one single gene the dysfunction of which is sufficient to trigger the disease. The gene encodes a receptor, SorCS2, which ensures correct wiring our reward system during embryonic development. Malfunction of the receptor causes ADHD-like symptoms in mice. It is well accepted that ADHD predisposes to psychiatric disorders and genetic reports have linked variations in the SorCS2 gene with schizophrenia. Studies are currently ongoing to evaluate if mutations disrupting the function of SorCS2 may also result in schizophrenia. If this is the case we have come closer to an explanation for the link between ADHD and psychiatric disorders. In the future when prenatal genetic screening becomes established, non-sense mutations in the SorCS2 gene can be used to predict that the child will develop ADHD with 100% certainty.
11 Jun Contraception Decision-Making: What Are Women’s Priorities?
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with
Rachel Thompson PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science
Dartmouth College
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Thompson: This study, which surveyed 417 women aged 15-45 years and 188 contraceptive care providers in 2013, found important differences in what matters most to these two groups when it comes to discussing and deciding on a contraceptive method. Women’s most important question when choosing a contraceptive was “Is it safe?” – this was in the top three questions for 42% of women but only 21% of providers. Alternatively, providers’ most important question was “How is it used?”. Information on side effects and how a method actually works to prevent pregnancy was also a higher priority for women than for providers.
11 Jun Hairdressers Found To Have Carcinogenic Compounds In Blood From Hair Dyes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gabriella Johansson
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Lund University Hospital
Lund, Sweden
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Our main focus was to study hairdressers’ exposure to carcinogenic aromatic amines. We found that the concentrations of the carcinogenic compound o-toluidine in blood increased with the number of treatments per week of light color permanent hair dyeing and hair waving treatments. Another aromatic amine, m- toluidine (assessed as not classifiable as carcinogenic to humans owing to a lack of data) in blood, increased with the number of treatments per week of light color hair dyeing and all other hair dyeing.
11 Jun Parkinson’s Disease: Are Newer Meds Better Than Levodopa?
MedicalResearch Interview with:
Richard Gray
Professor of Medical Statistics
Clinical Trial Service Unit
Richard Doll Building, Oxford
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Gray: We found that, when we asked patients with Parkinson’s disease how their drugs affected their overall quality of life, the older drug levodopa was better than newer, more expensive drugs and that this benefit persisted for at least seven years from starting treatment.
11 Jun Breast Cancer: Study Finds Red Meat May Increase Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Maryam Farvid MSc, Ph.D.
Takemi fellow, and Associate Arofessor
Senior author: Prof Walter Willett
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health,
Boston, MA,
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Farvid: Compared to women who had one serving per week red meat, those who consumed 1.5 serving per day red meat had a 22 percent higher risk of breast cancer. Red meat intake is associated with breast cancer risk in a dose-response manner. Each additional serving/day increase in total red meat was associated with a 13% increase in risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, each additional serving/day of poultry was associated with a 25% lower risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Substituting one serving/day of legumes for one serving/day of red meat was associated with a 15% lower risk of breast cancer, substituting one serving/day of poultry for one serving/day of red meat was associated with a 17% lower risk of breast cancer overall, and substituting one serving/day of combined legumes, nuts, poultry, and fish for one serving/day of red meat was associated with a 14% lower risk of breast cancer.
10 Jun Diabetes: Adding Insulin To Metformin May Increase Cardiovascular Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Christianne L. Roumie, MD MPH
Associate Professor Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
Institute for Medicine and Public Health
Vanderbilt University
Staff Physician VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System
Nashville TN 37212
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Roumie: This retrospective cohort study compared time to acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, or death among Veterans with diabetes that were initially treated with metformin, and subsequently added either insulin or sulfonylurea. Among 178,341 Veterans on metformin monotherapy, 2,948 and 39,990 added insulin or sulfonylurea, respectively. Patients were about 60 years old, about 35% had history of heart disease or stroke, had been on metformin for an average of 14 months and their hemoglobin A1c was 8.1% at the time of addition of the second medication. Compared to those who added a sulfonylurea, those who added insulin to metformin had a 30% higher risk of the combined outcome of heart attack, stroke, and all-cause mortality. Although new heart attacks and strokes occurred at similar rates in both groups, mortality was higher in patients who added insulin.
10 Jun Diabetes Treatment: Bariatric Surgery May Be More Efficient Than Conventional Care
MedicalResearch Interview with:
Lars Sjöström, MD, PhD
Professor
Department of Body Composition and Metabolism
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Göteborg, Sweden
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Sjöström: In obese diabetic subjects, the 2-year diabetes remission was 72% in bariatric surgery patients but only 16% in obese controls obtaining conventional obesity and diabetes treatment. After 15 years, 30% were in remission in the surgery group and 6.5% in the control group. In addition, the 20-year incidence of diabetes complication was 30 -55% lower in surgery than control patients.
10 Jun Exercise May Improve Intestinal Bacterial Diversity
Posted at 16:21h
in Author Interviews
MedicalResearch.com Interview
Fergus Shanahan, MD, DSc
Professor and Chair,
Department of Medicine, and
Director, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre
University College Cork, National University of Ireland
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Professor Shanahan: We already know that most (if not all) of the elements of a modern lifestyle in socio-economically developed societies influence the composition and performance of the microbiota colonising the human body. The composition of the microbiota or disturbances of it have been linked with an increased risk of various chronic non-communicable diseases including immune-allergic disorders and metabolic diseases including obesity. In particular, loss of microbial diversity is a feature of many of these disorders. The most important aspect of our study is that draws attention to the possibility that exercise may have a beneficial effect on the microbiota and is associated with a more diverse microbiota.
10 Jun Evolution May Have Shaped Our Faces for Fighting
Posted at 11:42h
in Author Interviews
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mike Morgan, MD R2
Division of Emergency Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Morgan: Our paper is a review of the literature. So we do not present original data or findings. What we do is present new ideas about what drove the evolution of the hominin (bipedal ape) face.
Studies of injuries resulting from fights show that when modern humans fight the face is the primary target. The bones of the face that suffer the highest rates of fracture from fights are the bones that show the greatest increase in robusticity during the evolution of early bipedal apes, the australopiths. These are also the bones that show the greatest difference between women and men in both australopiths and modern humans.
What needs to be explained about facial differences in women and men is that in both apes and humans, males are much more violent than females and most male violence is directed at other males. Because males are the primary target of violence, one would expect more protective buttressing in males and that is what we find.