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Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Mediterranean Diet, NIH / 21.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily Y. Chew, M.D. Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications Deputy Clinical Director at the National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Dementia is a common disorder that was estimated to have a worldwide prevalence of 44 million in 2016 and is projected to hit 115 million by 2050. Many phase 3 trials of various therapies have failed and we have no treatment currently available for the prevention or reduction of the course of dementia. A slow neurocognitive decline throughout life is part of the normal process of aging. However, there is a subset of individuals who may have accelerated aging and is at high risk of development dementia. If the course of such accelerated decline could be altered in any way, it would be important to evaluate. The role of diet with biologic aging has been studied and diet has been also found to be associated with age-related conditions linked to dementia, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We were interested in the cognitive function of our participants who had another neurodegenerative disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We had conducted two randomized controlled clinical trials designed to evaluate the role of oral supplements for the treatment of AMD. We also studied cognitive function in both clinical trials of nearly 8,000 participants who were followed for 10 years. We also evaluated the dietary habits of the participants with food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) at baseline. Cognitive function testing was conducted in the first study, the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) near the end of the clinical trial while the AREDS2, the second study, evaluated cognitive function testing at baseline and every 2 years until year 6. AREDS study evaluated cognitive function with in-clinic study visits while AREDS2 was conducted using telephone interviews. Our aim was to determine whether closer adherence to the alternative Mediterranean diet (aMED) was associated with impaired cognitive function these two studies. We were interested in the particular components of the Mediterranean diet that may be important. We also evaluated the interaction of genetics with the diet.    (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, OBGYNE / 13.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Alicia Warlick, MD Anesthesiologist at UNC/Rex, American Anesthesiology Raleigh, North Carolina MedicalResearch.com: As a physician working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle, how are you addressing expecting mothers’ concerns about the disease and how it might impact their pregnancy? Response: While COVID-19 has disrupted nearly every aspect of healthcare, whether its virtual appointments or delayed surgeries; there are certain things that are inevitable – like childbirth. As this virus continues to take over the country and we learn more about it each day, pregnant women are facing new challenges and fears. For women approaching their due dates, questions about staying healthy, keeping their baby safe and limiting their risk of exposure while in the hospital are all leading to anxiety and stress. And while policies and guidelines are constantly changing, as physicians we need to remind our patients that we are there to alleviate their concerns, address their questions and remind them to not lose sight of the joy the comes with bringing a child into the world. It’s a scary time for everyone, but by working together and supporting one another, we will get through this. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Vaccine Studies / 07.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul B. McCray, Jr., M.D. Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology, and Internal Medicine Executive Vice Chair of Pediatrics Associate Director: Center for Gene Therapy Roy J. Carver Chair in Pulmonary Medicine Pappajohn Biomedical Institute Carver College of Medicine University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA  52242 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is great interest in developing a vaccine that could help protect people from infection with SARS-CoV-2.  Over the last 15 years, my laboratory has helped develop small animal models of the severe coronavirus diseases SARS and MERS to study disease pathogenesis and to test treatments.  In this study, we used a mouse model of the MERS coronavirus to test a vaccine idea in collaboration with Dr. Biao He at the University of Georgia. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Technology / 03.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jung-Im Na, MD PhD Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Korea  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what is meant by a convolutional neural network? Response: When a very young child looks at a picture, she can easily identify cats and dogs, however, even the most advanced computers had struggled at this task until recently. Computers began to “see” with the recent advancement of Deep Learning techniques. Deep Learning is a machine learning technique that teaches computers to learn from raw data. Most deep learning methods use artificial neural network architectures, imitating human brain, and convolutional neural networks (CNN) is a particular type of deep learning architecture, imitating the visual cortex. CNN is especially powerful for recognizing images. CNN exploit the information contained in image datasets to automatically learn features and patterns. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Lung Cancer / 27.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Amy C. Moore PhD Director of Science and Research GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer MedicalResearch.com: What is the mission of the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer? Response: GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer’s mission is to transform survivorship by  saving, extending, and improving the lives of those vulnerable, at risk, and diagnosed with lung cancer. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Cannabis, Geriatrics, JAMA, NYU / 24.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin H. Han, MD MPH Assistant Professor Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care New York University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the past, the prevalence of cannabis use (both for recreational and for medicinal purposes) was very low among adults age 65 and older. As a reference, the national prevalence rate of past-year cannabis use among adults age 65 and older in 2006-2007 was 0.4%, it has increased dramatically since then. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA, Primary Care / 18.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Deborah Korenstein, MD FACP General internist and Chief, General Internal Medicine Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Executive physicals are 1 to 2-day comprehensive health assessments offering disease screening and preventive testing. Large companies can arrange for these evaluations for senior executives. They are often offered by prestigious academic medical centers, but can also be located in less formal settings like spas. They generally include a set of tests that sometimes vary based on patient characteristics. Any tests that are done in response to from findings from executive physicals are billed to health insurance companies. A single 2008 paper described executive physicals and criticized them for being non-evidence based. Since then, executive physicals have grown in popularity, but their nature and impact have not been described. We set out to describe included services and cost of executive physicals at top academic medical centers. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 29.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeffrey L Jackson, MD, MPH Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Unfortunately,  most systematic reviews exclude non-English trials, mostly for convenience, but nearly all systematic reviews wind up excluding at least 1 non-English trial.  We looked at whether this was justified, since Google Translate is a free and easily usable platform.  We had native-language speakers in 9 languages (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Russian and Spanish) abstract data and had another researcher abstract all the articles using Google Translate. We found that there was over 90% agreement and that the few differences were due to human error, not to problems with the translations. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA / 26.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John W. Epling, Jr., M.D., M.S.Ed Professor of Family and Community Medicine Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Roanoke, VA USPSTF Task Force Member MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Intimate partner violence, often known as domestic violence, can have devastating consequences to one’s health and wellbeing. It can lead to mental illness, substance abuse, unintended pregnancy, and even death. This is a serious public health issue in America: one in three men—and even more women—experience it in their lifetimes. Because this is such an important topic, and the last time we made a recommendation on it was in 2013, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reviewed the most recent evidence to determine how clinicians can help prevent the negative health effects of intimate partner violence. (more…)
Author Interviews, MRSA / 05.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kathryn Dalton, VMD MPH AKC CHF Fellow PhD Student, Davis Lab Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Animal-assisted interventions (or AAI for short) have become increasing popular in hospitals for the emotional and physical benefits they bring to patients. But there is a risk that these therapy dogs could potential spread infectious germs, including MRSA (methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus), to patients. Our study found that therapy dogs can spread MRSA to patients, and children who had more contact with the therapy dog were at higher risk of getting MRSA. But, we used a new cleaning protocol on the dog with an anti-septic shampoo before the visit and anti-septic wipes during the visit. Patients who had more contact with the dog did not have a higher risk of MRSA when the dog was giving this new cleaning protocol, which made the AAI therapy visits safer for the patients. In addition, the patients’ emotional and physical benefits we observed were not changed by using this dog cleaning protocol.       (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology, Urinary Tract Infections / 24.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: SMARTPHONE, M.D. A NEW APP TO DIAGNOSE URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS Michael J. Mahan PhD Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Dept of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology University of California, Santa Barbara, CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) cause nearly 10 million doctor visits each year in the United States. Women are much more likely to have a UTI than men, and are particularly harmful to pregnant women and can cause miscarriage. Thus, there is a medical need for rapid, low-cost, on-site testing — particularly in resource-limited settings. We developed a new app that enables a smartphone to identify (ID) bacteria causing UTIs in just one hour — a fraction of the time and cost of clinical diagnostics. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Vida Maralani PhD Associate Professor Department of Sociology Cornell University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Breastfeeding is a time-intensive and culturally and emotionally charged topic in the U.S. with many different stakeholders. Women hear the strong message that they should breastfeed their infants for the first year of life, yet it is unambiguously clear that they find these guidelines hard to follow in practice. We were interested in exploring how breastfeeding duration is associated with how many children women go on to have. Our results show that women who breastfeed their first child for five months or longer are more likely to have three or more children, and less likely to have only one child, than women who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all. Women who initiate breastfeeding did not differ in how many children they expected to have before they started their families. Rather, the number of children women actually bear differs by how long they breastfeed their first child. Women who breastfeed for shorter durations are more likely to have fewer children than they expected than to have more children than expected. In contrast, women who breastfeed longer are as likely to achieve their expectations as to exceed them, and they are nearly as likely to have more children than they expected as they are to have fewer. (more…)
Author Interviews, CHEST, Hospital Readmissions, Pulmonary Disease / 03.01.2015

Tina Shah, MD University of Chicago Medicine Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care University of ChicagoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tina Shah, MD University of Chicago Medicine Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care University of Chicago Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Shah: The reason why we undertook this study is to better understand the Medicare COPD population that falls under the purview of the CMS Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). This program places up to a 3% penalty on all Medicare revenues for hospitals that take care of beneficiaries should a hospital exceed its “expected readmission rate.” Previously 30 day readmissions after index admissions for congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction and pneumonia fell subject to the HRRP. As of October 2014, COPD has been added to the list, despite minimal evidence to guide hospitals in how to curb COPD readmissions. The goal of this research was to provide an epidemiological background for this population and identify trends as a hypothesis generating first step to predict who is most likely to be readmitted and to identify targets for successful future interventions on this group. Our study population is unique in that we longitudinally look at about 1/2 of all Medicare admissions for COPD exacerbations, using the CMS guideline definition which is based on discharge ICD-9 codes. As described in previous literature, there is a large discrepancy between identification of COPD by provider versus coding algorithm, however since the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program is based on discharge coding it is important to examine this particular group. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pain Research, Rheumatology / 18.12.2014

Sandra Goldsmith, MA, MS, RD Director of Public and Patient Education at Hospital for Special Surgery New York City.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sandra Goldsmith, MA, MS, RD Director of Public and Patient Education at Hospital for Special Surgery New York City. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Almost 50 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of musculoskeletal disorder, which can affect their mobility and quality of life. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and affects more than 70 percent of adults between the ages of 55 and 78. Research has shown that there is a connection between being physically active and maintaining joint health, pain relief and improved quality of life. This study attempts to support the efficacy of Hospital for Special Surgery’s hospital-based exercise programs in increasing physical activity and improving quality of life through pain relief and improved stiffness, fatigue and balance in the older adult community. This study found that after taking the exercise classes, fewer participants reported experiencing a high level of muscle/joint pain from their condition (56 percent before the program started vs. 47 percent after completing the program). The study also reported improved quality of life, as evidenced by statistically significant reductions in how much their pain interfered with their general activities, ability to walk, mood, sleep and enjoyment of life. In addition, 83 percent of participants indicated a reduction in stiffness; 82 percent said they felt their balance improved; and 67 percent said they experienced less fatigue as a result of taking part in the program. Health outcomes were also related to the type of exercise class participants chose, with the greatest reduction in muscle/joint pain reported by those who took t’ai chi. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Osteoporosis, Pharmacology, Testosterone / 03.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shabbir M. H. Alibhai, MD, MSc and Husayn Gulamhusein, BHSc Department of Medicine, University Health Network Toronto, Ontario, Canada Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? MedicalResearch: In 2009, we published a research letter in JAMA which examined the rate of bone mineral density (BMD) testing in men starting androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in the province of Ontario, Canada, between 1995 and 2008. Despite being recommended as a tool to better characterize fracture risk and optimize bone health, use of bone mineral density testing was low throughout the study period. This current study focuses on another aspect of bone health, which is the use of bisphosphonates among men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Bisphosphonates are generally safe and effective medications that can reduce fracture risk particularly in those at higher risk of future fracture. Throughout the 17-year study period, we found that rates of new prescriptions for bisphosphonates remained low. Even when focusing on those men who should be receiving bisphosphonates as per Canadian guidelines due to their high risk for future fracture, i.e. those with a prior fragility fracture or prior diagnosis of osteoporosis, prescription rates remained low. Moreover, in all three groups, new bisphosphonate prescriptions dipped between the 2007-09 and 2010-12 time periods. This may be partly due to recent negative media attention regarding the association of bisphosphonates with rare but serious side effects (i.e. osteonecrosis of the jaw and atypical femoral fracture). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research / 02.12.2014

Dr. Pan Pantziarka Anticancer Fund, Brussels Belgium The George Pantziarka TP53 Trust, London, UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Pan Pantziarka Anticancer Fund, Brussels Belgium The George Pantziarka TP53 Trust, London, UK MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Pantziarka: The background of this study is that it is part of a series of investigations by the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project into well-known non-cancer drugs which have evidence of activity that may be useful in cancer therapies. These drugs include mebendazole, itraconazole, diclofenac, nitroglycerin and cimetidine. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Hospital Readmissions / 02.12.2014

Amy Jo Haavisto Kind, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Division of Geriatrics University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health William S Middleton VA- GRECC Madison, WI 53705MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amy Jo Haavisto Kind, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Division of Geriatrics University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health William S Middleton VA- GRECC Madison, WI 53705 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kind: By way of background: Socioeconomic disadvantage is a complex theoretical concept which describes the state of being challenged by low income, limited education and substandard living conditions for both the person and his or her neighborhood or social network. It is plausible that disadvantage would influence rehospitalization because vulnerable patients depend upon their neighborhood supports for stability, generally, and these needs are likely to be increased after a hospitalization. Yet, it is difficult to assess socioeconomic disadvantage during clinical encounters, yet the ADI provides an option for beginning such a discussion. ADI or Area Deprivation Index is a composite measure of neighborhood disadvantage, similar to other geographic measures of disadvantage employed in other countries for resource planning and health policy development. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gender Differences, PLoS / 11.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eero Haapala, MSc in Exercise Medicine, BASc PhD student University of Eastern Finland,School of Medicine Institute of Biomedicine, Physiology Kuopio, Finland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our study is one of the first studies to investigate the different types of physical activity and sedentary behavior with academic achievement in children. Our main finding was that children who were more physically active during school recess were better readers in Grades 1-3 than less active children. We also found a direct relationship between physically active school transportation, which was mainly walking and cycling, and reading skills in boys. These findings suggest that particularly physical activity within a school day benefits academic achievement and that physical activity benefit academic achievement more in boys than in girls 6-8 years of age. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Stanford, Surgical Research / 24.06.2014

Kay W. Chang, MD Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics Stanford University Department of Otolaryngology Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Division of Pediatric OtolaryngologyMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kay W. Chang, MD Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics Stanford University Department of Otolaryngology Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Chang: At 18 months after surgery, weight percentiles in the study group increased by a mean of 6.3 percentile points, and body mass index percentiles increased by a mean of 8.0 percentile points. The greatest increases in weight percentiles were observed in children who were between the 1st and 60th percentiles for weight and younger than 4 years at the time of surgery. An increase in weight percentile was not observed in children who preoperatively were already above the 80th percentile in weight. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, End of Life Care / 20.06.2014

Daniel Rocke, MD Medical School University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor, 2009.MedicalResearch.com Interview with Daniel Rocke, MD Duke Medicine Department Otolaryngology MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Rocke: I think the main point is that, to quote the paper, "end-of-life decision making by patients with cancer and their caregivers is significantly affected by their preference for quality of life or quantity of life, but OHNS physicians’ decision making is not." This is important because physicians counseling patients making end-of-life decisions are coming at these decisions from a different perspective that may not line up with their patients. If physicians recognize this, I think that these end-of-life discussions can be more productive (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JAMA / 19.06.2014

Carlos J. Rodriguez, MD, MPH Department of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North CarolinaMedicalResearch.com Interview with Carlos J. Rodriguez, MD, MPH Department of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Rodriguez: As a clinician there is a notion suggesting that lower blood pressure is better but our current research to date is controversial and not conclusive. We wanted to study a large group of people with hypertension and see whether over 20 years of follow up, if a lower systolic blood pressure would be associated with lower cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, heart failure, angina). We hypothesized that there would be a linear association between blood pressure and events, that lower blood pressure would be associated with lower events and that as the blood pressure went up there would be more events. We found this was not the case but that hypertensives with a blood pressure between 120-138mmhg have the greatest benefit and those with a blood pressure less than 120mmhg did not have additional benefit. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews / 19.06.2014

Alva O. Ferdinand, DrPH, JD School of Public Health College Station, TX 77843MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alva O. Ferdinand, DrPH, JD Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health College Station, TX   77843   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Over the last decade, several states have enacted legislating making it illegal to text while driving. However, little is known about the impact that state texting-while-driving bans have had on roadway crash-related fatalities. Some states have banned all drivers from texting while driving while others have banned only young drivers from this activity. Furthermore, some states’ texting bans entail secondary enforcement, meaning an enforcement officer must have another reason to stop a vehicle before citing a driver for texting while driving, and other states’ texting bans entail primary enforcement, meaning an enforcement officer does not have to have another reason for stopping a vehicle. We conducted a longitudinal panel analysis examining within-state changes in roadway fatalities after the enactment of state texting-while-driving bans using roadway fatality data as captured in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System between 2000 and 2010. To further examined the impact of these bans on various age groups, as younger individuals are thought to engage in texting while driving more often than older individuals. States that had enacted texting-while-driving bans during the study period were considered “treatment” states and states that had not passed texting-while-driving bans were considered “control” states. We found that states with primary laws banning young drivers only saw an average of an 11% reduction in roadway following the enactment of such bans during the study period. States with primary laws banning all drivers were also associated with significant reductions for those aged 15 to 21 and those who were 65 years old or older. States with secondarily enforced bans, whether banning all drivers or young drivers only, did not see any significant reductions in roadway fatalities. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, Genetic Research / 18.06.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Ldr_david_l_brown. Brown, MD, FACC Professor of Medicine Cardiovascular Division Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, MO 63110 MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Brown: This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials showed that using a genotype-based warfarin dosing algorithm did not improve the process or outcomes of anticoagulation compared to using a clinical dosing algorithm. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Lancet, Mental Health Research / 18.06.2014

Professor Louis Appleby Professor of Psychiatry C.B.E The University of Manchester in the UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Louis Appleby Professor of Psychiatry C.B.E The University of Manchester in the UK   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Professor Appleby: “Patients with mental illness are two and a half times more likely to be victims of homicide than people in the general population according to our research published in The Lancet Psychiatry today. “In this study, the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCI), based at The University of Manchester, examined data on the victims and perpetrators of all homicides in England and Wales between January, 2003 and December, 2005. We found that during the 3-year study period, 1496 people were victims of homicide, and 6% (90) of them had been under the care of mental health services in the year before their death. A third (29) of these patient victims were killed by other patients with mental illness. In 23 homicides in which the victim was a mental health patient killed by another mental health patient, the victim and the perpetrator were known to each other either as partners (9, 35%), family members (4, 15%), or acquaintances (10, 38%). In 21 of these 23 cases, both the victims and perpetrators were undergoing treatment at the same National Health Service Trust. Alcohol and drug misuse (victims 66%, perpetrators 93%) and a history of violence (victims 24%, perpetrators 24%) were common among both patient victims and perpetrators. The study also found that in the 3 years to 2005, 213 mental health patients were convicted of homicide—accounting for 12% of all homicide convictions.” (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 17.06.2014

Michelle A. Mendez, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Nutrition University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health Chapel Hill, NMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michelle A. Mendez, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Nutrition University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health Chapel Hill, NC MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mendez: Using national surveillance data to examine trends in energy intake among children, we found that there was an initial decline in intakes from 2003-4 through 2007-08, which mirrored evidence that child obesity in the US may have begun to decline in that period. Subsequently, however, in 2009-10, energy intake increased in older children aged 12-19y, and reached a plateau in children aged <11y. This shift is consistent with reports that, particularly in older children, the downward trend in obesity levels may have been reversed in recent years. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, JCEM / 16.06.2014

L. Keoki Williams, MD, MPH Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research Department of Internal Medicine Henry Ford Health System Detroit, Michigan 48104MedicalResearch.com Interview with L. Keoki Williams, MD, MPH Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research Department of Internal Medicine Henry Ford Health System Detroit, Michigan 48104 MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Williams: Metformin is recommended as first line treatment for type 2 diabetes, and these recommendations are based on the results of clinical trials performed almost exclusively in white individuals.  This is the first study to specifically assess whether metformin is effective at reducing blood glucose levels in African American individuals.  In our large study of over 19,000 individuals, we showed that metformin was consistently more effective at reducing glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (a measure of long-term blood glucose control) in African Americans when compared with white individuals. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Heart Disease / 13.06.2014

Evan Thacker PhD Brigham Young UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Evan Thacker PhD Brigham Young University Provo, Utah   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Thacker: In this study of over 17,000 American adults aged 45 and above, we first measured people’s cardiovascular health based on their smoking habits, diet, physical activity, body weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugar. We then tracked these people for several years with cognitive function tests which measure memory and thinking abilities. The main finding of our study was that people who had the lowest levels of cardiovascular health at the beginning of the study were more likely to experience cognitive impairment – poor performance on the cognitive function tests – at the end of the study. People who had medium to high levels of cardiovascular health were less likely to experience cognitive impairment. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 11.06.2014

Laurie Lambert, PhD Unité d'évaluation en cardiologie Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS) Montréal, QuébecMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laurie Lambert, PhD Unité d'évaluation en cardiologie Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS) Montréal, Québec MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Lambert: Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are frequently transferred for percutaneous coronary reperfusion from a hospital without this capability. Favourable outcomes depend on minimizing delays to treatment. A major component of delay is the time from the patient’s arrival at the first hospital’s emergency department to departure to the hospital where percutaneous reperfusion will be performed, the ‘door-in-door-out’ time or DIDO. We characterized this component of delay in a systematic field evaluation of STEMI treatment over a large and populous geographic area. The major contributors to DIDO time were the delays
  • (1) from the initial in-hospital ECG acquisition to transfer activation by the emergency physician and
  • (2) from arrival of the transfer ambulance at the first hospital to departure of the ambulance for the primary percutaneous coronary intervention center. When the DIDO interval was timely (30 minutes or less as recommended by guidelines), reperfusion treatment was far more frequently within guideline-recommended delays (90 minutes or less). In fact, this benchmark of DIDO time was met in only 14% of cases. We identified a number of factors associated with untimely DIDO, an important one being an ambiguous presenting ECG. DIDO times were faster when patients arrived at the first hospital by ambulance particularly when retransfer to the second hospital was with the same ambulance that had remained on standby.
(more…)
Author Interviews, FASEB, Nutrition, OBGYNE / 06.06.2014

Antonio E. Frias, MD Associate Professor | Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine Oregon Health & Science University Director, Diabetes and Pregnancy Program Assistant Scientist | Oregon National Primate Research Center Portland, Oregon 97239MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Antonio E. Frias, MD Associate Professor | Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine Oregon Health & Science University Director, Diabetes and Pregnancy Program Assistant Scientist | Oregon National Primate Research Center Portland, Oregon 97239 MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Frias: Resveratrol supplementation in pregnant nonhuman primates fed a Western-style diet improved maternal metabolism, restored placental blood flow, reduced placental inflammation and improved lipid deposition in the fetal liver.  However, there was an unexpected disruption of fetal pancreatic development that is very concerning. (more…)