A new study published in Frontiers in Immunology identifies a biological mechanism linking COVID-19 lung injury to increased adenocarcinoma risk...
A landmark randomized trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that endovascular stent placement significantly improves quality...
Our findings suggest that cannabis prevention efforts should prioritize youth and adolescents, education campaigns should emphasize age-related risks, and policy...
Dr. McKenzie[/caption]
Lara McKenzie, PhD
Principal investigator, Center for Injury Research and Policy
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Kids are curious and explore their environments by tasting, touching, and mimicking adults. Kids don’t read labels, nor do they understand hazardous or dangerous ingredients. Packaging is usually colorful and attractive to kids and they are able to operate dispensing systems that are not child-resistant easily. Plus, household cleaning products are ubiquitous in the home. Prior safety efforts rely on adults to lock or store products safely each and every use and we know that is not routinely or consistently done. The consistently high number of household cleaning product-related injuries sustained by the youngest children and new products that have entered the marketplace in the past decade highlights the need for stronger product packaging standards, with emphasis on ensuring that spray bottles and other commonly accessible containers meet child-resistant packaging requirements.
Meagan Robichaud, Ph.D.[/caption]
Meagan Robichaud, PhD, MPH
Post-Doctoral Associate
Center for Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco
Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies
MedicalResearch.com: What is delta-8 THC?
Response: To understand delta-8 THC, it’s first important to understand the primary components of cannabis: THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). THC—typically referring to delta-9 THC—is the primary intoxicating substance in cannabis—it’s what makes consumers feel “high.” CBD is also abundant in cannabis but is non-intoxicating.
Delta-8 THC is an isomer of delta-9 THC—meaning it has the same chemical formula as delta-9 THC but with a slightly different arrangement of atoms. While early research suggest that delta-8 THC is less potent than delta-9 THC, delta-8 THC is still an intoxicating substance. Delta-8 THC naturally exists in very small amounts in cannabis plants but can be synthesized from CBD.
Jakob Norgren, Ph.D.[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jakob Norgren | PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS) | Karolinska Institutet
Division of Clinical Geriatrics | Center for Alzheimer Research
Huddinge, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This study tested the hypothesis that people with APOE 3/4 and 4/4 would have a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia with higher meat intake, based on the fact that APOE4 is the evolutionarily oldest variant of the APOE gene and may have arisen during a period when our evolutionary ancestors ate a more animal-based diet.
Dr. Jay Solgama[/caption]
Jay P. Solgama, MD
Department of Medical Education
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Scranton, PA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The United States (U.S.) continues to face a severe opioid crisis, with nearly 80,000 opioid-related deaths reported in 2023. Prescription opioids play a central role in this epidemic, with a large proportion of misuse involving commonly prescribed pain relievers such as oxycodone. Prior research has shown that oxycodone (brand names OxyContin, Roxicodone, OxyIR, RoxyBond, and Percocet) is one of the most widely consumed and misused opioids in the U.S., with notable geographic variation in its distribution across states [1–3].
Against this backdrop, the present study aimed to comprehensively characterize oxycodone distribution across the U.S. from 2000 to 2023. Using three complementary data sources—the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS), Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (M-SDUD), and the Medicare Part D Prescribers dataset (M-PDP)—we sought to evaluate national and state-level patterns, as well as identify strengths and weaknesses of each dataset [4,5]. The Medicaid program serves low-income and Medicare serves elderly patients.
Dr. Schaffner[/caption]
Dr. William Schaffner M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Preventive Medicine, Health Policy
Division of Infectious Diseases
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Interview arranged with the assistance of the Infectious Disease Society of America.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the symptoms of HMPV? How is it transmitted? Are some individuals more susceptible to infection or more serious disease?
Response: Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a seasonal respiratory virus that has a worldwide distribution, causing late winter/early spring outbreaks in temperate zones. It cocirculates with other seasonal respiratory viruses including influenza, COVID, and RSV. Virtually all children have experienced infection by age 5; persons experience HMPV reinfections throughout life. The virus is transmitted through close personal contact, most efficiently indoors. Infection with HMPV can produce a spectrum of clinical symptoms ranging from a common cold to acute respiratory distress. Persons at increased risk of severe disease include older persons and those with chronic medical conditions.
Candida auris CDC Image[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_72627" align="alignleft" width="200"] Vishnu Chaturvedi, Ph.D.[/caption]
Vishnu Chaturvedi, Ph.D.
Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology and of Medicine
New York Medical College
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The research was prompted by the rise of Candida auris (C. auris) as a critical fungal pathogen that has caused global outbreaks in healthcare facilities with high mortality rates. C. auris is particularly difficult to control because it can survive on physical surfaces for extended periods. Current diagnostic methods (such as culture-based approaches or mass spectrometry) are often costly, slow, and require complex equipment in centralized laboratories, which delays effective clinical responses. There is an urgent need for rapid tests that can both identify the fungus and measure its level of drug resistance.
Dr. Schaffner[/caption]
William Schaffner, MD
Professor of Preventive Medicine, Department of Health Policy
Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN 37203
Dr. Schaffner discusses the recent increase in the incidence of measles infections.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The fundamental reason leading to the increase in measles cases in the US is that some parents are withholding their children from routine measles vaccination: Failure to vaccinate. As a result, there are neighborhoods, schools, and communities that now have vaccination rates substantially below the 92% to 95% needed to prevent outbreaks of infection. Measles is the most contagious virus we know, so it takes very high vaccination rates to prevent transmission and to avert outbreaks.
Vaccine hesitancy has many causes: Lack of knowledge of the severity of measles, concern over vaccine side-effects, low trust in public health, a desire to do things more “naturally” and it can also have political overtones, among others.
The measles vaccine is extraordinarily effective; the routine two-dose series confers 97% to 98% protection for life. The rare “breakthrough” infections that occur in vaccinated persons are generally milder, with fewer complications than in persons who are unvaccinated.
The US was certified as having eliminated measles in 2000 because of high vaccination rates across the country. Sadly, the US is likely to lose that designation because of sustained measles transmission, reverting us back to the bad old days. It is particularly sad for any of our children to have to endure measles and its consequences. All these cases could have been prevented by vaccination.
MedicalResearch.com: What roles do a decrease in US immunization rates and/or increased immigration from under-vaccinated area play in this increase?
Response: The substantial majority of unimmunized children in the US were born and raised in this country. They usually are members of middle- or upper-income families. The most frequent importers of measles into the US are our own unimmunized children who travel abroad, encounter measles virus and bring it back to their homes where the virus then spreads among the child’s schoolmates and playmates, creating an outbreak.
Dr. Freedman M.D.[/caption]
David O. Freedman, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Infectious Diseases
Editor of the Textbook of Travel Medicine
World Health Organization—Member, Emergency Committee on Zika Virus
University of Alabama, Birmingham USA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this outbreak?
Response: India has reported 2 confirmed (PCR and ELISA) Nipah virus (NiV) cases in West Bengal State where the Kolkata megalopolis is located; the state borders Bangladesh. Symptom onset in both cases was late December 2025 in 2 health care workers. One patient has improved while the other remains in the ICU. All samples from 200 contact persons tested negative for NiV. No further confirmed cases have been detected in West Bengal
Bangladesh has reported 1 confirmed NiV case in Rajshahi Division which neighbors India. Symptom onset was January 21, 2026, and the patient expired on January 28. The patient reported no travel history but reported repeated consumption of raw date palm sap between 5 and 20 January. All 35 contact-persons are being monitored and have tested negative for NiV and no further cases have been detected to date.
Dr. Cuomo[/caption]
Raphael E. Cuomo, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Associate Adjunct Professor, Anesthesiology
University of California, San Diego
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Epidemiology has mostly been built to explain who gets sick, but many of the decisions that matter most happen after diagnosis. Across multiple diseases, relationships that look consistent in prevention studies often do not hold once people already have the disease, and sometimes they even flip. Diagnosis can change patient biology, treatment context, and biases in the data, so we need clearer methods and language for postdiagnosis questions.
Dr. Fyfe[/caption]
Dr. Caroline Fyfe PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Life Long Health and Wellbeing Theme
University of Edinburgh
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Autism (ASD) has traditionally been seen as a condition that disproportionately affects males. This study quantifies the sex bias across birth cohorts, ages, and calendar time, using the Swedish national population registers to follow ~ 2.7 million individual born between 1985 and 2020 throughout their lives. Among children under ten years old the male-to-female diagnosis ratio remained relatively stable at about 3:1.
In contrast, a rapid increase in diagnoses of ASD among females during adolescence, produced a “female catch-up effect” that resulted in near parity of ASD prevalence between males and females by adulthood.
Prof. Yeoh Khay Guan & Prof Patrick Tan[/caption]
Professor Patrick Tan, MD PhD
Dean, Duke-NUS Medical School;
Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Signature Research Programme,
Duke-NUS Medical School; and
Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, MBBS
Chief Executive, National University Health System;
Senior Consultant
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
National University Hospital.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) is a precancerous condition that can arise in the stomach after long-term infection with Helicobacter pylori (a common stomach bacterium).
Clinically, IM is recognised as a risk state for gastric cancer (GC), as individuals with IM have 6-fold higher risk of eventually developing GC. However, not all IM patients will develop GC, and we lack an understanding of the biological processes operating within IM to transition to GC. Also, we don’t know if these processes are commonly found across the world, particularly since different countries have different rates of GC incidence.
In this study, we looked at DNA mutations and mutational signatures in IM samples collected from six countries with varying GC incidence (including accompanying blood-derived genetic variants). We wanted to understand potential risk factors for GC and how this information can be harnessed to improve the clinical management of IM patients and to reduce their GC risk.
Dr. Mark[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dustin Mark, MD
Emergency Medicine/Critical Care Medicine, East Bay
Adjunct Researcher, KPNC Division of Research, CREST Network
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We examined medical records from 13,988 adults hospitalized with severe hyponatremia between 2008 and 2023 across 21 community hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health system. Patients were grouped based on how quickly their sodium levels were corrected within a 24-hour period (< 8 meq/L, 8-12 meq/L, > 12 meq/L) and were followed for up to 90 days.
The primary outcome was death or serious delayed neurologic events, such as brain damage, seizures, paralysis, or altered consciousness. The results suggest that there is likely a true independent association between slow sodium correction and adverse outcomes, and that current guidelines promoting slow correction of sodium levels should be re-evaluated accordingly.
Dr. Scotland[/caption]
Kymora B. Scotland MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Urology
UCLA
Gerard Wong PhD, Professor
Bioengineering Dept., Chemistry & Biochemistry Dept., Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics Dept.
California NanoSystems Institute
UCLA Los Angeles, CA
MedicalResearch.com: What is thebackground for this study?
Response: Because of Dr. Scotland’s clinical work taking care of patients with kidney stones, we noticed that sometimes patients with no history of urinary tract injections would develop UTIs or even sepsis after stone surgery. Similarly, when we cultured the stones obtained from surgical procedures - again in patients without a history of UTIs- we would often identify bacteria. This led us to hypothesize that bacteria actually play a role in stone formation and were not just bystanders occasionally found in the kidney.
Dr. Kruger .[/caption]
Daniel J. Kruger, PhD
Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
[caption id="attachment_72136" align="alignleft" width="100"]
Dr. Kruger[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
[caption id="attachment_72137" align="alignleft" width="100"]
Dr. Felicione[/caption]
Response: Alcohol consumption, especially heavy alcohol consumption, is associated with many health risks and nearly 200 different health conditions and diseases. Reducing alcohol consumption reduces the risks and harms from alcohol. Previous research has demonstrated that people have reduced their alcohol consumption when they have access to cannabis. Cannabis beverages have emerged in States where cannabis is legal for adult or medical use.
Yang Hu[/caption]
Yang Hu, Research scientist
Department of Nutrition
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Previous studies have established that increasing total activity level is beneficial to prevent premature death but data on the health benefits of individual type of activity is still limited. Whether engaging in more types of activities at the same level total activity would offer additional health benefits towards longevity remains unknown.
Photo by Burst[/caption]
Leaving the hospital is often a relief, but for many patients, it also marks the start of a critical recovery phase. Once home, the responsibility for infection prevention shifts largely from clinical staff to patients and caregivers. This transition can be challenging, especially for individuals recovering from surgery, managing chronic illness, or living with weakened immune systems.
Reducing infection risk at home is not about recreating a hospital environment. It’s about understanding where risks exist, how infections spread, and what practical steps make the biggest difference during recovery.
Photo by Dan Nelson[/caption]
International travel is routine for clinicians and scientists today. Conferences, fieldwork, collaborative research, regulatory meetings, and humanitarian missions all require crossing borders often with laptops, phones, and storage devices carrying sensitive data. While travel enables collaboration, it also introduces serious digital privacy risks that many medical professionals underestimate.
Protecting digital information while traveling internationally isn’t about paranoia. It’s about understanding how data exposure happens and taking practical steps to reduce risk without disrupting work.
Dr. Gaynor[/caption]
Leslie S. Gaynor, PhD
Clinical Neuropsychologist & Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Geriatric Medicine
Department of Medicine
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN 37203
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The US population is rapidly aging, and the oldest members of our population are also the most vulnerable to developing clinical dementia. We are interested in studying older adults ages 80+ who display cognitive resilience despite this increased risk of dementia and actually display exceptional memory performance compared to their same-aged, typically performing peers. These “SuperAgers,”—i.e., 80+-year-old adults with memory performance that is comparable to or surpasses that of adults 20 to 30 years their junior—may hold the key to uncovering genetic factors that predict exceptionally healthy longevity.
Dr. Vyshedskiy[/caption]
Andrey Vyshedskiy, Ph.D.
Neuroscientist from Boston University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Certain conditions, such as autism and Down syndrome, can limit a child’s ability to develop full language comprehension. In these cases, children often become “stuck” at a specific, quantized level of understanding:
Dr. Thorne[/caption]
Sally Thorne RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAHS, FCAN, CM
Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing
Co-Principal Investigator with :
[caption id="attachment_71969" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Pesut[/caption]
Dr. Barbara Pesut PhD, RN
Professor in the School of Nursing
Principal Research Chair in Palliative and End of Life Care
University of British Columbia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada in June of 2016 for Canadians who were facing a reasonably foreseeable natural death and met an explicit set of eligibility criteria as determined by qualified health care providers (physicians or nurse practitioners). In 2021, the legislation was extended to include the possibility of MAiD for persons who were suffering from a ‘grievous and irremediable’ medical condition but for whom natural death was not immediately foreseeable. As assisted dying represented a significant change in available options for Canadians with terminal or chronic conditions, requiring significant practice adaptations and including numerous legal, social, ethical, moral implications, the health research community has been working in consultation with clinicians, service providers and governments to generate knowledge that ensures safe, ethical and equitable practice in this regard.
Dr. Nordestgaard[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ask T. Nordestgaard, MD PhD
Postdoctoral research fellow
Division of Preventive Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, MA 02215
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Elevated Lp(a) is associated with high risk of CVD in multiple cohorts. We have recently shown that Lp(a) in the highest quintile is associated with 30-year risk of CVD; however, among healthy individuals, these results may be driven only by those with very extreme Lp(a) levels (e.g., above the 99th percentile).
Therefore, in this follow-up study, we examined associations between various clinical thresholds of Lp(a) and CVD across 30 years of follow-up among apparently healthy women.
Dr. Wenhui Qiu[/caption]
Wenhui Qiu, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering
Southern University of Science and Technology
Shenzhen, China
[caption id="attachment_71922" align="alignleft" width="121"]
Dr. Chunmiao Zheng[/caption]
Chunmiao Zheng, PhD
AGU Fellow, Chair Professor
Hydrologic Science
Eastern Institute of Technology
Ningbo, China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of artificially synthesized chemicals widely used in industrial production and consumer goods manufacturing. These substances are persistent in the environment, can accumulate through the food chain, and enter the human body and build up over time, posing a potential threat to health. As an important component of the global diet, marine fish may serve as a major source of PFAS intake for humans. However, the contribution of marine fish as a source of PFAS exposure and the associated health risks still lack systematic assessment on a global scale.
Dr. Pieper[/caption]
Andrew A. Pieper M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Professor, Department of Neurosciences
Professor, Department of Pathology
Investigator, University Hospitals Harrington Discovery Institute, Harrington Discovery Institute
Associate Director, Medical Scientist Training Program, School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and
at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: NAD+, a central cellular energy and signaling molecule, declines with age throughout the body, including the brain. When NAD+ falls below necessary levels, cells lose their ability to carry out essential maintenance and survival functions. We found that the NAD+ decline is more severe in brains from people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and in mouse models of AD, whereas brains of people with AD pathology but preserved cognition show gene-expression patterns consistent with maintained NAD+ homeostasis.
Samson Nivins PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, specializing in Perinatal and Pediatric Neurology
[caption id="attachment_71834" align="alignleft" width="92"] Dr. Klingberg[/caption]
Torkel Klingberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Stockholm Brain Institute
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In the modern era, children’s use of digital media such as watching videos, playing video games, and using social media has increased substantially, often coinciding with a decline in outdoor activities. As many school-aged children now own personal devices, particularly smartphones, it has become easier for them to spend more time on screens than intended. For example, a German survey cited in an EU briefing reported that in 2020, 27% of 8-9-year-olds and 54% of 10-11-year-olds owned a smartphone. In the U.S., ~30% of children own a smartphone by age eight, with many receiving their first device between ages 10 and 11.
With growing concerns about screen time, numerous studies have examined its potential consequences and have reported associations between higher screen use and increased ADHD symptoms. However, most of this research has been cross-sectional and has tended to combine different types of digital media such as television, video games, and social media into a single composite measure. This approach may obscure important differences, as various forms of digital media may have distinct effects on ADHD symptoms. To date, relatively few studies have examined the impact of specific types of digital media use on ADHD in a longitudinal framework, and even fewer have accounted for the heritable nature of ADHD.
To address these gaps, this U.S. longitudinal study followed children from ages 9-10 to 13-14 years. The study collected repeated measures of daily time spent on specific digital activities, including television and videos, video games, and social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. ADHD symptoms specifically inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were assessed using parent reports, and analyses adjusted for genetic factors and socioeconomic status.
Dr. Holly Kramer[/caption]
Dr. Holly Kramer MD, MPH
Professor of Public Health Sciences and Medicine
Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Loyola University Chicago
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this survey? How is UACR measured? Would you explain the significance of albumin in the urine and what creatinine represents?
Response: Approximately 36 million people live with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the U.S. today, with cardiovascular disease (CVD) being the number one cause of death for this patient population. About 1 in 3 adults with T2D has UACR >30 mg/g with prevalence approaching 40% in older patients.
Compared to patients with T2D alone, those with elevated UACR face: