Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Lung Cancer, NIH, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Stanford / 01.11.2023
Lung Cancer: Stanford Risk-Based Model Reduces Screening Disparities
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
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Dr. Han[/caption]
Summer S Han, PhD
Associate Professor
Quantitative Sciences Unit
Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR)
Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Medicine
Department of Epidemiology & Population Health (by Courtesy)
Stanford University School of Medicine
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Dr. Choi[/caption]
Dr. Eunji Choi PhD
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Department: Adult Neurosurgery
Stanford University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Han[/caption]
Summer S Han, PhD
Associate Professor
Quantitative Sciences Unit
Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR)
Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Medicine
Department of Epidemiology & Population Health (by Courtesy)
Stanford University School of Medicine
[caption id="attachment_60981" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Choi[/caption]
Dr. Eunji Choi PhD
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Department: Adult Neurosurgery
Stanford University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, killing about 127,000 people annually, but it can be treatable if detected early.
- Low-dose computed tomography, or CT scan, has been shown to significantly reduce the number of lung cancer deaths. But because the radiation delivered by the scans can be harmful (they use on average about 10 times the radiation of standard X-rays), only those people at relatively high risk for lung cancer should be screened. The two biggest risk factors for lung cancer are exposure to tobacco smoke and age. Current national guidelines that rely on age and smoking exposure to recommend people for lung cancer screening are disproportionally failing minority populations including African Americans, according to a new study led by researchers at Stanford Medicine.
- In 2021, the national guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued revised recommendation guidelines on lung cancer screening, lowering the start age from 55-year to 50-year and the smoking pack-year criterion from 30 to 20, compared to the 2013 USPSTF criteria. In comparison to the 2013 criteria, the new modifications have been shown to lessen racial disparities in screening eligibility between African Americans and Whites. However, potential disparities across other major racial groups in the U.S., such as Latinos, remains poorly examined.
- Meanwhile, risk prediction model assesses a person’s risk score of developing an illness, such as lung cancer.
Dr. Jernigan[/caption]
Dr. John Jernigan, MD MS
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Emory University School of Medicine
Branch Chief
Epidemiology, Research and Innovations Branch
CDC Center for Disease Control
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Staphylococcus aureus commonly causes infections in ICUs. One approach to preventing these infections is using nasal mupirocin plus chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing for ICU patients. This practice is known to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections and all-cause. bloodstream infections. This practice has been broadly adopted in ICUs in the US, but adoption of mupirocin as a universal topical antibiotic has been slowed by concerns for engendering mupirocin resistance.
This cluster-randomized trial in adult ICUs was conducted to assess whether universal nasal antiseptic povidone-iodine (iodophor), to which minimal S. aureus resistance is expected, was an acceptable alternative to universal nasal mupirocin for reducing S. aureus and MRSA clinical cultures in the setting of daily CHG bathing. Those who received chlorhexidine (CHG) bathing with mupirocin had an 18% reduction in risk of Staphylococcus aureus clinical cultures and a 15% reduction in risk of methicillin-resistant 
Leana Pande[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Leana Pande
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Buprenorphine is not a new drug. It was developed in the 1960s with the intent of providing the benefits of opioids, without the addictive side effects. Unlike many prescription opioids,1 use of this Schedule III drug is increasing.2 It is often characterized as a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor (Figure-Right). Buprenorphine is available in many routes of administration and also with (brand name Suboxone) or without naloxone. Buprenorphine is a first-line pharmacotherapy for pregnant women with OUD.3 This review was completed in order for the benefits, and risks, of buprenorphine to be more fully appreciated and inform utilization for both opioid use disorder (OUD) and the treatment of pain.
Dr. Stark[/caption]
Dr Mitchell Stark
One example of a nodular melanoma without pigment. 
Dr. Payne-Sturges[/caption]
Esa M. Davis, M.D., M.P.H , F.A.A.F.P
Professor of Medicine and Family and Community Medicine
Associate Vice President of Community Health and
Senior Associate Dean of pPopulation Health and Community Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. Davis joined the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in January 2021
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia, are among the leading causes of serious complications and death for pregnant people in the United States.
Pregnant women and pregnant people of all genders should have their blood pressure measured at each prenatal visit to help find and prevent serious health issues related to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. 
Dr. Hidde ten Berg[/caption]
Dr. Hidde ten Berg
Department Emergency Medicine and
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Dr. Steef Kurstjens[/caption]
Dr. Steef Kurstjens
Department of Clinical cChemistry and Haematology
Jeroen Bosch Hospital, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: At this moment we are still in the exploratory phase, and therefore, there is no widespread or routine usage of ChatGPT in Emergency Medicine. That said, there are instances where individual physicians have used ChatGPT for specific purposes. These may include facilitating bureaucratic tasks that can often be time-consuming, aiding in writing e-mails or texts, and serving as a brainstorming tool when dealing with complex medical cases and questions. Though not yet a standardized practice, these isolated examples demonstrate a growing interest for the potential application of this novel technology.
Lotfi Khemiri
Centre for Psychiatry Research
Stockholm, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Our study used large-scale national register data in close to 2 million children, and found that parental abuse of both alcohol and drugs are associated with increased risk of intellectual disability in the offspring. Importantly, the risk increase was observed in both mothers and fathers which to the best of our knowledge is a novel finding, and may be explained by both genetic and environmental factors including toxic effects of substance intake on fetal development.
Dr. Stevermer [/caption]
James Stevermer, M.D., M.S.P.H.Vice chair for clinical affairs
Professor of family and community medicine
University of Missouri
Medical director of MU Health Care Family Medicine–Callaway Physicians,
Dr. Stevermer joined the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force in January 2021.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: HIV continues to be a significant public health issue. The good news is that PrEP is a safe, highly effective way to help prevent HIV in people at increased risk. There are now two ways people can take PrEP – as a pill or as a shot. We encourage healthcare professionals to have a conversation with their patients about their individual risk for HIV and determine if they should consider taking whichever form of PrEP would work best for them.
Luke Cavanah[/caption]
Luke Cavanah, BS
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Scranton, PA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: It is well-known that schedule II stimulants, which are those that are highly addictive and include amphetamine, methylphenidate, and lisdexamfetamine, have had increasing use and misuse in the US.
Despite understanding the presence of this phenomenon, the reason for it is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to see if rising rates of schedule II stimulants are related to the legalization of medical marijuana. We were interested in this because schedule II stimulants are primarily used as the treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic cannabis use has been demonstrated to cause neurocognitive deficits resembling that of ADHD, and the conditions have been shown to affect similar brain regions.
Dr. Wallis[/caption]
Christopher Wallis, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Urology
Department of Surgery
University of Toronto and Urologic Oncologist
Mount Sinai Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: Could you give a little context - what was the question you were looking at?
Dr. Abdelrasoul[/caption]
Amira Abdelrasoul, Ph.D., P. Eng.
Dr. Wright[/caption]
Jason D. Wright, MD, FACOG, FACS
Sol Goldman Associate Professor
Chief, Division of Gynecologic Oncology
Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
New York, New York 10032
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: There is growing recognition that gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is safe and that the procedures are associated with favorable long term outcomes. Prior work has explored the use of inpatient procedures and shown that the rates of GAS have risen, but there is little contemporaneous data to examine more recent inpatient and outpatient use of GAS. This is particularly important as changes in insurance regulations may have increased access for these procedures. We examined temporal trends in performance of inpatient and outpatient GAS and examined age-specific trends in the types of procedures performed over time.
Prof. Kaforou[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Myrsini Kaforou, PhD
Dr. Nicholson[/caption]
Wanda K. Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Professor of Prevention and Community Health
Milken Institute School of Public Health
George Washington University
Vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Neural tube defects are when a baby’s spinal cord or brain don’t develop properly during pregnancy, which can cause serious complications including disability and death. The good news is that taking folic acid supplements before and during early pregnancy is proven to help prevent this from happening.
Dr. McLoughlin Brady[/caption]
Tammy M. Brady, MD, PhD (she/her/hers)
Vice Chair for Clinical Research, Dept of Pediatrics
Associate Director, Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Nephrology
Medical Director, Pediatric Hypertension Program
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21287
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Accurate BP measurement is key to identification and treatment of hypertension which serves ultimately to prevent cardiovascular disease. Our study describes substantial measurement error that can occur in a common office and home BP measurement scenario: use of a regular cuff size for all individuals regardless of arm size. Many office triage measurements occur without individualized cuff selection and most home BP devices come with one cuff size – and our study shows that using a regular cuff size for people who have larger arms – those who require a large adult cuff or an extra-large adult cuff – can lead to blood pressure readings that are almost 5 and 20 mmHg greater than their actual BP, respectively. Those require a small adult cuff can have BP readings that are almost 4 mmHg lower than their actual BP.
Prof. Leon[/caption]
Michael Leon, Professor emeritus