Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Weight Research / 28.11.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Mahsa Dolatshahi, M.D., M.P.H. Post-doctoral research fellow Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Obesity at midlife is recognized as a risk factor for developing Alzheimer disease decades afterwards. However, body mass index on its own does not adequately represent the risks associated with obesity. In this study, we went beyond BMI and considered anatomical distribution of body fat, including the metabolically active visceral fat in the belly, and showed its association with Alzheimer pathology in the form of amyloid proteins. In addition, visceral fat along with obesity and insulin resistance were associated with thinning of brain cortex, as early as midlife. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mammograms / 07.12.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wendie Berg, MD, PhD, FACR Professor of Radiology University of Pittsburgh MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Mammography misses many cancers in women with a personal history of breast cancer (PHBC). MRI improves early detection of cancer in women with PHBC and the American College of Radiology recommends adding MRI every year for women with PHBC and dense breasts or diagnosis by age 50 but not every woman can tolerate MRI. Contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) appears to be a good alternative to MRI.  Our study examined performance of CEM after tomosynthesis in women with PHBC.  We first trained our radiologists in CEM (Berg WA et al JBI 2021) and two radiologists interpreted both tomosynthesis and CEM on every participant. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Gender Differences, Medical Imaging, Weight Research / 22.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Miriam Bredella, MD Associate Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School Department of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA 02114 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It is well known that body composition differs between men and women, with women having proportionally more fat and men more muscle mass. But not the amount of fat but its distribution is an important determinant of cardiometabolic risk, with certain ectopic fat depots, such as visceral adipose tissue, fat within muscle cells - intramyocellular (IMCL), and liver fat, being more detrimental than others, such as femorogluteal subcutaneous adipose tissue. We therefore wanted to study sex differences in body composition and cardiometabolic risk in men and women with obesity. We found that at the same BMI, men had relatively higher visceral adipose tissue, IMCL, liver fat, muscle and lean mass, while women higher percent fat mass and higher subcutaneous adipose tissue. This female anthropometric phenotype was associated with a better cardiometabolic risk profile at similar BMI compared to men. However, ectopic fat depots were more strongly associated with adverse cardiometabolic risk factors in women compared to men (more…)