Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mammograms / 22.05.2025

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_68644" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr Tong Li PhD | Cancer Institute NSW Early Career FellowBreast Cancer Clinical and Population Health Stream Dr Tong Li[/caption] Dr Tong Li PhD | Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellow Breast Cancer Clinical and Population Health Stream The Daffodil Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney Moore Theological College | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2042    MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Having a family history of breast cancer is one of the most common risk factors for women. About 8% to 11% of women in the U.S. report having a close relative diagnosed with breast cancer. These women often have dense breasts. Dense breast tissue can make standard digital mammography (DM, also known as 2D mammography) less effective in detecting cancer. Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), a 3D imaging technology, has become increasingly used in breast cancer screening because it improves the visibility of lesions and reduces unnecessary callbacks. However, until now, it has been unclear whether DBT offers the same benefits in women with a family history of breast cancer, especially across different family risk levels and breast density types.
Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Melanoma / 17.03.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_56972" align="alignleft" width="180"]Anne Cust | Professor of Cancer Epidemiology The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health Sydney School of Public Health Anne Cust[/caption] Anne Cust | PhD, Professor of Cancer Epidemiology The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health Sydney School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Are the screeners specially trained, use full body photographs, dermoscopy etc? Response: The Melanoma High-risk Clinic Study was developed to optimise the early detection of new melanomas in people at high risk of developing melanoma. A previous single-centre study observed fewer excisions and healthcare costs, thinner melanomas and better quality of life when surveillance of high risk patients was conducted in a melanoma dermatology clinic with a structured surveillance protocol involving 6-monthly full body examinations aided by total body photography (TBP) and sequential digital dermoscopy imaging (SDDI). The initial pilot study was performed in a single tertiary referral specialist centre using trained dermatologists who routinely used the diagnostic interventions. Our objective was to examine longer-term sustainability and expansion of the program to multiple practices including a primary care skin cancer clinic setting. The hypothesis was that the outcomes would be similar if using the same protocol and diagnostic tools. The participating doctors were trained to follow the protocol, which included instruction on how to respond and interpret changing lesions, but not in use of dermoscopy or skin examinations, which were routinely and consistently used in all clinics prior to the study commencing. There were 593 participants assessed as very high risk of melanoma who participated in the Melanoma High-risk Clinic Study from 2012-2018. Nearly all of the participants had had a previous melanoma and had additional melanoma risk factors. 57% were male and the median age at study entry was 58 years.
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mammograms / 30.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rachel Farber, MPH School of Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health University of Sydney New South Wales, Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Most breast screening programs worldwide have replaced the use of film mammography with digital mammography. While digital mammography provides significant technical and practical advantages over film mammography in the provision of population screening programs, the effect of this move on health outcomes remained unclear. An increase in screen detected cancer rates is only beneficial if the additional cancers detected would have otherwise presented at a later stage and caused morbidity and premature mortality. An indirect measure of this is an observed decrease in interval cancer rates. Interval cancers are cancers that are diagnosed after a woman has a negative screening result and before her subsequent scheduled screening.
Author Interviews, Global Health, JAMA / 29.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48876" align="alignleft" width="180"]Dr Barbara Mintzes PhDAssociate Professor The University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and School of PharmacyFaculty of Medicine and HealthThe University of Sydney Dr. Mintzes[/caption] Dr Barbara Mintzes PhD Associate Professor The University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and School of Pharmacy Faculty of Medicine and Health The University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: When medicines are approved for marketing, the information available on rare serious harmful effects, longer-term effects, and outcomes in vulnerable populations is often limited. New serious safety concerns often arise when a medicine is already on the market. In many cases these can be  managed for example through dose reductions or avoiding prescribing to at-risk patients. Drug regulatory agencies such as the US FDA often issue safety warnings to let health professionals and the public know  about new evidence of potential harm and often to provide advice on how to avoid this. We were interested to know how consistent these warnings are between different countries. This is a research project funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We examined warnings for medicines in Australia, Canada the US and the UK over a 10-year period, from 2007 to 2016 inclusive. We were looking at how often regulators issue the same warning if the drug is approved for marketing at the time. 
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Frailty / 04.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "DSC08418" by Debs (\xf2\u203f\xf3)\u266a is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0Cathie Sherrington FAHMS Professor, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow Institute for Musculoskeletal Health The University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What types of exercise were tested or indicated? Response: Falls are a very common problem with at least one in three people aged 60+ falling each year. This review included all types of exercises delivered to people aged 60+ in the general community i.e., not those living in supported accommodation and not among people with particular health conditions such as a stroke or Parkinson’s disease.