Medical Thought Leaders

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News Medical's "Thought Leaders" series is a selection of articles written by national and international experts and trusted advisers in health and medicine. All the articles are written by experts who have been invited as recognised leaders in their fields to provide a "state of the art" contribution.

Curcumin and tackling mesothelioma: an interview with Dr. Afshin Dowlati

An important point about this work is that the research into curcumin was conducted following a discovery about mesothelioma, rather than being the primary endpoint of the study.

17 Nov 2014

Using cardiac biomarkers to identify NSTEMI and ACS patients: an interview with Peter Mason

ACS is currently identified through the use of ECGs pre-hospital and the confirmed via a Troponin biomarker test once in the acute setting.

16 Nov 2014

Stopping the death of synapses: an interview with Dr Soledad Galli

Synapses are the sites that connect neurons – sites where information is passed from one neuron to another. They are highly specialized structures and synaptic function is crucial for normal brain function.

11 Nov 2014

Light-activated diabetes drug: an interview with Dr David Hodson

We've known about chemicals that can be light-activated for about five to ten years now. They’ve mainly all been applied to neurons and, more specifically, the retina. Nobody has ever really looked at any tissues outside of the nervous system.

5 Nov 2014

3D brain-like tissue: an interview with Professor David Kaplan, Tufts University

In 2D, neurons tend to form limited connectivity reflective of the 3D complexity in the brain and have more limited cultivation time before reduction in functions.

4 Nov 2014

Game theory and the cancer ecosystem: an interview with Professor Pienta, Johns Hopkins

The classic description of game theory was described by the prisoner's dilemma, which is a situation in which two players have two options where the outcome depends on the simultaneous choice made by the other.

29 Oct 2014

Cannabis use during adolescence: an interview with Dr Edmund Silins

We know quite a lot about the effects of cannabis on the body and brain but there is still a need to better understand its impact on the health, well-being and development of long term users.

20 Oct 2014

Preventing cancer: an interview with Dr Fiona Reddington

It’s estimated that more than four in 10 cancer cases could be prevented by lifestyle changes, such as not smoking, keeping a healthy body weight, cutting back on alcohol, eating a healthy diet, keeping active and staying safe in the sun.

13 Oct 2014

Suicide prevention: an interview with Dr Shekhar Saxena, World Health Organization

Suicide is a serious public health problem. More than 800,000 people die from suicide every year – that’s one person every 40 seconds.

5 Oct 2014

Epidurals and reduced postpartum depression: an interview with Dr. Zakowski

The “maternity blues”, which resolve within 10 days of giving birth, occurs in up to 80% of new moms. A major depressive episode, by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria, is defined as having at least a 2-week period of persistent depressed mood ...

23 Sep 2014

Food allergies in inner-city children: an interview with Dr. Robert Wood

The general interest is in trying to better define the true prevalence of food allergy; not just how common it is, but whether it's becoming more common over time.

22 Sep 2014

Sequencing the Asian liver fluke genome: an interview with Dr Neil Young

Opisthorchis viverrini is a parasitic flatworm (or liver fluke) endemic throughout Thailand, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Vietnam and Cambodia. Humans are infected with this parasite when they eat a fluke encysted in inadequately cooked/preserved freshwater fish.

21 Sep 2014

Disrupting cancer regulator MYC: an interview with Professor Kim Janda

MYC is an oncogenic member of the basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper transcription factor family. In its monomeric form, MYC’s tertiary structure is intrinsically disordered and the protein is transcriptionally inactive.

17 Sep 2014

Blocking bacteria's access to iron: an interview with Dr. Laxminarayana Devireddy

Iron is a key nutrient for nearly all living organisms, including bacteria. Iron is a cofactor for many enzymes necessary for basic metabolic reactions such as DNA synthesis and electron transport. Iron serves as the conduit for the electron transport chain that generates the energy necessary to drive the bacterial cell.

16 Sep 2014

Cholera against cholera: an interview with Dr Bruce Turnbull, University of Leeds

Cholera bacteria, and other types of bacteria that cause diarrheal diseases, infect your intestines where they release AB5 protein toxins – that is they have a single toxic A-subunit that is linked to a pentamer of B-subunits that act as the delivery vehicle to transport the A-subunit into the cells.

8 Sep 2014

Extreme environment medicine: an interview with Dr Kevin Fong, University College London

The understanding of how long-duration space flight affects the human body has come on quite considerably in recent years, and in large part, we owe that to programs of research that have taken place aboard the International Space Station and the Mir Space Station.

8 Sep 2014

Artificial cells to devour undesirables: an interview with Dr. Takanari Inoue

If junk is not removed, pathological conditions can develop. For example, in one condition, the neutrophil count significantly decreases. Neutrophils remove pathogens and people with a reduced neutrophil count are more prone to infection, especially to rare bacteria that wouldn’t cause infection under normal conditions.

3 Sep 2014

Understanding neuron development: an interview with Dr. Brock Grill, The Scripps Research Institute

There’s a big difference between understanding coordination and actually building connectivity. In terms of building connectivity, several molecules have been identified that control this process and a lot has been learned from both genetic and biochemical research in a variety of different systems, particularly studies in the nematode C. elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila and mice.

22 Aug 2014

Using a nanotech microchip to diagnose type 1 diabetes: an interview with Dr. Brian Feldman, Stanford School of Medicine

The most common form of diabetes is sometimes referred to as metabolic diabetes, which is the diabetes most people are very familiar with, type 2 diabetes. This form of diabetes is most prevalent in people that are overweight or obese. Historically, it has been confined to adults or older patients but it has been on the rise as the global obesity problem has continued to worsen.

20 Aug 2014

Using NMR to study protein motion: an interview with Fabien Ferrage, École Normale Supérieure, Paris

Can you give us a brief overview of the work you presented at ENC 2014 (Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference)?

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 19 Aug 2014