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.

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

Testicular cancer incidence: an interview with Dr Rebecca Johnson, Medical Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program Seattle Children's Hospital

We observed that, over the past two decades, there has been an increase in the incidence of testicular cancer in Hispanic American adolescents and young adults (AYAs) between 15 and 39 years of age.

15 Aug 2014

Schizophrenia-linked genetic variations and the developing brain: an interview with Prof. Guo-li Ming

How much is currently known about what happens in the developing brain that puts people at risk of schizophrenia?

11 Aug 2014

Altering the circadian rhythm: an interview with Dr. Doug Kojetin, The Scripps Research Institute

The circadian rhythm is affected by many different stimuli—such as sleep and light, which are the most broadly appreciated ways—but also eating— all of which can modulate, or change, important processes in our bodies such as temperature, production of hormones or other signalling small molecules, cellular regeneration, and others.

6 Aug 2014

Tuberculosis in children: an interview with Dr Peter Dodd, University of Sheffield

It was recently announced that new estimates indicated over 650,000 children develop tuberculosis (TB) every year in the 22 countries with a high burden of the disease (HBCs). Which countries are these and why are so many children developing TB in these areas?

29 Jul 2014

Norovirus vaccines: an interview with Dr Benjamin Lopman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA

Noroviruses are a group of viruses. They're the leading cause of gastroenteritis, which causes diarrhea and vomiting. They affect the whole age range from young children to the elderly, and, in the US, they cause about 20 million cases annually.

28 Jul 2014

Dynamic nuclear polarization: an interview with Professor Robert Griffin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

DNP, or dynamic nuclear polarization, is an NMR technique which transfers polarization from the electron spins onto the nuclear spins, using constant microwave irradiation to enable the transfer.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 24 Jul 2014

Chronic fatigue and rheumatoid arthritis: an interview with Ailsa Bosworth, CE, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

Chronic fatigue is about much more than merely feeling tired and when it is at its worst, people feel unable to do almost anything, so it can impact absolutely every area of their life.

22 Jul 2014

Unnatural DNA bases: an interview with Professor Floyd E. Romesberg, The Scripps Research Institute

The natural DNA bases that form the letters of DNA are usually referred to as G, C, A, and T. Those are only the first letters of the chemical names. They’re often called nucleotides by their scientific name and all of them have in common a phosphate part, a sugar part and a nucleobase part.

21 Jul 2014

Chemoprevention and colon cancer: an interview with Dr. John Letterio, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

The basic idea of cancer chemoprevention is to arrest or reverse the progression of premalignant cells towards full malignancy, using physiological mechanisms that do not kill healthy cells.

16 Jul 2014

Paracetamol safety and osteoarthritis: an interview with Professor David Hunter, University of Sydney

Firstly, paracetamol has been the first-line recommended treatment for osteoarthritis pain for very many years and, secondly, it is readily available over the counter and can be bought in relatively large quantities.

15 Jul 2014

Improving type 2 diabetes management: an interview with Sir Michael Hirst, President of the International Diabetes Federation

One study suggested that 42 percent of people with type 2 diabetes who are treated for the disease do not reach their blood sugar goals, putting them at higher risk of organ and tissue damage, blindness and even death. We wanted to explore potential causes of clinical inertia among physicians and people with diabetes, which may lead to sub-optimal care.

14 Jul 2014