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.

Stillbirth research: an interview with Dr Lucy Higgins, University of Manchester

Stillbirth, the birth of a baby who shows no sign of life after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy, occurs in 1 in every 200 pregnancies in the United Kingdom. That’s roughly 10 bereaved families a day.

From The University of Manchester 12 Aug 2013

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and emotional memories: an interview with Dr. Fiona Kumfor and Assoc. Prof. Olivier Piguet, NeuRA

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder, which affects the frontal and temporal lobes. Unlike other types of dementia, it more commonly occurs in individuals in their 50s and 60s, and is therefore referred to as a “younger-onset dementia”.

9 Aug 2013

High mobility group (HMG) genes and cancer: an interview with Dr. Linda Resar, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

High mobility group A genes are highly expressed in all aggressive cancers studied to date. These genes encode the high mobility group A (HMGA) proteins. In other words, these genes provide the genetic “code” necessary to produce HMGA proteins.

8 Aug 2013

Cancer-linked mitosis: an interview with Professor Scott Kern, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Mitosis is the process by which a cell gives rise to two daughter cells. It’s the basis behind the growth of the human body, the renewal of the human body as it ages, and unfortunately, the growth of cancers.

7 Aug 2013

Health benefits of sufficient sleep: an interview with Dr Monique Verschuren, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands

We used 6 hours or less per 24 hours as the definition of insufficient sleep, with 7 hours or more as sufficient sleep. In general, this is considered the amount of sleep that is sufficient for adults, although there can be differences between persons with respect to the amount of sleep needed.

6 Aug 2013

Prospective health of the Hispanic/Latino population in the US: an interview with Dr. Martha Daviglus, University of Illinois at Chicago

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among Hispanic/ Latino adults living in the US and this population is known to have high rates of obesity and diabetes.

5 Aug 2013

Using the immune system to control cancer: an interview with Dr. Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, Ludwig Center at MSKCC

Cancer immunotherapy aims to recruit a patient’s immune system to recognize cancer as foreign and dangerous and to remove it from the body, as it would an infection.

1 Aug 2013

Severe arthritis pain treatments: an interview with Professor Walsh, University of Nottingham and Professor Wood, UCL

Pain is defined by the sufferer’s experience. Pain may be severe because it is intense, frequent or sustained, and because it is distressing. The severity of pain is not simply due to what is going on in the joint, but is also affected by how the body processes the pain signals, and the context in which it is experienced.

31 Jul 2013

Hepatitis C (HCV) testing for baby boomers: an interview with Dr. Donald Jensen, Director, Center for Liver Diseases, University of Chicago

The USPSTF agreed with the CDC that since most patients (75%) who are currently infected with hepatitis C were born between 1945 - 1965, and since risk-based screening has not been successful in identifying these individuals, that a one time age-based hepatitis C blood test was necessary.

29 Jul 2013

Gout, uric acid levels and risk of death: an interview with Professor Austin Stack, Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick

Gout is a relatively common arthritic disease that affects about 4% (I in 25) of the population. It results from the deposition of uric acid in joints due to elevated blood levels and a resulting inflammation ensues which is very painful.

26 Jul 2013

Child cancer survival: an interview with Prof Kathy Pritchard-Jones, University College London

Back in the early 1960s, just before chemotherapy really started to be used, only about 30% of children survived cancer. That was mainly because they had cancers that were amenable to surgery.

24 Jul 2013

p53 and cancer research: an interview with Professor Sir David Lane, Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

P53 is a tumor suppressor gene. The gene encodes for a protein that monitors the state of the cell. If something goes wrong, it stops the cell from dividing or causes the cell to commit suicide. I call it the “guardian of the genome” as it is the molecule that seems to keep cells normal. It is one of our big defenses against cancer.

22 Jul 2013

Human filariasis research: an interview with Professor Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Filariasis refers to a group of diseases caused by parasitic worms, which are transmitted by blood feeding insects. Two species infect the lymphatic and blood systems causing lymphatic filariasis, which in some people can lead to gross swelling of the limbs and 'elephantiasis'.

18 Jul 2013

Long-term cannabis use, dopamine and motivation: an interview with Dr Michael Bloomfield, Department of Medicine at Imperial

We classified ‘long-term’ cannabis use as being regular, at least weekly, cannabis use for over 12 months. This is the period of time that’s used in the DSM-IV psychiatric diagnostic manual to classify substance use disorders. In our study the average duration of at least weekly use was just over four and a half years.

17 Jul 2013

White blood cells and the spread of cancer: an interview with Drs. Lorenzo Ferri and Jonathan Cools-Lartigue, McGill University

As surgeons who take care of cancer patients, we have observed a troubling association between patients who suffer from infections after surgery and the rapid spread of their cancer. We have reported this in lung cancer patients, and others have made these observations in a variety of different cancers. However, the mechanisms responsible for this association are still poorly understood.

16 Jul 2013

Coffee and appetite: an interview with Matt Schubert and Associate Professor Ben Desbrow, Griffith University

We wanted to do something a bit different than the “typical” work on caffeine and exercise, and I have considerable interest in appetite regulation, so we built up from there.

15 Jul 2013

Semi-quantitative pregnancy tests: an interview with Dr. Paul Blumenthal, Stanford University School of Medicine

Regular pregnancy tests work a little bit like a simple light switch that you have on your wall. It’s either on or off. When it’s on, that means the test is positive; if it’s off, obviously, it’s negative.

12 Jul 2013

Immunization in developing countries: an interview with Dr. Jos Vandelaer, Chief of Immunization for UNICEF

Overall, worldwide, immunization programs reach around 83% of all children – this is an enormous achievement. With this level of immunization coverage, we prevent over 2 million deaths, year after year. This statistic is often forgotten or taken for granted.

11 Jul 2013

Robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) for testicular cancer: an interview with Dr. Stephen Williams of St. Joseph Hospital in Orange

Robotic RPLND utilizes laparoscopy combined with robotic technology to perform dissection and removal of lymph node tissue in the retroperitoneum both as a staging as well as therapeutic procedure for patients with testicular cancer.

10 Jul 2013

Osteoarthritis associated genes: an interview with Professor Jonathan Tobias, University of Bristol

Joints are lined by articular cartilage, loss of which is one of the hallmarks of osteoarthritis. Articular cartilage is made up of a number of proteins, such as type II collagen. In rare forms of osteoarthritis, one of these structural proteins is defective as a result of a genetic mutation.

2 Jul 2013