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.

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

Use of NMR in diagnostic research: an interview with Elaine Holmes, Imperial College

The Phenome Center developed out of the Olympic drug testing facility, and we've adapted it so that we use NMR spectrometry, which we have three spectrometers, and mass spectrometry, to take blood and urine from hundreds and thousands of people and profile them to get a biochemical fingerprint of every person.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 1 Jul 2014

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in veterans: an interview with Milan Michael Karol, The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the death of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

30 Jun 2014

Alcoholic liver disease: an interview with Dr Vinood Patel, University of Westminster

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and also in the UK. As its name indicates this disease arises due to consuming excessive amounts of alcohol (80 g/day) over an extended period, normally 10-20 years.

24 Jun 2014

Complementary medicines: an interview with Associate Professor Evelin Tiralongo, Griffith University

Complementary medicines are generally being defined as medicines which are non-mainstream medicines and are mostly given together with conventional medicines.

23 Jun 2014

Predicting dengue fever in Brazil: an interview with Dr. Rachel Lowe, Catalan Institute for Climate Sciences (IC3)

Dengue is a mosquito-transmitted viral infection. The disease is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical climates and most commonly found in urban areas. Around half of the world's population are now estimated to live in dengue endemic regions.

16 Jun 2014

P2Y12 and blood clotting: an interview with Dr. Jacobson, NIH

We already understand the many steps involved in blood clotting in great mechanistic detail. The process of blood vessels closing off in response to injury is necessary for preserving life, but blood platelets that are over-active, or activated inappropriately because of unstable plaque, can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

3 Jun 2014

Ebola research: an interview with Professor Easton, University of Warwick

Ebola virus belongs to a group of viruses that have been known for some time. It was first isolated as a result of an infection in a primate, in a monkey colony, in monkeys that were being used for research in the Philippines.

28 May 2014