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.

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

Curing type 1 diabetes: an interview with Dr. Habib Zaghouani, MU School of Medicine

Type 1 diabetes is an attack by the immune system of the islet of Langerhans within the pancreas. Basically, the islet of Langerhans harbor beta cells, which produce insulin and when the islets are attacked, the beta cells destruct and there is no more insulin. When the insulin level goes low, blood glucose levels go high and that creates a problem.

28 Jun 2013

Controlled drug release using novel excipients: an interview with Dr Laura Waters, University of Huddersfield

When you take a medicine you may want the drug to all be released immediately or perhaps more slowly over a longer period of time. If we can make a medicine where we control the release then we can tailor our medicines to release at the exact rate we choose that is best for the patient.

26 Jun 2013

Sentinel lymph node biopsy for early breast cancer: an interview with Prof. Gordon Wishart, Anglia Ruskin University

Our current method, which is recommended by the Association of Breast Surgeons in the UK, involves the use of injections of blue dye and radioisotope to identify the first node(s) under the arm (axilla) called the sentinel nodes.

25 Jun 2013

Bioapplications of nanoparticles: an interview with Dr Catherine Berry, University of Glasgow

These particles are all classed as inorganic particles, which can all be utilised in biomedical applications. They differ in terms of their inherent material and size dependent physiochemical properties, for example, their optical and magnetic properties.

18 Jun 2013

Malaria control strategies: an interview with Sir Richard Feachem, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco

Exciting progress has been made in the global fight against malaria. The malaria map continues to shrink each year; in the last ten years four countries have been certified malaria-free, and thirty-four additional countries are now working towards malaria elimination targets.

17 Jun 2013

Tumor suppressor p53 inactivation and restoration: an interview with Dr. Xin Lu, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

Before we talk about p53, it is important to understand why cancer cells are a problem for the body. Cancer cells multiply recklessly, refuse to die and blithely metastasize to set up shop in places where they don’t belong.

12 Jun 2013

Prostate cancer and DNA: an interview with Dr. Jianfeng Xu, Wake Forest School of Medicine

Prostate cancer development is associated with both inherited and acquired genetic alterations. More than 70 inherited genetic variants have been consistently identified in human DNA that may contribute to susceptibility or risk of prostate cancer.

11 Jun 2013

BMI and fast food: an interview with Dr Lorraine Reitzel, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Disparities Research at MD Anderson

This project was a secondary project that came out of a longitudinal cohort study that we've been conducting with the Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston Texas, which is a large, primarily African American mega-church with over fifteen hundred congregation members.

10 Jun 2013

Allergic rhinitis treatments: an interview with Dr Dermot Ryan, GP and allergy expert

Allergic rhinitis is most commonly recognized as hay fever in the United Kingdom and it is due to the impact of an allergen, in the case of hay fever a pollen, setting off an inflammatory response in the lungs, causing typical symptoms...

5 Jun 2013

Vitamin C and gout: an interview with Prof. Lisa Stamp

A previous study in by Choi et al in the USA showed that people with a higher vitamin C intake have a lower risk of gout. There are also studies in healthy volunteers that suggest that vitamin C supplements reduce blood uric acid levels.

4 Jun 2013

Ragweed allergy sublingual immunotherapy: an interview with Dr. Peter Creticos, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Ragweed is a dominant seasonal allergen in North America (~26% of US and North American population is allergic to this noxious weed which pollinates from early August to early October).

31 May 2013

Whiplash therapy: an interview with Dr Williamson and Dr Williams, University of Warwick

A whiplash injury is a common soft-tissue injury that may result in neck pain and other symptoms like headaches and arm pain.

30 May 2013

Strengthening miniaturized titanium-based medical devices: an interview with Dr Masaru Rao, University of California, Riverside

While titanium is used widely for more conventional macro-scale medical devices (e.g. hip implants, dental implants, and cardiac pacemakers), its use for micro- and nano-scale devices has been limited thus far.

29 May 2013

Mosquito repellent and human odour: an interview with Dr James Logan, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Mosquitoes can carry parasites and other organisms that cause deadly diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. So, protecting yourself against their bites is very important.

28 May 2013

Heart disease signs in newborns: an interview with Dr Michael Skilton, University of Sydney

Thickening of the walls of the main arteries is the best indicator of poor cardiovascular health in healthy young children.

23 May 2013

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) guidelines: an interview with Dr Jonathan Parsons, The Ohio State University Asthma Center

Exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) is defined as acute, transient airway narrowing that occurs in association with exercise. Exercise-induced bronchospasm can occur during or, more frequently, after exercise.

21 May 2013

Depression and time perception: an interview with Dr Rachel Msetfi, University of Limerick

In clinical terms, depression is defined by the presence of a cluster of symptoms. The Diagnostic Manual used by many psychologists and psychiatrists cites nine symptoms of depression, of which five must be present for a two-week period.

16 May 2013