Refworks Becoming EndNote Fusion

On October 6, RefWorks will transition to EndNote Fusion. All accounts and data will be automatically transferred. More information will be provided in the near future on the Refworks/EndNote Fusion guide.

PCOM Library / Archive for "Hot Topics in Research"

Category: Hot Topics in Research

Hot Topics: First Tardive Dyskinesia Drug Approved by FDA

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Neurology, Psychology and Psychiatry

FDA approves first drug to treat tardive dyskinesia
Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2017). FDA approves first drug to treat tardive dyskinesia. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm552418.htm.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today [April 11, 2017] approved Ingrezza (valbenazine) capsules to treat adults with tardive dyskinesia. This is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition.
Tardive dyskinesia is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive involuntary movements, usually of the jaw, lips and tongue, such as grimacing, sticking out the tongue and smacking the lips. Some affected people also experience involuntary movement of the extremities or difficulty breathing.

Hot Topics: Visual Abstracts Increase Reach of Research

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Research and Scholarly Communication

Graphic showing findings of Visual Abstracts Increase Article Dissemination study
Credit Andrew Ibrahim, University of Michigan/Annals of Surgery

Visual Abstracts to Disseminate Research on Social Media: A Prospective, Case-control Crossover Study
Ibrahim AM, Lillemoe KD, Klingensmith ME, Dimick JB. Visual abstracts to disseminate research on social media: A prospective, case-control crossover study. Ann Surg. 2017. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002277.
Nearly all major academic research journals have adopted social media platforms, such as Twitter, to disseminate their publications and make them more accessible to readers. One recent study suggested that articles featured on Twitter may be 3 times more likely to be read versus those that were not. Despite the widespread adoption of Twitter by academic journals, the extent to which the social media platforms and strategies can influence practical outcomes, such as number of article reads, remain understudied.
In July of 2016, Annals of Surgery adopted the use of ‘‘visual abstracts’’ as a novel strategy to improve dissemination of the journal’s publications. A visual abstract is simply a visual representation of the key findings typically found in the abstract portion of an article. They are produced by the journal after an article is accepted. Examples can be found in Figure 1. As of March 2017, more than 15 journals have utilized visual abstracts in their social media dissemination strategy, yet no data exist describing how their use impacts dissemination of publications.
In this context, a case-control crossover study was conducted to compare tweets that included only the title of the article versus tweets that contain the title and a visual abstract. Such information would be valuable to help journals and authors understand the impact of different dissemination strategies for their publications.

Hot Topics: FDA Approves First Drug For Severe Multiple Sclerosis

katheride Central Nervous System Disorders, Hot Topics in Research

FDA approves new drug to treat multiple sclerosis
Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2017). FDA approves new drug to treat multiple sclerosis. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm549325.htm.
On March 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) to treat adult patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). This is the first drug approved by the FDA for PPMS. Ocrevus is an intravenous infusion given by a health care professional.
“Multiple sclerosis can have a profound impact on a person’s life,” said Billy Dunn, M.D., director of the Division of Neurology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This therapy not only provides another treatment option for those with relapsing MS, but for the first time provides an approved therapy for those with primary progressive MS.”

Hot Topics: Training Medical Students to Organize Needle Exchange Programs

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Substance Use Disorders

Students as effective harm reductionists and needle exchange organizers
Barbour K, McQuade M, Brown B. Students as effective harm reductionists and needle exchange organizers. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 2017;12(15). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13011-017-0099-0.
Background
Needle exchange programs are safe, highly effective programs for promoting health among people who inject drugs. However, they remain poorly funded, and often illegal, in many places worldwide due to fear and stigma surrounding drug use. Continued advocacy, education, and implementation of new needle exchanges are thus essential to improve public health and reduce structural inequality.
Commentary
We argue that students, and especially professional and graduate students, have the potential to play an important role in advancing harm reduction. Students benefit from the respect given to the professions they are training to enter, which gives them leverage to navigate the political hurdles often faced by needle exchange organizers, especially in areas that presently lack services. In addition, due to their relative simplicity, needle exchanges do not require much of the licensing, clinical knowledge, and infrastructure associated with more traditional student programs, such as student-run free medical clinics. Students are capable of learning harm reduction cultural approaches and techniques if they remain humble, open-minded, and seek the help of the harm reduction community. Consequently, students can generate tremendous benefits to their community without performing beyond their appropriate clinical limitations.
Students benefit from organizing needle exchanges by gaining applied experience in advocacy, organization-building, and political finesse. Working in a needle exchange significantly helps erode stigma against multiple marginalized populations. Students in health-related professions additionally learn clinically-relevant knowledge that is often lacking from their formal training, such as an understanding of structural violence and inequality, root causes of substance use, client-centered approaches to health services, and interacting with clients as peers, rather than through the standard hierarchical medical interaction.
Conclusion
We therefore encourage students to learn about and consider organizing needle exchanges during their training. Our experience is that students can be successful in developing sustainable programs which benefit their clients, the broader harm reduction movement, and themselves alike.
 

Hot Topics: Cardiologists Weigh In On Nutrition Facts and Fads

katheride Cardiology, Hot Topics in Research, Nutrition

Trending Cardiovascular Nutrition Controversies
Freeman AM, Morris PB, Barnard N, et al. Trending cardiovascular nutrition controversies. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017;69(9):1172-1187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2016.10.086.
The potential cardiovascular benefits of several trending foods and dietary patterns are still incompletely understood, and nutritional science continues to evolve. However, in the meantime, a number of controversial dietary patterns, foods, and nutrients have received significant media exposure and are mired by hype. This review addresses some of the more popular foods and dietary patterns that are promoted for cardiovascular health to provide clinicians with accurate information for patient discussions in the clinical setting.

Hot Topics: NIH Encourages Preprint Inclusion in Grant Proposals

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Research and Scholarly Communication, Research Commentary

Reporting Preprints and Other Interim Research Products
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, National Institutes of Health. (2017). Reporting Preprints and Other Interim Research Products (Notice Number: NOT-OD-17-050). Retrieved from https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-17-050.html
Purpose
The NIH encourages investigators to use interim research products, such as preprints, to speed the dissemination and enhance the rigor of their work. This notice clarifies reporting instructions to allow investigators to cite their interim research products and claim them as products of NIH funding.
Definitions
Interim Research Products are complete, public research products that are not final.
A common form is the preprint, which is a complete and public draft of a scientific document. Preprints are typically unreviewed manuscripts written in the style of a peer-reviewed journal article. Scientists issue preprints to speed dissemination, establish priority, obtain feedback, and offset publication bias.
Another common type of interim product is a preregistered protocol, where a scientist publicly declares key elements of their research protocol in advance. Preregistration can help scientists enhance the rigor of their work.
Notes:

  • Awardees are not required to create interim research products through their NIH award.
  • Applicants are not required to cite interim research products as part of their grant applications.
  • Since preprints are not published in peer-reviewed journals, they do not fall under the NIH public access policy.
  • This guide notice does not apply to clinical trial registration. See ClinicalTrials.gov about registration of clinical trial protocols.

 

Hot Topics: More Species of Mosquitos Than Previously Thought May Transmit Zika

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Infectious Disease

Data-driven identification of potential Zika virus vectors
Evans MV, Dallas TA, Han BA, Murdock CC, Drake JM. Data-driven identification of potential zika virus vectors. eLife. 2017;6:e22053. https://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22053.

Zika is an emerging virus whose rapid spread is of great public health concern. Knowledge about transmission remains incomplete, especially concerning potential transmission in geographic areas in which it has not yet been introduced. To identify unknown vectors of Zika, we developed a data-driven model linking vector species and the Zika virus via vector-virus trait combinations that confer a propensity toward associations in an ecological network connecting flaviviruses and their mosquito vectors. Our model predicts that thirty-five species may be able to transmit the virus, seven of which are found in the continental United States, including Culex quinquefasciatus and Cx. pipiens. We suggest that empirical studies prioritize these species to confirm predictions of vector competence, enabling the correct identification of populations at risk for transmission within the United States.

Hot Topics: Volunteers Improve Quality of Life for Adults in Palliative Care

katheride Geriatrics, Hot Topics in Research

How effective are volunteers at supporting people in their last year of life? A pragmatic randomised wait-list trial in palliative care (ELSA)
Walshe C, Dodd S, Hill M, et al. How effective are volunteers at supporting people in their last year of life? A pragmatic randomised wait-list trial in palliative care (ELSA). BMC Medicine. 2016;14(1):203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12916-016-0746-8.

Background
Clinical care alone at the end of life is unlikely to meet all needs. Volunteers are a key resource, acceptable to patients, but there is no evidence on care outcomes. This study aimed to determine whether support from a social action volunteer service is better than usual care at improving quality of life for adults in the last year of life.

Methods
A pragmatic, multi-centre wait-list controlled trial, with participants randomly allocated to receive the volunteer support intervention either immediately or after a 4 week wait. Trained volunteers provided tailored face-to-face support including befriending, practical support and signposting to services, primarily provided within the home, typically for 2–3 hours per week. The primary outcome was rate of change of quality of life at 4 weeks (WHO QOL BREF, a general, culturally sensitive measure). Secondary outcomes included rate of change of quality of life at 8 weeks and Loneliness (De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale), social support (mMOS-SS), and reported use of health and social care services at 4 and 8 weeks.

Results
In total, 196 adults (61% (n = 109) female; mean age 72 years) were included in the study. No significant difference was found in main or secondary outcomes at 4 weeks. Rate of change of quality of life showed trends in favour of the intervention (physical quality of life domain: b = 3.98, CI, –0.38 to 8.34; psychological domain: b = 2.59, CI, –2.24 to 7.43; environmental domain: b = 3, CI, –4.13 to 4.91). Adjusted analyses to control for hours of volunteer input found significantly less decrease in physical quality of life in the intervention group (slope (b) 4.43, CI, 0.10 to 8.76). While the intervention also favoured the rate of change of emotional (b = –0.08; CI, –0.52 to 0.35) and social loneliness (b = –0.20; CI, –0.58 to 0.18), social support (b = 0.13; CI, –0.13 to 0.39), and reported use of health and social care professionals (b = 0.16; CI, –0.22 to 0.55), these were not statistically significant. No adverse events were reported.

Conclusions
Clinicians can confidently refer to volunteer services at the end of life. Future research should focus on ‘dose’ to maximise likely impact.

Hot Topics: Gum Disease a Warning Sign for Diabetes

katheride Diabetes, Hot Topics in Research
Periodontitis as a possible early sign of diabetes mellitus
Teeuw WJ, Kosho MXF, Poland DCW, Gerdes VEA, Loos BG. Periodontitis as a possible early sign of diabetes mellitus. BMJ Open Diab Res Care. 2017;5(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2016-000326.

Objective The early diagnosis of (pre)diabetes mellitus is essential for the prevention of diabetes complications. It has been suggested that gum disease (periodontitis) might be an early complication of diabetes and may be a useful risk indicator for diabetes screening. Therefore, a dental office could be a good location for screening for (pre)diabetes in patients with periodontitis using a validated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) dry spot analysis.

Research design and methods A total of 313 individuals from a university dental clinic participated. From 126 patients with mild/moderate periodontitis, 78 patients with severe periodontitis and 109 subjects without periodontitis, HbA1c values were obtained by the analysis of dry blood spots. Differences in mean HbA1c values and the prevalence of (pre)diabetes between the groups were analyzed.

Results The mild/moderate and severe periodontitis groups showed significantly higher HbA1c values (6.1%±1.4% (43 mmol/mol±15 mmol/mol) and 6.3%±1.3% (45 mmol/mol±15 mmol/mol), respectively) compared with the control group (5.7%±0.7% (39 mmol/mol±8 mmol/mol), p=0.003). In addition, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines for diagnosis, there was a significant over-representation of subjects with suspected diabetes (23% and 14%) and pre-diabetes (47% and 46%) in the severe periodontitis group and mild/moderate periodontitis groups, respectively, compared with the control group (10% and 37%, p=0.010). Notably, 18.1% of patients with suspected new diabetes were found among subjects with severe periodontitis compared with 9.9% and 8.5% among subjects with mild/moderate periodontitis and controls, respectively (p=0.024).

Conclusions The dental office, with particular focus on patients with severe periodontitis, proved to be a suitable location for screening for (pre)diabetes; a considerable number of suspected new diabetes cases were identified. The early diagnosis and treatment of (pre)diabetes help to prevent more severe complications and benefit the treatment of periodontitis.

Hot Topics: Stem Cell Transplants May Slow Progression of Multiple Sclerosis

katheride Hot Topics in Research, Neurology

Long-term Outcomes After Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Multiple Sclerosis

Muraro PA, Pasquini M, Atkins HL,et al. Long-term outcomes after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis. JAMA Neurology. 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.5867.
Importance  Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) may be effective in aggressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) that fail to respond to standard therapies.
Objective  To evaluate the long-term outcomes in patients who underwent AHSCT for the treatment of MS in a large multicenter cohort.
Design, Setting, and Participants  Data were obtained in a multicenter, observational, retrospective cohort study. Eligibility criteria were receipt of AHSCT for the treatment of MS between January 1995 and December 2006 and the availability of a prespecified minimum data set comprising the disease subtype at baseline; the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score at baseline; information on the administered conditioning regimen and graft manipulation; and at least 1 follow-up visit or report after transplant. The last patient visit was on July 1, 2012. To avoid bias, all eligible patients were included in the analysis regardless of their duration of follow-up. Data analysis was conducted from September 1, 2014 to April 27, 2015.
Exposures  Demographic, disease-related, and treatment-related exposures were considered variables of interest, including age, disease subtype, baseline EDSS score, number of previous disease-modifying treatments, and intensity of the conditioning regimen.
Main Outcomes and Measures  The primary outcomes were MS progression-free survival and overall survival. The probabilities of progression-free survival and overall survival were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis models.
Results  Valid data were obtained from 25 centers in 13 countries for 281 evaluable patients, with median follow-up of 6.6 years (range, 0.2-16 years). Seventy-eight percent (218 of 281) of patients had progressive forms of MS. The median EDSS score before mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells was 6.5 (range, 1.5-9). Eight deaths (2.8%; 95% CI, 1.0%-4.9%) were reported within 100 days of transplant and were considered transplant-related mortality. The 5-year probability of progression-free survival as assessed by the EDSS score was 46% (95% CI, 42%-54%), and overall survival was 93% (95% CI, 89%-96%) at 5 years. Factors associated with neurological progression after transplant were older age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.05), progressive vs relapsing form of MS (HR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.27-4.28), and more than 2 previous disease-modifying therapies (HR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.10-2.47). Higher baseline EDSS score was associated with worse overall survival (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.40-2.95).
Conclusions and Relevance  In this observational study of patients with MS treated with AHSCT, almost half of them remained free from neurological progression for 5 years after transplant. Younger age, relapsing form of MS, fewer prior immunotherapies, and lower baseline EDSS score were factors associated with better outcomes. The results support the rationale for further randomized clinical trials of AHSCT for the treatment of MS.