Episode #0028

(THEME MUSIC) Schmalfeldt: Welcome to episode twenty-eight of NIH Research Radio with news about the ongoing medical research at the National Institutes of Health—the nation's medical research agency. I'm your host Bill Schmalfeldt. Coming up on this edition, Wally Akinso shares a report about older mothers and Cesarean section births. I'll sit down for a chat with registered dietician Joanne Gallivan from the National Diabetes Education Program regarding National Nutrition Month. There's some interesting news from the Framingham Heart Study about cardiovascular risks to folks whose parents live long lives. And we'll visit with Dr. Harrison Wein and talk about the online e-column he edits. But first, Wally has a report about some new insights into treatment of schizophrenia. That's next on NIH Research Radio. (PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT) New Studies Provide Additional Insight into Schizophrenia Schmalfeldt: It's a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder that affects about one percent of Americans. Wally Akinso has this report about some new insights into the treatment of schizophrenia.

Akinso: Two new studies provided additional insights into comparing treatment options and to what extent antipsychotic medications help people with schizophrenia learn social, interpersonal, and community living skills. The studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health are published in the March 2007 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Dr. Phillip Wang, director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the NIMH, said one study looks at the effects of newer antipsychotic medications given to patients when the older medications don't work. Wang: The end result of that trial was that there were some differences. Patients who failed this older drug of the three newer ones that they were then offered, the one that they were able to remain on longest was called quetiapine. The one that they were able remain on for an intermediate length was olanzapine. And the one that they were able to stay on for the shortest period of time was risperidone. The take home message is that the response to these kinds of treatments is variable there's no one size fits all for patients with schizophrenia. Akinso: Dr. Wang said the second study showed schizophrenia patients taking antipsychotic medications experienced only modest improvements in social, interpersonal and community living skills, regardless of which medication was prescribed.

Wang: The end result was that no matter what patients were prescribed the improvements in functioning were modest at best. And there were really no differences between the agents. What this tells us that antipsychotic medications probably are not going to be enough for most patients to have an improvement in their functioning in their lives, and probably some more intensive rehabilitation (or) other interventions are going to be necessary in order to really help people improve functioning in a substantial way.

Akinso: Dr. Wang said that over the long run patients are more likely to function better in the community if they are able to stay on their initial treatment, especially those who are the most impaired. Both studies were apart of the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness better known as CATIE. This is Wally Akinso at the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland. Interview with Dr. Harrison Wein, Editor of "NIH News in Health" and "NIH Research Matters" Schmalfeldt: All right, here at the fabulous studio office of the NIH Radio News Service once again is my very excellent friend Dr. Harrison Wein. Good day to you, Dr. Wein.

Wein: Thank you, Bill.

Schmalfeldt: Usually when you're here with us we discuss the "NIH NIH"—the NIH "News in Health" —which I understand is the "award winning NIH NIH." Can you tell us about that?

Wein: Yeah, we're winning an award from the National Association of Government Communicators. We won't know until April "what" award, but we know we're at least getting an award of excellence. Schmalfeldt: Second time in two years, isn't it? Wein: Exactly. We're very happy about that. Schmalfeldt: You're a fabulous editor. But that's not what we're here to talk about today. We're here to talk about something else—something that's online. Wein: It's called NIH Research Matters. Schmalfeldt: NIH Research Matters. And before we go any further, do you have the website, a URL to share with us? Or can they go to the home page, click something and find it?

Wein: If you go to the home page.

Schmalfeldt: That's www.nih.gov... Wein: On the left side, there's a section—"In the News"—and right on the bottom of that section there's a link, it says "e-column, NIH Research Matters." That's the easiest way. Schmalfeldt: That's probably the easiest way, otherwise you have to remember some long, convoluted URL. So go to the home page, find the icon, and there it is.

Wein: The link's right on the left side of the NIH Home Page. Schmalfeldt: So what's in this e-column? Wein: Basically, every week we review some of the interesting things that NIH has funded. A lot of people don't know this, but NIH— most of our money actually goes out around the country to universities, to all kinds of research institutions that are doing basic research. Schmalfeldt: That's right. Not all the research is done here in house, or "intramural" as we call it around here, a great deal of it is done in universities, in medical centers around the country or the "extramural". And this is what you're talking about. Wein: That's actually the vast majority or research. Now this does cover some of the intramural research—the research on campus. But basically we just want to capture some of the most interesting things that are going on every week, and of course there are hundreds of papers being published all the time based on the research that's funded by NIH. Schmalfeldt: So give us a slice of life—and it's going to be about a week after we record this—because it's hard to do a live podcast. Wein: Sure.

Schmalfeldt: But it will be the week after we record this that it hits the Internet. But give us a little slice of life. What will people find when they log on to NIH Research Matters?

Wein: Well, we usually have three stories every week. This week, for example, the first story is about a study finding a large number of cancer genes that we didn't know about before. This research team did a systematic study and got some real unexpected results. Our second story is about a study showing how long-lived parents actually seem to confer lower heart risk on their offspring.

Schmalfeldt: Right, that's from the Framingham Heart Study. We have a story about that on this very podcast.

Wein: Exactly. So a lot of people—you probably described a lot of researchers that suspected it, but this is really following people over a period of time. The third one is about a brain receptor that actually seems to play a role in alcohol pleasure and dependence and the problems. It seems that these monkeys with a particular variation in the receptor get a lot more pleasure from alcohol and there's an equivalent in humans. And a lot of the research looks like it's going to shed some light on what we're seeing in people and addiction. We try to cover a really broad range of studies to give an idea of all the things NIH is involved in.

Schmalfeldt: What do you think the value of something like NIH Research Matters is to the lay audience.

Wein: Well, I think a lot of people don't really realize how much research is going on that's actually feeding in to the stories you might hear in the mainstream press. Behind the big discoveries, the medications and the treatments, there's an awful lot of basic research that lays the foundation for that. And Research Matters really tries to give a picture of that. And also there are an awful lot of people who just like reading about science. We know that newspapers say that their health sections are among their most popular, and their science stories. And we just think all this is cool and interesting.

Schmalfeldt: And it's yet another way for the National Institutes of Health to get out the word. Wein: Exactly. I mean, it's really hard to get a sense of how broad this effort is that NIH is behind. Research Matters really tries to at least give a sense of some of the things that we're supporting. Schmalfeldt: And you go to the home page, that's www.nih.gov, and on the left-hand side of the page. Wein: It says "e-column—NIH Research Matters." It's at the bottom of the section "In the News." Schmalfeldt: And the next time we get together we'll talk a little more about NIH NIH—"News in Health" and maybe by then you can tell us what award you've won. Wein: I should also mention that we've set up a listserv for NIH Research Matters. If you're interested in receiving e-mail alerts every week. There's also an RSS feed, which is probably the easiest way. Schmalfeldt: Dr. Harrison Wein, thank you again for making the long trip down the hallway to sit in with us and tell us all about NIH Research Matters on NIH Research Radio.

Wein: It's always a pleasure to be here, Bill. (TRANSITIONAL MUSIC) Schmalfeldt: When we come back, some interesting news about a long standing study into the risk of cardiovascular disease. That's next on NIH Research Radio.