Announcer:
0:00
Welcome to the MedEvidence! Monday Minute radio show hosted by Kevin Geddings of WSOS St. Augustine Radio and powered ENCORE Research Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. MedEvidence! is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence!
Kevin Geddings:
0:31
Dr. Michael Koren joins me. He is, of course, a medical doctor, cardiologist, research scientist and he heads the show ENCORE Research Group. They do leading-edge clinical medical research and they have offices right here in St. Augustine in the Weststone building next door to UF Flagler Hospital. Good morning, doc, how are you?
Dr. Michael Koren:
0:48
I'm doing well, Kevin, are you dry? Did you survive the weekend?
Kevin Geddings:
0:52
Yeah, yeah, we're fairly dry. We've had some interesting lightning strikes here at the radio station in the last hour and a half or so. That always gets our attention, you know, since we have a big stick behind us that sticks in the ground.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:04
We lost power over the weekend, but of course it was right in the middle of working on a manuscript.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:11
but other than that,
Kevin Geddings:
1:13
Well, it has to happen then.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:16
Exactly.
Kevin Geddings:
1:16
Yeah, so what do you want to share with us this morning?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:20
We are about to start a really interesting study that I'll bring to your attention, and it's a study that involves resurfacing or ablation of the duodenum to treat diabetes and obesity, and we're doing it in Jacksonville, but we'll be inviting people from all over the First Coast area to be part of this, as a matter of fact, we will be the people doing it throughout North Florida, so it'll be people from throughout North Florida, probably from Pensacola to Daytona Beach and anywhere everywhere in between, that'll be coming to our group of centers to be part of this program. Snd what it involves is super interesting.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:01
As you know, we have an obesity epidemic and we have some information from gastric bypass surgery showing that when people have that surgery done their diabetes gets much better and, of course, they lose weight.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:15
But unfortunately, gastric bypass surgery is a big procedure and because it's a pretty big procedure there are more complications and it's more expensive and it's not been something that a lot of people have been able to get easy access to.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:30
So people looked at this and they said, okay, is there a way that we can get the effects of gastric bypass surgery in a much simpler way? And they came up with a technology that involves just doing an endoscopy which is something that most people have had by the time they're 50 or 60, where somebody puts a probe either in your mouth, into your esophagus and stomach or through your rectum to look at your colon colonoscopy. That technology is called endoscopy and we use an endoscope to change the surface of the duodenum, so it doesn't absorb glucose and other nutrients quite as well, and we're finding that this procedure can have profound effects on reducing blood sugar and also helping people lose weight. It's been now done in several hundred patients, and we're starting the program here in our research centers in North Florida. We're super excited about it, and we invite people that either have diabetes or are overweight or both, or people who are interested in this technology, to give us a call and find out more about it.
Kevin Geddings:
3:33
Well, hey, you can do that. You can call, of ENCORE Research Group the number here locally, 904-730-0166, and just mention what Dr. Koren was talking about and they'll help you out. There's actually live human beings based here locally that will answer any concerns, any questions you have about participating in clinical research. I have done it. Karen on our team have done this. We had great experiences. Highly recommend you learning more call ENCORE Research Group at 904-730-0166. And if not, this study. There are so many others going on that we don't have time to mention You'll get a sense of those as well. You can also go to the website to connect with them at encordocs. com. Encordocs. com. And speaking of websites, talk to us about medevidencecom, Dr. Koren.
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:21
Yeah, thank you for bringing it up.
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:23
We're getting a lot of traction lately. It's super interesting. We've had medical students from around the country mention that they're using it as a source for medical information. And as you and I have talked about, Kevin, there's so much information out there that is of questionable value for people. Most of the information that you get, either using AI engines now or using Google, will give you information that's slanted towards selling a product. What we've done with MedEvidence! is just have two knowledgeable people talk about an issue and we may not agree it perfectly, but people get a sense for what's true and what's not true based on these discussions and we've now had them with multiple very high-profile people and people are giving us incredibly positive feedback that they have a much better understanding of an area based on these discussions.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:15
So it could be about vaccines. It could be about whether or not alcohol is safe. It could be about cholesterol or lipoprotein(a) or triglycerides. All these are areas that have important health impacts and that there's really confusing messages out there in terms of how the average person should access the technologies that are available or the treatments that are available. So we help you understand all that through this MedEvidence! platform. You can pick a discussion about lipoprotein( a). This is a genetic condition that people have where they have a particular type of bad cholesterol that puts them at risk for heart attacks and strokes. Well, how do you deal with that? Is there a treatment for it now? Can you get involved in a clinical trial that can help you treat that in ways that are not available in the communities? All these things are really, really important questions and you can get the answers on MedEvidence.
Kevin Geddings:
6:04
You know.
Kevin Geddings:
6:05
it is a great resource, very intuitive, easy to use and the information is presented in a variety of great formats. So we encourage you to. You know, look at that. I know so many of you are frustrated by just bad information, especially dealing with your health. That's, you know, on Instagram and Facebook and on other social media platforms. Learn more by going to medevidence. com. That's medevidence. com and Dr. Koren. We hope you can stay dry, but enjoy the rest of the week. The sunshine is going to be with us for the rest of the week.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:34
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, and then we have the big tournament coming to town, so it should be an active week in Northeast Florida.
Kevin Geddings:
6:40
Thank you, Dr. Koren, for calling in.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:42
My pleasure, have a great week.
Announcer:
6:44
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence! podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
