The clinical site coordinator for NAPA Research in Boca Raton, Florida, Naval Parikh, MD, is an internal medicine physician who has the distinction of being named among the country’s Top Physicians by the Consumers’ Research Council of America. Dr. Naval Parikh earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where he also gained research experience that helped lay the foundation for his career. MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center recently celebrated the renewal of its designation as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center, which comes with more than $10 million in funding to support its research efforts. With each designation period lasting five years, the NCI distinction is based on leadership, vision, outstanding facilities, research commitment, and community outreach.The only NCI-designated cancer center in South Carolina, Hollings is one of just 70 cancer centers in the country to earn this prestigious status. Since its last NCI renewal, Hollings has achieved multiple impressive milestones, including opening nearly 400 cancer-related research studies, expanding mobile health van cancer screening services, and winning 138 peer-reviewed research project awards.
Based in South Florida, Naval Parikh, MD, is a respected internal medicine physician in private practice. He also facilitates clinical trials at NAPA Research. Widely published in his field, Naval Parikh, MD, is the author of “Role of Folate on Depression: A Shift from Folate Replacement to Folate Supplementation” (Molecular Medicine Journal, Vol. 6, 74-76).A Harvard Mental Health Letter detailed the role of folate, also known as folic acid or vitamin B9, in treating psychiatric symptoms such as depression. Folate is found naturally in citrus, leafy green vegetables, and beans. Found naturally in citrus, leafy green vegetables, and beans, folate is also required at a certain level by pregnant women to mitigate miscarriage and birth-defect risks. Working in tandem with vitamins B12 and B6, folate works to break down homocysteine, an amino acid that, when found in high levels, has links with depression and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, breaking down homocysteine produces SAMe, which in an important component of brain cells. Deficiencies of SAMe are associated with depression. One issue for some people is that they harbor a variant gene that prevents the folate in their diet from being fully synthesized and used. One study has suggested that having this variant increases risks of depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. In addition, low levels of folate in the blood can make antidepressant drugs less effective.
An internist at SortinoMD in Boca Raton, Florida, Naval Parikh, MD, also serves as the clinical site coordinator of NAPA Research in Fort Lauderdale. Dr. Naval Parikh has also been published in the Journal of Molecular Medicine for his investigation of the relationship between folate and depression.Many people use the terms folic acid and folate interchangeably due to their similar names and characteristics. However, they are different forms of vitamin B9.A naturally-occurring form of vitamin B9, folate is found primarily in leafy vegetables, which are a good dietary source of it. Once digested, most dietary folate is converted into 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF). The biologically-active form of vitamin B9, 5-MTHF is essential for fueling the cells that drive the creation of genes, DNA, and chromosomes in the body.Conversely, folic acid, also known as pteroylmonoglutamic acid, is a synthetic form of vitamin B9. It’s found in many supplements and as an additive to processed food products, such as fortified breakfast cereals and flour.Unlike folate, folic acid is not immediately converted to 5-MTHF upon entering the digestive system. Instead, it must be converted to dihydrofolate (DHF) and tetrahydrofolate (THF) first. This process is time-consuming and may result in undigested folic acid being found in a person’s body. When left unmetabolized, folic acid increases the risk of cancer and may prevent the diagnosis and treatment of a vitamin B12 deficiency.
The recipient of an MD from the Medical University of South Carolina, Naval Parikh is an internal medicine physician who serves as clinical site coordinator at NAPA Research in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Supplementing nearly a decade of experience in internal medicine, Dr. Naval Parikh holds membership with the American College of Physicians (ACP).According to a recent ACP survey, more than half of all internal medicine physicians have used or work in a practice that has employed telehealth technology. As part of its survey, the ACP asked 233 of its members to detail their respective dealings with telehealth services, including video visits, remote patient monitoring, and e-consults. Members were surveyed between October 2018 and January 2019. Telehealth technology has the benefit of improving physician access for patients, especially among those who live in rural regions. Remote patient or chronic disease monitoring, for instance, is used once per week by half of the respondents. However, despite the expanding usage of telehealth services, only 19 percent of internists surveyed claimed to use video visits at least once a week. More than one-quarter of respondents also claimed they have no plans to implement telehealth technologies in their respective practices.
An alumnus of the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Naval Parikh has been involved in medical research for more than two decades. The clinical site coordinator of NAPA Research in Boca Raton, Florida, Naval Parikh, MD, began gaining research experience as a research assistant responsible for interviewing and monitoring subjects for a study on hypertension.Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects roughly 85 million individuals in the United States. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), there are five ranges of blood pressure: normal, elevated, hypertension stages one and two, and hypertensive crisis.The normal range for blood pressure is below 120/80 mm Hg. When reading this, the first number refers to the systolic pressure, or the pressure at which the heart pumps blood throughout the body. The second number, meanwhile, refers to diastolic pressure. This pressure occurs when the heart relaxes and refills with blood.When blood pressure is between 120/80 and 129/80, it is categorized as being elevated. Once a person has elevated blood pressure, his or her chance of developing hypertension in the future is much higher than normal. However, such individuals can control the condition with medication, exercise, and stress reduction before it becomes a problem.Hypertension stages one and two occur at 130/80 mm Hg. Stage one hypertension refers to blood pressure that is between 130 and 139 systolic and between 80 and 89 diastolic. Past that point and up to 180/120 mm Hg, patients fall into the category of stage two hypertension. In these stages, a patient’s risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular events increases.Finally, there’s hypertensive crisis. This category is reserved for patients who have blood pressure in excess of 180/120 mm Hg. Once in hypertensive crisis, patients need immediate medical attention and may experience such symptoms as shortness of breath, numbness, and chest pain.
Florida-based physician Naval Parikh, MD, splits his time between practicing medicine with SortinoMD and serving as NAPA Research’s clinical site coordinator. With upwards of a decade of medical experience, Dr. Naval Parikh has made several presentations about diabetes, folate replacement, and statin use.A specific class of medications, statins are commonly used to reduce cholesterol levels in the body. By doing this, they also lower a person’s risk of heart attack, angina, and stoke. Common statins seen in the United States include atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), and rosuvastatin (Crestor).To understand how statins work, it’s important to have a better understanding of cholesterol. This naturally produced fat-like substance travels through the blood and is necessary for normal body and cell function. It is produced by the liver, but can become harmful when it reaches high levels. High amounts of cholesterol increase the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries, thus reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of heart and blood vessel problems.Statins combat this issue by acting on a specific liver enzyme. This enzyme is necessary for the production of cholesterol, and by impeding its ability to function, statins also lower the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver by more than 50 percent. Further, some statins increase the rate at which cholesterol is absorbed by the body once produced. This also reduces the amount of cholesterol left flowing through the blood vessels.
A clinical site coordinator for NAPA Research, Naval Parikh, MD, has been practicing medicine for upward of 10 years. Concurrent with his role at NAPA Research, Dr. Naval Parikh sees patients as an internist in the offices of SortinoMD, where he manages and treats a range of issues, including high blood pressure.At the 83rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society in March, researchers revealed a link between high blood pressure and nocturia, a condition that causes frequent urination at night. The study involved blood pressure measurements and self-reported bathroom visits from 3,749 people. Those who had blood pressure of at least 140/90 mmHg were considered hypertensive; meanwhile, nocturia was characterized as one or more bathroom visits per night.The researchers found that people with nocturia were 40 percent more likely to be hypertensive. They also found that the more often people went to the bathroom each night, the greater their risk of hypertension. However, researchers did note that the current study was limited by such factors as ethnicity, genetic background, lifestyle, and salt intake. Specific attention was drawn to the fact that only Japanese adults were analyzed in the study. Japanese adults have a higher likelihood of being salt sensitive, so their blood pressure increases more than some other ethnicities when they consume salt.Despite these limitations, researchers suggest that individuals with nocturia have their doctors pay special attention to their salt intake and blood pressure. They hope to complete more research into the connection between the two conditions in the future.
