March 12, 2015

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By Karl Oestreich

Mayo Clinic in the News Logo
Editor, Karl Oestreich; Assistant Editor, Carmen Zwicker

Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Laura Wuotila with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

 

Star Tribune
Mayo's record financial results run counter to health care trends
by Christopher Snowbeck

To financial analysts, the outlook for hospitals has been tilting negative. Demand for inpatient care is soft. Insurers and the government want to pay less for each service. New payment arrangements ask hospitals to take a degree of financial risk that patientStar Tribune Business section logo costs exceed expectations. Against that backdrop, the record-setting financial results the Mayo Clinic released last week stand out…But the average length of stay for a Mayo Clinic hospital patient increased from 4.6 days in 2013 to 4.8 days last year. The change was significant because it signified that patients were sicker last year, and needed more revenue-producing services, said Jeff Bolton, the clinic’s chief administrative officer.

Reach: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 518,745 copies and weekday circulation is 300,277. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16th nationally in circulation.

Previous Coverage in March 5, 2015 Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

Context: Mayo Clinic reports a strong 2014 performance, including providing direct care for more than 1.3 million people, contributions of $410 million to its pension plan as a commitment to employees, and plans for a $1.5 billion investment to fund information technology infrastructure. “Whether viewed through the lens of quality, patient outcomes, research advances, operational performance or sharing our knowledge with the world — by all measures, we had an extraordinary year,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic. “That success allowed us to reinvest in our people, our infrastructure and our mission so we can better serve our patients.” More information about Mayo's 2014 performance can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Public Affairs Contact: Karl Oestreich

 

The Independent UK
Senolytics: Scientists identify new drug that slows the aging process and could dramatically increase our life expectancy
by Christopher Hooton

A new class of drugs has been identified that slow the aging process in mice, alleviating symptoms of frailty and extending a healthy lifespan. If their effect on humans is as marked as it is on animal models, their benefit could be enormous. The research was carried The Independentout by a team from Mayo Clinic, The Scripps Institute and other institutions and published in the journal Aging Cell yesterday…"The prototypes of these senolytic agents have more than proven their ability to alleviate multiple characteristics associated with aging," added Mayo Clinic Professor James Kirkland, MD, who also worked on the study.

Reach: The Independent is a United Kingdom-based newspaper with a daily circulation of more than 61,000.

Additional coverage: Fierce Biotech Research, Gizmag, Nature World News, HealthCanal, U-T San Diego, NewsMax, Health Canal, NDTV, Business Standard, Times Live, The Telegraph, The Independent, R&D Mag Failed Messiah, BioScience Technology

Context: A new class of drugs identified and validated by Mayo Clinic researchers along with collaborators at Scripps Research Institute and others, clearly reduces health problems in mice by limiting the effect of senescent cells — cells that contribute to frailty and diseases associated with age. The researchers say this is a first step toward developing similar treatments for aging patients. Their findings appear today in the journal Aging Cell. “If translatable to humans — which makes sense as we were using human cells in many of the tests – this type of therapy could keep the effects of aging at bay and significantly extend the healthspan of patients,” says James Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Mayo Clinic Kogod Center on Aging and senior author of the study. More information about the study, including a video interview with Dr. Kirkland, can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Public Affairs Contact: Bob Nellis

 

Financial Times London (subscription required)
The teleconference that saves lives
by Aaron Stanley

Larry Lee came close to death when a bloodclot lodged in his brain last year while walking his dog in rural Minnesota. Since his local hospital lacked the expertise to deal with the problem, it turned to the renowned Mayo Clinic. From a computer console at Mayo’sFinancial Times Newspaper Logo campus 65 miles away, a neurologist appeared via teleconference, took control of a robotic camera to examine Mr. Lee and shepherded the local team’s efforts to bust the clot…“We could see 10 years ago that healthcare was going to go through a period of great change,” says John Noseworthy, chief executive of Mayo. “So we said: ‘Let’s digitize our knowledge, digitize our work, knit together like-minded institutions and connect with them electronically’.”

The Reach: The Financial Times has a combined paid print and digital circulation of 690,000.

Context: Mayo’s Stroke Telemedicine Program allows stroke specialists to remotely evaluate people who’ve had acute strokes and make diagnoses and treatment recommendations working with emergency medicine doctors at other sites. Having a prompt neurological evaluation increases the possibility that a patient will receive clot-dissolving therapies or other interventions in time to reduce disability and death from stroke. The program began in Arizona, and now is represented nationally, with hubs in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota that serve more than 20 health care institutions in seven states. To read more about Larry Lee's story and the role his dog had in saving his life, go to Mayo Clinic's In the Loop.

Public Affairs Contact: Duska Anastasijevic

 

Twin Cities Business
Fortune: Mayo Clinic Among Top 25 Cos. With Most Openings

Job seekers looking to find employment with a top-notch company need not look very far: the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic is Twin Cities Business Magazine Logoamong the nation’s best places to work—and they’re hiring—according to Fortune. The state’s largest private employer, based out of Rochester, was named among the 25 best companies hiring (it ranked 73rd overall on Fortune’s “2015 Best Companies” list) and has nearly 2,000 openings available across southeast and southern Minnesota.

Reach: Twin Cities Business is a monthly business magazine with a circulation of more than 30,000 and more than 74,000 readers. The magazine also posts daily business news on its website.

Context: Fortune magazine named Mayo Clinic to its list of the “100 Best Companies  to Work For” in 2015. This is Mayo’s 12th consecutive year on the magazine’s annual compilation of companies that rate high with employees. The list ranks Mayo Clinic 73 overall among the top 100 companies. “We congratulate our employees for earning Mayo Clinic this distinction,” says John H. Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “We hope they take great pride in this ‘100 Best’ national recognition.” More information can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Public Affairs Contact: Kelley Luckstein


Star Tribune
Risks, benefits weighed in JAMA study on valve replacement
By Joe Carlson

In the first analysis of mass commercial use of a new minimally invasive therapy for a narrowed heart valve, researchers reported Tuesday that nearly 24 percent of patients died within a year of treatment...
“Transcatheter aortic valve replacement has becomeStar Tribune Health newspaper logo transformational for patients who need a new valve and are at high risk for surgery or inoperable. But we have been lacking long-term data for this group of patients who are considering this procedure,” said a statement from Dr. David Holmes Jr., the interventional cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic who was lead author of the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Reach: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 518,745 copies and weekday circulation is 300,277. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16th nationally in circulation.

Additional Coverage: Forbes

Context: Study results of one-year data for more than 12,000 patients who had transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in the United States show an overall one-year death rate of 23.7 percent and a stroke rate of 4.1 percent, according to a study published in the March 10 issue of JAMA. “Transcatheter aortic valve replacement has become transformational for patients who need a new valve and are at high-risk for surgery or inoperable. But we have been lacking long-term data for this group of patients who are considering this procedure,” says study lead authorDavid R. Holmes, Jr., M.D., a Mayo Clinic interventional cardiologist. “Before this study, we only had 30-day information. This is a milestone and will help us better guide patients and learn as physicians.” More information about the study can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Public Affairs Contact: Traci Klein

Yahoo! News, Can Reishi Mushroom Powder Boost Your Immunity? By Molly Shea— What The Science Says: Well… it’s hard to nail down. While scientists have studied reishi, it’s only been in the context of cancer treatment. “A strict, evidence-based review reported on five randomized clinical trials in cancer patients, [and] there was some evidence that patients treated with Ganoderma lucidum medications, combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, were more likely to respond compared with chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone, possibly in part due to beneficial effects on white blood cells,” Donald Hensrud, MD, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, tells Yahoo Health.

Wall Street Journal, Daylight-Saving Time Is Bad for Your Relationships by Elizabeth Bernstein…Minimize your caffeine consumption after lunch. And if you feel yourself getting tired midday, take a brief nap for 15 to 20 minutes. Anything longer can throw off your sleep timing, says Timothy Morgenthaler, a Mayo Clinic professor and president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Morgenthaler also says that if you’re having a lot of difficulty adjusting to the time change, a small dose of a melatonin supplement taken a few hours before bedtime can help shift the timing of your sleep.

Wall Street Journal, What Autopsies Can Teach by Melinda Beck — A decline in postmortem exams has slowed scientific advances. New procedures aim to overcome qualms.…Pathologists say some of the most useful information comes from “molecular autopsies,” which combine traditional postmortem exams with DNA tests. Observing how genetic abnormalities played out in a patient’s body and in symptoms exhibited in life can provide families and researchers with a complete picture of hereditary disease, says Joseph Maleszewski, a cardiovascular pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which autopsies about 25% of patients who die there.

Wall Street Journal, What Autopsies Can Teach — Medical mysteries lurk in every family, yet the autopsies that could reveal them have become increasingly rare. Although coroners and medical examiners still investigate suspicious deaths, fewer than 5% of people who die in hospitals are autopsied today, down from 50% in the 1960s, according to government surveys. The decline in autopsies has slowed scientific advances in diseases including cancer, dementia and heart disease, researchers say. It also has left some surviving families in the dark about medical issues that could affect their own health… Observing how genetic abnormalities played out in a patient’s body and in symptoms exhibited in life can provide families and researchers with a complete picture of hereditary disease, says Joseph Maleszewski, a cardiovascular pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which autopsies about 25% of patients who die there.

Wall Street Journal (Blog), The Morning Download: Apple Watch Debuts With Business Apps — Apple Inc.launched its Apple Watch Monday alongside a collection of apps aimed at accessing hotel rooms, hailing Uber cars, viewing Instagram photos and other activities one could associate with the early adopter lifestyle. But the company also presented apps targeting the enterprise… One question for adoption is how much business efficiency is to be gained from those “10-second interactions” versus, say, looking at a mobile device. Mayo Clinic, which announced Synthesis, a scheduling tool for doctors, is betting that seconds saved add up. Enterprises considering adoption, or developing their own apps, must factor in the interface challenges with the Apple Watch’s tiny screen as well as the fact that full smartwatch functionality requires an iPhone.

Wall Street Journal, Apple Watch Apps Target Businesses — Apple positioned the iPhone as a consumer product when it introduced its groundbreaking smartphone in 2007, and it has been working overtime to push the device into businesses ever since. Determined to capitalize on that momentum, the company presented its Apple Watch on Monday with apps aimed squarely at business users… The initial crop of business-oriented Apple Watch apps also included BetterWorks, designed to help employees set and achieve goals, and Invoice2go, a time-tracking program. Mayo Clinic announced Synthesis, a scheduling tool for doctors.

Wall Street Journal, Baupost Group Founder Seth Klarman Has Bypass Surgery — Billionaire hedge-fund manager Seth Klarman underwent cardiac bypass surgery in response to a recent routine checkup that “revealed some concerns,” according to an investor letter. The surgery was a success and Mr. Klarman, 57, was discharged Tuesday afternoon from a Boston hospital after a six-day stay, a spokeswoman said…Cardiac bypass surgery, performed under general anesthesia, improves heart function by diverting the blood flow around a blocked artery, according to the Mayo Clinic. It typically carries a recovery time of six to 12 weeks, barring further complications, the Mayo Clinic says.

Huffington Post UK, SnapBreast Sculpture: Thousands Of UK Women And Men Take Breasties For Breast Cancer Charity by Ellen Wallwork — Slide Show: Breast Cancer Signs and Treatments, What Are The Symptoms? "A new painless, firm breast lump with irregular margins is a potential symptom of breast cancer," says Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, a breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic. "The cancer diagnosis is confirmed following a biopsy of the lump."

Huffington Post, 7 Surprising Causes Of Insomnia by Sarah Klein… Certain Medications Drugs for conditions ranging from the common cold and high blood pressure to depression and asthma can cause insomnia. Even if you know to stop drinking coffee early enough in the day so as not to interfere with bedtime, several over-the-counter meds contain caffeine or other stimulants, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

LA Times, Three light-therapy products to aid seasonal affective disorder by Elise Oberliesen— Long summer days can't come soon enough for people with seasonal affective disorder, but some people don't need to wait. Benefits for them can be found with a daily dose of artificial light. People with SAD commonly report fatigue, moodiness, irritability and increased carbohydrate cravings from November through March, said William J. Weggel, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist. Women are more likely to report symptoms, which typically repeat annually.

KAAL, RAEDI 'Journey to Growth' Development Plan to Build Rochester's Economy by Ben Henry —-The Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc. also known as RAEDI, has developed a five-year plan they call the "Journey to Growth." The plan is focused on growing Rochester’s economy. On Wednesday, different businesses including Century Link and Mayo Clinic Ventures were in attendance for the annual RAEDI meeting to discuss some of their success they have been having in the Rochester area, and how they are going to contribute to the Journey to Growth. Additional coverage: KTTC

KTTC, RST welcomes new Executive Director — Although Wednesday was the official welcome for the new Executive Director of the Rochester International Airport, he has already been adjusting to his new home in Rochester for the last couple of weeks. John Reed said he is ready to get involved in the community and get the Rochester International Airport a part of the changes that are coming to Rochester with DMC.  During a news conference at RST Wednesday morning, Rochester Airport Company President Steve McNeill introduced Reed as the new airport Executive Director. Additional coverage: KIMT

Monterey Herald, Target heart rates: How do you get your heart rate on target? — When you work out, are you doing too much or not enough? There's a simple way to know: Your target heart rate helps you hit the bull's eye. “We don't want people to over-exercise, and the other extreme is not getting enough exercise,” says Gerald Fletcher, M.D., a cardiologist and professor in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Fla.

MedCity News, Mayo Clinic and Gentag ink IP collaboration to commercialize biosensors for diabetes, obesity by Stephanie Baum — Mayo Clinic has inked a deal with biosensor developer Gentag that will focus on the needs of patients with diabetes and obesity, according to a statement from the provider. It marks Gentag’s first collaboration with a provider. Additional coverage: Fierce Medical Devices,

DARK Daily, ACOs Are Learning to Use Big Data — However, only a few of the largest, most sophisticated ACOs have established big data warehouses. “While other industries have been far more successful at harnessing the value from large-scale integration and analysis of big data, healthcare is just getting its feet wet,” wrote Nilay D. Shah, Ph.D.and Jyotishman Pathak, Ph.D. in an article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). Dr. Shah is an Associate Professor in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Pathak is Director, Clinical Informatics Services, at Mayo and an Associate Professor in Mayo’s Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics.

Mirror UK, Fernando Alonso 'woke up in 1995' after F1 crash, having forgotten the past 20 years of his life by Byron Young — Fernando Alonso “woke up in 1995” after his crash during pre-season testing, having forgotten the past 20 years of his life, according to reports in Spain.The former world champion has already been ruled out of the first Grand Prix of the new season in Australia on doctors' orders after spending nearly a week in hospital, and despite being seemingly back to full health, alarming reports are filtering through about Alonso's confusion when he regained consciousness…Experts from the world famous Mayo Clinic in America warned “experiencing a second concussion before signs and symptoms of a first concussion have resolved may result in rapid and usually fatal brain swelling.”

WQOW Eau Claire, Being cooped up all winter affects more than just mental health by Emily Valerio — Cabin fever is in full swing. People are ready for fresh air and a good spring cleaning. But did you know being cooped up can affect more than just our mental state? News 18 spoke with a Mayo Clinic Doctor who says this time of year it's common to see an increase in the amount of people who have the cold or flu…"Certainly if you have other medical problems like asthma or diabetes, that cold weather can impact your immunity but for the general, healthy individual...No," explains Dr. Katie Thompson.

Sage Journals, Qualitative Inquiry, Representing Ethnographic Data Through the Epistolary Form, A Correspondence Between a Breastmilk Donor and Recipient — (This is very interesting research – she is using composite characters to write letters back and forth discussing breast milk donation – donor mommy and recipient mommy. The letters provide an accessible and novel way to discuss research, therapy or other medical topics that may be difficult to accept or comprehend. Katherine Carroll, Ph.D., is new to Mayo Clinic (from Australia), and started the research there, but finished it here.)

Harvard Crimson, Science, Research, and the Government by Risham Dhillon — If realized, the Personal Medicine Initiative has the potential to be as revolutionary as was the mapping of the human genome more than a decade ago, and for this reason, such a decision should be highly applauded.…Some skeptics, like Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic, have argued that the precision medicine effort is misleading–stating that it is perhaps better to spend this money “understanding what it takes to solve messy problems about how humans behave” because “we almost certainly have more control over how much we exercise, eat, drink and smoke than we do over our genomes.” And though this statement is true–we are not the masters of our genetic destinies–it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t spend our resources trying to understand our diseases through a personalized, genetic approach.

Boston Globe, Internet will see you now by Alex Beam — AS MY body continues to fall apart, gradually, I’ve been using the Internet to diagnose my various woes. A trivial example: I woke up a few weeks ago with a condition that I learned from eyehealthweb.com is called “puffy eyes.” I queried my son in medical school, and he texted me back one word: “Benadryl.” That was easy…The top five “natural” Google hits link to four sites we might consider reliable: webmd.com, medicinenet.com, the Mayo Clinic, and the American Academy of Dermatology. The Proactiv web page also pops up in the top five results, which probably means that the company has invested heavily in search engine optimization, i.e., jacking up their Google ranking.

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, Dayton wants an explanation from CEO for Target's job cuts by Nick Halter — Gov. Mark Dayton's great-grandfather started the company now known as Target Corp., and apparently, Dayton doesn't like the way the company's new leader is handling business… Target (NYSE; TGT) is Minnesota's fourth-largest employer after Mayo Clinic, the state and the federal government, according to Business Journal research.

Mason City Globe Gazette, Five years later, Connor Gordon enjoying life of teenager by Jim Cross — To watch him play sports or have a conversation, you wouldn’t know just five years ago, Connor Gordon was fighting cancer…Connor’s journey started in January 2008, as a seventh grader at St. Ansgar Junior High, when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He and his parents, Char and Dan Gordon, noticed a rash and bruises appearing on his body. “We went to Dr. (Mark) Haganman (at Mitchell County Regional Health Center),” said Gordon. “He did some blood tests, told us I had cancer and that I need to get to the Mayo Clinic. I didn’t know what it meant to have cancer.” The day Connor found out he had cancer, the family went home, packed their bags and headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Washington Post, ‘Darkness and pain’: The death of ‘Seinfeld’ actor Daniel von Bargen — Daniel von Bargen, who died yesterday at 64, had a long, illustrious career with more than four decades of acting credits to his name…“Depression can lead to poor lifestyle decisions, such as unhealthy eating, less exercise, smoking and weight gain — all of which are risk factors for diabetes,” according to a post on the Mayo Clinic’s Web site.

Star Tribune, Legislators elect 5 to 12-member University of Minnesota governing board by Kia Farhang… Patricia Simmons, who represents Minnesota's 1st Congressional District on the board, won a third term. The recently retired Mayo Clinic doctor has said she only entered the race because another female candidate connected to the hospital dropped out. Additional coverage: MPR, Grand Forks Herald, KTTC, Worthington Daily Globe

Missoulian, MIT rural health care 'hackathon' on agenda in Missoula by Kim Briggeman — The "hackathon" that’s coming to Missoula on March 20-22 is all about gathering the best and the brightest ideas to solve rural health challenges – and nothing about computers or respiratory systems gone wrong… eight others are lined up for high-energy presentations to set the tone for the weekend, including Dr. Mark Lindsay of the Mayo Clinic college of Medicine and local Missoula entrepreneurs Ken Wall of Geodata Systems and Cindy Jimmerson of Lean Healthcare West.

HealthLeaders Media, Mayo readies services to draw patients from China — On the second floor of downtown Rochester's newest building, the H3 Plaza, workers install baseboard trim to prepare for the city's first international concierge service. In a couple of months, the space will house the offices of MediSun, a Chinese company setting up a door-to-door service for Chinese patients traveling more than 6,000 miles for treatment at Mayo Clinic.

Detroit News, Spring forward in a healthy way by cutting out meat… A Mayo Clinic study reports that a plant-based diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes and nuts, is rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. And people who eat only plant-based foods — aka vegetarians — generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less, and have a lower risk of heart disease than non-vegetarians do.

People magazine, Babysitter Charged with Murder for Shaking 10-Week-Old Baby to Death…Shaken baby syndrome is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a "serious brain injury resulting from forcefully shaking an infant or toddler." It can lead to permanent brain damage or even death, as was the case here.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic nurse charged with theft by Kay Fate — A former surgical nurse at Mayo Clinic has been charged with a felony after authorities say she diverted a narcotic pain medication for her own use for more than a year — and shot it up while at work. Connie Kay Stier, 60, of Chatfield, faces one count of theft… Stier told a Mayo official that she'd been diverting Fentanyl for about a year. She claimed she took only waste product, and didn't deny patients any pain medication if they needed it. Stier had been injecting the Fentanyl only at work, the complaint says, using up to five or six times during her 12-hour shift

Star Tribune, Desire for a 'natural' cure drives demand for supplements by Allie Shah — Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic physician who specializes in preventive medicine, chalks it up to our belief that there’s a quick fix. “Humans are optimistic and they want to believe in things,” he said. “They want to look for an easy way to improve their health.”… Hensrud, however, doesn’t write off all supplements. For example, if an elderly person has a documented vitamin deficiency — such as B12 vitamin — then taking a supplement might help.

Reuters, Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale released from hospital — Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale was released on Saturday from a Minnesota hospital where he was treated for cold and flu symptoms, a spokeswoman for the facility said. Mondale, who is 87, was doing well after his stay at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said hospital spokeswoman Kelley Luckstein. She could not say when Mondale checked into the facility. Additional coverage: Star Tribune, Post-Bulletin, CBS News, Irish Independent, INFORUM N.D., KIMT, Arizona Family, Duluth News Tribune, KARE11, Boston Globe, Daily Mail UK, CNN, AP

WEAU Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls teen doesn't let Spina Bifida get in the way of his dreams — Ty Wiberg, who's 13, has never been one to take no for an answer. But unlike everyone else, Ty was diagnosed with Spina Bifida, a spinal cord malformation since birth. “Spina bifida is a congenital anomaly, where the lower part of the back, the spinal cord is basically uncovered and it opens up, so it's skin and there's no bone,” says Jane Byrd, of Mayo Clinic Health System, who has been Ty's pediatrician since birth.

CBS News, Mystery complicates grief for families of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — In the year since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing and then mysteriously disappeared, the tragedy has left a track of grief for the families of the 239 passengers and airline crew who were aboard the flight… "I think it's different when we have a death of loved one who we know has died from illness or an accident. In our mind there's an awareness of their death," Lisa De Sieno, director of Bereavement Services at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, told CBS News. "That question mark of what has happened -- you can go with their logic and thinking they have died. But there's always that question mark. There's always that piece of hope that maybe it isn't true."

KEYC Mankato, Daylight Saving Takes Away An Hour Of Sleep, Doctors Share Tips — Daylight Saving comes around again early Sunday morning, and it's not the fun one. We'll be turning our clocks ahead one hour, which means we lose an hour of sleep…Dr. Marthy Yanci, a neurologist with Mayo Clinic Health System says, "People that are sleep deprived, that are sleeping six hours or less, have a higher risk of hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, increased mortality. They recently did a study where they exposed people to a respiratory virus. People that slept seven hours or less were three times more likely to get an infection than people that slept eight hours." Additional coverage: Janesville Argus, Imperial Valley News,

HealthDay, New Study Casts Doubt on Dangers of Hormone Therapy for Hot Flashes— Hormone replacement therapy for women may not be as potentially risky as previously thought, a new Mayo Clinic review contends…"This is the latest update of the current evidence," said lead author Dr. Khalid Benkhadra, a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "I can say there's no risk of dying from any reason because a woman is taking hormone replacement therapy." Additional coverage: Medscape

Prevention magazine, 5 Things No One Ever Tells You About Your Cholesterol…Our cholesterol naturally increases as we get older, especially for women. Turns out that (surprise, surprise) there's more to menopause than hot flashes and night sweats. "For the most part, men tend to have higher cholesterol than women, but around age 60 that starts to change," says Stephen Kopecky, MD, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who focuses on preventive cardiology and has done extensive research in this area. 

Healthline, Experts Say Vice May Have Overstated Case in ‘Killing Cancer’ by David Mills— A Vice special report “Killing Cancer” stated scientists may be “on the verge of curing cancer.” Cancer experts aren’t quite as optimistic…William C. Phelps, Ph.D., a program director at the American Cancer Society, said he is “very excited” about the treatments highlighted in the “Killing Cancer” report, but he feels the program may have “overstated a bit” the outlook for a cure…Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, director of Cleveland Clinic’s leukemia program, also provided cautionary advice.

WEAU Eau Claire, Yoga event to support Mayo Clinic Health System bereavement services… Anna Sizer, with Mayo Clinic Health System, says the funds will really make a difference for bereavement services. She says more expansive options are needed. "Currently and in the past, we have offered the basic bereavement services as regulated by hospice," Sizer said. "Through this service, we have identified the need to expand what is required by law, and truly serve our entire community at a deeper more meaningful level."

Myeloma Beacon, Pat’s Place: Multiple Myeloma Awareness Applies To Patients, Too… In the meantime, I wanted to remind you that March has been designated Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. Most everyone involved has embraced the designation: non-profits, drug companies, and support groups. I was never a big fan of this campaign, but I’ve come around in recent years. My only criticism is that it will take more than a month every year to get our story out and understood. I’m sure the national attention the new HBO special, "Killing Cancer," has received will help; the first 10 minutes feature the Mayo Clinic’s promising new measles viral therapy. That’s well-deserved and priceless attention.

Reuters, NIH director sees solving data puzzle as key to U.S. precision medicine by Julie Steenhuysen — One of the earliest tasks in President Barack Obama's $215 million "precision medicine" program will be finding a way to piece together data from a hodgepodge of existing studies, said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. Several providers already undertaking such studies have expressed interest in participating in the program, which will gather loads of health information and genetic data on more than 1 million Americans to develop targeted medicines, Collins told Reuters in an interview this week at the Future of Genomic Medicine conference in La Jolla, California. Volunteers include Kaiser Permanente, the Mayo Clinic, the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, Geisinger Health System and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

KAAL, Mongolian Children Doing Well After Heart Surgery by Megan Stewart — A group of children are happy and healthy after heart surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The four kids and their mothers traveled more than 6,000 miles from Mongolia for their operations as part of the Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project.

Wrangler News Ariz., Family, friends rally as Corona senior fights the battle of his life — Once upon a time, a young man planned his future. It was summertime and he anticipated his senior year of high school, filled with football, prom, volleyball, classwork and graduation. In May, he’d wear the orange gown of a Tempe Corona del Sol graduate, then enter Arizona State University, studying Fire Science… A doctor’s visit showed two blood clots. Laboratory tests confirmed acute myeloid leukemia, a highly aggressive cancer of the bloodstream…Ridge and his family found themselves on a roller coaster of improvement, then setbacks, followed by more improvement. They kept fighting. Just recently, by Jim Crosse, Ridge hoped to go home. However, strokes and heart damage intervened, requiring his transfer to Mayo Clinic where he could receive advanced cardiology care.

Florida Times-Union, 'Medical Tourism' is the next big idea to build Jacksonville's reputation…As unconventional as his custom techniques, Gulani’s business is the eye-opening example of expertise that Visit Jacksonville is promoting to attract more tourists. “Medical tourism” here includes the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and medical conventions that alone have delivered an estimated $30 million in economic impact over the past two years.

cincinnati.com, Your health needs to take a front seat to succeed by Charles Matthews…Sometimes, however, it takes a critical “health event” in our lives to really wake us up to taking care of ourselves. So it was for me two years ago during a close encounter I had with the super health care professionals at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Here is what I learned and carry with me to this day from that experience: Move, eat well, relax, sleep, maintain and discover.

Globe Gazette Iowa, Beating cancer twice, he's enjoying a teenager's life, To watch him play sports or have a conversation, you wouldn't know Connor Gordon was fighting cancer five years ago…"He did some blood tests, told us I had cancer and that I need to get to the Mayo Clinic," Connor said. "I didn't know what it meant to have cancer." The day Connor found out he had cancer, the family went headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. On the way, Connor asked his mom, "Am I going to die?" "She said 'Hell no,' " Connor said, with a big smile.

Modern Healthcare, Non-interoperable directives: End-of-life wishes and EHRs don't yet mesh by Joseph Conn…In LaCrosse, Wis., Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Health Care have collaborated to create an advance care planning model called Respecting Choices. Both systems have reliable ways of storing and retrieving directives in their own EHRs. Gundersen uses an EHR from Epic, while Mayo uses a Cerner Corp.

Post-Bulletin, Nature Nut: Mayowood memories include buffalo, floods, chimps by Greg Munson — A recent Post-Bulletin column on Mayo's Institute Hills animal farm in southwest Rochester brought back a flood of memories to this lifetime Rochester resident. Mayowood probably refers to the early 1900s 3,000-plus acre estate of Dr. Charles Mayo. But for most of us who grew up in Rochester, the boundaries were unknown and it was a lot more than just one mansion.

La Crosse Tribune, Rural clinics confront challenges by reimagining community roles…In St. Charles, the Olmsted Medical Center purchased the clinic from a single family doctor in 1986, and the clinic moved to a new location in 2004. Clinics in Wabasha and Plainview, as well as Alma, Wis., affiliated with the Mayo Clinic Health System in 2006. Tri-County Hospital and Clinics in Whitehall, Wis. affiliated with Gundersen Health System about seven years ago. The number of independent clinics is decreasing nationwide, and the transition has not been without bumps in the road. Gundersen Tri-County CEO Brian Theiler said Tri-County’s affiliation with Gundersen brought with it a host of changes, some of them more popular with the local community than others. Additional coverage: Winona Daily News

Post-Bulletin, Medical marijuana dispensary to open in Rochester by Jeff Kiger — Minnesota Medical Solutions is one of two companies selected by the state to grow and dispense medical marijuana in oil and powder form. It's working on opening four dispensaries by this summer…MinnMed has also been meeting with Mayo Clinic doctors, particularly specialists in neurology, oncology and hospice care. They are finding that physicians are open to the idea of medical cannabus, particularly when they realize MinnMed will be dispensing precise, clinical amounts of only oil and powder.

Albert Lea Tribune, Is there such thing as a perfect diet? Dietician’s Digest by Amy Pleimling — Registered dietitian at Mayo Clinic Health System, Keeping up with all the diet advice out there is a tough job. It’s even tough for me, a registered dietitian.

Post-Bulletin, Pulse on Health: Mayo Clinic is weathering the storm of change by Jeff Hansel — Mayo Clinic decision-makers have been so attentive to concerns expressed by employees that their efforts to improve the clinic work atmosphere have changed the feedback a Minnesota legislator is getting. I wrote in November that Mayo's top-level leadership had been made aware of employee frustrations that stretched all the way from current and former front-line workers to respected leaders. "I hear this every day and have shared the concerns I hear with several upper-level employees!" Minnesota state Rep. Kim Norton said via Facebook after I posted my initial column. "I believe that the needs of the patient (even Mayo employees who are patients) MUST come first if the Clinic is going to maintain their top status."

KIMT, Matching donations for cancer research by Adam Sallet — Doctors across the country are working around the clock to find a cure for cancer, and in our area a big gift is helping them inch closer. Shane Smith, the man behind the HBO show ‘Vice’, is offering to match donations to Mayo Clinic’s cancer center, up to $500,000. Smith and his crew were in Rochester recently highlighting how doctors are trying to kill cancer with different viruses including measles. Officials say this gift can go a long way. “Our research is critically important. When we do these matches it inspires patients and non-patients to join us. Typically it helps us increase the gifting by about 40%.” Chief Development Officer/Chair for Mayo Clinic Development Sheryl Hadaway says.

KMSP, Target CEO, Minnesota governor meet face-to-face — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is meeting with Target CEO Brian Cornell on Monday to talk about the company's major layoff plans. There is little the governor can do to save jobs, but Dayton said he wanted to meet with Cornell to talk about the company's commitment to Minnesota and the thousands of workers who live here…Dayton was upset that he wasn't given a heads up the company plans to trim about 20 percent of its downtown work force. With 13,000 employees, the governor has reason to be concerned. Target is Minnesota's fourth-largest employer after the Mayo Clinic, the state and the federal government.

KAAL, Study Ranks Rochester Low in Economic Diversity by Hannah Tran… The city of Rochester was third to last. The top three cities with occupational diversity were all in California. "So Mayo Clinic is a significant part of that, but we can't lose sight of all the other very important manufacturing businesses or agricultural businesses," said Steve Borchardt from the Rochester Area Foundation… However, local officials say having a world renowned, big economic engine like Mayo Clinic is unlike any other city. So, other industries may feel hidden in its shadow, but it’s there, and thriving.

4Hoteliers, The Science of Wellness—Hype or Hope? The Global Wellness Institute and Scientific American Worldview recently joined forces on a roundtable called 'The Science of Wellness—Hype or Hope?' …To Recognize That Private Companies Are Often Leading in Applying Science to Wellness: Wellness is a $3.4 trillion,** consumer-driven market, and it’s private companies and public-private partnerships that are applying science to new wellness concepts the most creatively: from Delos building a lab with the Mayo Clinic to test and develop new “healthy for humans” features for the spaces people live and work in - to companies like Lighting Science creating healthy, nature-based lighting technologies - to new, billion-dollar “healthy cities” being developed globally, incorporating hospitals, education and every aspect of healthy living.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Can coffee be part of a healthy lifestyle?... Coffee gets a break — On its website, the Mayo Clinic also says coffee studies failed to differentiate between heavy coffee consumption and habits often associated with coffee drinking, including smoking and physical inactivity.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rheumatoid arthritis: Q&A column Who gets RA?  — RA is the most common form of autoimmune arthritis, affecting more than 1.3 million Americans and 1 percent of the world adult population. Although it may occur at any age, RA usually starts in patients when they are between 30 and 60 years old. The disease tends to affect women more frequently than men. According to Mayo Clinic, the lifetime risk of the disease is 3.6 percent for women and 1.7 percent for men.

KARE11, 10-year-old auctioneer is star of stockyards by Boyd Huppert — By now, the members of the Owens household give not a second thought to the auctioneer's chant coming from the bathroom shower. It's just 10-year-old Cash getting his reps in…So it's worth noting that the kid who barely takes a breath, once nearly took his last. Cash was born with intestines that had developed improperly. "He stopped breathing," says his father. A Mayo Clinic team resuscitated Cash a dozen times before placing him on a respirator.

Sun This Week, Rosemount fundraiser to help young cancer patient’s family by Tad Johnson — When David Gerfast was injured playing football for Rosemount Middle School last fall, it was a fortunate occurrence. After the mishap, the 12-year-old Rosemount resident was taken to the hospital where an MRI scan revealed he had a tumor in his neck. A biopsy showed that David had chordoma cancer, which occurs in the bones of the skull and spine and has an annual incidence of approximately one new case per million people. That started a journey for David and his family that led to a three-day procedure to remove the tumor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester in November, rehabilitation, and radiation treatment appointments in Boston.

Medscape, Is New Distribution of Genentech Drugs Bad for Cancer Care? by Nick Mulcahy — Cancer patients and clinics are now worse off because Genentech has changed how it distributes its three top-selling cancer drugs, according to a survey of pharmacy professionals at more than 200 hospitals conducted by Novation, the group purchasing organization (GPO) giant.... The Mayo Clinic is one of the organizations that have seen patients negatively impacted, according to Novation press materials. (However, Mayo Clinic did not respond to a Medscape Medical News request for information about the poll.)

Wall Street Journal, Apple Watch Apps Target Businesses by Ted Greenwald…The idea is to use the watch for “10-second interactions” and switch over to a smartphone or desktop for more extensive tasks, said spokesman Michael Peachey. The initial crop of business-oriented Apple Watch apps also included BetterWorks, designed to help employees set and achieve goals, and Invoice2go, a time-tracking program. Mayo Clinic announced Synthesis, a scheduling tool for doctors. Additional Apple Watch coverage: GeekWire

Star Tribune, Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia fighting stage 4 stomach cancer by Rochelle Olson — Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia is a St. Paul guy who crossed the river and became one of Minneapolis’ most recognizable and beloved cops…Now he’s embarked on a tough journey no one would choose. At the end of February, Garcia posted a Facebook photo from a Mayo Clinic hospital bed announcing that at age 49, he has Stage 4 stomach cancer. He announced on Facebook on Tuesday that he was headed home after 10 days at Mayo to continue to “fight this sneaky disease.”

Medical Daily, Parenting With Too Much Praise May Lead To Development Of Narcissistic Personality Disorder by Samantha Olson — Narcissists believe their own importance is ranked higher than others, have a severe need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others, according to Mayo Clinic. The only “cure” is undergoing psychotherapy to try and undo all of the damage overvaluing has done during childhood.

Cancer Therapy Advisor, Hormone Replacement Therapy May Not Be As Risky As Once Thought — Hormone replacement therapy for women may not be as potentially risky as previously thought, a new Mayo Clinic review contends…"This is the latest update of the current evidence," lead author Khalid Benkhadra, M.D., a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told HealthDay. "I can say there's no risk of dying from any reason because a woman is taking hormone replacement therapy."

Post-Bulletin, Answer Man: DMC isn't just about Mayo Clinic…If DMC is truly for the benefit of Mayo Clinic, why should public money (sales taxes) be used to support a financially strong, private business like Mayo Clinic? Perhaps I, like a lot of other Rochester citizens, am not understanding something. -- Richard MacGregor…right off the top of my head, is that DMC is not "truly for the benefit of Mayo Clinic." Mayo will greatly benefit if its $3.5 billion investment in Rochester during the next 20 years is used to leverage billions more in private development and infrastructure -- but the DMC concept as approved by the Legislature is not exclusively or even primarily a "benefit" to Mayo.

KIMT, The uses of nitric oxide on babies — New research by local doctors is suggesting that nitric oxide may be misused. The oxide is often given to babies that are either at full-term or near term after they suffer a severe respiratory failure. This is most commonly caused by pulmonary hypertension. Studies show that giving the therapy to these babies can have a slight short-term improvement but there is no evidence that it is good long-term. Also, research finds that it doesn’t really impact premature babies either.” Unfortunately multiple trials have found there is no clear benefit for use for premature babies. There’s no improved mortality and there’s no improved long term outcomes in that population,” Dr. Malinda Harris in the neonaology department of Mayo Clinic says.

US News & World Report,(HealthDay) Outcomes Vary With Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Replacement — Nearly one-quarter of heart disease patients who underwent so-called transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgery died within a year, while roughly 4 percent had a stroke, new research reveals… In the past, the standard of care had been conventional surgery and total replacement of the aortic valve," explained study lead author Dr. David Holmes, Jr., a cardiologist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Additional coverage: WTAJ, Star Tribune,

USA Today, (KARE 11) Fast-talking 10-year-old is star of stockyards — Cash Owens, at the age of 10, has been front and center for nearly a year at a Minnesota stockyard selling cows with his rapid-fire delivery. The fifth grader received his first lesson in auctioneering during a drive home from Montana with his dad and a family friend, who is a full-time auctioneer.A Mayo Clinic team resuscitated Cash a dozen times before placing him on a respirator. He spent two months in the hospital recovering from surgery.

 

Patch, Friends get organs from same donor, on the same day at the same place — When two longtime friends from Michigan say they’re like brothers, it’s not just a euphemism for their camaraderie. Fred Nelis, 60, of Holland, and Gordon Veldman, 67, of Pentwater, now have a genetic link that makes them as close to brothers as two men can be without actually having having started life in the same womb. Confused? The heart beating in Nelis’ chest…The Mayo Clinic says as many as 100,000 people may be waiting for an organ transplant at any given time in the United States, partly because of myths that emergency staffs don’t work as hard to save organ donors and scary tabloid stories about organ donors wiggling their toes after they’re declared dead.

WWNY, Tomorrow's Health: Intense Workouts Can Reduce Diabetes Risk — A new study finds both low- and high-intensity workouts help with weight loss, but only high-intensity workouts also help fight diabetes. Canadian researchers divided 300 obese people into two groups. One did short high-impact exercise five times a week and the other did less strenuous physical activity. All participants showed smaller waistlines, but only the high-intensity group also lowered their glucose levels. Many women don't know enough about breast density, according to a new report from the Mayo Clinic.

Mic, Women Aren't Being Treated for Heart Attacks Because They Don't Want to Appear "Fussy" — A Yale University study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes in February has found that 15,000 women under the age of 55 are killed by a heart attack each year, and that many of them ignore their symptoms until it's too late. "No one is really paying attention to young women," coauthor Leslie Curry, a research scientist at Yale, told Mic. According to the American Heart Association, 90% of women have at least one risk factor for heart disease…"I do believe that women seek prevention in general more than men," Patricia Best, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who was not involved in the study, told Mic.

Pacifica Tribune, Discovered note returns family to the time of polio — The recently discovered note is old. Written more than 60 years ago by one of Pacifica's long-time residents, Connie Mason Brown, it references the time Connie had polio. It's written in story format, typical of Connie, and discusses her being sent away for three months of isolation and treatment…The Mayo Clinic reports that "despite a concerted global eradication campaign, poliovirus continues to affect children and adults in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some African countries." The Clinic recommends that any previously vaccinated adult, who plans to travel to an area where the virus is occurring, should receive a booster dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). They also note that immunity after a booster dose lasts a lifetime.

KJZZ, Joseph Sirven: It's All About Luck — Sometimes it’s just dumb luck that plays a role in your health. The other day, I spent two hours with a patient with a newly diagnosed brain tumor. I explained how tumors start, the prognosis, treatments and side effects. But she kept asking me one question, “Why?”.. A recent study in the journal Science seems to support this notion of bad luck causing disease. Researchers discovered that some tissues are overtaken by cancer more readily than others and the main reason for this variation is explained by chance stem cell mutations…Dr. Sirven is the chairman of neurology at the Mayo Clinic

Hospitals & Health Networks, Spreading Clinical Reach Helps Cut Labor Costs — Hospitals have made strides in reducing costs, but if leaders really want to move the needle, they must address one particular big-ticket item: the high cost of skilled labor. By many estimates, labor costs can eat up nearly 60 percent of a hospital’s budget. With so much of the pie taken up by that item, leaders must find ways to spread the reach of skilled clinicians, engage patients as part of the care team and generally be more efficient in managing the workforce, says Kaveh Safavi, M.D., global managing director of health at Accenture…Exploring new ways to deploy the workforce also requires a change in view of how care should be delivered, says Steve Ommen, M.D., dean of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Connected Care.

Hospitals & Health Networks, Sustainability in the Operating Room — Hospital sustainability programs reduce costs and enhance the quality of patient care. However, given the long list of priorities that hospitals must tackle, sustainability too often falls by the wayside. Today, the benefits of sustainability are too important to ignore. The operating room warrants a close look. It’s often the largest generator of revenue, as well as the largest consumer of supply costs and the biggest generator of waste. “Sustainability in the OR is the key to staying in business,” says John Abenstein, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Global News (Canada), Reality check: Is the treadmill test a good measure of your risk of death? — For those who dread cardio, the findings were frightening: a new study warned that how you fare on the treadmill could be an indicator of your risk of death in the next decade. American cardiologists out of John Hopkins University developed an algorithm – dubbed the FIT Treadmill Score – to help determine your health outcomes over the next decade. That included if a visit from the Grim Reaper was in your cards…Their full findings were published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Read the study here.

Diabetes News Journal, Mayo Clinic and Gentag to Collaborate on Wireless Sensors for Obesity and Diabetes — Mayo Clinic and Gentag, Inc. have established an agreement to advance the next generation of wearable biosensors specifically designed to address diabetes and obesity. “We are hoping that this technology will be game-changer. These patch biosensors may help us reduce global obesity and diabetes. They are accurate, inexpensive, and can be integrated into the care people receive,” said James Levine, who is an obesity researcher and Mayo Clinic endocrinologist.

Newsweek, The Ugly Civil War in American Medicine — Are physicians in the United States getting dumber? That is what one of the most powerful medical boards is suggesting, according to its critics. And, depending on the answer, tens of millions of dollars funneled annually to this non-profit organization are at stake…The physicians lining up with Teirstein are not a bunch of stumblebums afraid of a few tests. They include some of this nation’s best-known medical practitioners and academicians, from institutions like the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, Columbia Medical School and other powerhouses in the field.

KOMO, Some good news about glaucoma — It's still one of the leading causes of blindness, but the news about glaucoma is getting better. In a recent review of medical records, researchers determined that the probability of going blind within 20 years of being diagnosed with glaucoma had dropped by nearly half. "We also found that the number of people in the population who actually go blind with Glaucoma also decreased,” said Dr. Arthur Sit, an ophthalmologist at the Mayo Clinic.

Kansas City Star, 'Looks Like Laury' chronicles woman's battle with dementia — Pamela Hogan knew Laury Sachs before, as a talented, big-hearted friend, wife and mother. Connie Shulman knew Sacks after, when she was in the grip of the early onset dementia that would swiftly claim her life. Together, documentarian Hogan and actress Shulman, who plays Yoga Jones in "Orange Is the New Black," carefully recorded Sachs' treacherous journey to help ease her isolation as the disease progressed… It's the term for a group of disorders that tend to occur at a younger age than Alzheimer's, between 40 and 75, and which affect areas of the brain generally associated with personality, behavior and language, according to the Mayo Clinic. Additional coverage: MyFoxChicagoWashington Post,

Science Daily, Menopausal hormone therapy does not affect the risk of dying early — menopausal hormone therapy (HT) does not have a significant effect on death, according to a new review of the medical literature published over the past three decades. The results, which included studies with follow-up as long as 18 years, will be presented Friday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego. "At present, we do not have evidence that hormone therapy in postmenopausal women increases mortality or protects from death compared with women who never used hormones," said lead investigator Khalid Benkhadra, MD, a research fellow at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Additional coverage: Medpage Today

Wired, Doctors on this site rate drugs to give patients more power, ONLINE REVIEWS ARE every business’s nightmare and every consumer’s obsession. We rely on them as we scour restaurants on Yelp, search for power tools on Amazon, choose movies on Netflix, and shop for artisanal jewelry on Etsy. But when it comes to prescription medication, too often, we take what our doctors give us, no questions asked. That’s a major problem, considering nearly 70 percent of Americans take prescription drugs, according to the Mayo Clinic.

International Business Times, Anti-aging drugs: Senolytics could significantly slow ageing and increase life expectancy — A new class of drugs known as senolytics have been developed that have proved to dramatically slow the ageing process and increase life expectancy. Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the Mayo Clinic and other institutions published their findings in the journal Aging Cell on 9 March.

WKMG Orlando, Alternative cancer treatments: 10 options to consider (Mayo Clinic News Network content) — Many people with cancer are interested in trying anything that may help them, including complementary and alternative cancer treatments. If cancer makes you feel as if you have little control over your health, alternative cancer treatments may offer some feeling of control. But many alternative cancer treatments are unproved and some may even be dangerous. To help you sort out the good from the bad, here are 10 alternative cancer treatments that are generally safe. Plus, there is growing evidence that these 10 alternative cancer treatments may provide some benefit.

MyFox47, Kim Norton pushes for money appropriation for key medical partnership — One of Mayo Clinic's key research partnerships was the focus of attention from state lawmakers Tuesday afternoon at the State Capitol. State Rep. Kim Norton's bill would appropriate $16 million over the 2016-2017 biennium to fund research, hoping for more breakthroughs in biotechnology and medical genomics. The partnership between Mayo and the University of Minnesota was founded back in 2003 by then-Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Post Bulletin, IBM CEO pops in at Rochester campus — Virginia Rometty popped in for a visit to IBM's Rochester's campus Tuesday for the first time since she took over as CEO in 2012…Many large layoffs in recent years has diminished the IBM facility, which was Rochester's largest employer from 1958 to 1967. Mayo Clinic became the top employer in 1967 with 3,850 Rochester workers.

Idaho Watch Dog, After battling excruciating pain, single mom fights for her healer at Idaho Capitol — Gardner is the single mom of four kids, a realtor and a property manager. She’s not, though, a usual face around the Capitol halls. In the eatery, she’s sitting with Michael Kalfeldt, the Naturopathic physician who’s assisted in Gardner’s recovery from neuropathy in her feet and hands. The duo is spending the week pleading with Idaho legislators to reject a bill that would essentially outlaw Karlfeldt’s practice in the state…Traditional medicine offered her no solace or respite, as she went from doctor to doctor for a cure. She went so far as the famed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to address her problems.The clinic, without a clear diagnosis, she said, prescribed years of chemotherapy.

New Zealand Herald, Can Google tell which 'facts' on the Net are true? The Internet, we know all too well, is a cesspool of rumour and chicanery. But in a research paper published by Google in February - and reported over the weekend by New Scientist- that could, at least hypothetically, change. A team of computer scientists at Google has proposed a way to rank search results not by how popular Web pages are, but by their factual accuracy…Increasingly, information intermediates like Google have begun to take that suggestion seriously. Just three weeks ago, Google began displaying physician-vetted health information directly in search results, even commissioning diagrams from medical illustrators and consulting with the Mayo Clinic "for accuracy."

HCP Live, Mayo Clinic and the Teleconference that Saves Lives — Larry Lee came close to death when a blood clot lodged in his brain last year while walking his dog in rural Minnesota. Since his local hospital lacked the expertise to deal with the problem, it turned to the renowned Mayo Clinic. From a computer console at Mayo's campus 65 miles away, a neurologist appeared via teleconference, took control of a robotic camera to examine Mr. Lee and shepherded the local team's efforts to bust the clot.

Washington Post, New class of drugs reduces aging in mice — Mayo Clinic study finds, Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have identified a new class of drugs that appeared to reduce the effects of aging in mice by killing zombie-like cells that damage healthy neighbors and contribute to chronic aging-related diseases. The study found two drugs that were especially good at getting rid of senescent cells. These are cells that have ceased to reproduce through division but also are resistant to dying. As they hang on in their suspended state, senescent damage cells and tissues around them and elsewhere in the body. They accumulate over time in the body and especially at the sites of many age-related diseases.

KIMT, Strollin’ colon comes to Mayo — It’s one of the leading causes of cancer death in the U.S. and now those with Mayo Clinic are hoping a unique display will catch the eye of patients. The Strollin’ Colon exhibit was up in the Gonda Building Wednesday… Experts were also there to explain the importance of getting screened. “If we can catch colon cancer early, they can catch them at a curable stage and that is much better than letting a cancer advance and spread throughout the body and chances of cure are significantly less,” Medical Oncologist Dr. Joleen Hubbard with Mayo Clinic says.

KAAL, Getting That Tan Safely — The sun was shining once again Wednesday and people across the area were out enjoying the break from winter's cold. But while many were happy to catch a few rays, others are hoping to speed up the process. With prom and spring break around the corner, this is a prime time for people to hit the tanning beds…According to a Mayo Clinic study published last year, melanoma rates have increased dramatically over the last 30 years. "The instance of melanoma has risen 4.5-fold in men and 24-fold in women," said Dr. Jerry Brewer, a Mayo Clinic dermatologist.

Republican Eagle, Menopause transition: Just what is normal?  Did you know the menopausal transition known as perimenopause begins four years before a woman’s final menstrual cycle? It’s true. Hormone production from the ovaries often starts to change when a woman is in her 40s, and thus the time between periods begins to shorten. Some women have menopausal symptoms clustered around the time of menses. Others do not. It’s important to know that perimenopausal symptoms are common and usually diminish with time… Kathryn Gruenwald,M.D. is a physician at Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing and specializes in women’s health. She is certified by the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Post Bulletin, Our View: Cigarette tax should be left alone — The number of smokers in Minnesota has continued to drop since the Legislature raised the excise tax on cigarettes in 2013. That's what was supposed to happen. A survey published in January by the state Department of Health found the rate of Minnesotans who smoke fell to 14.4 percent in 2014, down from 16.1 percent in 2010…"By stopping people from smoking, and discouraging people from taking it up — taxation is a big part of that — we improve the public health of the state," said Dr. Taylor Hays, director of the Nicotine Dependence Center at Mayo Clinic.

Scientific American (blog), Beyond Resveratrol: The Anti-Aging NAD Fad — Whenever I see my 10-year-old daughter brimming over with so much energy that she jumps up in the middle of supper to run around the table, I think to myself, “those young mitochondria.” Mitochondria are our cells’ energy dynamos. Descended from bacteria that colonized other cells about 2 billion years, they get flaky as we age. A prominent theory of aging holds that decaying of mitochondria is a key driver of aging. While it’s not clear why our mitochondria fade as we age, evidence suggests that it leads to everything from heart failure to neurodegeneration, as well as the complete absence of zipping around the supper table…Its website lists a dream team of advising scientists, including five Nobel laureates and other big names such as the Mayo Clinic’s Jim Kirkland, a leader in geroscience, and biotech pioneer Lee Hood. I can’t remember a startup with more stars in its firmament.

Reuters, Hospital admissions for chest pain may result from poor communication — Poor communication may lead some patients with chest pain to be admitted to the hospital even when their risk for a heart attack is low, a small study suggests. "Ideally, you want the conversation between a physician and a patient to be as straightforward as possible, but in our study of admissions for cardiac observation, we found the risks of going home were terribly overinflated and so was the potential benefit of staying overnight in the hospital," said lead study author Dr. David Newman…Part of the problem could be a difference in risk tolerance between physicians and patients," said Dr. Erik Hess, a researcher in emergency medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study.

Voice of America, Flu Virus in China Has Pandemic Potential, Scientists Say — A dangerous influenza virus spreading in China's live poultry markets has the potential to become a worldwide pandemic, researchers say. They are calling for these markets to be permanently closed to protect global public health…Scientists are looking for evidence that H7N9 has been circulating undetected, said Greg Poland, director of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic. “They’re not finding it. So, it is a novel virus for humans,” he said.

WXOW, Spring Break safety tips — Spring Break is a time of festivity in warm vacation destinations for many college students, a way to relieve the academic stress of the semester.  However, Mayo Clinic Health System Franciscan Healthcare would like to remind vacationing students of ways to protect themselves from sexual assault by monitoring their alcohol consumption and looking out for GHB and Rohypnol, more commonly known as the "date rape drugs." Each year, there is an average of 293,000 male and female sexual assault victims in the United States.

MedPage Today, Drug Keeps Women Fertile After Breast Cancer Chemo — Among women with operable hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer, patients given goserelin (Zoladex) in addition to chemotherapy had lower rates of ovarian failure (8% versus 22%) and higher rates of pregnancy (21% versus 11%) 2 years after treatment compared with patients treated with chemotherapy alone, researchers said…"Based on these important results, I now feel comfortable offering monthly gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist injections beginning a week before the first dose of chemotherapy to patients with estrogen-receptor- and progesterone-receptor-negative early stage breast cancers as an alternative to traditional fertility preservation techniques, particularly when standard oocyte or embryo cryopreservation is not feasible," Kathryn Ruddy, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, wrote in an email to MedPage Today.

WPTZ, (Mayo Clinic News Network post)  How to prepare for an eye exam — If you're seeing a new eye doctor or if you're having your first eye exam, expect questions about your vision history. Your answers help your eye doctor understand your risk of eye disease and vision problems. 

Shape Magazine, This App Compares Prescriptions for You with Advice From Real Doctors — When you need a reliably delicious restaurant, you turn to Yelp. When you want to know more about, well, any product, you go on Amazon. We’ve become a nation relying on reviews to help us make informed decisions, and now you can add medications to your crowd-sourcing list. RateRX, which launched today, is a digital service that compares medications for ailments, illnesses and diseases based entirely on the medical opinion of thousands of doctors… (What about other self-evaluations? Is an Online Diagnosis from WebMD, Mayo Clinic, or Other Sites Safe?)

Reuters, Survival rates for risky surgeries in U.S. vary widely — The chance of surviving any of four high-risk surgeries can vary by as much as 23 percent depending on what hospital patients use, according to an analysis released on Thursday. The report - by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, a patient-safety organization supported by large employers, and Castlight Health Inc, which sells software for employers to manage healthcare spending - shows that choice of hospital "can mean the difference between life and death," said Leapfrog's Erica Mobley…National stalwarts such as Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, aced all four surgeries, but so did Hoag Memorial in Newport Beach, California, and Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey.

MN Daily, Adverse events up, report says — Doctors at the University of Minnesota Medical Center left more foreign objects in their patients during surgery last year than they did the year before, according to state data. Adverse health events like this at UMMC jumped to 31 last year compared to 26 the year before, according to a 2015 Minnesota Department of Health report. This increase follows four years of steady drops in number of adverse health events, which include patients falling down, sexual assaults and items left in patients after surgery… nd while hospitals are required submita record of the events, the health department doesn’t track whether hospitals document them. This means the frequency of the events could be skewed if hospitals don’t report them, said Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler, a patient safety officer and professor of pulmonary critical care medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

CNN, Be careful when diagnosing your ailments online — When I was a child, a pale specter used to call our house most evenings, eager to chat with my doctor father about her myriad medical concerns. We called her the "White Bread Lady," a moniker she earned for one particularly inane call in which she panicked to my father after consuming white bread. She wasn't breaking out in hives or having any adverse effects to the bread. No, she was just concerned that some future illness could befall her given that one particular dietary decision. Although we all laughed at the time, it was with a bit of shifty-eyed shame… He suggests turning to sites like Mayo Clinic as well as troves of information curated by doctors (like Pho's own website) when trolling the web for info. And, of course, if a site mentions trolls and third eyes, one should definitely press on.

Vida y Salud, Avances en el tratamiento del mieloma multiple… El análisis preliminar del ensayo clínico ASPIRE, que inscribió a 792 pacientes con recaída de mieloma múltiple y procedentes de 20 países, descubrió un prolongación “nunca antes vista” del tiempo en que los pacientes se vieron libres de todo avance de la enfermedad, comenta el investigador principal del estudio, Dr. Keith Stewart, oncólogo de la Mayo Clinic en Arizona. “Los pacientes que recibían los tres fármacos, de carfilzomib, lenalidomida y dexametasona, no mostraron ningún avance de la enfermedad durante un promedio de 26 meses”, añade el médico. “Nunca se había informado sobre nada parecido en la recaída del mieloma multiple.”

HáziPatika.com, 5 dolog, amit nem mondanak el nekünk a koleszterinről… Minél idősebbek vagyunk, annál több a koleszterin (főleg a nőknél). A menopauza nem csak hőhullámokkal és éjjeli izzadásokkal jár. "Többnyire a férfiaknak magasabb a koleszterinszintje, nem a nőknek, de ez a hatvanadik életév környékén megfordul" - állítja Stephen Kopecky, a Mayo Clinic preventív kardiológusa.

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