July 8, 2016

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By Karl Oestreich

Mayo Clinic in the News LogoMayo 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 Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News. Thank you.

Editor, Karl Oestreich;  Assistant Editor: Emily Blahnik

 

Wall Street Journal
Can Adults Grow Taller?
By Heidi Mitchell

Nearly everyone shrinks with age. But some people insist, often after an annual visit to their doctor, that they’ve added a half-inch or so. If they aren’t children or teens, they’re probably mistaken, says Todd Milbrandt, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,WSJ Banner who explains the significance of physes and what makes 20 a special number. “There may be a 21-year-old patient that is young, in terms of his bone age, which is why he may still be growing in college, whereas others may have stopped when they are 13 or 14,” says Dr. Milbrandt, who does research on growth plates.

Reach: The Wall Street Journal, a US-based newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, has an average circulation of 2.3 million daily which includes print and digital versions.

Context: Todd Milbrandt, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon who is also affiliated with Mayo Clinic's Children's Center.  Dr. Milbrandt investigates pediatric muscle, tendon and bone dysfunction. Specifically, he is interested in re-creating naturally found tissue when that tissue is damaged. By using tissue-engineering techniques, Dr. Milbrandt looks to reform cartilage in growth arrest from childhood trauma, to prevent hip collapse in Legg-Calve-Perthes disease and to eradicate bone infections.

Contact: Bob Nellis

 

Twin Cities Business
Signature Mayo Heart Cell Regeneration Technique Passes Key European Trial
by Don Jacobson

A signature research project of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Regenerative Medicine – using stem cells to treat ischemic heart failure – has proven effective on enough patients in a European clinical trial to prompt its corporate backer to accelerate commercialization efforts. The results, Twin Cities Business Magazine Logoannounced last week, heralded the first time heart cell regeneration has been shown effective in a large-scale trial and could represent a major win for the Mayo center, which began work on the concept a decade ago. The product, C-Cure, is being developed by the Belgian company Celyad S.A. under an exclusive license from Mayo. Touted as a potential paradigm-shifter in treating the dire condition, the technique was co-developed by Dr. Andre Terzic, director of the Rochester clinic’s regenerative medicine center, as one of its first big projects.

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: Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D.  is director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Medicine and a Mayo cardiologist. Mayo Clinic and center leaders believe that regenerative medicine, which makes it possible to actually repair diseased, injured or congenitally defective tissues and organs, will be a vital component of medical and surgical practice in the coming years. By harnessing the potential of regenerative medicine, Mayo Clinic is poised to create new models of health care and transform medicine and surgery.

Contact: Bob Nellis

 

Business Insider
USA Swimming director gave an astonishing quote about how Katie Ledecky is going to dominate and change the sport

Sheinin also spoke to Michael J. Joyner, a researcher for the Mayo Clinic, who fueled the notion that we haven’t seen an athlete like Ledecky before. Joyner illustrated what Ledecky’s dominance would look like for athletes in other sports. “She’s dominating by the widest margin inBusiness Insider international sport, winning by 1 or 2 percent,” Joyner said. “If [a runner] won the 10,000 meters by that wide a margin, they’d win by 100 meters. One or 2 percent in the Tour de France, over about 80 hours of racing, would be 30 or 40 minutes. It’s just absolutely remarkable.”

Reach: Business Insider has more than 11 million unique visitors each month. The on-line publication focuses on business news. The site provides and analyzes business news and acts as an aggregator of top news stories from around the web. Its content is sometimes cited by other, larger, publications such as The New York Times and domestic news outlets like National Public Radio.

Context: Michael Joyner, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. His laboratory is interested in how humans respond to various forms of physical and mental stress during activities such as exercise, hypoxia, standing up and blood loss. Dr. Joyner and his team study how the nervous system regulates blood pressure, heart rate and metabolism in response to these forms of stress. They are also interested in how blood flow to muscle and skin responds to these stressors. These responses are studied in young healthy subjects, healthy older subjects and people with conditions such as heart failure.

Contact: Rhoda Fukushima Madson

 

KIMT-TV
11-year-old heart transplant patient going home after 2 years
by DeeDee Stiepan

A young patient from Panama who has been receiving treatment following a heart transplant at Mayo Clinic will finally get to go home after living KIMTin Rochester for more than two years. But before he left, Mayo Clinic staff threw him and his family a surprise going away party on Thursday. “He’s done so much better than we could have ever imagined,” explains Jonathan Johnson, M.D., Joseph’s heart transplant surgeon. “He’s really done great and he keeps up with other kids his age and does everything we could have ever hoped — we’re really, really pleased.”

Reach: KIMT 3, a CBS affiliate,  serves the Mason City-Austin-Albert Lea-Rochester market.

Context: Jonathan Johnson, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic pediatric cardiologist and hear transplant surgeon. Dr. Johnson's research encompasses several different areas of pediatric cardiology. Dr. Johnson's primary focus is researching clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease, as well as those with cardiomyopathy or heart failure, or those who have required heart transplantation or ventricular assist device (VAD) placement. Dr. Johnson is also interested in cardiac imaging, including fetal, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, and studies how these imaging modalities can be used to improve patient outcomes.

Contact: Kelly Reller

Modern Healthcare, NIH spends $55 million to attract 1 million for precision medicine research program by Joseph Conn — The National Institutes of Health has handed out nearly $55 million in grants as it seeks to enroll up to 1 million people willing to offering their patient data as part of President Barack Obama's precision medicine initiative. The agency on Wednesday named the Veterans Health Administration, four academic medical centers and six federally qualified health centers as lead patient recruiters for the initiative…The Mayo Clinic was named in March as keeper of the project's biospecimen bank, a $142 million, five-year contract award.

Sports Illustrated, Months after kidney transplant, top hurdler Aries Merritt chasing Rio berth by Tim Layden — Dr. Leslie Thomas, a nephrologist at the Mayo Clinic, has been Merritt’s primary specialist since the fall of 2013, and has borne witness to each of Merritt’s highs and lows. “I have to go back to last year at those world championships,” says Thomas. “He had almost no kidney function, terribly anemic, running against the Chinese fog or smog, and he came in third! Don’t you think that’s amazing? I mean, that’s, like, crazy.”

Becker’s Hospital Review, Top 5 Florida hospitals patients would definitely recommend by Heather Punke — The following hospitals in Florida have the highest proportion of patients who reported on their HCAHPS survey that yes, they would definitely recommend the hospital. The figures are from CMS' Hospital Compare website and represent HCAHPS scores collected between July 2014 and June 2015…1. Mayo Clinic (Jacksonville) — 93 percent.

Chicago Tribune, Birth control options for women over 40 — other than the pill by Barbara Sadick — A gynecologist and contraceptive expert at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Petra Casey said a woman younger than 40 can safely take the pill unless she has a history of strokes, blood clots, heart attacks, hypertension, migraine headaches or other serious health conditions. After age 40, for healthy women who don't smoke, the benefits still usually outweigh the risks. "For women approaching menopause," said Casey, "the pill can enable a smooth transition through hormonal changes and symptoms such as hot flashes."

People, Gold Medalist Aries Merritt on His Post-Kidney Transplant Olympic Comeback Plans: 'I Kept Pushing Forward' by Rose Minutaglio — In 2013, Aries Merritt was told his career was over. The track and field star, who nabbed gold during the 2012 Olympics and currently holds the world record in the 110 meter hurdles, was diagnosed with collapsing FSGS, a genetic kidney disease that would prove fatal without a transplant. Instead of trembling in the face of the daunting prognosis, however, Merritt fought back – and won. In September, he underwent the successful surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix – but only after one final competition with his old kidney. Merritt took bronze at the IAAF world championships that August.

Huffington Post, 9 Foods That Midlifers Love That Don’t Love Them Back by Ann Brenoff — …8. Bread – Please listen carefully to that baguette calling to you from its perch next to the French brie. It’s a siren’s song, alright. It’s time to man up here and keep walking — away. The carbohydrates in bread convert to sugar in your body. The Mayo Clinic says diabetes itself is dangerous enough, but it can also lead to further health problems such as heart disease, kidney damage or nerve damage. Give bread the boot and tell it to take its stepbrother pasta along with it.

Huffington Post, Your Brainwaves May Fall Into A ‘Texting Rhythm’ by Sara Miller — These days, it seems like smartphones are an integral part of people’s daily lives — and a new study suggests that texting on these devices may actually change certain processes in the brain. Texting may cause some people’s brain waves to change temporarily, resulting in a pattern unique to texters, the researchers found.  They were surprised that the rhythm could be reproduced in different patients in the study, said Dr. William Tatum, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, and the lead author of the study. The discovery of new brain-wave patterns is rare — it was more common in the years following the late 1920s, when the electroencephalogram (EEG) device, which shows brain activity, was invented, he said.

KTNV-TV Las Vegas, Summer Skin Safety — The sun is now out in full force, and with summer vacations and long holiday weekends, many more Americans will be enjoying the outdoors. Mayo Clinic Dermatologist Dr. Aleksandar Sekulic shares skin cancer prevention tips before the July 4th holiday weekend.

KXTV-ABC, Sacramento Summer skin safety tips — Dr. Aleksandar Sekulic from the Mayo Clinic offers tips for protecting yourself from skin cancer. Additional coverage: WPHM-Radio Detroit, WAPI-Radio Birmingham

WXOW-TV LaCrosse, Residency program celebrates 40 years by Tianna Vanderhei — Mayo Clinic Health System's Family Medicine Residency program is celebrating a landmark on Friday. Doctor Tom Grau has been in charge of the program for the past 30 years and said this marks a pivotal point. "I think it's a real significant milestone. Family medicine is a specialty that began actually in 1969, residency followed that in the early seventies, we came on in seventy-six. While there are other programs that our older than ours, ours is one of the older programs in the country," said Grau.

MSN.com, Is it Healthy to Sleep With Your Pets? by Lisa Esposito — A 2015 study from the Mayo Clinic sheds light on why people continue to keep their pets close at night. Sleeping with pets gives many people a sense of security, the study found. Much-loved pets warm people’s beds, keep them cozy and relaxed, and lend a soothing, comforting presence.

Arizona Republic, More than 80 percent of doctors at three Arizona hospitals accept drug-company payments by Ken Alltucker — More than 8 in 10 doctors at three Arizona hospitals accepted payments or gifts from pharmaceutical and medical-device companies, ranking these hospitals tops in the state for such payments, a new analysis found. Mayo Clinic had the fourth-lowest share of doctors accepting payments among Arizona hospitals. The only hospitals with lower rates were three tribal hospitals. Dr. Richard Ehman, who chairs Mayo’s medical-industry relations committee, said all Mayo practitioners adhere to an ethics policy that limits what types of payments they are allowed to accept from any industry. Mayo doctors are not allowed to speak at educational events unless they meet certain quality standards. And doctors are discouraged from attending events that promote a certain drug or device.

Post-Bulletin, Answer Man: Heckuva helipad — In Wednesday's masterpiece, I told you about the helipad atop Rochester Methodist Hospital, which even longtime downtown workers were surprised to know is still in use. A chopper very carefully landed there late Tuesday afternoon. As I also told you, I was checking with Mayo on the details, and amazingly, they responded even before I could sneak away Wednesday for a tube steak lunch at Murph's hot dog wagon in the Peace Plaza. According to Glenn Lyden, who's in public affairs for Mayo Clinic Medical Transport, "this Mayo Clinic helipad is utilized for high-risk obstetric cases — either for the mother, including pre-term patients and/or babies. This helipad is also utilized for hematology, oncology and transplant-related patients."

Post-Bulletin, Main Event: Shaving heads in an effort to save kids from cancer by Heidi Galbus — To fund research in the fight against childhood cancer, 59 head shavees, along with volunteers, supporters, and donors, gathered May 21 at Whistle Binkies on the Lake for the St. Baldrick's Foundation Head Shaving Event. Gross proceeds of some $32,000 topped the $30,000 goal. Carola Arndt, from Mayo Clinic, works in the design of clinical trials to improve the cure rate of pediatric sarcoma. In opening remarks she said, "These bald heads will, over the next weeks and months, send a message. These people shave in solidarity for all those kids who have lost their hair in childhood cancer."

Post Bulletin, Answer Man: Mayo strikes deal with Aussie radiology company — Dear Answer Man, I'm an investor in north-central Minnesota and received an email from one of my investment sources on this: what's the deal with Mayo Clinic and a company called Pro Medicus?... Pro Medicus Ltd. is an Australia-based company that makes radiology information systems and image archiving systems. The Mayo installation will begin in the second quarter of the company's fiscal year 2017 and be completed at the tail end of fiscal year 2018.

Billings Gazette, Yellowstone spokeswoman dies from rare heart condition by Brett French — A rare and poorly understood heart affliction has been identified as the cause of a Yellowstone National Park spokeswoman’s death in May. Amy Black Bartlett, 41, died at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital on May 15 after being rushed by ambulance from her Corwin Springs-area home, just north of Yellowstone. An autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner in Missoula identified spontaneous coronary artery dissection, known by the acronym SCAD, as the cause of Bartlett’s death, according to Bonnie Whitman, deputy coroner for Gallatin County. “Four or five years ago, it was thought to be incredibly rare,” said Sharonne N. Hays, a cardiologist and the principal investigator for the Mayo Clinic’s SCAD Research Program in Rochester, Minn. “We all thought it was so uncommon, but a lot of it was missed.”

Lifezette, Sun Damage When We’re Not Looking by Kristen Fischer — Most of us are likely to be outside for a good chunk of this holiday weekend and beyond. We’ll wear sunscreen when we’re at a parade or backyard barbecue — but will we protect ourselves when we’re not basking in the sun? “People are getting outdoors more and more,” said Dr. Scott Fosko, chair of the dermatology department at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, Lung Screening Program — To help with the early detection of lung cancer, Mayo Clinic Health System has expanded low-dose computerized tomography scanning to locations across northwest Wisconsin. Up until now, the lung screening program has been available to patients throughout northwest Wisconsin, but the low-dose CT scan could only be performed in Eau Claire. The process starts with a simple phone call with a pulmonary specialist to determine whether the patient qualifies for screening. Patients from outside of Eau Claire who qualify for screening will then participate in a telemedicine shared-decision visit to discuss pros and cons of screening. A low-dose CT scan can then be completed at the Mayo Clinic Health System location that is most convenient for the patient.

LaCrosse Tribune, Mayo-Franciscan program to teach Type 2 diabetes prevention by Mike TIghe — A free program on how to prevent diabetes will take place from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 4 in the Diabetes Education Conference Room in the hospital at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare at 700 West Ave. S. in La Crosse. Registered dietitian Tara Ringler will present the program, emphasizing that lifestyle choices, such as increasing physical exercise to produce modest weight loss, can delay or prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes, also called adult onset.

WEAU-TV Eau Claire, Care in the Air by Jesse Horne — They are called out when an ambulance won’t be fast enough. They also know they are part of a select group of lifesavers in the nation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there are 75 air ambulance companies which operate over 1,500 helicopters in the United States. Curt Conlin, a pilot for Mayo Clinic Health System, says an added challenge for medical flight crews is making sure each patient receives the right level of care." When we add in the fact that not every patient can go to every facility,” he said to WEAU 13 News. “We have to pick the appropriate facility and the appropriate level of care for that patient. So, we may have to skip over a facility or two to get to get to the appropriate one."

24/7 Wall St., The 25 Healthiest Cities in America by Samuel Stebbins — 1. Rochester, Minn...Home to one of the Mayo Clinic’s main locations, it is perhaps no coincidence that Rochester is the healthiest city in the United States. Adults in Rochester report an average of only 2.4 physically unhealthy days a month, the fewest of any U.S. city. When area residents need medical attention, there is no shortage of medical professionals in the area. There are roughly 180 primary care physicians for every 100,000 area residents, more doctors per capita than in any other U.S. city. Additional coverage: USA Today

NEJM Catalyst, Physician Burnout: Stop Blaming the Individual — In 2011, 45% of U.S. physicians had at least one symptom of professional burnout, according to a study from the Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-Being at Mayo Clinic. That number rose to 54% in 2014. And projections from the Department of Health and Human Services suggest that by 2020, the U.S. will face a shortage of 50,000 physicians. “The rising tide of burnout, coupled with its effects on quality of care and access, make burnout a major threat to the health care delivery system,” says Program Director Tait Shanafelt. “We need to stop blaming individuals and treat physician burnout as a system issue,” argues Shanafelt. “If it affects half our physicians, it is indirectly affecting half our patients.”

Twin Cities Business, Why Fairview, Mayo Believe Aromatherapy Has A Flowery Future In Health Care by Sam Schaust — At the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, more than 2,000 nurses and physicians have been trained in the use of aromatherapy as a treatment plan. “Often we ask patients from zero to ten if they found it beneficial,” said Sue Cutschall, an integrative health specialist at Mayo. “More often than not they will say there are some benefits, but I have had people say it doesn’t seem to have any effect on them.” Typically, Mayo’s use of aromatherapy has been in conjunction with medication. With no known side effects to inhaling scents, Cutschall finds the practice has helped curb the adverse side effects felt from pain medications.

Philly.com, Medical marijuana reduces prescription drug use, study finds by Don Sapatkin – "When states turned on a medical marijuana law," use of treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration went down, said senior author David Bradford, a health economist at the University of Georgia, "suggesting that they were substituting something else - and the plausible thing that they would be substituting was marijuana."…"Let's say a patient comes to my office saying, 'I'm using marijuana to sleep because your drugs didn't work for me.' He tells me he is using marijuana because it really helps him sleep and his antidepressant isn't working - 'and by the way, I've flunked out of school,' " said J. Michael Bostwick, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. While there is some evidence that medical marijuana can be helpful for certain conditions, Bostwick said, "you may need to decide whether you want your degree or your drug, and that's not addressed" by the new study, which he nevertheless called "ingenious."

KPNX-TV, Phoenix nurse donates kidney, gets lifelong friend by Jay McSpadden — Kate Burris is a healthy registered nurse at Mayo Hospital who decided save a life by donating a kidney to a complete stranger. Burris, 27, got the idea after watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The lucky recipient is 56-year-old Jim Ensslin. His health was declining and had been living with kidney disease for the last seventeen years. Ensslin was tired all the time and doctors told him he would probably need to start dialysis next month.

ASU Now, From worms to cancer cures by Amanda Stoneman — Two faculty laboratories within ASU’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics — and the students who work there — are fusing fundamental science with clinical research to create more effective diagnostic and treatment options for multiple types of cancer. “Neither of our labs could do this on our own,” said Dr. Karen Anderson, medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic Arizona and associate professor in the Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences. “We have the potential of thinking about the problem in a different way, and I think that’s really important.”

La Salud, Prácticas sugeridas para cuidadores y familiares de Alzheimer — La señora Reagan, quien falleció en marzo de este año a la edad de 94 años, fue una incansable defensora de los enfermos de Alzheimer y de sus familiares, recuerda el Dr. Ronald Petersen, neurólogo de Mayo Clinic que conocía bien a los Reagan. “En muchos sentidos, la señora Reagan fue la mejor cuidadora del presidente porque le brindó amor y apoyo de manera similar a como hacen muchos otros familiares de pacientes quienes viven con ese difícil diagnóstico”.

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