June 2, 2017

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By Karl Oestreich

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

Editor, Karl Oestreich;  Assistant Editor: Emily Blahnik

 

CBS News
"Smartphone thumb" is plaguing more people, doctors say

A condition that doctors used to only see in factory workers is becoming more widespread.The pain that comes from the repetitive movements of texting has been dubbed "smartphone thumb" by doctors. Kristin Zhao, a biomedical engineer at theCBS News logo Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, explained what might be happening inside the hand to cause "smartphone thumb." "One of the hypotheses is that the joints get loose and lax, and because of that, the bones kind of move differently than they would in a normal situation," said Zhao. Zhao and a team of colleagues have been studying "smartphone thumb" for the last seven years. She says the movements we require our thumbs to make as we hold our phones are awkward.

Reach: CBSNEWS.com is part of CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation. The CBS web properties have more than 250 million people visit its properties each month.

Additional coverage: International Business Times, Hindustan Times, Ten Eyewitness News, Daily MailHuffPost UK, NDTV, Daily Tech, CBS Philly, WCAX Vermont

Context: Kristin D. Zhao, Ph.D., uses innovative technologies, device fabrication and imaging methods to investigate pathogenesis related to the musculoskeletal system. The long-term goal of Dr. Zhao's research team is to develop and use diagnostic tools to enable earlier diagnosis, prescribe effective interventions for individuals with disabilities and diseases, and assess outcomes. You can learn more about her research here.

Contact: Rhoda Fukushima Madson

 

US News & World Report
Men: Here's How to Eat and Exercise to Lose That Pool T-Shirt
by Ruben Castaneda

Lift weights or do resistance training. It’s a fallacy that we can transform fat into muscle, says Dan Gaz, a wellness US News Wellness Logoexercise specialist with the Mayo Clinic’s healthy living program in Rochester, Minnesota. “Fat and muscle are two completely different things,” Gaz says. “We can’t change one into the other, but we can change the proportionality.” Lifting weights can help change your shape, Gaz says. You needn’t lift like an aspiring bodybuilder – starting out with moderately difficult resistance is fine, so long as you keep pushing yourself by incrementally lifting more weight or adding more repetitions. You don’t want to stay in a routine that’s comfortable. “Say you’re doing three sets of 10 reps of bench presses at 100 pounds,” Gaz says. “If that gets easy, try three sets of 10 at 105 pounds, or four sets of 10 of 100 pounds.”

Additional coverage:
Bustle, 10 Worst Pieces Of Common Fitness Advice That You Should Never Follow

Other U.S. News coverage:
US News & World Report, Disfigurement of the Hands and Feet in RA May Be a Thing of the Past

Reach: U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and information, which includes http://www.usnews.com and http://www.rankingsandreviews.com.

Contact: Kelley Luckstein

 

NPR
In The Age Of Digital Medicine, The Humble Reflex Hammer Hangs On
by Bret Stetka

Dr. Andrew Wilner, an assistant professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic, recounted the story of one of his patients, who had back pain, weakness and numbness of the legs. Wilner was leaning toward a diagnosis of either Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) — an autoimmune disorder of peripheral nerves — or a myelopathy, an injury of some kind to the spinal cord. Both conditions can lead to medical emergencies, but each requires drastically different treatment. "The reflex hammer was arguably our most important tool in narrowing down the differential diagnosis," he says. "Had we found diminished or absent deep tendon reflexes, GBS would have been more likely. As it turned out, the patient had brisk pathological knee jerks, pointing to a lesion in the brain or spinal cord."

Reach: Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk. We report on news that can make a difference for your health and show how policy shapes our health choices.

Context: Andrew Wilner, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

Contact: Jim McVeigh

 

BuzzFeed
13 Tips For Snacking A Little Healthier
by Anthony Rivas

I reached out to registered dietitians Jessica Jones, co-creator of Food Heaven Made Easy and author of 28-Day Plant-BuzzFeed News LogoPowered Health Reboot, and Jason Ewoldt, wellness dietitian at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, for advice on how best to resist snacking mindlessly — because I will come for all the goodies. If you're in the same boat, here's what you should know…While the goal should be to snack better, you can technically still snack mindfully and reduce caloric intake on that giant bag of chips or candy or what-have-you — just portion it out instead of eating straight from the package, Ewoldt says. This way you have a predetermined amount of food that's available to you. "You can eat the whole thing in five minutes or 50 minutes. It doesn't matter because it's already pre-portioned into a serving," he says.

Reach: BuzzFeed features the kind of things like an outrageous video that's about to go viral, an obscure subculture breaking into the mainstream, a juicy bit of gossip that everyone at the office will be talking about tomorrow, or an ordinary guy having his glorious 15 minutes of fame. BuzzFeed has more than 17.6 million unique visitors each month.

Additional coverage:
Muscle & Fitness, 11 signs you’re eating too many carbs
AARP, Greek Yogurt vs. Regular Yogurt: Is One Better? 

Context: The Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program is redefining healthy living. It’s a comprehensive, whole-body wellness experience guided by medical research and evidence-based medicine to offer guests trusted solutions to improve quality of life.

Contact: Kelly Reller

New York Times, The Earliest Signs of Brain Damage in Athletes? Listen for Them by Lawrence Altman, M.D. — In the study, to be published this week in the journal Brain and Language, researchers at Arizona State University tracked a steeper decline in vocabulary size and other verbal skills in 10 players who spoke at news conferences over an eight-year period, compared with 18 coaches and executives who had never played professional football and who also spoke in news conferences during the same period… Someday such a test may help scientists detect and monitor a number of neurological disorders, said Dr. Richard Caselli, a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona — including individuals who are without symptoms, but are at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

New York Times, China’s Ill, and Wealthy, Look Abroad for Medical Treatment by Sui-Lee Wee — Chinese people took an estimated 500,000 outbound medical trips last year, a fivefold increase from a year earlier, according to Ctrip.com International, a Chinese travel booking company, which offers medical travel on its website. While the bulk of that is focused on plastic surgery and routine examinations, medical travel agencies say the number of critically ill Chinese patients leaving the country for medical treatment is growing. “China is among the countries where we have seen the greatest growth in recent years,” Dr. Stephanie L. Hines, the chairwoman of executive health and international medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said in an email.

Robb Report, The Superfoods You Need for Longevity by Erin O’Donnell — Olive oil has other heart-health benefits, says Dr. Donald Hensrud, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. A rigorous study of the Mediterranean diet asked people in Spain who were at high risk for heart attacks and strokes to consume more than four tablespoons of olive oil each day, and it found that they had a 30 percent lower risk of having a heart attack or stroke or of dying of cardiovascular disease than participants on a low-fat diet. In addition to healthy fats, whole-grain foods—which include all three parts of the grain (the bran, the endosperm, and the germ)—are heart protective. They offer beneficial fiber, which helps lower cholesterol, and B vitamins and magnesium, which are both necessary for cardiovascular health. Whole-grain foods are also filling, making them useful for weight loss. Hensrud suggests adding a variety of whole grains to the menu rotation, such as brown rice, old-fashioned oatmeal, quinoa, faro, and barley.

MyFitnessPal, 12 Healthy Foods That Fill You Up Best by Dina Cheney — We all know the feeling of eating too much food, of being not just full but stuffed, and yet not feeling satisfied… Dr. Donald Hensrud, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program and medical editor-in-chief of “The Mayo Clinic Diet,” agrees. “Numerous studies have demonstrated that when people eat foods high in water and fiber and low in fat and processed carbohydrates, they can achieve satiety at a lower calorie intake (but the same weight of food consumed) and, therefore, better manage weight.” Additional coverage: True Viral News

Reader’s Digest, Two Types of Skin Cancer Are Skyrocketing—Are You At Risk? By Alexa Erickson — When it comes to sun awareness, we’re at an all-time high: Everyone knows to wear hats and long sleeves and slather on protection in the summer, and we have plenty of info on choosing the right kind of sunscreen. So why are cases of two types of skin cancer skyrocketing, according to new research from the Mayo Clinic? For the study, Mayo researchers went to the Rochester Epidemiology Project—it has 50 years-worth of medical data from a network of medical clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Drawing on records of nearly 145,000 people, the researchers tallied cases of the two most common types of skin cancer—basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma—between 2000 and 2010. Additional coverage: Daily Star, Specialty Pharmacy Times

CNN, Does a microcurrent facial really lift your face? by Jacqueline Howard — Have you ever worked out your face? An eyebrow-raising beauty trend, called a microcurrent facial, aims to do just that… The technology could be used similarly for a medical procedure. For instance, when people have facial paralysis or Bell's palsy, they would see a physical therapist to learn how to move and retrain certain facial muscles, Knott said. As part of that retraining, some therapists may use an electrical stimulation device to help patients gain control of individual muscles and facial expressions, Knott said. (Bell's palsy can also be treated with anti-inflammatory medications, antiviral drugs, or surgery, according to the Mayo Clinic.)

CNN, Births to older moms rise as teen birth rate drops by Jacqueline Howard — Besides maternal age, risk factors for a high-risk pregnancy include underlying health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, being HIV-positive, or being overweight or obese. "Age is just one piece of the puzzle. What is more important is the overall health of the mom and her risk factors for some of these complications," Casey said. "Some women are healthy at 40, and some women are really sick at 20, and you have to provide that individualized kind of care ... and look beyond just plain age," she said. "I had a child at 31 and then 38 and then 41, and all of my pregnancies have been blessed and pretty uneventful." Additional coverage: News4Jax

HealthDay, Gut Bacteria Changes After Some Weight-Loss Surgeries by Robert Preidt — Obesity, which affects nearly one-third of people in the United States, can lead to health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. According to the researchers, "a tell-tale indicator" of disease in obese patients has been a markedly lower diversity of microbial communities in the gut. Study co-author John DiBaise explained that "these new data on microbial community structure and function significantly expand our knowledge on how the microbiome is associated with weight loss following bariatric surgery." DiBaise is a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. Additional coverage: Philly.com, US News & World Report

WAER New York, Reaction Time to Stroke Critical for Treatment, Doctors Say by Chris Bolt — Not recognizing a stroke when it begins can reduce the time medical professionals have to react and begin treatment. Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Robert Brown sees people realizing their own symptoms, but might have to rely on others. “A loved one or a friend or a coworker may begin to note that that person is acting different than usual or they’re just not talking in their usual way or that they have a bit of a facial droop.  So it can be someone around them that can quickly realize that that person is starting to have those neurological symptoms.”

CBS St. Louis, May is Stroke Awareness Month. Dr. Robert Brown, Neurologist, Mayo Clinic on preventing strokes — Strokes can be prevented, according to Dr. Robert Brown. Keep a check on your blood pressure. No smoking. Watch your diet to keep cholesterol low. And, exercise.

WMAR Baltimore, How to identify the warning signs of a stroke — It only takes minutes for brain cells to die when a stroke occurs. A stroke happens when blood supply to the brain is interrupted or severely reduced. That's why it's so important to understand the signs and symptoms of a stroke. The acronym FAST can help identify those warning signs: face, arms, speech and time. "People should remember an acronym. Its simple... FAST," said Dr. Rabi Tawk from the Mayo Clinic. "F is for the face. When they smile if the face droops to one side A is for the arms if people put their arms up and the one side drifts down. S is for speech if you cannot repeat a sentence, you've got to suspect they've had a stroke. T is for time. It's time to act, time to call 911 and ask for help."

HuffPost UK, The Hazards Of Being An Insomniac by Patricia Evans — Insufficient sleep can cause obesity, hypertension, and heart diseases. The Mayo Clinic adds that it can also result to lower performance in school and at work, increased risk of road accidents, mental disorders and long-term diseases. “People with insomnia report a lower quality of life compared to people who are sleeping well,” the Mayo Clinic noted.

Express UKSkin cancer symptoms: Do you know the signs of these two common types on the rise? by Lauren Clark — According to new research, rates of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are rising fast. A report by the Mayo Clinic found that between 2000 and 2010, there were 260 per cent more people diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, and 145 per cent more people were told they have basal cell carcinoma. Both are non-melanoma types, meaning they are a group of cancers which slowly develop in the upper layers of the skin.

First Coast News, New drug may give lasting hope to sufferers of rare disease that often leads to death by Janny Rodriguez — For the first time in decades, there is hope for people living with a very rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy or SMA. A new drug has the potential to stop the progression of the disease and perhaps even reverse it. So far only one woman in the state of Florida has been dosed with the drug and she happens to live right here on the first coast… “Your muscles start shrinking away and wasting away,” said Dr. Bjorn Oskarsson, Director MDA Clinic at Mayo Clinic.

Jacksonville Daily Record, Lung center moving forward by Karen Brune Mathis — Mayo Clinic and United Therapeutics are another step closer to developing a lung-restoration center at Mayo’s Southside campus. The city is reviewing a permit application for construction of a $32.4 million structure for the center. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. will build the three-story, 75,000-square-foot center at 14221 Kendall Hinch Circle. The city also is reviewing a $6.2 million project for soil improvements, foundations and structural concrete work for the center. It will be next to the Birdsall Medical Research and Griffin Cancer Research buildings on the Mayo campus at 4500 San Pablo Road, just off Butler Boulevard.

ActionNewsJax, Mayo Clinic one of few centers offering hot chemotherapy by Deanna Bettineschi — At 21 years old, Taylor Overby remembers how she found out she had colon cancer. “It was really bad abdominal pains, constipation, vomiting,” Overby said…Doctors at Mayo Clinic decided Overby needed another surgery, and she was also a perfect candidate for hot chemotherapy, also called HIPEC. ‘We take chemo in a large solution a couple of gallons put it in the abdomen and let it soak in the abdomen in the hope it will kill any microscopic disease left behind,” Dr. Sanjay Bargaria, a Surgical Oncologist at Mayo Clinic, said.

Tampa Bay Times, Mayo Clinic Q&A: Getting a definitive Parkinson's diagnosis — My mother was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, but she doesn't have many symptoms. I would like her to get a second opinion. Is there a blood test that can determine if the diagnosis is accurate?... There's no one test that can be used to diagnose Parkinson's disease. Instead, the diagnosis is based on a person's medical history and symptoms, along with a neurological and physical exam. If your mother has doubts about her Parkinson's diagnosis, getting a second opinion from a neurologist who specializes in the disease would be reasonable. Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. In people who have this disease, certain nerve cells in the brain, called neurons, gradually die. — J. Eric Ahlskog, M.D., Ph.D., Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Northwest Florida Daily News, Fight for country, fight for life by Kelly Humphrey — Last year, Steve Hughes’ doctors gave him the kind of news no one wants to hear. Hughes was a very sick man. With both his heart and his kidneys failing, his prognosis was grim… That was in August. For the next few months, Hughes lay in a bed at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville while his family and friends rushed to his bedside. “I was receiving excellent care, so I guess my condition improved a little,” Hughes said. “I’m not sure why, but at some point the doctors decided to put me on the list for a transplant.” Hughes was prepared to stay in the hospital for more than a year while waiting for a possible organ donor. But on Nov. 11, 2016, the retired fighter pilot received the best Veterans Day present imaginable: a rare, dual heart and kidney transplant. The surgeries took more than 10 hours to complete.

KTAR Arizona, Sweet bell peppers are Arizona’s best summer food — Peppers love Arizona’s desert heat, and they’re plentiful and available in a kaleidoscope of colors there between July and October. “Sweet bell peppers are a tasty, simple snack, and they’re one of the best sources of vitamin C; you can also cut them in half and fill them with seasoned fish or chicken,” says Katherine Zeratsky, RD, an associate professor of nutrition at the Mayo Clinic.

Doctors Lounge, Increased Gut Diversity Seen After Roux-en-Y — Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery triggers major changes in the microbial population of the digestive tract, according to a report published online May 26 in the ISME Journal…Study coauthor John DiBaise, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., explained in the news release that "these new data on microbial community structure and function significantly expand our knowledge on how the microbiome is associated with weight loss following bariatric surgery."

WPVI Philadelphia, Experts: Most people don't need popular thyroid medication Levothyroxine — Every year, more than 120 million prescriptions are written for Levothyroxine. The drug is designed to increase low thyroid hormone levels. But, experts at the Mayo Clinic say, most patients don't need it. They say the symptoms of under-active thyroid are vague, and similar to other conditions. Furthermore, those experts said, once patients are on the drug, most doctors never check back to see if their symptoms really improve. "And that is the key, to reassess. The majority of the patients get treated and never have a chance to withdraw from the medicine, and they just get treated for the rest of their lives," said Dr. Juan Brito of the Mayo Clinic.

Minneapolis/Paul Business Journal, After slow start, Rochester's promised building boom may be here by Mark Reilly — One of the key elements of Rochester's multibillion-dollar Destination Medical Center plan was a massive construction effort to build more apartments, offices and hotels. After years of false starts, that may finally be happening. The Post-Bulletin has a rundown of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of construction projects happening this year, which run the gamut from offices (like the DMC's Discovery Square project, being built by M.A. Mortenson Co.), to residential (Alatus's $ 115 million, 13-story project near St. Marys hospital), to medical (an expansion of the St. Marys hospital, which is part of Mayo's giant campus).

Star Tribune, Rochester International Airport says it's poised to take off by Matt McKinney — Buoyed by new routes opening this summer and the prospect of more business from the Mayo Clinic, the Rochester International Airport hopes to grow after several years of mostly flat or falling passenger counts. The airport currently has two airlines with 16 total departures and arrivals daily, but by midsummer that will climb to three airlines and 26 daily departures and arrivals. The Mayo Clinic also announced recently that its 30,000 Rochester employees will be directed to use the local airport for business travel rather than the larger Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, about 85 miles away.

Twin Cities Business, BioSig Technologies Issues Big Warrant Position to Mayo Clinic Ventures by Don Jacobson — Mayo Clinic secured a big potential stock ownership position in Twin Cities-based medical device startup BioSig Technologies in connection with a long-term research collaboration with the Rochester institution and its licensing arm, Mayo Clinic Ventures, newly filed documents show. BioSig, has a close working relationship with Dr. Samuel Asirvatham of Mayo in the development of its PURE electrophysiology (EP) platform, which uses proprietary technology to filter out electromagnetic interference from equipment in a typical EP lab. This is aimed at producing “cleaner” electrocardiograms needed to improve the efficiency and safety of catheter ablation, an increasingly common procedure to treat stubborn cases of complex heart arrhythmias.

KAAL, Relative of Mother Mary Alfred Moes Visits Rochester — A relative of Saint Marys Hospital's founder traveled from across the world to visit her gravesite. Gerard Moes is the great-great-grandnephew of Mother Mary Alfred Moes, who is famous for presenting Doctor William Mayo with the idea to build a hospital after a tornado devastated Rochester in 1883. The Sisters of Saint Francis Rochester opened Saint Marys Hospital, which today is part of Mayo Clinic. Moes and his wife came from Luxembourg and said it was eye-opening to learn about his great aunt's legacy.

KAAL, Goggles Give Lesson In Impairment — It’s a problem that has grown to epidemic, and life-threatening proportions. But education could be the first step in controlling it, and on Tuesday the community got a lesson in safety. "Whether the impairment is with drugs or alcohol or even sleep," said Joy Shaft at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea.The medical center’s trauma team focused its educational outreach on impaired drivers.  Participants first created a blood-alcohol level profile. "The type of beverage that they drank the ounces that they drank over the period of time, their weight and they will calculate the blood-alcohol level that that is," Shaft said.

Post-Bulletin, Family member of Saint Marys founder visits community by Ryan Faircloth — Gerard Moes stared in awe as he paced through the halls of Assisi Heights, frequently pausing to view old photographs of his ancestor and her accomplishments. "What I like of Assisi Heights is that there seems to be … this silence, this harmony," Moes said. "Everybody has a contribution." Gerard Moes, 68, and his wife, Margit Moes, traveled from Luxembourg to learn about the history of his ancestor and fourth great aunt, Mother Alfred Moes, founder of Saint Marys Hospital and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota. During their stay Tuesday and Wednesday, the Moes visited Assisi Heights, Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys Campus, the Mayo Clinic and the gravesite of Mother Alfred Moes.

Austin Daily Herald, Mayo Clinic Health System opens Express Care clinic in new Hy-Vee — Express Care is now seeing patients at its location within the new Austin Hy-Vee, adjacent to the Hy-Vee Pharmacy. The clinic, one of about about a dozen operated by Mayo Clinic Health System, has three exam rooms, a waiting area and lab area… Tricia Dahl, operations administrator for Mayo Clinic Health System, said the “first of the [Express Care] innovations opened about 10 years in Albert Lea,” and since then, access to medical care has expanded in the region at a lower cost. She also thanked Hy-Vee, which helped form “a great partnership” that provides quality care.

Austin Daily Herald, County keeping close eye on measles outbreak by Jason Schoonover — Officials from the Mayo Clinic Health System – Southeast Minnesota Region reported each of its Midwest sites is vigilantly watching for cases of measles. Mayo is providing education about measles to patients and staff and screening when appropriate for signs and symptoms of measles. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccination is considered effective 14 days after administration, and the vaccination is considered to be about 93 percent effective after the first dose and 97 percent effective after the second dose, according to Mayo Clinic Health System. Very few people who get the two-dose series will still get measles if exposed to the virus.

MedPage Today, Clinical Challenges: Aggressive or Cautious When Treating Relapsing MS? by Kristina Fiore —The older therapies, which are often referred to as "platform" therapies, do have one advantage over newer, more aggressive drugs: evidence of safety, said Brian Weinshenker, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "As a patient, I might not ask, what is the newest and hottest drug? I would say, which one has been around a long time that we have good safety on, knowing I'm going to be on this drug for the next 10 or 20 years or longer," Weinshenker said.

General Surgery News, GI Leaks Tamed With Endoluminal Vacuum by Christina Frangou — Endoluminal vacuum therapy can be used to safely and effectively treat patients with gastrointestinal leaks, including those who develop leaks following bariatric surgery and those who have failed repeated attempts at more definitive closure, according to a new study. The research was presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons… “But we certainly are seeing a paradigm shift. In the old days, these are patients who would be sitting in ICUs for months at a time. Having a system that allows you treat them quickly and resolve this without a major surgical intervention that’s highly morbid is definitely a significant advancement,” Dr. Abu Dayyeh said.

Mass Device, Mauna Kea touts data from Cellvizio lung transplant study by Fink Densford — Mauna Kea this week presented data from a study examining the use of its Cellvizio platform in assessing acute lung rejection following transplant. Data from the study was presented at the 2017 American Thoracic Society’s International Conference. The Cellvizio device is designed for use in a variety of surgical procedures, providing real time visualization at the microscopic level, Mauna Kea said… “Probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy represents a potential new tool to provide a less-invasive diagnosis of acute lung rejection in lung transplant recipients requiring trans-bronchial biopsies. The results from our study suggest that pCLE could potentially save patients from unnecessary invasive biopsies. We look forward to further studying this endomicroscopy application in order to better enhance the treatment continuum for lung transplant patients,” Dr. Cesar Keller of Jacksonville, Fla.’s Mayo Clinic said in prepared remarks.

Healthline, Is Zinc the Best Remedy for the Common Cold? by Daivd Mills —A new study has rekindled the debate over how effective zinc can be in preventing and treating the common ld. In the recent research from the University of Helsinki, scientists said people who took a relatively high dose of zinc daily had a rate of recovery that was three times better than people who didn’t take the chemical element. Infectious disease experts interviewed by Healthline had mixed opinions on these findings...“I would take the results with a grain of salt,” said Dr. Pritish Tosh, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Minnesota Daily, UMN medical students help create vaccine-promotion resources for physicians by Max Chao — Two University of Minnesota medical students are leading a project to help doctors talk with vaccination-hesitant parents. For the last year, 20 students from medical schools in the state worked to compile and distribute resources to help doctors and medical students discuss vaccination with wary parents…“The materials they are putting together are very timely, and I think they can be very useful in those face-to-face visits with parents bringing their children in,” said Dr. David Agerter, physician at the Mayo Clinic and president of the MMA.

HIT Consultant, Baxter and Mayo Clinic Launch R&D Collaboration to Advance Innovation in Therapeutics by Jasmine Pennic — Baxter International, a medical products company and Mayo Clinic are teaming up on a five-year research and development (R&D) collaboration focused on advancing innovation in therapeutic areas. The R&D collaboration will bring together the clinical and development expertise at Baxter and Mayo Clinic, where clinicians and researchers will work side-by-side to advance new technologies and therapies that transform patient care. Baxter’s Medical Products business produces intravenous products and other products used in the delivery of fluids and drugs to patients; inhalational anaesthetics; contract manufacturing services; and products to treat end-stage renal disease, or irreversible kidney failure, including products for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. Additional coverage: Mass Device, MobiHealthNewsReuters

HIT Consultant, OneOme, Mayo Clinic Launches Nation’s Largest Population-Based Pharmacogenomics Study — Pharmacogenomic company OneOme is teaming up with Mayo Clinic and Baylor on the nation’s largest population-based pharmacogenomics study. The study, developed and led by Mayo Clinic, is called the RIGHT 10K study and its purpose is to examine the health and economic outcomes of pharmacogenomics in 10,000 participants. The study will use the laboratory services at Baylor to sequence genomic data from participants recruited from the Mayo Clinic Biobank, along with OneOme’s services to interpret and deliver each participant’s pharmacogenomics data to clinicians in an understandable, electronic format.

WebMD, Can You Change Your Gut Bacteria? by Susan Donaldson James — Purna C. Kashyap, MD, a gastroenterologist and researcher at the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine, says he won’t prescribe probiotic supplements to his patients with digestive complaints. “I can’t tell people to go out and spend money on probiotics without actually having the clinical data to back it up,” he says. “But if they are already taking them and perceive benefits I tell them it’s fine.”

Springfield Business Journal, Mercy participating in cancer study with Mayo Clinic, others — Mercy signed on to participate in a joint cancer study with more than 70 health care organizations, including the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic. Through the partnership, patients at Mercy’s hospitals in Springfield, Joplin and Fort Smith, Arkansas, have the option to submit blood samples to be analyzed by Menlo, Park, California-based cancer detection firm Grail Inc., according to a news release.

WKBT La Crosse, Mayo's Belle Square clinic opens June 1st by Jaymes Langrehr — A quick care option is about ready to open in downtown La Crosse. Mayo Clinic Health System is opening their new clinic in Belle Square on Third Street tomorrow morning. The clinic won't be a substitute for going to the emergency room or urgent care, but will be able to provide those who are downtown with some limited primary care for everyday issues. "Sometimes, depending on a person's needs and convenience, it's difficult to get in to see one's primary care provider, so what we're looking to provide here in the downtown area is convenient, high quality and efficient care for people who may need to be seen on a rather urgent or semi-urgent basis," said Dr. Joe Behn. Additional coverage: WXOW La Crosse, La Crosse Tribune, WEAU Eau Claire

Neurology Today, Long-Term Opioid Use Linked to Adverse Outcomes, No Functional Improvement in Patients with Polyneuropathy by Sarah Owens — Patients with polyneuropathy who took opioids continuously for at least 90 days had no improvement in functional status and had a higher risk of adverse events, including overdose, compared to patients who had a shorter duration of opioid use, according to a new study published in the May 22 online edition of JAMA Neurology…"Our results suggest unintended consequences of long-term opioid therapy when it is used for or in the setting of polyneuropathy," the study authors, led by E. Matthew Hoffman, DO, PhD, a resident in adult neurology at the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education in Rochester, MN, wrote.

Fierce Healthcare, 4 healthcare execs weigh in on a supply chain conundrum by Ron Shinkman — The supply chain puts items into the hands of hospital staff. But sometimes they don’t want to let go—even when a change could save money. The Mayo Clinic, for instance, is trying to move away from a culture of buying what physicians want personally and instead shifting to buying what makes clinical sense, according to Dan Schmitz, Mayo’s senior director of procure to pay and supply chain informatics, at a recent executive breakfast and discussion on innovations and trends in healthcare supply chain practices hosted by FierceHealthcare and American Express.

Health Imaging, Misidentified sniffs may point to early-stage Alzheimer’s by Dave Pearson — Mayo Clinic researchers have found a correlation between neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and results from a literal smell test: If at-risk older folks are losing their sense of smell, they’re more likely to be developing the disease than their well-smelling peers. In a study published online May 22 in Annals of Neurology, lead author Maria Vassilaki, MD, MPH, PhD, and colleagues describe their work evaluating 829 cognitively normal participants. The cohort was about equally divided between men and women, with a mean age of 79.2 years.

Healthcare IT News, Hospital survival guide for a world overflowing with unsecured medical devices by Tom Sullivan — Medical device security is an utter mess. Consider this: The machines themselves often have 10, 15 or even 20-year lifespans and replacing those legacy devices with more secure ones en masse is simply not a realistic option. Take the Mayo Clinic, for instance. The organization has what Clinical Information Security Director Kevin McDonald described as a boatload of medical devices anchored down by legacy products. “Until all of our devices turnover, until manufacturers start churning out devices with security built-in, I have to deal with them,” said Kevin McDonald, Director of Clinical Information Security at the Mayo Clinic. “Security should not be the sole responsibility of healthcare providers.”

US News & World Report, The Latest: Teen Plane Crash Survivor in Serious Condition — Hospital officials say the teen who survived a fatal plane crash in northwestern Wisconsin is in serious condition at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Eighteen-year-old Hunter Gillett was a passenger in the two-seat plane that crashed into the Red Cedar River near Chetek Wednesday evening, killing the pilot, 17-year-old Owen Knutson. Additional coverage: WCCO, WQOW Eau Claire, WEAU Eau Claire,Fox 9

A Tu Salud en Line, Conoce un poco más sobre el virus del Zika — Estos suelen ser moderados y duran menos de una semana. La mejor medida de prevención es protegerse de las picaduras de los mosquitos. Pero dejemos que sea la Dra. Karina González Carta, cardiólogo e investigador en Mayo Clinic, quien nos de más información sobre este tema.

Protocolo, Broncearse o proteger la piel — Los diagnósticos nuevos de dos tipos de cáncer de piel aumentan en los últimos años, dice un equipo de investigadores dirigidos por Mayo Clinic. El trabajo del equipo, publicado hoy en Mayo Clinic Proceedings, empleó los expedientes médicos del Proyecto Epidemiológico de Rochester para comparar los diagnósticos de carcinoma de células basales y de carcinoma de células escamosas, ... El trabajo del equipo, publicado hoy en Mayo Clinic….

Debate, ¿Cómo controlar las náuseas en el embarazo? — “Las náuseas matinales en el embarazo no representan ningún peligro de salud para la embarazada o el bebé, y normalmente pasan a medida que avanza el embarazo”, afirmó Julie Lamppa, Enfermera Especialista en Partos, Obstetricia y Ginecología de Mayo Clinic. “A pesar de que pueden ser preocupantes, especialmente cuando provocan pérdida de peso y afectan el apetito, son una parte natural del embarazo y existen ciertas medidas que se pueden tomar para aliviarlas.”

Bertha Sola, Cómo mitigar enfermedades óseas en la menopausia — Al entrar en la edad adulta, la mayoría de las mujeres comienza a prestar mayor atención a su calidad de vida. Los padecimientos relacionados con los huesos, como la osteoporosis, suelen ser las mayores preocupaciones, así como qué se debe o no hacer. Muchos recomiendan suplementos de calcio, evitar la cafeína e incluso no llevar una alimentación con alto contenido de proteínas. Pero, ¿qué es lo realmente recomendable? Nos lo dice el Dr. Robert Wermers, endocrinólogo de Mayo Clinic.

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