January 19, 2012

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Summary

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January 19, 2012

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 benedett.whitney@mayo.edu with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

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USA Today U.S. launches national war on Alzheimer's
by Janice Lloyd

The No. 1 goal stated in the early draft of the National Alzheimer's Project Act is to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's by 2025. Although the funding levels have not been determined, disease experts compare the multi-agency federal approach of NAPA to the wars on heart disease and cancer… “I think the potential impact of this plan is huge," says Ron Petersen, chairman of the NAPA non-federal advisory council and director of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. “Given the economic problems, it's a bit of a challenge, but this is our chance to make a bold statement.”

Circulation: USA TODAY has a circulation of 1.8 million and a readership of 3.1 million. USA TODAY websites have 26.3 million unique visitors a month.

Context: Dr. Ron Petersen is the Cora Kanow Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease Research at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Petersen is regularly sought out by reporters as a leading expert in his medical field.

Public Affairs Contacts: kilen.brian@mayo.edu, klein.traci@mayo.edu

MPR News, The Burden of Diabetes – The Hope for a Cure
by Lorna Benson

The number of Minnesotans with diabetes is growing so fast that state health officials describe the disease as a juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the state's health care system. But there is some hope. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota have set out to conquer diabetes within 10 years.

MPR News, Minnesota researchers on the cusp of a cure
by Lorna Benson

The cure for diabetes could come from cells from pigs being raised in germ-free pens in Western Wisconsin or from human skin cells in a lab on the University of Minnesota campus…Dr. Yogish Kudva, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, described a prototype of an artificial pancreas as a "continuous glucose sensor and transmitter."

Reach: Minnesota Public Radio operates 43 stations and serves virtually all of Minnesota and parts of the surrounding states. MPR has more than 100,000 members and more than 900,000 listeners each week, which is the largest audience of any regional public radio network.

Context: These are the first two reports of a week-long Minnesota Public Radio series on diabetes. The first piece, “The Burden of Diabetes: The Hope for a Cure” on diabetes features  Dr. Victor Montori, a Mayo diabetes specialist. Dr. Montori, developed a set of diabetes medication cards to help patients and their doctors make informed decisions about the medications they use to treat their diabetes. Dr. Yogish Kudva, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, is interviewed in the second piece, "Minnesota researchers on the cusp of a cure." For a more complete summary of the series this week, visit Mayo Clinic's Advancing the Science blog here.

MPR hosted a live web chat at 1 p.m., Jan. 19 about the latest research and practices in diabetes prevention and care. MPR News reporter Lorna Benson lead the discussion with Dr. Lisa Chow from the University of Minnesota and Dr. Robert Rizza from Mayo Clinic.

Public Affairs Contact: hanson.nicholas@mayo.edu

FOX9, Doc Discusses Haiti Quake Recovery

Two years ago, the people of Haiti began putting their lives and their country back together after a massive earthquake killed 300,000 and left 1.5 million homeless. FOX 9 News spoke with Dr. John Wilson, head of the Mayo Clinic's medical efforts there, about the ongoing efforts.

Reach: Minneapolis-St.Paul is the 16th largest television market in the United States with 1.7 million TV homes.  FOX 9 News (WFTC) typically has good viewership for its 9 p.m, newscast, but lags behind its competitors at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.

Context: Mayo Clinic has sent a number of teams to Haiti over the past two years. In the first part of 2011, Mayo Clinic focused on disaster relief; since July 2011, Mayo Clinic has focused on health care provider education and has been sending multidisciplinary teams every other month. Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Health System have sent roughly a dozen teams to the St. Damien’s Hospital complex in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, over the past year. Working with Operation Blessing International and the Haitian reconstruction consortium that includes former President Bill Clinton and Harvard’s Paul Farmer, Mayo provided hands-on medical care at St. Damien’s during Haiti’s cholera epidemic and is mentoring and training staff and helping the hospital strengthen its systems and other infrastructure. The teams have been led by several different physicians. Dr. John Wilson of Infectious Diseases is heading the overall effort.

Public Affairs Contact: theimer.sharon@mayo.edu

NCAA Champion Magazine, ‘Be 1-0 in every day and every way’
by Brian Hendrickson

Chris Norton’s teammates filled the stands and sidelines as Luther’s football team brought its honorary captain onto the field, roaring with victory before the game even began.

Circulation: The magazine is circulated to 30,000 subscribers nationwide. The mission of the magazine is to illustrate how good people do great things to support intercollegiate athletics.

Context: In October 2010, Chris Norton, a freshman at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, was injured during a college football game. During a kickoff return play, he went in for a tackle, and his head hit another player’s thigh. The impact left Chris with two broken vertebrae and a compressed spinal cord. He was airlifted to Mayo Clinic, where doctors said that he had just a 3 percent chance of regaining movement below the neck. But less than 24 hours after the accident, Chris could move his shoulder. And that first small movement marked the beginning of a series of steady, heroic steps forward. Chris continues to be an inspiration to many people as he goes through his recovery and rehabilitation.

Public Affairs Contact: anderson.bryan@mayo.edu

MinnPost, Divided youth hockey community has to do better job teaching — and protecting — its players
by Pat Borzi

Checking an opponent from behind, whether intentional or accidental, is illegal at all levels of boys' and men's ice hockey. In the youngest age groups where all checking is prohibited, players wear little “Stop” signs on the backs of their jerseys to reinforce the point. And at the checking levels, players who crunch a defenseless opponent in the back can be penalized and ejected from games…medical director Dr. Michael Stuart — an orthopedic surgeon based at the Mayo Clinic whose son Mark plays for the Winnipeg Jets — said kids that young aren't mentally equipped to stickhandle and simultaneously protect themselves from a body check.

Circulation: MinnPost is a nonprofit, nonpartisan enterprise which provides news and analysis based on reporting by professional journalists, most of whom have decades of experience in the Twin Cities media. According to MinnPost, the site averages more than 450,000 visits and more than 850,000 page views a month. At the end of 2010, MinnPost also had 8,800 followers on Twitter and its main Facebook page was liked by 3,500-plus readers.

Context: Dr. Michael Stuart, with an appointment in orthopedic surgery at Mayo Clinic, is a sports medicine expert.  He serves as Chief Medical Officer for USA Hockey, a consultant to the National Hockey League Players Association and is a member of the education committee of the International Ice Hockey Association. Dr. Stuart is routinely sought out by reporters for his expertise.

Public Affairs Contact: anderson.bryan@mayo.edu

 

NY Times, Nicotine Gum and Skin Patch Face New Doubt
by Ben Carey

The nicotine gum and patches that millions of smokers use to help kick their habit have no lasting benefit and may backfire in some cases, according to the most rigorous long-term study to date of so-called nicotine replacement therapy…Doctors who treat smokers said that the study findings were not unexpected, given the haphazard way many smokers used the products. “Patient compliance is a very big issue,” said Dr. Richard Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependence Center at the Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Hurt said products like nicotine gum and patches “are absolutely essential, but we use them in combinations and doses that match treatment to what the individual patient needs,” unlike smokers who are self-treating.

Circulation: The New York Times has the third highest circulation nationally, behind USA Today (2nd) and The Wall Street Journal (1st) with 1,150,589 weekday copies circulated and 1,645,152 circulated on Sundays.

Context: Dr. Richard Hurt is director of Mayo Clinic’s Nicotine Dependence Center and a leading expert on tobacco-related issues. As a former smoker, he once smoked three packs a day. Dr. Hurt had his last cigarette on Nov. 22, 1975.

Public Affairs Contact: Luckstein.kelley@mayo.edu

The Wall Street Journal, Heart Attack? What Steps Can Prevent a Second One
by Ron Winslow

For heart-attack survivors, eliminating copayments for heart-drug prescriptions can modestly improve the chances of avoiding a second attack, a new study found…The Mayo Clinic encourages its heart patients to take their prescribed medications by giving them a diagram that graphically shows their personal risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years…"Even when we give drugs for free, patients don't really understand why they're supposed to take them, and they don't," said Raymond Gibbons, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn.

Circulation: The Wall Street Journal, a US-based newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, is tops in newspaper circulation in America with an average circulation of 2,096,169 copies on weekdays.

Context: Dr. Gibbons was one of the experts who provided additional context and perspective for the study, which was presented November 14 at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association. It was also published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Public Affairs Contact: klein.traci@mayo.edu

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Tags: Alcohol and Tobacco, alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, american heart association, Bill Clinton, Cardiology, Cholera, Dr. John Wilson, Dr. Michael Stuart, Dr. Raymond Gibbons, Dr. Richard Hurt, Dr. Ron Petersen, Dr. Victor Montori, Dr. Yogish Kudva, Endocrinology / Diabetes, FOX9, Haiti, Infectious Diseases, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic Rochester, MinnPost.com, MPR News, National Alzheimer's Project Act, NCAA Champion Magazine, Nicotine Dependence Center, Operation Blessing International, Orthopedics, Paul Farmer, Research, Sports Medicine, St. Damien's Hospital, The Wall Street Journal, University of Minnesota, USA Hockey, USA Today, Wellness

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