May 18, 2012

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

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May 18, 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 Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

Thank you.

Karl Oestreich, manager enterprise media relations
oestreich.karl@mayo.edu

ABC News
High School Students Sign No-Tanning Pledges for Prom

On Friday, students at Maynard High School in Maynard, Mass. made good on an important promise: no tanning before this year's prom. Many of the students signed a pledge in February that they would skip the tanning bed and sunbathing before prom this year in an effort to reduce their risk of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer… In April, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that rates of melanoma increased by a factor of more than six from 1970 to 2009, and the rates were highest among young women.

Reach: ABCNews.com is the official website for ABC News.

Public Affairs Contact: fleming.alyson@mayo.edu

Reuters
Almost 1 in 3 in U.S. have sleepwalked – study

Close to one in three people in the United States may sleepwalk during their lives, according to a U.S. study that said severe depression and other sleep disorders may increase the possibility…"I'm not too surprised by the results," said Timothy Young, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist with the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Young, who was not involved in the research, said that sleepwalking is thought to be common during childhood, but tapers off as people get older. Past studies have shown that 30 percent of children may be sleepwalkers, the researchers wrote.

Circulation: Thomson Reuters is the world’s largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.

Context: Mayo Clinic Health System neurologist and sleep medicine specialist Timothy Young, M.D., discussed the new study published in the journal Neurology. Dr. Young practices at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.

Public Affairs Contact: barberlindquist.susan@mayo.edu

CBS Money Watch
Use social media? Memorize these vital 12 words
by Suzanne Lucas

Don't Cheat, Can't Delete. Don't Steal, Don't Reveal.  This is the social media policy of Farris Timimi, M.D., medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. It appears the Mayo Clinic can cure more than just health problems. This is a brilliant policy that you should adopt, regardless of your company's own approach to handling social media. (And far too few companies have coherent policies, anyway.)

Reach: CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, reaches more than 250 million people at its web properties each month.

Context: Farris Timimi, M.D. is medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media.

Public Affairs Contact: aase.lee@mayo.edu

US News & World Report
The Hunt for an Anti-Aging Pill Is on
by Adam Voiland

Medicine's focus has long been on treating specific diseases. We have radiation treatments to combat cancer tumors, cholesterol-lowering drugs to stave off heart attacks, and insulin to control diabetes… In a discovery that Science magazine hailed as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of 2011, researchers from the Mayo Clinic published results showing they could markedly delay the onset of age-related diseases in mice by killing off the rodents' senescent cells…”We're not there yet, but we're getting closer to doing clinical trials on people,” says James Kirkland, director of the Mayo Clinic's Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging and one of the scientists involved in the study. “There's so much promise.”

Reach: US News reaches more than 10 million unique visitors to its website each month.

Context: The Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging is an innovative center where education, research, and practice come together to improve the quality of life from birth to end of life. The goal of the center is to discover ways to delay the onset of age-related diseases and disabilities and, if they do occur, to find ways to make them more manageable. Information about the research of James Kirkland, Ph.D., director, can be found here.

Public Affairs Contact: westra.alaine@mayo.edu

Chicago Sun-Times
Naperville women persuade Mayo Clinic doctor to take their case
by Mark Taylor

Meet the women of the inaugural SCAD Survivors Reunion, a determined group whose lives were jolted and nearly ended by a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. SCAD is an uncommon and unstudied condition once thought incredibly rare. SCAD attacks occur when one or more of the main arteries to the heart dissect, or tear, causing internal bleeding, blood clots, heart attacks and often death…But in just a few years the SCAD ladies have accomplished what most people with rare conditions never do. They successfully enlisted a research physician from the renowned Mayo Clinic to conduct a pilot study of their members. Now cardiologist Sharonne Hayes and her Mayo Clinic colleagues are studying SCAD survivors in a clinical trial to learn more about the condition.

Reach: Chicago Sun-Times reaches 4.5 million people through its print and online vehicles.

Context: Sharonne Hayes, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and founder of Mayo's Women's Heart Clinic. Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (or SCAD), is a rare, life-threatening heart condition. Mayo Clinic used social media to reach out to survivors of SCAD, a poorly understood heart condition that affects just a few thousand Americans every year.

Public Affairs Contact: klein.traci@mayo.edu.

WCCO
Minnesota’s First Man To Live Without A Heart
by Aristea Brady

It’s easy to forget to re-charge our cell phones, or iPads, but what if your life relied on a battery? For one patient at the Mayo Clinic, his lifeline is a plastic, rechargeable heart. Alvin Carter carries around this backpack at all times…Carter was diagnosed with a disease called amyloidosis two months ago, a condition that damages the heart through protein build-up. “It just sort of fractured as we cut across it,” said Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Surgeon Dr. Lyle Joyce. “It was just crunchy.”

Reach: WCCO 4 News is the most-watched newscast in the Twin Cities, in 5 out of 7 newscasts. WCCO 4 News is #1 in 5 out of the 7 newscasts for all viewers in the 25-54 age range and WCCO 4 News is #1 in 7 out of 7 newscasts for female viewers in the 25-54 age range.

Context: Lyle Joyce, M.D., Ph.D., is a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon. One of his primary areas of research includes the development and clinical testing of various types of cardiac assist devices as a bridge to transplant and destination therapy.

Public Affairs Contacts: klein.traci@mayo.edu, hanson.nicholas@mayo.edu

WCCO
2 MN Sisters, 2 Heart Transplant Surgeries
by Rachel Slavik

Two young Minnesota sisters share a very special gift: two successful heart transplant surgeries.  For their mother, Linsey Rippy, this Mother’s Day is about routine rather than recognition. “You just deal with it. What more could I have done? You just take it as it comes,” said mother Rippy, whose 3-year-old daughter, Sydney, is still recovering. To say the least, few months have been tough on the Rippy family is an understatement. In October, Sydney was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart.

Reach: WCCO 4 News is the most-watched newscast in the Twin Cities, in 5 out of 7 newscasts. WCCO 4 News is #1 in 5 out of the 7 newscasts for all viewers in the 25-54 age range and WCCO 4 News is #1 in 7 out of 7 newscasts for female viewers in the 25-54 age range.

Context: This is a great heart-warming Mayo Clinic story on Mother’s Day about two sisters who had successful heart transplant surgeries.

Public Affairs Contacts: klein.traci@mayo.edu, hanson.nicholas@mayo.edu

KARE11
Whooping cough cases are on rise in Minnesota
by John Croman

Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is on the rise in Minnesota. It hasn't reached the point of an official "outbreak" yet, but health providers are asking parents to take steps to immunize themselves and their children. "I do not want to wait until the outbreak is full blown before taking action," Dr. Thomas Boyce, a Mayo Clinic specialist in pediatric infectious diseases told KARE.

Reach: KARE has won the demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years-old in almost every Nielsen ratings sweeps period since the late 1980s, while placing second overall in households at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. since May 2006, trailing rival CBS affiliate WCCO.

Context: KARE utilized video footage from a Medical Edge segment on whooping cough for its story.

Public Affairs Contact: sparks.dana@mayo.edu

MPR News
Mayo Alzheimer's expert lauds new federal initiative
by Cathy Wurzer

More than 5 million Americans are thought to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and now the federal government has set a new deadline to tackle the brain-wasting affliction. The National Alzheimer's Plan set a goal of finding new treatments, prevention and new training for doctors by 2025. Dr. Ronald Peterson is director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and he's also chair of the advisory council that wrote the new national plan. Peterson acknowledged that the 13-year deadline may seem short for an affliction that, at least for now, has no proven treatment.

Additional coverage: ABC News Radio, Nature Blog

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: Mayo Clinic issued a media alert May 14 on Alzheimer's Disease expert Ronald Petersen, M.D. who is participating  in the release of an ambitious national plan to address Alzheimer's disease.

Public Affairs Contact: kilen.brian@mayo.edu

MPR
Mayo team returns from high-altitude heart research
by Elizabeth Baier

A Mayo Clinic research team is back in Minnesota after a study on Mount Everest.  After leaving Minnesota in mid-April to stay at an Everest base camp, the six-member team returned over the weekend to Rochester. Mayo Clinic researcher Bryan Taylor says the extreme altitude on Mount Everest is similar to the conditions experienced by patients suffering from heart disease.  “Ultimately if we can really identify those parameters, for example, let's say someone who had the most disruption of their sleep ended up having the greatest symptoms of altitude sickness, and we can somehow relate that back to say heart failure situation, then perhaps we can predict adverse events,” Taylor said.

Additional coverage: Associated Press (St. Paul Pioneer Press), Star Tribune, KTTC, La Crosse Tribune, BringMeTheNews, WCCO, KSTP, Post-Bulletin, KAAL, MPR, MPR, WDIO Duluth, WKBT La Crosse, KEYC Mankato, KTTC, KIMT.

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: The Mayo Clinic team arrived home May 12. Their expedition has been chronicled on Mayo Clinic’s Advancing the Science blog.

Public Affairs Contacts: sparks.dana@mayo.edu, nellis.robert@mayo.edu

Star Tribune
Editorial: Old disease needs new safeguard

But a whooping cough outbreak in Washington State -- as well as alarming increases in whooping cough in Minnesota and Wisconsin -- serve as sobering reminders that some of these pathogens still lurk in everyday places and are capable of causing serious illness… ACTION NEEDED "Until we do better vaccinating adolescents and adults, this will repeatedly play out state after state.'' -The Mayo Clinic's Dr. ROBERT JACOBSON, on the pertussis epidemic in Washington state

Circulation: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 514,457 copies and weekday circulation is 300,330. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16th nationally in circulation

Context:  Robert Jacobson, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic physician with joint appointments in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. His area of research includes vaccines.

Public Affairs Contacts: luckstein.kelley@mayo.edu, hanson.nicholas@mayo.edu

Post-Bulletin
Co-owner of Major League Baseball team joins Mayo Clinic trustees
by Ken Hanson

Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees on Friday received Denver construction tycoon and Major League Baseball team owner Linda Alvarado as a new member. Alvarado, president and CEO of Denver-based Alvarado Construction Inc., became in 1992 the first Hispanic owner of a Major League Baseball franchise, the Colorado Rockies. She currently is co-owner of the team.

Additional coverage:CNBC, MarketWatch

Circulation: The Post-Bulletin has a weekend readership of nearly 45,000 people and daily readership of more than 41,000 people. The newspaper serves Rochester, Minn., and southeast Minnesota.

Context: Mayo Clinic distributed a news release May 11 announcing Linda Alvarado as a new member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees.

Public Affairs Contact: oestreich.karl@mayo.edu

KAAL
Mayo Clinic Mobile App
by Katie Eldred

The Mayo Clinic has always been on top of the latest technology and Tuesday was no exception. The clinic launched its mobile app Tuesday morning. Mark Henderson of Mayo Clinic says the app looks to put patient care at the tip of your fingers. "This app was really something our patients asked for." The app, only available for iPhones and iPods, focuses on all aspects of the patient's needs. "Many of the patients all have mobile devices, and if they've never been here they found the campus large and difficult to navigate," said Henderson.

Additional coverage: Physorg, KTTC, FOX47

Reach: KAAL is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., which owns all ABC Affiliates in Minnesota including KSTP in Minneapolis-St. Paul and WDIO in Duluth. KAAL, which operates from Austin, also has ABC satellite stations in Alexandria and Redwood Falls. KAAL serves Southeast Minnesota and Northeast Iowa.

Context: Mayo Clinic distributed a news release May 15 about its new mobile health application.

Public Affairs Contact: eisenman.rebecca@mayo.edu

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Tags: ABC News, alzheimer's disease, Business Relations, Cancer, Cardiology, Chicago Sun-Times, Dermatology, Dr. Farris Timimi, Dr. James Kirkland, Dr. Lyle Joyce, Dr. Ronald Peterson, Dr. Sharonne Hayes, Dr. Thomas Boyce, Dr. Timothy Young, Industry News & Competitive Intelligence, Infectious Diseases, Innovation (Center of), KAAL, KARE11, Linda Alvarado, Mark Henderson, Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic Rochester, melanoma, mobile health app, Mount Everest, MPR News, Neurology, Pediatrics, Post Bulletin, Preventive Medicine, Research, Reuters, Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, SCAD, Sleep Medicine, sleepwalking, Social Media, Star Tribune, Technology, The National Alzheimer's Plan, U.S. News & World Report, WCCO, whooping cough

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