November 16, 2012

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By Karl Oestreich

 

 

November 16, 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

Wall Street Journal
The Device That Saves Lives, But Can Be Hard to Find
by Ron Winslow

You needed an automated external defibrillator to help a victim of sudden cardiac arrest, chances are you would have trouble finding one, even if a device were located nearby. That's despite the fact that about one million AEDs—portable devices that can jump-start the heart and save lives when sudden cardiac arrest strikes—are installed in office buildings, malls, schools and sports stadiums around the U.S…The study also could be an early step to help fill in gaps in understanding about how to allocate public-health resources. "We know [AEDs] have lifesaving potential," says Roger White, an anesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and an expert in sudden cardiac arrest. "Not a lot is known about how well they're performing, how frequently they are attached to patients" and what the outcomes are. "We need to know what's really happening with the devices," he says.

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 million copies on weekdays.

Context: Roger White, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist who has spent his lifetime researching outcomes of patients who have experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Just the idea of performing CPR can intimidate the average person, whether it's the thought of what's at stake or simply trying to remember all of the steps. Dr. White has moved to simplify cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices for the public and highlighted these important advances during CPR Awareness Month earlier this year.

Public Affairs Contacts: Sharon Theimer, Traci Klein

Post-Bulletin
Regenerative medicine raises hope
by Jeff Hansel

Even as regenerative medicine emerges as a new hope for many, doctors caution that it takes time to get a new discovery from the research lab to patient treatment. As an example, one type of regenerative medicine, treatment of blood cancer disorders, has taken about 50 years to develop, said Mayo Clinic heart specialist Dr. Andre Terzic, director of Mayo's regenerative medicine center. "We want to make sure that we are not creating a hype in the society but that we are really offering hope for patients, and ultimately definitive solutions," he said.

Related Coverage:
Post-Bulletin
Regenerative medicine may transform transplants
by Jeff Hansel

Post-Bulletin
Regeneration is ‘next generation’ of treatment
by Jeff Hansel

Post-Bulletin
Regenerative medicine: Hope for the future
by Jeff Hansel

Post-Bulletin
Mayo Clinic is at the forefront of regenerative medicine
by Jeff Hansel

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: In the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mayo Clinic, interdisciplinary teams of physicians and scientists are carrying out innovative basic, translational and clinical research to develop definitive regenerative treatments aimed at fully healing damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and hope for people who have conditions that today are beyond repair.

Public Affairs Contact: Jennifer Schutz

Post-Bulletin
Opinions: Our view: Obama should accept Mayo's invitation

Minnesota isn't a swing state, although TV watchers in southeastern Minnesota certainly could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. We experienced more than our fair share of what we'll call "collateral damage" from political ads targeting voters in Wisconsin and Iowa during the past month…That's water under the bridge, of course, but now Mayo Clinic, with a short press release from CEO Dr. John Noseworthy, has made it clear that the clinic wants high-level involvement in reforming both delivery and payment models that are "unsustainable." The timing of this press release — the day after the election — speaks volumes. The clinic tends to steer clear of political involvement, but now that its leadership knows who will occupy the White House for the next four years, Mayo is wasting no time in seeking a well-deserved seat at the negotiating table.

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.

Related Coverage:
Morning Joe
Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minn. was on Morning Joe

Sen. Klobuchar's interview starts at about 2:18. At 3:55, she talks about ACA and that we’ve made some progress but we need more in the delivery system reform. At 4:06, she says: “Mayo Clinic is a great example of what you can get done.”

Context: Mayo Clinic issued a post-election response from President and CEO John Noseworthy, M.D., inviting the President and Congress to work with Mayo Clinic and others in the private sector to find a solution that is squarely focused on what is best for patients and is economically sustainable for our country.

Statement from John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic President and CEO

Public Affairs Contacts: Traci Klein, Karl Oestreich

KIMT
Construction Paves the Way for Medical Advancement
by Raquel Hellman

…As dozens of onlookers cast their eyes to the sky, the last steel beam was installed in the Jacobson Building, the future home of Mayo Clinic's Proton Beam Therapy program, where cancer patients will receive the unique treatment. "They'll have a special type of radiation equipment that produces a proton beam, which is a more targeted form of treatment that causes less harm to the patient so they'll feel better during the treatment, and they'll have a better quality of life afterwards," said Dr. Robert Foote, Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at Mayo Clinic.

Reach: KIMT 3 serves the Mason City-Austin-Albert Lea-Rochester market.

Additional coverage: KAAL, KTTC, FOX 47, Post-Bulletin, Star Tribune

Context: When fully established, the Mayo Clinic Proton Beam Therapy Program will offer one of the most technologically advanced treatment options to people with cancer. Proton beam therapy precisely targets cancer cells through the use of charged particles. While not everyone with cancer requires proton beam therapy, it is a preferred treatment for selected patients, such as children and adults with anatomically complex tumors adjacent to critical or sensitive organs and regions such as the brain, eye, spinal cord, lung, heart, liver, bowel and kidneys. Proton beam therapy is sometimes used to treat benign tumors as well. Proton beam therapy facilities are being built at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Rochester, Minn., and Phoenix, Ariz. Groundbreaking in Rochester was in September 2011 and in Phoenix in December 2011. The first treatment rooms are expected to open by mid-2015 in Rochester and by March 2016 in Phoenix. Both facilities will be fully operational in 2017. Central to the development of this program was a gift of $100 million from longtime Mayo patient and philanthropist Richard O. Jacobson.

Public Affairs Contacts: Kelley Luckstein, Joe Dangor

My Fox Phoenix
Kidney transplant saves American Idol finalist's life

"American Idol" finalist Scott MacIntyre was an inspiration as the only visually impaired contestant, but he says the real inspiration was the woman who saved him. McIntyre revealed that his sight wasn't the only hurdle he would come across -- he faced a life-threatening illness. He performed at a kidney transplant patient reunion at the Mayo Clinic on Saturday and talked to FOX 10 about the illness he kept hidden. "When I was 19, I found out that I had stage 4 kidney failure..never talked about it on American Idol,  never talked about it in the media, but that was one of the most difficult times in my life," he said.  "I eventually got so sick that I couldn't even play the piano or sing in my living room."

Additional coverage: Yuma News Now, Buddy TV

Reach: KSAZ-TV is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in Phoenix, Arizona.

Context: Scott MacIntyre performed for patients at all three Mayo Clinic transplant reunion events over the past few weeks.  The kidney transplant event was a special homecoming for MacIntyre, a singer/songwriter/pianist.   He made history as the first blind contestant on American Idol, finishing in the top 10 finals in season eight in 2009.  But what he chose not to reveal during that season was that at 19 he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease, a life-threatening event that almost ended his career before it began. His medical journey led him to Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where, in 2007, he underwent a kidney transplant, thanks to a kidney donated by the wife of his former piano teacher. In celebration of that life-saving transplant, and “other gifts in his life,” according to MacIntyre, he performed his new song, “I Am Hope.”

Florida Times-Union
Mayo Clinic researchers assist in finding gene variation that increases Alzheimer’s risk
by Charlie Patton

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville have been involved in a study that has found a gene variation so powerful it nearly triples the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The results of the study were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Circulation: The Florida Times-Union reaches more than 120,000 daily and 173,000 readers Sunday.

Additional coverage: Wall Street Journal, Jacksonville Business Journal, TruthDive, Alzheimer’s Reading Room, Britain News, Barcelona News, Yahoo! News India, Baltimore News, Amsterdam News, Medical News Today, e! Science News, First Coast News (WJXX Jax), First Coast News (WTLV Jax.)

Context: A gene so powerful it nearly triples the risk of Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by an international team including researchers from Mayo Clinic. It is the most potent genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's identified in the past 20 years. The findings were reported this week in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers used new sequencing techniques to hone in on the TREM2 gene. Additional TREM2 sequencing was then performed, in part, by scientist Aleksandra Wojtas in the Mayo Clinic in Florida laboratory of Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D. These studies led to identification of a set of rare variants in TREM2 that occurred more often in 1,092 Alzheimer's disease patients than in a control group of 1,107 healthy people.

Public Affairs Contact: Kevin Punsky

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Tags: adult stem cells, AEDs, alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer’s Reading Room, American Idol, Amsterdam News, Baltimore News, Barcelona News, blood cancer disorders, bone marrow transplants, Britain News, Cancer, Cardiology, CPR, Dr. Andre Terzic, Dr. Anthony Windebank, Dr. Brooks Edwards, Dr. John Noseworthy, Dr. Robert Foote, Dr. Roger White, Dr. Rosa Rademakers, Dr. Stephen Russell, Duane Hare, e! Science News, FDA, First Coast News (WJXX Jax), First Coast News (WTLV Jax.), Florida Times-Union, FOX 47, Healthcare, heart attacks, Institutional Review Board, Jacksonville Business Journal, Jacobson Building, KAAL, kidney transplant, KIMT 3, KTTC, Mayo Clinc Transplant Center, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine, Mayo Clinic Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic Proton Beam Therapy Program, Mayo Clinic Radiation Oncology Department, Mayo Clinic transplant reunion, Medical News Today, Merle Jesme, Morning Joe, Neurology, New England Journal of Medicine, organ transplants, Philanthropy, Post Bulletin, post-election response, regenerative medicine, reparative heart treatment, Richard O. Jacobson, Scott MacIntyre, Scottsdale/Phoenix, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, stem cells, The Wall Street Journal, Transplant, Transplant, TREM2, TruthDive, White House, Yahoo! News India

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