June 21, 2013

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.

Thanks to Kelley Luckstein for serving as guest editor this week.

Thank you.

Karl Oestreich, manager enterprise media relations

NY Times
Ask Well: How Often to Exercise
By Gretchen Reynolds

Q. Does it really matter if I work out three days in a row, rather than spreading my exercise through the week?

A. It probably does matter. As Dr. Michael Joyner, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., points out, exercise has long-lasting, cumulative effects on your health and fitness, but it also produces acute effects that don’t necessarily linger.

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: Michael Joyner, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. His research focuses on 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.

Public Affairs Contacts: Bob Nellis, Bryan Anderson

CBS News
Mayo Clinic: Teens with chronic pain should not use medical marijuana
By Michelle Castillo

Teens with chronic pain should not be prescribed medical marijuana, according to the Mayo Clinic. Due to a lack of information on the risks and benefits of medical marijuana for adolescents, the Mayo Clinic is not recommending that youth be given pot for pain conditions.

While the drug may help alleviate some of their other conditions or symptoms, marijuana can lead to some negative short-term side effects including fatigue, impaired concentration and slower reaction times. 

"The consequences may be very, very severe, particularly for adolescents who may get rid of their pain -- or not -- at the expense of the rest of their life," commentary co-author Dr. J. Michael Bostwick, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist, said in a press release.

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: KSTC, Post-Bulletin, WLS Chicago, Dublin News, KSTP, News Medical, American News Report

Context: Adolescents can have chronic pain, just like adults. It can interfere with normal development, making it difficult for teens to attend school, socialize or be physically active, the cause may be hard to find, and medications are sometimes tried without success. As patients, their parents and physicians search for solutions, there is one increasingly available option they should avoid, Mayo Clinic researchers say: medical marijuana. The commentary by Dr. J. Michael Bostwick appears in the July issue of the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

News Release: Medical Marijuana Not the Answer for Teens with Chronic Pain, Mayo Clinic Doctors Say

Public Affairs Contacts: Sharon Theimer, Nick Hanson

Wall Street Journal
New Views of Motion Sickness
By Sumathi Reddy

Researchers from the Navy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and academia are studying causes and potential treatments of motion sickness, hoping to formulate better products for situations that range from the extreme (space!) to the mundane (road trip to Grandma's, anyone?)…

In other words, our inner ear tells our brain that we are moving, but our eyes tell us we aren't, or vice versa. "When one of these is telling you you're in motion and the other one is telling you you're sitting, the brain gets confused with the mixed signals, and it causes this sense of sickness," says Abinash Virk, director of the travel and tropical medicine clinic 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 million copies on weekdays.

Context: Sumathi Reddy and Abinash Virk, M.D., had been working on a different story together, so Sumathi reached out to Dr. Virk directly to see if she would be interested in speaking with her about motion sickness. Dr. Virk worked with Traci Klein in media relations to coordinate the interview.

Public Affairs Contacts: Traci Klein

TODAY Show
Obesity is a disease, doctors’ group says
By Maggie Fox

…One third of Americans are obese – and that’s on top of the one-third who are overweight. Obesity is more than just a matter of carrying around too much fat, says Dr. Michael Joyner, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“The fat cells themselves we thought of for a long time as just warehouses for energy,” Joyner said in a telephone interview. But they also secrete chemicals, including chemicals that can cause inflammation, raise blood pressure and that down the road help harden the arteries.

Reach: The TODAY Show is the #1 ranked national morning news show and has held that position consistently since December 1995. TODAY reaches an average daily audience of 5.5 million viewers.’

Context: Michael Joyner, M.D., participated in several media interviews regarding the announcement that the American Medical Association officially designated obesity as a disease. Dr. Joyner is a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. His research focuses on how humans respond to various forms of physical and mental stress during activities such as exercise, hypoxia, standing up and blood loss.

Additional coverage: NBC News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Public Affairs Contacts: Bob Nellis

Ladies’ Home Journal
Freckle, Mole, or Skin Cancer?
By Julie Bain

Yes, You Could Be at Risk

"Melanoma can happen to anybody," says Jerry D. Brewer, M.D., a dermatological surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "And it can kill you, even when you're young." Melanoma has grown a whopping 705 percent among women under 40 in the past four decades…

"About 70 percent of those who use tanning beds are young women," Dr. Brewer says. "Tanning beds give you nearly 10 times the dosage of UVA you would receive on a hot day in the Mediterranean, which speeds up the formation of skin cancer. That's why melanomas can start to show up in your mid-20s and 30s."

Circulation: Ladies’ Home Journal is an American magazine published by the Meredith Corporation. Ladies' Home Journal engages women with relevant conversations about health and relationships; beauty and style; food and finance. Their circulation is 3,831,000.

Context: Jerry D. Brewer, M.D., a dermatological surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was interviewed about his research in melanoma and the dangers of sun exposure.

Public Affairs Contacts: Alyson Fleming

Star Tribune (Blog)
 7 in 10 Americans takes at least one prescription drug

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, according to a new study by the Mayo Clinic.

Antibiotics are the most common medication, with antidepressants and painkillers close behind.

The statistics came from the Rochester Epidemiology Project in Olmsted County, Minn., and were published in the online journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Circulation: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 518,745 copies and weekday circulation is 300,277. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16^th nationally in circulation. Health Check blog: Star Tribune blog which features the latest trends, research and news in medicine, health and science. A team of Star Tribune staffers aggregates updates from news wires, websites, magazines and medical journals.

Additional coverage: MPR, Huffington Post, WCCO, KSTC45, FOX9, Drug Store News, KSTP, KAAL, NY Daily News, CBS New, Huffington Post, Headline & Global News, KTAR, Pharmaceutical International, The Guardian UK, Opposing Views, Drudge Report, TIME

Context: Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings, published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The findings offer insight into prescribing practices. The statistics from the Rochester Epidemiology Project in Olmsted County, Minn. are comparable to those elsewhere in the United States, says study author Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D., a member of the Mayo Clinic Population Health Program in the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

News Release: Nearly 7 in 10 Americans Take Prescription Drugs, Mayo Clinic, Olmsted Medical Center Find

Public Affairs Contacts: Nick Hanson

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Tags: American Medical Association, American News Report, Anesthesiology, Anesthesiology, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cancer, CBS New, CBS News, Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, chronic pain, Dermatology, Dermatology, Dr. J. Michael Bostwick, Dr. Jerry D. Brewer, Dr. Michael Joyner, Drudge Report, Drug Store News, Dublin News, exercise, FOX9, freckly, Headline & Global News, Huffington Post, Infectious Diseases, Jennifer St. Sauver, KAAL, KSTC, KSTC45, KSTP, KTAR, Ladies’ Home Journal, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic Population Health Program, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, medical marijuana, mole, motion sickness, MPR, NBC News, New York Times, News Medical, NY Daily News, Obesity, Opposing Views, Ph.D., Pharmaceutical International, Post Bulletin, prescription drug, Psychology and Psychiatry, rochester, Rochester Epidemiology Project, skin cancer, Star Tribune, The Guardian UK, TIME, TODAY Show, UVA, Wall Street Journal Dr. Abinash Virk, WCCO, WLS Chicago