August 9, 2013

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By Karl Oestreich

 

 

August 9, 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.

Thank you.

Karl Oestreich, manager enterprise media relations

USA Today
Experts debate coverage of scans for Alzheimer's
by Karen Weintraub

The federal government will decide in early fall whether to pay for brain scans in people with suspected Alzheimer's disease…"As a neurologist who sees patients, I certainly would like to have the information provided by amyloid PET scans," said Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, in Rochester, Minn.

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: Ron Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., 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. Dr. Petersen chairs the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services.

Public Affairs Contacts: Nick Hanson, Traci Klein

Bloomberg
George Bush’s Stent Surgery Revives Debate on Heart Care
by Michelle Cortez

Former President George W. Bush’s decision to allow doctors to use a stent to clear a blocked heart artery, performed absent symptoms, is reviving a national debate on the best way to treat early cardiac concerns… Stents are lifesaving when patients are in the midst of a heart attack, said Chet Rihal, an interventional cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who has studied use of the devices. They allow immediate and sustained blood flow that help a patient recover, he said.

Circulation: Bloomberg has 2,300 media professionals in 146 bureaus across 72 countries. Bloomberg delivers its content across more than 400 publications, over 310 million households worldwide through Bloomberg Television and 500,000 in the New York metro area and 18.5 million subscribers through satellite radio.

Additional Coverage: Seattle Times

Context: Charanjit, "Chet" Rihal, M.D., chair, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, is the William S. and Ann Atherton Professor of Cardiology Honoring Robert L. Frye, M.D.  As a cardiologist, Dr. Rihal specializes in interventional cardiology with a focus on new device therapies, the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), and structural heart disease. One area of expertise is replacing heart valves by catheterization through the arteries, avoiding chest surgery. Dr. Rihal applies clinical research techniques to answer questions about cardiovascular disease and improve patient safety. For example, each year, hundreds of thousands of X-rays are performed across the country to help detect and treat common cardiovascular conditions, but radiation can be harmful. In 2012, Dr. Rihal and his colleagues found a way to cut overall radiation exposure to these patients by nearly half using simple but effective methods.

Public Affairs Contact: Traci Klein, Sharon Theimer

Jacksonville Business Journal,
Mayo Clinic researchers in Jacksonville find pancreatic cancer cause
by Michael Clinton

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have decoded the cause of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer and potential solutions to reverse the process. The study was published in The Journal of Cell Biology Monday, and it shows how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas — those that produce digestive enzymes — to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer. Dr. Peter Storz, a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus in Jacksonville, was a senior author on the study.

Circulation:  The Jacksonville Business Journal is one of 61 newspapers published by American City Business Journals.

Additional Coverage:
MPR
Mayo researchers: Inflammation 'initial step' to pancreatic cancer
by Lorna Benson

Mayo Clinic researchers in Florida say they've identified how chronic inflammation of the pancreas reprograms some cells and makes them more susceptible to cancerous mutations.  Some white blood cells that respond to the inflammation drive the transformation of the damaged cells, rather than fix the problem, said Peter Storz, a Mayo biochemist and lead author of the study. "This process is believed to be an initial step leading to pancreatic cancer." 

Science Codex,  HealthCanal, Science Daily, KTTC, National Cancer Institute, Private MD Labs

Context: Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have revealed the process by which chronic inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatitis, morphs into pancreatic cancer. They say their findings point to ways to identify pancreatitis patients at risk of pancreatic cancer and to potential drug therapies that might reverse the process.

The study, published online in The Journal of Cell Biology, maps how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas — those that produce digestive enzymes — to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer, says senior author Peter Storz, Ph.D., a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic.

News Release: Mayo Clinic Researchers Decode Origin of Inflammation-Driven Pancreatic Cancer

Public Affairs Contact: Kevn Punsky

Wall Street Journal
More Hospitals Offer Patients Rigorous Workouts After Heart Surgery by Laura Landro

Patients sometimes think that after heart surgery they are no longer at risk. "People are not cured after surgery, and there is still considerable prevention to do," says Randal Thomas, a preventive cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Thomas is co-author of a study that found rehabilitation attendance was associated with a 46% reduction in the 10-year risk of death from all causes, regardless of a patient's age. The study, of coronary bypass patients at Mayo, was published in the July issue of the journal Circulation.

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: Randal Thomas, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. This study, "Participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation and Survival After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery," appeared in the July issue of Circulation.

Public Affairs Contact: Traci Klein

PBS Almanac (TPT-Twin Cities)
Almanac: A Conversation About MS

Political reporter Mary Lahammer talked with Cathy and Eric about her personal struggle with a disease that disproportionately affects Minnesota woman. 

Reach: Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, tpt is one of the highest-rated PBS affiliates in the nation, reaching over 1.3 million people each month through multiple broadcast and online channels.

Additional Coverage:
Star Tribune
Mary Lahammer on living with multiple sclerosis

Keeping secrets isn’t easy for a born-and-bred journalist like TPT’s Mary Lahammer. That’s one reason she’s both relieved and eager to share news that she’s kept within a small circle for two years: She has multiple sclerosis, or MS.

Another reason has to do with the response she’s received from some of us in that circle who are old enough to remember when MS was a sure crippler and a death sentence.

It isn’t any longer, Lahammer says.

Don’t chalk up that assurance to an athlete’s determination or a young mother’s resolve, though at a vigorous age 39, she has both. Rather, I heard a journalist’s summation of two years of in-depth reporting among world-leading MS experts at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic, where she is a patient.

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 16th nationally in circulation.

Context: Orthun Kantarci, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic neurologist who is a nationally recognized multiple sclerosis (MS) expert.

MS is a disease in which the immune system, which normally protects your body, instead attacks the covering (myelin sheath) surrounding the nerves in your brain and spinal cord. These nerves send information from your brain and spinal cord to other nerves in your body, and myelin helps make this transmission efficient.

Attacks of multiple sclerosis lead to inflammation and injury to the myelin sheath, resulting in slowed or blocked nerve signals, which can lead to difficulty controlling vision, muscle coordination, strength, sensation and other bodily functions.

Multiple sclerosis can affect people of any age, although symptoms most commonly occur in people 20 to 40 years old. Women are twice as likely to develop MS as are men.

Public Affairs Contact: Karl Oestreich

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Tags: Almanac, alzheimer's disease, amyloid PET scans, biochemist, blocked heart arteries, Bloomberg, Cancer, Cancer, cardiac care, cardiac rehabilitation, Cardiology, circulation, coronary artery bypass grafting, coronary artery bypass surgery, Dr. Chet Rihal, Dr. Orthun Kantarci, Dr. Peter Storz, Dr. Randal Thomas, Dr. Ronald Peterson, George W. Bush, GI, GI, HealthCanal, heart attack, heart disease, Jacksonville Business Journal, Journal of Cell Biology, KTTC, Mary Lahammer, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Mayo Clinic in Florida, Mayo Clinic in the News, Minnesota Public Radio, molecular biology, mortality, MPR, MS, multiple sclerosis, National Cancer Institute, Neurology, Neurology, pancreas, pancreatic cancer, patient compliance, PBS, PET scans, Private MD Labs, propensity score, rehabilitation, Science Codex, Science Daily, Seattle Times, Star Tribune, Stents, The Journal of Cell Biology, TPT, USA Today

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