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 Laura Wuotila with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News. Thank you.

Editor, Karl Oestreich; Assistant Editors: Carmen Zwicker, Emily Blahnik

 

HealthDay
Just One Energy Drink Sends Young Adults' Stress Hormone Levels Soaring
by Dennis Thompson

Just one energy drink can cause potentially harmful spikes in both stress hormone levels and blood pressure in young, healthy adults, a new study shows. After drinking a 16-ounce can of "Rockstar Punched," young adults had a 74 percent increase in blood levels of the "fight-or-flight" hormone norepinephrine, said lead researcher stress hormone levels , a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Reach: HealthDay distributes its health news to media outlets several times each day and also posts its news on its website, which receives more than 39,000 unique visitors each month.

Additional coverage:

Esquire — Are Energy Drinks Slowly Killing All the Bros?

FOX9 — Mayo Clinic: Single 16-ounce energy drink can increase blood pressure 'significantly'

Additional coverage: LA Times, Univision Salud, The Daily Beast, ATTN:, Yahoo!, Steelers Lounge, Inverse.com, Medscape, Business Standard, Mirror UK, Daily Mail UK, Seating Chair, Youth Independent  (Canada), Consumer Reports, Next Shark, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Quartz, CTV News, Tiempo Argentino

Context: New research shows that drinking one 16-ounce energy drink can increase blood pressure and stress hormone responses significantly. This raises the concern that these response changes could increase the risk of cardiovascular events, according to a study presented this week at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015. The findings also are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “In previous research, we found that energy drink consumption increased blood pressure in healthy young adults,” says Anna Svatikova, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiology fellow and the first author. “We now show that the increases in blood pressure are accompanied by increases in norepinephrine, a stress hormone chemical, and this could predispose an increased risk of cardiac events – even in healthy people.” More information about the study can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Other news from the American Heart Association's Scientific Session 2015

Wall Street Journal — Inappropriate Stent Procedures Decline, Study Shows by Ron Winslow — Researchers said Monday that unnecessary use of devices called stents to clear blockages in diseased coronary arteries fell by about 50% between 2010 and 2014. The drop came after new practice guidelines were issued in 2009 as a quality improvement strategy designed to discourage stent use in patients with stable disease and minimal symptoms of chest pain…“The absolute decline in the nonacute PCI numbers is striking,” said Dr. Raymond Gibbons, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, who wasn’t involved with the study. He described the data as supporting “true quality improvement.” Additional coverage: MedPage Today

AP — Study: Even the normal-weight should watch that apple shape by Lauren Neergaard — New research suggests normal-weight people who carry their fat at their waistlines may be at higher risk of death over the years than overweight or obese people whose fat is more concentrated on the hips and thighs…"We see this with patients every day: 'My weight is fine, I can eat whatever I want,'" said study senior author Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, preventive cardiology chief at the Mayo Clinic. "These results really challenge that."

Additional coverage: USA Today, CBS News,CNN, TODAY Show, LA Times, HealthDay KARE11, Telegraph UK, KCCI Des Moines, Medscape, com, Healthline News, The Guardian, ABC News, Star Tribune, NY Times, NBC News, Huffington Post, News4Jax, Yahoo! UK, Scotsman, Yorkshire Evening Post, CNN Espanol, Daily Star UK, The Atlantic, Economic Times, CBC Canada, Michigan Live, Kansas City Star, Independent UK, Nature World Report, ABC15 Arizona (Newsy) 

Medscape — Activity Levels Drop on Nitrate Therapy in Preserved-EF Heart Failure: NEAT-HFpEF by Steve Stiles — Activity levels in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) fell while they were on isosorbide mononitrate for a month compared with a similar period on placebo, in a small randomized, crossover trial in which participants wore accelerometers for activity measurement^…Nitrates are often used for symptom relief in patients with reduced-EF heart failure, and in the literature they are used in a substantial minority of patients with HFpEF, even though they are far less well studied in that syndrome, explain Dr. Margaret Redfield (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) and associates in the New England Journal of Medicinereport on the study.

Reuters — Advising people about heart risk genes helped cut cholesterol: study by Julie Steenhuysen — In the study presented on Monday at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, tested the theory that incorporating genetic risk information into an assessment of a person's heart disease risk could lead to lower levels of LDL, the portion of cholesterol that leads to heart attacks and strokes…"What we found is six months after the risk disclosure, the LDL cholesterol in those who got the genetic risk information was about 10 points lower, which was statistically significant," said Dr. Iftikhar Kullo, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study, said in a telephone interview. Additional coverage: Yahoo!, FOX News, Daily Mail UK, Philadelphia Inquirer, MyInforms, News List, MedPage Today,

AP — Big study suggests steep drop in needless heart procedures by Lindsey Tanner — Fewer heart patients are getting inappropriate angioplasties, a new study suggests. The analysis showed overuse of the common procedure to open clogged heart arteries has declined dramatically since 2009 guidelines, which were aimed at curbing inappropriate use…While some signs suggest up-coding could be happening, others "suggest true quality improvement," said Dr. Raymond Gibbons, a former American Heart Association president from the Mayo Clinic. Additional coverage: Pioneer Press, NY Times

Contact: Traci Klein

 

Huffington Post
The Pressure To Perform Is Destroying Our Well-Being
by Lindsay Holmes

…Amit Sood, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, says that while stressful circumstances are unavoidable, it's important to regularly take stock of our physical and emotional health before it results in an incident like a collapse. Below, Sood offers some tips for anyone facing a high-pressure situation -- whether it's a job presentation, an athlete in a game or just making a decision.

Reach: The Huffington Post attracts over 28 million monthly unique viewers.

Context: Amit Sood, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic physician in General Internal Medicine and the Cancer Center. The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness combines wisdom from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and spirituality to help people choose contentment.

Contact: Rhoda Fukishima Madson

 

CNN
Alzheimer's is a young(er) person's disease -- so get to work
by Sanjay Gupta

Giving drugs to mildly or asymptomatic people is new," agreed clinical neurologist David Knopman at the Mayo Clinic. Researchers are exploring some fringe areas as well. Most intriguing to me was the reason why some people form the plaques in the first place. After all, it's just too easy to chalk it up to bad luck. As it turns out, the plaques may not be all bad. Just recently, we have learned that some people with Alzheimer's have higher levels of yeast, bacteria and viruses in their brains as compared to people of similar age without the disease.

Reach: CNN.com has 74.2 million unique visitors to its website each month.

Context: David Knopman, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic neurologist. Dr. Knopman's research focuses on late-life cognitive disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Dr. Knopman's specific interests are in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, in cognitive impairment due to stroke (cerebrovascular disease) and in cognitive impairment due to frontotemporal degeneration. He is involved in epidemiology, clinical trials and diagnostic studies of these disorders.

Contact: Duska Anastasijevic

 

NPR
Will Drinking Green Tea Boost Your Metabolism? Not So Fast
by Eliza Barclay

… Other studies have established that green tea contains caffeine and catechins that stimulate the nervous system, which can increase thermogenesis (burning stored energy) and fat oxidation. "The caffeine in green tea could raise your metabolic rate ever so slightly, but it wouldn't have a different effect than coffee," Michael Jensen, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, tells The Salt.

Reach:  The Salt is a blog from National Public Radio's Science Desk about what we eat and why we eat it.

Context: Michael Jensen, M.D., is a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist. Dr. Jensen and his lab study the effects of obesity and how body fat (adipose tissue) and body fat distribution influence health. The regulated uptake, storage and release of fatty acids from adipose tissue play a major role in determining its health effects.

Contact: Bob Nellis

 

Star Tribune
New Mayo Clinic service has health care for pilots on radar
by Chris Snowbeck

Mayo Clinic has treated plenty of pilots over the years, including many who came to Rochester by corporate jet so their CEOs could get executive physicals…With a new service called ProPilot, Mayo Clinic promises to provide not just the physicals required of pilots by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but also preventive care that can minimize the amount of time pilots are grounded for health reasons. One of the goals is to “break the old culture of … what the FAA doesn’t know won’t hurt them,” said Dr. Clayton Cowl, chairman of Mayo Clinic’s division for preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine. “These guys end up getting substandard medical care.”

Reach: 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.

Additional coverage:

Post-Bulletin, Heard on the Street: Mayo launches health program for pilots

Aviation Pros, (from Star Tribune) New Mayo Clinic Service Has Health Care For Pilots On Radar

Context: Mayo Clinic announced this week ProPilot, a new program for corporate flight departments that offers bundled services designed to keep and get pilots back on the flight deck quickly and safely. Mayo Clinic’s Section of Aerospace Medicine is launching the Mayo Clinic ProPilot Program on its Rochester, Minnesota, campus. more information can be found on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Contact: Ginger Plumbo
Arizona Republic
Phoenix researcher secures $12 million to study pancreatic cancer
by Ken Alltucker

A pancreatic cancer researcher in metro Phoenix will spearhead a research team that secured a $12 million grant to study new drug therapies for pancreatic cancer…Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, physician in chief of Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), will head the research team, which will include scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies of La Jolla, Calif., and the University of Cambridge. Mayo Clinic will also be part of the research team.

Reach: The Arizona Republic reaches 1.1 million readers every Sunday and has an average daily circulation of more than 261,000 readers. The newspaper’s website Arizona Republic - Online, averages more than 5.4 million unique visitors each month.

Additional coverage:

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, Tracking Cancer Progression in Real Time Using Circulating DNA 

Context: A team of researchers, including scientists from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), has reported that analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can track how a patient's cancer evolves and responds to treatment. In a study published recently in Nature Communications, Dr. Muhammed Murtaza  of TGen and Mayo Clinic, and colleagues, describe an extensive comparison between biopsy results and analysis of ctDNA in a patient with breast cancer. The researchers followed the patient over three years of treatment. "When patients receive therapy for advanced cancers, not all parts of the tumor respond equally, but it has been difficult to study this phenomenon because it is not practical to perform multiple, repeated tissue biopsies," said Dr. Murtaza, Co-Director of TGen's Center for Noninvasive Diagnostics, and one of the study's lead authors. "Our findings empirically show that ctDNA analysis from blood samples allows us to detect cancer mutations from multiple different tumor sites within a patient and track how each of them responds."

Contact: Jim McVeigh

WCCO — 5 Steps The NFL Uses For Players Recovering From Concussions by Rachel Slavik — From little league to professional sports, concussions have been in the news constantly as of late. Doctors say the head injuries are a serious problem. The National Football League’s team doctors use a sideline concussion assessment tool to evaluate players suspected of suffering a concussion. “All the professional sports leagues in the U.S. have really started to recognize the importance of concussions,” Jonathan Finnoff, D.O. and director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, said. “A concussion occurs when you get a hit either to the head or to the body, and it shakes our brain around. And when that happens, it stretches the nerves, and when you stretch the nerves, some of those nerves are stunned.”

WCCO — Mayo Developing Blood Test For Concussion Detection by Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield — Days after the Vikings’ quarterback took a major hit to the head, new research suggests there may be a new way to detect concussions by way of a simple blood test. Researchers at Orlando Health found that a blood test correctly identified traumatic brain injuries in 94 percent of the cases studied…Dr. Jonathan Finnoff specializes in sports medicine at the Mayo Clinic. “You essentially stun the nerves in your brain, and so they’re temporarily not working,” Finnoff said.

WCCO — Sports Greats Boost Fundraiser For Spinal Cord Injury Research by Esme Murphy — On Saturday night, the Jack Jablonski Believe in Miracles Foundation announced a $300,000 contribution to groundbreaking research at the Mayo Clinic to help those suffering from spinal cord injuries…Leslie says she’s thrilled that the foundation, formed in the aftermath of her son’s accident, is helping pioneering research into epidural stimulation at the Mayo Clinic. “I’m so excited, because it is real,” she said. “I’ve been a mom on a mission and now we have a miracle. This epidural stimulation works.” Peter Grahn is one of the Mayo Clinic researchers. He was paralyzed in a swimming accident in 2005 and says Jack Jablonski has helped all victims of spinal cord injuries. Additional coverage: KSTP

Yahoo! Health — YouTube Star Caleb Logan Dies From Undetected Heart Condition: What Is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy? by Amanda Chan — Caleb Logan, the 13-year-old who was part of the YouTube-famous family the Bratayleys, died from a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy…Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart muscle is abnormally thick, which makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood, according to the Mayo Clinic. The condition is notoriously undiagnosed because it often doesn’t produce any symptoms. However, for some people, it can lead to chest pain, shortness of breath, and even electrical problems with the heart— which can cause arrhythmia (when the heart’s rhythms are abnormal), the Mayo Clinic says. Additional coverage: People magazine, USA Today, TIME, The Wrap

Huffington Post — Innovation and the Art of Implementation (Part 2) by Robert Brands — Build your Innovation Team: Now that you've realized that the art of implementation requires integrated support from the top down and bottom up, it's time to build your innovation team. To create and build the optimal team, remember that diversity is key! Your team should strive to be gender-neutral, take advantage of generational opportunities, and include a variety of profile types (as taken from the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation's nine general personality profile types). When building your innovation team, you should also evaluate whether communication is ongoing and clear and also whether your team embraces innovation as you do, for the long haul.

Washington Post — What happens to your body during an ultramarathon by Bonnie Berkowitz — Most people finish a marathon in three to six hours and make it home in time for lunch. But a 50-miler takes an average of 10 hours, said Karl Hoagland, publisher of UltraRunning Magazine, and 100-milers typically take 24 to 30 hours or more of nonstop forward motion. “As you get older, you realize the sun’s going to come up, and you get less rattled,” said Mike Joyner, a distance runner and a Mayo Clinic physiologist who studies how human bodies respond to exercise.

FOX News (Reuters) — Case for testing cancer in blood builds, one study at a time — The work by scientists at Italy's University of Trento suggests liquid biopsies could be used to guide treatment. A second study in the journal Nature Communications tracked a single woman with metastatic breast cancer over three years and, by comparing tissue and liquid biopsies, found that blood tests accurately reflected genetic changes in her tumors over time. Dr. Keith Stewart, an oncologist who heads Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine, believes liquid biopsies are the future, but it may take three to five years to fully understand how useful they will be. "I'm very confident liquid biopsies will become a routine part of clinical practice in cancer," he said.

Bloomberg — Carson Links Drug Addiction to Loss of Values as Issue Heats Up on Campaign Trail by Ali Elkin — According to the Mayo Clinic, risk factors for drug addiction include genetics and the environment in which one is raised. Additionally, the chemical reaction one experiences in the brain as a result of the drug plays a major role.

My Stateline (Ore.) — Saved By My Sister: Part 2 — Lori McMillan Depauw sits in the bleachers at her son's middle school, cheering on his basketball team. But just weeks ago she was here...at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota about to undergo kidney transplant surgery. The transplantation team at Mayo determined that Lori's sister Mary was a perfect match for a living donor kidney transplant. Transplant surgeon Dr.Mikel Prieto says, "The surgery basically is taking a kidney from a healthy donor. We do this laparoscopic with very small incisions. and giving it to a recipient." As their family anxiously waits, doctors take one of Mary's healthy kidneys and transplant it into Lori. Dr. Prieto says, "The huge advantage to doing it this way is first of all of course is that the person that gets the kidney gets a very healthy kidney that has been out of the body for just a few minutes so it's a kidney that is a very high quality kidney.

Medscape — Predicting Progressive Atrophy in Mild Cognitive Impairment by Laurie Barclay, M.D. — The goal of this longitudinal, observational study in patients with mild cognitive impairment was to clarify how a model of Alzheimer disease pathophysiology based on beta-amyloidosis and neurodegeneration in specific regions would predict regional progression of hypometabolism and atrophy. From March 2006 to January 2015, a population-based cohort of 96 participants with mild cognitive impairment (all aged > 70 years) from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging or Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center underwent serial brain imaging with PET.

OncLive — Individualizing Care for Patients With Polycythemia Vera by Lauren Green — The landscape for the diagnosis and treatment of polycythemia vera (PV) is changing, and that’s good news for patients and practitioners who can look to improvements ahead—not only more refined criteria for diagnosing symptomatic patients and identifying those at highest risk, but also an expanded arsenal for treating a disease which carries a heavy symptom burden. “Polycythemia vera is a disease that is evolving quite a bit—it really is not the ‘P vera’ of 1995, in which it was just a question of phlebotomy, aspirin, and hydroxyurea,” Ruben A. Mesa, MD, told attendees at a session on hematologic malignancies which opened the 33rd Annual Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium.

Tech Insider — The FDA just approved a treatment that kills cancer with a virus by Rebecca Harrington — Imlygic is the first cancer-killing, so-called "oncolytic virus" that the FDA has approved for treatment, and it could pave the way for many more to come. "The era of the oncolytic virus is probably here," Stephen Russell, a Mayo Clinic cancer researcher who wasn't involved in the Imlygic research, told Nature News. "I expect to see a great deal happening over the next few years."

KEYC Mankato — Using State of the Art Mannequins, MCHS Fairmont Gets Real Life Training Scenario by Ashley Hanley — Staff at Mayo Clinic Health System Fairmont took part in a simulation involving a state of the art mannequin. Dr. Brian Bartlett says, "Trauma, which could easily happen in this area. A young man was riding an ATV and had an injury to his neck." The simulation is to try to make it as real life a scenario as possible. In this situation the mannequin, named Earl, can even respond, even as he would in real life.

KEYC Mankato — Mayo Clinic Health System Upgrades to Fairmont ER Progressing by Ashley Hanley — The emergency room upgrades at Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont are progressing nicely before the winter months begin. Groundbreaking took place at the end of July, but as of now they are only a few weeks away from pouring the floors. The roof is expected to be completed by the end of the month. Nurse Manager Sandee Vaske says, "It's expanded rooms, the workflow will work much better, there's a designated triage area and the ambulance bay is already able to be viewed."

Volume One Chippewa Valley — Making a Hospital Baby-friendly by Tom Giffey — In August, Sacred Heart became the ninth hospital in Wisconsin to receive the Baby-Friendly designation. “It’s very rigorous,” Boyce emphasizes. “It’s taken years to get to this point.” Nationwide, there are 292 Baby-Friendly hospitals, a figure that has grown rapidly in recent years. Both HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls and Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire are working to achieve the designation.

Science magazine — Vitamin C kills tumor cells with hard-to-treat mutation by Jocelyn Kaiser — Maybe Linus Pauling was on to something after all. Decades ago the Nobel Prize–winning chemist was relegated to the fringes of medicine after championing the idea that vitamin C could combat a host of illnesses, including cancer. Now, a study published online today in Science reports that vitamin C can kill tumor cells that carry a common cancer-causing mutation and—in mice—can curb the growth of tumors with the mutation…In 1971, Pauling began collaborating with a Scottish physician who had reported success treating cancer patients with vitamin C. But the failure of two clinical trials of vitamin C pills, conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, dampened enthusiasm for Pauling’s idea.

KSLA Calif. — Heartbroken: A father's mission to keep his daughter's dream alive by Emilie Voss — Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. One man, Tom Litzinger, knows that fact all too well. In September 1991, Tom found himself a single father when his 27-year-old wife’s heart stopped. His daughter Amie was six…In the fall of 2011, 20 years after her mom passed away, Amie Litzinger was in her third year of med school, highly successful, burning the candle at both ends as med students do, and feeling fatigued. One day during a hospital rotation, she almost collapsed… Amie had to be rushed to surgery. The diagnosis: cardiomyopathy. The same thing that had killed Tom’s wife Debbie exactly 20 years earlier… Eventually her treatment led Amie to the Mayo Clinic. In December 2012, she was there for an open heart procedure that she didn't survive. Amie passed away New Year’s Day, January 2013.

The Daily Nonpareil — BVU students travel to Mayo — A college sophomore from Persia was recently part of a trip organized by Buena Vista University to the Mayo Clinic. The students traveled to Rochester, Minnesota, for a behind-the-scenes look at the medical profession organized by the BVU Stine Endowment Committee for science majors planning for their careers.

Las Vegas Review-Journal — Doctor: Genetics responsible for about 60 percent of center's alcoholics — According to the Mayo Clinic, alcohol use disorder can be mild, moderate or severe. Signs and symptoms may include: being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink; wanting to cut down on how much you drink and/or making unsuccessful attempts to do so; and using alcohol in situations where it's not safe, such as while operating machinery, driving or swimming.

Medscape — Tumor Burden Postsurgery Not Predictive of Survival in mRCC by Roxanne Nelson — Approached for an independent comment by Medscape Medical News, R. Houston Thompson, MD, a professor of urology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, noted that the study had "interesting and novel data suggesting that amount of metastatic disease burden was not associated with survival in cytoreductive nephrectomy patients."

Cancer Letter — NCI Funds Eight SPORE Grants — Leif Bergsagel and Vincent Rajkumar, of the Mayo Clinic, in multiple myeloma. Bergsagel is co-director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Rajkumar is chair of the Myeloma Amyloidosis Dysproteinemia Group at the Mayo Clinic, chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Myeloma Committee and co-chair of the International Myeloma Working Group.

Cancer Letter — Edith Perez Steps Down as Vice Chair of Alliance Clinical Trials Network — Edith Perez was named vice president and head of Genentech/Roche BioOncology U.S. Medical Affairs. Perez stepped down as vice chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Perez’s primary focus at Genentech and Roche will be to develop and implement medical strategies to optimize the utilization of cancer medicines and to lead a broad spectrum of oncology medical affairs activities including phase IV trials, medical education, publications, medical communication, advisory boards, promotional material review and product launches.

HealthDay — Fewer Americans Than Ever Sticking to Heart-Healthy Lifestyle, Study Finds by Dennis Thompson — So what should the average American do? According to Xanthakis, people should first be encouraged to know their numbers -- blood sugar and cholesterol levels, blood pressure and weight. Then they should speak with their doctor to get some coaching to improve those numbers, she said. Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, said it's clear that a heart-healthy lifestyle has failed to catch on with American adults. Additional coverage: KTTC

Science News — What makes cells stop dividing and growing by Sarah Schwartz — A buildup of the protein GATA4 forces cells to enter a permanently static state known as senescence, researchers report in the Sept. 25 Science. The discovery sheds light on a complex biological process linked to aging and cancer, and may help scientists better understand and treat aging-related diseases…GATA4 is a new link in a biological chain of events that causes senescence, says geriatrician James Kirkland of the Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. There’s a clear connection between senescent cells and age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis, he says. (PDF)

KEYC Mankato — SCC Students Receive Out-Of-Classroom Experience at MCHS Mankato Flu Clinics by Shawn Loging — There is also the benefit of working in a real world setting with different types of challenges. Mayo Clinic Health System Nurse Manager Sheri Paulsen, RN says, "Flu clinics are pretty fast paced and you have to deal with everyone from infants all the way up through the ages, so you get a lot of different experience with that. You have to deal with some kids that get upset about getting the shot."

KEYC Mankato — Concussion Safety: Why Athletic Trainers Say You Can Never Be Too Safe With The Brain by Ashley Hanley — Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered a concussion after a big hit in Sunday's game. And while his status for next week's game is still unknown, we wanted to take a look at concussion safety and the potential long–term impact for not only athletes, but people of all ages. A lot of Vikings fans are still upset over this hit on QB Teddy Bridgewater. Many calling it a dirty hit by defensive back Lamarcus Joyner. The hit knocked Teddy out for the remainder of the game with a concussion. Mayo Neurologist Andrew Reeves says, "A concussion is when the brain's natural, normal function changes due to impact."

KEYC Mankato — Mayo Clinic Health System Upgrades to Fairmont ER Progressing by Ashley Hanely — The emergency room upgrades at Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont are progressing nicely before the winter months begin. Groundbreaking took place at the end of July, but as of now they are only a few weeks away from pouring the floors.

Latinos Health — Heart disease mortality rate in people with rheumatoid arthritis is declining, study reveals — Thanks largely to the preventive measures taken against heart ailments and the stronger efforts to diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases nowadays, the number of deaths has gone down over the years…"More research is needed to confirm why heart disease deaths among rheumatoid arthritis patients have declined," said lead author Elena Myasoedova, M.D., Ph.D., a rheumatologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "But, potential factors include earlier and more vigilant screening for heart problems, improved treatment for heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis, and in general, more attention to heart health in patients with rheumatoid arthritis." Additional coverage: Nature World Report

Healthcare Finance — Completing the cycle: Healthcare finance execs see 2016 as the year of integration for revenue cycle by Susan Morse — A complex system for revenue creates a lot of room for waste. That's why most healthcare finance managers are making 2016 the year of integration in the revenue cycle, whether it's by tightening operations or by involving patients more in the financial side of their care. Mark Norby, the Mayo Clinic's revenue cycle chair, knows about integration. For the past five years, Norby has worked on setting up revenue cycle as a shared service across the massive system's myriad facilities.

First Coast News — Couple cleared of child abuse with bone disorder defense by Anne Schindler — Vandana Bhide, an internist and pediatrician at Mayo Clinic, who handles cases of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, says it's impossible to overstate the importance of making the right call in multiple-fracture child abuse cases. Either children are taken from their home without cause -- or they are returned to a house of horrors.

Oncology Tube — KCA Role in Developing a Research Program in Kidney Cancer Epigenetics — Description: Thai Ho, M.D., Ph.D. from the Mayo Clinic Arizona presents "KCA Role in Developing a Research Program in Kidney Cancer Epigenetics" at the 14th International Kidney Cancer Symposium.

BuzzFeed — Tons Of Elite Athletes Are Doping — Here’s Why Science Won’t Catch Them All by Peter Aldhous — Experts say that this new approach — dubbed the athlete biological passport — has created a more level playing field, putting the drug cheats on the defensive after decades of dominance. But while the passports have reduced the doses that cheats can take without getting caught, statistical uncertainties mean they can’t catch all the dopers. So expecting science to clean up sports is an approach that is ultimately doomed to fail — especially if the corruption that allowed Russian athletes to cheat is not rooted out. “There is no technological way out of this,” Michael Joyner, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told BuzzFeed News.

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram — Screening detects lung cancer by Jennifer Schmidt — Bill McWhite was vacationing along the Texas Gulf Coast — a time a person would traditionally be relaxing — when his body let him do anything but unwind. Instead, the 69-year-old Hayward man experienced a flare up of his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and found himself in the local hospital…Once back in Wisconsin, McWhite followed up with Dr. Adel Zurob, a pulmonologist with Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, who suggested McWhite undergo a new lung cancer screening the health system began offering in February… “The whole idea of screening is to catch things early, similar to what we do with mammograms,” Zurob said.

Healthcare Design magazine — Lab Partners: Mayo Clinic And Delos Team Up On Well Living Lab by Anne DiNardo — Ninety percent — that’s the amount of time Americans spend indoors, from homes to offices to retail spaces and healthcare facilities, according to Mayo Clinic. To better understand how this reality can affect human health and well-being, the clinic and Delos, a New York-based wellness real estate and technology firm, have partnered to open the Well Living Lab, a 7,500-square-foot research center on Mayo’s Rochester, Minn., campus…. Barb Spurrier, director of the Center for Innovation at Mayo Clinic, says the lab’s initial plans don’t call for simulating a patient room or doctor’s office, but that there will opportunities to apply the lab’s learnings to the industry.

Jacksonville Business Journal — ​Health care leaders: collaboration will push innovation in Jacksonville by Colleen Michele Jones — Jacksonville’s vast landscape of health care institutions individually are doing some really innovative cutting-edge things in the field of medicine. Mayo Clinic is building an organ transplant center that will revolutionize the field. Baptist is partnering with cancer care leader MD Anderson. UF Health is offering proton therapy that boosts impressive success rates.  Vincent’s is ramping up its telemedicine capabilities to extend care to fringe populations.

Medscape — Rate of Benzodiazepine Use in Alzheimer's 'Alarming' by Pauline Anderson — Benzodiazepines, which are typically prescribed to treat anxiety, agitation, and sleep disturbances, are not recommended in patients with dementia, but a new study shows that more patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) take these drugs than people without this disorder… Asked to comment on the study, David Knopman, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and vice chair, Alzheimer's Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, said he "certainly" agrees with the authors that benzodiazepines should generally not be used in people with dementia.

Medscape — In Pancreatic Cancer, If CA 19-9 Is Up, Then Chemo First by Veronica Hackethal, M.D. — The study is the largest so far to look at this issue, and it is the first to use a national database applicable to the general population. The findings were presented November 9 at the Western Surgical Association annual meeting, in Napa, California. "Patients with any elevation [of CA 19-9] above normal did significantly worse, stage for stage," commented senior author Mark Truty, MD, a gastrointestinal surgical oncologist at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota.

HealthDay — Football Linemen at Higher Risk for Heart Troubles, Study Finds by Dennis Thompson — The heart health of football players might depend on the position they play, with linemen facing a greater risk for certain heart problems compared with their other teammates, a new Harvard study suggests…Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, agreed with Lin that for linemen, "this is just a problem with their occupation." Linemen are encouraged to bulk up so they can use their weight to block opposing linemen, and throughout a typical game they rarely are required to sprint long distances, Fletcher and Lin said.

Today’s Dietician — The Heart Beat: Updated Stroke Prevention Guidelines — They're Shining a Spotlight on Nutrition by Clare Tone, M.S., R.D. — In October, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Stroke Association (ASA) released the updated Guidelines for The Primary Prevention of Stroke. Written for health professionals, this 90-page document provides 30 new guidelines in addition to many updated from the 2011 edition. James Meschia, MD, chair of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida and lead author of the updated guidelines, emphasizes its preventative focus. "With approximately 500,000 first-time strokes occurring each year in the United States, advances in prevention remain of vital importance."

attn.: The Difference Between a Personality Quirk and a Psychological Disorder by Diana Crandall — The Mayo Clinic reports there are 10 different types of recognized personality disorders, classified under three broad clusters defined by particular kinds of thinking or behaviors: odd and bizarre, dramatic and emotional, or anxious and fearful… The Mayo Clinic reports that personality disorders usually begin in teenage years or in early adulthood. Depending on the type of disorder with which you are diagnosed, the disorder may fade with age.

Chicago Tribune — How the bookish stay in shape by William Hageman — A lot of time is spent hunkered down at a desk. Sitting four, six, eight hours at a stretch, getting the words just right. That focus and intensity can produce wonderful literature, but evidence shows that it won't do much for a person's health. A 13-year American Cancer Society study of 123,216 men and women, published in 2010, found notably higher rates of death for sedentary individuals. A 2011 study of more than 240,000 people found that those with higher levels of sedentary behavior had higher mortality rates than those who were more active. As Dr. James A. Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic, put it, "Excessive sitting is a lethal activity."

Post-Bulletin — Suspect arrested in former Lourdes High School break-in (VIDEO) by Louis Garcia — Rochester police have arrested one suspect in a break-in, which is being investigated as a possible burglary, at the former Lourdes High School building near downtown Rochester, according to Sgt. Chris Lowrie. Police are also looking for a possible second suspect. Additional coverage: KAAL

Louis Post-Dispatch — C. Garrison Fathman, MD, named recipient of Mayo Clinic 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award — C. Garrison Fathman, M.D., has been named a recipient of the 2015 Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award. The award honors individuals who exemplify Mayo Clinic’s ideals and missions. Dr. Fathman and the three other honorees — Bernard Gersh, M.B., Ch.B. D.Phil.; Audrey Nelson, M.D.; and Kristina Rother, M.D. — were recently recognized at a private event in Rochester.

WCCO — Is Marijuana Addictive?... Can someone become addicted to medical marijuana? — Research into medical marijuana addiction is sparse, and there are no definitive studies. However, the Mayo Clinic surmises that the addiction rate is similar to that of recreational marijuana, finding that addiction occurs in “about 10 percent of users who start smoking before age 25.”

Star Tribune — Readers Write (Nov. 10): Substitute teachers, the U's Rochester campus, safety and gender, the white working class, finders of lost money — I was sad to see a Nov. 9 letter writer call for the termination of the University of Minnesota’s Rochester campus…I couldn’t disagree more! Rochester is undergoing a huge transformation. The Mayo Clinic’s Destination Medical Center is in the early stages, and Mayo is going to have to have all of its world-class operations housed in an even larger, more sophisticated campus… By increasing the number of young people who spend time in Rochester, the more likely Mayo can convince them to stay.

KAAL — US Soccer Changes Heading Policy for Youth Players by Karsen Forsman — There are some changes coming to youth soccer that aims to reduce the risk of concussions. The new rules come from the United States Soccer Federation banning players under 11 from heading the ball and the new policy also limits practicing heading for kids 11 to 13 years old. “We think that somewhere around 15 to 20 percent of kids who have a concussion because of heading the ball is just because of head to ball contact, but we know a majority of those are because one child will run into another when they are trying to head the ball,” says Dr. Sheri Driscoll with the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center.

Florida Times-Union — Gluten-Free Glutton: Does Cheerios live up to its promise? By Mark Basch — A few months ago, General Mills Inc. offered some cheery news for everyone with celiac disease. The maker of a variety of cereals said it would reformulate five varieties of Cheerios to make them gluten-free.…Still, celiac experts at the Mayo Clinic advise caution with oats when starting a gluten-free diet. “We recommend they don’t eat oats for a year,” said Melissa Stewart, a clinical dietitian at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. After that first year, you can introduce oats back into your diet and see if you have a reaction.

Builder magazine — Mayo Clinic To Study The Health Effects Of The Built Environment by Jennifer Goodman — A groundbreaking new facility will aid researchers in studying indoor environments with the aim of creating healthier indoor spaces. The Well Living Lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is the first scientific research center that uses exclusively human-centered research to understand the interaction between health and well-being and indoor environments.

Arizona Republic — Keep in mind these 10 keys for cancer survivorship by Dr. Ruben Mesa — Mayo Clinic Ask the Expert: Being a cancer survivor can be challenging, but it’s a mind-set and a journey. Cancer patients today are living longer and include a spectrum of our society. As a group, all face similar challenges of a major disease, and milestone in their lives. The phrase "cancer survivorship" is used highlight their journey following diagnosis.

Medscape — Active Surveillance Coming to Low-Risk Thyroid Cancer in US by Megan Brooks — The incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has tripled in the past 30 years, recent research shows. The vast majority of these incident cancers are small, low-risk papillary thyroid cancers that are unlikely to ever progress enough to cause symptoms or death. "This is the most indolent type of cancer, but because we are finding more of these cancers, we are treating everybody with surgery. From that perspective, we are overtreating these cancers," said Juan Brito Campana, MBBS, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, who was asked for comment by Medscape Medical News.

RheumNow — Improving Cardiovascular Trends in Rheumatoid Arthritis — Myasoedova and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic have reported their new data that demonstrates improving cardiovascular (CV) mortality rates in current RA patients treated with modern drugs.

Rheumatology Network — Cardiovascular Deaths in RA On Par with General Population by Deborah Kaplan — There’s some good news for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. There’s no longer a difference between the cardiovascular mortality rate of the general population and those with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study presented by Elena Myasoedova, MD, at the 2015 ACR/ARHP annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif on Nov. 11.

Steinbach Online (Canada) — Robb Nash Undergoes Further Head Surgery by Rachel Siemens — Local singer/songwriter Robb Nash had head surgery at the Mayo Clinic on Friday, October 31. Nash explains he has suffered from more and more pain over the last couple years due to the reconstructive skull surgery from his car accident. He says the pain has, at times, been overwhelming and he has even cancelled shows because it became too much. He notes he tried to find a solution but nothing seemed possible after speaking with a few doctors in Manitoba. A few months ago, Nash says, a couple approached him and said, "Robb, we'd like to support you. We don't want to see you in pain anymore and we want to make sure you can help as many people as possible on this tour. We'd like to pay for you to go down and see the best doctors at the Mayo Clinic in the states and see if there's any way that they can help you."

Post-Bulletin — Big, authentic tastes from Little Havana by Jay Furst — Francisco Corripiohas a great story to tell. The 59-year-old native of Cuba fled the country with his family when he was 3. He lived most of his life in Miami, where he was a banker for 35 years, but about 10 years ago he came down with a rare medical condition — "I'm alive because of Mayo Clinic," he says. So Francisco and his wife of 10 years, Miguelina, who goes by the nickname Mickie, moved here for Mayo reasons last year, as so many people do. One thing led to another and now he has a Cuban cafe tucked away in the First Avenue Food Court

Live Science — Reference: Low-Carb Diet Facts, Benefits & Risks by Alina Bradford —The low-carb diet trend started in 1972 with the book "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" by cardiologist Robert Atkins, according to the Mayo Clinic. It was dubbed the Atkins’ Diet and found massive popularity around the world. The book, which has been updated and revised several times, became the bestselling diet book of all time, according to an article published by the British Medical Journal. The diet has been detailed in many other books, as well.

Boston Globe — Insurer for Broad Institute suing MIT over infected mice by Travis Andersen — An insurer for a research center affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is suing the school, alleging that MIT supplied the center with infected mice that contaminated its laboratory equipment… According to the complaint, the institute learned in June 2014 that the mice were infected with pinworms. Pinworms are thin, white parasites that can cause itching, restless sleep, nausea, and abdominal pain in humans, particularly children, according to a Mayo Clinic website.

Telemundo Miami — Grasa en la barriga podría causar la muerte — Un nuevo estudio reveló que las personas con peso normal y grasa alrededor del estómago, tienen más probabilidades de morir que aquellas son sobrepeso u obesidad. El Dr. Francisco López-Jiménez, cardiólogo de la Clínica Mayo, explicó que “la grasa abdominal se conoce que está muy activa metabólicamente, eleva el azúcar, eleva la presión arterial, incrementa el riesgo de problemas del corazón”. Additional coverage: El Espanol

El Espectador — El primer caso de cáncer transmitido por un parásito…El hecho resulta insólito porque hasta el momento no había pruebas que indicaran que las células de un parásito humano pudieran ser malignas e invadieran un tejido, que es lo que pudo haber sucedido en esta ocasión. Uno de los huevos del gusano penetró el intestino, mutó y se volvió cancerígeno. “Es muy inusual que unas células de parásito se vuelvan cancerígenas dentro de un humano e invadan otros tejidos de ese humano”, le dijo alThe Washington PostBobbi Pritt, director de parasitología de la Clínica Mayo. Additional coverage: Tech Times, NY Daily News, Alternet, La Prensa

Univision — Depresión y diabetes, ¡mala combinación!... Programas de autocuidado de la diabetes: Según la Clínica Mayo, los planes que se enfocan en el comportamiento han demostrado ser exitosos al ayudar al control del metabolismo, incrementar los niveles de ejercicio y manejar la pérdida de peso y otros riesgos de enfermedad cardiovascular. También mejoran la calidad de vida en general.

El Venezolano — El extraño caso del colombiano con cáncer “no humano”… Para los científicos, la presencia de células cancerígenas en parásitos hace que surjan muchas preguntas sobre el origen de células y si los organismos que se hospedan en el cuerpo humano pueden transmitir cáncer. “No pensábamos que las células de un parásito humano pudieran convertirse en malignas e invadir el tejido humano”, le dijo al Washington Post Bobbi Pritt, director de parasitología clínica de la Mayo Clinic. “Es muy inusual que unas células de parásito se vuelvan cancerígenas dentro de un humano e invadan otros tejidos de ese humano”.

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