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.

Editor, Karl Oestreich;  Assistant Editor: Emily Blahnik

CBS News
Healthcare providers on how healthcare may change under Trump

The CEOs of the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and New York-Presbyterian Hospital sat down with CBS News at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They offered their thoughts on how healthcare may change in the incoming Trump administration.

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.

Related coverage in the January 20, 2017 Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

Context: John Noseworthy, M.D. is Mayo Clinic President and CEO.

Contact: Duska Anastasijevic

 

Star Tribune
Aging boomers, lack of funding for Alzheimer's may lead to 'major social and economic crisis'
by Allie Shah

Do we cure cancer, heart disease or diabetes? No, but we can make significant progress," said Dr. Ron Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's disease Research Center. "So if I'm destined to develop Alzheimer's disease-related changes in the brain at age 75, and I can push that to age 78 or 80, that's a big deal. That's why I say delaying onset and slowing progression is a more realistic goal than a cure." Petersen will participate in a panel discussion, hosted by TPT Tuesday, on the state of Alzheimer's disease in Minnesota. The event is sold out.

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.

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.

Contact: Susan Barber Lindquist

 

NPR
Athlete-Turned-Trucker Works To Improve Truckers' Health
by Alex Smith

On a chilly winter morning, dozens of truck driver trainees file into a classroom at the headquarters of Prime Inc., a trucking company based in Springfield, Mo. At the front is Siphiwe Baleka, an energetic former swimming champion in his mid-40s. He delivers grim news about trucker
health to the new recruits. "If you haven't started to think about this, you need to start right now," Baleka says. ..The relatively small lifestyle changes that Baleka promotes could be enough to make a life-changing difference in the health of many truck drivers, says Dr. Clayton Cowl, chief of preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The drivers themselves — they don't need to be running marathons, necessarily," Cowl says.

Reach: Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk.

Context:  Clayton Cowl, M.D. heads Mayo Clinic's preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine. The division consists of 22 physicians who have specialty training in internal medicine or family practice and a team of trained occupational health nurses. Several of our physicians are board-certified in preventive, occupational and/or aerospace medicine. Mayo Clinic's integrated group practice model makes consultation with any other medical specialists readily available.

Contact:  Kelly Reller

 

Star Tribune
Filmmaker Ken Burns on Mayo Clinic: 'One of the most amazing medical places on Earth'
by Neal Justin

Ever since a Mayo Clinic newsletter mentioned this past October that Ken Burns' production company was spending time on the Rochester campus for an upcoming documentary, details have been sketchy…On a website for the Better Angels Society, the foundation that supports Burns' work and raises funds for them, it categorizes "The Mayo Clinic" under "Ken Burns Presents: The Next Generation," a division dedicated to a new generation of filmmakers with their boss lending his reputation and guidance as an executive producer.

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: City Pages

Context:  To learn more about the Ken Burns' film, check out this story in Mayo Clinic in the Loop.

Contact: Kelley Luckstein

ABC News, Mayo: Dayton Fall Unrelated to Cancer Diagnosis — The Mayo Clinic says Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's fall during his State of the State address was not related to his prostate cancer diagnosis. In a statement Tuesday evening, Mayo Clinic spokesman Karl Oestreich says doctors believe Dayton's fainting spell "was situational and related to standing for a long time while giving his speech and possible dehydration." The 69-year-old Democrat was encouraged to stay hydrated. Oestreich also says the governor learned about the cancer during his annual physical exam, and a biopsy last week confirmed the diagnosis. Additional coverage: KARE11, Lake County News Chronicle, Madison Press, WDEF News12, NBC News, Washington Post, FOX10 Phoenix, Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, USA Today, KAAL, Associated Press

Post-Bulletin, Dayton to be treated for prostate cancer at Mayo by Heather J. Carlson — A day after fainting during his State of the State address, Gov. Mark Dayton disclosed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Dayton told reporters on Tuesday that he underwent a biopsy at Mayo in Rochester on Wednesday and got the test results on Friday. "It confirmed it was cancer almost certainly and has not spread (beyond the prostate) almost certainly," he said. A Mayo Clinic spokesman affirmed Dayton's disclosure of the prostate cancer diagnosis.

Sports Illustrated, Can a workout be too intense? Four key points on muscle condition rhabdomyolysis by Jamie Lisanti — “When you work out you do small amounts of muscle damage and that’s fine, that’s what makes you stronger. Your body repairs it and that’s when hypertrophy occurs,” says Dr. Michael M. Joyner, an expert in human performance at the Mayo Clinic. “But if you do too much and really break the muscle down, that’s where the myoglobin gets in your system.”

KIMT, Hope Lodge gets big gift by Adam Sallet — A space for those battling cancer is getting some help from Mayo Clinic. The medical giant gave Hope Lodge $25,000 to help keep the center open for even more patients. If you didn’t know, the lodge is a free of charge space for patients getting treatment for cancer at Mayo Clinic to stay. Officials at the lodge tell us they are amazed at this donation and that these funds will help them in many ways.

WKBT La Crosse, Local hospital expands suicide screening by Madalyn O’Neill — At Mayo Clinic Health System, employees use the Patient Depression Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to determine what level of care a patient needs."The screening tools such as this really do help to identify who are the patients that really do need a psychiatrist? Who are the ones who maybe just need some education on coping and other mechanisms?" Mayo R.N. Hedi Rekow said. “I think something like this helps to get the right treatment for that patient in a timely manner.”

Minnesota Business, New dimensions in women’s health by Morgan Mercer — When Dr. Stephanie Faubion graduated from her residency program, working at a women’s health care clinic held no allure for her. She wanted to treat women outside of gynecology and obstetrics. Her interest in women’s health shifted, though, when she discovered the field is actually much broader. While the medical community treated women for a range of conditions unique to them or that occurred more frequently in women, it often failed to account for conditions that showed up or needed to be treated differently in women than in men. “We’re moving beyond what we call bikini medicine. It’s not just about the breasts and the reproductive tract,” says Dr. Faubion, the director of the Office of Women’s Health at Mayo Clinic. “We’re not giving appropriate care for anyone, men or women, if we don’t take sex and gender factors into account.”

MIT Technology Review, Voice Analysis Tech Could Diagnose Disease by Emily Mullin — In an initial study, the Mayo Clinic enrolled 150 patients and asked them to produce three short voice recordings using an app developed by Beyond Verbal. Researchers analyzed the voices using machine learning and identified 13 different vocal features associated with patients at risk of coronary artery disease. One characteristic, related to the frequency of the voice, was associated with a 19-fold increase in the likelihood of coronary artery disease. Amir Lerman, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, says this vocal trait isn’t discernable to the human ear and can only be picked up using the app’s software. “What we found out is that specific segments of the voice can be predictive of the amount or degree of the blockages found by the angiography,” Lerman says. Additional coverage: Becker’s Hospital Review

La Crosse Tribune, Hospitals urge scalpels, not machetes, as Obamacare goes on block by Mike Tighe — Joe Kruse, chief administrative officer at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, noted the popularity of some of the law’s hallmarks and their value in helping the previously uninsured and underinsured — in particular the coverage of pre-existing conditions and allowing young people to stay on their parents’ policies until the age of 26. “It’s not lost on anybody that the ACA has provided better access to health care for everybody,” Kruse said, adding one of the Mayo Clinic Health System’s talking points that “fixing the ACA is going to require a surgical approach with careful assessment, evaluation and action — with more focus on patients and treatments and less on premiums and websites.”

MobiHealthNews, Apple's top 22 patient-facing personal care apps by Jonah Comstock — Mayo Clinic: The Mayo Clinic’s app is not just for Mayo Clinic patients, though it has more features for patients. It also offers educational content such as fitness videos, recipes, and wellness tips. Mayo Clinic patients can also get access to test results and radiology images and can even sync the app up with their Apple Watch to get appointment reminders on the wrist.

Tampa Bay Times, Mayo Clinic Q&A: the benefits of flaxseed; set a pace for jogging success — I've heard that adding flaxseed to my diet could improve my health. How should I take it?.. Flaxseed should be taken with plenty of water or other fluids and shouldn't be taken at the same time as oral medications or other dietary supplements. As always, talk with your doctor before trying any dietary supplements. — Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.N, L.D., Endocrinology/Nutrition, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Breast Cancer News, Approved Therapy, Ibrance, Seen to Block Metastasis in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Study by Ines Martins, Ph.D. — “Metastasis is a hallmark of cancer and a leading cause of cancer death,” Zhenkun Lou, PhD, of Mayo Clinic, the study’s senior author, said in a press release. “Despite great progress in cancer therapy, the prevention of cancer metastasis is still an unfulfilled challenge.” Lou and his team had a hint that inhibiting CDK4/6, which regulates a cancer metastasis protein, could influence the transition of immotile cancer cells into migratory cells — a process called epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

Doctors Lounge, Breastfeeding Mothers Prefer to Supplement Their Own Vitamin D — Breastfeeding mothers prefer supplementing themselves with vitamin D rather than supplementing their infants, according to research published in the January/February issue of the Annals of Family Medicine. Noting that vitamin D supplementation is recommended for breastfed infants, Puja J. Umaretiya, M.D., from Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues determined maternal preferences for vitamin D supplementation in 140 mothers with exclusively breastfed infants and 44 mothers who used a combination of breast and formula milk.

iTech Post, Cancer Drugs Helps Weight Loss Even With High-Fat Diet by Anne Dominguez — The key to treating obesity was accidentally found! A study which originally aimed to investigate the impact of obesity in cancer treatment led to an unexpected discovery. Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Arizona found out that two common anti-cancer drugs can effectively help in weight loss even with a high fat diet. "Based on our composite data it appears that methotrexate or cyclophosphamide can induce the livers of obese mice to burn off rather than accumulate excessive dietary fat. This results in desirable weight reduction instead of increased obesity, even with continued caloric binging," Dr. Sandra Gendler, co-author of the study said in a press release from Mayo Clinic. Additional coverage: ALN magazine

PR Week, Caught in the middle: Healthcare communicators anxiously wait out Obamacare divide — As lawmakers grapple with the fate of the Affordable Care Act, healthcare communicators are anxiously waiting on the sidelines, observing each rhetorical back-and-forth about the future of the law. There is complexity when political reality meets rhetoric," adds Kathleen Harrington, government relations chair at Mayo Clinic. "Some of the details are definitely to be determined, but there is a shared objective, in medical terms, to do no harm."

Mankato Free Press, Mayo receives hefty arrival: Stronger MRI could improve precision, scan times by Brian Arola — What weighs 10 tons and costs $2.3 million? If you happened by Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato Saturday morning, you might’ve seen for yourself. The clinic’s new MRI scanner was swung by a crane through an opening in a structure built specifically to house the hefty piece of equipment. The three-Tesla magnet MRI, described as significantly more powerful than the 1.5-Tesla magnet MRI that it’ll sit adjacent to, will be operational in March. Dr. Michael Wolf, Mayo Clinic radiologist, said a more powerful MRI means quicker and more precise diagnoses for patients. Additional coverage: KEYC Mankato

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic receives $1.6 million for Alzheimer's research by Brett Boese — Researchers at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus were awarded grants totaling $1.6 million this week that will support efforts to find a prevention or cure for Alzheimer's disease. The state funding was announced this week after a competitive review process that saw eight Mayo Clinic's applications selected out of the 27 peer-reviewed studies sought monetary support. In 2014, the Florida Legislature approved the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program, which is providing this new funding.

Post-Bulletin, Rochester firm makes waves in imaging industry by Jeff Kiger — Resoundant, a Mayo Clinic imaging technology firm, is growing steadily as its Rochester-made system is being added to more and more MRI machines. "Most major medical centers around the world have one of these devices in use now," said Resoundant CEO and Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. Dick Ehman. "We have about 800 systems out there now, with 300 of them in the U.S. That's just a tiny fraction of the potential market." There are an estimated 20,000 to 21,000 MRI machines in use in the world.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic hosts Ragamala dance performance by Tom Weber — A free performance by Ragamala Dance Company will be presented at 6:30 p.m Jan. 31 in Phillips Hall of Mayo Clinic's Siebens Building. The performance, "Written in Water," features dancing, live music and paintings projected onto the stage. The music, played on Iraqi, jazz and Carnatic instruments, is composed by Amir ElSaffar, who leads the musical ensemble. The dancers will negotiate snakes and ladders, which represent the highs and lows of life in Hindu and Sufi thought.

Post Bulletin, Leg numbness, cramping require evaluation — DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have been on medication to treat peripheral artery disease for nearly a year, but it doesn't seem to help the numbness and cramping in my legs. Are stents always effective in treating symptoms of peripheral artery disease, or is there a chance I'll still have symptoms even with stents?...Make an appointment to talk with your doctor about your symptoms, and have them evaluated. If they are related to peripheral artery disease, it's likely that additional treatment and lifestyle changes can help with your symptoms and, if not resolve them completely, reduce them to a point that they are manageable. — Shahyar Gharacholou, M.D., Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic's 2 day, $5,000 exec exam — Bloomberg writer Sam Grobart wrote an interesting column about coming to Rochester for one of Mayo Clinic's 2 day, C-Suite exec exams. It's a good inside look at a very profitable program that Mayo Clinic offers and which attracts a lot of big spenders to the Med City every year.

Post-Bulletin, Is Mayo find a weight-loss game-changer? by Brett Boese — While conducting a cancer study on its Arizona campus, Mayo Clinic may have stumbled into a game-changing weight-loss solution. The trick now is determining whether it can be applied to humans. A team of Mayo researchers — led by cancer immunotherapist Peter Cohen, M.D., postdoctoral fellow Cheryl Myers, Ph.D., and immunologist Sandra Gendler, Ph.D. — found that two common cancer-fighting drugs sparked "significant" weight loss in obese mice, even when continuing "excessive consumption of a high-fat diet."

Post-Bulletin, A life-saving secret by Brett Boese — An unusual series of events led to Pierce being treated in Rochester. Upon falling ill in July 2015, Pierce's wife, Gretchen, says she was unable to secure an appointment for her husband at the local health care facilities. Panicked, Pierce's sister in Nevada took a shot in the dark — she reached out to a neighbor who works at Mayo for assistance. Within days, Pierce was being treated in Rochester by Mayo specialists. Pierce's liver condition was causing liters of fluid to build up internally, which required constant draining. However, Mayo happened to be starting a new trial aimed at helping patients excrete excess fluid as urine. The study was already full, but Mayo received funding to include Pierce in the trial, which extended his donor window. "Mayo is so awesome," Pierce said. "They were only supposed to give out five of these pumps. They petitioned the FDA for more funding to get a sixth pump, which came to me."

TIME, 7 Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally by Alexandra Sifferlin — Exercise: Regular exercise has all kinds of amazing benefits for the body, and one of the biggest is keeping blood pressure steady. According to the Mayo Clinic, exercising around 30 minutes most days of the week has been shown to lower blood pressure by 4 to 9 millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Exercise helps strengthen the heart, which makes it easier for the vital organ to pump blood.

Star Tribune, Mayo Clinic News Network: How eating right helps maximize a workout's benefits — Eating and exercise are connected. When and what you eat can affect on your workout. According to Dr. John M. Murphy, who practices family medicine in the Mayo Clinic Health System, you can maximize the effectiveness of your workouts by following a few tips…

Healthcare Business News, Mayo researchers identify mechanism of oncogene action in lung cancer — Researchers at Mayo Clinic have identified a genetic promoter of cancer that drives a major form of lung cancer. In a new paper published this week in Cancer Cell, Mayo Clinic researchers provide genetic evidence that Ect2 drives lung adenocarcinoma tumor formation. “This paper demonstrates, for the first time, that Ect2 is required for tumor formation in vivo and identifies a novel function related to ribosomes for Ect2 in lung adenocarcinoma tumor cells,” says Alan Fields, Ph.D., senior author on the paper.

Metro UK, How to get to sleep: 11 tips for getting a decent night’s sleep by Imogen Groome — John Shepard, director of the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, spoke to 300 patients who came to the center for a routine consultation, and discovered that many people with sleep problems were sharing their bedrooms with their cats and dogs. Of the 152 who owned pets, 60% let them sleep in their beds. Around half of these animal lovers claimed that their pets disrupted their sleep every night. Some found themselves repeatedly getting up in the night to let their dog or cat out to urinate, with 21% of dog owners and 7% of cat owners complaining that their pets snored.

WRVO New York, Finding nutrients, protein and more in a healthy vegetarian diet — This week on “Take Care,” advice on how to eat a healthy vegetarian diet from one of the nation’s top experts on nutrition, Dr. Donald Hensrud. Hensrud is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller “The Mayo Clinic Diet.” He’s also chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupations and Aerospace Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program.

New York Post, Why the Mediterranean diet is still the best way to lose weight by Molly Shea — The diet has since morphed to fit different needs — there’s a Mediterranean diet for diabetes and another to fight cancer, for example, and many clinics have their own versions — as well as Americans’ diversifying palates. “There is not one Mediterranean diet,” says Dr. Donald Hensrud, director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. “There are almost 20 countries that border the Mediterranean and each one has a [slightly] different version of the specific foods they serve — but there are features they all have in common.”

Scientist magazine, Marijuana Research Still Stymied by Federal Laws by Bob Grant — Michael Bostwick, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, has also published extensively on the therapeutic effects of marijuana. He agreed that although federal illegality is a primary obstacle to studying cannabis in the U.S., there are other factors that make understanding the basic science behind the drug’s potential therapeutic effects a daunting prospect. “I’m not sure that the research can catch up with the social use, meaning this: that, at least within the current [US Food and Drug Administration] approaches to medication, which is how every other medication in our country is approved, there is no precedent and no model for, first, smoking a substance and, second, using a substance that is not pure but contains many, many different compounds in varying amounts.”

KIMT, Non-profit aims to create “Brighter Tomorrows” for families touched by childhood cancer by DeeDee Stiepan — Often families will travel long distances to Mayo Clinic in order to receive some of the best possible treatment for a child diagnosed with pediatric cancer. To help families going through similar experiences connect with one another, four mothers whose children were all receiving treatment at Mayo founded Brighter Tomorrows back in 2007. The Rochester-bases non-profit offers educational, emotional, and spiritual support for families going through a pediatric cancer diagnosis. Each month, a group will meet for dinner and discussion that is usually facilitated by a Mayo Clinic physician.

MSN Canada, 5 simple ways to get rid of blisters by John Michael Bond — Your first instinct when it comes to blisters is going to be to mess with them. We get it. It’s a weird little bubble on your body, and you wanna poke at it. Sadly, the best way to treat a blister is to just leave the hell alone. According to the Mayo Clinic, your best bet for healing a blister is to leave it intact and just not touch it. Cover it with bandaid and do your best not to let it pop. The skin over a blister helps prevent infection. Keep it on as long as possible.

Huffington Post, Feeling Overwhelmed? Here Are Three Ways To Gain Perspective by Ashley Stahl — If you find yourself unable to unwind and de-stress through a series of short breaks during your day, it might be helpful for you to find an activity that forces you to focus your attention on something other than your work. The Mayo Clinic suggests recharging with yoga and incorporating a series of breathing techniques that will allow you to center your thoughts — and help re-focus you toward your goal.

Tabasco Hoy, Ayuda ejercicio a combatir cancer — Los pacientes con cáncer que hacen ejercicio con frecuencia enfrentan mejor la enfermedad, viven más años y tienen menos riesgo de recurrencia, refirió Rubén Mesa, director del Centro de Cáncer de la Clínica Mayo en Arizona…"Hay estudios recientes que demuestran que la actividad física constante aumenta la expectativa de vida después de un diagnóstico de cáncer y en muchos casos también se ha visto que disminuye el riesgo de que el tumor vuelva a aparecer.

KTTC, Twins Caravan stops at St. Marys to visit young patients by Justin McKee — For the 57th year, the Minnesota Twins are taking a tour of the land of 10,000 lakes. "Giving back to the fans for the support they did for us during the season. Even though the season didn't turn out the way we wanted to, we still had a great support system and we just want to show the appreciation and give it back," said Twins outfielder Byron Buxton. Rochester is one of the more than forty communities the team will be visiting and Buxton, Trevor May, Kris Atteberry, and T.C. made a special stop at St. Marys to hang out with some young Mayo Clinic patients. The kids got a chance to chat with their heroes and get autographs on baseballs and player cards. Additional coverage: KAAL, Post-Bulletin

WQOW Eau Claire, Opioid prescribers face new requirement in April by Kaitlyn Riley — On April 1, a new law goes into effect requiring Wisconsin medical professionals to review a patient’s history before prescribing more than a 3-day supply of a controlled substance. Dr. Paul Horvath, M.D. medical director of Emergency Care for Mayo Clinic Health System northwest Wisconsin, discusses the newly revamped Prescription Drug Monitoring Program website and how this law is part of a larger effort to curtail the opioid epidemic.

Hospitals & Health Networks, Mayo Clinic's Secret Sauce to Addressing the Doc Burnout Epidemic by Marty Stempniak — Steve Swensen, medical director in the Mayo Clinic Office of Leadership and Organization Development, says part of the solution is helping staff to identify for each of them the pebble in their shoe, the nagging problem that won't go away.

KIMT, Bridges to Healthcare program named as a finalist for a Harvard University award by DeeDee Stiepan —Rochester’s Pathway to College and Career/Bridges to Healthcare program has been named as a semifinalist for Harvard’s Innovations in American Government Awards competition...Pathways to College has been a long-standing partnership between Rochester Community Technical College and the Hawthorne Education Center. The Bridges project guides participants through a pathway to become part of the highly skilled and in-demand healthcare workforce, thanks to private partners like Mayo Clinic. To date, participants have earned more than 250 healthcare career certificates and credentials.

Self.com, How The Pressure To Breastfeed Can Exacerbate Postpartum Depression by Korin Miller — … “While agreeing to the benefits of breast milk, there NEEDS to be an understanding that it is OK to supplement with formula, and that formula is a completely viable option.” … Chen is right. "We do know that exclusive breastfeeding is best for your baby, but everything in life is a balance of risks and benefits. If you are experiencing difficulties with breastfeeding and it is affecting how you are coping emotionally, then, yes, supplementing with formula as needed may be part of the answer," Julie Lamppa, A.P.R.N., a certified nurse midwife at the Mayo Clinic, tells SELF. "But remember that it’s not the whole answer [when trying to cope]—you still need additional support from those around you and a medical provider."

HealthDay, Should Pregnant Women Always Be Treated for Underactive Thyroid by Robert Preidt — Many women may be affected by an underactive thyroid gland, but new research suggests that treating it in pregnancy comes with benefits and potential harm. "Our findings lead us to believe that overtreatment could be possible," study co-author and Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Juan Brito Campana said in a Mayo news release. Campana and his colleagues advise a more nuanced approach when deciding whether or not to treat a pregnant woman for a mildly underactive thyroid. Additional coverage: Philly.com

Perham Focus, Dayton's 70th birthday not what he wanted by Don Davis — No one wants to celebrate a 70th birthday with a new cancer diagnosis and recent history of fainting on statewide television. On Tuesday, he visited Mayo about his Monday night fainting spell. "Mayo Clinic believes this episode was situational and related to standing for a long time while giving his speech and possible dehydration," Mayo spokesman Karl Oestreich said. "It is not related to his prostate cancer diagnosis. He was encouraged to stay hydrated. Gov. Dayton remains upbeat and looks forward to his follow up appointments next week." Additional coverage: The Week, FOX 21

Twin Cities Business, Mayo Cardiologists, Device Pros Work On Cooling Implant To Treat AFib by Don Jacobson — A pair of former Boston Scientific execs have teamed up with two renowned Mayo Clinic cardiologists on what they hope could be a revolutionary new kind of implantable device that uses cooling technology to painlessly halt irregular heartbeats, or atrial fibrillations. The promise of the Rochester-based startup, Medicool Technologies Inc., to change the paradigm in treating atrial fibrillation has earned it $250,000 in initial seed funding from the National Science Foundation via the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant program, which seeks to encourage small businesses to perform research having the potential for commercialization.

WQOW Eau Claire, Opioid prescribers face new requirement in April by Kaitlyn Riley — A new Wisconsin law will require medical professionals to review a patient's history of controlled substances before prescribing more than a three-day supply starting in April 2017. Dr. Paul Horvath, medical director of emergency care at Mayo Clinic Health System, said the new law could be a great way to start curbing opiate addiction in the state. "Unfortunately, we know that a lot of opiate abuse begins with opiates prescribed for legitimate medical purposes, and then spirals into a bad place from there," Horvath said.

KIMT, What doctors want women to know about cervical cancer by DeeDee Stiepan — Dr. Jamie Bakkum-Gamez, an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mayo Clinic, says that 99% of cervical cancers and pre-cancers are caused by the Human Papillomavirus or HPV. Bakkum-Gamez says there’s currently only clinical trial data available on the HPV vaccines but that data shows receiving it is effective in decreasing the risk of developing cervical cancers and pre-cancers. “We anticipate that we’ll continue to see decreases in the rate of cervical cancer because of the HPV vaccine,” she explains.

Hospitals & Health Networks, High-Value Care Increasingly Becoming Core Part of Med School Curriculum — Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and Arizona State University included high-value care as one of six domains in their new Science of Health Care Delivery curriculum that launched in 2015. Other domains include team-based care, population-based care and person-centered care. “We are trying to get as much of this content as we can presented in the first couple of years so students understand it is foundational to being a doctor,” says Stephanie Starr, M.D., director of Science of Healthcare Delivery Education at Mayo.

MedPage Today, Pregnant Women with Low-Grade Hypothyroidism May Benefit from Treatment by Kristen Monaco — Spyridoula Maraka, MD, of the Mayo Clinic and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and colleagues also found, however, that the risk of pregnancy loss was not significantly benefited among women with untreated TSH concentrations between 2.5 and 4.0 mIU/L compared with untreated women (OR 0.91, 0.65-1.23; P<0.01 for interaction). In an email exchange with MedPage Today, Maraka said she was not surprised to find that thyroid hormone treatment was associated with a decreased risk for pregnancy loss. "From a biologic standpoint, we know that adequate thyroid hormone availability is needed for the trophoblast function

Patch, Greta Van Susteren, Mayo Clinic Give Liberian Orphan Critical Care by William Bornhoft — In October, Greta Van Susteren, formerly an anchor for Fox News before signing on with MSNBC in January, began publicly asking for donations for an orphan in Liberia. The boy, known as "Sampson," suffers from a severe deformity that covers 100 percent of one eye and partly covers the other. In early January, it was learned that Sampson would have his surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Mayo officials say Sampson has a large benign facial mass called neurofibroma plexiform, a genetic condition that is incurable. The tumor, however, can be partially removed, according to the Mayo doctors.

WEAU Eau Claire, Mayo Clinic Health System hosts snowshoe and winter hike events — Tina Tharp, community engagement and wellness specialist, talks with WEAU 13 News 5pm anchor Judy Clark about upcoming snowshoe and winter hike events.

Psychiatry Advisor, Parental Emotional Well-Being Impacted by Childhood Psoriasis — Megha M. Tollefson, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues examined the impact of childhood psoriasis on parents' lives. Thirty-one parents of children with psoriasis were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. "The results of this study are a testament to the pervasiveness of childhood psoriasis in a parent's life," the authors write. "Development of support strategies is recommended for children with psoriasis and their families."

Shape, Should You Get a Genetic Test for Lynch Syndrome? by Krissy Brady — Lynch syndrome is a condition that's passed down genetically through families. It dramatically increases a person's risk for developing colorectal, uterine, ovarian, stomach, and other cancers during their lifetime. If one parent carries a gene mutation for Lynch syndrome, there's a 50 percent chance that mutation will be passed on to each child, according to the Mayo Clinic. The risk of Lynch syndrome is the same whether the carrier is the mother or father, or the child is a son or daughter.

Clarin, Lagunas mentales: cuándo preocuparse — En los adultos mayores, los problemas de memoria son preocupantes cuando afectan la información que es particularmente importante o conocida, cuando las lagunas mentales se vuelven frecuentes o cuando los olvidos interfieren en las actividades diarias. “Si su situación recae dentro de alguna de estas categorías, valdría la pena que viera a un médico”, advierte Ericka Tung, del servicio de Atención Primaria de Medicina Interna de la Clínica Mayo.

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