November 30, 2018

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights for November 30, 2018

By Emily Blahnik

Wall Street Journal, Doctors Rethink the Cause—and Treatment—of Diverticular Disease by Laura Landro — Researchers are also learning more about the role of obesity in the risk of diverticulitis, and recommend maintaining a healthy body-mass index—the measure of body fat in relation to height and weight. But in a Mayo Clinic study of rising rates of diverticulitis in one Minnesota county, published in September, diverticulitis was associated with increased waist circumference, rather than BMI. “Belly fat increases your risk for diverticulitis” and other conditions like heart disease, says lead researcher Adil E. Bharucha. “The best way to melt belly fat is with diet and exercise.”

Wall Street Journal, Aerial Yoga Is How This Exec Stays Grounded by Jen Murphy — Fitness commitments are often the first thing to fall by the wayside for busy parents. They should get in the habit of exercising as a family, says Dani Johnson, a physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program in Rochester, Minn. “By maximizing your time, you can work toward your own fitness goals while setting an example for your children,” she says. The next time you take your children to the playground, don’t be a benchwarmer. The playground isn’t just for children. “Do pull-ups from the monkey bars, climb the fireman’s pole or do step-ups on a nearby bench,” she says. “If you push your kid on the swing, do squats between pushes.” Many parents sit on the side while their children are at the pool. She suggests hopping in. “If you don’t want to swim laps, run in the shallow end for low-impact, aerobic activity,” Ms. Johnson says. Try spend time outdoors with them regularly. “Taking a walk or hike in nature is a great way to get exercise and also to talk without the distraction of electronics,” she says.

Washington Post, Dispelling deadly myths about the flu vaccine by Emily Sohn — So far, this year’s flu season is starting off slowly and looking fairly conventional, with sporadic cases and small outbreaks starting to occur around the country. The H1N1 strain is circulating, and for now, the vaccine appears to be a good match, says Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minn…Hundreds of millions of new influenza mutants form every few minutes, Poland says. “People tend to think of the flu as a static virus, but it is an incestuous cesspool of viruses,” he says. “Prediction is impossible.”

Chicago Tribune, Locked and uploaded: Employers use wearable devices to monitor, learn more about their workers by Marco Buscaglia — …Although the medical industry recognized Thomas' ailment, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, in the 1950s, it didn't take hold with the public until decades later. Today, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which the Mayo Clinic  in Rochester, Minnesota, defines as "a numbness and tingling in the hand caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist," is found in employee handbooks and on breakroom posters across the country. It's one of the reasons that employers recommend workers who use a desktop keyboard take hourly breaks. In many cases, companies will provide seating options, such as standing or kneeling desks, to help employees maintain a certain degree of movement and fluidity during the workday.

Washington Post, This man was teased for his ‘beer belly.’ It turned out to be a 77-pound cancerous tumor. by Lindsey Bever — “I just thought I was fat,” Hernandez said in a phone interview on Tuesday with The Washington Post. But Hernandez said his stomach kept feeling “heavy” and “hard” to the touch, so he got a second opinion. Ultimately, he said, he was diagnosed with a retroperitoneal liposarcoma, a rare but cancerous tumor that forms in fat cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.

New York Post, Women sleep better next to dogs than other people: study by Alexandra Klausner — Women aren’t the only ones who report better sleep with dogs, according to a study published last year. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona conducted a study of 40 healthy adults, both male and female, and found that people who slept with a dog in the bedroom got more rest than people who didn’t. Although, the Mayo study found sleeping with a dog in the bed, as opposed to another place in the bedroom, could disrupt the sleep cycle. Additional coverage: Jezebel, FOX News

Forbes, When Clinical Trials Are Marketing Ploys, Not Science by Jessica Baron — …It’s frustrating to learn just how corrupt systems designed to protect us have become, but the first step towards consumer protection is becoming knowledgeable about how products are created, tested, and marketed. A Mayo Clinic study from 2013 found that 7 of every 10 Americans are on at least one prescription drug. Perhaps it’s time to ask some tougher questions about why that is and whether or not these treatments have been developed and tested in a way that makes them worth the expense.

Modern Healthcare, Building a better patient portal by Rachel Z. Arndt — For Dr. Steve Ommen, associate dean of Mayo Clinic's Center for Connected Care, there's also improved efficiency when it comes to sharing lab results with patients. Some patients want to see more than just lab results and after-visit summaries. If these people are lucky, they are patients at the nearly 150 health systems that support OpenNotes, a movement to do what the name says and open notes to patients, showing them all of their clinical notes…It makes sense, then, that Apple's Health app has created so much buzz. Patients want to be able to access records across health systems in a single portal, Mayo's Ommen said.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, In bond disclosure, Mayo Clinic reveals construction bills will top $900M for ongoing projects by Katharine Grayson — Mayo Clinic’s construction costs for projects underway will add up to about $908 million over the next three to five years, the health care provider said in a recent bond disclosure. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo also said it will need to spend an additional $217 million in connection with an electronic-medical-records project. As Mayo Clinic has expanded in its home state through its Destination Medical Center project, it has also moved ahead with significant expansions elsewhere in the country. Earlier this year, the organization said it would start a $648 million project that will nearly double the size of its Phoenix campus. Mayo also said it would continue a building spree at its Jacksonville, Fla., with plans for two new projects worth $144 million.

KARE 11, Scientists claim first genetically edited babies by Kent Erdahl — Gene editing works by making a cut in the DNA to disable a specific gene. In this case, to increase resistance to a possible future infection with the AIDS virus. "In principal, it's probably been doable for 20 years," said Stephen C Ekker, professor at the Mayo Clinic and President of the Genome Writers Guild. "It's not a surprise to us that somebody tried this approach, to go after human germ line, it's always been a question of when." But Ekker says that doesn't mean it's the right time to apply the technology to human embryos. Though the claims out of China have yet to be verified, and the newborn twins have yet to be identified, he says it raises important questions and conversations that are long overdue. "I think it's very important that when we're not talking about just ourselves, but about our future generations, that we understand the full context of what we're doing," Ekker said. "You've got to have a process by which you decide where that line is, and so it's got to be a dynamic process and it should be adaptable to the science and the ethics and the culture of the times, and I don't feel like we've got that process in place at all."

Star Tribune, Guests from far and wide make Rochester an Airbnb hot spot by Matt McKinney — “Rochester is definitely a big market for us,” said Ben Breit, an Airbnb spokesman. It’s Minnesota’s fourth-busiest market in terms of guests, behind Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. And it’s third in terms of revenue, with hosts making $1.6 million in 2017, he said. And it’s still growing. The driver, of course, is the Mayo Clinic: Airbnb hosts say most of their guests are either patients at the world-renowned hospital or families of those patients. Mayo’s $5.6 billion, 20-year expansion promises to bring thousands of new employees while expanding the city in all directions. And all those people will need a place to stay.

Star Tribune, Minnesota clinics report sharp slowdown in medical spending growth by Jeremy Olson — Despite the weighting to even out differences in patients’ illnesses, the cost report tends to look worse for specialty providers such as Mayo as well as pediatric clinics. Rural providers tend to have higher total costs as well, in part because they don’t have as many options when it comes to referring patients to nearby specialists. Mayo’s global patient population is undoubtedly different from that of the cheapest provider, Community-University, which provides primary care to a diverse, urban population. The Twin Cities’ largest primary care providers all came in close to the state average for total monthly cost of care — with Allina at $524, Fairview at $495, and HealthPartners (which invented the methodology for this analysis) at $470. Business leaders said the comparison information is vital as health care costs increase and workers are asked to pay greater shares.

Star Tribune, Medical records create a new software niche by Lee Schafer — …A lot of health care organizations in our region use EHR technology produced by Epic Systems. The transition to Epic was such a big deal for the Mayo Clinic that back in May when the switch was thrown in Rochester to go live, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported the exact time: 3:54 a.m. on a Saturday. Epic, based outside of Madison, Wis., had fewer than 400 employees in 2000. As an example of how health IT has boomed, Epic now has nearly 10,000, mostly at its sprawling corporate campus.

Post-Bulletin, Our View: Mayo Clinic's growth is good news for Rochester and state — The old saying was that what’s good for Mayo Clinic is good for Rochester. But Mayo has become so large and important that we can now say what’s good for Mayo Clinic is good for Minnesota. The Clinic, after all, is the state’s largest private employer. According to the financial forms Mayo filed with the IRS, revenue in 2017 increased by $6.14 billion, or 19 percent. That resulted in an operating margin of 5 percent, better than other medical institutions in the state, and comparable to major medical centers nationwide. We can go on and on about the details of the financial figures, but collectively they add up to this: Mayo Clinic is not only healthy, it is growing. As we said, that’s good for Rochester and Minnesota. Mayo continues to be an enormous economic engine — and it is expanding…The alternative to growth, of course, is stagnation. With Mayo Clinic in the vanguard, stagnation does not appear to be an issue.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic revenue climbs 19% by Jeff Kiger — Buoyed by increases in patient care and research, Mayo Clinic’s revenue climbed to $6.14 billion in 2017, up 19 percent from the previous year. That’s a much bigger jump than the 9 percent revenue increase from 2015 to 2016, when the revenue went from $4.7 billion to $5.15 billion. Mayo Clinic filed its annual 990 financial forms with the IRS last week. The 214-page report offers a detailed look at how Mayo Clinic fared financially in 2017. The IRS document paints a picture of a robust, rapidly growing organization. Revenue less expenses, or net income, was $312.58 million for 2017 compared to $257.42 million in 2016. That’s an operating margin of 5 percent, which is higher than most Minnesota health systems.

Post-Bulletin, County prepares pitch for crisis center by Randy Petersen — As an emergency room doctor, Casey Clements said the ER’s doors are always open, but it’s not always the best answer for patients who fall in a gap between treatment options. “They need mental health programming, which I can’t do in an emergency department setting, and they need someplace that is safe to be when you are not sick enough that you need to be in a hospital, but you are also not well enough that I’m sure I can send you home safely,” he said…Olmsted Medical Center doctors Kathryn Lombardo and Jeff Gursky joined their Mayo Clinic counterpart in citing the need for the proposed facility. “There are no available services,” Lombardo said of crisis mental health care, citing a growing need in the last 15 years.

Post-Bulletin, Rochester's labor shortage? It's becoming more urgent by Matthew Stolle — Tuesday's roundtable, which drew superintendents and higher education and business leaders, had a twofold purpose, said RCTC President Jeffery Boyd. One was to focus on how the college's existing partnerships with entities like Mayo Clinic are helping to meet the area's employment needs. The other was to focus on today's challenges: How the workforce shortage threatens the regional economy and how future partnerships might address the problem. Many students don't realize that Mayo Clinic, for example, draws more talent from RCTC than any other college. Finne said when he goes into classrooms and asks students where Mayo hires most of its college graduates, many think of Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale. But it's RCTC.

KAAL, Former Sen. Norm Coleman remains thankful, despite cancer fight by Tom Hauser — Despite his brave face, Coleman did say the news that his cancer had spread to his lungs was like a "gut punch," especially because he felt so good that day last summer when he was heading to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for a checkup. He was convinced he was about to get a clean bill of health. "On the way down I stopped and looked at a boat," he said. "I want to get myself a new boat. And I told the guy 'I'm just going down (to Mayo).' I was convinced it was going to be good news.

KAAL, Family Gives Blood and Thanks — A Rochester girl's birthday has become a tradition, bringing family and friends to Mayo Clinic. Shea Novotny just turned 5-years-old. “She’s a pretty happy, healthy kid right now,” said her mom, Kerry Novotny. But that wasn’t always the case. “Shea got sick when she was younger and we’re lucky enough that we live in Rochester so we had all of our support systems here and food and all of our homes – everything,” mom said. Tuesday, with 23 friends, family, and coworkers, marked the 5th annual “Shea Day.”…As the weather turns colder and people are out-of-town for the holidays, Dr. Justin Kreuter, Medical Director for Mayo Clinic’s Blood Donor Program, said it’s tough to get donors in the door. “I think it’s easy to forget about the importance because it’s something that you assume somebody else is going to pick up the slack and do it,” he said.

KAAL, 'Dear Santa: All I want for Christmas is a kidney for my Dad' by Jackie Cain — From crashing his way through a demolition derby track to cruising the wide-open road on his motorcycle, and from fishing with the family to playing coach to his kids, life has been full-speed-ahead for Chris Fickbohm of Grantsburg, Wisconsin. But now the 46-year-old husband and father is fighting just to make it through each day. "He's up all night. Pretty much all night throwing up," Kristina Fickbohm said…A matching donor for Chris must have an O blood type. But even if he gets that miracle, the Mayo Clinic is his only option for surgery and it will be costly. Medical bills could be as high as $500,000. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help.

KROC-Radio, Epic Completion Leads to Better Bottom Line for Mayo Clinic by Andy Brownell — The Mayo Clinic’s financial performance rebounded this summer after experiencing a modest dip in the second quarter while the health care giant transitioned to the new Epic medical records system. A required filing shows the Mayo Clinic’s income from current activities grew to $244-million in the third quarter. That’s up $85-million from the second quarter and is up $62-million when compared to the same three-month period last year. Overall revenues from July through September were just over $3.2-billion. Almost $2.7-billion of that amount was derived from medical services, which was up $46-million from the second quarter and increased $219-million when compared to the third quarter last year.

Florida Times-Union, Day-long event introduces young girls to science, tech, engineering, math careers by Sara Smith — The American Heart Association on Monday hosted “STEM goes red,” a day-long event at UNF for middle school girls to spark interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The event was setup to allow girls to have hands-on experiences with the different fields and hear from women who work in different fields under the STEM umbrella. Dr. Sabrina Phillips, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, led the science activity where the children were given dissected cow hearts to examine and label. “To first show the young girls that are going to come through here that there are women in science who are cardiologists, nurse practitioners who are really impacting medicine but then we also want to wrap in that core message of the American Heart Association, let them know how the heart works, how they keep their heart healthy, because they can’t be productive, exciting scientists if they’re not healthy,” Phillips said.’

News4Jax, Men's Health Awareness Month with Mayo Clinic — Segment with Dr. Chandler Dora, urologist, begins at 5:04 mark.

Jacksonville Daily Record, People on the Move — Dr. Kent Thielen was elected vice president of Mayo Clinic and CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida by the Mayo Clinic board of trustees. Thielen, a member of Mayo’s staff since 1996, will succeed Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, who will become president and CEO of Mayo Clinic in January. Thielen serves in several leadership roles in radiology. As chair of the Midwest Department of Radiology, he leads a staff of 260 physicians and physicists, 52 residents, 24 fellows and 1,500 allied health staff. The Mayo board of trustees also named two new members: Jay Alix, founder of AlixPartners LLP, a business advisory firm, and George Bilicic, vice chair of Investment Banking, head of Midwest Investment Banking and head of Power, Energy and Infrastructure at Lazard Freres & Co. LLC.

Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Alzheimer's Disease Center awarded $3.7 million grant to slow, halt disease by Carmen Duarte — A $3.7 million grant was awarded to the Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Center for researchers to find ways to detect Alzheimer’s earlier and to slow or halt its progress. The funding includes $1.1 million for research at the University of Arizona, which is a partner of the center… In addition to the UA, research partners include Arizona State University, the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, and the Phoenix-based Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Barrow Neurological Institute and Translational Genomics Research Institute.

Cronkite News, Partnership unveils program to identify, head off youth sports injuries by Renata Clo — Jennifer Wethe knows the importance of getting treatment for a concussion as soon as possible. She also knows how often concussions can be overlooked in those critical first few moments. “What we find instead is a lot of times people making excuses: ‘Oh well they’re just dehydrated,’ or ‘They got the wind knocked out of them,’ or ‘They had a headache,'” said Wethe, the co-director of the Mayo Clinic Arizona Sports Neurology and Concussion Program…The protocol developed by the Mayo Clinic is already being used to assist hockey and football teams across the Phoenix Metro Valley, Wethe said. Anatomical targets in neuromodulation range from central to peripheral, Starling noted. In general, noninvasive neuromodulation devices have fewer risks and are preferred over invasive ones. Currently available devices may be effective for both prevention and acute treatment: "We're starting to see a blurring of acute and preventive lines," she said.

Albert Lea Tribune, Guest Column: Goal of hospice is to give best care possible by Cory Ingram — Our community hospices of Austin and Albert Lea thank community members for their dedicated support of our Mayo Clinic Health System Hospice through their volunteer work and donations of all shapes and sizes. This last year we had an Eagle Scout complete their Eagle project through making blankets for our patients. We appreciate your kind words of support and partnership in all our community-wide efforts. —Cory Ingram is medical director of hospice and palliative care in southeast Minnesota for Mayo Clinic.

WKBT La Crosse, How local hospitals train for active shooter situation by Sarah Thamer — …Mayo Clinic Health System also has procedures in place for employees. "First preferred method would be to run out of the area, then if you are trapped into an area, you would want to hide, and the least preferred method would be to actually fight the active shooter as a last resort," said Charles Hall, security operations supervisor with Mayo Clinic Health System.

WXOW La Crosse, Lung screening program could help catch cancer early by Jeremy Culver — A screening clinic at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse has a tool to help identify the disease early…“By the time someone presents with symptoms of lung cancer it may be farther progressed and harder to treat,” Jenny Prinsen, N.P. with Mayo Clinic Health System said. In fact the National Institute of Health found the survival rate for lung cancer is only 18.6 percent, but jumps to 56 percent if it’s found early. “If by going through the program we identify a lung cancer early it may be the decision that saves their lives,” Prinsen said.

La Crosse Tribune, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration to receive $37 million in 20-year deal with Mayo by Mike Tighe — The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration will receive $37 million in cash, real property and other services over a 20-year period under the order’s agreement to transfer sponsorship of Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare to Mayo Clinic Health System. The transfer from the La Crosse-based order to Mayo in Rochester, Minn., which the La Crosse-based order announced a year ago, originally was scheduled for July 1 but became effective when papers were signed on Oct. 31.

KAUS Radio, Mayo Clinic urges food safety heading into Thanksgiving holiday — Whether you’re traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday or cooking at home, there are a number of possible dangers hiding in your Thanksgiving feast you’ll want to prepare for. KAUS News spoke with Kjersten Nett, a registered Dietician with Mayo Clinic Health Systems in Austin and Albert Lea who stated that your various thanksgiving dishes should be put in the refrigerator for approximately two hours when your meal is finished…

HealthDay, Just a Little Weightlifting Can Help Your Heart by Maureen Salamon — Study author Duck-chul Lee said, "Traditionally, weightlifting was for athletes, and that's why I think there is less evidence on its health benefits, specifically for the heart." Lee is an associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University. "People know that running or cardio exercise is good for the cardiovascular system, but there are benefits of weightlifting on the heart that were not [previously] well-studied," Lee added. In research published separately, Lee and his colleagues found that less than an hour of weightlifting per week also reduced the risk for high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions linked to diabetes. Those reports are in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. For the heart and stroke study, the researchers studied nearly 12,600 participants (average age 47) who had undergone at least two clinical examinations between 1987 and 2006. The participants self-reported their levels of resistance exercise, and follow-ups were done about five and 10 years later. Additional coverage: WebMD

MedPage Today, Noninvasive Devices Help Migraine, Cluster Headache Patients by Judy George — In recent years, the FDA has cleared single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (Cerena, Spring TMS), noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (gammaCORE), and external trigeminal nerve stimulation devices (Cefaly) to treat primary headache disorders, said Amaal Starling, MD, of the Mayo Clinic facility here, in a plenary session at the American Headache Association's Scottsdale Headache Symposium.

Healthcare Dive, Mayo Clinic reports $9.5B revenue in first 9 months of 2018 by Meg Bryant — It's been a good nine months for Mayo Clinic. The system's capital investment efforts come as many nonprofit health systems are downgrading facilities and divesting assets to offset higher operating costs and a slowdown in revenue growth fueled by lower reimbursements and a shift to more care in outpatient settings. During the third quarter of 2018, Fitch Ratings upgraded the security rating of 11 nonprofit hospitals and health systems and downgraded 11. Among the downgrades were Dignity Health and MedStar Health, each of which dropped from A to A-. Mayo has about $908 million in construction projects underway related to patient care, research and education, with completion anticipated between 2021 and 2023.

CTV News, Baby with rare hearing disorder hears parents' voices for first time — Aida Little is 7 months old and can finally hear her parents’ voices. The Minnesota baby was born deaf, but thanks to a surgical team at a Minnesota Mayo Clinic, she will be able to interpret speech. The clinic recently released a video of Aida hearing her parents speak to her for the first time. “Hi beautiful, can you hear me? It’s daddy,” her father said in the video released last week. “We love you. We do.”

FOX News, Mom donates life-saving kidney to toddler son by Patricia Murphy — A kindhearted mother has given her toddler the gift of life this Thanksgiving after donating one of her kidneys. Jace Josephson, 2, was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which means that side of the heart does not develop correctly… Jace’s surgeries have weakened his lungs and the 2-year-old lives with a tracheostomy tube to help him breathe. His doctors at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Mary's Campus in Minn., believe it won’t be a permanent fixture in his life.

OncLive, O'Sullivan Discusses the Future of HER2+ Breast Cancer Treatment by Ciara O’Sullivan, MB, BCh — Ciara O'Sullivan, MB, BCh, senior associate consultant, assistant professor of oncology, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, discusses the future for HER2-positive breast cancer treatment.

Salmon Arm Observer, Mayo Clinic provides treatment option for Shuswap woman with Parkinson’s by Martha Wickett — A much-anticipated trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has left a Salmon Arm woman who has Parkinson’s disease with mixed emotions. Maureen Kennah-Hafstein, with her spouse Irwin Hafstein, travelled to the clinic for an assessment appointment on Oct. 30, which would show if she is a candidate for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. The operation can result in significant improvement for those with Parkinson’s in areas such as quality of life, motor control, cognition and emotional well-being. Maureen’s symptoms have been getting worse and, if her health deteriorates too much, the surgery is no longer an option.

Shalom Springs Herald Leader, Driven by desire by Janelle Jessen — Whether working as a physical therapist or as a hospital system CEO, helping people has always been the driving force behind Adam Bracks. Bracks was recently named CEO of Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and will begin his new role on Monday, Nov. 26. He brings more than 17 years of health care leadership experience along with significant clinical experience as a physical therapist… Bracks said he is excited about the recent partnership between Northwest Health, a network of hospitals that includes Siloam Springs Regional Hospital, and the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The partnership connects Northwest Arkansas patients to specialists at Mayo Clinic at no extra cost. The ability of patients to get a second opinion from Mayo Clinic doctors free of charge is impressive and something that Siloam Springs' hospital will be promoting, Bracks said.

Becker’s Spine Review, Mayo Clinic Arizona, U.S. Youth Soccer lead partnership to identify sports concussions & injuries by Jackie Drees — Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and U.S. Youth Soccer partnered to launch a data collection program for brain injuries called The Athlete Incident Management System, according to Cronkite News Arizona PBS. Here are five details…

DOTmed.com, Mayo Clinic and Nvidia partner on Deep Learning Institute at RSNA — Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to change health care, including the practice of radiology, profoundly. But rather than machines taking over, they will work collaboratively with clinicians and researchers to improve the care patients receive. “If somebody puts their head in the sand and wakes up and pulls their head out five years later, the practice will be very different,” says Bradley Erickson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiology.

Genome Web, Mitochondrial DNA Can Be Paternally Inherited in Humans, New Study Finds — Mitochondrial DNA can — in rare instances — be paternally inherited in humans, a new study has reported. In most mammals, mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA is inherited exclusively maternally. Though other organisms occasionally experience paternal mtDNA transmission, previous reports of paternally inherited mitochondria in humans have largely been attributed to contamination or sample mix-ups. However, researchers led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Taosheng Huang and the Mayo Clinic Hospital's Paldeep Atwal reported yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they found biparental mtDNA inheritance in three families. The investigators also confirmed their findings at independent labs with different methodologies.

International Business Times, What Is Prader-Willi Syndrome? Rare Condition Leaves 7-Year-Old Constantly Starving by Vaishnavi Vaidyanathan — According to Mayo Clinic, Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare disorder which is characterized by food craving, weight gain, weak muscle tone, feeding difficulties, poor growth, and delayed development. These symptoms may slowly change over time. Though the exact mechanisms responsible for the disorder haven't been identified, it is caused by problems in genes located in a particular region of chromosome 15.

Business Insider, A mother is reminding people to vaccinate their children after her cancer-stricken daughter caught measles by Julia Naftulin — Vaccinating children with healthy immune systems prevents situations like the one O'Donnell's daughter went through, since these vaccines stop the spread of measles, polio, and other potentially deadly diseases, according to the Mayo Clinic. These vaccines become especially important for children who cannot be vaccinated due to compromised immune systems or allergies to components of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Next Avenue, Could It Be a Stroke? by Edie Grossfield — “If a person is in their 70s or 80s and experiences sudden balance issues or numbness in a part of their body, the red flags go off,” says Dr. Robert Brown Jr., a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. “But the younger the person is, the less inclined we are to think it’s a stroke.” Yet, a stroke can happen at any age, and “it’s very important that we make people aware of this because we have early acute treatments for stroke that can work very well,” Brown says.

Daily Mail, Warning over new weight-loss surgery: It is causing patients to lose MUSCLE as well as fat, researchers say — Lead author Dr Edwin Takahashi, a vascular and interventional radiology fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said: 'There has been lots of research focused on the efficacy of gastric artery embolization for weight loss. 'However, there has been no data on what is contributing to the weight loss, whether the patients are losing fat, as desired, or muscle mass, or some combination of the two.' To learn more, Dr Takahashi and his team studied CT scans of 16 overweight or obese patients who had undergone left gastric artery embolization to treat gastrointestinal bleeding. CT scans, when used in conjunction with special software, allow for measurements of body composition based on the different densities of tissues like fat and muscle. Additional coverage: Medical Xpress, Tech Explorist

SELF, Electronic Cigarettes: Not a Safe Way to Light Up — If you're looking for help to stop smoking, there are seven FDA-approved medications that have been shown to be safe and effective for this purpose. A combination of medication and counseling has been shown to work best. Because of the unresolved safety concerns and because the research on e-cigarettes as a stop-smoking aid is inconclusive, Mayo Clinic does not recommend e-cigarettes as a way to quit smoking. If you want to stop smoking, call 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669) to connect to your state's quit line or call the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center at 800-344-5984.

SELF, Are There Early Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease to Watch For? by Korin Miller — The second stage of Alzheimer’s—but the first where people show symptoms—is known as mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease, the Mayo Clinic explains. Signs of this often include problems finding the right words, issues accurately processing visual or spatial information, and impaired reasoning or judgment, the NIA says. However, in this stage it is also possible to have memory lapses and be unable to recall things like recent chats or upcoming appointments that were made recently, the Mayo Clinic says.

Zorgvisie, De drie lessen van de Mayo Clinic — Als patiënten uw ziekenhuis zouden leiden, hoe zou dat uitpakken? Stephen Swensen, tot anderhalf jaar geleden directeur kwaliteit bij de Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, werpt de prikkelende vraag op aan het begin van zijn lezing tijdens het Zorgvisie Executive Seminar met de Mayo Clinic. Swensen is een van de vier topsprekers op het congres dat Zorgvisie met mProve heeft georganiseerd op 20 november 2018 in Landgoed Duin en Kruidberg. Additional coverage: Zorgvisie

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Tags: active shooter, Adam Bracks, Aerial Yoga, AI, alzheimer's disease, artificial Intelligence, autoimmune encephalopathy, blood donation, Breast Cancer, Cancer, carpal tunnel syndrome, clinical trials, Dani Johnson, destination medical center, diverticulitis, DMC, DNA, Dr. Adil E. Bharucha, Dr. Bradley Erickson, Dr. Casey Clements, Dr. Chandler Dora, Dr. Ciara O'Sullivan, Dr. Duck-chul Lee, Dr. Edwin A. Takahashi, Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, Dr. Gregory Poland, Dr. Jennifer Wethe, Dr. Justin Kreuter, Dr. Kent Thielen, Dr. Lois Krahn, Dr. Robert Brown Jr., Dr. Sabrina Phillips, Dr. Stephen Ekker, Dr. Steve Ommen, EHR, Eko, electronic cigarettes, Epic, flu vaccine, headaches, heart health, hospice, Jace Josephson, Jenny Prinsen, kidney donation, Kjersten Nett, lung screening, Maureen Kennah-Hafstein, Mayo Clinic expansion, men's health, migraines, Norm Coleman, Nvidia, parkinson's disease, patient portal, Prader-Willi Syndrome, Shea Novotny, sleep medicine, spinal cord injury, STEM, stroke, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, weight loss, weightlifting, Women's Health, youth sports

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