February 22, 2019

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights for February 22, 2019

By Emily Blahnik

Wall Street Journal, The Fitness Plan for Serious Schmoozers by Jen Murphy — “You really need to make an effort to counteract the effects of sitting for eight hours a day,” says Donald Hensrud, director of the Healthy Living Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “Just being active won’t cut it. You need to dedicate about an hour of exercise a day.” Dr. Hensrud says those who log hours behind the wheel have it tougher than desk jockeys. “You can’t just stand up from driving,” he says. He suggests trying to break up long drives with stops to stretch and walk around and using red lights as a chance to do twists or upper-body stretches. Having proper posture in the car or having your driver’s seat ergonomically analyzed can help prevent aches. Parking farther away to get in extra steps also helps. Diets can also fall victim to drive-through window meals. Dr. Hensrud suggests always having a healthy, filling breakfast like egg whites or peanut butter and toast before a long morning commute. He always keeps nutritious snacks like nuts and fruit handy for long drives to prevent having to scavenge for food.

New York Times, Measles Outbreak: Your Questions Answered by Pam Belluck and Adeel Hassan — What are the symptoms of measles? According to the Mayo Clinic, people show no symptoms up to two weeks after being infected. Then they develop symptoms typical of a cold or virus: moderate fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, red and swollen eyes. But after two or three days of that, fever spikes to 104 or 105 degrees and the telltale red dots appear on the skin, first on the face, then spreading down the body.

New York Times, Having Anesthesia Once as a Baby Does Not Cause Learning Disabilities, New Research Shows by Perri Klass, M.D. — A major international study provides new reassurance around the question of whether young children who have anesthesia are more likely to develop learning disabilities. The issue has troubled pediatric anesthesiologists and parents for well over a decade, after research on animals suggested that there was a connection…“They’re very important studies since most exposures are single brief exposures,” said Dr. Randall Flick, professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center. The average duration of anesthesia in children is about an hour. The pattern that emerged from early studies, Dr. Flick said, is that “a single exposure prior to age 3 or 4 seemed to have no impact on the frequency of diagnosis of a specific learning disability in children, but once you had two or more anesthetic exposures you saw a near-doubling of the frequency.”

New York Times, The Instant, Custom, Connected Future of Medical Devices by Janet Morrissey — Spinal cord research took a major step forward when a 29-year-old man, who had been paralyzed from the chest down since a snowmobile accident in 2013, was able to walk the distance of a football field with the help of a rolling walker. The milestone, which was published in Nature Medicine last fall, came after a team of researchers at the Mayo Clinic implanted an epidural electrical stimulator device into the man's lower spine and gave him six months of intensive physical therapy. “This is a revolutionary breakthrough,” said Kendall Lee, a neurosurgeon and director of neural engineering laboratories at the Mayo Clinic. He said the device had so far been successfully implanted in two people. While the implant isn’t a cure, it offers hope to millions of paralyzed people around the world. But Dr. Lee was careful to note that the technology is still some time away from being publicly available. Additional coverage: SF Gate

Reuters, Asthma classes in school may help reduce attacks by Lisa Rapaport — School-based programs may also help children feel less stigma about using an inhaler in school, said Dr. Avni Joshi, a pediatric allergy and immunology specialist at Mayo Clinic Children’s Center in Rochester, Minnesota, who wasn’t involved in the study. “Knowledge is power; these school-based programs empower children to detect and direct their own care,” Joshi said by email. “Their comfort with self-help increases and the use of medications is ‘normalized’ for these children, who in other circumstances may feel embarrassed to use them in the school environment.”

CNN, $375,000 price leads disabled mom to ration meds by Wayne Drash — Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar, a hematologist oncologist with the Mayo Clinic, said he was giving a lecture to Mayo doctors on the rising costs of prescription drugs and what can be done about the issue. Unbeknownst to Rajkumar, one of the doctors brought along a patient who suffers with LEMS. The patient told him she'd been getting the drug from Jacobus for free since 2004 and that she had just been told she would have to pay $3,800 a month in co-pay. Additional coverage: WSLS 10

AARP, Study Links Midlife Activity Levels to Future Dementia Risk by Kathleen Fifield — Experts say the continuing research challenge is to find the physical pathway connecting such lifestyle factors in midlife to specific protective effects in the brain. Teasing out what affects the cognitive changes associated with aging vs. what prevents pathologies such as Alzheimer's — and how different those two things are — are also big questions. If not a new message, today's study results offer “a confirmatory message, and more evidence about the validity of the notion of being cognitively and physically active to prevent cognitive effects of aging,” says neurologist Ron Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging in Rochester, Minn. He notes that AARP’s own Global Council on Brain Health, of which he’s a member, recently found enough scientific consensus to recommend that middle-aged people pursue both physical and mental activities for the express purpose of improving their future cognitive health.

Advisory Board, 'Alexa, do I have heart disease?': Top hospitals, from Mayo to Northwell, envision a bold new future for voice assistants — Mayo Clinic also is piloting an Alexa program to give patients who are recovering from skin-lesion removal surgeries instructions on their post-discharge care. Mayo also conducted a study to determine whether voice-enabled technology could be used to diagnose cardiovascular disease—and the early results were promising. Mayo found the technology could help detect coronary artery disease based on a patient's tone and intensity. "It opens possibilities to deliver care at a distance," Sandhya Pruthi, medical director of global business solutions at Mayo, said. "Think about people living in small towns who aren't always getting access to care and knowing when to get health care. Could this be an opportunity if someone had symptoms to say, 'It's time for this to get checked out?'" Additional coverage: Becker’s Hospital Review,

Advisory Board, Mayo Clinic's CIO was treated for Stage 3 cancer. Here's what went well—and what made him 'cringe.' — At the annual HIMSS conference on Tuesday, Mayo Clinic CIO Cris Ross revealed he had recently undergone treatment for Stage 3 cancer—and the experience underscored just how far the United States still has to go in creating usable, interoperable health IT systems, Arundhati Parmar reports for MedCity News.

HealthDay, Guys, Can You Do 40 Push-Ups? Heart-Healthy Life May Be Yours by Dennis Thompson — If you're a 40-something guy and can't do 40 push-ups in a row, maybe it's time to do something about it. A new study suggests the number of push-ups a middle-aged man can perform might be an indication of his overall heart health…The push-up test might not accurately predict heart problems for everyone, added Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a professor of cardiovascular medicine with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. "That's not a good measurement, it really isn't, because many people have had musculoskeletal injuries," Fletcher said. "Some people have problems with their arms. I have an arm injury from when I was playing high school football, so I don't use my arms that much to do push-ups."…Fletcher suggested that people who want to protect their heart health should try to get in 25 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week. Examples include walking on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or working out on an elliptical machine. Additional coverage: US News & World Report

Wired, How measles hacks the body – and harms its victims for years by Megan Molteni — For years scientists puzzled over how exactly measles achieves its contagion-in-chief status. But advances in microscopy and genetics have finally begun to illuminate what makes the virus so damn catchy. “It’s really two things,” says Roberto Cattaneo, a molecular biologist at the Mayo Clinic who has been studying the measles virus for more than three decades. The first has to do with the kind of cells the virus infects first: alveolar macrophages. These immune cells patrol your airways, hoovering up and degrading bits of dust, pollen, and any other foreign objects that you breathe in. They also have a surface receptor the exact shape of a measles protein. “They’re supposed to be on a mission to destroy viruses, and instead they act as a shuttle, delivering measles straight to the closest lymph nodes.”

Post-Bulletin, Junior hockey: Going pink for a purpose by Jason Feldman — Kory Potach: Keeping my brother’s memory alive… I have two older sisters who knew Karl. Every once in awhile, they – and my parents (Dr. Kurt and Brenda) – will get a little sad, and I can be there for them. His memory is alive every day; I don’t think there’s a day that passes that anybody in the family doesn’t think about him. And the pediatric clinic in Austin is named after him (the Karl R. Potach Pediatric Clinic, in the Mayo Clinic Health System medical center). Hundreds of people see his name or hear about him every day. We love to see that. Additional coverage: KROC-RadioPost-Bulletin

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic Q&A: Understanding secondary headache disorder — Dear Mayo Clinic: How can you tell when a headache requires additional diagnostic testing?...A: Headaches come with a wide range of accompanying symptoms and severity. Most often, they are due to a primary headache disorder, such as a tension-type headache or migraine. In older adults, most headaches are still primary in nature.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic Minute: Alzheimer’s disease risk and lifestyle — Does your race influence your chances of developing Alzheimer's disease? Dr. Melissa Murray, a Mayo Clinic molecular neuroscientist, says a new Mayo Clinic study shows the risk is higher in Hispanic Americans. However, there are lifestyle choices you can make that may reduce your risks. Does your race influence your chances of developing Alzheimer's disease? Dr. Melissa Murray, a Mayo Clinic molecular neuroscientist, says a new Mayo Clinic study shows the risk is higher in Hispanic Americans. However, there are lifestyle choices you can make that may reduce your risks. Additional coverage: Medical Xpress

Post-Bulletin, Living kidney donor doesn't have to know the recipient — DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’ve heard of people being a living kidney donor for someone they don’t know who’s in need of a transplant. How does that work? Don’t you have to be a relative, or at least a friend, to donate a kidney?...If you’re interested in being a living kidney donor, it’s not necessary for you to be related to — or even to know — the person who receives your kidney. This can be accomplished in several ways. The first is in a nondirected donation, where the donor does not name the organ recipient. The second is a paired donation, where two or more people who are in need of a transplant trade donors. — Patrick Dean, M.D., Transplantation Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester.

Post-Bulletin, Seen and Heard: Mayo physician is an ethics expert — Mayo Clinic Health System regional vice president in southwestern Wisconsin. Professor of medicine and biomedical ethics at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. And now, Dr. Paul S. Mueller has added another title to his list of accomplishments: Hastings Center Fellow. Founded in 1969, the Hastings Center is a non-partisan, nonprofit research institution focusing on ethics in health care, science, and technology. The center is comprised of approximately 300 fellows, and Mueller is the third Mayo Clinic consultant to be named one.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees elects, re-elects members by Matthew Stolle — The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees on Friday re-elected two members, elected two internal members and recognized emeritus trustees at its quarterly meeting. “As we plan now for the year 2030, health care disruption will come faster,” said Gianrico Farrugia, Mayo Clinic’s president and CEO. “The expertise and perspectives of our trustees will help us build Mayo Clinic’s future from a position of strength.”

Post-Bulletin, Personalized diet predicts blood sugar spikes better than carb-counting by Anne Halliwell — A great many variables play into the body’s glycemic, or blood sugar response to different foods — something like 72 factors, including genes, exercise levels, gut bacteria, and age, said Dr. Heidi Nelson, a co-author of the study. “People always think it’s about how much you eat, or calories, or carbohydrates,” Nelson said. “It’s not that simple. How do you explain somebody who eats broccoli and gets a glycemic response, and the same person eats ice cream and gets no glycemic response? That’s what happened with one of my colleagues.” The research, published in JAMA Network Open on Feb. 8, showed that individuals had wide-ranging glycemic responses to simple meals. The researchers took it one step further, then, and developed a model for predicting blood sugar responses to foods, based on those 72 factors.

Post-Bulletin, County's crisis center effort gets good news by Randy Petersen — Olmsted County’s proposal to create a mental-health crisis center for a 10-county region was fueled through collaboration with other counties and a variety of agencies, including health-care providers. The collaboration identified the need for a place to turn when people are facing a mental health crisis. Today, that place is often an emergency room, which can be a deterrent for people who know their stays could be hours or days before stable help is found. Mayo Clinic Emergency Room Dr. Casey Clements has said another resource is needed to ensure the right treatment is available as soon as possible.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic reports 'a very good' 2018, despite Epic costs by Jeff Kiger — Despite a $1 billion investment to implement a new medical records system and $50 million of lost revenue due to the massive transition, 2018 was a solid one financially for Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic Chief Financial Officer Dennis Dahlen described the 2018 financial results released this morning as showing "a very good year… all under the footprint of finishing the transition to Epic. Many other medical institutions that have adopted the very expensive Epic system have that it spurred financial losses for the transition year.

KAAL, Proposals for Chateau Theatre — ...Sims is an Architect at Mayo Clinic. He and his business partners, Breanna Holtan and Ross Henderson, want to turn the building into an Arcade. “The Destination Medical Center has drawn so many people and has had so much success here in the Downtown,” said Sims, “but many people feel like it's missing one important element … and that is the kids.” Sims' vision includes a mix of both classic and new arcade games, as well as milk and cookies for the children.

KIMT, Man Makes Wooden Boxes for Pediatric Cancer Patients by Katie Lange — Meet two families living states way who are connected by a deadly disease, the Mayo Clinic, and the generosity of one man. It's a story you'll only see here on KIMT News 3. It all began a few years ago when Joseph Davis's wife was diagnosed with cancer. The Kansas couple frequently made trips to Mayo Clinic. It was during one of those trips Davis knew he had to give back to the clinic for all they had done to help his family. Davis then turned to his passion for woodworking. Davis handcrafts boxes, each of them taking around 6-hours to construct. They are part of the Beads of Courage program, where kids receive beads for every step along the way in their journey to beat cancer.

KIMT, Raising awareness on national donor day by Annalise Johnson — National donor day raises awareness for organ, tissue, blood donation.

Star Tribune, Destination Medical Center … Up North? — It’s been six years since the Legislature approved a $585 million taxpayer funding package for what’s often called the largest economic development project in the state: the Destination Medical Center project at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The 20-year project blends those taxpayer dollars with billions more in Mayo and private investment to grow the hospital’s campus, fuel new medical discoveries and rebuild Rochester’s core. Has it worked? Some folks in Duluth think so. A bill introduced in the Legislature last week by state Sen. Erik Simonson, D-Duluth, would copy Mayo’s public-private model for development in Duluth.

Star Tribune, Spinal cord stimulator device shows promise in Minneapolis study by Joe Carlson — An ongoing clinical study at Minneapolis hospitals called E-Stand is reporting early success using an implantable medical device designed in Minnesota called a spinal cord stimulator to restore volitional movement and autonomic functions in patients paralyzed from the mid-back down…Spinal cord stimulators are approved in the U.S. to treat chronic pain, but several different teams are experimenting with the devices to restore movement after paralysis. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic reported last year that one patient in a study was able to take his first steps in years using the device in combination with intense physical therapy.

Star Tribune, Want a cheap way to get healthier and develop a fabulous butt? Take the stairs by Richard Chin — Maureen Wegner, a 57-year-old administrative assistant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, said that a few times a week, she tries to climb 50 flights of stairs during her breaks at work. “I time myself. I know I can climb to the 17th floor in under 4 ½ minutes,” she said…To promote fitness, places like the Mayo Clinic post signs at employee elevators, encouraging staffers to take the stairs. There’s even one building in the Mayo complex that has music playing in the stairwell.

First Coast News, Jacksonville teen battles through encephalitis by Juliette Dryer — February 22 is World Encephalitis Day and a Jacksonville teen is opening up about her journey through the disease that left her hospitalized for more than two months. In September 2017, Shuronda Hester was an 18-year-old student at Tallahassee Community College with plans to transfer to Florida State University. “I was home with my roommate and one of my friends was over,” Hester said. “And I guess that’s when I had that moment when I had that first seizure.”…Mayo Clinic Neurologist Dr. Jason Siegel said blood and spinal fluid tests confirmed doctors’ suspicions. Hester had Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis. “It’s an autoimmune disease in which your body makes antibodies that essentially go after your brain the same way they would fight off an infection,” Dr. Siegel said.

News4Jax, Anatomage Table at Mayo Clinic is 'virtual dissection table' by Kent Justice — The Mayo Clinic will have some of its most innovative tools on display during The Players Championship, including the Anatomage Table, which essentially gives doctors a 3-D rendering of a patient. "It's a virtual dissection table," said Conrad Dove, the IT specialist in Mayo Clinic's simulation center. "It allows us to take a thin sliced CT or MRI and create a three-dimensional object."  Using the device, doctors were able to help a patient who had a free floating piece of bone that pinched one of her arteries, causing her to pass out. It was easy for doctors to find the piece of bone using the Anatomage Table.

South Florida Reporter, KonMari According to Mayo Psychologist: Good for Our Homes, Good for Our Souls — It’s a craze that’s sweeping through (and sweeping up) living rooms, kitchens and closets — and every other space in our lives. Marie Kondo, the 34-year-old Japanese organization consultant, author and star of Netflix’s wildly popular “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” has our family and friends going through their homes, room by room, and chucking letting go of everything that doesn’t spark joy. And then rolling their joy inducing T-shirts and such — the ones they decide to keep — into neat little rows of color-coded organization. Regardless of whether you’re into the KonMari method for clearing clutter, Craig Sawchuk, Ph.D., a psychologist at Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campus and co-chair of Mayo’s Division of Integrated Behavioral Health, tells CNN’s Jessica Ravitz that adopting Kondo’s basic principles of organization (or the principles of other organizational gurus) are not only good for our homes, but also our souls. That’s because, Dr. Sawchuk tells Ravitz, they give us clear “roadmaps” and “strategies to inform problem solving and decision-making” to help guide us in what to keep, what to toss, and what to donate throughout our homes and lives as we “face our clutter.”

KJZZ, Sex And Medicine, Part 1: Push for Personalized Medicine Propels New Understanding Of Sex Differences by Nicholas Gerbis — With the rising interest in personalized and precision medicine, medical science has been increasingly waking up to the need for more comprehensive research into biological differences between the sexes. "There are a ton of sex differences in terms of at least outcomes and incidence of a variety of diseases, cancer, other diseases, particularly in neurological diseases and also autoimmune diseases," said Kristin Swanson of Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. Swanson's Mathematical Neuro-Oncology Laboratory specializes in imaging and modeling brain cancers like glioblastoma. She co-authored a paper in the journal "Science Translational Medicine" with Michael Berens, director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. The study described differences in glioblastomas in males and females.

Mankato Free Press, Report: Earlier depression interventions needed for expectant mothers by Brian Arola — Newly released recommendations call for clinicians to earlier identify depression risks in pregnant women and new mothers. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released the new guidelines Tuesday. The panel’s evidence-based mandates guide clinical practices across the country. The change is aimed at preventing depression among pregnant women and new mothers by connecting them to counseling sooner. Dr. Graham King, family medicine physician at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, said he’s hopeful the new recommendations will result in healthier outcomes for at-risk women. “I think we’re going to catch things earlier,” he said. “It’s like any other disease; the earlier it’s caught, the easier to treat and better outcomes.”

KEYC Mankato, Mayo Clinic Health System Offering Aquatic Physical Therapy Classes In Mankato by Kelsey Barchenger — Samantha Hoeldtke, Physical Therapist at Mayo Clinic Health System joined KEYC News 12 This Midday to talk about the Aquatic Physical Therapy Program MCHS is offering.

KEYC Mankato, Mankato Family YMCA, Mayo Clinic Health System Team Up For 'Healthy Moms' Series by Sarah Meilner — Mankato Family YMCA, Mayo Clinic Health System Team Up For 'Healthy Moms' Series.

KEYC Mankato, Stress in Agriculture and the Resilient Option by Alison Durheim — At this program, farmers experienced a wide range of emotions as Dr. Amit Sood M.D. of Mayo Clinic's "Resilient Mind" program presented some creative ways of coping with stress."Excessive stress is like slow suicide. It basically weakens your bones, weakens your muscles, clogs your arteries, hollows your brains. I think whatever we can do to cut down its impact on us will be beneficial," said Sood. "You know, these stressors that are coming to us are not going away anytime soon, so it is really up to us say, okay, I'm just going to pick the load of the next one hour. That's it, and in that one hour I'll say, I'm enough, I have enough, I have food on the table, I have a warm home, I have a loving family, and that's what I'll focus on," explained Sood. Additional coverage: Mankato Free Press

Fairmont Sentinel, Mayo touts array of changes — Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont has undergone numerous enhancements over the past 18 months. These include adding several new providers, new services, electronic record-keeping common to all Mayo sites, increased security, opening Urgent Care and community initiatives. There is also one change that impacts every patient who schedules an appointment. For the last five months, patients calling for appointments likely talked to a scheduler based in Fairmont, a reversal of a years-long practice of running appointment scheduling through a call center in Mankato.

Albert Lea Tribune, Former paramedic becomes the patient after chest pain and heart attack by Sara Kocher — It wasn’t the snowblower that finished it, but it was the snowblower that started it. “I got this funny feeling in my chest,” said Don Hauge, 54. He was blowing snow after one of last year’s large April storms when he noticed that feeling, paired with shortness of breath…He was in the hospital for two days in Albert Lea, then in Rochester for two days. His cardiologist, Dr. Darrell Newman with Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin, said the stress test Hauge took during this time was helpful in determining it was safe for him to exercise in cardiac rehab.

Albert Lea Tribune, Exploring their future by Sam Wilmes — Students listen Friday as a Mayo Clinic Health System employee gives a presentation as a part of Southwest Middle School's Tiger Career Program.

Austin Daily Herald, Mayo welcomes new physician assistant — A new physician assistant will join the orthopedics team at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin in March. Kelly Daugherty, P.A.-C., has a Master’s of Medical Science degree in Physician Assistant from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Myers, Florida.

WXOW La Crosse, A chance to love your community by Dani Smith — Mayo Clinic Health System hosted an event Thursday afternoon to encourage their organization’s community engagement efforts. The Love Your Community event allowed employees to meet community partners and learn more about their programs, missions and volunteer opportunities. It also allowed area programs to meet the public in a more private setting. Teri Wildt, Director of Community Engagement at Mayo said, “We’ve had many of our leaders in today participating with groups that they’re involved with and that sends a great message, that community engagement is important and it’s important for all of us.” Additional coverage: WKBT La Crosse

WKBT La Crosse, Registration open for Big Blue Dragon Boat Festival in La Crosse by Greg White — With ice out on the river, it's hard to think about Dragon Boat racing, but registration is now open for the 7th annual Big Blue Dragon Boat Festival coming up this summer. Money raised during the event supports Mayo Clinic Health System's Center for Breast Care. Additional coverage: La Crosse Tribune, WXOW La Crosse

WKBT La Crosse, Medical careers explored by high school students in La Crosse — Students are exploring medical careers Wednesday in La Crosse. About 90 Holmen High School freshman and sophomores explored careers in health care at Mayo Clinic Health System. As part of the event, students experienced a simulated trauma case in the Emergency Room.

Outside, Superfoods Won't Save You from Getting Sick This Winter by Cindy Kuzma — A healthy diet can keep your immune system (and every other system) humming along smoothly, says Katherine Zeratsky, a registered dietitian nutritionist who works at the Mayo Clinic. Flavorful ginger and garlic don’t hurt either, especially if you use them to season whole foods. But if you think these foods will transform you into some sort of antiviral superhero, you’re wrong. The link between food and immunity is far less clear than most of us have been led to believe. (At Outside, we’ve been guilty of overstating that connection in the past, too.*)

Healthline, Individualized Diet May Be Best Course for People with Diabetes — It’s not what you eat but how your body reacts to it. That’s the message from a group of researchers who looked at the best diets for glycemic response. The findings could be beneficial to people living with diabetes. Research done at the Mayo Clinic concluded that an individualized diet that considers microbiome, genetics, and lifestyle is more effective at controlling blood sugar levels than a diet that only considers types of food…“Diabetes is a big problem worldwide, and it seems that it may get worse if efficient approaches aren’t created to better control blood sugar,” Helena Mendes-Soares, PhD, a research associate and assistant professor of surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and lead author of the study, told Healthline. Some approaches exist, but they have variable efficacy.”

Yahoo!, When to Go to Urgent Care Vs. the ER by Cassie Shortsleeve — You’re experiencing sudden paralysis, trouble speaking, confusion, and other strange symptoms… These are all signs of a stroke, in which case you’ll need emergency care and should call 911. Emergency rooms are guaranteed to have access to CT and MRI machines that can diagnose issues such as strokes, says Dr. Tan, but that’s not always true for urgent care. You can think of the stroke symptoms to watch for with the acronym FAST, the Mayo Clinic says: Face: Does one side of your face droop when you try to smile? Arms: Can you raise both arms and keep them up, or does one refuse to lift or start to lower? Speech: Is yours slurred? Time: If you answer yes to any of these questions, you need to call 911 because time is of the essence.

Forbes, Why We Should Care for our Caregivers by Shiv Gaglani — Although my personal health is better than when I had started medical school, in large part because of the development of seed habits, the general wellbeing and burnout levels of clinicians and caregivers has gotten worse. Last month Medscape released their annual National Physician Burnout, Depression, and Suicide report and found that 44% of the 15,000 physicians surveyed felt burned out, compared to 39% in their 2013 survey. Another study by Mayo Clinic researchers found a 9% increase in burnout among physicians from 2011 to 2014. Nearly 300 to 400 physicians commit suicide each year; that’s double the rate of the general population.

Reader’s Digest, The Best Sleep Doctor in Every State by Lauren Cahn — Arizona: James M. Parish, MD: Certified in Sleep Medicine by the ABSM as well as in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine, Dr. Parish is a prolific sleep researcher and is on staff at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, an AASM-accredited sleep center that treats around about 3,000 people with sleep disorders each year.

Business Insider Australia, An 'unacceptably low' amount of women are up to date on a test that can catch cervical cancer, according to a new study by Caroline Praderio — In a statement about the research, study author and Mayo Clinic family medicine specialist Dr. Kathy MacLaughlin said these rates are “unacceptably low.” The researchers also found racial disparities that MacLaughlin called “especially concerning.” In the study population, African-American and Asian women were less likely to be current on their Pap smears than white women. “We, as clinicians, must start thinking outside the box on how best to reach these women and ensure they are receiving these effective and potentially life-saving screening tests,” MacLaughlin said in the statement. Additional coverage: Business Insider Singapore

Fierce Healthcare, Former Mayo Clinic CEO Noseworthy joins UnitedHealth Group’s board by Paige MInemyer — John Noseworthy, M.D., former CEO of Mayo Clinic, has joined the board of directors at UnitedHealth Group. Noseworthy, M.D., became chief executive at Mayo in 2009 and retired in December. In announcing his new role at UnitedHealth, Stephen Hemsley, executive chairman of the board, praised Noseworthy’s background in leading healthcare innovation, research and quality. “John is an innovator whose early advocacy for more integrated health delivery supported by the latest technology has been combined with a dedication to maintaining and enhancing the care experience for patients,” Hemsley said. “We welcome his expertise as UnitedHealth Group works to improve the future of healthcare.” Additional coverage: FOX 47

Becker’s ASC Review, Mayo Clinic's $1B capital investments include surgery center: 3 notes by Angie Stewart — Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic made $1 billion worth of strategic investments in 2018, including a surgery center project.

Becker’s Hospital Review, Why hospitals are abandoning double patient rooms by Mackenzie Bean — Hospitals nationwide are making efforts to add more private rooms in response to growing patient demand, reports The Boston Globe. Rochester-Minn.-based Mayo Clinic recently completed a $200 billion expansion project to add more private rooms. Now, 91 percent of the hospital's 1,296 beds are in private rooms. "A lot of folks come here expecting we probably have all private rooms," Ken Ackerman, Mayo Clinic's associate administrator for hospital operation, told The Globe. "It is something that our staff sometimes have to deal with. Patient experience can take a hit when patients have to share a room."

WTOC 11, Guyton couple voluntarily donates their kidneys by Romney Smith — If the ultimate symbol of Valentine’s Day is a red rose, then the ultimate symbol for National Living Donor Day, which is Thursday, is a blue surgical gown. A married couple from Guyton is celebrating both holidays. Frances and Steve Todd live with dozens of rescue farm animals. They’ve also both rescued people, by becoming living donors. Two years ago, Steve donated his kidney to his son in law… The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL performed both of the Todd family’s transplant surgeries. Dr. Dana Perry is a transplant surgeon with Mayo and says she loves working with living donors. “Potential living donors are the most generous, selfless group of people you’ve ever met. Who wouldn’t want to work with that every day?” says Dr. Perry. Dr. Perry wants more people to participate.

Healthcare IT News, Training 51,000 employees to learn Epic – lessons from the Plummer Project at Mayo Clinic by Dean Koh — In October 2018, Mayo Clinic achieved a historic milestone with the final Epic implementation in Florida and Arizona. The epic (pun intended) implementation of Epic across the Mayo Clinic’s network of 90 hospitals and clinics began in July 2017 when 24 of its sites in Wisconsin went live. Subsequently, campuses in Minnesota went live in November 2017, followed by Mayo’s Rochester facility in May 2018 and finally in Arizona and Florida. The Epic EHR rollout at Mayo Clinic was dubbed the Plummer Project in honour of Henry Plummer, MD, who developed a patient-centred health record at Mayo in 1907. While the movement to a single Epic EHR and revenue cycle management system to replace 3 separate EHR instances, multiple disparate revenue cycle systems and a total of 287 applications was impressive from a technical and execution standpoint, what was more impressive was the training of 51,000 Mayo Clinic employees to be onboard the Epic system. Mayo Clinic has a total of 65,000 employees of which 51,000 had to go through training in Epic as it was essential for their day-to-day duties and operations.

MD Linx, Reducing diabetes risk with a personalized diet — "The current models of predicting blood glucose levels perform well, but they tend to bucket everything, like fats and carbohydrates, into one category," says Purna Kashyap, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine Microbiome Program, in Rochester, MN. "As a clinician, I have seen that my patients do not respond to the same foods the same way—just like not all weight-loss diets work for all people the same," adds study co-author Dr. Heidi Nelson.

Multiple Sclerosis News Today, MS Boosts the Importance of Avoiding a Sedentary Lifestyle by Debi Wilson — MS symptoms are not the only reason we should try to follow an active lifestyle. The health issues associated with sedentary lifestyles are serious and life-changing. The Mayo Clinic has powerful words to say about inactivity: “Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns. They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome. Too much sitting overall and prolonged periods of sitting also seem to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

Healio, Amantadine may be effective treatment for headaches after traumatic brain injury — Posttraumatic headaches improved for 80% of patients who took amantadine for 2 months after having postconcussion syndrome, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. “In previous studies, amantadine has been used to treat various symptoms in the setting of traumatic brain injury, ranging from certain aspects of frontal lobe disorders including impulsiveness and disinhibition to trying to increase the pace of functional recovery in the acute setting,” Ivan D. Carabenciov, MD, of the department of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues wrote. “To our knowledge, amantadine’s effects on posttraumatic headaches have not been studied. In current clinical practice, medications such as amitriptyline, nortriptyline and topiramate are commonly used as first-line therapies.

AAMC News, Sexual harassment in medicine by Amy Paturel — Fortunately, the tide is slowly starting to change. At Mayo, the number of women in leadership positions has doubled since 2010. The University of Pennsylvania’s FOCUS on Health and Leadership for Women strives to systematically increase the number of female leaders — and boasts one of the strongest budget lines of any Women in Medicine (WIM) program in the United States. And Yale recently brought on a female to chair the Department of Surgery, a historically male-dominated specialty. “Having more women in leadership creates a huge cultural shift,” says Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, cardiologist and director of Mayo Clinic’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “Women have a different leadership style, they set a different tone, and having a great female leader has downstream direct and indirect effects to help mitigate sexual harassment.”

Cancer Network, Detecting Cardiotoxicity in Cancer Patients Receiving VEGF Inhibitors by Joerg Herrmann, M.D. — The treatment of cancer patients with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy is sometimes associated with cardiotoxicity. Therefore, it is important that clinicians understand the predictors of these adverse effects and learn how best to monitor for them. In this interview, ONCOLOGY spoke with Joerg Herrmann, MD, Director of the Cardio-Oncology Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, who evaluates and treats patients with cancer and heart disease.

Cancer Network, Is Indoor Tanning Linked to Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers? by Naveed Saleh — In a separate interview with Cancer Network, Jerry D. Brewer, MD, MS, a professor of dermatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, stressed the definitiveness of the study. “Tanning beds are known to cause cancer, and not just the common forms of skin cancer—basal and squamous cell carcinoma—but melanoma as well,” he said. “The evidence is now overwhelming.”

HuffPost Canada, Dry Skin: The Most Common Causes —It's winter, and that means for many Canadians, it's cold outside! One solution to beat those winter chills is to run a hot shower or bath. But it's not a great idea if you are suffering from dry skin. According to the Mayo Clinic, most dry skin is caused by environmental factors¹ – which means you can take control of them! If your skin feels tight after you get out of the shower or bath, that's probably a sign that the hot water is removing your skin's naturally oily layer.

MD Magazine, Parental Pressure Linked to Medical School Uncertainty, Potential Burnout by Kevin Kunzman — Investigators concluded that medical students who believe their parents have expectations for them to choose a career in medicine due to family or cultural values may be more susceptible to ambivalence surrounding their career choice. Issues with guardian pressure may also be coupled by similar negativity from young physician educators. A study from the Mayo Clinic late last year reported that at least 14% of resident physicians expressed regret for their career choice, and another 7.1% regretted their medical specialty. At least 1 weekly symptom of burnout was reported in 45.2% of surveyed resident physicians.

Medical Daily, Scientists Mark Success In First Human Test Of Novel Anti-Aging Therapy by Darwin Malicdem — The tests in clinics in Texas and at Wake Forest University showed that the senolytic drugs appeared effective to improve patients’ conditions. They were mainly able to walk farther three weeks after the tests started, and none of them suffered serious side effects from the drugs, the scientists said. James Kirkland, a Mayo Clinic professor who helped lead the trial, said the success in the first human trial allows the team to begin larger tests. Musi said their team already started another trial in 15 more lung patients and a separate group of 20 patients with chronic kidney disease.  Kirkland noted they hope to test the potential anti-aging therapy with healthy people in the future. “If we see effectiveness signals and don’t encounter really bad side effects, we’ll try to get to people with less and less life-threatening conditions,” he said.

Bicycling, Exercise Can Melt Harmful Belly Fat Better Than Weight Loss Meds by Jordan Smith — Your regular ride might be just the prescription your health needs: Research shows that exercise can help melt away the dangerous fat around your internal organs as effectively as medication meant to do the same can, according to a recent meta-analysis published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers looked at 17 previously-published studies including more than 3,600 participants to determine whether exercise or pharmacological therapy was more effective at reducing visceral adipose tissue (VAT), more commonly known as the harmful belly fat that nestles around your internal abdominal organs.

Healthcare IT News, Kaiser Permanente to open medical school in 2020 with focuses on data, virtual reality by Nathan Eddy — The use of VR and AR technologies is already in use on medical school campuses — in 2016 faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine began using VR for training in its Neurosurgical Simulation and Virtual Reality Center. Meanwhile at the Mayo Clinic Multidisciplinary Simulation Center, instructors use AR for various purposes, including teaching students how to interpret ultrasound imaging. In addition to Kaiser’s immersive learning tools, the medical school building, scheduled for completion later this year, will house an ultrasound simulation for studying anatomy in lieu of traditional cadavers.

Fierce Healthcare, HIMSS19: Mayo Clinic expands voice capabilities to provide care, potentially diagnose disease by Heather Landi — Consumers who own smart speakers, Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, already use these devices for online searches to self-diagnose health symptoms or for minor first aid. Now Mayo Clinic is looking to leverage its presence on voice assistants to be the go-to source for health information, exploring how voice technology could help patients adhere to postdischarge instructions or a diagnostic tool. The Rochester, Minnesota-based health system—which first launched a first-aid voice application on Amazon Alexa devices in 2017—announced at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's (HIMSS) annual conference and exhibition that it expanded that content to Google Assistant-enabled devices and an AI-powered voice chatbot.

Healthcare Dive, HIMSS19: Doctors don't know what to do with data from wearables by David Lim — Despite high levels of interest by consumers to take an active role in their health, Karl Poterack, Mayo Clinic's medical director of applied clinical informatics, is cautioning data being collected by wearables may have limited clinical applicability…"If you present this data and bring in your device and say 'here I have this heart rate data from the last month' we're going to say, 'that's great, but we don't know what it really means,'" Poterack said to a HIMSS panel Thursday.

Health Leaders, 6 ways to hone your innovation approach by Mandy Roth — Instead of a scattershot approach, health systems are beginning to focus on a few strategic priorities. Subaiya served on a HIMSS19 panel with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Rebecca Kaul who advised audience members to narrow their focus to five or fewer initiatives. "Mayo [Clinic] is going through a similar process right now," Subaiya says.

SmartBrief, EHR usability still needs improving, Mayo Clinic CIO — Dealing with cancer allowed Cris Ross, CIO of Mayo Clinic, to observe firsthand how clinicians still have difficulties using new EHR systems, Ross said at the HIMSS19 conference. Ross also urged executives to find ways to improve the patient experience using the technology at hand. Additional coverage: MedCity News

Extra News, Bebiste con el estómago vacío. Dice Boris que el alcohol puede irritar el revestimiento de tu estómago, lo que puede empeorar tus náuseas, dolor abdominal o vómitos inducidos por la cruda. El alcohol también puede afectar el nivel de azúcar en la sangre, dice Chaun Cox, MD y médico de medicina familiar de Mayo Clinic Health Systems. “El alcohol es una gran oleada de calorías y azúcares simples, puede aumentar el nivel de azúcar en la sangre y luego hacer que caiga”, dice, y agrega que no tener comida[1] en el estómago antes de beber puede hacer que esos niveles aumenten aún más drásticamente.

Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News. Thank you.

Editors: Emily BlahnikKarl Oestreich

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