November 27, 2019

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights for November 27, 2019

By Emily Blahnik

New York Times, Fitting in Family Fitness at the Holidays by Gretchen Reynolds — Jump Around: Consider also supplying the household with jump ropes, said Dr. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist and exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a committed athlete. Jump ropes, by themselves, provide all the equipment needed for a full workout and silly fun, he said. If you’re visiting relatives, you can pack a few to take along. Then introduce the children to double Dutch and other trick jumping and remind their elders of how jolly it once was to bounce, even for a moment or two.

New York Times, A Do-Anywhere Full-Body Workout by Gretchen Reynolds — How can anybody fit in a simple, quick, full-body workout, anywhere? “Two words: Jump rope,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, an avid exerciser and physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. In his usage, the phrase is both object and action. “I have a beautiful leather boxers’ jump rope my mother gave me when I was trying to become a more coordinated high-school basketball player,” he said. “When I travel and there is zero equipment, I find a place to do a series of calisthenics and jump rope.”

New York Times, The Costly, Life-Disrupting Consequences of Poor Diabetes Care by Jane E. Brody — Dr. Rozalina G. McCoy, endocrinologist and primary care doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said, “Diabetes is not just a clinical disease — it’s a public health disease that is multifaceted and very hard to manage.” High levels of blood sugar cause inflammation and damage blood vessels, both large and small, she said, and these vessels are found everywhere in the body, which is why so many systems are affected. “But normalizing blood sugar alone will not fix the problem,” Dr. McCoy emphasized. “High blood pressure increases pounding on blood vessels, high cholesterol causes inflammation and blockages and smoking also causes inflammation.”

New York Times, Good Leaders Make Good Doctors by Dhruv Khullar, M.D. — Strong leaders are not only good for patients, but also for doctors, as a program from the Mayo Clinic illustrates.  Each year, clinicians at Mayo assess their supervisors — all of whom are physicians — on a Leader Index, a simple 12-question survey of five leadership domains: truthfulness, transparency, character, capability and partnership. Does the physician-leader support colleagues? Are they approachable and fair? Do others feel psychologically safe working with them? The results have been impressive. For every one-point increase in a leader’s score, there is a 9 percent improvement in professional satisfaction and a 4 percent decrease in burnout among frontline doctors…“If you had an orchestra, you wouldn’t want a conductor who’s never played an instrument,” said Dr. Stephen Swensen, former director of leadership and organization development at the Mayo Clinic. “It’s the same with hospitals and physicians. Physician leaders are important — and the most important leader is the one closest to you.”

NBC News, Many stem cell clinics promise unapproved treatments: How to stay safe by Patrick Martin — The number of stem cell clinics in the U.S. doubled every year from 2009 to 2014, according to a report in the journal Regenerative Medicine. Major renowned medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic are researching stem cell therapies for conditions including arthritis and heart problems…“The FDA has given that road map on how to do it responsibly,” said Dr. Shane Shapiro, medical director at the Mayo Clinic’s Regenerative Medicine Therapeutics Program in Jacksonville, Florida. Shapiro also recommends going to a provider that has an expertise in the disease or injury that they are offering stem cell products to treat.

HuffPost, Gifts For Restless Sleepers, From Eye Masks To Sunrise Clocks by Sarah Kollmorgen — Dr. Kannan Ramar is the president-elect of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He’s also a sleep physician, and the professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. You could say he’s a guy who knows a thing or two about getting quality zzz's. He recommends leaving your books and Netflix out of the bedroom, and instead using your sheet time for sleep. “You should do these activities in a different room and go to bed when you are sleepy,” he said. “What’s most important is that your bedroom provides a dark, quiet and cool space.”

TIME, Many Pregnant Women Live Too Far From a Doctor to Get Regular Care. Here's How Technology Can Help by Jessica Rosenworcel — …At the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., meanwhile, they are exploring how expectant mothers could use wireless connected-care technology at home to communicate critical healthcare measurements with their providers. This technology could lead to fewer routine visits and improved health outcomes for pregnant women, and properly developed, the FCC’s pilot program could provide support across the country for the extension of these efforts in rural areas where obstetric care is no longer nearby.

Post-Bulletin, Mayo Clinic reports total revenue of $12.6 billion in 2018 by Jeff Kiger —  As 2019 nears its end, Mayo Clinic is reporting 2018 financial numbers, with total revenue up 5 percent to hit $12.6 billion. Mayo Clinic Chief Financial Officer Dennis Dahlen points out that 2018 was the year the clinic implemented its massive, $1 billion installation of the Epic computer records system at all of its sites. "Even with that heavy lift, it (2018) was a tremendously successful year," he said. "We've got continuing strong demand for the services that Mayo provides ... and a global brand brings people to Rochester and to our other campuses as well." Additional coverage: KROC-Radio, Pioneer Press

KIMT, Mayo is cutting back on their salt use to help the environment by Madelyne Watkins — Salt puts negative effects on the environment and Mayo Clinic doesn't want to contribute to that. Over the past 4 years, Mayo Clinic has tracked how much sale they lay on the sidewalks, which was a lot. That resulted in them cutting back on their salt use. Mayo Clinic's Grounds Maintenance Supervisor, Nick Queensland, said salt isn't mined here, making it an unnatural substance, which in turn travels into our waterways and soil. Queensland said crews cover a 15 mile radius of sidewalk. They monitor the weath 7 days a week to make sure they plan out salting at the right time. He said their new solution to salting reduction follows along with Mayo Clinic's mission.

KAAL, Addressing the region’s workforce shortage — "Arts, culture, entertainment those are all important things talent is going to be looking for moving forward,” said Guy Finne, with Human Resources at Mayo Clinic…A panel of workforce experts and representatives from Mayo Clinic and IBM presented the findings on Friday.  "We definitely need to know what our employees desire from our employers. Those expectations are changing,” said Finne.

Star Tribune, Rochester's Chateau Theatre celebrates reopening —The city of Rochester bought the theater in 2015 for $6 million, including a $500,000 contribution from Mayo Clinic. The theater's reopening represents one of the first efforts to remake the city under the Destination Medical Center plan, a Mayo Clinic-driven effort to maintain the city's prominence in health care, medicine and research. The 20-year development project blends billions of dollars in private investment with $585 million in public money. Patrick Seeb, DMC's development director, said the beloved theater is a key part of efforts to re-energize the downtown area.  Additional coverage: KIMT

Twin Cities Business, Mayo Clinic Spinoff OneOme to Bring Genetic Testing Services to the Netherlands by Amanda Ostuni — Mayo Clinic-spinoff OneOme is expanding overseas. The Minneapolis-based startup—which specializes in “pharmacogenomics,” the study of how genes affect individual responses to medications—is partnering with Alliance Healthcare Netherlands to bring pharmacogenomic testing to pharmacies throughout Holland. (Alliance Healthcare Netherlands is a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., a holding company that owns Walgreens and other pharmacy chains.)

La Crosse Tribune, UW-La Crosse, Mayo Clinic Health System announce health care research partnership by Kyle Farris — The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Mayo Clinic Health System have reached an agreement they say will foster research opportunities and help prepare the next generation of scientists and medical professionals. Leaders from the two institutions announced a research partnership during a joint press conference Thursday. Additional coverage: WIZM-Radio

La Crosse Tribune, Tribune editorial board: Health science collaboration still paying dividends — You probably don’t drive by it. You probably don’t know its history. And you probably don’t know what goes on inside the six-level, 168,555-square-foot building at 13th and Badger streets in La Crosse. But the research partnership announced last week between Mayo Clinic Health System and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is just the sort of science-forward alliance envisioned when the $27 million Health Science Center opened in 2000.

La Crosse Tribune, Farmers Market to host Mayo dietitian by Kylie Mullen — The Farmers Market Teaching Kitchen program will host the Mayo Clinic Health System Nov. 24, as part of the La Crosse Farmers Market Association's aim to provide customers with access to local businesses and their products. Mayo Clinic Health System registered dietitian Jamie Pronschinske will be at the market to answer questions concerning winter diets, nutrition, and to provide samples of a winter squash soup and other recipes to try at home. Additional coverage: WXOW La Crosse, WKBT La Crosse

WKBT La Crosse, Study finds chocolate milk out-performs sports drinks by Molly Ringberg — The research which was published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, shows chocolate milk's naturally occurring electrolytes, 90% water content, and 8 grams of protein, helps replenish the body…Director of Sports Medicine Research at Mayo Clinic Health System, Andrew Jagim, Ph.D, said, "The thing that makes this recent study unique is it was done in adolescent, kind of high school athletes, in a field-based setting, where they were just doing their regular sport activities for about five weeks, and then they had the chocolate milk intervention."

WKBT La Crosse, Mayo Clinic Health System adds 'Take Back Boxes' by Rachel Ausman — Mayo Clinic Health System is adding more options to safely dispose of unused or expired medications. Specially designated 'Take Back Boxes' have been placed at Mayo locations in Eau Claire, La Crosse, and Menomonie, Wisconsin. The boxes are part of an initiative to achieve consistent and safe opioid prescribing across Mayo Clinic. Additional coverage: La Crosse Tribune

WIZM-Radio, Talking eating, diet, with Mayo dietitian, Roni Londre

US News & World Report, These Foods Help Lower Your Cholesterol by Ruben Castaneda —  In addition to foods high in saturated fat, you should refrain from eating offerings that have trans fats – processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, says Dr. Don Hensrud, editor of “The Mayo Clinic Diet” at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Additional coverage: Yahoo! News

Yahoo! Lifestyle, What is thirdhand smoke? by Alexandra Thompson — Thirdhand smoke describes exposure to residual nicotine and other chemicals on indoor surfaces. This is thought to react with other “indoor pollutants” to create a “toxic mix of cancer-causing compounds”, according to the Mayo Clinic. Indoor pollutants may include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), found in everything from paint and moth repellent to cleaning products and make-up.

Business Insider, I don’t have diabetes, but I wore an implant that measures the sugar in my blood to see if I could hack my  performance. I’d put it back on again if I could. by Lydia Ramsey — “Ultimately, the whole goal is to prevent low blood sugars and to ensure that you can prevent low blood sugars while achieving glycemic control,” Dr. Adrian Vella, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota told me. That’s important if you’re managing diabetes. The device hasn’t been studied for use in people who don’t have diabetes. “There’s no data to guide us on how to use it in a healthy person,” Vella said.

SELF, Here’s Why You Might Get a Headache From New Glasses by Patia Braithwaite — Most people who wear prescription glasses are doing so to look smarter compensate for what eye experts call refractive errors, which are imperfections in the shape of the eye that impact focusing power. For example, myopia, or nearsightedness, usually happens when your eyeball is too long or your cornea (the outer layer on the top of your eye) is abnormally curved, according to the Mayo Clinic.

WNCT Greenville, Carteret Health Care joins Mayo Clinic Care Network by Dalisa Robles — Carteret Health Care and Mayo Clinic announced that Carteret Health Care has joined the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Carteret Health Care is the first facility in North Carolina to become a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a group of carefully vetted, independent health care systems that have special access to Mayo Clinic’s knowledge and expertise. Physicians from Carteret Health Care will be able to combine their understanding of their patients’ medical needs with Mayo Clinic expertise, so patients get exactly the care they need, close to home. There is no additional cost to patients. Additional coverage: Jacksonville Daily News, WITN Greenville, KROC-Radio, WRAL

Becker’s Hospital Review, South Dakota health system to join Mayo network, change name by Ayla Ellison — Regional Health, a five-hospital system based in Rapid City, S.D., will change its name to Monument Health and join the Mayo Clinic Care Network in January…In addition to the name change, the health system also announced it is joining the Mayo Clinic Care Network. By joining the network, Monument Health's physicians will get access to Mayo's expertise, research, and diagnostic and treatment resources. "We are thrilled to be selected to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network," Regional Health President and CEO Paulette Davidson said in a news release. "This is reflective of our focus on delivering quality, patient-centered care."

The Oklahoman, How to stay healthy while traveling during the holidays by Natalie B. Compton — The secret to staying healthy during the holidays is no secret at all: Wash your hands. It's the most important thing you can do while traveling, and it's good form year-round, but particularly important in the winter. "Our hands are the interface between ourselves and the rest of the world," says Gina Suh, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic. "In other words, our hands touch all these surfaces that are full of germs, and then we touch our own face and mucosal surfaces — such as our mouth, nose, eyes — way more than you would even notice. Most people touch their face many times in any given minute, and that can transmit illness."

Milwaukee Journal SentinelYou look fine. Your doctor is stumped. But this disorder is leaving you and millions of others 'a hot mess.' by Mark Johnson — “Dysautonomia is probably significantly more common than we realize,” says Jeremy Cutsforth-Gregory, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “I think it’s significantly underdiagnosed.” In about half of POTS cases, he adds, the patient’s disease grows out of the immune response to an infection.

Postcard Jar Travel Blog, Exploring Rochester, Minnesota, on our visit to the Mayo Clinic by Ann Teget — We’ve been to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, more than a dozen times in the past five years. In fact, we started our blog, Postcard Jar, from there in 2014, just before Ann was diagnosed with a chronic disease called cardiac sarcoidosis. Typically, our trips to Rochester are short and we go straight to the clinic for appointments and then come home. This fall, however, we decided to spend a few extra days to experience Minnesota’s Rochester a little bit more. If your travel schedule allows, we’d encourage you to do the same…Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program: If you have any extra time in Rochester, Minnesota, you simply must visit the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. This 7-story wellness center was made possible by Slim-Fast founder Dan Abraham.

DOTmed.com, Hitachi and Mayo Clinic to build first carbon ion treatment facility in US by John R. Fischer — Hitachi has agreed in principle with Mayo Clinic to help build the first carbon ion treatment facility in the U.S. The facility will be constructed within the soon-to-be-built integrated oncology center, which will include proton therapy, at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida. "Through the collaboration with Mayo, it is about the development of a new cancer treatment option that includes extensive scientific research and working toward obtaining FDA approval," Sash Matsumoto, general manager at Hitachi America, told HCB News. "It means offering another option for patients who have serious or complex health issues."

MedPage Today, What Happened With a Once-Promising Alzheimer's Drug by Judy George — "Unlike some of the other BACE inhibitors, lanabecestat did not worsen cognition," noted David Knopman, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved with the study. "Instead, lanabecestat simply failed to produce any cognitive benefits in persons with mild dementia clinically diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease and who had elevated amyloid on a PET scan," he told MedPage Today. "These results definitively demonstrate that amyloid lowering via BACE inhibition is not a therapeutic approach to be pursued in persons with symptomatic Alzheimer disease dementia."

Healio, VIDEO: Novel oral therapy drug safe, effective for wet AMD — Twice daily dosing of oral AKST4290 over the course of 6 weeks improved visual acuity in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration, according to a presenter at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting. “Further development of the drug is being planned a randomized phase 2b study,” Michael W. Stewart, MD, professor and chairman of ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, told Ocular Surgery News. “Subsequently, a phase 3 trial and discussions are underway for trials with diabetic macular edema and edema due to retinal vein inclusions.”

Neurology Today, A Tailor-Made Lifestyle Prevention Plan Made Some Headway in MCI by Jamie Talan — Independent AD researchers were cautiously optimistic about the findings—with some caveats. “This is another study that indicates we can do something for ourselves as we age to impact our trajectory,” said Ronald C. Petersen, MD, PhD, FAAN, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. “I do not think that these measures will prevent dementia or Alzheimer's disease dementia but they may delay the onset and slow the progression, which would be important. The concern with this study was that they used historical controls rather than a placebo group; so these people were motivated and knew they were getting the active treatment.”

Medscape, Tackling Radionecrosis After SRS for Brain Metastases by Kate M. O’Rourke — Maciej Mrugala, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of the Comprehensive Neuro-Oncology Program at the Mayo Clinic, in Phoenix, Arizona, said clinicians started using SRS more frequently over the past several years because the technology became more available and studies highlighted the downsides of WBRT.[7,8] "More centers have CyberKnife or Gamma Knife technology, and we started treating patients with more than one lesion because of what we know whole-brain radiation can do to patients," added Mrugala. "Whole-brain radiation can be quite devastating for patients' cognition. Patients who have had whole-brain radiation may develop quite significant cognitive impairment—mostly short-term memory deficits that affect quality of life, the way they function at home and in society."

Hindustan Times, Study uncovers associations between rheumatoid arthritis, other ailments  — People diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes or blood clots have been found to be at a heightened risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. People who have rheumatoid arthritis are further prone to having heart disease, blood clots and sleep apnea, suggests a new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect not only the joints but also can damage a wide variety of body systems, including the lungs, heart and blood vessels.

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Editors: Emily BlahnikKarl Oestreich

Tags: Abu Dhabi, alzheimer's disease, Cancer, carbon ion treatment, Carteret Health, Chateau Theatre, chocolate milk, cholesterol, Dennis Dahlen, diabetes, Dr. Andrew Jagin, Dr. David Knopman, Dr. Donald Hensrud, Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, Dr. Gina Suh, Dr. Jeremy Cutsforth-Gregory, Dr. Kannan Ramar, Dr. Maciej Mrugala, Dr. Michael Joyner, Dr. Michael W. Stewart, Dr. Ronald C. Petersen, Dr. Rozalina G. McCoy, Dr. Shane Shapiro, Dr. Stephen Swensen, Dysautonomia, fitness, Guy Finne, headache, Hitachi, holidays, leadership, Mayo Clinic Care Network, Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, MCI, Monument Health, Nick Queensland, Nutrition, Oneome, POTS, pregnancy, regenerative medicine, rheumatoid arthritis, Roni Londre, salt, sleep medicine, stem cells, take back boxes, thirdhand smoke, Uncategorized, University of Wisconsin La Crosse

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