Focus: Hidden - Minnesota

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Mayo Clinic Monthly News Tips — November 2016

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The Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine is a co-sponsor of the 2016 World Stem Cell Summit. More than 1,200 attendees are expected at the 12th annual event in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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One in 10 patients who come to the hospital with the most severe type of heart attack have a history of cancer, showing that this is an emerging subgroup of heart patients, according to Mayo Clinic research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In addition, the study found that these patients have a three times higher risk of noncardiac death. Meanwhile, their risk of cardiac death is not higher ― both at the time of their acute heart attack and over long-term follow-up.

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ROCHESTER, Minn.­ — A common way of scheduling surgeries to expand patient access to care and improve hospital efficiency, known as “overlapping surgeries,” is as safe and provides the same outcomes for patients as non-overlapping surgeries, a Mayo Clinic study has found. Spacing operations so a surgeon has two patients in operating rooms at the same time is a common practice in surgery at Mayo and other leading medical institutions. It gives patients greater access to qualified surgeons, allows more efficient use of operating rooms, and avoids unnecessary downtime for surgeons. A Mayo Clinic study compared the outcomes of thousands of such overlapping surgeries with non-overlapping operations at its Rochester campus and found no difference in the rates of postoperative complications or deaths within a month after surgery between the two groups. The findings are published in the Annals of Surgery.

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Babies born with low levels of vitamin D may be more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life than babies with higher levels of vitamin D, according to a study published in the November 30, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic’s 3-D anatomic modeling program started with a realization that surgeons needed a new way to look at human anatomy that went beyond two-dimensional images.

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— Myocarditis, an assortment of heart disorders often caused by infection and inflammation, is known to be difficult to diagnose and treat. But the picture of who is affected is becoming a little clearer. Men may be as much as twice as likely as women to develop severe and possibly fatal reactions. And the risk of sudden cardiovascular death in the young is relatively high.

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A new study by an international team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota highlights how manipulation of 2D materials could make our modern day devices faster, smaller, and better.

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A research team led by the University of Minnesota uses new models and evidence from meteorites to show that a low-mass supernova triggered the formation of our solar system.

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Walking is a milestone in development for toddlers, but it’s actually only one part of the complex cognitive task known as gait that includes everything from a person’s stride length to the accompanying swing of each arm. A Mayo Clinic study recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that problems associated with gait can predict a significant decline in memory and thinking.

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Researchers at Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine have discovered a potential cause and a promising new treatment for inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors, a rare soft tissue cancer that does not respond to radiation or chemotherapy.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Approximately 10 percent of newborns require help breathing after birth, and 1 in 1,000 newborns require more intensive resuscitation measures. These infrequent, high-risk deliveries may present challenges to community hospitals less familiar with advanced newborn resuscitation interventions. Telemedicine consultations are a good option to help meet these challenges and positively impact patient care, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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Mayo Clinic is seeing patients with concerns about traveling to high altitudes at the recently established High Altitude and Harsh Environments Medical Clinic. “The intent is to serve our patients who either for business or leisure need to travel to high-altitude environments,” explains Jan Stepanek, M.D., who is chair, Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine, at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

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Researchers at Mayo Clinic have been documenting the rise and costs of physician burnout for more than a decade. Now, they are proposing nine strategies that health care organizations can use to reverse the trend and limit the risk to patients and their medical staff.

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A new study shows a link between mothers with rheumatoid arthritis and children with epilepsy. The study is published in the November 16, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes the body’s own immune system to attack the joints. It differs from osteoarthritis, which is caused by wear and tear on the joints.

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Researchers at Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a biomaterial that has potential to protect patients at high risk for bleeding in surgery.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Research from Mayo Clinic included in the November issue of JAMA Neurology identifies a new biomarker for brain and spinal cord inflammation, allowing for faster diagnosis and treatment of patients.

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A Mayo Clinic study is shedding light on why some rheumatoid arthritis patients respond poorly when treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, part of a class of drugs called biologics.

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MINNEAPOLIS – A new study suggests probable scientific misconduct in at least some of 33 bone health trials published in various medical journals. The study used statistical methods to detect scientific misconduct or research fraud and calls into question the validity of a body of research work led mainly by one researcher in Japan. The study is published in the November 9, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Mayo Clinic Monthly News Tips — October 2016

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Dementia with Lewy bodies is a progressive disease that causes hallucinations, decline in mental abilities, rigid muscles, slow movement and tremors. With symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, a correct diagnosis can be difficult.

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MINNEAPOLIS – A lack of shrinkage in the area of the brain responsible for memory may be a sign that people with thinking and memory problems may go on to develop dementia with Lewy bodies rather than Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the November 2, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Shrinkage in this hippocampus area of the brain is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Mayo Clinic nephrologists have uncovered a connection between first-time kidney stone formers and chronic kidney disease. In a paper published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers announce a persistent decline in kidney functioning following an individual’s first case of kidney stones.

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A collaboration of 32 researchers in seven countries, led by scientists at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida, has found a genetic mutation they say confers a risk for development of Parkinson’s disease earlier than usual.

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A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota and The Dow Chemical Company have discovered a new method for customizing ingredients that help oral medications dissolve in the body and be absorbed into the bloodstream. The materials discovered in this study could allow life-saving drugs to work faster and more efficiently.

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The sudden death of a 13-year-old boy resulted in more than 20 relatives to be incorrectly diagnosed as having a potentially lethal heart rhythm condition. This erroneous diagnosis occurred as a result of inappropriate use of genetic testing and incorrect interpretation of genetic test results, according to Mayo Clinic research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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Atherosclerosis is a disease in which arteries narrow due to plaques. That narrowing can lead to heart attacks and strokes — both of which are leading causes of death in the U.S. Now, in a paper published in Science, Mayo Clinic researchers and colleagues show that senescent cells drive plaque formation in animal models of atherosclerosis.

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MINNEAPOLIS – Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind tool to help predict a person’s chance of survival after a gunshot wound in the head or other penetrating injury, according to a new study published in the October 26, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. It’s called the SPIN-Score, which stands for Surviving Penetrating Injury to the Brain.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. – People diagnosed with multiple myeloma are more likely to live longer if they are treated at a medical center that sees many patients with this blood cancer. Mayo Clinic researchers published these findings today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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A team of researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has invented a new soap molecule made from renewable sources that could dramatically reduce the number of chemicals in cleaning products and their impact on the environment.

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The University of Minnesota is one of two grand prize winners in the National Cancer Institute’s Up for A Challenge (U4C) Breast Cancer Challenge Award that will help further the University’s innovative work in exploring genetic connections in breast cancer research.

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TEMPE, Arizona, and PHOENIX – Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University have announced the launch of a comprehensive new model for health care education and research: the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care. The goal of the alliance is to innovate health care delivery to improve patient care, accelerate cutting-edge research discoveries, and transform medical education.

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MINNEAPOLIS – Exercise may be associated with a small benefit for elderly people who already have memory and thinking problems, according to new research published in the October 19, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Andrea Cheville, M.D., physical medicine and rehabilitation researcher and director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Program at Mayo Clinic, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

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Michael J. Yaszemski, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon and researcher, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Selection is one of the highest honors in medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

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A pilot study by researchers at Mayo Clinic has found that patients suffering from pain related to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may benefit from taking pregabalin, a neuro-pain inhibitor commonly used to treat fibromyalgia. The results of the study were presented today at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Las Vegas.

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MINNEAPOLIS – A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), alemtuzumab, was found to reverse some of the physical disability caused by the disease, according to new research published in the October 12, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Because it can cause serious side effects, alemtuzumab is generally used in people who have not responded well to other MS drugs; however, in this study it was used relatively early in the course of MS.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been awarded a five-year, $9.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support a Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (PS-OC). Researchers hope to learn more about the physical parameters that limit drug delivery into brain tumors and use this information to build models that will help physicians better predict how the body will distribute a particular drug to brain tumors and help them select the best drug to treat each patient based on their unique tumor.

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In what the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has described as a pioneering effort, a research team at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida, has made public a treasure trove of data aimed at accelerating development of therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Mayo Clinic recently was added to Wal-Mart’s Centers of Excellence network for spine care. Wal-Mart associates will receive a benefit that provides them with access to high-quality, cost-effective care from Mayo Clinic providers — experts in treating complex and rare conditions, including spine problems.

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The American Association of Neuromuscular & Diagnostic Medicine (AANEM) is pleased to announce the selection of William S. Pease, MD, as President of the Board of Directors for 2016-17. He succeeds Vern C. Juel, MD, whose term ended on September 16, 2016.

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The promise of precision medicine is becoming a reality as more doctors bring individualized therapies to the bedside.

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Women may have better verbal memory skills than men even when their brains show the same level of problems metabolizing glucose, which occurs in people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to research published in the October 5, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Individualized medicine is no longer the lore of science fiction. It is offering new hope for patients with cancer, heart disease, depression and rare diseases for which there historically have been no diagnosis or treatment. And that’s just the beginning.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. – A team of Mayo Clinic researchers has, for the first time, successfully mapped patterns of prostate cancer recurrence, following surgery. Using C-11 choline PET imaging and multiparametric MRI, researchers found an anatomically diverse pattern of recurrence, which may help optimize treatment of patients whose prostate cancer returns after surgery. The research findings are published today in the Journal of Urology.

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After highlighting that more than half of American physicians are experiencing burnout, Mayo Clinic researchers now have identified some solutions that are being used to prevent or lessen burnout around the world. The findings show that some of the approaches being used are effective and making a difference. The article appears in the journal The Lancet.

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What Karen Daggett didn’t know almost killed her. The medicine she relied on to control an irregular heartbeat wasn’t working and hadn’t for years and she didn’t understand why pain medication never seemed to make her feel better. She also had a history of not tolerating some over-the-counter medications. Silently, these drugs were building up in her system, causing harmful side effects until DNA testing at Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine showed some medications were incompatible with her genetic makeup.

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When surgery and medication don’t help people with epilepsy, electrical stimulation of the brain has been a treatment of last resort. Unfortunately, typical approaches, such as vagal nerve stimulation or responsive nerve stimulation, rarely stop seizures altogether. But a new Mayo Clinic study in JAMA Neurology shows that seizures were suppressed in patients treated with continuous electrical stimulation of the brain's cortex. …Ten of the 13 patients, 77 percent, reported improvement for both epilepsy severity and life satisfaction. The majority of patients experienced more than 50 percent reduction in seizures, and 44 percent were free of disabling seizures. The reduction in IED rate occurred within minutes of initiating stimulation.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — For decades, warfarin was the only oral blood thinner available to reduce the risk of stroke for patients with atrial fibrillation. Warfarin use is cumbersome, because it requires ongoing blood test to monitor the effect and has numerous drug and food interaction. Now a number of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) drugs are available for patients with atrial fibrillation and claim to revolutionize the care for patients with atrial fibrillation.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine’s biorepository has earned the College of American Pathologists (CAP) biorepository accreditation, an internationally recognized gold standard of operational excellence. CAP accreditation requires proof of the highest level of accuracy in collecting, processing and storing blood and tissue samples used in research to improve patient care. Biorepositories also must meet scientifically endorsed standards of quality, efficiency, consistent process and best practices.