Arizona

PHOENIX — In a new Mayo Clinic study, researchers examined the physical act of reading to see if practicing eye movements in school could lead to better early reading fluency. http://youtu.be/FyW7_-37Z5A   Saccades or rapid eye movements are required for the physical act of reading. Previous studies have shown that the ability to perform complex tasks such as saccadic eye movements are not fully developed at the age when children begin to learn to read. Eye movements in younger children are imprecise, resulting in the need for the eyes to go back to re-read text, leading to slower performance. When translated into the task of reading, it slows the reading rate and leads to poor reading fluency and may affect reading comprehension and academic performance.

PHOENIX — Rest assured, there may be a good reason you’re dog-tired. While countless pet owners peacefully sleep with a warm pet nearby, a new Mayo Clinic study, presented this week at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, finds an increase in the number of people experiencing sleep disturbances because of their pets. A previous Mayo Clinic study published in 2002 reported that of patients who visited the clinic’s sleep center and owned pets, only one percent reported any inconvenience from their pets at night. The new study shows a larger number of patients — 10 percent in 2013 — reported annoyance that their pets sometimes disturbed their sleep. “The study determined that while the majority of patients did not view their pets intolerably disturbing their sleep, a higher percentage of patients experienced irritation — this may be related to the larger number of households with multiple pets,” says Lois Krahn, M.D., Mayo Clinic psychiatrist and author of the study. “When people have these kinds of sleep problems, sleep specialists should ask about companion animals and help patients think about ways to optimize their sleep.”

PHOENIX — A promising new study from Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with Caris Life Sciences, points to immunotherapy as a possible treatment option for patients with the difficult-to-treat triple negative breast cancer mutation. The study was presented this week at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. “This study may change our ability to treat triple negative breast cancer patients,” says Barbara Pockaj, M.D., lead investigator of the study and Mayo Clinic surgeon. “We may have signs that these patients can be treated with immunotherapy. We don’t have a lot of options for these patients and this would really expand our options.”

PHOENIX —  David Dodick, M.D., a neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and an expert in concussion care and research, joined other medical experts and President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., at the White House Healthy Kids & Safe Sports Concussion Summit today. The summit is a White House initiative to raise awareness of the increasing rate of concussions among young athletes, and to develop an action plan to protect the safety and health of youth athletes who participate in sport. Medical experts, coaches, parents and players joined President Obama to talk about safe sports.

PHOENIX — A new Mayo Clinic study shows that the type of surgeon and the type of hospital have a significant influence on long-term outcomes for patients who undergo surgery for rectal cancer. The study, published in Cancer in May, looked at the characteristics of hospitals where people got their surgery, the surgeons who performed them and how those affect long-term survival. Most surgery for rectal cancer in the United States is performed by general surgeons. Only a minority of patients have their operation performed by a surgeon with subspecialty training in colorectal surgery. The study found that patients who had surgery from a colorectal specialist had better long-term survival compared with those who had their operation performed by a general surgeon. Those patients who had their operations performed at National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center also had significantly better outcomes.

Eye movement test detects concussions and possible 'silent' concussions PHOENIX — A rapid, easy-to-administer eye movement test is showing great promise as a sideline concussion test for youth sports, a Mayo Clinic study finds. In the study, Mayo Clinic researchers assessed high school hockey players using the King-Devick test. The test requires an athlete to read single-digit numbers displayed on cards. After suspected head trauma, the athlete is given the test, which takes about two minutes, and the results are compared to a baseline test administered previously. If the time needed to complete the test takes longer than the baseline test time, the athlete should be removed from play until evaluated by a medical professional. About 150 high school hockey players received preseason testing to establish a baseline time in the study. During the subsequent season, 20 athletes had a suspected concussion. All 20 had a prolonged King-Devick test, and all were later clinically diagnosed with a concussion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_CKo6l9Hss&feature=youtu.be   “Youth athletes are at a higher risk for concussion and a longer recovery time than adults,” says Amaal Starling, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and a co-author of the study. “While the test has already been clinically validated for detecting concussion in collegiate and professional athletes, we wanted to ensure it was also validated in adolescents.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Apathy and agitation among otherwise healthy senior citizens may be an early sign of a condition leading to dementia, according to a study from Mayo Clinic published this month in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Mayo researchers conducted a five-year prospective study to estimate the effect of initial neuropsychiatric symptoms to develop mild cognitive impairment. MCI is the intermediate stage between normal aging and dementia. People with MCI can develop dementia at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per year compared with 1 to 2 percent in the general population. Researchers looked at data from the Mayo Clinic Study on Aging conducted in the early 2000s to compare behavioral symptoms to physiology from more than 10,000 people age 70 and above. Researchers studied psychiatric symptoms — agitation, apathy, anxiety, irritability and depression — at the baseline of the study and then again after five years to see if there were signs of MCI. It was determined that these baseline psychiatric symptoms are better predictors of increasing the risk of incident mild cognitive impairment than even physiological biomarkers, says study author Yonas Geda, M.D., a professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. http://youtu.be/MizMgO9f-KE Journalists: Soundbites of Dr. Geda discussing the research are available in the downloads.

PHOENIX — March 19, 2014 — A Mayo Clinic study reviewed data on more than 290,000 men with prostate cancer from the past 20 years ...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Mayo Clinic and Yampa Valley Medical Center officials announced today that the Steamboat Springs hospital is the newest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The network connects Mayo Clinic and health care providers who are interested in working together to enhance the delivery of locally provided high quality health care. Yampa Valley Medical Center is the second hospital in Colorado to be invited to join the network. "We are pleased to announce this collaboration with Mayo Clinic,” said Frank May, CEO, Yampa Valley Medical Center. “We share a common philosophy and commitment to improve the delivery of health care and now our relationship through the Mayo Clinic Care Network will allow our physicians and providers to have access to Mayo’s knowledge and expertise to best address the needs of our patients in northwest Colorado.”

MEDIA ADVISORY PHOENIX – Mayo Clinic will host a special sneak preview of the highly anticipated documentary, Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis. WHEN - Saturday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. WHERE - the Phoenix campus of Mayo Clinic, 5777 East Mayo Boulevard. BACKGROUND – From the acclaimed director Steve James (Academy Award-nominated Hoop Dreams, Emmy Award-winning The Interrupters), Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis is a revealing documentary featuring never-before-seen neurological findings related to rugby and soccer players that will serve as a wake-up call for people who think that the devastating chronic effects of repetitive head trauma are only an American football and boxing injury.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Feb. 26, 2014 — The future holds promise for multiple sclerosis research based on advancements of the past two decades according to a review from Mayo Clinic neurologists published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The paper states that many people with newly diagnosed or early stage MS are overwhelmed by the combination of uncertain prognosis and the often-unsettling prospect of starting preventive measures that are used indefinitely. However, the authors say that patients and physicians can benefit from an awareness of recent and emerging developments. “MS is the second most common disabling disease of young adults - it is a lifelong disease with an unpredictable clinical course for the most part,” said Dean Wingerchuk, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and co-author of the review. “That means that people are challenged with making decisions about treatment. It’s important for both the patient and physicians to be aware of current and emerging therapies  to make appropriate decisions going forward.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDgap-v9yXE&feature=youtu.be Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Wingerchuk are available in the downloads. Dr. Wingerchuk said that MS research has been prolific and that scientific advances in understanding the relapsing form of the disease have led to the recent development of several new treatments.

PHOENIX — Jan. 16, 2014 — Researchers have found that using telemedicine to deliver stroke care, also known as telestroke, appears to be cost-effective for society. The research was recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care. In telestroke care, the use of a telestroke robot allows a patient with stroke to be examined in real time by a neurology specialist elsewhere who consults via computer with an emergency room physician at another site which may not have neurology specialists (typical rural hospitals). Mayo Clinic provides telestroke care by acting as a single source of specialized care – a hub – to connect a network of multiple hospitals – spokes. "This study shows that a hub-and-spoke telestroke network is not only cost-effective from the societal perspective, but it's cost-saving,” says neurologist Bart Demaerschalk, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Telestroke Program, and the lead investigator of the telestroke cost effectiveness study. “We can assess medical services, like telemedicine, in terms of the net costs to society for each year of life gained."