Florida - August 2014 Archives

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic’s stroke center in Jacksonville is the first center in Florida to receive national Comprehensive Stroke Center certification, joining an elite group of centers throughout the United States that are focused on providing advanced and complex stroke care.   http://youtu.be/w520jIc54DM   Centers that achieve this distinction — awarded by The Joint Commission working with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association — are recognized as leaders that help set the national agenda in highly specialized stroke care. The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

Potential biomarker discovered to monitor disease progression, therapy JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A team of researchers at Mayo Clinic and The Scripps Research Institute in Florida have developed a new therapeutic strategy to combat the most common genetic risk factor for the neurodegenerative disorders amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In the Aug. 14 issue of Neuron, they also report discovery of a potential biomarker to track disease progression and the efficacy of therapies. The scientists developed a small-molecule drug compound to prevent abnormal cellular processes caused by a mutation in the C9ORF72 gene. The findings come on the heels of previous discoveries by Mayo investigators that the C9ORF72 mutation produces an unusual repetitive genetic sequence that causes the buildup of abnormal RNA in brain cells and spinal cord. While toxic protein clumps have long been implicated in neurodegeneration, this new strategy takes aim at abnormal RNA, which forms before toxic proteins in C9ORF72-related disorders (c9FTD/ALS). “Our study shows that toxic RNA produced in people with the c9FTD/ALS mutation is indeed a viable drug target,” says the study’s co-senior investigator, Leonard Petrucelli, Ph.D., a molecular neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The compound, which was tested in cell culture models of c9FTD/ALS, bound to and blocked RNA’s ability to interact with other key proteins, thereby preventing the formation of toxic RNA clumps and “c9RAN proteins” that results from a process called repeat-associated non-ATG (RAN) translation. The researchers also discovered that c9RAN proteins produced by the abnormal RNA can be measured in the spinal fluid of ALS patients. They are now evaluating whether these proteins are also present in spinal fluid of patients diagnosed with FTD. Although ALS primarily affects motor neurons leading to impaired mobility, speech, swallowing, and respiratory function and FTD affects brain regions that support higher cognitive function, some patients have symptoms of both disorders. “Development of a readily accessible biomarker for the c9FTD/ALS mutation may aid not only diagnosis of these disorders and allow for tracking disease course in patients, but it could provide a more direct way to evaluate the response to experimental treatments,” says co-author Kevin Boylan, M.D., medical director of the Mayo Jacksonville ALS Center, the only ALS Certified Center of Excellence in Florida.

Board Also Recognizes Four Recipients of Mayo Clinic Named Professorships JACKSONVILLE, Fla., and ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees has named Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., Mayo Clinic vice president and chief executive officer of Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Farrugia succeeds William Rupp, M.D., who will retire from Mayo Clinic at the end of 2014. The announcement was made today at the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees quarterly meeting where the board also recognized four recipients of Mayo Clinic named professorships. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYkK-zl-gyQ Soundbites of Dr. Noseworthy are available in the downloads box. “Dr. Farrugia brings a wealth of experience to his new role,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and chief executive officer. “He is a physician-leader who brings to this important role a deep commitment to Mayo’s values, mission and strategic vision, along with a passion to lead and equip teams to reach more patients and strengthen Mayo Clinic’s position as a global health care leader. He has a strong commitment to continuing Dr. Rupp’s legacy of involvement and leadership in the Jacksonville community.” Dr. Farrugia has been with Mayo Clinic for more than 26 years as a physician in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Division of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota. He is also a professor of medicine as well as physiology and biomedical engineering. Dr. Farrugia has served in numerous leadership roles at Mayo Clinic with multisite responsibilities, both in his specialty and at the organizational leadership level. He currently serves as director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and director of Mayo Clinic’s Enteric Neuroscience Program. He previously served as research chair of the Department of Medicine. In his new role, Dr. Farrugia will work with Bob Brigham, chief administrative officer in Florida, to provide leadership and direction, defining and implementing Mayo Clinic’s operational plan and continuing to expand Mayo Clinic’s leadership and reach in the Southeast and beyond.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville has been recognized as one of the first facilities in the nation to receive the Blue Distinction Centers+SM designation in the area of transplant care. Awarded through Florida Blue as part of a national program from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, the designation recognizes hospitals shown to deliver high-quality specialty care based on objective, transparent measures for patient safety and health outcomes that were developed with input from the medical community. Mayo Clinic in Florida is also recognized as a Blue Distinction Center for its quality care and services in the areas of cardiac care, hip and knee replacements and spine surgery.