Florida - September 2012 Archives

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 24, 2012.  Men who undergo surgical removal of prostate cancer can experience significant levels of anxiety one year after surgery, and higher levels of anxiety appear to be linked to poor sexual satisfaction and depression, say researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida. Their recent study, published in the online edition of Psycho-Oncology, suggests that men who experience high levels of "cancer-specific anxiety" following surgery for prostate cancer could likely benefit from counseling designed to address their worries and improve their quality of life. "The 10-year survival for a man undergoing surgery to remove localized prostate cancer is greater than 95 percent. Given that the majority of men who undergo prostatectomy for prostate cancer will not die from their disease, we are concerned about what life will be like for these patients decades after diagnosis and treatment," says the study's senior investigator, Alexander Parker, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology and urology. While prostate cancer can be a life threatening disease, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 2.5 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive. "The odds of surviving for long periods of time following surgery for prostate cancer are very high," says surgeon and co-author Gregory Broderick, M.D., a professor of urology. "That means a lot of men are living as prostate cancer survivors and we at Mayo Clinic are committed to understanding factors that affect their quality of life, not just their quantity of life." Dr. Broderick presented these results at the joint meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America and the International Society for Sexual Medicine this summer in Chicago. Data from studies in patients with other cancer types have shown that anxiety can significantly affect an individual's quality of life. "Our study is the first to specifically show that those men with higher cancer-specific anxiety one year after surgery for prostate cancer are more likely to report lower levels of satisfaction with their sex life and higher levels of depressive symptoms," Dr. Parker says. In their study, the Mayo Clinic researchers examined findings on 365 men who, one year after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, completed a questionnaire designed to measure anxiety levels about the fact they have been diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. The men also completed additional questionnaires to measure levels of erectile function, sexual satisfaction and depression.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 20, 2012.  To help Mayo Clinic design the most effective treatment possible for brain cancer patients, the JLG Brain Cancer Foundation is pledging to raise $250,000 to assist in the development of a brain tissue bank at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida. It has already raised $145,000 toward that goal. The brain cancer tissue bank will include brain tumor tissues for all stages and types of brain cancers. "This vast tissue library will enable Mayo Clinic researchers to accurately identify the key molecular culprits in brain cancers — not just genes or proteins that influence cancer development, but the ones that make cancers more aggressive or resistant to therapies. Once found, these malignant forces can be stopped," says Jill Geehr, the daughter of Jacquie Lorraine Goldman, for whom the Foundation is named. Mrs. Goldman was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most virulent form of brain cancer, in 2008. She participated in several experimental drug trials over the course of treatment at Mayo Clinic, but lost her struggle 1.5 years after diagnosis — well above the normal survival, says Ms. Geehr. "We want to see that people diagnosed with brain cancer have options for treatment that are effective," she says. "Right now, most people who receive this diagnosis have an outcome that is pretty bleak." "Mayo Clinic is pursuing a transformative vision for brain cancer care. We can help," says Ms. Geehr. The Foundation's annual fundraising events are being held later this month. The second annual TASTE food and wine event is Thursday, Sept. 27 at TPC Sawgrass, and the Unlock the Cure JLG 5K Fun Run is slated for Saturday, Sept. 29, in Jacksonville Beach at The Beach Restaurant. Brain tissue samples that are now starting to be collected at Mayo Clinic "will be instrumental in developing a new understanding of the biology and treatment of brain malignancies like that of Mrs. Goldman's," says Kurt Jaeckle, M.D., the Mayo Clinic neuro-oncologist who treated Mrs. Goldman. "This Brain Cancer Tissue Bank never would have been possible without the kind donation and pledge of the JLG Brain Cancer Foundation," he says. "It is our hope that every person who has fought or continues to fight brain cancer will lead us closer to unlocking a cure," says Ms. Geehr.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 17, 2012.  An enzyme that could represent a powerful new tool for combating Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The enzyme — known as BACE2 — destroys beta-amyloid, a toxic protein fragment that litters the brains of patients who have the disease. The findings were published online Sept. 17 in the science journal Molecular Neurodegeneration. MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video resources, including an interview with Dr. Leissring, are available for journalists at the Mayo Clinic News Network. Alzheimer's disease is the most common memory disorder. It affects more that 5.5 million people in the United States. Despite the disorder's enormous financial and personal toll, effective treatments have not yet been found. The Mayo research team, led by Malcolm A. Leissring, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida, made the discovery by testing hundreds of enzymes for the ability to lower beta-amyloid levels. BACE2 was found to lower beta-amyloid more effectively than all other enzymes tested. The discovery is interesting because BACE2 is closely related to another enzyme, known as BACE1, involved in producing beta-amyloid. "Despite their close similarity, the two enzymes have completely opposite effects on beta-amyloid — BACE1 giveth, while BACE2 taketh away," Dr. Leissring says. Beta-amyloid is a fragment of a larger protein, known as APP, and is produced by enzymes that cut APP at two places. BACE1 is the enzyme responsible for making the first cut that generates beta-amyloid. The research showed that BACE2 cuts beta-amyloid into smaller pieces, thereby destroying it, instead. Although other enzymes are known to break down beta-amyloid, BACE2 is particularly efficient at this function, the study found. Previous work had shown that BACE2 can also lower beta-amyloid levels by a second mechanism: by cutting APP at a different spot from BACE1. BACE2 cuts in the middle of the beta-amyloid portion, which prevents beta-amyloid production. "The fact that BACE2 can lower beta-amyloid by two distinct mechanisms makes this enzyme an especially attractive candidate for gene therapy to treat Alzheimer's disease," says first author Samer Abdul-Hay, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The discovery suggests that impairments in BACE2 might increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. This is important because certain drugs in clinical use — for example, antiviral drugs used to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) — work by inhibiting enzymes similar to BACE2.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 12, 2012.  Today's researchers have a new set of tools to help uncover the roots of human disease and personalize prevention and treatment efforts. To take advantage of the emergence of faster, more affordable DNA sequencing technology, Mayo Clinic is establishing a biobank at its campus in Jacksonville. The Mayo Clinic Biobank is an extension of an effort that started at Mayo in Rochester, Minn. in 2007. Mayo Clinic in Florida has already begun enrolling volunteers in the Biobank, and expects to add at least 5,000 in the next five years, says Alexander Parker, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and Florida-based associate director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. "Our mission at Mayo is to improve understanding of human disease and translate this knowledge into better prevention and care for all populations," Dr. Parker says. "We are grateful to our participants in the Mayo Clinic Biobank for their willingness to provide the DNA samples and information that will support the next generation of scientific inquiry, and drive us closer to more individualized medical care for everyone." Participants who enroll in the Mayo Clinic Biobank are asked to grant access to their medical records, complete a 12-page lifestyle questionnaire and donate a blood sample, from which DNA is extracted and stored for future use. Participation in the Biobank is currently limited to people already receiving routine care at Mayo Clinic. It likely will eventually be opened to non-Mayo patients. More than 40 research projects are using genetic and health information housed in the Mayo Clinic Biobank to explore questions related to a range of human diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, hypothyroidism and cancers such as myeloma and leukemia, and cancers of the colon, breast, brain, lung, liver and kidney. Dr. Parker, a kidney specialist, says one study is looking at how frequently a genetic mutation found in kidney cancer patients occurs in healthy individuals. The Biobank makes it easier for researchers to perform studies because samples and information from many different people will be available in one place. Researchers can use the Biobank like a library. When they want to study a health issue they can use Biobank samples instead of finding new samples. "One of my goals is to understand how genetics interacts with the environment to affect a person's risk of developing kidney cancer," he says. "Now, through a simple query of the Mayo Biobank, we are able to rapidly identify control individuals who have no history of kidney cancer and gain access to their DNA and lifestyle data. This essentially reduces the time needed to do the work from years to months, which moves the process along at a faster pace." Other benefits of opening the Mayo Biobank in Florida include access to more diverse populations outside the Midwest and allowing for better design of studies aimed at disorders that have a higher prevalence in Southern states, such as skin cancer and kidney stones.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 7, 2012.  More than a cancer-causing gene is needed to trigger pancreatic cancer, a study led by Mayo Clinic has found. A second factor creates a "perfect storm" that allows tumors to form, the researchers say. The study, published in the Sept. 10 issue of Cancer Cell, overturns the current belief that a mutation in the KRAS oncogene is enough to initiate pancreatic cancer and unrestrained cell growth. MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video resources, including an interview with Dr. Crawford, are available for journalists at the Mayo Clinic News Network. The findings uncover critical clues on how pancreatic cancer develops and why few patients benefit from current therapies. The findings also provide ideas about how to improve treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer. The research team, led by Howard C. Crawford, Ph.D., a cancer biologist at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida, and Jens Siveke, M.D., at Technical University in Munich, Germany, found that for pancreatic cancer to form, mutated KRAS must recruit a second player: the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR.A third genetic participant known as Trp53 makes pancreatic tumors very difficult to treat, the study showed. The scientists also found that EGFR was required in pancreatic cancer initiated by pancreatic inflammation known as pancreatitis. "We believe the perfect storm needed to trigger pancreatic cancer include KRAS mutations and inflammation in the organ, which then work synergistically to turn on EGFR," says Dr. Crawford. "The bottom line is, without EGFR, tumors don't form — and that was never known before this study," he says. "We also think that inflammation in the pancreas has a big impact on turning on EGFR." The researchers discovered that when they blocked EGFR activity, the mice studied were protected against developing chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. They further found that in mice that had lost expression of the TP53 tumor suppressor — a situation that mirrors up to 60 percent of human pancreatic cancer cases — tumors escape the dependency on EGFR for initiation and continued growth of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Crawford says. Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease; no drug has been able to target the mutant KRAS protein. The study suggests some patients, such as those with chronic pancreatitis, may be good candidates for treatment with EGFR inhibitors to fight or prevent pancreatic cancer, Dr. Crawford says.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 5, 2012.  Motivated by their commitment to better the Jacksonville community and improve the lives of its citizens, J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver have given $7 million to the new Multidisciplinary Simulation Center at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The center will be named "Mayo Clinic J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Simulation Center" and is expected to open early 2013. This gift, in addition to several prior gifts the Weavers have given to various Jacksonville health-related organizations, demonstrates the family's commitment to improving access, quality of health care and collaboration in our community. The Weavers, Jacksonville community leaders and former owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, say their gift is meant to promote high-quality patient care, education and research and that the benefits of Mayo's Simulation Center should be shared with the entire community. "Wayne and I believe that simulation training will have a tremendous impact on improving the overall quality of health care in Jacksonville," Delores Weaver says. "It's a tremendous resource that physicians and other health care professionals can use to improve their skills and share best practices. We're excited to be a part of Mayo Clinic's simulation center and we look forward to seeing various organizations and the community sharing this resource and benefiting from Mayo Clinic's expertise." Simulation training is becoming more prevalent in medical education and is deemed to be very effective. Recent advancements in technology, the advent of robotic surgery, and innovations in the delivery of education are fostering the evolution of simulation in medicine. Simulation encompasses a variety of approaches from allowing surgeons to practice fundamentals and master new techniques, to hospitalist physicians and nursing staff undergoing team training, to other healthcare staff providing patient assessments using standardized patients. Mayo's new simulation center will offer these experiences in a medical theatre environment, where learners can practice all the scenarios with experienced faculty in a space that replicates real life. "The age of simulation training is here, and studies show its enormous potential for improving the quality and safety of patient care, as well as its utility for innovation," says William Rupp, M.D., chief executive officer of Mayo Clinic in Florida. "We are excited to pursue this new addition for our patients and the community. We are especially grateful for the support of the Weavers and other benefactors whose philanthropy made this center a reality."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — September 4, 2012.  Mayo Clinic and the University of North Florida are honoring National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October by hosting ...