DUBAI — American Hospital Dubai, a distinguished member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network and the globally renowned Mayo Clinic, announced an enhanced collaboration marking a milestone in advancing healthcare delivery, medical education, and research in Dubai and the region.

The announcement was made at Arab Health 2025, the healthcare industry's premier event being held in Dubai from Jan. 27-30, 2025, at the World Trade Centre.

The strengthened relationship between American Hospital Dubai and Mayo Clinic underscores the shared vision of both institutions to transform patient care, promotes innovation, and further fortifies Dubai’s position as a global leader in healthcare excellence.

The enhanced collaboration will focus on optimizing clinical practices, improving operational efficiencies at American Hospital Dubai, and integrating cutting-edge technology to elevate the quality of care. A cornerstone of this relationship is establishing Dubai’s first Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) medical school, designed with guidance from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. This transformative initiative will nurture healthcare leaders and set regional medical education benchmarks.

The establishment of the new medical school is a pivotal achievement, reflecting the shared vision of advancing education and innovation. The medical school’s curriculum, aligned with global best practices, will feature state-of-the-art facilities, faculty development programs, and immersive learning experiences.

As a Mayo Clinic Care Network member since 2013, American Hospital Dubai has leveraged its unique access to Mayo Clinic's knowledge and expertise to enhance its clinical capabilities and ensure world-class patient care. This strengthened collaboration builds on that foundation, forging new paths, including developing a healthcare simulation center for advanced medical training, streamlining workflows to boost operational efficiency, and enhancing subspecialty service lines to address complex medical needs, further cementing American Hospital Dubai's position as a leading healthcare provider in the region.

American Hospital Dubai's enhanced relationship with Mayo Clinic extends to research and innovation and Mayo Clinic’s expertise will help American Hospital Dubai establish a clinical research infrastructure. Mayo Clinic will also assist American Hospital Dubai with optimizing resources, integrating research and clinical operations, and developing new treatment protocols aligning with international standards. Mayo Clinic will also assist American Hospital Dubai to enhance its patient-first approach through clinical and operational advancements, streamlined workflows, and comprehensive care under one roof, which will assist in fostering patient trust and satisfaction, ensuring patients in Dubai and the broader region access advanced care without travelling abroad. It will support the UAE's long-term healthcare sustainability and innovation goals and reinforce Dubai's commitment to becoming a global hub for medical tourism and healthcare excellence.

Sherif Beshara, Group CEO of American Hospital Dubai, welcomed the deepening ties between Mayo Clinic and American Hospital Dubai. "We are excited to take our collaboration with Mayo Clinic to new heights. Clinical excellence and education are partners in enabling transformative healthcare. Our expanded scope is committed to setting new benchmarks in patient care by enhancing clinical practices and promoting education and research. American Hospital Dubai will continue its mission to further enhance Dubai’s status as a global hub in medical excellence and knowledge building.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Jorge Pascual, M.D., pulmonologist and Interim President of Mayo Clinic International, emphasized the collaboration’s significance in advancing healthcare standards in Dubai and beyond. "By combining Mayo Clinic's expertise with American Hospital Dubai's capabilities and vision, we deliver innovative solutions that elevate patient care while establishing new medical education and research benchmarks. This collaboration reflects our mutual commitment to improving healthcare outcomes for the benefit of patients and communities."

Biju Samkutty, Chief Operating Officer of Mayo Clinic International and Enterprise Automation, highlighted the significance of this initiative: "The establishment of this medical school is a testament to our shared commitment to clinical and educational excellence. By integrating high-quality education with exceptional patient care, we are shaping a future where innovation and compassion define healthcare."

###

About American Hospital Dubai
American Hospital Dubai, established in 1996, is the flagship brand of the Mohammad & Obaid AlMulla Group and a regional healthcare leader, offering world-class medical services supported by cutting-edge technology and innovations. A Mayo Clinic Network Member (MCNM) with many firsts in international accreditations, American Hospital Dubai invests in AI, Research, and Education to bring new healthcare solutions to the people. The hospital has consistently set standards in quality treatments, processes and patient-focused care benchmarks, and its research breakthroughs help improve medical efficiency and care outcomes.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:        

• Elizabeth Baxter, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic and American Hospital Dubai Strengthen Collaboration to Transform Healthcare and Medical Education in Dubai appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic Healthcare expert offers strategies for identifying, neutralizing a common barrier to success

LONDON — There is a common culprit behind many broken New Year's resolutions and other unrealized goals, and it can influence your thoughts and actions without your awareness, says Safia Debar, M.B.B.S., a general practitioner and resiliency expert at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. If you are having difficulty achieving goals to exercise more, eat nutritious meals and take other steps toward a healthier lifestyle, it may be worth considering whether a self-limiting belief is to blame, Dr. Debar says.

In this expert alert, Dr. Debar offers strategies for identifying and neutralizing this barrier to success.

A self-limiting belief is a thought or belief that you see as the truth about yourself or the world around you and that restricts you from your full potential, she explains.

"It's fundamentally a truth you hold about yourself that's not serving you," Dr. Debar says. "Some self-limiting beliefs can be that you can't lose weight, that you have a sweet tooth. Well, really no one has a sweet tooth. Other self-limiting beliefs can be that you're lazy, you can't exercise, you hate the gym. Well, you can leave the gym to exercise."

The first step toward eliminating a self-limiting belief is becoming aware of it, Dr. Debar says. That may require reflection, because self-limiting beliefs tend to be present without your conscious knowledge, and your mind is remarkably good at seeking, and sometimes even creating, evidence to confirm them, she adds.

"For example, if somebody feels that they want to eat healthier or incorporate more movement into their day, but then underlying this, they feel that they're not good enough or they're not worthy of self-care or they're not worthy of prioritizing their health, and that other people's needs are more important, then they will sabotage the positive lifestyle changes that would serve them," Dr. Debar says. "They will sabotage those behaviours because it makes sense: 'Why would I eat well if I'm not worth it? Why would I set a boundary or put myself first if I'm not worth it?'"

Because underlying beliefs may heavily influence behavioural changes that you want to make, the ideal is to know what those beliefs are and to question whether they are serving you or not, Dr. Debar says. Writing thoughts in a journal or talking it through with a trusted person can help, she suggests.

"Whenever anything happens, a dynamic, anything that has an emotional load, it's always a really good opportunity to ask and to journal: What is the story you are telling yourself? What do you believe about yourself?" she says. "I call this a thought dump, or a stream of consciousness. When something happens, just write what's in your head. Then when you reread it, if there are known thought distortions, that will tell you whether this is a limiting belief. Then you start to get to know your internal narrative."

For example, questioning a belief that you can't lose weight could include considering:

• Where did I learn that I can't lose weight?
• Where did I see that?
• Am I fully informed about the actual process of losing weight?
• What emotion am I trying to feel, or what emotion am I trying to avoid?

Often, people find that their self-limiting beliefs didn’t originate with themselves at all, but instead came from teachers, caregivers, family members, society, culture or other sources, Dr. Debar says.

Then, identify small steps that you can take to achieve your goal, she recommends. The brain doesn't like change. So it's about taking small, regular, consistent actions and being aware of your internal dialogue so that you expect resistance but remember why you want to make the change, and question the beliefs that are blocking you," Dr. Debar says.

"We start off saying we're going to exercise every day, cut our alcohol, wake up at 5 a.m., meditate for 45 minutes, be the nicest person ever, and then two weeks later, we realize all of these emotions are coming up and all of this resistance is coming up," she explains. "A better approach would be to ask what the most important goal is, and then to approach it in tiny steps. If you want to exercise, for example, then start with a few minutes a day, where you don't think that it's a significant change from what you were doing before. Five minutes a day will mean that you have set up a habit, so that will then foster the belief that you follow through: You have kept your promise, you are consistent."

Dr. Debar recommends breaking down a range of healthy lifestyle changes by starting with the easiest thing you can do. If your goal is to eat healthier meals, start by trying to eat an extra portion of fruit or vegetables each day, and when you've done that for a few weeks, you can then think of yourself as a person who eats fruits and vegetables, who enjoys fruits and vegetables.

"It's a very different approach from the person who starts trying to do everything and then two weeks later is feeling very demoralized, and, paradoxically, will just go deeper into the things that they don't want to do and make them feel bad about themselves," Dr. Debar says.

A good thing about the new year is that it gives people momentum and a little rise in willpower, she says.

"But we can't rely on willpower to change behaviour," Dr. Debar adds. "It has to start with a tiny, incremental, consistent change."

###

About Mayo Clinic Healthcare
Mayo Clinic Healthcare, located in London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit academic medical center. Mayo Clinic is top-ranked by U.S. News & World Report in more specialties than any other hospital for a reason: quality of care. Mayo Clinic Healthcare is the U.K.'s front door to that unparalleled experience. Visit Mayo Clinic Healthcare for more information.

Media contact:

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post The culprit behind many broken New Year’s resolutions appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Rochester, Minn. — People around the globe are living longer — but not necessarily healthier — lives, according to Mayo Clinic research. A study of 183 World Health Organization (WHO) member countries found those additional years of life are increasingly fraught with disease. This research by Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., and Armin Garmany documents a widening gap between lifespan and healthspan. Their paper is published in JAMA Network Open.

"The data show that gains in longevity are not matched with equivalent advances in healthy longevity. Growing older often means more years of life burdened with disease," says Dr. Terzic, senior author. "This research has important practice and policy implications by bringing attention to a growing threat to the quality of longevity and the need to close the healthspan-lifespan gap."

Dr. Terzic is the Marriott Family Director, Comprehensive Cardiac Regenerative Medicine for the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics and Marriott Family Professor of Cardiovascular Research at Mayo Clinic.

Lifespan-healthspan gap largest in the U.S.

Life expectancy, or lifespan, increased from 79.2 to 80.7 years in women and from 74.1 to 76.3 years in men between 2000 and 2019, according to WHO estimates. Healthspan describes the number of years a person has lived a healthy, active, disease-free life. However, the number of years those people were living in good health did not correspondingly increase. The average global gap in lifespan versus healthspan was 9.6 years in 2019, the last year of available statistics. That represents a 13% increase since 2000.

The U.S. recorded the world's highest average lifespan-healthspan divide, with Americans living 12.4 years on average with disability and sickness. This increase from 10.9 years in 2000 comes as the U.S. also reported the highest burden of chronic disease. Mental health, substance use disorders and musculoskeletal conditions were the key contributors to illness nationally.

In addition, the study found a 25% gender disparity worldwide. Across 183 surveyed countries, women experienced a 2.4-year larger gap in lifespan versus healthspan than men. Neurological, musculoskeletal, urinary and genital tract disorders contributed to extended years of poor health among women.

"The widening healthspan-lifespan gap globally points to the need for an accelerated pivot to proactive wellness-centric care systems," says Armin Garmany, first author and an M.D./Ph.D. student in Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. "Identifying contributors to the gap unique to each geography can help inform healthcare interventions specific to each country and region."

Healthspan research

The Mayo Clinic research team studied statistics from the WHO Global Health Observatory. This cross-sectional study provided data on life expectancy, health-adjusted life expectancy, years lived with disease and years of life lost among member states. The healthspan-lifespan gap for each member state was calculated by subtracting health-adjusted life expectancy from life expectancy.

The research team recommends additional exploration of demographic, health and economic characteristics to better define the disease patterns that are shaping the lifespan-healthspan disparities. Funding for the paper was provided by the Marriott Family Foundation, National Institutes of Health and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

###

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news. 

Media contact:

• Terri Malloy, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

Related stories:

• A regenerative reset for aging
• Health and zombie cells in aging

The post The global divide between longer life and good health appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mindfulness is key, Mayo Clinic Healthcare expert says

LONDON — Whether it’s overeating, catching an illness or feeling stress or sheer exhaustion, a busy calendar of holiday festivities can take a toll on health, says Safia Debar, MBBS, a general practitioner and stress management expert at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. In this expert alert, Dr. Debar answers common questions and offers tips to help you power through holiday gatherings in good health.

Whether it comes to eating, drinking or even the decision to hold or attend parties in the first place, mindfulness is key, Dr. Debar says.

How can people protect themselves from catching an illness during this busy time?

Dr. Debar recommends considering the environment you will be in and how you are feeling physically and mentally heading into a particular gathering.

Physically, do you feel rested? Are you getting the vitamins and minerals you need or should you top up by making a special effort to eat well? Have you taken preventive measures such as the flu vaccine?

“It’s also important to practice proper hand-washing, wear a mask if appropriate, and be conscious of what you’re potentially exposing yourself to,” Dr. Debar says. “Ensure healthy lifestyle factors are in place as best as they can be, given this time of year, but also have some self-compassion. It is a busy time. We are juggling a lot of dynamics. It’s important to have some internal kindness for ourselves as well.”

Often, party food is communal: buffets with shared utensils and appetizer trays that people are reaching onto, for example. How can people protect themselves from norovirus and other illnesses spread through food and physical contact with germy surfaces?

Poor hand hygiene, undercooked food and food left out too long are among the causes of foodborne illnesses. This is another area where a mindful approach can help you stay healthy, Dr. Debar says.

“This is where it’s important to be conscious of the decisions we are making and questioning, `Do I really want to go to the party? Do I have to go?’” she explains. “If something feels dodgy, be in touch with your intuition. If you’re going to eat at the buffet, think about your choices. When you bring awareness to it, then you might decide you’re not even hungry or you actually don’t even want to be there. If you do go, make sure you’re washing your hands.”

The party season is a time when people may indulge in sweet treats, fatty foods and alcoholic beverages. How can people avoid overdoing it?

“I would sit down and think through the consequences of overdoing it and the actual cost to you,” Dr. Debar says. “For example, do you know that if you drink too much, the next day you’re sluggish, you don’t sleep well, you’ll get into arguments, you won’t be functioning well. Then, consider the upshot: The pleasure or benefits of that drink may not be what they seem. It’s useful to do that exercise and start consciously choosing when you are going to drink and when you are not going to drink.”

If you are going to drink, stay hydrated with water, avoid drinking on an empty stomach, and be aware of what you’re drinking and how it might affect you, Dr. Debar says.

“When you know what your individual reactions to drinks or late nights or overindulgences are, then you can make sure that you rest the next day and put other strategies in place to help your health,” Dr. Debar adds. “And try not to overcommit the next day as well; often it’s when people have subsequent parties that it’s a problem.”

With food, try to avoid sugar highs, because that’s when cravings can start, she advises.

“If you can start your day right with adequate protein, good fats and avoiding a massive sugar spike, then you’re not playing catch-up or at the mercy of sugar spikes. Maximize fruit, vegetables, protein and good fats and then the rest can be treats,” Dr. Debar says.

For some people, social situations can cause anxiety. What steps can people take to calm themselves and enjoy the moment?

“This will really depend on the individual. Interactions are good for us. It's also a very good opportunity for people to step out of their comfort zone, but it can be dose-dependent,” Dr. Debar says. “If you’re an introvert, know your limits: How many events are you comfortable doing?”

Tell yourself that you only need to speak to one person, and promise yourself that you can leave early if you are not having fun, she advises. Relaxation methods such as breathing and visualization techniques can help ease anxiety, Dr. Debar says.

“Also, break it down into little manageable steps. For example, you’re only going to a party for five minutes tonight,” Dr. Debar says. “Then if it goes well, it increases your confidence, and then you’re going to go for 10 minutes, and so on. Also, see if you can go with a friend. It’s important to expose yourself to social situations because connection is really good for us and connection with like-minded people is actually a buffer of stress.”

Holding a party can also prove stressful. How can party planners power through it?

Mindfulness can also help here. That includes managing your expectations, considering what others might do that tends to set off negative emotions in you, and having a strategy that helps you, Dr. Debar says.

“You’re often managing lots of other people’s beliefs and expectations and emotions and feelings. It can help to have a mantra that you can only do your best,” she explains. “You’re not responsible for whether someone has a good time. You can only do what you can do.” 

Dr. Debar also recommends breaking the party project into manageable chunks, delegating where you can, and approaching tasks with a spirit of fun and playfulness.

“Energy is infectious,” she says. “If I am happy and joyful, then that will have a knock-on effect to others, because we communicate via our nervous system and our body language.”

###

About Mayo Clinic Healthcare
Mayo Clinic Healthcare, located in London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit academic medical center. Mayo Clinic is top-ranked by U.S. News & World Report in more specialties than any other hospital for a reason: quality of care. Mayo Clinic Healthcare is the U.K.’s front door to that unparalleled experience. Visit Mayo Clinic Healthcare for more information.

Media contact:

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Health tips and lookouts to help you power through the holiday season appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A'ALI, Bahrain and ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic and King Hamad American Mission Hospital have announced that King Hamad American Mission Hospital is the newest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.

King Hamad American Mission Hospital is the first institution in Bahrain to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a group of carefully vetted healthcare organizations with special access to Mayo Clinic's knowledge and expertise.

“We are proud to join the elite group of hospitals that form the Mayo Clinic Care Network. By being vetted to join this prestigious set as its 15^th international member, we are looking forward to a future where expert care of world standards can be offered to the people of Bahrain,” said Dr. George Cheriyan, Corporate CEO of the American Mission Hospital, Bahrain.

"We are pleased to welcome King Hamad American Mission Hospital to the Mayo Clinic Care Network," said Mohamad Bydon, M.D., executive medical director of academic affairs and the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa regions at Mayo Clinic. "As we have worked together toward this day, it is clear that both organizations share similar values and a commitment to providing high-quality, patient-centered care. We look forward to collaborating in ways that enhance that care."

Through membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network, physicians at King Hamad American Mission Hospital have access to Mayo Clinic clinical tools and services and to Mayo's extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to support clinical, operational and business goals.

King Hamad American Mission Hospital and other Mayo Clinic Care Network members remain independent. Created in 2011, Mayo Clinic Care Network has 45 member organizations across the U.S. and in the Middle East, Asia, India, and Mexico.

###

About King Hamad American Mission Hospital
The KHAMH or King Hamad American Mission Hospital, which opened on 26 January 2023 in A'Ali, became the newest, the fifth, and the largest of the facilities of the American Mission Hospital. The other four facilities are in Manama, Saar, Riffa and Amwaj.

American Mission Hospital is a private, not for profit hospital, established in 1903, by the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America, has been serving the Kingdom of Bahrain for over 120 years.

Its mission is to provide high-quality healthcare at affordable cost based on the biblical principles of compassion, grace, and love.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise, and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contacts:

• Joel Indrupati, Director - Corporate Communications, American Mission Hospital, joel.indrupati@amh.org.bh
• Elizabeth Baxter, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post American Mission Hospital in Bahrain joins Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ISTANBUL and ROCHESTER, Minn. — Koç Healthcare and Mayo Clinic have announced that two Koç Healthcare hospitals, American Hospital and Koç University Hospital, are the newest members of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.

American Hospital and Koç University Hospital are the first institutions in Europe to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a group of carefully vetted healthcare organizations with special access to Mayo Clinic's knowledge and expertise.

The announcement ceremony on Sept. 18 was attended by Erhan Bulutcu, M.D., CEO of Koç Healthcare (Vehbi Koç Foundation Healthcare Institutions), Sergin Akpek, M.D., executive medical director of international corporate relations and medical director of American Hospital, and Mohamad Bydon, M.D., executive medical director of academic affairs and the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa regions at Mayo Clinic.

"To be part of the healthcare ecosystem of the future, it is crucial to collaborate with technology and industry companies, universities and hospitals, and insurance companies," Dr. Bulutcu says. "Mayo Clinic's past successes and its pioneering efforts in diagnostic and therapeutic innovations for future medical applications inspired us to collaborate with them. To join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, which has only a few members outside the U.S., we went through a six-month due diligence process. We share a common vision for the future of healthcare and demonstrated our past successes through evidence-based practices."

"As the American Hospital, we have experienced the pride of providing continuous healthcare services to the people of this geography for hundreds of years," Dr. Akpek says. "The number of patients we touch has increased significantly in recent years with the experiences we have transferred to Koç Healthcare and our other hospitals and our corporate culture. With the acquisition of Koç University Faculty of Medicine, we started to make a difference in the field of education and research. Undoubtedly, the importance that the institution has given to international collaborations for many years has a great role behind this progress. The collaboration we have initiated today with Mayo Clinic will take the American Hospital and Koç University Hospital even further in the fields of service, education and research."

"Mayo Clinic is pleased to welcome two Koç Healthcare facilities, American Hospital and Koç University Hospital, to the Mayo Clinic Care Network," Dr. Bydon says. "As we have worked together toward today's announcement, we have been impressed by the cultural alignment of the organizations. We are proud of our common purpose – to bring the highest quality patient care to the region – and look forward to this new collaboration."

Through membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network, physicians at American Hospital and Koç University Hospital have access to Mayo Clinic clinical tools and services, including:

AskMayoExpert

This point-of-care tool offers concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions and includes medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references. The database can be used wherever healthcare is provided.

eBoards

These live, scheduled video conferences enable medical teams at American Hospital and Koç University Hospital to review and discuss complex cases with a Mayo Clinic multidisciplinary panel and other doctors in the Mayo Clinic Care Network.

Healthcare Consulting

American Hospital and Koç University Hospital have access to Mayo's extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to attain clinical, operational and business goals.

Staff from American Hospital and Koç University Hospital also can use Mayo Clinic educational materials designed for patients and access opportunities for professional development and continuous medical education.

In addition, Mayo Clinic will conduct an in-depth evaluation of the current state and future aspirations of Koç University Hospital's medical education and clinical research infrastructure and goals. Koç University Hospital will use the information for future planning.

American Hospital, Koç University Hospital and other members of Mayo Clinic Care Network remain independent. Created in 2011, Mayo Clinic Care Network has more than 45 member organizations across the U.S., and in Asia, India, Mexico and the Middle East.

###

About Koç Healthcare
Koç Healthcare is the umbrella brand for the healthcare institutions within the Koç Group. It provides healthcare services in Turkey and the region with more than 8,000 employees. American Hospital, with over 100 years of history, is known for its high-quality nursing and patient care, cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment technologies, and administrative systems and processes, consistently delivering healthcare services at the highest international standards. Koç University Hospital, in a short time, has become a leader in medical and nursing education, clinical research, and patient care and treatment in Turkey among university hospitals. Find out more about Koç Healthcare's specialized medical care for your healthcare needs by visiting www.kochealthcare.org.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contacts:

• Gülben Erkmen, Koç Healthcare corporate communications executive, gulbener@amerikanhastanesi.org
• Rhoda Madson, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post American Hospital and Koç University Hospital in Turkey join Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

LONDON — Menopause affects women all the way to their bones, and that is why building skeletal health is especially important during perimenopause and after menopause, says May Al-Araji, MBChB, a women’s health and family medicine expert at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. This is a good time to add strength-training activities such as weightlifting to your exercise routine, Dr. Al-Araji says.

“Menopause has a multisystem effect. It can affect you literally from top to bottom, including your skin, hair, brain, central nervous system, heart, organs and skeletal system,” she explains.

Putting stress on bones during perimenopause and after menopause can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

“Weight-resistance exercises are really key for bone health,” Dr. Al-Araji says.

But that doesn’t mean that you must become a bodybuilder.

“It’s all about resistance,” Dr. Al-Araji explains. “You build it up gradually.”

For example, rather than starting out with barbells or dumbbells, try exercising with resistance bands, also called resistance-tubing. You can also use your body’s weight to create resistance while exercising. For a variety of exercises, ranging from lunges using the body as resistance to resistance-band workouts to exercises with free weights and weight machines, find Mayo Clinic strength-training videos here.

Women approaching or passing menopause can also build bone health by not smoking and by adopting a healthy diet, including foods high in vitamin D such as fortified milk, cereal and fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines, and high in calcium, including dairy products, almonds, broccoli, kale, salmon, sardines and soy products. If you are not getting enough vitamin D from your diet, talk with your healthcare team about supplements, Dr. Al-Araji advises.

It’s also important to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, with one important caveat, Dr. Al-Araji says: “Try to avoid rapid weight loss. The bones don't like it. Our bones like very gradual weight loss, built over time.”

If you are trying to lose weight rapidly, it’s important to work with your healthcare team on a plan to minimize bone loss, she adds.

Hormone replacement therapy and other medications may be considered when osteoporosis is diagnosed in women who are experiencing perimenopause or menopause, Dr. Al-Araji says.

When should a woman approaching perimenopause or in her postmenopausal years be concerned that she might be having bone problems? There are several signs that should prompt a visit to your healthcare team, Dr. Al-Araji says:

• If you are experiencing burning pains in your bones.
• If your bones ache.
• If you break a bone from a simple fall. This is known as a fragility fracture. For example, if you fall from your own height (such as a fall from slipping or tripping) and break a bone.
• If you are on medications that suppress your immune system, known as immunosuppressants.
• If you are taking corticosteroids.
• If you have a family history of osteoporosis.
• If you have an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis.
• If you had an X-ray and it showed bone thinning, known as osteopenia.

In general, though, concern about bone health shouldn’t prompt women to avoid exercise for fear of damaging their bones, Dr. Al-Araji says.

“As long as you’re doing something that you are comfortable with, then I would encourage any form of exercise, even as simple as walking,” she says. “Brisk walking is ideal. Just get your heart pumping a bit more than usual for you, and get a bit of sweaty skin. That is the ideal exercise really, and the general advice is to walk 30 minutes at least five times a week, if possible.”

###

About Mayo Clinic Healthcare
Mayo Clinic Healthcare, located in London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit academic medical center. Mayo Clinic is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report in more specialties than any other hospital for a reason: quality of care. Mayo Clinic Healthcare is the U.K.’s front door to that unparalleled experience. Visit Mayo Clinic Healthcare for more information.

About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and to providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.  

Media contact: 

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Perimenopause, menopause and … weightlifting? Expert explains value for bone health appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic Healthcare expert explains what it means – and what to do with the information

LONDON — Wearables measure several aspects of health, and heart rate variability might be one of those. It may be surprising when your device informs you that your heart rate variability is high or low, but what does it mean? Elijah Behr, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London, explains heart rate variability and how it factors into health.

What does heart rate variability measure?

“It measures the balance of nerve activity in the body and the way it relates to your heart rate and blood pressure,” Dr. Behr explains.

The nerve system that heart rate variability relates to is called the autonomic nervous system. It can be thought of as the balance between the effects of adrenaline in the body and the other part of the nervous system, the vagus nerve, Dr. Behr adds.

“From beat to beat, or over periods of time, heart rate variability can be measured in different ways to try to assess this balance within the autonomic nervous system,” he says.

What does high or low heart rate variability mean?

“In general people who have higher heart rate variability are more likely to have better cardiovascular fitness. Athletes tend to have a very high heart rate variability, for instance,” Dr. Behr says.

People with lower heart rate variability may be likelier to lack cardiovascular fitness or to have underlying heart disease, he explains.  

Does this mean people with high heart rate variability have nothing to worry about, and those with low heart rate variability should be concerned?

For people who haven’t been diagnosed with a heart condition and are otherwise healthy, heart rate variability alone isn’t information that a doctor can act upon, Dr. Behr says.

“Heart rate variability by itself isn’t likely to give you a good view of your likelihood of say, heart attack or cardiac arrest or other heart rhythm problems. It doesn’t provide enough detail to say, `Yes, you’re at heightened risk of X,’” he says.  

Research on heart rate variability in patients who have had heart attacks has not been incorporated as yet into clinical decision making about them, such as treating someone more aggressively, Dr. Behr says.

Can you improve your heart rate variability?

“One could say to a patient that you need to exercise more, lose a bit of weight, get fitter. But these are things that would be promoted for heart health generally,” Dr. Behr says.

Advice for patients worried about their heart rate variability:

“Ignore it as a stand-alone measure. Do use it as a way of pushing you toward being a bit healthier in your lifestyle,” Dr. Behr advises. “Watch blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, exercise; if you’re worried about your heart rate variability, you should be worried about these. They are more tangible risks that can be acted upon and that we know will have an impact on your longevity.”

###

About Mayo Clinic Healthcare
Mayo Clinic Healthcare, located in London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit academic medical center. Mayo Clinic is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report in more specialties than any other hospital for a reason: quality of care. Mayo Clinic Healthcare is the U.K.’s front door to that unparalleled experience. Visit Mayo Clinic Healthcare for more information.

About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and to providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.  

Media contact: 

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Your wearable says your heart rate variability has changed. Now what? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Pick's disease, a neurodegenerative disease of unknown genetic origin, is a rare type of frontotemporal dementia that affects people under the age of 65. The condition causes changes in personality, behavior and sometimes language impairment. In patients with the disease, tau proteins build up and form abnormal clumps called Pick bodies, which restrict nutrients to the brain and cause neurodegeneration. The only way to diagnose the disease is by looking at brain tissue under a microscope after a person dies.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida, University College London in England and collaborators worldwide have established the Pick's Disease International Consortium to study a specific MAPT gene variation known as MAPT H2 that makes the tau protein and acts as a driver of disease. They investigated a connection between the gene and disease risk, age at onset, and duration of Pick's disease. Their findings are reported in The Lancet Neurology.

Mayo Clinic researchers identified the first MAPT gene mutations for a behavioral form of dementia in 1998, and other genetic changes associated with related dementias in 2001, which paved the way to understanding the mechanisms of tau-related disease. This new study confirms a tau genetic factor linked specifically to Pick's disease and opens up new avenues of therapeutic design.

"Our research could have profound implications for the development of therapies for Pick's disease and other related neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy," says Owen Ross, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic neuroscientist and senior author of the paper. The consortium hosts a database of clinical, pathological and demographic information about patients with the disease who donated their brain tissue for science.

To conduct the study, researchers investigated brain samples of 338 patients confirmed to have Pick's disease to compare with blood samples from 1,312 neurologically healthy individuals. Patients confirmed to have the disease came from 35 brain banks and hospitals in North America, Europe and Australia between 2020 and 2023. The Mayo Clinic Brain Bank was among the sites in the study that provided the largest collection of samples.

Analyzing DNA from the blood samples and brain tissue, the research team recorded baseline information on study participants, including age at disease onset, age at death for those with Pick's disease, and sex and age at blood collection for the control group. Disease duration was calculated by the difference between age at Pick's disease onset and age at death. In addition, the researchers looked at clinical characteristics such as clinical diagnosis, impairment in behavior and language.

"We found that the MAPT H2 genetic variant is associated with an increased risk of Pick's disease in people of European descent," says Dr. Ross. "We were only able to determine that because of the global consortium, which greatly increased the sample size of pathology cases to study with Pick's disease."

The team's next steps are to expand the consortium to the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, further resolve the genetic architecture of the disease, and assess this specific genetic variant as a biomarker or test for clinical diagnosis of Pick's disease. There is currently no clinical test or diagnosis available for Pick's disease. For the first time, the creation of the consortium may allow for the development of a clinical test.

Funding for this research at Mayo Clinic was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the State of Florida Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program, and Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. For a full list of authors, collaborating institutions and disclosures, see the paper.

###

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact: 

• Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu 

The post Global consortium to study Pick’s disease, rare form of early-onset dementia appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

The first-of-its-kind alliance moves into new regions to transform global healthcare and improve access, diagnostics and treatments for patients everywhere.  

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic Platform continues to expand its distributed data network, Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect¹, which now includes eight of the world's leading health systems across three continents: Seoul National University Hospital, SingHealth and UC Davis Health, which join Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Mayo Clinic, Mercy, Sheba Medical Center and University Health Network (UHN) as founding members. The global network makes available years of de-identified multimodal clinical data to help improve patient care by providing a new healthcare architecture that allows more tailored medicine, healthcare products, digital services and solutions based on artificial intelligence. Mayo Clinic now has four of the top 11 hospitals in the world on its Platform.  

Each member of Connect brings depth and breadth of clean, curated, de-identified data related to complex and rare health conditions; a wide range of treatments and therapies; and representation from diverse global regions, which is critical to improve accuracy, reduce model bias, and create more diverse, and therefore stronger, treatment recommendations for patients. Connect provides researchers and innovators with secure, cloud-based access to data using Mayo Clinic Platform's proprietary Data Behind Glass ² approach, where each healthcare system controls its data. 

"Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone for all of us," says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "As we deliver on our goal of transforming healthcare, these partnerships will lead to more innovation, more collaboration, more answers, and more hope for those in need as we continue to build something that has never existed before in healthcare: a platform with truly global reach."

"The collaboration between Seoul National University Hospital and Mayo Clinic will play an important role in addressing health issues around the world and improving the quality of patient care. Through this partnership, we have new opportunities to improve access to disease diagnosis and treatment and to promote innovation. Extensive de-identified clinical data collected from different races and regions will enable us to provide more precise and more diverse healthcare, which will ultimately accelerate innovation in the medical systems," says Young Tae Kim, M.D., president and CEO of Seoul National University Hospital. 

"We are excited to embark on this collaboration with Mayo Clinic, which underscores our core focus on advancing care to achieve the best outcomes for our patients. By creating synergies through collaborative data networks with the top healthcare systems in the world, we hope to unlock new insights to accelerate research, innovate care and optimize clinical impact and outcomes for patients, in Singapore and beyond," says Professor Lim Soon Thye, deputy group CEO, Research, Education and Innovation, SingHealth. 

"UC Davis Health is excited to collaborate with Mayo Clinic and explore ways to better support multi-site research, innovation and transformation. This network extends the work we are doing to advance the responsible and ethical development of generative AI-powered healthcare globally,” says Ashish Atreja, M.D., M.P.H, chief information officer, chief digital health officer of UC Davis Health, and founding chair, VALID AI.

Connect focuses on patient outcomes through the following:  

• Improved clinical decision-making: Using data-driven discovery and translation, health systems can make clinical decisions faster and more accurately. 
• Advanced healthcare solutions: With increased access to privacy-protected, de-identified data sets from around the world, innovators can create better solutions that serve all populations, including those traditionally underserved. 
• Expanded expert knowledge: By establishing a global network of connected data, clinicians will have expanded access to the knowledge of other experts, specialists and researchers. 

"Connect brings people and data together to create new knowledge and new solutions. To be effective, it is critical that the data represent the global population. With these founding members, we now have de-identified clinical data from 32 million patient lives across additional parts of the world. This depth and breadth of data enables solution developers to build and test models that are fair, appropriate, valid and effective, and will improve care for patients, no matter where they live," says John Halamka, M.D., president of Mayo Clinic Platform and co-founder and board chair of Coalition for Health AI (CHAI).    

^1,2Trademark pending 

### 

About Mayo Clinic Platform 
Founded on Mayo Clinic's dedication to patient-centered care, Mayo Clinic Platform enables new knowledge, new solutions and new technologies through collaborations with health technology innovators to create a healthier world.

About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.  

About Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein 
Founded in 1955, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein is a nonprofit organization and operates in private and public health in all stages of healthcare, teaching and education, consulting, research and innovation, and social responsibility. The service provision structure is comprised of 21 private and 30 units in the Public Health System and 11 teaching units. Einstein provides healthcare services to around 3 million people, educates more than 57,000 students from kindergarten to graduate school and carries out at any given time around 1,000 scientific and clinical research projects. 

About Mercy 
Mercy, one of the 25 largest U.S. health systems, serves millions annually with nationally recognized quality care and one of the nation's largest Accountable Care Organizations. Mercy is a highly integrated, multistate healthcare system including more than 40 acute care managed and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has 900 physician practices and outpatient facilities, 3,400 Mercy Clinic physicians and advanced practitioners and more than 40,000 coworkers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. 

About Sheba Medical Center 
The largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer is generating global impact through its medical care, research and healthcare transformation. Sheba’s City of Health boasts acute-care, rehabilitation, children’s, cancer and geriatric hospitals, the ARC innovation center, medical simulation center and center for disaster response on one comprehensive campus in the center of Israel.

About Seoul National University Hospital
Seoul National University Hospital is a national central hospital that leads in medical research and innovative treatment, continuously striving to enhance human health and happiness. With cutting-edge medical technology and specialized medical staff, it provides the highest level of clinical services for various diseases and contributes to the advancement of medical education and research.

About SingHealth
SingHealth, Singapore's largest public healthcare cluster, is committed to providing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to patients. With a network of acute hospitals, national specialty centers, polyclinics and community hospitals offering over 40 clinical specialties, it delivers comprehensive, multidisciplinary and integrated care. Beyond hospital walls, SingHealth partners with community care providers to enable the population to keep well, get well and live well. As part of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, SingHealth also focuses on advancing education and research to continuously improve care outcomes for patients.

Members of the SingHealth group   

Hospitals (tertiary specialty care):  
Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital. 

National Specialty Centres (tertiary specialty care):  
National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute and Singapore National Eye Centre.

SingHealth Polyclinics (primary care):  
Bedok, Bukit Merah, Eunos, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Sengkang, Tampines, Tampines North andKaki Bukit (upcoming).

SingHealth Community Hospitals (intermediate and long-term care):  
Bright Vision Community Hospital, Sengkang Community Hospital and Outram Community Hospital.

About UC Davis Health
UC Davis Health is improving lives and transforming healthcare by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education and creating dynamic, productive partnerships. UC Davis Health harnesses the power of an entire university's nationally ranked resources and research to tackle the most pressing healthcare issues facing the world today. As the northern California region's only academic health center, UC Davis Health is focused on discovering and sharing knowledge and providing the highest quality of care and serves as a hub of innovation that encompasses UC Davis Medical Center, UC Davis School of Medicine, The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis and UC Davis Medical Group.

About University Health Network
University Health Network consists of Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and The Michener Institute of Education at University Health Network. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Mayo Clinic media contact:  

• Terri Malloy, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu.

Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein media contact: 

• Estefânia Basso, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein Communications, estefania.basso@einstein.br.

Mercy media contact: 

• Maureen Richmond, Mercy Health Media Relations, MNRichmond@mercy.com.

Seoul National University Hospital media contact:

• Youngjoo Park, Seoul National University Public Relations, yjp@snuh.org.

Sheba Medical Center media contact:

• Steve Walz, Sheba Communications, Steve.Walz@sheba.health.gov.il.

SingHealth media contact: 

• Anjana Krishna, SingHealth Communications, anjana.krishna.kumar@singhealth.com.sg.

UC Davis Health media contact:

• Liam Connolly, UC Davis Communications, lhconnolly@ucdavis.edu.

University Health Network media contact: 

• Daniel Girard, UNH Public Affairs, Daniel.girard@uhn.ca.

The post Mayo Clinic Platform expands global footprint of its distributed data network   appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.