News Releases - August 2015 Archives

ROCHESTER, Minn. — About 20 percent of colorectal cancer patients have cancers that have spread (metastasized) beyond the colon at the time of their diagnosis. The liver is the most common site for these metastases. The approach to treating primary tumors within the colon and metastatic tumors in the liver continues to evolve; however, it typically involves chemotherapy plus surgical removal (resection) of both types of tumors. However, experts continue to debate whether surgical resection of primary tumors and metastatic tumors should be performed at the same time (synchronously) or in separate operations (sequentially). In the August issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Mayo Clinic researchers provided a detailed comparison of patient outcomes associated with synchronous and sequential colorectal and liver resections in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer, identifying some benchmarks for surgical practice. MEDIA CONTACTS: Elizabeth Zimmermann Young, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

ROCHESTER Minn. — A team of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center scientists has been awarded a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in multiple myeloma from the National Cancer Institute. The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is one of only three cancer centers to receive a SPORE grant for multiple myeloma cancer research. “With project leaders from Mayo campuses in Arizona, Rochester and Florida, our SPORE team will study the genetic basis for myeloma, develop novel viral and immunologic therapies, and optimize the use of existing therapies with a goal of controlling and eventually curing this deadly disease,” says Leif Bergsagel, M.D., lead investigator. “Starting from the pioneering work of Robert Kyle, M.D., over the last half-century, the myeloma group at Mayo Clinic is one of the strongest in the world.” Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Bergsagel are available in the downloads. MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Dangor, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XGjq_d96CI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGYTLOGZ40U   JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Cancer researchers dream of the day they can force tumor cells to morph back to the normal cells they once were. Now, researchers on Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus have discovered a way to potentially reprogram cancer cells back to normalcy. The finding, published in Nature Cell Biology, represents “an unexpected new biology that provides the code, the software for turning off cancer,” says the study’s senior investigator, Panos Anastasiadis, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cancer Biology on Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus. Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Anastasiadis are available in the downloads. MEDIA CONTACT: Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0746, punsky.kevin@mayo.edu

Mayo Clinic presents its First International Healthcare and Social Media Summit Sept. 1-2, 2015 in Australia at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre The #MayoInOz two-day event will feature speakers and panelists from four continents. Keynote speakers include: Marie Ennis-O’Connor, social media consultant, health blogger and patient advocate from Ireland Wendy Sue Swanson, M.D., executive director of digital health, Seattle Children’s Hospital Simon Trilsbach, vice president, Asia Pacific, Hootsuite Norman Swan, M.D., a medical journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Company, will be the master of ceremonies. Mayo Clinic created its Center for Social Media #MCCSM in 2010 to promote effective and appropriate application of social media tools and strategies in clinical practice, education and research. The center provides training and resources for Mayo Clinic employees, and, through its Social Media Health Network, offers those same opportunities to health care colleagues globally. MEDIA CONTACT:Mayo Clinic: Rhoda Madson 507-284-5005 newsbureau@mayo.edu

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Modern lifestyle factors, such as texting, reaching for your keyboard or wearing high heels, can create postural stressors that often cause muscle imbalances and injury. Having good posture is essential for good health; however, understanding what good posture is and maintaining it are hard. “When some people try to work on their posture, they tend to overdo it,” says Alynn Kakuk, physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. “They get into a super-extended position with their shoulders way back — enough that it creates too much of an arch on their back. So, they just start shifting their weight too far back.” Bad posture habits can cause imbalanced body alignment, strain on ligaments and muscles, chronic pain, injuries, impingement, low back pain, neck pain, hip pain, joint stiffness and muscle tightness, according to Kakuk. Simple exercises, stretches and being conscious of your posture can eliminate these ramifications. Journalists: Sound bites with Alynn Kakuk and b-roll of a posture analysis are available in the downloads. MEDIA CONTACT: Kelley Luckstein and Naomi Ogaldez, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOsBYE1jb9Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRypcV4-0Ig ROCHESTER, Minn. — Dosing obese teens with vitamin D shows no benefits for their heart health or diabetes risk, and could have the unintended consequences of increasing cholesterol and fat-storing triglycerides. These are the latest findings in a series of Mayo Clinic studies in childhood obesity. Seema Kumar, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist in the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, has been studying the effects of vitamin D supplementation in children for 10 years, through four clinical trials and six published studies. To date, Dr. Kumar’s team has found limited benefit from vitamin D supplements in adolescents. The latest study, Effect of Vitamin D3 Treatment on Endothelial Function in Obese Adolescents, appears online in Pediatric Obesity. “After three months of having vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, these teenagers showed no changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow,” says Dr. Kumar. “We’re not saying the links between vitamin D deficiency and chronic diseases don’t exist for children—we just haven’t found any yet.” MEDIA CONTACT: Sam Smith, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic will be hosting a grand opening event for the expansion of the Superior Drive Support Center in Rochester, Minnesota. The expansion will add nearly 60,000 gross square feet of clinical laboratory space for Mayo’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated clinical laboratory and pathology departments. WHO: Mayo Clinic Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology WHAT: Grand Opening Event and Open House for Facility Expansion WHERE: Superior Drive Support Center, Mayo Clinic 3050 Superior Drive NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901 WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. CT, Grand Opening Ceremony 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT, Open House BACKGROUND: In 2010, the Mayo Clinic Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) Space and Facilities Committee performed a comprehensive assessment of its clinical laboratory space needs through 2015. The results of that assessment identified the need for 20,000 square feet of incremental wet lab space. In 2013, this information was reaffirmed. The wet lab space on the downtown campus is near capacity, and historical trends suggest that DLMP will continue to grow at 3 to 5 percent per year. MEDIA CONTACT: Gina Chiri-Osmond, Mayo Medical Laboratories, 507-538-5424, newsbureau@mayo.edu

  PHOENIX -- A multicenter study involving Mayo Clinic researchers has found that the National Cancer Institute's Patient Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE), was accurate, reliable and responsive, compared to other, established patient-reported and clinical measures. The study is published today in the journal JAMA Oncology. “In most cancer clinical trials, information on side effects is collected by providers who have limited time with their patients and current patient questionnaires are limited in scope and depth," says the study's lead author Amylou Dueck, Ph.D., a biostatistician on Mayo Clinic’s Arizona campus. "PRO-CTCAE is a library of items for patients to directly report on the level of each of their symptoms, to enhance the reporting of side effects in cancer clinical trials which is normally based on information from providers. The study itself is unprecedented as more than 100 distinct questions about symptomatic adverse events were validated simultaneously." Researchers recruited more than 1,000 patients from nine clinical practices across the U.S., including seven cancer centers. These patients reflected the geographic, ethnic, racial and economic diversity in cancer clinical trials. Patients in the study also had a wide range of cancer types. MEDIA CONTACT: Jim McVeigh, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Future improvements in the U.S health care system will come from individuals, not large institutions or systems, say the organizers of Mayo Clinic ...

EDEN PRAIRIE and ROCHESTER, Minn., Aug. 5, 2015 — Optum and Mayo Clinic announced that health plans and employers participating in Optum’s leading Centers of Excellence (COE) program now have access to high-quality, cost-effective care from Mayo Clinic care providers who are experts in treating complex and rare conditions. Optum’s Centers of Excellence provide best-in-class capabilities with proven clinical quality and predictable consumer outcomes. The Center of Excellence designation includes condition-specific, high-performing programs with specialized clinical expertise and care management to support consumer engagement. Mayo Clinic has participated in Optum’s Transplant COE program for the last 11 years. With this expanded relationship, Mayo Clinic is now also a participant in Optum’s Centers of Excellence for Cancer, Bariatric Surgery and Heart Failure for Mayo Clinic locations in Arizona, Florida and Rochester, Minn. Mayo Clinic’s Rochester location is also participating in Optum’s COEs for Congenital Heart Disease and Infertility services. “This expanded relationship with Mayo Clinic provides patients in participating health plans from around the country with greater access to clinically superior, cost-effective health care,” said Mike Weissel, CEO of Optum Consumer Solutions. MEDIA CONTACTS: Jeffrey Smith, Optum, 612-632-6213, jeffrey.p.smith@optum.com Joe Dangor & Karl Oestreich, Mayo Clinic, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu  

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Pierre Noel, M.D., a bone marrow transplant surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, was recently named to the Atlantic Council, a prestigious think tank for international affairs. Dr. Noel will be a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Dr. Noel is a professor of medicine and serves as the director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. He is an adviser to the federal government on issues pertaining to medical support to counterterrorism operations. Dr. Noel joined Mayo in 1988 and left in 2000 to serve as the chief of hematology and a senior clinician for the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and a consultant for the U.S. Homeland and National Security Council. He rejoined Mayo Clinic in 2010. MEDIA CONTACT: Jim McVeigh, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005,newsbureau@mayo.edu