News Releases - February 2014 Archives

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 27, 2014 — Here are highlights from the February issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. You may cite this publication as often as you wish. Reprinting is allowed for a fee. Mayo Clinic Health Letter attribution is required. Include the following subscription information as your editorial policies permit: Visit www.HealthLetter.MayoClinic.com or call toll-free for subscription information, 1-800-333-9037, extension 9771. Full newsletter text: Mayo Clinic Health Letter February 2014 (for journalists only). Full special report text: Mayo Clinic Health Letter Special Report February 2014 (for journalists only).   Better Sleep Without Pills Older adults often report a good night’s sleep is hard to come by. In an eight-page Special Report on sleep, the February issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter covers changes in sleep that can occur with aging and how to get better sleep without taking pills. Poor sleep isn’t an inevitable part of aging. Yet, older adults are twice as likely to be prescribed a sedative medication for insomnia as are young adults. These medications ― zolpidem (Ambien, others), eszopiclone (Lunesta) or zaleplon (Sonata) ― aren’t meant to be used beyond four to eight weeks. Many older adults use them for months or years even though these medications can cause unwanted side effects including residual sleepiness during the day, dizziness, lightheadedness and mental impairment. Mayo Clinic Health Letter covers several nondrug approaches and strategies that have proved to help relieve insomnia. Strategies include: Exercise: Evidence shows that incorporating regular exercise into the daily routine improves sleep. Exercise increases the amount of energy expended, and the amounts of “feel-good” hormones (endorphins) the body produces. Both are likely to lead to better sleep.

Patients with dental extractions before cardiac surgery still at risk for poor outcomes, study finds   Rochester, Minn. — Feb. 27, 2014 — To pull or ...

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.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 26, 2014 — As Mayo Clinic recognizes its Sesquicentennial year, the not-for-profit organization reached a record 63 million people in 2013. The strong performance was bolstered by successful implementation of new care delivery models — such as the Mayo Clinic Care Network — that provide knowledge to patients, physicians and consumers in traditional and new ways. “Expanding our reach is not a new goal for us,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. “In fact, as we consider our history, growth has been a constant for 150 years.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaWpTnZopg

MEDIA ADVISORY WHAT:An opportunity to ask questions about Mayo Clinic’s 2013 performance. WHO: John Noseworthy, M.D. President and CEO, Mayo Clinic Jeff Bolton Vice President, Administration and CAO, Mayo Clinic WHEN: Noon CST/1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 WHERE: Audio news conference

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 24, 2014 — Mayo Clinic researchers have fashioned a new key to unlocking the secrets of the human genome. The Binary Indexing Mapping Algorithm, version 3 (BIMA V3) is a freely available computer algorithm that identifies alterations in tumor genomes up to 20 times faster and with 25 percent greater accuracy than other popular genomic alignment programs. BIMA results are published this month in the journal Bioinformatics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uFyCYtoFck Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Vasmatzis are available in the downloads. BIMA is a next-generation sequencing mapping and alignment algorithm, customized to process mate pair library sequencing. Mate pair sequencing is a comprehensive and cost-effective method for detecting changes throughout the entire genome. “BIMA allows us to evaluate tumor genomes in a fraction of the time it takes many popular technologies,” says George Vasmatzis, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic molecular biologist, director of the Biomarker Discovery Program in the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, and senior author of the paper. “We believe this tool will lead to a better understanding of tumor genomics, and ultimately better therapy for patients with cancer.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_rwTM6TVQ ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 24, 2014 — Blacks may be twice as likely as whites to develop multiple myeloma because they are more likely to have a precursor condition known as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a Mayo Clinic study has found. Not only is MGUS more common in blacks, but the type seen in the black population is also more apt to have features associated with a higher risk of progression to full-blown multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell in bone marrow.

PHOENIX — Feb. 21, 2014 — The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees welcomed Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. as the new board chair and George Halvorson as a new member, recognized five retiring public members and three internal members who completed their tenure, and elected four new internal trustees. Di Piazza replaces Marilyn Carlson Nelson, who is retiring from the board. Di Piazza recently announced that he was leaving Citi as vice chairman and a member of the Senior Client Executive Group to serve as Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees chair. Di Piazza joined the Mayo board in 2010. He joined Citi in May 2011 after a long career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner and, ultimately, CEO from 2002 through 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwdHjAnJCM ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 18, 2014 — Newly-diagnosed patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who do not experience any cancer-related outcome events for two years after diagnosis have essentially the same life expectancy as they did prior to diagnosis, a Mayo Clinic study has found. Cancer related outcome events include disease progression or relapse, need for re-treatment or death. Journalists: Sound bites with lead author Matthew Maurer are available in the downloads.  Results of the study appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings indicate that the 24-month mark is a significant milestone that can be used both as an effective way to counsel patients on their long-term prognosis and as an earlier endpoint for future studies of newly diagnosed DLBCL.

Study targets EGFR and FGFR cellular pathways to treat rare disease SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Feb. 13, 2014 — Physicians at Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine and ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have shed light on a new mechanism by which prostate cancer develops in men. Central to development of nearly all prostate cancer cases are malfunctions in the androgen receptor — the cellular component that binds to male hormones. The research team has shown that SPOP, a protein that is most frequently mutated in human prostate cancers, is a key regulator of androgen receptor activity that prevents uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate and thus helps prevent cancer. The findings appear in the journal Cell Reports. “By uncovering this new and important pathway of androgen receptor destruction, we may one day be able to develop more effective treatments for a substantial proportion of prostate cancer patients who have developed resistance to standard antiandrogen therapy,” says Haojie Huang, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic biochemist and senior author of the paper. SPOP mutations have been detected in approximately 15 percent of prostate cancer cases. In addition, it has been shown that in about 35 percent of prostate cancers, the SPOP protein is expressed at abnormally low levels. Despite its prevalence in prostate cancer, it was not known whether or how SPOP defects contributed to tumor development. What the research team discovered is that SPOP is an enzyme that selectively destroys androgen receptor protein. Failure to do so due to alterations in SPOP results in overabundance of androgen receptor, a master regulator of prostate cancer cell growth.   The Mayo Clinic research team made four major discoveries: The antiandrogen receptor is a bona fide degradation substrate of SPOP. Androgen receptor splicing variants are resistant to SPOP-mediated degradation. Prostate cancer-associated SPOP mutants cannot bind to and promote androgen receptor degradation. Androgens antagonize, but antiandrogens promote SPOP-mediated degradation of androgen receptor.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Patients with a common form of lung cancer — lung squamous cell carcinoma — have very few treatment options. That situation may soon change. A team of cancer biologists at Mayo Clinic in Florida is reporting in the Feb. 10 issue of Cancer Cell the discovery of two oncogenes that work together to sustain a population of cells in lung squamous cell carcinoma, which may be responsible for the lethality of the disease. When these cells, termed cancer stem cells, are inhibited, tumors cannot develop. Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Fields are available in the downloads. http://youtu.be/ZdSIwoL0i80 “Cancer stem cells are a small population of cells in a tumor that can self-renew and grow indefinitely. They resist most treatments and are thought to be responsible for relapse,” says the study’s senior author, Alan P. Fields, Ph.D., the Monica Flynn Jacoby Professor of Cancer Studies at Mayo Clinic in Florida. “If you can shut down cancer stem cells, you may be able to stop relapse after therapy,” he says.