News Releases - January 2012 Archives

MINNEAPOLIS — Researchers from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., are another step closer to developing a drug to combat fungal infections — one of the major problems confronting patients with compromised immune systems. The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics has awarded Mayo biochemist Zhiguo Zhang, Ph.D., and University medicinal chemist Michael Walters, Ph.D., a commercialization grant of $621,934 for the first year of a two-year period. The research team will use the grant for additional studies that will move their drug discovery toward the marketplace. The Need Finding new drugs to fight fungal infections is critical as the numbers of immuno-compromised patients rise due to HIV, organ transplants, and cancer chemotherapy treatments. In certain fungal infections, the mortality rate exceeds 50 percent and in some cases may be as high as 90 percent. Current drugs are becoming compromised as fungi become resistant to them.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Heart disease is the nation's No. 1 killer for both men and women. But what's most astonishing is that almost 80 percent of heart disease is preventable, and even small lifestyle changes can have a big impact. Based on an innovative yet simple "Eat 5, Move 10, Sleep 8" program, Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart For Life! provides the latest, clinically proven information on heart disease prevention and a step-by-step quick-start plan that breaks through the clutter and helps people understand exactly where to focus: Eat 5 or more vegetables or fruits per day. It's not just the protective nutrients they supply, but also that you'll have less room for junk. Move 10 extra minutes each day. Recent studies show that a sedentary lifestyle may increase your risk of heart attack as much as smoking does. It's as simple as standing instead of sitting as much as possible. Sleep at least 8 hours per day. Chronic sleep deprivation has devastating effects on your heart. It is not a luxury, it's a necessity. In addition, enjoy life. Discover what brings you joy and satisfaction. Your mental and emotional state influence heart health just as your genetic makeup and lifestyle habits can. "As soon you pick up the book, you can start making a difference in your heart health," says Mayo Clinic cardiologist, Martha Grogan, M.D. medical editor-in-chief of Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart For Life! "And, it's easier than you might think. For example, moving even 10 minutes a day for someone who's been sedentary can reduce the risk for heart disease by 50 percent." In this book, Dr. Grogan and a multi-disciplinary team of Mayo Clinic experts discuss key actions to jump-start heart health. The book also offers management strategies for individuals with pre-existing heart conditions; explains how the heart works and what can go wrong; and offers additional tools, tips and resources to overcome obstacles and support your heart disease prevention plan.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Doctors have known for years that the incidence of deadly liver cancer is on the rise, but what is causing that trend has remained a mystery. Two recent Mayo Clinic studies published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings offer a clearer picture of the rise of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, which has tripled in the U.S. in the last three decades and has a 10 to 12 percent five-year survival rate when detected in later stages.  "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations to help catch the disease in its early, treatable stages," said W. Ray Kim, M.D., a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and principal investigator of one study. Dr. Kim's research group looked at several decades of records in the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a database that accounts for an entire county's inpatient and outpatient care. The study found the overall incidence of HCC in the population (6.9 per 100,000) is higher than has been estimated for the nation based on data from the National Cancer Institute (5.1 per 100,000). The study also found that HCC, which two decades ago tended to be caused by liver-scarring diseases such as cirrhosis from alcohol consumption, is now occurring as a consequence of hepatitis C infection. "The liver scarring from hepatitis C can take 20 to 30 years to develop into cancer," Dr. Kim says. "We're now seeing cancer patients in their 50s and 60s who contracted hepatitis C 30 years ago and didn't even know they were infected." Eleven percent of cases were linked to obesity, in particular fatty liver disease.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have found that multiple exposures to anesthesia at a young age are associated with higher rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Warner describing the research, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. Children exposed to two or more anesthetics before age 3 had more than double the incidence of ADHD than children who had no exposure, says David Warner, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric anesthesiologist and investigator on the observational study. The findings are published in the Feb. 2 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. When basic science studies in the medical literature began to suggest anesthesia used in surgery causes changes in the brains of young animals, Dr. Warner and a group of researchers at Mayo Clinic took note. "Those studies piqued our interest," Dr. Warner says. "We were skeptical that the findings in animals would correlate with kids, but it appears that it does." The study utilized results of an existing epidemiological study that looked at educational records of children born between 1976 and 1982 in Rochester, Minn., and determined those who developed some form of learning disability or ADHD.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Researchers involved in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging reported today that more than 6 percent of Americans age 70 to 89 develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) every year. Also, the condition appears to affect men and those who only have a high school education more than women and those who have completed some higher education. People with MCI are at the stage between suffering the normal forgetfulness associated with aging and developing dementia, such as that caused by Alzheimer's disease. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Roberts describing the research, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. The study, "The Incidence of MCI Differs by Subtype and is Higher in Men," which was published in the Jan. 25, 2012, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, reports that 296 of the 1,450 study participants developed MCI, an incidence rate of 6.4 percent per year overall. Among men, the incidence rate was 7.2 percent, compared with 5.7 percent per year for women. "While incidence rates for MCI have been reported previously, ours is one of the few studies designed specifically to measure the incidence of MCI and its subtypes using published criteria," says lead author Rosebud O. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., of the Mayo Clinic Division of Epidemiology. "The statistically significant difference between incidence rates among men and women represents an important finding for those evaluating patients for MCI." The study also looked in more detail at patients with MCI, dividing them according to whether they developed amnestic MCI (aMCI) — in which the condition affects the memory domain — or non-amnestic MCI (naMCI).

What: Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota are taking wellness promotion on the road Jan. 24, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Minnesota Partnership — a state-funded research partnership between the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic — is debuting its health and wellness mobile lab at Caldrea, a Minneapolis-based company that makes earth-friendly, aromatherapeutic housekeeping products. The event is open to the media. The motor home-sized lab is outfitted with tools to measure calorie expenditure, body mass and fat content indexes and bone density, and to collect survey data. The goal is to bring the lab to people at their workplaces and schools, and to underserved populations, in an attempt to promote healthy lifestyles. When & Where: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Caldrea Headquarters, 420 North 5th Street, Minneapolis, 55401. The Caldrea office is located on the fourth floor of the historic Ford Center building adjacent to Target Field. Why: The lab's visit to Caldrea is part of a study to determine if healthy movement and standing in work spaces yield healthy outcomes. The lab will visit Caldrea four times over three months — days one, 30, 60 and 90. Before the first visit, some Caldrea employees who are participating in the study had their workstations converted to WorkFit sit-stand workstations that promote healthy movement and standing. These were designed by Ergotron, a manufacturer of digital display mounting, furniture and mobility products. During each visit, employees will undergo five health tests that include height and weight, heart rate, step station, a treadmill run, and a dexa scan to measure bone density. Researchers will use the data to determine if the new workstations make employees healthier.

The need for joint surgery is declining among rheumatoid arthritis patients, possibly because they can now more effectively manage the disease with medication, Mayo Clinic research has found. When people diagnosed with arthritis since the mid-1990s do need orthopedic surgery, it now is more often on the knees rather than the hips, the study shows. The findings are published online in The Journal of Rheumatology. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Sherine Gabriel are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues, causing painful joint inflammation that can eventually result in bone erosion and joint deformity. The disease is more common in women than in men. Early on, rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect the hands and feet, and as it progresses, often spreads to the knees, ankles, hips and shoulders. Using data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, researchers reviewed medical records from all orthopedic surgeries following the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in adults in Olmsted County, Minn. The procedures included primary total joint arthroplasty such as hip or knee replacement, joint reconstruction, soft tissue procedures, and revision arthroplasty. They found that roughly 27 percent of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis from 1980-94 needed at least one joint surgery within 10 years of diagnosis, compared with 19.5 percent for those found to have the disease from 1995-2007.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This morning, Fortune magazine named Mayo Clinic to its select list of the"100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2012. This is ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — When it comes to healthful eating, a picture may be worth 1,000 calories. MayoClinic.com now features a dozen slide ...

MINNEAPOLIS — David Etzwiler has been named executive director of the Decade of Discovery, an initiative dedicated to preventing, treating and curing Type 1 and ...

This morning, Fortune magazine named Mayo Clinic to its select list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2012. This is Mayo's ninth consecutive year on the magazine's annual compilation of companies that rate high with employees. The list ranks Mayo Clinic 71 overall among the top 100 companies, and 23 among 38 large employers (more than 10,000 employees). "I am proud of our employees for they truly earn Mayo Clinic this national recognition, and for that we thank them," says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. "Mayo Clinic is able to be successful in meeting the needs of our patients because the people who choose to work here are unequalled in their commitment and their integrity, as well as in their skills." Shirley Weis, Mayo Clinic chief administrative officer, adds "Our employees are the true strength of Mayo Clinic. We receive many awards each year for what we do, but the beauty of this award is it recognizes the value of the people who work here. As leaders, we set the vision for the organization, but it is our employees who achieve it." On its "100 Best" Web site, Fortune cites Mayo Clinic as one among nine companies noted for the use of social media to communicate with and engage employees. Fortune also features Mayo Clinic in its "They're hiring!" story and in its "Perkfinder" chart of best companies' top employee benefits.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Results of two studies suggest that a new, investigational colorectal cancer screening test developed in a collaboration between Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences Inc. of Madison, Wis., is highly accurate and significantly more sensitive than other noninvasive tests at detecting precancerous tumors (adenomas) and early-stage cancer. These findings have important implications for clinicians and tens of thousands of Americans. Early detection is a key driver of better outcomes for colorectal cancer — a disease that affects 1 in every 17 persons and is the second-leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. David Ahlquist describing the research, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. The first study, to be published in the February issue of Gastroenterology, shows that a new multi-marker stool DNA test is highly accurate at detecting precancerous polyps and early-stage colorectal cancer. This is the first large-scale, blinded study to measure the new test's effectiveness. The second study, to be published in the March issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, shows that the stool DNA test is significantly more accurate than a new plasma test for identifying patients with large precancerous polyps or colorectal cancer, while delivering fewer false-positive results.