Research - February 2014 Archives

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

Findings May Help Make Immunizations More Effective  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC4eyi8h1UA ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 27, 2014 — Somali Americans develop twice the antibody response to rubella from the current vaccine compared to Caucasians in a new Mayo Clinic study on individualized aspects of immune response. A non-Somali, African-American cohort ranked next in immune response, still significantly higher than Caucasians, and Hispanic Americans in the study were least responsive to the vaccine. The findings appear in the journal Vaccine.  “This is fascinating,” says Gregory Poland, M.D., Mayo Clinic vaccinologist and senior author of the study. “We don’t know why these groups reacted so differently to the vaccine — that’s a subject for further studies — but this new information will help us as we design the vaccines of the future. It will ultimately change how we practice medicine.”

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.”

It's not too late to register for The 26.2 with Donna Finish Breast Cancer Marathon if you're in the Jacksonville, Fla. area this weekend! It's the only marathon in the country where all race proceeds and donated funds go to breast cancer research and care for those with the disease.  Running any marathon certainly takes time and dedication ... and no matter how much you train, you do need to pay attention to your health. That’s why the 'medical tent' is a key element of every marathon. In this report Vivien Willimas covers health issues unique for endurance runners.  [TRT 1:36] (Previously aired on MCNN Feb. 2013) Get more stories and information at: Sharing Mayo Clinic - The Donna Series 26.2 with Donna The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer Journalists: Video pkg. is available in the downloads. Click here for script. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiXoS3UQhtE

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 19, 2014 — Researchers say the discovery of how sodium ions pass through the gill of a zebrafish may be a ...

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.

Middle-aged women were most common cat bite victims Rochester, Minn. — Feb. 5, 2014 — Dogs  aren’t the only pets who sometimes bite the hands that feed them. Cats do too, and when they strike a hand, can inject bacteria deep into joints and tissue, perfect breeding grounds for infection. Cat bites to the hand are so dangerous, 1 in 3 patients with such wounds had to be hospitalized, a Mayo Clinic study covering three years showed. Two-third of those hospitalized needed surgery. Middle-aged women were the most common bite victims, according to the research, published in the Journal of Hand Surgery. Journalists:  sound bites with Dr. Carlsen are available in the downloads. Why are cat bites to the hand so dangerous? It’s not that their mouths have more germs than dogs’ mouths — or people’s, for that matter. Actually, it’s all in the fangs.

ROCHESTER, Minn — Feb. 4, 2014 — A new Mayo Clinic study found that among middle-aged men and women, 40 to 60 years old, the overall incidence of skin cancer increased nearly eightfold between 1970 and 2009, according to a study published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RHRoO-YJqs Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Brewer are available in the downloads. “The most striking finding was among women in that age group,” says dermatologist Jerry Brewer, M.D., principal investigator of the study. “Women between 40 and 50 showed the highest rates of increase we’ve seen in any group so far.” There has been widespread concern in recent years about the rising incidence of melanoma, which affects 75,000 Americans annually and results in nearly 9,000 deaths. Few studies, however, have investigated which age brackets of adults are most at risk. Dr. Brewer’s team conducted a population-based study using records from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a collaboration between healthcare providers in southeastern Minnesota that allows researchers to study health and illnesses in the community. They found that among white, non-Hispanic adults in the 40 to 60 age group the incidence of skin cancer increased 4.5-fold among men and 24-fold among women.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 4, 2014 — Clinicians and patients should use shared decision-making to select individualized treatments based on the new guidelines to prevent cardiovascular disease, according to a commentary by three Mayo Clinic physicians published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrtbNWvRnO4 Journalists:  Sound bites with Dr. Montori are available in the downloads.