Research - November 2013 Archives

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thomas G. Brott, M.D., a neurologist and director for research at Mayo Clinic in Florida, has been named the recipient of the American Heart Association's 2013 Clinical Research Prize. The award recognizes and rewards an individual who is making outstanding contributions to the advancement of cardiovascular science and who currently heads an outstanding cardiovascular clinical research laboratory, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Brott will be honored on stage during the opening ceremony of the American Heart Association's 2013 annual meeting in Dallas. He is the first Mayo Clinic investigator to receive the prestigious prize, which has been awarded annually by the American Heart Association since 2005. "This award is well deserved. Dr. Brott is a pioneer in the field of stroke and cerebrovascular disease research, and his mission to find the best therapies possible for patients has certainly saved lives," says William C. Rupp, M.D., chief executive officer at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Dr. Brott was a leading investigator in the studies that identified tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as an effective acute treatment for ischemic stroke. He and his team treated the very first patients using this therapy. Along with his colleagues, Dr. Brott defined the evolution of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage during the first hours after onset. In 1998, Dr. Brott came to Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida where he and his colleagues initiated the first NIH-funded genome-wide screen for stroke susceptibility. Dr. Brott has led federally funded national clinical trials that aim to discover best treatment for stroke and uncover risk factors for the disorder. For example, he is principal investigator for the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST), a study that compares two different treatments for their ability to reduce risk for stroke. The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He also played a key role in designing the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), a tool used internationally that measures stroke-related neurologic deficits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYweB-9Z7Y&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 The list of complications from type 2 diabetes is long: vascular and heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, kidney disease, hearing problems and Alzheimer’s disease. Physicians have long thought of osteoporosis as another outcome. Based on a Mayo Clinic study published in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, that’s confirmed: You can definitely add skeletal problems to that list. Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and senior author of the study Sundeep Khosla, M.D., says, “This is the first demonstration — using direct measurement of bone strength in the body — of compromised bone material in patients with type 2 diabetes. Clearly, the skeleton needs to be recognized as another important target of diabetes complications.” Click here for news release. Journalists: B-roll of and sound bites with Dr. Khosla are available in the downloads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsmTRjwTfgo&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 It's an epidemic spreading steadily and painfully, joint by joint. Arthritis now afflicts nearly 1 in 4 American adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Thursday. [CDC news release] It found that 22.7 percent of U.S. adults -  52.5 million people - have arthritis, and that 22.7 million of them say arthritis is limiting their daily activities. In all, the number of adults with arthritis rose 2.5 million during the 2010-12 period studied, compared with the previous analysis, covering 2007-09. Mayo Clinic rheumatologist Shreyasee Amin, M.D., offers these comments on the CDC statistics: “The aging population in general is increasing, and osteoarthritis, which is the most common form for arthritis and which doesn’t get a lot of attention in the media, is probably one of the things that’s contributing to that increase.” “The fact that obesity is certainly an increasing problem in the country and obesity contributes to a higher risk of osteoarthritis in the knees in particular, that might be one of the reasons that we’re seeing this increase.” “It’s sort of a catch-22 or a vicious circle that people run into: If you’re in pain you aren’t physically active, it puts you at risk for other conditions like osteoporosis, it may make you more prone to falling and breaking a bone. If you’re overweight because you’re not active enough anymore, you’re more likely to get diabetes and its complications maybe further aggravate heart disease, and some forms of obesity have been linked to cancer. So I think it really is important for us to recognize arthritis, do what we can and study it better so that we can improve the health of people before they get to that point where they’re into that level of pain and injury.” “I think because arthritis is so linked to other diseases, and physical inactivity that can result from arthritis can contribute to other complications like obesity, leading to diabetes and  further problems with heart disease, I think more attention needs to be drawn to preventing arthritis, understanding the mechanisms that contribute to osteoarthrtis in particular, which is so common, and I hope that helps spur our research dollars to better understand this condition and prevent it.” Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Amin are available in the downloads. To interview Dr. Amin, Dr. Krych or other Mayo Clinic experts on arthritis, please contact Sharon Theimer in Mayo Clinic Public Affairs at newsbureau@mayo.edu or 507-284-5005. There are more than 100 forms of arthritis: Osteoarthritis, also known as wear-and-tear arthritis, is the most common.