In The News

With some 3,500 physicians and more than 3,000 research personnel, Mayo Clinic is often in the news. Below are just a few recent news items as they appeared in newspapers, magazines, television and radio.

Mayo promotes tobacco-free living

Mayo Clinic has opened a new Center for Tobacco-Free Living. The center features interactive media and exhibits that display the addictive power of nicotine. One exhibit features zebra fish addicted to nicotine. Doctor Richard Hurt directs the center. He said zebra fish share some of the same genes as humans.

Minnesota Public Radio, Sea Stachura, 11/21/08

Post-Bulletin, by Jeff Hansel, 11/21/08

KTTC, 11/20/08

St. Louis Blues Erik Johnson has successful knee surgery at Mayo Clinic

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson had surgery on his right knee Wednesday in Minnesota and will soon begin several months of rehabilitation. His physician, Dr. Michael Stuart, and Johnson are pleases with the outcome.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Jeremy Rutherford, 11/20/08

Try hypnosis and counseling for IBS and Crohn's

Gas. Bloating. Diarrhea. Cramps. The digestive system has many varied and unpleasant ways of asserting itself when the process isn't going smoothly—all well worth pondering as the holidays approach...

US News & World Report, by Michelle Andrews, 11/20/08

Mayo Clinic study and regulation of a proteins and Parkinson's disease

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic has developed a way to regulate the production of a protein responsible for the progression of Parkinson's disease . . .

WCCO Radio, 11/18/08

Memo: Can we walk?

Exercise has long been viewed as one of the primary solutions to our growing obesity problem. And while there's no doubt that physical activity boosts calorie burn, you need to do more than work out a couple times a week to keep the weight off. Before you start to worry that I'm going to up the exercise ante, relax. There's another way to boost calorie burn, and it doesn't require squeezing into Lycra or joining a gym.

James Levine, professor of medicine from the Mayo Clinic, claims the calories we burn when we're not working up a sweat are an important part of the weight-loss equation. He has even coined a phrase that describes the type of activity he's talking about; non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).

Montreal Gazette, by Jill Barker, 11/18/08

Poll finds that young diabetes patients have trouble coping

Even though a slew of new medical devices launched over the past decade now help kids with type 1 diabetes better manage their disease, a new survey indicates those touched by childhood diabetes still seek more support from schools and about half of young people with the condition have trouble coping.

With all of the new device technologies, we're asking kids to do a whole lot more to manage their diabetes these days," says Frederick Schwenk, professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

USA Today, by Mary Brophy Marcus, 11/15/08

Positive people live longer

. . . Actually, one of the best studies was done by the Mayo Clinic that showed that people had a much longer life-span if they were optimistic as opposed to pessimistic.

Fox 9 News, KMSP (MSP), 11/06/08

Sudden death risk highest 30 days after heart attack

The risk of sudden death after a heart attack has improved significantly over the past three decades, but the first 30 days remain a period of great danger, an historical study shows.

Washington Post, by Ed Edelson, 11/05/08

CBC News (Canada), 11/05/08

MedPage Today (Video), by Todd Neale, 11/05/08

The Bitter Beginning

Fernet Branca remains a popular cure for hangovers, and is often served as a digestif—something to sip after an overly generous dinner. One theory is that bitterness, typically associated with poison, cues the body to accelerate the production of saliva and digestive juices. This is considered a matter of known fact among many American herbalists and Europeans generally, but is greeted with skepticism by others. Nicholas Talley, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, told me there's little data to support this. "It's folklore, frankly," he said. "You put anything in your mouth, and it increases the production of saliva and gastric acid."

Atlantic Monthly, by Wayne Curtis, Nov. 2008

Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Fox News

There are also smart things that we can do with health care, for examples out of Minnesota with the Mayo Clinic, people saving money and receiving higher quality care . . .

Happening Now, Fox News, 11/04/08

End of Daylight Savings Time may be good for the heart

. . . Dr. Virend Somers studies heart disease at the Mayo Clinic. He says it is know that sleep deprivation is bad for the heart . . .

WMUR (Boston, MA), 11/01/08

The ethics of placebos

In 1572 Michel de Montaigne, a French philosopher, observed that "there are men on whom the mere sight of medicine is operative . . ." The American Medical Association (AMA) even issued this stern warning in 2006: "Physicians may use [a] placebo for diagnosis or treatment only if the patient is informed of and agrees to its use . . ." To find out whether doctors are observing the AMA's controversial ruling, a team led by (Dr.) Jon Tilburt of the Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota, conducted a survey of American doctors. The results have just been published in the British Medical Journal.

The Economist, 10/30/08