“We observed a dose-response pattern which simply means; the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of mild cognitive impairment,” said study author Yonas E. Geda, M.D., MSc, a neurologist and psychiatrist with Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He noted that 2,143 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss.

MCI is the stage between normal memory loss that comes with aging and early Alzheimer’s disease. The odds of having MCI more than doubled for people in the highest calorie-consuming group compared with people in the lowest calorie-consuming group. The results were the same after adjusting for history of stroke, diabetes, amount of education and other factors that can affect risk of memory loss.

“Cutting calories and eating foods that make up a healthy diet may be a simpler way to prevent memory loss as we age,” Geda says. After all, “what’s good for your heart is good for your brain.”

Dallas Cowboys punter Mat McBriar underwent successful surgery Tuesday, Feb. 7, to remove an intraneural cyst. McBriar is recovering well and will be dismissed from Mayo Clinic later this afternoon.

“The intraneural cyst was causing Mat’s foot drop. The surgery to remove the cyst was targeted, based on the most current understanding of the condition and its formation,” says Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon Robert Spinner, M.D., who performed the surgery, and is a leading expert on the condition. “Mat’s surgery went extremely well, and I believe he will be as good a punter as ever.”

McBriar says, “I’m thrilled. I couldn’t ask for better news. I’m concentrating on a speedy recovery.”

An intraneural ganglion is a benign cyst filled with mucinous material (thick jelly consistency) contained within a nerve. Recent work done at Mayo has shown that the cyst is connected to a neighboring joint by a small nerve branch.  Identifying and treating this joint connection forms the basis of successful surgery. For information on intraneural cyst

Information on Robert Spinner, M.D.

Journalists:  To download the video below, right click on the link and “save target as.”

Video of McBriar being evaluated with computer analysis at the motion analysis lab at Mayo Clinic. MOV

U.S. News annually publishes the Best Hospitals rankings in July. At the midpoint of 2011-12, U.S. News editors have recognized 247 hospitals outside the major metropolitan areas as Best Regional Hospitals. The list of those hospitals is available online at www.usnews.com/bestregionalhospitals.

Best Regional Hospitals offer a high level of medical care to communities that otherwise might have limited options, says Avery Comarow, U.S. News health rankings editor. “All Best Regional Hospitals are what we call ‘high performers’ in at least one medical specialty,” Comarow says. “They are fully capable of providing first-rate care, even to most patients who have serious conditions or need demanding procedures.”

U.S. News annually evaluates nearly 5,000 hospitals in 16 different medical specialties. Hard numbers stand behind its analysis in most specialties — death rates, patient safety, procedure volume, and other objective data. Physicians’ responses to a national survey, in which specialists are asked to name hospitals they consider best in their specialty for the toughest cases, also are factored in.  

Mayo Clinic also has been included in U.S. News’ annual list of “Best Hospitals” for 22 years. Hospitals included in the Honor Roll, such as Mayo Clinic, are part of a small group recognized for “breadth of excellence,” according to the magazine.

Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. That information, alone, should be enough to get people moving toward healthier heart lifestyles.  However, there’s enough information out there to clog your arteries and it can be confusing.  So, Mayo Clinic has a NEW action packed book full of the most practical things you can do to reduce your risk of heart disease. 

Learn about: Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart for Life!

 News Release:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2012-rst/6680.html

Uterine fibroids affect one out of every four women. They are a major cause of problems for reproductive age women and a major reason women need to have hysterectomies.  Treatment options are limited and ultimately, surgeries are still the dominate treatment for this disease.  But more options may be just around the corner.

In the Feb. 2, 2010, issue of New England Journal of Medicine, Ebbie Stewart, M.D., Mayo Clinic obstetrician, provides an editorial about a possible new medical treatment for uterine fibroids based on two studies published in the same issue. Donnez et al. report that progesterone-receptor modulators, drugs that influence the response to the ovarian hormone progesterone, are effective in treating uterine fibroids much better than a placebo or no treatment at all and equivalent to a GnRH agonist, but without the significant side effects. Dr. Stewart explains that GnRH agonists often cause women to feel like they are going through menopause and they also can contribute to bone loss.

Dr. Stewart says the progesterone-receptor modulators appear to be safe treatments and with both of these studies together, there is exciting news that there may be approved medical treatments for fibroids, ones that can be taken as a pill on a daily basis and give women both decreased menstrual bleeding and decrease the size of the fibroids.

Until more medical therapies become available, interventional therapies such as ultrasound artery embolization and focused ultrasound surgery have proven to be effective alternatives to hysterectomies. Dr. Stewart encourages women to educate themselves about their treatment options and to ask questions about alternatives to hysterectomies.

Journalists: The following web-video clips from Dr. Steart are available for download and use in your post-embargo stories.

Fibroid Problems:   MOV

Learn About Treatment Options:   MOV

Alternative Treatments:  MOV

Big Step Forward:   MOV

Below is a link to an edited YouTube video with Dr. Stewart.

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).

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 study. The findings are published in the Feb. 2 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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.

Among 341 cases of ADHD in those younger than 19, researchers traced medical records in the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a decades-long database of all patient care in Olmsted County, Minn., looking for exposure to anesthesia and surgery before age 3.

Children who had no exposure to anesthesia and surgery had ADHD at a rate of 7.3 percent. The rate after a single exposure to anesthesia and surgery was approximately the same. For children who had two or more exposures to anesthesia and surgery, the rate of ADHD was 17.9 percent, even after researchers adjusted for other factors, including gestational age, sex, birth weight and comorbid health conditions.

The results of the study, however, do not definitively mean that anesthesia causes ADHD, Dr. Warner says.

“This is an observational study,” he says. “A wide range of other factors might be responsible for the higher frequency of ADHD in children with multiple exposures.

The findings certainly do suggest that further investigation into this area is warranted, and investigators at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere are actively pursuing these studies.”

For more information, a copy of the study or to schedule an interview with one of the investigators, contact newsbureau@mayoclinic.edu or call 507-284-5005.

Click here to view the news release.

Journalists: The following video and audio clips with Dr. Warner are available for download and use in your stories.

Findings:   MOV    MP3

Association Only:   MOV   MP3

Next Steps:    MOV   MP3

Key Message:   MOV   MP3

Below is a link to an edited youtube video with Dr. Warner that you can embed with your stories.

Consider the facts:

• 80 million Americans – about 1 in 3 adults – have some form of heart disease.
• Every day, 2,200 Americans die of heart disease – an average of one death every 39 seconds.
• Heart disease kills nearly five times as many women as does breast cancer.

Mayo Clinic has developed an unofficial national anthem for Heart Month that brings home the message in a fun and memorable way. The music video already has more than 45,000 views and 200 likes on YouTube, and more than 1,400 likes, shares and comments on Facebook.

It’s a spoof of the 1982 Tommy TuTone hit, “867-5309/Jenny.” Click the play arrow below to go right to the catchy chorus of the parody:

In the original video, Tommy was obsessed with Jenny and her phone number but couldn’t work up the nerve to actually call her, and ended up in jail for being a peeping Tommy.

In our updated parody, it’s 30 years later and a graying Tommy has mended his ways and is calling Jenny (who hasn’t changed her famous phone number) to apologize for stalking and to plead with her to “Know Your Numbers” to prevent heart disease.

After adding her as a friend on Facebook, Tommy also urges Jenny to check out this interactive Facebook application with heart disease risk calculators and other educational links.

Media Opportunities

Mayo Clinic cardiologists or others involved in the video are available for interviews during the week of January 30 in advance of Wear Red Day® and throughout Heart Month in February.

• For radio stations, a live call-in segment with a Mayo Clinic cardiologist could include audio from the song as bumper music. Download the full mp3. To schedule, call 507-284-5005 or contact us by email. And of course you could embed the video on your station’s Web site.
• For TV networks and stations, the video could be included in a roundup of funny and popular YouTube videos you might have as a regular feature in your morning shows. If you want to do a longer story, we can arrange satellite interviews, and you can download high-quality snippets from the song for broadcast use below (right-click and “Save as…” to download) Outtakes and other production footage also are available by request.
• Know Your Numbers chorus (25 seconds)
• Opening of song (37 seconds)
• Interactive Facebook application introduced (29 seconds)
• For print and online journalists and bloggers – Cardiologists are available for interviews, and embedding the video could make for an interesting multimedia story on practical application of social media to promote health.

To request an interview, call 507-284-5005 or contact us by email.

For more information on heart disease, see the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s National Wear Red Day® toolkit site and Go Red for Women.

Above, Dr. Rosebud Roberts, Mayo Clinic neurologist and epidemiologist, discusses the findings of research study about Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).  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

The study found MCI was more common in men. Her team is interested in finding who is most at risk for MCI. Since MCI is a risk factor for dementia, and large numbers of the baby boomer generation are reaching this age, physicians are looking prevent or reduce the risk of MCI, or the increased development of dementia will have a tremendous impact on the cost of health care in elderly persons.

A rolling laboratory some people have nicknamed the “Obesity Prevention Bus” is bringing fitness to the office.  

The University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic today revealed the first phase of a multi-step study designed to make increased activity part of our everyday lives.

The motor-home sized lab carries all the tools to measure body mass, fat content and fitness levels.   

A couple dozen Minneapolis office workers are the first volunteers to be studied to see if adding stand-up work stations can help make them happier and healthier.

In addition to weight and fitness levels… researchers are tracking changes in mood, appetite and stress.   

The study’s researchers say finding ways to make our workday less sedentary is becoming a matter of survival in light of the growing obesity epidemic and the economic pinch caused by soaring healthcare costs.

Journalists: click here for a suggested script.

Journalists: The following video and audio clips are available for download and use in your stories.

James Levine, M.D.:   MOV   MP3
Mayo Clinic

Steven Stovitz, M.D.:   MOV    MP3
University of Minnesota
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Neer Dutta:    MOV    MP3
University of Minnesota Study Coordinator

Mary Breitenstein:   MOV    MP3
Study Volunteer

Broll (unedited) of testing and study volunteers at work:   MOV

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.

Click here to see the entire release.

Journalists: The following video and audio clips with study co-author, Dr. Sherine Gabriel are available for download and use in your post-embargo stories.

Study Overview:   MOV   MP3

Study Findings:  MOV   MP3

Additional Findings:   MOV   MP3

What is RA:   MOV   MP3

Journalists:  For links to video and audio files, see the bottom of this post.

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.