Pulse on Health by Jeff Hansel

Find a vet center...

The Veterans Administration has a resource to help veterans find the nearest vet center to them.

Connect with a map online at http://www.vetcenter.va.gov/index.asp. Or, you can call 1-866-496-8838 during normal business hours.

"Vet Centers understand and appreciate Veterans' war experiences while assisting them and their family members toward a successful post-war adjustment in their community," says the Vet Center Web site.

You can get help with individual and group counseling, marital and family counseling, bereavement counseling, medical and benefits referral, employment assessment and counseling, military sexual trauma counseling and referral, education, substance abuse assessment and referral, along with screening and referral for medical issues like traumatic brain injury and depression, the site says.

How do you know if you qualify?

"If you, or a family member, served in any combat zone and received a military campaign ribbon (Vietnam, Southwest Asia, OEF, OIF, etc.) you are eligible for Vet Center services," the Vet Center website says. 

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

A message for veterans...

If you're a veteran, on this Memorial Day, you might want to check out this YouTube video, produced by a veteran.

 "Life after deployment isn't always so easy...," the video starts. The "actors" are actual veterans of service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you're dealing with things like struggling with focus, your job, your marriage, your kids, drinking too much, stop at your local veteran center. 

Rochester, Minnesota has a new CBOC (Community-based Outpatient Clinic).

Address: 3900 55th Street N.W.  

It's across 55th from the north Wal-Mart at 39th (and a little to the west of Wal-Mart) in a bank building. 

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Prostate surgery better than drugs...?

Mayo Clinic researchers say a 17-year community study of more than 2,000 men with enlarged prostates shows that "surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) offers more relief from incontinence and obstruction symptoms than treatment from drug-based therapy."

According to an announcement from Mayo:

• Urinary incontinence was a common condition, coexisting with BPH/lower urinary tract symptoms.
• In the community setting, patients with the highest symptom scores were most likely to receive surgical intervention.
• Symptoms stabilized and did not get worse after treatment of all kinds.
• Patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) had the greatest decrease in both symptoms and incontinence compared to other treatment groups. Pre-TURP the incontinence rate was 64.5 percent and post-TURP it was 41.9 percent.

The lead study investigator was Dr. Amy Krambeck, a Mayo urologist.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

A Minnesota vs Wisconsin biotech war...?

Milwaukee Magazine's "News Buzz" carried an article this week saying the Minnesota Legislature has "thrown down the gauntlet" to begin a challenge to Wisconsin's biotech efforts by passing and angel tax credit designed to help biotech startups (and for that matter other startups).

"Even without its new tax credit, Minnesota surpasses Wisconsin in many ways in the biotech field. In particular, it’s a national leader in the development of medical and surgical equipment, the sector that dominates its biotech industry. A recent analysis by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named Minnesota one of three leaders in the field along with California and Massachusetts (pretty lofty company in the biotech world)," writes Matt Hrodey.

I can tell you from my experience in Chicago at the BIO 2010 conference that people who stopped at the Minnesota Pavilion were highly interested in the Minnesota angel investor tax credit. It drew a lot of attention and interest.

"The biotech industry has helped to soften the economic downturn for both Wisconsin and Minnesota," Hrodey writes.

While in Chicago, I heard several conversations focus on the concept of collaborative work between Minnesota, Wisconsin and others, rather than combat. The same is true within the state. In the old days, Mayo Clinic openly competed with the University of Minnesota. Now, the two collaborate through the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics.

Likewise, Minnesota regions that might have in the past competed instead now refer companies to the state region best suited to the company's needs because what benefits one Minnesota community has a ripple effect and benefits other areas of the state, according to multiple sources I've spoken with in recent weeks.

Hrodey acknowledges this in his article. 

"In 2008, almost twice as many people were employed in Minnesota’s biotech industry (40,165) as in Wisconsin’s (24,694). Minnesota also leads in the number of Biotech patents issued to its companies and researchers since 2004: 4,608 versus Wisconsin’s 2,187," Hrodey writes.

I note, too, that my colleague Jeff Kiger has reported that Rochester is one of the most-inventive cities in the country, with more patents issued per capita than metropolitan cities like Chicago.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Mayo Clinic announces"aggressive lymphoma" treatment...

Researchers at Mayo Clinic say they have identified a treatment for "aggressive lymphoma" working with scientific colleagues across the globe. 

A total of 24 medical center in the U.S. and Canada participated in the study.

"Forty-five percent of patients with transformed lymphoma treated with lenalidomide responded positively to this immunomodulatory medication, which kills lymphoma cells by activating the body's natural killer cells and by interrupting cancer cell signaling that leads to cell death. Of those patients, 21 percent showed complete remission, some for more than a year," says an announcement from Mayo.

According to Mayo, "Transformed lymphoma is an aggressive form of blood cancer. With current therapies, patients have a median survival rate of 1.7 years."

Patients who took lenalidomide had a positive effect from the drug for a median time of "nearly 13 months." The primary investigator at Mayo was Dr. Craig Reeder, a hematologist at the clinic's Arizona campus.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Gold Cross serves WWII veterans...

Gold Cross Ambulance Service, part of Mayo Clinic Medical Transport, has served its 500th World War II veteran as part of the "Honor Flight" program that takes vets to Washington, D.C.

They get to see the World War II memorial, which is situated between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

[Washington Monument. Copyright.] 

"Gold Cross began participating with the Honor Flight program in 2008 in an effort to help World War II veterans visit the memorial erected in their honor. Gold Cross provides three paramedics for each flight which originates in Rochester. This paramedic coverage is provided at no charge to either the veterans or Honor Flight. Typically, 80 to 90 WWII veterans are aboard each trip. Gold Cross paramedics completed their two most recent trips with the veterans this May," says an announcement from Mayo.

Gold Cross chief operating officer Paul Anderson is quoted in the announcement as saying, "the staff we select are military veterans — either retired or actively serving while they are employed by." Thus, they have a particular bond with the veterans they accompany. Eighteen Gold Cross staff have served in a medical escort role so far.

Three flights each year now originate here in Rochester, Minnesota.  

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

"Fraud claim" + Mayo Clinic = journal retractions...

If you didn't get a chance to read Wednesday's print edition of the Post-Bulletin, you ought to check it out. 

My colleague Jeff Kiger, of Kiger's Notebook fame, has an intriguing piece about "accusations of scientific fraud by a researcher" at Mayo Clinic.

"Mayo Clinic launched an investigation of research by Suresh Radhakrishnan into a possible cancer-fighting antibody this year after he was accused of tampering with other scientists' attempts to duplicate his results."

As a result of what happened with Radhakrishnan in the laboratory of Dr. Larry Pease, Mayo retracted scientific journal articles "from almost eight years of research."

The journal PLoS ONE includes this retraction:

"An investigation by the Mayo Clinic has determined that one of the researchers in Professor Pease's laboratory at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Suresh Radhakrishnan, tampered with another investigator's experiment with the intent to mislead toward the conclusion that the B7-DCXAb reagent has cell activating properties. Using blinded protocols, experiments were done to see if the results based on this reagent could be replicated. Specifically, the repeat experiments examined the activation of dendritic cells, activation of cytotoxic T cells, induction of tumor immunity, modulation of allergic responses, breaking tolerance in the RIP-OVA diabetes model, and the reprogramming of Th2 and T regulatory cells. In no case did these repeat studies reveal any evidence that the B7-DCXAb reagent had the previously reported activity. The authors of this paper therefore wish to retract this paper because of the inability to reproduce key aspects of the studies and hence the results in them cannot be considered reliable."

The story appears to have been broken by Drug Monkey.

In a post attributed to him on that site are the words, "I would like to restate my innocence with regard to the alleged claim. I would not have nor will I carry out an act that will cause irreversible damage to the pride and prestige of the following people and Institutions: A: My SON B: Dr. PEASE. C: Pease laboratory Members. D: the Mayo Clinic. E: The United States including NIH. F: My mother land, India G: MY FATHER H: my family members. I: My teachers."

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Mayo Clinic and the social media summit...

Mayo Clinic plans its second "Social Media Summit" coming up on its campus in Jacksonville, Florida, an announcement from the clinic says.

Dates: September 27 through 29, 2010.

Featured price: $895 

Presenters will come from:

• Children's Hospital of Boston

• Medline

• Ohio State University Medical Center

• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center

• The American Red Cross

• University of Maryland Medical System

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 "SOCIAL MEDIA IS EXPLODING IN HEALTH CARE COMMUNICATIONS! You know Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogging and other social media channels have changed forever how health care companies talk to patients, employees and stakeholders. That's why we invite you and your colleagues to attend the Ragan-Mayo national summit on health care social media at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.," says Mayo's partner, Ragan Communications, in an online description.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

A million Minnesotans with pre-existing ills...

Families USA (which calls itself a non-profit advocacy organization for consumers of health care) has announced a review of pre-existing conditions by state.

"When fully implemented, the new health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will eliminate potential barriers to health coverage for more than 1 million Minnesotans by requiring insurance companies to sell them health coverage—and coverage without discriminatory premiums—despite the fact that those Minnesotans have a pre-existing health condition," the organization says in an announcement.

It notes:

• Every age group in Minnesota is affected by potential denial of coverage and it gets worse as a person ages.

• Minnesotans of every income level are affected, but most-affected are those in the middle-class and higher income.

• "Every racial and ethnic group" is affected.

Proponents of the new health law have openly chastised insurance companies which deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other ailments. That practice has been banned in the new law, meaning you can no longer be denied a policy just because you've been diagnosed previously with breast cancer or another ailment.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

"Definitive" link: Indoor tanning and melanoma...

University of Minnesota researchers say they have "definitely" linked indoor tanning to skin cancer known as melanoma.

According to MayoClinic.com, "Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, develops in the cells that produce melanin — the pigment that gives your skin its color…The exact cause of all melanomas isn't clear, but exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight or tanning lamps and beds greatly increases your risk of developing melanoma."

The U of M School of Public Health and Masonic Cancer Center say:

"People who use any type of tanning bed for any amount of time are 74 percent more likely to develop melanoma, and; frequent users of indoor tanning beds are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to develop melanoma than those who never use tanning devices. The study defines frequent uses as people who used indoor tanning for 50 plus hours, more than 100 sessions, or for 10-plus years. This increased risk applies similarly to all ages and genders," the U of M says in an announcement.

A research team led by epidemiologist DeAnn Lazovich published its results in the scientific journal of the American Association for Cancer Research called "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention."

A total of 2,268 Minnesotans were studied.

"1,167 people diagnosed with melanoma and 1,101 people (control group) without melanoma. 62.9% of group with melanoma and 51.1% of control group had tanned indoors," the announcement says.

According to Mayo, melanoma can be treated successfully if caught early, so it's important to know the warning signs: A change in an existing mole or the development of a new, unusual-looking growth on your skin.

Pulse on Health

By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists

Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 

Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel