Week in Review: September 9

The Week in Review provides an overview of the past week’s top health care content, including industry news and trends, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Laboratories news, and upcoming events.


Industry News

Jane Fonda announces she’s been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Jane Fonda has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has begun chemotherapy treatment, the legendary actress and activist said in post shared on her verified social media account. “This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky,” she wrote. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system. Fonda said she will be doing chemotherapy for six months and that she is “handling the treatments quite well,” adding “and, believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism.” Source: CNN

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A news anchor slurred her words on-air. It was the ‘beginnings of a stroke.’

Tulsa anchor Julie Chin was in the middle of a live broadcast on Saturday morning when she said she suddenly lost partial vision in one eye. Then one of her arms started to feel numb. And, when it was her turn to speak, the right words did not come. To viewers, the KJRH anchor stumbled over her words and appeared confused as she tried to announce a local event connected to a now-delayed NASA rocket launch to the moon. “I’m sorry,” she said, smiling into the camera. “Something is going on with me this morning, and I apologize to everybody.” She had the cameras cut away from her and to a meteorologist. The next day, Chin said in a Facebook post that doctors believe she had experienced the “beginnings of a stroke.” Source: Washington Post

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Scientists discovered an antibody that can take out all COVID-19 variants

COVID-19 vaccines have been effective at keeping people from getting severely ill and dying from the virus, but they’ve required different boosters to try to keep on top of all of the coronavirus variants that have popped up. Now, researchers have discovered an antibody that neutralizes all known COVID-19 variants. The antibody, called SP1-77, is the result of a collaborative effort from researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and Duke University. Results from mouse studies they’ve conducted were recently published in the journal Science Immunology, and they look promising. But what does it mean, exactly, to have an antibody that can neutralize all variants of COVID-19, and what kind of impact will this have on vaccines in the future? Here’s what you need to know… Source: Prevention

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Mayo Clinic News

Five ways you’ll exercise smarter in the future

Neuromuscular-control exercises use movements to train the brain to fire the correct muscles and recruit more muscle fibers to oppose resistance in a coordinated fashion—be it from a defensive linebacker in a football game or a neighbor’s dog running into you. Now mainly used to rehab pro athletes with injuries, neuromuscular training is likely to become a complement to strength and cardio workouts for aging baby boomers, says Andrew Jagim, director of sports-medicine research at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wis. This coming wave of seniors is particularly suited for such training, he says. Many have previous injuries, multiple areas of muscle weakness or lack adequate mobility, he notes. “Targeted neuromuscular training can help them re-establish some of these temporary losses in motor control, the ability to properly activate a muscle group, or to help improve a weak muscle group.” Source: Wall Street Journal

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Mayo launches accelerator dedicated to gene and cell therapies

Mayo Clinic is teaming up with a Maryland-based venture capital firm and a Chinese biopharmaceutical firm to help launch new companies focused on gene and cell therapies. On Wednesday, Mayo announced that it’s launching a new accelerator called Mayflower BioVentures in partnership with Rockville, Maryland-based VC firm Hibiscus BioVentures and China-based Innoforce. Mayo leaders said the venture is aimed at “identifying and forming companies around technologies that address unmet patient needs.” In an email, Mayo Clinics Ventures chair Andrew Danielsen estimated that the accelerator will give birth to about one to three new companies a year. “We have created one thus far (Sendero) and have two others that are getting close (Primera and InvoCAR),” he said. Source: Twin Cities Business

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Neurology residents provide care to underserved areas

When she first joined Mayo Clinic as a neurology resident in 2009, Cumara O'Carroll, MD, MPH, FAAN, had a simple idea: She wanted to match the world-class training she would receive at Mayo Clinic with the real-world experience of people living in Phoenix. The program, which places neurology residents in clinics that primarily serve people who are uninsured, is now an integrated part of the neurology residency curriculum. Nikita Chhabra, DO, a third-year neurology resident at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, who plans to pursue a career in stroke neurology, said she will never discharge a patient with a simple “follow-up with neurology in six months.” “If you don't take into consideration that patient's insurance status, that patient's access to care, the barriers to health care that exist for that specific patient, the patient may never end up with a follow-up in neurology,” Dr. Chhabra said. Source: Neurology Today

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Samantha Rossi

Samantha Rossi is a Digital Marketing Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She supports marketing strategies for product management and specialty testing. Samantha has worked at Mayo Clinic since 2019.