EverydayHealth

This week’s Research Roundup highlights Mayo Clinic researchers who conducted a study to characterize the clinical, pathologic, and survival implications of non-V600 BRAF mutations in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Justin Kreuter, M.D., Clinical Pathologist and Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Center in Rochester, Minnesota, and Theresa Malin, an Education Specialist in Transfusion Medicine at Mayo Clinic, have launched "Transfusion Toons" as an innovative approach to teaching and learning transfusion medicine. View this post to see the new toon.

In the war against microbes, human beings are vastly outnumbered—and losing the weapons race.

Last year, BMJ published an article challenging what has been considered an indisputable truth for 40 years: When it comes to heart health, vegetable fats beat animal fats. But new analysis of old data points to a different (and delicious) truth. Robert Frantz, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, is one of the authors of the BMJ article. He's also the link between the original research and the new analysis. His father, Ivan Frantz, M.D., spearheaded a major arm of the study that supported the earlier belief. For the younger Dr. Frantz, the paper was both a professional and personal exercise.

Ultimately, a pathologist has to commit to a diagnosis. Many trainees have difficulty committing to a diagnosis for fear of being wrong. Gary Keeney, M.D., Consultant in the Division of Anatomic Pathology at Mayo Clinic, provides a unique teaching approach with his cases, detailing the ancillary studies and discussing the differential diagnosis of the cases. View case #2.

Francesca Scala, a student in Mayo Clinic’s Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) class of 2018, talks about the importance of team bonding in the MLS program.

On the Sept. 2 broadcast of Mayo Clinic Radio, co-hosts Tracy McCray and Tom Shives, M.D., spoke with Justin Kreuter, M.D., Medical Director of Mayo’s Blood Donor Program, about new eligibility guidelines for blood donors with previous cancer diagnoses.

As published in the summer issue of Minnesota Physician, Kevin Halling, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the Genomics Laboratory, recently participated in the 47th session of the Minnesota Health Care Roundtable. The topic was, “Precision Medicine: A New Approach to Care.”

Nikola Baumann, Ph.D., Director of the Central Clinical Laboratory and Central Processing Laboratory, and Brooke Katzman, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Hospital Clinical Laboratory and Point of Care, at Mayo Clinic, recently discussed biotin interference in immunoassays in an article in 360Dx.

As the saying often goes, “It’s the small things that matter the most.” Jeremy Zacher, Education Specialist in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, discusses "microlearning" as a way of delivering learning content in bite-sized snippets that are easily accessed when the learner needs it.

Devin Oglesbee, Ph.D., Director of the Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Laboratories at Mayo Clinic, provides an overview of the lysosomal storage disease panel, when it is appropriate to order this test, what actions the results allow you to take, and how this test improves upon previous approaches.

Jane Hermansen, Network Manager at Mayo Medical Laboratories, and current President of CLMA, recently participated in an interview featured in "Medical Laboratory Observer" about empowering laboratory leaders to achieve excellence.

When you have a physical exam, often you'll get a routine blood test. By measuring components in your blood, the test may reveal issues that need further evaluation. Rajiv Pruthi, M.B.B.S., a Mayo Clinic hematologist, explains what health care providers look for in their patients' blood.