Mayo-UW-Eau Claire partnership seeks to aid cancer treatment

Yahoo News, via The Leader-Telegram, 4/11/2021

The term "amazing" popped up repeatedly as UW-Eau Claire students described their collaborative laboratory research with Mayo Clinic Health System.

Four students who didn't know what kind of research they might get involved with as undergraduates now find themselves working on a project that eventually could improve cancer treatment for patients around the world.

Sigma Announces 2021 International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame Inductees

Sigma News Release, 4/2021

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) will induct 20 world-renowned nurse researchers into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame at Sigma’s 32nd International Nursing Research Congress in July 2021. During the event, these 20 individuals—representing Australia, Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—will be presented with the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame award and participate in a conversation with Sigma’s president. …

Linda L. Chlan, PhD, RN, ATSF, FAAN
Associate Dean for Nursing Research
Consultant, Professor of Nursing
Division of Nursing Research, Department of Nursing, Mayo Clinic – Rochester, Minnesota, USA

NOTE: Read more about Dr. Chlan and Mayo Clinic's Nursing Research Program.

Obesity May Help Trigger Heavier Periods: Study

U.S. News & World Report, 4/9/2021

Obese women can be more likely to have heavy monthly periods, and now new research hints at why. …

Dr. Michael Jensen, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was skeptical about the new findings.

"Women, as they get heavier, are more prone to heavy periods, but the mouse model is hard to link back to women," Jensen noted. Weight loss may help reduce blood loss during menstruation, but more research is needed to fully understand why and how obesity affects menstruation in overweight or obese women, he said.

NOTE: Read more about Dr. Jensen and his research on the health effects of obesity and fat distribution.

Clinical Trials in COVID Era: How To Keep Moving Forward

ALZForum, 4/7/2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched every aspect of health, from neurologic disease broadly (see Part 1 of this story) to clinical research. At the 15th International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases, held virtually March 9–14, clinical investigators talked about how they tried to prevail despite interruptions and preserve their trials. Looking to the future, how they will handle people who had COVID-19, or develop it during a trial, remains unclear.

"Many more questions were raised than answered," Ronald Petersen, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, told Alzforum. One thing is certain—the research community will feel the effects of trial delays for a long time. …

How do Medical Organizations Use Additive Manufacturing?

Machine Design, 4/7/2021

…  MD&M BIOMEDigital Conference panel on applications of 3D printing in medtech. The panel, sponsored by Formlabs, Trelleborg and Protolabs, was composed of three individuals with extensive experience in healthcare:

• Beth Ripley, M.D., Ph.D., director, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) 3D printing network at VA Health Care Systems
• Sean McEligot, section head of medical device research and development at Mayo Clinic
• John Foody, manufacturing engineer at Corvia Medical

Squelching ApoE in Astrocytes of Tau-Ravaged Mice Dampens Degeneration

ALZForum, 4/10/2021

Almost 30 years after ApoE was pegged as an Alzheimer’s risk gene, researchers are still investigating fundamental questions about how the apolipoprotein sways neurodegenerative disease processes. For one, which cell type is responsible for producing forms of the protein that beckon neurodegeneration? On April 7 in Neuron, researchers pinned some of the blame on astrocytes, which release the lion’s share of ApoE in the brain. Led by David Holtzman and Jason Ulrich at Washington University in St. Louis, the study found that in human ApoE knock-in mice, silencing astrocyte ApoE4, but not ApoE3, assuaged neurodegeneration instigated by tau pathology. …

“The paper highlights how the apolipoprotein, when produced in astrocytes, can exert effects in multiple cell types known to participate in pathogenic pathways of AD,” said Guojun Bu of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. It also reiterates the potential gain of toxic function conferred on ApoE4 relative to ApoE3, he said. Bu, Holtzman, and other investigators agreed that the study supports the idea of dampening ApoE4 expression as a therapeutic strategy (Feb 2021 news). 

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