First multi-PI combined training program between CWRU and Cleveland Clinic headed by Fabio Cominelli

Beginning in July, the first multiple-principal investigator combined training program between Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic will be initiated by Fabio Cominelli MD, PhD, the Hermann Menges, Jr. Chair in Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine, and Claudio Fiocchi MD¸ Clifford and Jane Anthony Chair for Digestive Disease Research and Education, Lerner Research Institute at Cleveland Clinic.

The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases provided the new joint effort with a five-year grant worth nearly $1M. The funding supports post-doctoral fellows in obtaining digestive disease science training for a period of three years; for physicians this will be in conjunction with their clinical training in gastroenterology.

This training program is unique in that it follows the city-based program model of the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC). Trainees will come to Cleveland with the option to train either at the Lerner Research Institute or the School of Medicine, and they will have the ability to choose among 20 mentors whose laboratories are supported by more than $20 million per year in National Institutes of Health funding.

Susan Redline discusses Sleep Apnea Increases Stroke Risk with WebMD

Moderate to Severe Sleep Apnea Triples Stroke Risk in Men, Study Finds

WebMD | April 8, 2010

Obstructive sleep apnea more than doubles the risk of stroke in men and also increases the danger in women, new research indicates.

The finding comes from a major study of 5,422 people aged 40 and older who had no history of stroke. Researchers say increased risk of stroke appeared in men with mild sleep apnea and rose with severity.

Men with moderate to severe sleep apnea were about three times more likely to have a stroke than men with mild or no sleep apnea, researchers say.

The increased risk of stroke in women with obstructive sleep apnea was significant only in cases of severe apnea, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Stroke
Data were taken from the Sleep Heart Health Study, which is ongoing at a number of locations. The participants in the beginning performed a standard at-home sleep test to determine whether they had sleep apnea, and if so, its severity.

They were followed for about nine years, and during that time, 193 suffered strokes — 85 men out of 2,462 enrolled and 108 women out of 2,960.

“Although more women had strokes, relatively more men with sleep apnea than without sleep apnea had strokes, and less so in women,” study author Susan Redline, MD, MPH, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, tells WebMD in an email. “I think that the relatively greater impact of sleep apnea on risk of stroke in men relates to the likely longer duration of sleep apnea in men than women.”

Researchers say more than 15 million strokes occur worldwide every year, and that about a third are fatal. Increased risk of stroke in people with sleep apnea exists even without other risk factors, such as weight, high blood pressure, race, diabetes, and smoking.

Men may be more at risk because they develop sleep apnea at younger ages, the researchers say, and thus go untreated for longer periods.

Learn more at CWRUmedicine.org

CWRUmedicine and UH develops New Drugs to improve oxygen delivery to tissues

Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals are pleased to announce the awarding of a $4.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to Dr. Jonathan Stamler, Director of the Institute for Transformative Molecular Medicine (ITMM).

The grant will fund development of a new class of drugs that selectively vasodilate under hypoxia and thereby enhance performance at high altitude (e.g. soldiers on mountains in Afganistan).

It is also anticipated that the grant will generate new physiologic information on high-altitude adaptation and new therapeutic interventions to treat patients suffering from conditions where oxygen delivery is impaired, including heart failure, ischemic heart disease, stroke, sickle cell disease and diabetes.

Studies will involve a transdisciplinary approach, including the Department of Anesthesia (James Reynolds) the division of Pulmonary Medicine (Kingman Stroh), and the Harrington-McLaughlin Cardiovascular Institute (Sahil Parikh).

Learn more at CWRUmedicine.org

New Research from the Division of Infectious Disease on Beta-Lactamases

Penicillin sulfone inhibitors of class D beta-lactamases
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2010 Apr

Drawz SM, Bethel CR, Doppalapudi VR,Hujer AM, Skalweit MJ, Anderson VE, Chen SG, Buynak JD, Bonomo RA.
Departments of Pathology, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland

Armand Krikorian, MD publishes “Comparisons of Different Insulin Infusion Protocols”

“Comparisons of different insulin infusion protocols: a review of recent literature”

Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2010 March
Krikorian A, Ismail-Beigi F, Moghissi ES.

Division of Clinical & Molecular Endocrinology
Case Western Reserve University
University Hospitals, Cleveland

Read the abstract at CWRUmedicine.org

Journal of Lipid Research publish Dr Charles Hoppels recent work on the inner mitochondrial membrane

“Separation and characterization of cardiolipin molecular species by reverse-phase ion pair high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry”

J Lipid Res. 2010 Apr
Minkler PE, Hoppel CL.

Center for Mitochondrial Diseases, Division of Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Case Medical Center, University Hospitals, Cleveland

Read the full abstract on CWRUmedicine.org

Message from Richard A. Walsh, MD

We have over 250 full time faculty, 120 medical housestaff, 80 fellows and 400 support staff working at the CWRU School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and the Cleveland VA Medical Center Wade Park Campus.

We are proud of our premier, extramurally funded research programs, our delivery of high-quality, cost-effective patient care at University Hospitals (ranked as a Top Ten Health Care System by Thompson Reuters) and our VA Hospital (ranked first in the entire VA system for Health Care Delivery Measures).

We are also deeply committed to medical student, graduate student and post graduate training.

Our faculty, trainees and staff are committed to the highest standard of excellence in all of our activities in a collegial, integrated and interactive work environment.

We invite you to navigate our website to learn more about who we are and what we do. Visit us at CWRUmedicine.org
If we can be of help, please contact us.

Richard A. Walsh, MD

Chair, Department of Medicine

Which social tool do you use?

It doesn’t take much effort to see the impact social media is having on almost every avenue of our lives, both professionally and personally. Tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, just to name a few, are changing the way and frequency in which we communicate. It should be no surprise, then, that even Healthcare would find itself impacted by the influence and immediacy that social media provides.

We value your opinion and want to know what tools you use to stay up with the latest news and information. Give us your thoughts. Take our poll on social media in healthcare, and let us know what tool(s) you use.

Take the Poll and see results at CWRUmedicine.org

Cleveland ranked 16 on Real Simple’s Top Time-Saving Cities in America List

The report, in the magazine’s April issue, highlighted urban areas across the nation that offer convenient, timesaving services to residents.

To learn more and review Clevelands scorecard visit us at CWRUmedicine.org

The Survey
Takeout on every corner. Easy access to a doctor. Timed traffic lights. These conveniences can ease even the most chaotic days. To assess which places help you make the most of your precious hours, we sorted through reams of data on dozens of large American cities, ranked each on various criteria in five categories (see below) on a scale of 1 to 5, and added up those categories to get an overall score.

Category 1 :: Getting Around
Includes average commute, walkability, traffic congestion, airport on-time performance.

Category 2 :: Health and Safety
Includes average wait to get a doctor’s appointment, physicians per capita, response times of emergency medical services.

Category 3 :: Information and Technology
Includes broadband and wireless availability, bookstores and libraries per capita, helpful resources such as 311 hotlines.

Category 4 :: Green Time-Savers
Includes recycling access and cost, number of farmers’ markets and community gardens, bike friendliness.

Category 5 :: Lifestyle
Includes number of personal trainers and organizers, restaurants offering takeout per capita, miscellaneous time-saving services.

Learn more at CWRUmedicine.org

New Research Published on Antibiotic resistance determinants in Acinetobacter spp

We explored the association of antibiotic-resistant phenotypes and genotypes in Acinetobacter spp with clinical outcomes and characteristics in 75 patients from a major military treatment facility. Amikacin resistance was associated with nosocomial acquisition of A baumannii, and carbapenem resistance and bla(OXA-23) were associated with the need for mechanical ventilation. The presence of bla(OXA-23) also correlated with longer hospital and ICU stay. Associations between bla(OXA-23) and complexity, duration, and changes made to antibiotic regimens also existed. Copyright 2010.

Learn more at CWRUmedicine.org