Ohio State Joins National Recruitment Registry

The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) is one of 51 participants in the first national, disease-neutral, volunteer recruitment registry, ResearchMatch.org. Central Ohioans wishing to participate in research studies can now connect via the not-for-profit Web site with researchers from across the country.

ResearchMatch is the product of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Consortium, which is led by the National Center for Research Resources, a part of the National Institutes of Health.  The CTSA is a national network of medical research institutions working together to improve the way biomedical research is conducted. 

The CCTS was created by the Ohio State University Board of Trustees in 2006. Through a collaborative partnership between Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Center was established in 2008 with a $34 million NIH CTSA Award. The goal of the CCTS is to speed the translation of new scientific discoveries to enhance patient outcomes.

image credit: ResearchMatch

“We are excited to participate in the ResearchMatch initiative,” says Dr. Rebecca Jackson, professor of internal medicine, associate dean for clinical research and principal investigator for Ohio State’s CCTS. “ResearchMatch creates a free network to easily, conveniently and securely connect interested volunteers with researchers locally, regionally and nationally.”

ResearchMatch will ‘match’ any interested individual residing in the United States with researchers who are approved to recruit potential volunteers through the system. After an individual has self-registered to become a volunteer, ResearchMatch’s security features ensure that personal information is protected until volunteers authorize the release of their contact information to a specific study that may be of interest to them. Volunteers are simply notified electronically that they are a possible match and then make the decision regarding the release of their contact information.

“Study volunteers make a profound gift to science by working collaboratively with researchers to improve public health, and many of us have been helped by the results of a research study,” adds Rose Hallarn, clinical trial recruitment program director at Ohio State’s CCTS and institutional liaison for ResearchMatch. “Through our participation, we are connecting potential study volunteers with researchers to make a difference in the future of medicine.”

To learn more about Ohio State’s ResearchMatch participation, visit www.ccts.osu.edu or contact the CCTS at (614) 293-4198. To learn more about the national effort, visit www.ResearchMatch.org.

OSU Medical Center Needs Your Help Sharing Heart Attack Video with 105,000 This November

Our STEMI program wants people to be aware of the warning signs of a heart attack, so they’ve created a special video describing the symptoms of a heart attack. The goal is to have 105,000 people watch the video before the end of November, but we need your help to reach the goal.

Help spread the word! Post one, or all, of the following tweets to your Twitter feed. Feel free to use them throughout the day today, one each day or one each week. When you tweet, be sure to include the hashtag (#KnowTheSigns) in the tweet so we can track our progress.

- Tweet it:

105,000 people have a heart attack each month – enough to fill Ohio Stadium. #KnowTheSigns:  http://twurl.nl/wm1tsc

#KnowTheSigns of a heart attack & share them w/ family & friends: http://twurl.nl/wm1tsc

Help me to teach 105,000 of our closest friends to #knowthesigns. http://twurl.nl/wm1tsc Please RT

- E-mail it: Share this video link via e-mail with family, friends and loved ones. Help spread the word about warning signs of a heart attack. http://twurl.nl/wm1tsc

- Post it on Facebook: Post this update on your Facebook account to help others learn the warning signs: 105,000 people have a heart attack each month–that’s enough to fill Ohio Stadium. Please share this video http://twurl.nl/wm1tsc with your family and friends, and join The Ohio State University Medical Center in its effort to reach 105,000 people with this important message.

Research Proving Path of Easiest Recovery for Cancer Patients

In its October 2009 issue, Columbus C.E.O. magazine is highlighting the work of researchers at The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center–James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute as they compare the use of robotic and laparoscopic surgery to treat uterine cancer. The research has showed that patients who have minimally invasive, robotic-assisted hysterectomies tend to have quicker surgeries and shorter hospital stays than patients who have laparoscopic procedures. The study was published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology.

You can find more information here.

Clean Hands

Companies like Ohio-based Gojo Industries who invented Purell, are experiencing high demand for their  best-selling hand sanitizer. Concerns of influenza and other illness are making the public more aware of the benefits of proper hand hygiene in the home and workplace.

 Here are a few tips to keep your hands clean during flu season:

• Wash hands with soap or water at a comfortable temperature for at least 15 to 20 seconds.
• Dry hands with a paper towel and use the towel to turn off the fauce.
• Although antibacterial soaps are widely advertised, they are not necessary to remove germs.
• Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to quickly and conveniently kill microorganisms on the hands if they are not visibly dirty.
• Hand sanitizers are generally less irritating to the skin and contain skin conditioners making it less likely your hands will become dry and chapped.
• Check to make sure the concentration of ethanol alcohol or isopropanol of your hand santizer is between 60 and 90 percent.

David Taylor, infection preventionist at The Ohio State University Medical Center, says, “Cleaning hands especially after sneezing or using the bathroom, and after touching things such as public phones, elevator buttons and doorknobs, allows us to get rid of germs we pick up doing everyday things and keeps us from spreading them. The most common mode of transmission of pathogens is via hands.”

Read more about hand washing and hand sanitizers.

Research Means Hope Today and Every Day

National Medical Research Day is today, October 21, 2009.  Ohio State Medical Center will gather to honor researchers between 4 pm and 6 pm today.  We’ll post pictures and video from patients who are being cured by research funded by the NIH and talk to researchers in the trenches trying to answer questions about cancer, heart health, autism and others.

Please share your story about how research has touched your life by adding comments below.

If you are interested in learning more about how to get involved in advocacy for research, New Voices for Research is a great place to start.

Release from Research Means Hope:

Leaders from the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals, scientific community, universities, patient community and industry organizations gathered today in honor of “National Medical Research Day” to thank the Obama Administration, Congress, and American taxpayers for the medical research funding included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and to urge approval of significant, annual budget increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to sustain the momentum created by these funds.

“Medical research is the road to recovery, both for our nation’s physical as well as fiscal health,” said Edward Miller, M.D., dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins University and chair of the ResearchMeansHope.org campaign, the sponsor of today’s press conference. “The nation’s medical research community is extremely grateful for this unprecedented infusion of funds for NIH research, which will not only create jobs, but will, over time, improve and even save lives.”

ResearchMeansHope.org is a campaign to raise public awareness of the critical need for sustained growth in federal funding for medical research.  This effort is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the Johns Hopkins University, and more than 40 other organizations.

In addition to thanking the Administration and Congress for the Recovery Act funding, participants at today’s press conference also called on the president to fulfill his promise of making medical research a key pillar of the nation’s long-term economic growth strategy as the administration prepares its budget priorities for 2011.

The Recovery Act includes $10.4 billion in funding for NIH.  To date, more than $4 billion has been awarded, generating nearly 13,000 new grants to support the full continuum of medical research.  According to White House estimates, this funding will create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two years.

“This is a huge boost for the research community, for investigators at all stages of their careers,” said Judith S. Bond, Ph.D., M.S., Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. “After six years of virtually flat NIH funding, these funds will allow the research community to explore important, innovative new ideas.”

“Every American suffering from disease understands that research means hope on a very basic level,” says Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). “We are proud to join with Research Means Hope coalition and applaud President Obama and Congress’ efforts to increase NIH research funding while urging that even more be done.  Combined, the medical research supported by the NIH, medical schools and its affiliates, as well as research laboratories of pharmaceutical and biotech companies across America hold real promise in the search for new treatments and even more cures for diseases that patients throughout the world hope for.”

NIH-funded research has helped millions of Americans lead longer, healthier lives.  For example, over the past 30 years there has been a 50 percent decline in deaths from heart disease and a 60 percent decline in deaths from stroke.  NIH-funded advances have led to a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, improved treatments for asthma and near-elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission.  This and other research offers hope for those facing serious diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, and Parkinson’s. NIH funding also supports the nation’s economic health by creating skilled jobs and new products that lead to long-term economic growth.

Patients speaking at the conference underscored the benefits of NIH research. Twelve-year old Chloe Lamprecht, a volunteer with the American Diabetes Association, JDRF and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in November 2004.  In recent years, diabetes research has led to a number of advances including development of quick-acting and long-acting insulins and an external insulin pump to replace daily injections.

“Living with Type 1 Diabetes is very challenging.  I never get a day off from the disease,” said Chloe.  “My hope is for a cure, but until a cure is found I hope that researchers will find better ways to help me manage my diabetes.”

Olivia Grace Jones was diagnosed at six months with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.  Today she is an energetic five year old with a new heart thanks to advances in surgery, transplant technologies, medical equipment progress and advances in pharmaceuticals.  She and her parents Schonay Barnett-Jones and Kevin Jones, are volunteers for the American Heart Association

“My family understands the wonderful benefits that are gained from medical research.  Twenty years ago Olivia’s outcome could have been very different,” said Barnett-Jones.  “But, today because of advances in pediatric cardiac research specifically, our little girl is growing and thriving and dreaming of being a zoo keeper.  What more could any parent ask for?”

For more information on ResarchMeansHope.org and the many benefits of NIH-supported research, visit www.ResearchMeansHope.org.  To become a friend of the campaign, on Facebook, visit http://facebook.com/pages/Research-Means-Hope/83176136398. To follow the effort on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/researchhope.

Know The Signs Of A Heart Attack Before It Hits

According to the American Heart Association, heart attacks are responsible for about one in five deaths each year. That’s more than 450,000 people. 

You can help reduce these statistics by learning the symptoms of a heart attack and calling 9-1-1 immediately.

Heart attacks can be sudden and intense or start with vague discomfort and pain. Learning the symptoms can help you catch a heart attack early and seek help as soon as possible. 

If you or anyone you know experience these symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately:

• Chest discomfort, sometimes described as pressure, fullness or squeezing, that lasts more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. 
• Uncomfortable feelings in other parts of the upper body, such as pain in one or both arms, the neck, back, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath.
• Cold sweats, nausea or lightheadedness.

Calling 9-1-1 is the fastest way to get treatment. EMS can start treatment as soon as they arrive on the scene, driving yourself to the hospital can delay this important first step of care.

Read more about what puts you at risk for heart attacks.

Leaders in Heart Attack Care
New technology and a close collaboration with emergency medical service providers is drastically reducing the amount of time it takes for heart attack patients to receive life-saving treatment at Ohio State University Medical Center. Since the initiative began last year, the time it takes patients arriving at the hospital with severe heart attacks to receive specialized care has been reduced by nearly half.

Read more about Ohio State’s special team.

OSU Medical Center Limits Visitors Under 13 Years Of Age

To protect patients, families, visitors and staff from the spread of seasonal and H1N1 influenza, Ohio State University Medical Center is limiting access to patient care facilities by visitors under the age of 13.

The restrictions do not apply to children at the Medical Center for medical treatment, nor for those 13-18 who are part of a patient’s immediate family and are symptom free.

The restrictions are temporary and in response to the higher than normal incidence of influenza in the central Ohio area. Ohio State and most area hospitals are limiting access to children due to them being more susceptible than adults to certain strains of the flu virus, particularly H1N1. Hospitalized patients are at higher risk if they are exposed to someone with influenza and respiratory illnesses.

University Hospital, the James Cancer Hospital, Ross Heart Hospital, Dodd Hall, OSU/Harding and University Hospital East all have restrictions in place.

For up-to-date information on the restrictions, additional limitations that might be in place at specific OSU Medical Center facilities, as well as flu-prevention information, go to http://medicalcenter.osu.edu or call 614-293-5123.

Frequent hand washing and coughing or sneezing into your sleeve helps to limit the spread of the flu virus. Flu-like symptoms include a fever greater than 100.4 degrees with a cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, headaches, fatigue, or body aches.  You can learn more at http://flu.osu.edu or on Facebook here.

Personalized Medicine Expert: Don’t ‘Fix It,’ ‘Predict It’

Ralph Snyderman, MD

A Duke University pioneer in personalized medicine at today’s Ohio State University Medical Center Personalized Health Care National Conference said physicians must lead the way in changing the national health care model from disease-based to preventive care.

Dr. Ralph Snyderman, director of the Duke Center for Research on Prospective Health Care, said that personalized medicine based on genetic and other individual patient factors will have to replace the current “find it and fix it” health care approach for reform to succeed.

“We are now in the beginning part of the second major transformation of medicine,” said Snyderman, speaking at the Transforming Health Care Through Personalized Medicine conference at Ohio State Medical Center. “You no longer have to focus on the end state of the disease. Instead of ‘find it and fix it,’ we need to ‘predict it and personalize it.’”

Snyderman, who is chancellor emeritus of Duke University and founder and chairman of health care technology company Proventys, said no business would run on the “root cause for failure” model of the existing health care system.

“Nobody has a strategic plan for their health,” Snyderman said. “I think part of the fault is with us.”

Health care reform must play a role in enabling physicians to practice preventive medicine, Snyderman said, because the current “reimbursement system makes rational care impossible.”

The practice of personalized medicine will shift from disease care to health risk assessment, health status tracking, predicting and working against potential threats, and wellness and therapy planning, Snyderman said.

Dr. Clay Marsh, executive director of the Center for Personalized Health Care at the OSU Medical Center, said institutions such as Duke University and Ohio State are leading the way to make a major shift in national health care treatment and outcomes possible.

“Personalized medicine is not something that is going to happen, but is already being practiced right now here at Ohio State and at other leading institutions across the country,” said Marsh. “By bringing together many of the leaders in the field here to the second-annual Personalized Health Care National Conference, we are letting the world know this change is inevitable and needs to be implemented as rapidly as possible.”

Dr. Snyderman’s full presentation: