| In this issue: |
Construction Update |
| Progress continues for the new College of Nursing building. In fact, construction is about 60 percent complete, said Rick Lyttle of USF Facilities Planning. The metal framing of the new space is complete, dry wall will start to go up on the interior walls, and workers have already started installing the large glass wall that makes up most of the north side of the building. The new building is on schedule (despite four hurricanes) and is due to be complete in May. Then renovations on the existing College of Nursing building will begin in June and should be finished in December. Meanwhile, the renovations to the USF Medical Clinic lobby are finished and the space is due to reopen by the end of January. Photo by John Lofreddo. |
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In the News |
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Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the USF College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences was profiled in the Nov. 26 Tampa Bay Business Journal. Dr. Klasko discussed USF's reinvigorated efforts to link academic physicians and researchers with their counterparts in the community. |
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Stem cell therapy for ailing hearts |
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USF/VA study shows cord blood cells limit heart attach damage in animal models | |
| By Anne DeLotto Baier Stem cells from umbilical cord blood effectively treated heart attacks in an animal study, report cardiologist Robert J. Henning, MD, and colleagues at USF and James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital. When injected into rats' hearts soon after a heart attack, stem cells taken from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) greatly reduced the size of heart damage and restored pumping function to near normal. This improvement occurred without the need for drugs to prevent the rats' immune system from rejecting the human cells. The USF study was published online earlier this month in the journal Cell Transplantation, accompanied by an editorial discussing the progress of stem cell therapy in treating heart attacks, or myocardial infarctions. |
 From left to right, Alison Willing, PhD; Robert Henning, MD; and Paul Sanberg, PhD, DSc, are exploring the potential of cord blood stem cells to reduce heart attack damage. Photo by Eric Younghans. |
| If further animal studies and human clinical trials prove equally successful, the USF researchers suggest that stem cells from umbilical cord blood could be a new, widely applicable treatment for limiting or repairing the heart muscle destroyed when the vital organ's blood supply is cut off. In the United States, nearly one of every two men and one of three women older than age 40 will suffer a heart attack, leaving them more vulnerable to chronic heart failure or another, potentially fatal, heart attack. Medications and bypass surgery have prolonged the lives of these patients, but many live with heart failure characterized by chronic fatigue and shortness of breath. "Patients with heart failure due to heart attacks and other causes spend much of their day at home in a chair or in bed. These are the patients whose lives we hope to greatly improve with stem cell therapy to restore heart function," said Dr. Henning, lead author of the study. "Our initial results are extremely promising, but raise questions about how these umbilical cord blood cells work. Are they transforming into new heart muscle cells or secreting growth factors that trigger the heart to repair itself? We need more research to insure such therapy will ultimately benefit patients with little or no side effects." "The possibility to regenerate and to restore function of the heart after myocardial infarction with stem cell transplantation holds great promise for treating heart failure," wrote David Stern, MD, dean of the Medical College of Georgia, and colleagues in the Cell Transplantation editorial accompanying the USF study. "Additional preclinical animal studies are warranted and should focus on examining the mechanisms that mediate the functional effects of stem cell transplantation." The USF work adds to a growing field exploring the potential of stem cells to treat ailing hearts. Animal and human cell transplantation to treat heart attacks has focused primarily on immature cells harvested from adult bone marrow and skeletal muscle – with mixed results. "Cord blood stem cells may be more amenable to repairing hearts. In addition, cord blood stem cells are readily accessible, easy to use, and, like adult stem cells, are not as controversial as embryonic stem cells." said coauthor Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, DSc, director of the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair. Other authors of the study were Hamdi Abu-Ali; MD; John Balis, MD; Michael B. Morgan, MD; and Alison E. Willing, PhD. The USF study was supported by the American Heart Association, the Veterans Administration, a Florida Biomedical Research Grant, and Saneron CCEL Therapeutics, Inc., a USF spin-out biotechnology company focusing on developing stem cell therapies for debilitating or deadly diseases. Some study authors are affiliated with Saneron and are co-inventors on related patent applications by USF. Return to top | |
Medicare HMOs fail to control cost of colon surgery for elderly |
| By Anne DeLotto Baier The costs of caring for elderly Florida patients hospitalized for colon surgery are not reduced by Medicare HMOs, a USF paper in the December issue of the Archives of Surgery reports. Despite significantly shorter hospital stays, Medicare HMO beneficiaries who underwent colon resections — surgery to remove a diseased section of the large intestines — incurred the same overall hospital charges as patients covered by traditional fee-for-service Medicare. Consequently, the study found, daily hospital charges for the Medicare HMO group were higher than for the traditional Medicare group. The researchers assumed a direct relationship between hospital charges, available from the Agency for Health Care Administration's Florida database, and actual costs, which are difficult to obtain from hospital executives. "The Medicare HMO model failed as a cost-saving measure in this particular instance," said the study's principal investigator Michel Murr, MD, a USF associate professor of surgery. "Our finding appears to be confirmed by the recent departure of major HMOs from the Medicare market in Florida." Dr. Murr and his research team, headed by Dr. Jimmy Sung, examined the outcomes of all colon resections for patients age 70 and older in Florida from 1995 to 1999. Colon resection, usually performed to remove cancer, treat diverticulitis or remove a bowel blockage, is the most common abdominal surgery in elderly patients. Regardless of the type of Medicare coverage, the researchers noted a 10 to 30 percent increase in hospital charges for colon resections in the four-year study period. The intention of Medicare HMOs is to reduce waste in the system by trying to eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate care, while giving providers incentives to use cost-efficient care. "Medicare HMO patients typically have shorter hospital stays and less secondary illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and pulmonary diseases," Dr. Murr said. "You'd expect operating on these healthier patients would result in lower charges – but it does not." Results of the Florida study were similar to other studies that have concluded rates of high-cost surgical procedures were not reduced among Medicare HMO enrollees. More research is warranted to determine why daily hospital charges were higher for the Medicare HMO group, Dr. Murr said. "Unless we adequately plan for an ever-growing population of elderly surgical patients, our health care expenditures will continue to skyrocket." Return to top |
COPH alum helps readers across the country |
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COPH alum Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is in the spotlight again, this time with the national magazine Cooking Light. In the December issue, Sass, a registered dietician, helped elucidate the science of sugar, and in the January/February issue she outlined multivitamins to help readers choose one that's right for them. Both articles were authored by Sass and both mention her continued connection with USF. Last spring, she made headlines with her first book, "Your Diet is Driving Me Crazy" (Marlowe & Co.). Sass graduated from USF with an MPH in Health Education and is a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Return to top |
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Caregivers providing end-of-life care need attention, support |
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By Anne DeLotto Baier |
USF and TGH host Jan. 13 community lecture |
Top bioethics expert Arthur Caplan to speak on dying in America |
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Science and medicine are making it increasingly possible to extend life, but is conquering death really an ethical thing to try to do? |
COM students celebrate diversity with fiesta |
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The USF College of Medicine is hosting its first cultural fiesta 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22, in the courtyard next to the College of Nursing. This event aims to bring together the students, faculty, family and friends of the USF College of Medicine and to begin a tradition at the college, where cultural diversity is recognized and appreciated, said Gathline Etienne, first-year medical student and a member of the Cultural Fiesta Committee. |
Mini-Med School schedule |
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