Toothbrush Sanitization
(5-30-05m, CBS3) You put your toothbrush in your mouth everyday, but how clean is it?
Most people brush their teeth every day to keep our mouths fresh and clean, yet a report on CBS3-TV states that your toothbrush
could actually be putting you at risk.
Toothbrush sanitizers are the latest defense against bacteria. Sanitizers are not cheap. Violight costs about $50 and one
called Purebrush, which also uses ultraviolet light, goes for almost $70.
Dr. Roger Pomerantz, infectious disease specialist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, says the ultraviolet light sanitizers
might kill germs but he also commented: I'm not sure they're necessary. He says our mouths are packed with germs whether you
sanitize your brush or not.
The human mouth is a dirty place, said Dr. Pomerantz. One simple way to sanitize your toothbrush is to submerge it in 50-
percent water, 50- percen hydrogen peroxide. It is an effective method to kill bacteria.
Do not let your brush touch another family member's and never share. If you keep it to yourself, your own toothbrush, all
you have is your own mouth bacteria, said Dr. Pomerantz.
Division of Infectious Disease
Media Coverage:
CBS3
A Carnegie Hall pianist hit first notes in Yeadon
(Published 5-29-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) A little bit of Yeadon will travel with pianist William B. Carr when he gives a
solo performance of Chopin's Nocturne in Db Major Opus 27 No. 2 at Carnegie Hall on Friday. Carr will be the featured performer
at Music from the Heart, a concert to benefit multiple sclerosis research. The concert also will feature the Valley Forge
Military Academy and College Regimented Choir, and the Young Women's Choral Society of Wayne. Proceeds will be used for MS
research, including studies at the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of Philadelphia.
This is the fourth year for the benefit concert organized by Capt. Cecilia Beatty, director of music and choir at Valley Forge.
Her son-in-law John Kline is an MS patient at Jefferson. Christine Kline, Beatty's daughter, is director of the Women's Choral
Society, and has composed the piece Journey for the benefit.
Department of NeurologyComprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Finding the Right Prescription
(Published May 2005, Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine) As demand for pharmacists grows and competition from retail outlets
heats up, hospital executives are looking for new ways to fill their vacancies.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, for instance, redesigned its pharmacy practice model and significantly
improved its vacancy rate. Currently, the hospital has one opening and that's a newly created position.
At the height of the pharmacist shortage in the early 2000s, the hospital's vacancy rate was 20 percent. The 600-bed hospital
has about 50 full-time pharmacists handling inpatient orders. Among other things, the hospital created a five-step career
ladder to provide opportunities for advancement and brought salaries more in line with the retail market.
More importantly, pharmacists now spend about 70 percent of their time directly involved in patient care, a move enabled by
expanding the role of pharmacy technicians to enhance their dispensing responsibilities.
Technology has also helped by improving efficiencies. The hospital has had a robotic filling and dispensing system in place
for 12 years but recently invested in a new patient care system and computerized physician order entry.
These changes have allowed pharmacists to move out of the four walls of the pharmacy, which was a literal prison, says Howard
Cohen, RPH, M.S., FASHP, director of the Hospital’s Pharmacy. Our pharmacists can now practice patient care as part of an
integrated team, says Mr. Cohen.
Department of Pharmacy
Media Coverage:
Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine
AstraZeneca's Crestor, Linked to Muscle Risk, Posts Sales Gains
(Published 5-27-05, Bloomberg.com) The American Heart Association said this week that Crestor, an anti-cholesterol drug, is
more likely than similar drugs to be associated with muscle damage. Heart doctors say the report is unlikely to stop the sales
gains.
In May 2002, the FDA told AstraZeneca, Crestor's manufacturer, that the company would need to resolve concerns about kidney
and muscle risk before Crestor sales could begin in the U.S. The agency cleared the drug in 2003.
Jeffrey Miller, M.D., an endocrinologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, said the drug's potency
makes it easier to treat cholesterol.
Dr. Miller said he has hundreds of patients on Crestor. When an FDA official testified on Crestor in November, Dr. Miller
said he got about half a dozen calls a day from concerned patients for weeks. Since this week's report, there have been zero
calls, he reports.
People may be sick and tired of it, he said. Whatever the reason, I have not had a single call.
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases
HeartCare at Jefferson Hospital
Media Coverage:
Bloomberg.com
Celebration of Life" for cancer survivors
(Published 5-27-05, WHYY-FM) Kristen Adelman, a three-time lymphoma survivor, a member of cancer survivor and champion cyclist
Lance Armstrong's Tour of Hope, and guest speaker at the sixth annual "Celebration of Life" gathering for cancer survivors,
Wednesday, May 25, hosted by the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, will discuss her experiences on the cycling journey. The
radio report on 91.FM airs at 6:33 a.m and 8:33 a.m. that day.
CancerCare at Jefferson Hospital
Media Coverage:
A Profile of Cancer Survivor Kristin Adelman, (5-27-05, Philadelphia Metro, pg 21)
Look for Surviving Cancer story dated May 27, 2005 and click Listen.
Whyy.com
A seemingly simple infection is causing BIG problems.
(Published 5-24-05, WPVI Ch. 6) MRSA is a new class of superbug that in rare cases, can be fatal. It often begins as a nasty
skin infection. We have all been very surprised at how quickly this has reached near epidemic proportions through the country
and the community, says Roger Pomerantz, M.D., FACP, director of the division of Infectious Diseases at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital. Outside of hospitals, MRSA is most common in people who spend a lot of time together in close quarters. Channel
6 interviewed former employees of a local business who began getting boils on their body that grew and became painful. The
employees were rushed to emergency rooms then treated for months with strongantibiotics.
Division of Infectious DiseaseMedia Coverage:
ABC 6
To Benefit MS Research, Family Strikes Chord with Annual Concert Fundraiser
(Published 5-24-05, www.NBC10.com) Grateful for the care their loved one received at the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis
Center at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, a Radnor, Pa. family orchestrates an annual fund-raiser concert
at New York City's Carnegie Hall. This year's Music from the Heart concert, hosted by the Valley Forge Military Academy and
College in Wayne, Pa., is scheduled for 8 p.m. on June 3.
Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center
Department of Neurology
Media Coverage:
NBC 10
Pacifica.org
WBAI.org
Just in time for bathing suit weather there is a cream called Cellulean that is supposed to smooth and shrink lumpy legs.
(Aired 5-18-05, KYW-TV 3) The key ingredient in Cellulean is actually a prescription asthma drug called Aminophylline. The
manufacturer claims the drug penetrates deep in to the skin, shrinking fat cells, to reduce the appearance of cellulite.
That treatment is completely useless, said Serge Jabbour, M.D. Dr. Jabbour, an endocrinologist and weight loss expert at Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital, says he has seen no scientific proof that any cream can get rid of cellulite. It seems nothing
really works, except, of course, if you do surgery, said Dr. Jabbour.
Division of Endocrinology
Media Coverage:
KYW.com
Visitors give students a closer look at science
Thomas Jefferson University program has reached thousands.
(Published 5-18-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) Joey Southern wants to be a scientist, and he has a straightforward reason: You
get to figure out stuff first, before anyone else, Joey, a fourth grader at St. Peter Celestine School in Cherry Hill, said.
Chalk up his career choice to the Thomas Jefferson University Science Outreach Program, which largely targets schools throughout
the region that have no advanced science curriculum. By the end of the school year, the program will have touched 3,000 elementary
through high school students since its inception in 2002. Steven Farber, Ph.D, assistant professor of Microbiology and Immunology
and Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center Zebrafish Facility, Jefferson, launched the program after he visited his child's
day-care center in Cherry Hill to teach a simple lesson about fish. Fish are easy to study, Dr. Farber said, because they
are clear they don't need to be killed to be studied. And because they're vertebrates, human parallels can be drawn.
Kimmel Cancer Center (Hospital)
Kimmel Cancer Center
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Jefferson Teaching Programs Highlighted in Philadelphia Magazine's 2005 Top Docs Issue
(Published May 2005, Philadelphia Magazine) This month's issue of Philadelphia Magazine features stories on two innovative
education programs-- the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical Practice
for the 21st Century curriculum at Jefferson Medical College.
For the past four years, the Pastoral Education Program has trained Jefferson staff, including speech therapist Addy Schultz
and Security Officer Margarita Mendina, who want to become volunteer spiritual caregivers to in-patients.
At Jefferson Medical College, first-year medical students take an anatomy course in which students adopt a cadaver and develop
a personal patient history for their patient, as part of the Medical Practice for the 21st Century curriculum developed by
Christine Jerpbak, M.D., instructor in Family Medicine, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and J. Lindsey
Lane, assistant professsor of Pediatrics, Jefferson.
Department of Pediatrics
Department of Pathology
Pastoral Care
Department of Family Medicine
Cadaver work is going virtual
(Published 5-16-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) Decades after graduation, doctors remember their first cadaver, its age, the cause
of death, the feel of that first incision into human skin that separates their field from any other. But under pressure to
tighten budgets and add classes, medical schools nationwide are changing the rite of passage, cutting hours, teaching off
pre-dissected bodies, and using virtual anatomy software to mimic skin and bones. In Philadelphia, Jefferson Medical College
and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine incorporate virtual anatomy programs with their standard cadaver classes.
But Richard Schmidt, vice chair of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Jefferson Medical College, feels strongly that basic
cadaver dissection should never be replaced. For me, it's the last opportunity for students to confirm everything they've
read and learned about the human body, he said.
Department of Pathology
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Device offers new hope to newborns
(Published 5-13-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) When baby James Pyrih came to the intensive care nursery at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital with possible brain damage, doctors put a tiny plastic cap filled with cold water on his head. The baby had suffered
from lack of oxygen during birth. Doctors hoped that by lowering his brain temperature a few degrees with the “Cool Cap,”
they could reduce the chances that he would become physically or mentally disabled. “Up to now, there has not been much to
offer babies who suffer a traumatic birth, besides putting them on a respirator and giving medicine to support blood pressure
and other functions,” said Jay Greenspan, director of Neonatology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Department of Pediatrics
Intensive Care Nursery
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Cool Cap Could Freeze Brain Damage In Newborns
(Aired 5-13-05, NBC-10) An amazing new device could solve huge problems for tiny babies who are at risk for brain damage.
Doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital participated in the initial studies of the cool cap, and the device is currently
helping a baby who was born on Thursday. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is currently the only hospital in the area to
offer the Cool Cap device to newborns. In the study there as a 60 percent reduction in the number of babies who had a severe
neurological handicap or died as a result of the severe brain injury, said neonatologist Dr. Susan Adeniyi-Jones.
Department of Pediatrics
Intensive Care Nursery
Media Coverage:
NBC 10
Mindful of their breathing
(Published 5-11-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) Mindfulness Meditation, the stress reduction course offered by the Jefferson-Myrna
Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., whose
life work has been to “bring meditation into the mainstream of Western medicine and health care.” Dr. Kabat-Zinn will present
a benefit lecture for the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital on
Thursday evening, May 12. Diane Reibel, Ph.D., director of Stress Reduction at the Center, discusses the participants in the
Jefferson program. Like them, as a result of the program, “I became much more stable and I stopped worrying so much,” she
says.
Center for Integrative MedicineStress ReductionMedia Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Adolescents' bipolar study at Jefferson
(Published 5-10-05, Philadelphia Tribune) Last year, Truddie Kellam sought assistance from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's
Bipolar Disorder Center for Pennsylvanians because she was concerned about her daughter's well-being. Kellam's 17-year old
daughter, Shermane Brown, suffers from bipolar disorder - a condition in which periods of depression alternate with manic
episodes of extreme elation, elevated mood or irritability. The disorder has been classified as one of the world's 10 most
disabling conditions and is found in nearly 2.3 million American adults. Once she hit her teen years, Brown started to experience
difficulties in getting settled in school. She became so depressed that she attempted to commit suicide twice. Kellam credits
the clinicians at Jefferson's Bipolar Disorder Center with being supportive of her daughter. Brown currently receives therapy
and medical treatment from the center Bipolar can look very differently in teens then what it looks like in adults. I think
that we have a way to go in terms of really refining the treatment, but there is hope, said Gail Edelsohn, M.D,.director of
child and adolescent psychiatry services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, who is directing the study.
Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Tribune
Alzheimer's Vaccine Research Back On Track
(Published 5-9-05, Health Day.com) The idea of a vaccine against Alzheimer's disease may yet have some life left to it.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have begun a new vaccine trial, while the journal Neurology published follow up
data to an Alzheimer’s vaccine trial that was halted in 2002. It's really the publication of what was presented at the Alzheimer's
Association meeting in July of last year, said Sam Gandy, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences
at Thomas Jefferson University. The trend is in the right direction. There were some statistically significant improvements
on some neuropsychological measures, but they were not obviously meaningful at the bedside, Dr. Gandy said. The vaccine work
is based on the theory that rising levels of beta-amyloid protein in the brain are at the root of Alzheimer's. It's a very
popular hypothesis, and the only way to prove whether it's right or wrong is to develop an effective anti-amyloid strategy,
expunge amyloid from the brain and see if people never get Alzheimer's or get better, Dr. Gandy said.
Media Coverage:
Health Day
The Coffee Diet
(Published 5-6-05, KYW-TV 3) Could losing weight be as simple as drinking a special coffee?
Georgie Becket says after trying all sorts of popular diets it was a special coffee that finally did the trick. It is called
Java-Fit and it is a new coffee that contains extra caffeine, bitter orange, green tea extract and other herbs.Joel Edman,
Ph.D., a nutritionist with the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital,
does not endorse Java-Fit, but believes some of the ingredients could help people lose weight. Something like this can be
added in to have an extra metabolic effect that can be beneficial, said Dr. Edman.
Center for Integrative Medicine
Media Coverage:
CBS 3
Growth of electronic medical records
(Published 5-5-05 Physician’s News Digest) Most physicians rely on paper charts to record and retrieve clinical information
about their patients, while initiatives in Pennsylvania and at the federal level seek to encourage physicians to abandon paper
and adopt electronic medical record (EMR) systems. “Implementation of a new EMR system is expected to be completed at Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital over the next year, and at its affiliated Methodist Hospital in the next 18 months, while its
current inpatient ordering system – IDX, implemented in 1999 – is accessible by all of Jefferson’s employed and private staff
physicians from their office or home,” says Jonathan Gottlieb, M.D., senior vice president of clinical affairs. “The system
has dramatically decreased the turnaround time for radiology readings and has reduced prescribing and surgical errors,” says
Dr. Gottlieb. “While physicians and nurses report satisfaction with using the system, an unintended workflow consequence has
been that the system has resulted in is less direct communication between physicians and nurses, and Jefferson has established
scheduled communication sessions between them,” says Dr. Gottlieb.
Media Coverage:
Physician News
Jefferson Medical College Scientists Create Plant Factories That Churn Out Antibodies Against Tumor Cells
(Published 5-4-2005, Yahoo News) Scientists at Jefferson Medical College are using tobacco plants to produce monoclonal antibodies
- tiny guided protein missiles - that can target and hunt down cancer cells. The plants promise to provide a cheaper, faster
method of producing anticancer antibodies, raising hopes that the technology can one day be used in humans. Scientists, led
by Hilary Koprowski, M.D., professor of microbiology and immunology and director of the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories
and the Center for Neurovirology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and Kisung Ko,
Ph.D., an instructor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson Medical College, inserted DNA coding for
an antibody against colorectal cancer into tobacco plants. The plants, in turn, become factories churning out antibody. Drs.
Koprowski and Ko and their co-workers had previously shown that tobacco plant-made monoclonal antibodies could neutralize
rabies virus and prevent disease in infected mice. They wanted to find out if plant-made antibodies could be effective for
cancer immunotherapy. The antibody produced in tobacco is as good as the antibody produced in animal cells, said Dr. Koprowski,
noting that tobacco-derived antibody should be safer and less expensive to produce. The report appeared online in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
Media Coverage:
Yahoo News
Medical News Today
News-Medical.net
Science Blog
Net India 123
Healthy? Think Again
(Published 5-2-05, U.S. News & World Report) An international committee published new guidelines for declaring someone prediabetic
--that is, at increased risk of developing diabetes. In some cases, discovering a disease before it becomes a full-blown medical
emergency allows a patient and her/his physicians to nip it in the bud. According to Bonita Falkner, M.D., a pediatrician
at Thomas Jefferson University, early intervention is even more critical with young people and kids. A 75-year-old edging
up on hypertension is very different from an 11-year-old whose body might be affected for decades. In the case of kids, anticipating
early signs of diseases like hypertension is like getting household cleaning stuff out from under the sink, Dr. Falkner says.
And if diseases really can be prevented, particularly chronic ones, that could save lots of money.
Division of Nephrology
Department of Pediatrics
Media Coverage:
US News & World Report
Roll Away Wrinkles
(Aired 5-2-05, CBS3) Plastic Surgeon John Moore, M.D., of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, discusses a new outpatient
treatment for removing wrinkles using a roller with needles attached. What it does is causes some micro-damage to the underlying
skin, causing healing, swelling and tightening of the deeper collagen skin, Dr. Moore said.
Department of Surgery
Center for Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Media Coverage:
KYW 3
Benefits: Doubling Down
(Published 5-1-05, HealthLeaders.com) Disease management is on the cusp of widespread acceptance among consumers and employers.
Under the HMO model, disease management, with its patient-coaching approach, has fully integrated into healthcare, achieving
impressive cost-savings milestones for health plans and employers over the last several years, as well as fewer hospital days
and better health for patients.
Disease management is an industry that has had a high degree of success in disease states such as heart failure, asthma and
diabetes.
A 2002 study by the Office of Health Policy and Clinical Outcomes at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia
found that a group of heart failure patients enrolled in a large-scale disease management program experienced a striking 28
percent decline in medical expenditures versus a control group, not to mention significant clinical improvement. That level
of achievement has led insurers and employers to experiment with other disease states, such as depression, tobacco addiction
and obesity, with many reporting similar positive results.
Media Coverage:
Healthleaders.com
