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Media Tip Sheet September 2016

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New Study Tests Drug that May Slow Alzheimer's Progression. Dignity Health, Chandler Fire and Chandler Schools to Host Live Drill on Treatment of High School Sports Injuries. New Research Shows Link Between Obesity and Cancer. St. Joseph's Lung and Thoracic Disease Center Expands. Mercy Gilbert Newborns to Get Special Visit from March of Dimes Ambassador.

New Study Tests Drug that May Slow Alzheimer's Progression

Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute are testing a new drug that may chip away at damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer's disease. In a recent article published in Nature, a study conducted at Biogen suggests the drug being tested can bind and break down a protein called Amyloid that builds in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. The study also suggests a link between the reduction of the protein and the slowing of cognitive decline in a small number of Alzheimer's patients enrolled in the study. This gives evidence to the fact the drug reduces the amyloid plaque in patients and in some ways may even decrease the amount of the amyloid in the brain of a patient with Alzheimer's disease. Barrow's clinical trial involving the drug has been underway for several months. Dr. Marwan Sabbagh, an Alzheimer's expert at Barrow, is available for news interviews today and Wednesday. Please call (602) 406-3319 to schedule.

Dignity Health, Chandler Fire and Chandler Schools to Host Live Drill on Treatment of High School Sports Injuries

Dignity Health physicians and Gilbert Fire Department paramedics are joining with coaches and athletic trainers from Chandler Public Schools on Saturday, Sept. 10 to host a live exercise drill to prepare for handling injuries that may occur during the high school sports season. Student athletes will serve as mock patients while sports medicine physicians, paramedics, coaches and athletic trainers will work to practice effective methods for injured players. Approximately 2 million injuries are sustained in high school athletics each year. The media is invited to cover the drill. Stay tuned for more details.

New Research Shows Link Between Obesity and Cancer

The National Vital Statistics System has reported that cancer is rapidly gaining ground as the nation's number one killer. Cancer experts suspect the increase is due to obesity. A review of several studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine found new associations between obesity and the development of eight additional cancers, including liver and uterine cancers. Experts believe this to be the most comprehensive study to date linking obesity with cancer. Dr. Subhakar Mutyala, a cancer expert at the University of Arizona Cancer Center at Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, is available for interviews about these new breakthrough findings. Please call (602) 406-3319 to schedule.

St. Joseph's Lung and Thoracic Disease Center Expands

The top rated lung transplant program in the western United States is expanding in the Valley. The Norton Thoracic Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center has expanded to serve hospitals in the East and West Valley. Norton doctors are now seeing patients at Dignity Health Chandler Regional Medical Center and Dignity Health St. Joseph's Westgate Medical Center. For more information, please call (602) 406-3312.

Mercy Gilbert Newborns to Get Special Visit from March of Dimes Ambassador

Newborn babies and their families at Dignity Health Mercy Gilbert Medical Center will get a special visit from March of Dimes Ambassador and Mrs. Arizona United States, Andrew Brower, on Thursday, Sept. 15. Brower, a mother of four children, is this year's March of Dimes March for Babies Ambassador and will be visiting the hospital to tour the nursey and talk with nursery staff and families.

Publish date: 

Thursday, September 01, 2016

Media Contact


Carmelle Malkovich, External Communications Director

p: (602) 406-3319

[email protected]