Return to: U of M Home
By Deane Morrison
In February 2002 Marie Johnson was a University of Minnesota graduate student, working with 3M scientists to develop a computerized stethoscope to assess heart sounds.
Naturally, she tested a prototype on her husband, engineer Rob Guion. Studying the signals, she found the trace of an intermittent heart sound.
“I think there may be something wrong with your heart,” she said.
But his doctor found nothing during a regular stethoscope exam. Even more disturbing, a follow-up exercise stress test showed no abnormalities. Johnson soon gave birth to the couple’s second child, and seven weeks later, in October, she got the go-ahead to resume exercise.
She arranged to meet Rob at the local YMCA and pulled into the parking lot around noon. There she saw an ambulance and a shrouded body on a stretcher.
It was her husband, he had a heart attack at 41.
An autopsy showed major blockage in several coronary arteries, including one called the LAD (left anterior descending). It also showed enlargement of the left ventricle — the source of the heart sound Johnson had picked up.
After his death, Johnson pored over both the stethoscope and accelerometer (which measures sound and vibration in the chest) signals she had recorded from him and the medical literature.
Eventually, she identified a new and persistent signal in her husband’s records and traced its origin: blockage in the LAD artery.
Following her collaboration with 3M — which funded Johnson’s doctoral research in biomedical engineering and a postdoctoral fellowship at the university — Johnson worked on her own and came up with algorithms to process signals from the heart and quickly pick up LAD blockage.
She tested an algorithm-based stethoscope on angioplasty patients of university cardiologist K.P. Madhu and found it reliably detected LAD blockage. Then, after completing two more “postdocs” — in Italy and at Stanford University — she put her innovation experience to work in 2007 as the new director of the University of Minnesota’s fledgling Medical Devices Fellows Program.
“The goal of the program follows the goal of the university: the public good,” Johnson said. “We strive to improve health care and save lives, train leaders and create jobs.”
The program brings in cross-disciplinary teams comprising postdoctoral level engineers, scientists and physicians for a rigorous, one-year initiation as inventors of medical devices.
The goal is to license the technologies, all of which belong to the university, to local companies or to launch start-ups to license them. One fellow has already started a company to do just that.
Only Stanford and the University of Michigan have anything comparable to the Medical Devices Fellows Program, Johnson said.
“We have unbelievable support,” she said. “We would not be here if local people at hospitals, companies, and the University had not embraced this program.”
As program director, Johnson applies everything she’s learned to help inventors interested in translational research.
“I think she has a unique set of skills, both technically and as a leader of innovation, that has really led this program to be a premier program,” said University mechanical engineering professor Arthur Erdman, who is director of the Medical Devices Center, which includes the Fellows program.
Johnson’s own experience shows what one person with an idea can do. Less than seven years since her husband’s tragic death, she has founded AUM Cardiovascular, a company that is developing a fast, noninvasive, hand-held, easily affordable device to assess coronary artery disease, using the algorithms she wrote. It is placed on the chest and displays data on a PDA.
“I’ve known Marie for a long time, and she’s definitely the kind of person who would want to turn a tragedy into a blessing for somebody else,” Erdman said.
By Susan Harms, R.Ph., M.P.H., Ph.D.
The number of people taking dietary supplements for prevention and treatment of health problems has increased dramatically over the past decade. But because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates dietary supplements as foods rather than drugs, supplement manufacturers are not required to meet the same strict standards of safety and effectiveness that are required for prescription and over-the-counter medications. As a result, consumers need to be aware that products may vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer in terms of strength and ingredients.
Supplements come in capsule, tablet, powder or liquid form, and include vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids and other substances. Some supplements, such as most vitamins and minerals, have become part of traditional medicine over the years. Herbs and other botanicals remain part of what is known as “complementary and alternative medicine” or CAM.
While ingesting either a traditional medication or a dietary supplement imposes some degree of risk, the risks and concerns with herbs are different than those found with traditional drugs and most vitamins and minerals. That is because herbs and drugs differ in some fundamental ways. For example, traditional drugs are manufactured under highly controlled conditions, while botanicals are subject to natural variations.
Many consumers don’t realize that supplements may produce side effects and interact with other medications, just as traditional drugs do. Often people do not associate ill effects with supplement use, either because they believe supplements are harmless or because their symptoms seem unrelated to what they are treating. For example, Ginseng, usually used to increase stamina and concentration, can raise blood pressure to unsafe levels.
If you are taking dietary supplements and have developed unusual symptoms, ask a nurse, doctor or pharmacist if they could be related to supplement use.
Interactions between supplements and medications and between supplements and medical conditions are common. It pays to be aware of possible interactions before initiating treatment. Ginkgo, for example, has the capacity to thin blood, which can be problematic for patients already on a prescription blood thinner such as Coumadin.
Consumers should read supplement labels closely, while remembering that labels cannot always be relied upon to provide complete or accurate information. In some cases, it has been found that the actual amount of active ingredient was significantly more or less than what was listed on the label. Because there are no standards for supplements, the consumer may find a wide range of doses recommended between various products, especially among herbal products. The best practice is to consult an outside reference or seek advice from your nurse, doctor or pharmacist. The label information may provide them with additional knowledge about that particular product that will help guide its use.
Dietary supplements offer an additional and potentially beneficial treatment choice, with the provision that they are granted the same respect as traditional medications. In choosing a supplement, though, the most prudent advice is to be cautious and consultative with your doctor or pharmacist.
----
Susan Harms is a pharmacist and senior research associate in the Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration division of the School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. This column is an educational service of the University of Minnesota. Advice presented should not take the place of an examination by a health-care professional. To ask a health-care expert at the University a question or for more health-related information, go to http://www.healthtalk.umn.edu/
By Kathleen A. Olson
Your children are learning the most from you – by watching you, talking to you and interacting with you. In many ways, parents are the most important teachers children will have and it’s important to support your children’s education both at school and at home.
School success depends on six factors fostered in the home by parents.
Parents should be partners with their child’s teacher. Introduce yourself to the teacher and talk about goals, communication preferences, concerns you have about your child, etc. Talk with teachers even when things are going well with your child, not just when problems arise. If there are problems, it is easier to work them out if you already have a relationship with the teacher. You and the teacher can work together in your different roles to help your children succeed in school.
University of Minnesota Extension and the Children, Youth & Family Consortium’s Partnering for School Success project provide more information at www.parenting.umn.edu.
Kathleen Olson has spent her career focusing on parenting issues and believes that most issues we face in life go back to parenting. She is an Extension Educator in Family Relations for the University of Minnesota and has two children of her own.
Find more stories at: http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/index.htm