Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - University of Virginia - (Page 3)

HEALTHY DOSE Time Saved Lives Saved A 30-minute reduction in treatment time for a heart attack increases survival rate by 7.5 percent. You don’t need to do the math to know that this percentage translates into lives saved. To decrease the time for diagnosing and treating heart attacks as much as possible, UVA Health System recently installed a system to allow electrocardiograms (EKGs)—machines that measure the heart’s electrical activity—to transmit information from medical transports to local hospitals electronically. This quick communication allows doctors to read EKG information and begin treatment while patients are en route to the hospital, instead of waiting to begin when patients arrive, says David R. Burt, M.D., a UVA emergency medicine specialist. IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER Broccoli is good for you, but did you know that it has compounds known to lessen the occurrence of some types of cancer? UVA Health System researchers want to find out how these compounds work and what their specific targets may be. The work of research pathologist Janet V. Cross, Ph.D., and her colleague Dennis J. Templeton, M.D., Ph.D., who heads the UVA Department of Pathology, is being funded with a $1.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. Cross and Templeton found that nutrients in broccoli form chemical bonds that inhibit MIF, an enzyme that functions in the immune response. The role of MIF in inflammation has been clear, but the UVA researchers were able to link its effects to cancer. Cross says: “If we can determine that this specific enzyme inhibition is the reason the compounds in broccoli work to prevent cancer, then these nutrients or similar chemicals could one day be used to prevent cancer or a cancer recurrence.” A SECRET WEAPON AN INSIDE LOOK at the New UVA Facility FOR KIDS It isn’t expected to open until 2014, but you can get an inside look now at the Battle Building of UVA Children’s Hospital. This 200,000-square-foot building will consolidate care for children in one location in Charlottesville. Just go to the UVA Health System YouTube site (youtube.com/uvahealth) and click the “Battle Building at UVA Children’s Hospital” video. The 1-minute, 40-second video shows a flyover of the Battle Building and a sneak peek at the building’s inviting entry level. Subscribe to the UVA Health System YouTube site to keep up to date on more video postings. Vim & Vigor · SUM MER 2012 3 http://www.youtube.com/uvahealth

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - University of Virginia

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - University of Virginia
Contents
Life in Balance
Healthy Dose
Vein Attraction
A Clear Focus on Fibroids
Compassionate Care
The Breakfast Club
Arthritis Answers
A TV Guide to Radiology
Take Aim
It Might NOT Be Cancer
Colin Firth
Step Up to the Plate
Life After Cancer
Get Dad to the Doc
Virtual Health
In Her Element
A Virginia Man Climbs Above Heart Attack and Heart Failure
Too Young for a Stroke? Think Again

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - University of Virginia