By Duwayne Escobedo

At a recent press conference in honor of his facilitys 10th anniversary, Dr. James Andrews told the story about the moment he knew the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center partnership with Baptist Health Care would happen.

Baptist Health Care brought its top executives to approach him for a second time in December 2003 about teaming up to start a sports medicine medical center in Gulf Breeze. He had just finished surgery at his Birmingham, Ala., center and welcomed the group into a small adjacent office.

Baptist Health Care CEO, Al Stubblefield envisioned building the Andrews Institute next to Gulf Breeze Hospital and providing its world-class medical care to the community. He was told about Andrews and his celebrity as a top sports orthopaedic surgeon. Stubblefield said, I dont know what an athletic trainer is, but I want some.

However, other Baptist officials werent convinced, especially Baptist Chief Financial Officer Joe Felkner.

During a tour of the Andrews sports medical center in Alabama, Felkner spotted USA Olympic gymnast Blaine Wilson doing rehab on an injured shoulder. Wilson grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and starred on Ohio States gymnastics team. Felkner was a big Buckeyes fanatic.

It was a damn miracle, Andrews said. He always played the bad guy. But right away he said, We got to do this. Thats really how we got the financing done.

A decade later, Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze has made a huge impact on the Florida Gulf Coast region. It is estimated to have an economic impact on the region of tens of millions of dollars. The cutting-edge, world-renowned sports medicine center celebrated its achievements at its 10th anniversary Wednesday in the Andrews Athletic Performance and Research Pavilion.

Its been a magnificent journey for all of us, said Andrews, who thanked local government officials, Baptist executives, his team of more than 50 physicians, and wife, Jenelle. He also singled out longtime friend Jerry Pate and Ed Gray for securing funding from then-Governor Jeb Bush that helped make the Florida center a reality.

The funding allowed Andrews Institute to open the doors to its 126,535-square-foot sports medicine center in April 2007 that feels more like an upscale, luxurious hotel than a hospital. It features an ambulatory surgery center, an athletic performance center, and a research and education center.

Over its first 10 years, Andrews Institute performed more than 6,000 surgeries, provided athletic trainers freely to 25 public high schools from Escambia to Walton County and three area colleges, trained 57 fellows under its top-notch physicians, and worked to develop the next generation of sports medicine tools at its Regenerative Medicine Center.

Not only did it look back at its achievements at the press conference, the sports medicine center looked forward to what the next decade might hold for the institute.

One promising development is the use of stem cells to help speed up the healing process, regenerate tissue, cartilage and organs and lead to other cures for diseases, such as diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.

Dr. Adam Anz, an Andrews orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, is overseeing a stem cell study that starts in May. He said stem cells are five to seven years away from earning FDA approval for medical uses and becoming widely used to treat patients. Stem cells are considered the biggest advance in sports medicine since arthroscopy surgery, which allows physicians to make a small incision on a patient and use a tiny camera to surgically repair knees, rotator cuffs, and other common debilitating sports injuries.

Anz talked excitedly about regenerative medicine. Today, bone marrow aspiration typically produces about 17,000 stem cells, while140 million stem cells come from a variety of regenerative sources, such as embryos, gestational and adult tissues, and reprogrammed differentiated cells.

The FDA is a lot like the IRS, Anz explained. We need to refine and prove to them that they work. There are future products, and they need development.

Andrews agreed. He said: Were still at the tip of the iceberg. Its coming though. Regenerative medicine will revolutionize not only what we do in sports medicine but all surgeries.

Another impact that Andrews Institute has had on the region is its sports medicine outreach to youth. The public service ensures sports medicine coverage freely to all of the public high schools in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties and has plans to expand to other Northwest Florida counties, including Bay County. It includes performing baseline concussion tests for more than 4,500 youth athletes since 2015.

Only 37 percent of public high schools have a full-time athletic trainer, reports the NATA Research and Education Foundation.

Andrews led a charge in 2015 in the Florida Legislature to require all Florida High Schools to have at least one athletic trainer. But the legislation never passed.

Its getting to where it will be a medical legal issue, Andrews predicted. Right now my passion is youth sports.

Dr. Roger Ostrander was one of the first orthopaedic surgeons to relocate to Gulf Breeze in July 2004.

When I got here in 2004, I didnt understand the scope and magnitude of this project. Its unique in the country, Ostrander said. I feel very fortunate to be part of Andrews Institute from the beginning.

Andrews Institute By the Numbers 2007-2017 650,000+ Visits to Andrews Institute Rehabilitation location since 2008 61% Increase in patient volume since 2008 228,000+ X-ray and MRI exams completed since 2007 50,864 Patients/Cases seen at the Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center 303% Increase in patient volume since 2007 20,000 Free pre-participation exams performed 68,500 Injury assessments performed 1,800 Injury assessments performed at Saturday morning Student-Athlete Injury Clinic 4,500 Concussion baseline tests performed since 2015 400 Community events with Andrews Institute sports medicine coverage 84 Clinical research studies conducted over the last 10 years 19 Open clinical research studies from July 2015 to June 2016 112 Wounded or injured Special Operations military members treated from July 2015 to June 2016

Read the original here:
Andrews Institute Looks Ahead - Inweekly

A research team at the University of Minnesota found a way to heal broken hearts.

Researchers used a 3D printer to create protein patches that mimic heart tissue to treat post-heart attack scars. The research is in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Brenda Ogle, a University biomedical engineering professor and lead researcher for the project, said she and her team have investigated proteins that surround cells in the body for 15 years. The team has been studying how the proteins also called the extracellular matrix influence stem cell behavior.

For many years, weve been trying to develop optimum formulation that can support stem cells in new cardiac [cell] types, Ogle said, adding that theyve focused on cardiac cell types to figure out a way to strengthen them after the muscle cells are damaged and die during a heart attack. Its one of the cell types in the body that cant be recovered.

The team successfully treated mice with the patches and is now planning to test the method on larger animals.

Molly Kupfer, a doctoral student who is part of Ogles team, said a heart attack occurs when there is a blockage in a primary blood vessel that delivers oxygen and nutrients to the heart.

When that happens, you have cell death in the area of the heart that doesnt receive the appropriate oxygen and nutrients, Kupfer said. Those cells that die arent able to recover."

Typically, after a heart attack, the blood clot in the heart is removed at a hospital, and if the heart has not been damaged too badly, doctors monitor the heart long-term, prescribe medicine and regularly check for signs of heart failure, Ogle said.

What you get instead after a heart attack is scar tissue forming, and that scar tissue ultimately fails, Ogle said.

Associate Professor Brenda Ogle places a 3D printed biopatch on a mouse heart in Nils Hasselmo Hall on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Her research team induces heart attacks in mice, which causes a dead area of cardiac cells. The patch is placed in this dead zone and mimics the cells of the native heart that aren't able to be replenished on their own.

Kupfer said she worked with Paul Campagnola and his lab at the University of Wisconsin to print the patches; the cells were prepared at the University of Minnesota.

Campagnola, a biomedical engineering professor, said he initially developed the underlying printing technology in 2000.

"The idea of the patch is it could actually behave like native cardiac tissue and assist the function of the heart, Kupfer said, adding that the method used to print the patches results in extremely high resolution structures.

Ogle said before applying the patch to the animal hearts theyre currently testing on, they take a scan of the scarred tissue and create a digital template for the 3D-printer to follow and print the proteins in the same pattern.

Campagnola said the patch provides a stable space for cells to grow and be implanted in damaged areas.

Cardiac cells are also added to the patch when it covers a damaged area. Ogle said it not only provides a support structure, but transplants healthy cells that will eventually become integrated into the heart, stabling it structurally and functionally.

A huge aha moment was when [the cardiac cells] started to beat on this patch synchronously and spontaneously, she said. When that happened, we realized that this could be a viable therapy for the heart, a way to replace those lost muscle cells.

Through the research group at the University of Alabama, Ogle said a study was conducted where the patch was tested on dead or dying tissue in mice hearts and the group saw improvement in the mice after four weeks.

The project was funded through a series of grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation with support from the University, she said.

The group has since received larger funds from the NIH to run a study using the patch on larger animals within the next year.

Ogle said it would take about 10 years until the patch can be used on human patients in a clinical setting.

Follow this link:
UMN research team fixes broken hearts with 3D-printed tissue patch - Minnesota Daily

CINCINNATI Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron is looking at another year of barely getting on the field, and maybe longer.

With the draft a few days away, Cincinnati has given no indication its willing to trade him to a team that would give him a bigger role. Its a challenging situation for McCarron, who proved he could lead a team into the playoffs in 2015 if given the opportunity.

As a competitor, you always want your chance to play, McCarron said Monday. But it will happen. I just have to wait my time. I believe that, and I trust in my ability to keep showcasing what I can do and then get my opportunity.

The two-time national champion at Alabama got his chance when Andy Dalton broke the thumb on his passing hand late in the 2015 season. McCarron, a fifth-round pick, started the last three games and won two of them. His late touchdown pass to A.J. Green had Cincinnati ahead in the closing minutes of a playoff game against Pittsburgh before a pair of defensive penalties helped the Steelers move in range for the winning field goal.

Last year, he was relegated to a backup role again, getting into only one game without throwing a pass.

Although theres great demand in the NFL for starting quarterbacks, the Bengals havent shown an inclination to trade him. Theyre content having him as the backup in case Dalton gets hurt again.

Its great to be wanted, it really is, McCarron said.

Even so, its difficult to go back to being the backup after leading a team to the playoffs. Dalton has been extremely durable during his six-year career the broken thumb was his only significant injury so the odds are against McCarron getting much chance to play until his contract ends.

Hes in a situation similar to Jimmy Garoppolo in New England, which hasnt shown an inclination to trade Tom Bradys backup.

McCarrons original deal runs through this season, but theres a catch. He showed up for training camp with a sore shoulder as a rookie in 2014 and was unavailable for most of the season, which could affect his status. Instead of being an unrestricted free agent, the Bengals think he should be a restricted free agent after the 2017 season because he missed most of his rookie season.

As a restricted free agent, McCarron could wind up spending the 2018 season in Cincinnati as well.

Were still going through all that, McCarron said. And its probably going to go into next year. Its just something theyre going to fight on their side and something Im going to fight on my side to prove why I shouldnt have to have another year.

McCarrons eagerness to move into a starters role is tempered by his appreciation for how the Bengals drafted him. They stuck with him after he missed most of his rookie season because of the sore shoulder, which improved after he got stem cells injected. In a year or two, hell get his chance.

There were some quarterbacks that got some pretty nice pay days this offseason, McCarron said. Hopefully in my future, one of those days is coming up.

See original here:
Bengals set to hold onto McCarron for at least 1 more year | Sports ... - Newsexaminer