John Burnett: Kindness Rules the Day

Thomas Andrew Hughes — 2013-05-15T12:25:00Z

Media contact: Tom Hughes, (919) 966-6047, tahughes@unch.unc.edu

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Written by Elizabeth Swaringen for UNC Health Care

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – John Burnett fully “gets” the power of kindness, as both a deliberate giver and as an unexpected, but ever-grateful receiver.

“The least expensive thing in the world is a word of kindness,” said John, 64, of Jefferson, N.C., in Ashe County. “It is a most individual thing. And it quickly gets to be a habit without much practice. More should try it.”

In his days of full-time work as an independent elder care coordinator, John lived in Chapel Hill, “just up 86 towards Hillsborough, before I-40 came through and the country went away.” His return trip to Chapel Hill was unplanned.

Since mid-December, John has been treated at the North Carolina Cancer Hospital for Stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (also known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), a cancer of the lymphoid tissue which includes the lymph nodes, the spleen and other organs of the immune system.

John’s treatment involved aggressive chemotherapy delivered during a week-long hospitalization followed by two weeks of recovery, follow-up blood tests and observation, before the cycle repeated, six times in total.

“I asked my oncologist – Dr. Hendrik van Deventer – for the most aggressive treatment they have and then to go one step further,” said John, mincing no words and delivering them with measured cadence in his trademark calm, soft voice.

“There have been side effects (from the chemotherapy), but not unexpected ones,” said John of the fatigue that has zapped his energy and made him a little less stable on his feet than he’d like. “I had a small gas tank to begin with, and I think it got smaller. And I don’t particularly enjoy having a walker as a companion.”

But the side effects haven’t interfered with the kindness John witnesses — and fosters — around him.

“My medical care at UNC has been nothing but excellent in every respect,” John said. “And the kindness, I see it every day, all around me, and in many ways.

“For example, Dr. Marco Aleman was my internist when I lived in Chapel Hill years ago and I also helped some of his older patients find care they needed to continue living independently in their own homes. I haven’t been his patient for years, yet he somehow found out I was hospitalized and he came to visit. Members of his staff visited, too.”

And following his release from the hospital after his first week of chemotherapy, John and a wheelchair were not enjoying a healthy relationship in his quest to get a bite to eat while waiting for his prescriptions to be filled at the in-hospital pharmacy. An anonymous angel came to the rescue.

“I don’t know his name, but I think he was on the Life Flight team,” John said. “I know he had wings. He pushed me across the cancer hospital lobby, into the next building, onto the elevator and up to the cafeteria. Once there, he bought my lunch. I was absolutely touched that someone I didn’t know would be so kind.”

During his treatment, John has stayed at SECU Family House, the 40-bedroom hospital hospitality house minutes from UNC Hospitals that provides comfortable, convenient and affordable housing for seriously ill adult patients and their family member caregivers. It has been a godsend for John, a single man who lives alone in a remote locale.

But John has given as good — or better — as he’s gotten when it comes to kindness.

“When I came here I felt like a little lost puppy,” said Jordan Sanderson, 24, of Newport, N.C., who stayed at Family House seven weeks as primary caregiver for her father, Adam Sanderson, whose precarious health was touch-and-go before he recovered enough to return home April 29.

Then Jordan met John.

“For starters, John is an excellent listener and a constant inspirational encourager,” said Jordan, who believes being laid-off from her job as a bank teller in Morehead City allowed her to be present for her Dad. “John helped me put things in a view I could see.

“I knew my Dad was sick, but not how sick. John was always telling me to take one day at a time. I came to rely on him as a wise uncle or maybe a sage grandfather, but I don’t know how old he is, and I don’t want to insult him.”

John said the hardest part of the journey has been accepting help from other people.

“I’ve had to realize and accept there are just some things I can’t do right now like I used to,” John said. “But I haven’t had time or energy to become anything but appreciative.”

John looks forward to returning to his mountain-top retreat and getting back to the antiques business he had to abruptly close when illness intervened.

“I’ll miss being at Family House, the friends I’ve made, the good meals — prepared by volunteers — we’ve shared, the entertainment after dinner, especially the guitars and the sing-alongs,” said John, who plays the guitar and sings.

“But the mountains are calling, and I intend to get lots older than 64.”

Study finds genetic risk factor for knee osteoarthritis

Thomas Andrew Hughes — 2013-05-13T18:17:09Z

Monday, May 13, 2013

A newly published paper reports that individuals with radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA) who had a specific pattern of gene variations in the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene (IL1RN), which is involved in controlling inflammation, were more likely to progress to severe disease than those without the gene variations.

In addition, higher body mass index, often associated with increased risk for developing severe OA, was only predictive for progression of OA in subjects who had the IL1RN gene variations.

The study was done under the direction of Dr. Joanne Jordan, director of the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Progression of knee osteoarthritis often leads to severe disability and total knee replacement in many patients. The factors determining progression are poorly understood,” said Dr. Jordan, “and the genetic markers we reported appear to substantially improve our ability to identify which knee OA patients are more likely to progress. Our goal of course is to use such information to improve drug development and medical management for our OA patients.”

The study was published online by the journal Osteaoarthritis and Cartilage on April 18, 2013. It evaluated radiographic progression of knee OA using data from UNC's ongoing Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project, a well characterized population in North Carolina. Of 1,153 subjects, 154 had radiographic signs of knee OA initially. If they had the specific pattern of IL1RN gene variations that is found in approximately 40 percent of Caucasians they were more than twice as likely to have radiographic progression of the disease during the 4 to 11 years monitoring period than all other individuals with knee OA.

“This study was a critical validation of the importance of IL-1 receptor antagonist genetic variations in knee osteoarthritis that we have seen in other cohorts,” said Dr. Kenneth Kornman, chief executive officer of Interleukin Genetics and a co-author of the study. “We hope to start using this genetic information in partnerships to help guide therapeutic development to improve the management of knee OA.”

Is there a link between postpartum depression and the "love hormone"?

Thomas Andrew Hughes — 2013-05-09T13:35:00Z

Is there a link with postpartum depression and oxytocin, which is sometimes called the "love hormone"?

Three researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine are starting a 5-year study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), that's aimed at understanding the role of oxytocin in postpartum depression and bonding between mothers and babies.

The new 5-year study is based on a smaller study published recently in the Journal of Women's Health.

"The conventional wisdom is that breastfeeding reduces postpartum depression — yet we see tremendous overlap between moms who struggle with breastfeeding and moms who have postpartum depression or anxiety symptoms," said Alison Stuebe, MD, first author of the pilot study and assistant professor in UNC's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is also assistant professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

"In this study, we measured levels of oxytocin, the 'love hormone', in mothers with mild anxiety or depression and in normal controls. The mothers who were more anxious had lower oxytocin levels during breastfeeding. We can't tell from this study whether feeling anxious reduces oxytocin, or whether not having enough oxytocin causes anxiety, but the results suggest that the two problems are connected. It may be that a problem with oxytocin both contributes to postpartum depression symptoms and makes breastfeeding less enjoyable," Stuebe said.

Co-authors of the article in the Journal of Women's Health were Karen M. Grewen, PhD, assistant professor, and Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH, associate professor, both in the UNC Department of Psychiatry.

Omega-3 fatty acids provide no benefit in slowing age-related macular degeneration

Thomas Andrew Hughes — 2013-05-09T11:57:02Z

Media contact: Tom Hughes, (919) 966-6047, tahughes@unch.unc.edu

Thursday, May 9, 2031

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A large new study finds that taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements has no effect on slowing the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

However, for people with low levels of lutein or zeaxanthin in their diets, supplementation with lutein and zeaxanthin may slow the progression of AMD, the study found.

Four researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine contributed to the Age-related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) 2. Results from AREDS 2 were published online May 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Many patients ask whether they should be taking lutein and omega-3 fatty acids for their age-related macular degeneration (AMD),” said Odette Houghton, MD, associate professor and one of the UNC researchers. The others were Seema Garg, MD, PhD, Maurice B. Landers III, MD and Travis M. Meredith, MD, chair emeritus of the Department of Ophthalmology.

“The AREDS 2 results indicate that if you have low levels of lutein or zeaxanthin in your diet, or if you take the original AREDS vitamins without beta-carotene, then supplementation with lutein and zeaxanthin may slow the progression of AMD. However, omega-3 fatty acids appear to have no beneficial or harmful effect on AMD,” Houghton said.

The AREDS2 study suggests that lutein and zeaxanthine are safer alternatives to beta-carotene in those people who have a history of smoking. There was a higher incidence of lung cancer in participants that had a history of smoking and who took AREDS supplements with beta-carotene.

“We have no control over some of the major risk factors for the advancement of AMD, such as age and family history,” Houghton said. “Regular dilated eye exams, avoidance of smoking and taking AREDS2 supplements when indicated are ways we may be able to reduce the risk of blindness from AMD.”

However, the AREDS supplements have only been shown to be effective in people who already have an intermediate stage of AMD. These supplements do not benefit people who have no AMD or mild AMD. A dilated eye exam by an eye care provider is the only way to detect AMD, Houghton said.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that adults get a baseline eye disease screening at age 40. The necessary interval for follow-up exams can be based on the results of this screening. Everyone age 65 and over should have complete eye exams every one to two years.