Health Notes: Fond du Lac doctor to speak on American Indians, mental health

• Dr. Arne Vainio

Vainio is a family physician at Min-No-Aya-Win Clinic on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Cloquet. (2009 file / News Tribune)

Talk about it

Dr. Arne Vainio will speak about mental-health issues among American Indians during the next Duluth area meeting of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Vainio is a family physician at Min-No-Aya-Win Clinic on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Cloquet. He will discuss triggers for mental illness and treatment solutions. He also will show a clip from the Emmy-

nominated documentary “Walking Into the Unknown,” in which Vainio talks about the suicide of his father.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 1-3 of the Miller-Dwan building, 502 E. Second St. It’s open to everybody, and there’s no charge.

Family mental-health course offered

The Duluth area chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is offering its Family to Family course beginning Sept. 18.

The course, designed for friends and family members of someone with a mental illness, has been offered to more than 250,000 people since it was initiated in 1991. In the Twin Ports, it has been offered since 2004 to 150 people. It’s taught by trained volunteers.

The class meets for 12 weeks on Sunday evenings through Dec. 4. To register, or if you have questions, contact Nancy Minahan at (715) 398-6471.

Magnets to aid in biomedical research

Magnets were dropped on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus Wednesday for the cause of better health.

Lest you’re thinking of the magnets you stick on the refrigerator, it should be said that only three magnets were dropped — weighing 6,000, 15,000 and 18,000 pounds. They’ll be used to advance biomedical research, a news release from the U’s Academic Health Center said.

The magnets allow for a closer look at the molecular level and will be used in research of such diseases as HIV, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, the release said.

It took dozens of workers and three specialized engineers to properly place the magnets in brick silos installed in the Mayo Plaza on Delaware Street. A spokesman said windy conditions hampered the magnet drop at first, but the magnets eventually were installed without incident.

U of M study finds help for COPD from common antibiotic

A common antibiotic can reduce flare-ups from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, U of M researchers said.

The clinical trial designed by researchers at the School of Public Health found that the use of azithromycin could reduce the occurrence and severity of exacerbations, or flare-ups, which are typically marked by sudden onsets of coughing or wheezing and labored breathing.

The 570 study participants who took 250 milligrams of azithromycin daily for a year in addition to their usual care averaged 1.48 acute flare-ups annually, compared with 1.83 annual flare-ups for those who didn’t use azithromycin.

According to the website drugstore.com, a package of six tablets of azithromycin costs $26. Possible side effects include diarrhea or loose stools, headache, mild stomach pain, nausea, upset stomach or vomiting.

COPD is a progressive disease of the lungs that affects more than 12 million people in the United States and is the third-leading cause of death in this country. There is no cure, but medications and lifestyle changes are used to manage symptoms.

The study appears in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Tags: news, health, essentia, cloquet