Health notes: Concussion tests, benefit ride
Hockey players’ concussion tests
The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale is extending to youth hockey players its baseline concussion testing initiative, which in June was announced to be provided at no cost to all high school athletes in Arizona.
Before the start of the 2011-12 season, all athletes in the Desert Youth and Arizona High School Hockey associations can receive complimentary testing. Baseline concussion testing measures how the brain works prior to an injury.
Tests will be available through the computerized cognitive assessment tool and can be taken from any computer with Internet access in about eight to 15 minutes.
After a concussion, the test can be taken multiple times so doctors may evaluate when an athlete can return to regular activity.
For information, e-mail concussion@mayo.edu or visit www.mayoclinic.org /concussion-testing.
Benefit motorcycle ride Oct. 22
Some patients treated at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center will be on the receiving of proceeds from a 198-mile motorcycle ride that’s scheduled for this fall.
The third annual Scottsdale Healthcare Roy Moy Memorial Motorcycle Run on Oct. 22 will raise funds for the cancer center’s Gift of Life Lodging Program, which houses eligible patients through Country Inns and Suites when in Scottsdale.
For this year’s event, organizers put together a “Scrabble Run,” in which riders will receive Scrabble letters along their route. The highest word value by the finish line wins a plasma screen television.
The event honors Rob Moy, a biker and 14-year Scottsdale Healthcare employee who helped found the ride before his death.
The registration fee is $30, or $50 for a rider and passenger. If registered by Oct. 5, participants receive a free T-shirt and pin.
To register online or for information, visit www.shc.org/motorcyclerun or call 480-882-4517.
2 doctors join advisory board
Two area physicians have been appointed to the clinical advisory board of the Massachusetts-based Andarix Pharmaceuticals.The clinical stage company announced this week that Drs. Michael Demeure and Ronald Korn were among the four oncology experts to help guide development of a best-in-class therapy for lung and other cancers.
Korn is director of research at Scottsdale Medical Imaging, LTD and medical director at Imaging Endpoints. Demeure is a research faculty member and clinical professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, where he directs the Pancreatic Cancer Biospecimens Repository.