Carilion Clinic collaborated with Family Service of Roanoke Valley to establish Project Back on Track as an outpatient substance abuse counseling program aimed at youth between 12 and 17 years old. Part of the program’s goal is to reduce juvenile crime, along with preventing relapses among the teens.

The grant will allow for the effectiveness of the program to be studied, according to a news release from the foundation.

Project Back on Track began enrolling youth in the Fall of 2010 and was fully underway by January 2011, said Cheri Hartman, the grant project director for the program.

To date the program has had 25 participants, with their families also participating in the therapy, she said. 

The program is a run through a partnership between Carilion’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, the city of Roanoke and Family Service of Roanoke Valley. Besides the recent foundation grant, the program is also funded by a grant from the Department of Criminal Justice Services, Hartman said.

Hartman said the program was started because of concerns about the growing use of illegal drugs among teens, and especially high school students, in the Roanoke Valley.

Thirty-one percent of Roanoke 10th and 12th graders reported that they used marijuana at least once in the past 30 days, she said citing data from a 2011 survey. The survey also found that cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy use also increased from 2007 to 2011, Hartman said.

The Virginia Center for Health Innovation launched March 16 as a nonprofit that includes stakeholders from state government, business and the medical community.

In part, the center evolved out of an effort to secure more federal and private grants that are being offered to remake the health care system into one that improves quality and lowers costs.

“Virginia has, to date, not done a particularly good job of bringing those dollars to Virginia,” said Beth Bortz, president and CEO of the new center. “We really need to get our act together to figure out how to work together so we are more effective at going after those funds.”

Specifically the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation was created by the Affordable Care Act and provided $10 billion in direct funding from 2011 through 2019.

“We have innovative pockets throughout the commonwealth, but Virginia organizations are often competing amongst themselves,” Bortz said.

Her priority is to get those pockets of innovation, which include some things being tested in Southwest Virginia, to work together.

Bortz said the effort isn’t just about improving health care, but about remaining a good place for businesses and spurring economic development throughout the state. For that reason, the center is being housed inside the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Other partners in forming the new center are:

•     Medical Society of Virginia
•     Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association
•     Virginia Association of Health Plans
•     Virginia Health Care Foundation
•     Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association
•     Virginians Improving Patient Care and Safety

Each of those six contributed $50,000 in start-up funds for the center. Another $60,000 came from private foundations, including $30,000 from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and a $15,000 grant from Grantmakers in Health that was matched by the Virginia Health Care Foundation, Bortz said.

Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Agee is on the board of the center.

Photo by Sam Dean, The Roanoke Times

Sunscreen use, wearing protective clothing and seeking out shade while outdoors are all on the rise among young adults, but public health officials are concerned that not enough is being done to reduce the risks of skin cancer.

Half of adults between 18 and 29 reported being sunburned at least once in the past year, according to a study released today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While sunscreen use is increasing, significantly less than half of young adults report using it.

Among women ages 18 to 29, 37 percent reported using sunscreen in 2010, the most recent year analyzed. Among men, changes in sunscreen use were inconsistent from 2000 to 2005, but use increased slightly from nearly 14 percent in 2005 to nearly 16 percent in 2010.

Thirty five percent of women and 26 percent of men reported intentionally staying in the shade.

Among men, the most common form of sun protection reported, was wearing long clothing to the ankles. While 33 percent of men reported doing that, among women the practice was less common with 26 percent reporting that they wore long clothing.

In releasing the study, the CDC said more needs to be done to improve efforts to prevent future skin cancers that are caused from sun exposure.

“More public health efforts, including providing shade and sunscreen in recreational settings, are needed to raise awareness of the importance of sun protection and sunburn prevention to reduce the burden of skin cancer,” said Dr. Marcus Plescia, director of CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, in a news release. “We must accelerate our efforts to educate young adults about the dangers of indoor tanning to prevent melanoma as this generation ages.”

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, according to the CDC.

In addition to release the study on sun exposure and prevention, the CDC also released a report on indoor tanning.

The report found that an estimated 6 percent of U.S. adults reported indoor tanning at least once in 2010. But the rates were significantly higher when looking at white women. Among white women between 18 and 21 years old, 32 percent reported tanning. And 30 percent of white women ages 22 to 25 reported tanning.

What steps do you take to protect yourself from the sun?

Under the terms, Luna and Philips will work together to develop shape sensing devices in the medical field. Luna says its shape sensing technology can be used to provide real-time, 3D images that help guide physicians while preforming minimally invasive surgeries.

This is similar to development agreements that Luna already has to place shape sensing technology in medical robots with Intuitive Surgical and Hansen Medical. The difference, however, is the Philips products will not be for robotic use, according to the news release.

“This agreement with Philips further strengthens Luna’s broad relationship with key players in the medical space while further validating the market potential of our technology,” said My Chung, Luna’s CEO, in the news release. “The medical market is a core piece of our overall strategy. It is with these relationships in medical technology that our products will help improve health care. Our agreement with Philips adds a valuable part of the industry to our portfolio.”

A Luna spokesman declined to provide any other details about the agreement, or say if it has other development agreements in the health care market besides those with Hansen, Intuitive and Philips.

In other Luna news, one of its board members, Jonathan Cool, has resigned. Cool’s resignation, which took effect May 1, comes just three weeks before his term was set to expire at the company’s annual stockholders meeting on May 22. No other details were provided and Luna’s spokesman said he couldn’t provide any insight in Cool’s departure.

Cool joined the board as Luna emerged from bankruptcy in January 2010. He served at one point as Luna’s acting president and chief operating officer.

That’s about to change.

The Richmond-based nonprofit VBS has signed a lease at Lakeside Plaza in Salem, with a goal of having its donation center open by July 9, said VBS spokeswoman Marly Fausz.

“Unfortunately it has taken much longer than we expected because we had a hard time finding space and securing the lease,” she said in an email.

While looking for office space, VBS has held blood drives throughout the area, both through one-time and reoccurring events.

On Monday VBS will hold one of its special events as it partners with WDBJ and Clear Channel radio for a “Broadcasters Blood Drive” at Hotel Roanoke from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

When the center opens, however, donors will be able to give blood regularly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Fausz said.

The center is already fully staffed, with 14 people having been hired, she said.

“But once the center opens we may hire more staff as needed,” she added.

The interior of the 12-by-24 foot MedCottage as shown in May 2011. (File photo by Eric Brady / The Roanoke Times)

A Northern Virginia family will be the first to use a medical modular home designed by a Salem company.

It’s the first sale of MedCottage, which was designed and developed by N2Care with the help of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.

Next week the 12-by-24-foot prefabricated home will be installed in the yard of an Alexandria family, said Chris Cummins, executive vice president with the distributor MedCare Systems that made the sale.

N2Care CEO Ken Dupin said that so far three MedCottages have been ordered by distributors looking to sell them as those involved continue to hone the marketing and distribution strategies.

That includes putting stipulations on who can distribute the homes, which are priced at $85,000.

Instead of relying on the real estate industry, or marketing directly to potential occupants, N2Care has sought to become a part of the health care industry.

“Now, in order to be a distributor, you have to have a health care connection,” Dupin said.

That includes businesses involved with nursing homes, hospitals, home health and assisted living.

MedCare Systems, in Mechanicsville, is connected to an assisted living chain that operates 10 facilities in the Richmond area.

Adding MedCottage allows the company to better meet the needs of all people looking for appropriate living situations as they age, Cummins said.

“I don’t think it is going to hurt the assisted living industry and it will enhance the home health industry,” Cummins said.

Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

Correction: An earlier version of this post gave the wrong date for the lectures. The dates are May 10 and May 11. The post has been corrected.

An expert in stem cells and regenerative biology will be in Roanoke next week as part of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute’s lecture series.

Amy Wagers will talk about the basic properties of stem cells that make them attractive for developing therapies for diseases. She will also share some of the possible ways stem cell research may lead to improved medical treatments.

Michael Friedlander, executive director of the research institute, said Wagers’ talk will be “one of the most provocative and exciting” of the lecture series.

“This will be a particularly interesting series of presentations for the public in light of the keen interest of people of all walks of life and ages in the promise of stem cell therapies for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, spinal cord injury, aging, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and cancers,” Friedlander said in an email.

Wagers, who is from the Harvard University Medical School Stem Cell Institute, will give two lectures. The first, on Thursday, May 10 at 5:30 p.m., is geared for the general public. The Friday, May 11 lecture, at 1 p.m., is open to the public but more directed at the scientific and medical communities and will be a presentation of her research.

Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis / The Roanoke Times

A football helmet rating system designed by Virginia Tech engineers has been updated to include new helmets.

The ratings stem from a larger research project to rate the effectiveness of adult-size football helmets to protect players from possible concussion inducing impacts.

The new results include more helmets to receive the top five-star rating.

“Specifically, you can see Riddell and Rawlings using this research to develop the very best helmets,” said project director Stefan Duma, the Harry C. Wyatt Professor and Department Head of the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, in a news release.

Riddell and Rawlings were the only two manufacturers to design helmets that earned top marks. Last year Riddell Revolution Speed was the only helmet to earn five stars. This year, the Riddell 360 and the Rawlings Quantum Plus also earned five stars.

The researchers also noted that the helmets with the lowest ratings from the 2011 results are off the market.

Last year, about 30 percent of Virginia Tech football players got new helmets after researchers at the university found one of the models being worn provided only “marginal” protection from concussions.

Duma has said he hopes the general public, including high school players, coaches and parents, will use the rating system to make informed decisions about which helmets to buy.

Last year, one manufacturer called the rating system flawed.

“We find this type of ranking concept to be detrimental to consumer understanding, and detrimental to the development of superior helmets,” said Vincent Ferrara, founder and CEO of Xenith, when the first results were announced.

Check out how other helmets fared here.

Foster mother Shirley Bryant holds the infant she has nicknamed Tiny Man while she gives him methadone to help him cope with withdrawal symptoms. He was born premature, hooked on cocaine and opiate painkillers.(Photo by Sam Dean / The Roanoke Times)

The number of U.S. babies born with signs of opiate drug withdrawal has tripled in a decade, according to a study released online today.

The uptick in babies born with drug withdrawal comes because of a surge in pregnant women’s use of legal and illegal narcotics, including Vicodin, OxyContin and heroin, researchers say. It is the first national study of the problem, according to the Associated Press.

In March I wrote about the trend in Southwest Virginia and about how Roanoke stands out as the Virginia locale with the second-highest number of drug-dependent newborns reported to social services during the past two years.

Here’s more from the Associated Press story:

The number of newborns with withdrawal symptoms increased from a little more than 1 per 1,000 babies sent home from the hospital in 2000 to more than 3 per 1,000 in 2009, the study found. More than 13,000 U.S. infants were affected in 2009, the researchers estimated. …

Weaning infants from these drugs can take weeks or months and often requires a lengthy stay in intensive care units. Hospital charges for treating these newborns soared from $190 million to $720 million between 2000 and 2009, the study found.

The study was released online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Photo courtesy of Michaele White, Governor’s Photographer

Under a new law Virginia public schools will have to keep on hand epinephrine in case a student has an emergency allergic reaction.

The law, which Gov. Bob McDonnell signed today, requires local school boards to develop policies for maintaining and administrating EpiPens to students.

The legislation was proposed after a Chesterfield County elementary school student, Amarria Johnson, died at school as a result of a previously-unknown peanut allergy.

“Virginia must do everything it can to ensure the safety of our young people while they are in school,” McDonnell said in a news release. “This legislation and the money in the recently passed budget will help prevent another tragedy like Amarria Johnson’s from occurring in a public school in the Commonwealth.

“Having a plan in place and access to epinephrine in schools, where children spend half their day, is critical.”

Amarria’s mother, Laura Pendleton, was among the advocates for the law.

The law was also supported by the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Our role as pediatricians stretches from diagnosis, treatment and management of food allergies to educating the parents of their responsibility to implement prevention strategies within and outside the home, including schools,” said Dr. William Moskowitz, President of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in a news release praising the law. “We look forward to getting started quickly and working with all the relevant stakeholders to draft guidelines that will outline who can administer the epinephrine, the appropriate training of such personnel and identifying the appropriate providers in the community who can prescribe.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there was an 18 percent increase in food allergies among school-aged children from 1997 to 2007.

A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that 16 percent to 18 percent of children with a food allergy have had a reaction in school.

Under the law, school boards must implement the new policies at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.