ACNC Study Links Moms’ Health at Conception to Newborns’ Risk of Obesity
LITTLE ROCK, AR. — A mother’s weight and diet at the time of conception and throughout pregnancy may be linked to her child’s risk of obesity later in life, according to research conducted at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC) and published this month in the American Journal of Physiology — Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.
The researchers, who are affiliated with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), found that a fetus’ exposure to gestational obesity may result in a cycle of weight gain and increasing body fat that is passed on from the mother. Their study, “Maternal Obesity at Conception Programs Obesity in the Offspring,” appears in the journal’s online edition at www.the-aps.org.
To test the theory that adult obesity may be influenced by programming during fetal development, the investigators developed an overfeeding model and examined rats that consumed it. When fed a control diet, the offspring of overweight and lean rats responded similarly. But when exposed to high-fat diets, the obese offspring gained significantly more weight. This, among other findings, suggests that gestational exposure to obesity led to a programming effect that increased the offspring’s’ susceptibility to becoming obese as an adult.
“The mother’s body composition at conception has important implications for the metabolism and risk of obesity in the offspring in later years,” said Kartik Shankar, Ph.D., DABT, lead investigator of the study for ACNC and an instructor in the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UAMS. “Not only do these findings help us appreciate the reasons for the rapid rise in obesity, but this novel model also will allow us to understand the underlying mechanisms and should provide fertile opportunity for translational type research.”
The study was produced by a research team that also included: ACNC Director and Senior Investigator Thomas Badger, Ph.D., professor in the department of Physiology and Biology in the UAMS College of Medicine; ACNC Director of Clinical Nutrition Research Janet Gilchrist, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine; ACNC Associate Basic Research Director Martin J.J. Ronis, Ph.D., professor in the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine; and ACNC Research Assistant Amanda Harrell.
Brain Injury Association Third Annual Walk for Thought
The Brain Injury Association of Arkansas will hold the Third Annual Walk For Thought on Saturday, March 15 in Little Rock. The walk will begin in Murray Park. Walkers will have a choice between a flat one-mile and hilly 3.1-mile (5K) walk. The 5K walk will be up and over the Big Dam Bridge and back at Murray Lock and Dam. This will be wheelchair and stroller accessible.
The walkathon serves as a public awareness event and fundraiser. The 2007 Walk For Thought cleared over $7,500 and increased the number of participants to 130 from 42 in 2006. For more information about the Walk For Thought, contact the Association at (501) 374-3585 (Little Rock) or toll-free at (800) 235-2443, by e-mail at info@BrainAssociation.org or at www.BrainAssociation.org.
UAMS’ Kohler Receives Leadership Award in Oregon
LITTLE ROCK — Dr. Peter O. Kohler, ,the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) vicechancellor for the Northwest Arkansas region, was recently honored with a Lifetime Leadership Award for his work while president of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
The Oregon Health Forum presented the award to Kohler during its Dec. 5 awards dinner. Kohler, who retired from OHSU in 2006 after serving 18 years as president, joined UAMS in April 2007 to lead the effort to establish a satellite campus in northwest Arkansas. His career includes nine years, from 1977-1986, when he served as chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at UAMS. He served as interim dean for the UAMS College of Medicine in 1985-1986.
For ten years, Oregon Health Forum has recognized outstanding leaders in health care and health policy who have shown a commitment to improving the health care of Oregonians.
The BridgeWay Announces New Staff Additions
The BridgeWay Hospital is pleased to announce the addition of Jennifer Nolan as Chief Executive Officer. Nolan holds a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern Mississippi and has held executive leadership positions in the behavioral health field since 1995. Her experience includes work in both the public and private sectors and in both inpatient and outpatient programs.
Dr. Kristin Gannoe was recently named Medical Director over child and adolescent inpatient services. Dr. Gannoe earned her medical degree at St. George’s University and completed her residency in psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences where she served as chief resident during her child and adolescent fellowship. She offers outpatient appointments through Arkansas Psychiatric Clinic in West Little Rock.
Ann Brown, LCSW, has joined the BridgeWay as Director for Outpatient Services in conjunction with the recent opening of their new Bridges program for youth
Dr. Robert Jarvis, in Psychiatry joins the adult services medical staff. Dr. Jarvis completed his residency at UAMS and obtained his medical degree in May of 2000. He specializes in electroconvulsive therapy available at The BridgeWay on both an inpatient and outpatient basis and sees patients in his outpatient practice through Arkansas Psychiatric Clinic in West Little Rock.
Dr. Brian Neukirk, the new Medical Director, began his affiliation with The BridgeWay as a physician on call, transitioning into a full time psychiatric position once his residency was completed.
Crittenden Regional Hospital Recognizes Home Care And Hospice Professionals
WEST MEMPHIS, AR. — More than 11 million Americans receive home-delivered healthcare from home health providers. In their honor, Crittenden Regional Hospital Home Care and Hospice recently joined the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in recognizing those that work in the home healthcare and hospice profession.
Through technological advances, home-delivered healthcare has grown far beyond basic professional nursing and home care aide services. Today’s modern home care agency offers a wealth of nursing, physical, occupational, respiratory, and speech therapies, counseling, dietary, laboratory, pharmacy, medical equipment and home medical supplies, and personal care.
Crittenden Regional Hospital Home Care Services and Hospice includes a branch office in Forrest City and offices in West Memphis, Osceola and Marked Tree.
Arkansas Methodist Emergency Department Reconized With National Improvement Award
PARAGOULD, AR — The Emergency Department at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center (AMMC) in Paragould has been named by Press Ganey Associates, Inc. as a 2007 Compass Award Winner. The Compass Award recognizes healthcare facilities that show the most improvement over two years in overall patient satisfaction.
The Press Ganey Compass Award is a coveted symbol of achievement in the healthcare satisfaction industry that is bestowed annually, and Arkansas Methodist is just one of 34 health care facilities across the nation to be recognized with this award.
Press Ganey currently partners with more than 7,000 health care facilities — including nearly 40 percent of U.S. hospitals — to measure and improve the quality of patient care. The company’s databases are the largest in the industry, and allow facilities nationwide to benchmark their results against peer organizations.
McCormack Joins Crittenden Regional Hospital As Vice President Of Organizational Effectiveness
WEST MEMPHIS — Carol Cobb McCormack, who has more than 20 years of leadership experience building energized and productive organizations, has been named Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness for Crittenden Regional Hospital, a 152-bed hospital serving six counties in Eastern Arkansas.
Prior to joining Crittenden Regional, McCormack was Director of Human Resources and chief human resources officer for Emphasys Software, a business solutions development firm whose market is the affordable housing industry. While with the firm, McCormack directed employee and corporate services and acquisition integration activities for a diverse workforce in three regional offices and 14 states.
A graduate of the University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Organizations, McCormack is working towards a master’s degree in Organizational Behavior. She has Lifetime professional accreditation as a Senior Professional in Human Resources [SPHR] and also holds Accredited Business Communicator [ABC] credentials.
Reversal of Alzheimer’s Symptoms Within Minutes Reported in New Study
LITTLE ROCK — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer’s disease. The study focuses on one of these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical component of the brain’s immune system. Normally, TNF finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses in the brain. The authors hypothesized that elevated levels of TNF in Alzheimer’s disease interfere with this regulation. To reduce elevated TNF, the authors gave patients an injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called etanercept. Excess TNF-alpha has been documented in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s.
The new study documents a dramatic and unprecedented therapeutic effect in an Alzheimer’s patient: improvement within minutes following delivery of perispinal etanercept, which is etanercept given by injection in the spine. Etanercept (trade name Enbrel) binds and inactivates excess TNF. Etanercept is FDA approved to treat a number of immune-mediated disorders and is used off label in the study.
The use of anti-TNF therapeutics as a new treatment choice for many diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and potentially even Alzheimer’s, was recently chosen as one of the top 10 health stories of 2007 by the Harvard Health Letter.
Similarly, the Neurotechnology Industry Organization has recently selected new treatment targets revealed by neuroimmunology (such as excess TNF) as one of the top 10 Neuroscience Trends of 2007. And the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives has chosen the pilot study using perispinal etanercept for Alzheimer’s for inclusion and discussion in their 2007 Progress Report on Brain Research.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Edward Tobinick, is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the Institute for Neurological Research, a private medical group in Los Angeles. Dr. Hyman Gross, clinical professor of neurology at the University of Southern California, was co-author.
The study is accompanied by an extensive commentary by Sue Griffin, Ph.D., director of research at the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock and at the Geriatric Research and Clinical Center at the VA Hospital in Little Rock, who along with Dr. Robert Mrak, chairman of pathology at University of Toledo Medical School, are editors-in-chief of the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
Griffin and Mrak are pioneers in the field of neuroinflammation. Griffin published a landmark study in 1989 describing the association of cytokine overexpression in the brain and Alzheimer’s disease. Her research helped pave the way for the findings of the present study. Griffin has recently been selected for membership in the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a nonprofit organization of more than 200 leading neuroscientists, including ten Nobel laureates.
“It is unprecedented that we can see cognitive and behavioral improvement in a patient with established dementia within minutes of therapeutic intervention,” said Griffin. “It is imperative that the medical and scientific communities immediately undertake to further investigate and characterize the physiologic mechanisms involved. This gives all of us in Alzheimer’s research a tremendous new clue about new avenues of research, which is so exciting and so needed in the field of Alzheimer’s. Even though this report predominantly discusses a single patient, it is of significant scientific interest because of the potential insight it may give into the processes involved in the brain dysfunction of Alzheimer’s.”
While the article discusses one patient, many other patients with mild to severe Alzheimer’s received the treatment and all have shown sustained and marked improvement.
The new study, entitled “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease following perispinal etanercept administration,” and the accompanying commentary, entitled “Perispinal etanercept: Potential as an Alzheimer’s therapeutic,” are available on the Web site of the Journal of Neuroinflammation, at www.jneuroinflammation.com.
Author Hyman Gross, M.D., has no competing interests. Author Dr. Edward Tobinick, owns stock in Amgen, the manufacturer of etanercept, and has multiple issued and pending patents assigned to TACT IP LLC that describe the parenteral and perispinal use of etanercept for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders, including, but not limited to, U.S. patents 6015557, 6177077, 6419934, 6419944, 6537549, 6982089, 7214658 and Australian patent 758523.
St. Anthony’s Welcomes Board Members
MORRILTON — St. Anthony’s Medical Center would like to welcome Randy Rankin to the Medical Center’s Board of Directors. Rankin is a minister at the Downtown Church of Christ in Morrilton. He graduated from Harding University in Searcy Arkansas and is married to Heather Rankin.
In addition, the St. Anthony’s Foundation recently added five new members to the Advisory Board of Directors, including Stephanie Lipsmeyer, Virginia Myers, Stewart Nelson, Jim Schuler, and Marilyn Thomas.
UAMS, State Telemedicine Programs Share $4.2 Million FCC Award
LITTLE ROCK — A $4.2 million federal award to an alliance of health care organizations including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will boost efforts to extend health care access to rural Arkansas.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced funding for a three-year project on Nov. 19 to the Arkansas Telehealth Network under the Rural Health Care Pilot Program that will consolidate and expand existing public and private non-profit telehealth networks. The funds will allow medical information and education to be delivered across the voice and high-speed data network to nearly 800 locations.
With the improvements, more patients — especially in the medically underserved areas of rural Arkansas — will be seen by medical specialists via telemedicine. More health care providers will have access to the latest health information and education without having to leave their clinics or towns. The consolidated network also will allow a more coordinated response in the event of a major public health incident.
UAMS, Arkansas Department of Health and Baptist Health in concert with DeWitt Hospital and Stuttgart Regional Medical Center both representing the Arkansas Hospital Association will lead the effort, as guided by the Arkansas Telehealth Oversight and Management (ATOM) Membership and Committee, which includes the aforementioned agencies, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Arkansas Department of Information Systems, Arkansas Department of Human Services, Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, Arkansas Hospital Association, Arkansas Research & Education Optical Network, Community Health Centers of Arkansas, DaySpring Behavioral Health, Delta Regional Authority, Mental Health council of Arkansas, St. Vincent Health System, and Training Research in Aging and Children Services (TRACS).
St. Anthony’s Petit Jean Home Health Recognized as National Best Practice Agency
MORRILTON — Fazzi Associates recently named St. Anthony’s home care program, Petit Jean Home Health, as a National Best Practice Agency and a BestWorks Award of Distinction recipient.
Fazzi Associates is a national consulting, benchmarking, and best practice firm that allows agencies to compare their performance against the top agencies in the country on two key measures — patient satisfaction and the practices, ratios, and processes used by agencies. Through data collection and comprehensive analysis, Fazzi provides important information useful to patients when choosing home health care service providers.
According to Fazzi, agencies named as National Best Practice Agencies are proven leaders and have excelled in two of the most important measures of an agency’s success — quality and financial viability. The recognition is determined based on a comparative analysis of agencies involved in Fazzi Associates’ BestWorks benchmarking service, which is a network of home health care and hospice agencies who know exactly where they stand not only against national standards, but against the best agencies nationwide. These agencies share the belief that quality of care and financial stability depend on “raising the bar” through best practice management. BestWorks subscribers compare results, analyze practices and learn effective improvement strategies from a national leader in consulting, benchmarking, and best practice research.
In addition, agencies undergo a more in depth analysis of all agencies in the United States Home Health Compare scoring system. St. Anthony’s scored in the top 25% of all agencies in the BestWorks national database and was ranked in the top 25% of the top 500 home health agencies in the country.
John Coffin Named to New UAMS Development Post
LITTLE ROCK — John Coffin has been named executive director of development for UAMS institutes within the Division of Development and Alumni Affairs at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Coffin will oversee fundraising activities for UAMS’ six institutes: the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, and the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. He also will maintain the campus’ planned giving portfolio.
Coffin previously served as senior director of planned giving at UAMS and as executive director of development at the Carolina HealthCare Foundation in Charlotte, N.C. From 1998-2002, he held the position of international consultant with Brakeley John Price Jones, a fundraising and management consulting firm. During that time, Coffin spent four years as resident consultant at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
UAMS Names Hunter to Direct Medical Technology Program
LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently appointed Karen K. Hunter as director for the medical technology program in the UAMS College of Health Related Professions.
Hunter, a medical technologist certified by the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Scientists, also was appointed assistant professor for the medical technology program in the CHRP’s Department of Laboratory Sciences. She brings more than 10 years’ experience in laboratory sciences, along with educational experience as a science teacher at the secondary level.
Prior to joining UAMS, Hunter served three years as medical technology program director at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Before that, she served five years as an instructor and laboratory supervisor/chemical safety officer at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. She also spent eight years as a science teacher at four junior high and senior high schools in Nebraska from 1987 to 1995.
Hunter earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Wyoming in 1984, followed by a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the University of Nebraska in 1993. She earned a master’s degree in health services administration in 1998 from Central Michigan University.
State Employees Eligible for $100 Discount on UAMS Weight Loss Program
LITTLE ROCK — With many people making New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, Arkansas state employees who enroll this month are eligible for a $100 discount on the medically supervised weight loss program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Hundreds of patients have experienced the value of the UAMS Program for Weight Loss and Metabolic Control including many, like former Gov. Mike Huckabee, who have lost more than 100 pounds. The multi-faceted program includes guidance for dietary change, behavior modification and nutrition education, all conducted under medical supervision. The program is designed to assist people with not only dramatic weight loss but the medical consequences of weight loss.
The January discount could make the more than 10-year-old program more accessible to the 53,000 state employees. To sign up for a program seminar and take advantage of the $100 savings, contact the weight loss program at 501-603-1497.
There are three phases of the weight loss program, following a comprehensive medical exam that will determine the patient’s health risk. Initially, a nutritionally balanced, low-fat diet is introduced with meal replacement supplements.
Program participants are closely monitored through twice monthly medical exams — depending on health risk — and weekly weigh-ins along with classes in nutrition and behavior modification. Behavioral changes are vital to lasting lifestyle changes, Kantorovich said, as they offer tactics for developing new food and time priorities.
Nutrition information empowers program participants to track calorie intake and understand habits that can affect appetite. Information on fitness is available to help participants develop an exercise plan. Kantorovich said physical activity is another important element to weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.
When the participant closes in on their goal weight, regular foods will be gradually re-introduced into the diet. The physician, along with a dietitian, will assist the re-introduction of various foods and combinations to suit individual needs.
Individual medical problems are handled in close communication with the participant’s primary care physician. Medical specialists also can manage diseases that often accompany being overweight, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The $100 discount is off the $300 program fee that covers the first 24 weeks’ participation in the program, along with class materials and access as necessary to a registered dietitian. The other initial costs for the program include $150 for an initial medical visit and $100 for lab tests to document the patient’s medical history and condition for developing a customized weight loss plan. There is a $99 charge for the first week of meal replacements.
Subsequent meal replacements are available for $33 per box, which includes 15 servings. The weekly or twice monthly follow up visits are $100 each, covering the medical consultation and lab tests.
Seminars to learn about the weight loss program are held at 6 p.m. every Thursday in the Walton Auditorium on the 10th Floor of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute on the UAMS campus.
February 2008
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