UAMS Researcher Shows Estrogen May Protect Women from Severe Liver FibrosisNew research led by a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) hepatologist suggests that estrogen protects women with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from severe liver fibrosis. The study, led by Ayako Suzuki, Ph.D., M.D., an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of hepatology with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, shows that premenopausal women have a reduced risk of having more severe liver fibrosis compared to men, but after menopause fibrosis severity is comparable between men and women. The finding was recently published online in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and was done at Duke University before Suzuki joined UAMS and the VA.If the findings of the study are confirmed by further research, then they could personalize preventative care for patients with NASH, especially ones with high risk, such as those with obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes a range of liver disorders from simple fatty liver to NASH (fatty liver with inflammation), NASH with fibrosis and cirrhosis. With the rapid rise in obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, the prevalence of NAFLD — the result of insulin resistance — has steadily increased. Studies suggest that 10 to 30 percent of the U.S. population currently have some level of NAFLD, making it the most common liver disease in the United States.Suzuki’s research team analyzed data from 541 adults with NASH who were seen at Duke University Liver Clinics and the university’s bariatric surgery center. The average age of people participating in the study was 48. Twenty-eight percent were premenopausal women, 37 percent were post-menopausal and 35 percent were men.Suzuki’s previous research looked at the relationship between NAFLD and development before and after puberty and theorized that differences in physiological levels of sex hormones related to gender, pubertal development, and menopause may modify disease progression of NAFLD. She said the study published recently was an extension of that research.St. Bernards Home Health Named Top 500 of 2013 HomeCare EliteSt. Bernards Home Health has been named to the Top 500 of the 2013 HomeCare Elite™, a recognition of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. This marks the fifth consecutive year that St. Bernards has been recognized for its quality performance in the field of home health.Now in its eighth year, the HomeCare Elite identifies the top 25 percent of agencies and highlights the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall. Winners are ranked by an analysis of publicly available performance measures in quality outcomes, best practice (process measure) implementation, patient experience (Home Health CAHPS®), quality improvement and consistency and financial performance. In order to be considered, an agency must be Medicare-certified and have data for at least one outcome in Home Health Compare. Out of 9,969 agencies considered, 2,496 are elite.The award is sponsored by OCS HomeCare by National Research Corporation, the leading products for home health metrics and analytics, and DecisionHealth, publisher of the most respected independent newsletter in the home care profession, Home Health Line.The St. Bernards Home Health program is designed to maintain or restore health to the highest degree possible, increasing each patient’s level of independence, while reducing the effects of disability or illness. Home health care can help shorten the length of a hospital stay, reduce hospitalization, provide an affordable alternative to nursing home or other institutional care and give a more personal quality of patient care through individual attention in the comfort of the home setting.Baptist Health Makes Land Purchase to Build New Medical Center in ConwayBaptist Health has purchased approximately 37 acres to construct a wholly owned and operated medical center in Conway to serve the growing healthcare needs of Faulkner and surrounding counties.Baptist Health is collaborating with more than 30 Conway-based physicians to develop and open the new medical center in Conway to be operated as a not-for-profit, faith-based community hospital providing comprehensive clinical services.Dr. Benjamin Dodge of Conway is chairman of a steering committee of 9 physicians representing over 30 local physicians who forThis new hospital facility will address the health-care needs of Faulkner County and surrounding areas, which have experienced unprecedented population growth over the past 10 years.Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway will employ approximately 425 health-care professionals and staff and be led by an experienced leadership team working closely with local physicians committed to improving the health of the community.A local full-service hospital will enhance the potential for the area’s economic growth by contributing to an increase in local employment and providing state-of-the-art health-care services that help attract new businesses.UAMS Offers Online Continuing Education CreditsA new University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) website portal, learnondemand.org, allows health care professionals at any time to hear lectures and take classes online to earn continuing education (CE) credits.Anybody who has any type of Internet access from a smartphone or tablet, a laptop or a desktop, can reach the website and video lectures archived there 24 hours a day and take a class for credit, according to Sarah Rhoads Kinder, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Learn On Demand (LOD), a product developed under the UAMS Center for Distance Health (CDH), allows users to track all their educational hours and credits earned inside or outside the program. The site also is compliant with the CE requirements for all three national accrediting organizations for physicians, nurses and pharmacists. Among the other health professions to which LOD is approved to offer continuing education are registered dietitians, case managers, lactation consultants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists and emergency medical technicians.Although online service is directed at providing continuing education first to Arkansas health care providers, it will be available for anyone else to use for a fee. An LOD user outside Arkansas can pay on the website for a class and begin taking it right away.The UAMS CDH for several years has been offering continuing education classes through live videoconferencing.The creation of LOD began in June 2012. Kesha James, an instructional development specialist in the Center for Distance Health who has worked on the site and service since then, said one of the major challenges was finding a system that would do everything they wanted it to do. Ultimately, a system and software provided by CE City was chosen.In 2014, the Center for Distance Health plans to add a patient portal to LOD that will allow, for example, a pregnant mother with diabetes to receive video instruction in how to manage both her diabetes and her pregnancy.Funding for LOD was secured through a grant from the Health Resources and Service Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from the UAMS Center for Distance Health.
