Grand Rounds March on Arkansas Medical News Inc.

Grand Rounds March

ACNC Study Links Moms’ Health at Conception to Newborns’ Risk of Obesity

LITTLE ROCK — 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.

Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics and St. Vincent Health System to Donate AED’s to Little Rock Public Schools
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics and St. Vincent Health System announce their donation of five Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) to area Little Rock public schools. The AED devices will be donated in honor of Antony Hobbs the Parkview student who passed away earlier this year after he collapsed on the basketball court January 2, 2008.

In addition, Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics and St. Vincent Health System will work together on THE ANTONY HOBBS PROJECT – “Not one more child – Not ever”. THE ANTONY HOBBS PROJECT is a state-wide initiative aimed at working with Arkansas organizations to put AED devices in every Arkansas High School as well as to provide training for coaches, students and staff. The project will also launch a public service campaign with the help of the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) and the Little Rock School District.

Communities Launch Home Safety Literacy Program

LITTLE ROCK — Six communities in Arkansas are preparing to launch a new home safety campaign designed for adults with low literacy skills. The counties participating in the project include Chicot, Johnson, Searcy, Sharp, Stone and Washington. The project is supported by a state team made up of representatives from Arkansas Literacy Councils and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ozark Literacy Council in Fayetteville, the Fayetteville Fire Department, and Johnson County Rural Fire District #1 in Clarksville.

Safety and literacy representatives from these communities completed their initial training on how to implement the project on January 10 in Little Rock. During the next month they will launch projects designed to work with adults who have limited reading skills or are learning to speak and understand English. The project will help adults acquire basic fire and emergency preparedness information that can help reduce deaths and injuries to them and their families.

The project will use the model and materials developed by the Home Safety Council in Washington, D.C., in partnership with ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, New York, and the Fire Protection and Safety Technology program at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Students will receive the safety instruction as part of their regular literacy or English-as-a-Second-Language instruction.
Safety agency representatives in the six counties will support this instruction through activities such as class presentations, installation of smoke alarms and provision of information about disasters and emergencies most likely to occur in the local area.

These representatives will partner with the Chicot County Literacy Council, Lake Village; the Johnson County Adult Education Center, Clarksville; the Literacy Council of North Central Arkansas, Leslie; the Sharp County Literacy Council, Hardy; and Ozark Literacy Council, Fayetteville.

FORTUNE Announces 2008 List of “100 Best Companies To Work For”

LITTLE ROCK— FORTUNE announced recently that Arkansas Children’s Hospital has been ranked 76th on the 11th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.

A driving factor for the list this year is that these companies excel in creating jobs. The 100 companies on the 2008 list added 67,000 employees to their payrolls in the past year and employ a total of nearly 1.6 million employees; up 16 percent from the number employed by companies comprising last year’s list.

Klimberg Named UAMS Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology

LITTLE ROCK — Dr. V. Suzanne Klimberg recently became the recipient of the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Klimberg is chief of the Division of Breast Surgical Oncology at UAMS and a professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology. She also is director of the Breast Cancer Program at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute as well as director of Breast Fellowship in Diseases of the Breast at UAMS.

The endowed chair is the result of a gift from the Tenenbaum Foundation. The foundation’s primary objectives include providing humanitarian assistance to residents of central Arkansas, promoting awareness of breast cancer and funding research to reduce or eliminate deaths from the disease.

The chair is named in honor of Muriel Balsam Kohn, mother of Judy Tenenbaum, who died of breast cancer in 1993.
Klimberg is well recognized for her breast cancer research initiatives, including a study funded by the Tenenbaum Breast Cancer Research Foundation of breast cancer patients at risk for developing lymphedema. To prevent the arm swelling, Klimberg developed the Axillary Reverse Mapping (ARM) procedure. The new technique evaluates the ways in which fluid drains through the lymph node system in the arm.

Klimberg also pioneered the use of a procedure known as radiofrequency ablation for breast cancer patients. The procedure is designed to reduce or eliminate the need for follow-up surgery, reduce recurrence of breast cancer at the original site, and even reduce the need for radiation treatment.

Eye Specialist Joins UAMS Eye Institute

LITTLE ROCK — Dr. Bhairavi Kharod, has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute as director of Cornea and External Disease Service.

Kharod also is a member of the Eye Institute’s Cataract and Refractive Surgery Service and is an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Kharod sees patients at the Eye Institute and the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital. Her special interests include cornea and external disease, corneal transplants, refractive surgery and cataract surgery. She also has a special interest in international ophthalmology, with a focus on the prevention of blindness.

Kharod is a graduate of Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Ga., and completed a preliminary year in internal medicine from Emory University in Atlanta. She completed her ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and served a fellowship in cornea and refractive surgery at the Duke University Eye Center in Durham, N.C.

The Brain Injury Association of Arkansas to hold Third Annual Walk

The Brain Injury Association of Arkansas will hold the Third Annual Walk For Thought on Saturday, March 15 in Little Rock. The walk wil 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

St. Anthony’s Petit Jean Home Health Ranked Among Top 100 of Home Health Providers in Country for 2007

MORRILTON — St. Anthony’s Medical Center announced recently that its home health care program, Petit Jean Home Health, has been named to the 2007 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States. This annual review identifies the Top 100 of agencies, ranked by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, quality improvement and financial performance. Over 8,700 home health agencies were reviewed.

The 2007 HomeCare Elite also indicates those providers who are included in the Top 25% and Top 500 of providers nationwide. The data used for this analysis was compiled from publicly available information.

UAMS Researchers Report 10-Fold Life Extension in a Complex Animal

LITTLE ROCK — Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have reported a 10-fold life extension in the complex animal C. elegans, tiny worms that live in the soil.

Reported in the February 2008 issue of the journal Aging Cell, the discovery was made by a team of researchers headed by Robert Shmookler Reis, professor in the UAMS Departments of Geriatrics, Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Pharmacology/Toxicology and research scientist at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. To view the article, visit www.uams.edu/update/news/aging_cell.pdf.

UAMS Breast Cancer Awareness Program Receives Grant from Avon Foundation

LITTLE ROCK — The Witness Project, a program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to increase awareness of breast cancer, has been awarded a $25,000 one-year grant from the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund. It is the seventh year that the program has received Avon Foundation funding.

The Witness Project, sponsored by the UAMS College of Public Health and founded by the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, educates African-American and medically underserved women and refers them to low-cost or free mammograms and clinical breast exams in their communities. Mobile mammography units provide screenings for women living in counties with limited access to certified mammography facilities. The program also assists women with transportation and other unmet needs. Educational programs are presented at churches, civic centers, job sites and during community activities.

In the past five years, The Witness Project has educated and assisted more than 12,000 women in 23 Arkansas counties. Since January 2007 alone, the program has reached more than 1,150 women with information about the importance of early detection of breast cancer and has referred almost 330 women for mammograms and clinical breast exams. Of the 330 women referred, 275 women received mammograms.

UAMS’ Gehring Named Fellow of American Society for Healthcare Engineering

LITTLE ROCK — Leo Gehring, vice chancellor for campus operations at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been designated a fellow of the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), the highest professional designation from the organization.

Gehring, who served as president of the society in 2007, was credited with leading the group during a period of “unprecedented” growth in membership. “His vision of excellence, for every patient, in every bed, in every hospital in America has led to a strategic focus on developing young and new health care professionals to build and manage the healing environments of tomorrow,” said the letter from the ASHE.

A member of ASHE since 1987, Gehring has served on several committees, including facilities management, planning, design and construction, advocacy, and editorial and publications. In 2003 he achieved Senior Member Status (SASHE) and in 2001 he became a Certified Healthcare Facility Manger (CHFM). He also served as an ASHE board member from 2001 to 2003.

March 2008