Health care notebook

Study on peanut allergy discussed

Peanut allergy research conducted in part at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock is discussed in a March manuscript in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers studied 356 people, some of whom were in Arkansas, who for a year wore either a placebo patch or a patch exposing them to peanut protein.

More patients who wore the peanut patch were able to increase their consumption of peanut protein in test settings, although the trial did not meet a threshold for a positive result established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a news release said.

“We see that some children do respond to this therapy, and that gives us hope that we are honing in on a possibility that will change children’s lives,” said Dr. Stacie M. Jones, who is chief of allergy and immunology at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, a pediatrics professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and an author of the manuscript.

“It’s imperative that we continue to study potential solutions like this patch because every opportunity gets us closer to a day when the accidental exposure to a tiny amount of peanut doesn’t have to be a child’s worst nightmare.”

Jones also was an author of a manuscript in the New England Journal of Medicine last fall detailing work on a trial conducted in part at Arkansas Children’s Hospital studying an oral therapy to combat peanut allergies.

Food allergies among children grew by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Clinics to conduct retinal screenings

At University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Family Medicine Clinics, diabetic patients will soon receive retinal screenings to help preserve their vision.

Teleretinal screenings will take a picture of patients’ retinas (a part of the eye) to be reviewed by UAMS doctors who are trained to look for retinal damage, which is a complication of diabetes.

The damage is caused by protein buildup in the eye, and sometimes goes unnoticed until it’s irreversible, a news release said.

The equipment that produces the images — which also will show glaucoma, tumors and retinal detachment — was funded in part by a $90,000 gift from Lions Clubs of Arkansas.

Screenings are expected to roll out at clinics statewide this year.

Diabetes is particularly prevalent in the state’s Mississippi Delta, which forms an edge of the U.S. “diabetes belt.”

Health fairs on tap this week in state

Health fairs are to take place in central and south Arkansas on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Conway Regional Women’s Council sponsors the In Her Honor Women’s Health Fair to take place Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event has health screenings, body composition assessments and cooking demonstrations, and lunch will be provided to the first 100 people who attend.

It will be in the Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center at 700 Salem Road in Conway.

Arkansas Minority Health Commission’s Healthy Lifestyles Fair is to take place Saturday in South City Church at 10710 Interstate 30 in Little Rock. There are health screenings, a “Youth World” with games and physical fitness activities, and an “Arkansas’ Got Talent” contest.

It will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The commission also is sponsoring a health fair Sunday at the Festival Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara Catholic Church at 503 W. De Queen Ave. in De Queen.

That event is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.