Mandated Reporting in Georgia: A Policy Recommendation and Rationale for Why Mandated Reporter Training Should be a Requirement

In 2015, The U.S, Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau, documented 3.6 million referrals from Child Protective Services comprising 6.6 million children suspected to have been subject to some form of maltreatment. To increase the likelihood of maltreatment being correctly identified and reported, States require certain individuals called, “Mandated Reporters”, to report suspected maltreatment. However, the laws and policies surrounding mandated reporting are not uniform and largely vary across States, which has been correlated with inconsistencies in how child maltreatment cases are reported and treated. Currently, in the state of Georgia, there is no policy requiring mandated reporters to receive training. Additionally, there is no governing or approving body that has been charged with creating a standardized curriculum for the pre-existing mandated reporter trainings. The goal of this project is to produce policy recommendations regarding Mandated Reporting training requirements in hopes of enhancing communication and consistency in the early recognition and reporting of suspected maltreatment in the state of Georgia. This project will focus on the Mandated Reporting present in Georgia, and discuss problems occurring as a result of Georgia’s policies including a lack of policies on specific issues. Additionally, policies from California and Pennsylvania, who have been commended as having coherent and high-quality child maltreatment legislation, will be presented for comparison

Building a Village: Developing a Student Parent Support Program

In an effort to provide parents with social support and parenting skills, college students were provided with parenting workshops, a resource library, and online discussions. Initially, these endeavors were grant supported and participation was mandatory. Recently, services have been offered as a voluntary activity. Data from each time period will be compared to demonstrate the importance of funded student participation. Amanda Wilcox Herzog, Ph.D. has taught at California State University Santa Barbara for the last 16 years. Dr. Wilcox Herzog is a Professor in the Psychology Department, where they offer a BA in Human Development and an MA in Child Development. In addition, she is the founder and faculty supervisor of the CSUSB Infant/Toddler Lab School. Dr. Wilcox Herzog received her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University. Her professional development over the past 20 years has focused almost exclusively on ways to increase child care quality via teacher training and education. She has engaged in various projects that have utilized assessment, personal reflection, and targeted training opportunities to improve teacher’s interactions and curricular offerings with young children

Building a Village: Developing a Student Parent Support Program

In an effort to provide parents with social support and parenting skills, college students were provided with parenting workshops, a resource library, and online discussions. Initially, these endeavors were grant supported and participation was mandatory. Recently, services have been offered as a voluntary activity. Data from each time period will be compared to demonstrate the importance of funded student participation. Amanda Wilcox Herzog, Ph.D. has taught at California State University Santa Barbara for the last 16 years. Dr. Wilcox Herzog is a Professor in the Psychology Department, where they offer a BA in Human Development and an MA in Child Development. In addition, she is the founder and faculty supervisor of the CSUSB Infant/Toddler Lab School. Dr. Wilcox Herzog received her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University. Her professional development over the past 20 years has focused almost exclusively on ways to increase child care quality via teacher training and education. She has engaged in various projects that have utilized assessment, personal reflection, and targeted training opportunities to improve teacher’s interactions and curricular offerings with young children

Evaluation of the Indiana Child Care Financing Initiative

A research report evaluating the results of the Indiana Child Care Financing Initiative, a statewide effort to improve child care in Indiana. The report summarizes results in the areas of improving capacity, quality, and community awareness of child care issues, as well as the role of 69 local projects in initiating or expanding local partnerships focused on child care

Oscillatory activity in the infant brain and the representation of small numbers

Gamma-band oscillatory activity (GBA) is an established neural signature of sustained occluded object representation in infants and adults. However, it is not yet known whether the magnitude of GBA in the infant brain reflects the quantity of occluded items held in memory. To examine this, we compared GBA of 6–8 month-old infants during occlusion periods after the representation of two objects vs. that of one object. We found that maintaining a representation of two objects during occlusion resulted in significantly greater GBA relative to maintaining a single object. Further, this enhancement was located in the right occipital region, which is consistent with previous object representation research in adults and infants. We conclude that enhanced GBA reflects neural processes underlying infants’ representation of small numbers

Mucosa-Associated Microbiota in Barrett’s Esophagus, Dysplasia, and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Differ Similarly Compared With Healthy Controls

INTRODUCTION: Alterations in the composition of the human gut microbiome and its metabolites have been linked to gut epithelial neoplasia. We hypothesized that differences in mucosa-adherent Barrett’s microbiota could link to risk factors, providing risk of progression to neoplasia. METHODS: Paired biopsies from both diseased and nonaffected esophagus (as well as gastric cardia and gastric juice for comparison) from patients with intestinal metaplasia (n 5 10), low grade dysplasia (n 5 10), high grade dysplasia (n 5 10), esophageal adenocarcinoma (n 5 12), and controls (n 5 10) were processed for mucosa-associated bacteria and analyzed by 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid V4 gene DNA sequencing. Taxa composition was tested using a generalized linear model based on the negative binomial distribution and the log link functions of the R Bioconductor package edgeR. RESULTS: The microbe composition of paired samples (disease vs nondisease) comparing normal esophagus with intestinal metaplasia, low grade dysplasia, high grade dysplasia, and adenocarcinoma showed significant decreases in the phylum Planctomycetes and the archaean phylum Crenarchaeota (P \u3c 0.05, false discovery rate corrected) in diseased tissue compared with healthy controls and intrasample controls (gastric juice and unaffected mucosa). Genera Siphonobacter, Balneola, Nitrosopumilus, and Planctomyces were significantly decreased (P \u3c 0.05, false discovery rate corrected), representing \u3c10% of the entire genus community. These changes were unaffected by age, tobacco use, or sex for Crenarcha. DISCUSSSION: There are similar significant changes in bacterial genera in Barrett’s esophagealmucosa, dysplasia, and adenocarcinoma compared with controls and intrapatient unaffected esophagus. Further work will establish the biologic plausibility of these specific microbes’ contributions to protection from or induction of esophageal epithelial dysplasia. Includes supplemental file

Using a technology-based intervention to promote weight loss in sedentary overweight or obese adults: a randomized controlled trial study design

Purpose: The SenseWearTM Armband is an activity monitor developed to improve lifestyle self-monitoring. Currently, few studies assess electronic self-monitoring and weight loss with a lifestyle intervention program. To our knowledge, only one study has used the SenseWear Armband in combination with a lifestyle intervention to improve weight loss, and no studies have evaluated whether a self-monitoring intervention based solely on the armband can promote weight loss. Consequently, the aims of the study were to assess weight loss from electronic self-monitoring, to compare these values to the lifestyle intervention and standard care groups, and to compare weight loss with lifestyle intervention with and without the armband. Patients and methods: We recruited 197 sedentary overweight or obese adults (age, 46.8 ± 10.8 years; BMI, 33.3 ± 5.2 kg/m2) to participate in the 9-month study. Participants were randomized into one of four weight loss groups: 1) the standard care group received a self-directed weight loss program, complete with an evidence-based weight loss manual (standard care, n = 50); 2) a 14-week group-based behavioral weight loss program followed by weekly, biweekly, and monthly telephone counseling calls (GWL, n = 49); 3) the use of the armband to help improve lifestyle self-monitoring (SWA alone, n = 49); or (4) the group-based behavioral weight loss program and follow-up telephone counseling calls plus the armband (GWL + SWA, n = 49). All participants received the evidence-based weight loss manual at baseline. All measures were performed at baseline and months 4 and 9. The primary outcomes were weight loss and waist circumference reduction. Results: This study is a well-designed randomized controlled study powered to detect a 0.5-kg weight loss and 0.6-cm waist circumference reduction in overweight and obese sedentary adults. Conclusion: Innovative technologies are providing lifestyle self-monitoring and weight loss tools. Utilizing these technologies may be an important step in improving the current obesity epidemic

Electronic feedback in a diet- and physical activity-based lifestyle intervention for weight loss: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The SenseWear™ Armband (SWA) (BodyMedia, Inc. Pittsburgh, PA) is a physical activity and lifestyle monitor that objectively and accurately measures free-living energy balance and sleep and includes software for self-monitoring of daily energy expenditure and energy intake. The real-time feedback of the SWA can improve individual self-monitoring and, therefore, enhance weight loss outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited 197 sedentary overweight or obese adults (age, 46.8 ± 10.8 y; body mass index (BMI), 33.3 ± 5.2 kg/m²; 81% women, 32% African-American) from the greater Columbia, South Carolina area. Participants were randomized into 1 of 4 groups, a self-directed weight loss program via an evidence-based weight loss manual (Standard Care, n = 50), a group-based behavioral weight loss program (GWL, n = 49), the armband alone (SWA-alone, n = 49), or the GWL plus the armband (GWL+SWA, n = 49), during the 9-month intervention. The primary outcome was change in body weight and waist circumference. A mixed-model repeated-measures analysis compared change in the intervention groups to the standard care group on weight and waist circumference status after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, energy expenditure, and recruitment wave.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Body weight was available for 62% of participants at 9 months (52% standard care, 70% intervention). There was significant weight loss in all 3 intervention groups (GWL, 1.86 kg, P = 0.05; SWA-alone, 3.55 kg, P = 0.0002; GWL+SWA, 6.59 kg, P < 0.0001) but not in the Standard Care group (0.89 kg, P = 0.39) at month 9. Only the GWL+SWA group achieved significant weight loss at month 9 compared to the Standard Care group (P = 0.04). Significant waist circumference reductions were achieved in all 4 groups at month 9 (Standard Care, 3.49 cm, P = 0.0004; GWL, 2.42 cm, P = 0.008; SWA-alone, 3.59 cm, P < 0.0001; GWL+SWA, 6.77 cm, P < 0.0001), but no intervention group had significantly reduced waist circumference compared to the Standard Care group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Continuous self-monitoring from wearable technology with real-time feedback may be particularly useful to enhance lifestyle changes that promote weight loss in sedentary overweight or obese adults. This strategy, combined with a group-based behavioral intervention, may yield optimal weight loss.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00957008">NCT00957008</a></p

Cardiometabolic results from an armband-based weight loss trial

Purpose: This report examines the blood chemistry and blood pressure (BP) results from the Lifestyle Education for Activity and Nutrition (LEAN) study, a randomized weight loss trial. A primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of real-time self-monitoring of energy balance (using the SenseWearTM Armband, BodyMedia, Inc Pittsburgh, PA) on these health factors. Methods: 164 sedentary overweight or obese adults (46.8 ± 10.8 years; BMI 33.3 ± 5.2 kg/m2; 80% women) took part in the 9-month study. Participants were randomized into 4 conditions: a standard care condition with an evidence-based weight loss manual (n = 40), a group-based behavioral weight loss program (n = 44), and armband alone condition (n = 41), and a group plus armband (n = 39) condition. BP, fasting blood lipids and glucose were measured at baseline and 9 months. Results: 99 participants (60%) completed both baseline and follow-up measurements for BP and blood chemistry analysis. Missing data were handled by baseline carried forward. None of the intervention groups had significant changes in blood lipids or BP when compared to standard care after adjustment for covariates, though within-group lowering was found for systolic BP in group and group + armband conditions, a rise in total cholesterol and LDL were found in standard care and group conditions, and a lowering of triglycerides was found in the two armband conditions. Compared with the standard care condition, fasting glucose decreased significantly for participants in the group, armband, and group + armband conditions (all P \u3c 0.05), respectively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that using an armband program is an effective strategy to decrease fasting blood glucose. This indicates that devices, such as the armband, can be a successful way to disseminate programs that can improve health risk factors. This can be accomplished without group-based behavioral programs, thereby potentially reducing costs