Exploring Community-Based Nutrition Education Programs on Children’s Knowledge of Effective Budgeting and Nutritional Analysis

Children from low-income areas, ages 5-18, are at high risk for obesity and other related nutritional issues, partially due to lack of knowledge about effective budgeting and nutritional content analysis. Little information is known about the education provided by current community programs in Hampton Roads for teaching children to 1) shop smart, 2) read nutrition labels, and 3) the importance of eating healthier. We propose a longitudinal (12-week) observational study to determine what community-based education is provided to children on how and why to shop smart and read nutritional content; and to determine whether or not the education is effective. The data will be collected via researcher-developed questionnaires on nutritional education and attendance at community programs, then analyzed using the Pearson’s product-moment correlation technique

Development of an international standard set of value-based outcome measures for patients with chronic kidney disease : a report of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) CKD working group

Value-based health care is increasingly promoted as a strategy for improving care quality by benchmarking outcomes that matter to patients relative to the cost of obtaining those outcomes. To support the shift toward value-based health care in chronic kidney disease (CKD), the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) assembled an international working group of health professionals and patient representatives to develop a standardized minimum set of patient-centered outcomes targeted for clinical use. The considered outcomes and patient-reported outcome measures were generated from systematic literature reviews. Feedback was sought from patients and health professionals. Patients with very high-risk CKD (stages G3a/A3 and G3b/A2-G5, including dialysis, kidney transplantation, and conservative care) were selected as the target population. Using an online modified Delphi process, outcomes important to all patients were selected, such as survival and hospitalization, and to treatment-specific subgroups, such as vascular access survival and kidney allograft survival. Patient-reported outcome measures were included to capture domains of health-related quality of life, which were rated as the most important outcomes by patients. Demographic and clinical variables were identified to be used as case-mix adjusters. Use of these consensus recommendations could enable institutions to monitor, compare, and improve the quality of their CKD care

Understanding the circumgalactic medium is critical for understanding galaxy evolution

Galaxies evolve under the influence of gas flows between their interstellar medium and their surrounding gaseous halos known as the circumgalactic medium (CGM). The CGM is a major reservoir of galactic baryons and metals, and plays a key role in the long cycles of accretion, feedback, and recycling of gas that drive star formation. In order to fully understand the physical processes at work within galaxies, it is therefore essential to have a firm understanding of the composition, structure, kinematics, thermodynamics, and evolution of the CGM. In this white paper we outline connections between the CGM and galactic star formation histories, internal kinematics, chemical evolution, quenching, satellite evolution, dark matter halo occupation, and the reionization of the larger-scale intergalactic medium in light of the advances that will be made on these topics in the 2020s. We argue that, in the next decade, fundamental progress on all of these major issues depends critically on improved empirical characterization and theoretical understanding of the CGM. In particular, we discuss how future advances in spatially-resolved CGM observations at high spectral resolution, broader characterization of the CGM across galaxy mass and redshift, and expected breakthroughs in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations will help resolve these major problems in galaxy evolution.Comment: Astro2020 Decadal Science White Pape

Development of an International Standard Set of Value-Based Outcome Measures for Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Value-based health care is increasingly promoted as a strategy for improving care quality by benchmarking outcomes that matter to patients relative to the cost of obtaining those outcomes. To support the shift toward value-based health care in chronic kidney disease (CKD), the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) assembled an international working group of health professionals and patient representatives to develop a standardized minimum set of patient-centered outcomes targeted for clinical use. The considered outcomes and patient-reported outcome measures were generated from systematic literature reviews. Feedback was sought from patients and health professionals. Patients with very high-risk CKD (stages G3a/A3 and G3b/A2-G5, including dialysis, kidney transplantation, and conservative care) were selected as the target population. Using an online modified Delphi process, outcomes important to all patients were selected, such as survival and hospitalization, and to treatment-specific subgroups, such as vascular access survival and kidney allograft survival. Patient-reported outcome measures were included to capture domains of health-related quality of life, which were rated as the most important outcomes by patients. Demographic and clinical variables were identified to be used as case-mix adjusters. Use of these consensus recommendations could enable institutions to monitor, compare, and improve the quality of their CKD care

The Stimulus Act of 2009 and Its Effect on Food-At-Home Spending by SNAP Participants

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly known as the Stimulus Act, increased maximum benefits for households that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). In this analysis, SNAP households increased the food share of total expenditures by 1.44 percentage points after the increase in benefits and spent 53 cents of each additional dollar of SNAP benefits on food; this means that SNAP and cash income are not perfectly fungible. Neoclassical economic theory would predict a figure closer to 5-10 cents for each additional SNAP dollar. Thus, SNAP benefits provided a larger boost to food-expenditure share than an equal amount of cash. This report provides estimates of the marginal propensity to spend out of SNAP for vulnerable populations, including households at the lowest income level (under $15,000 annually), single-parent households, households with a member over age 65, and households with an unemployed member. In each subgroup but the elderly, households exhibited higher marginal propensities to spend on food out of SNAP than economic theory predicts, with the lowest income households demonstrating the highest marginal propensity to spend out of SNAP (0.62, or 62 cents for each additional dollar)

Food Secure In 30 Minutes or Less: The Relationship Between Time Use and Food Security

This paper examines the relationship between household food security status, SNAP participation, and time used in food preparation and acquisition. Using the American Time Use Survey linked with the Current Population Survey's Food Security Supplement, we find that food insecurity and SNAP participation are positive predictors of number of minutes single adult households use in food preparation. Meanwhile, SNAP participation is a negative predictor of food acquisition. Although these results do not imply a causal relationship, they do reveal reflect that food insecure households and households that participate in the SNAP program use time differently than food secure and non-participating households