The Do\u27s and Don\u27ts of Working with Local Communities: Tips for Successful Community-Based Public Meetings

Communities must be provided with a forum to express residents\u27 opinions on proposed public policies through effective community-based public meetings. Planning is essential to conducting an effective public meeting. To be successful, an effective public policy education process must be implemented before, during, and after the public meeting

Social research on neglected diseases of poverty: Continuing and emerging themes

Copyright: © 2009 Manderson et al.Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) exist and persist for social and economic reasons that enable the vectors and pathogens to take advantage of changes in the behavioral and physical environment. Persistent poverty at household, community, and national levels, and inequalities within and between sectors, contribute to the perpetuation and re-emergence of NTDs. Changes in production and habitat affect the physical environment, so that agricultural development, mining and forestry, rapid industrialization, and urbanization all result in changes in human uses of the environment, exposure to vectors, and vulnerability to infection. Concurrently, political instability and lack of resources limit the capacity of governments to manage environments, control disease transmission, and ensure an effective health system. Social, cultural, economic, and political factors interact and influence government capacity and individual willingness to reduce the risks of infection and transmission, and to recognize and treat disease. Understanding the dynamic interaction of diverse factors in varying contexts is a complex task, yet critical for successful health promotion, disease prevention, and disease control. Many of the research techniques and tools needed for this purpose are available in the applied social sciences. In this article we use this term broadly, and so include behavioral, population and economic social sciences, social and cultural epidemiology, and the multiple disciplines of public health, health services, and health policy and planning. These latter fields, informed by foundational social science theory and methods, include health promotion, health communication, and heath education

The sociology of cancer: a decade of research

Biomedicine is often presented as the driving force behind improvements in cancer care, with genomics the latest innovation poised to change the meaning, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and lived experience of cancer. Reviewing sociological analyses of a diversity of patient and practitioner experiences and accounts of cancer during the last decade (2007–17), we explore the experiences of, approaches to and understandings of cancer in this period. We identify three key areas of focus: (i) cancer patient experiences and identities; (ii) cancer risk and responsibilities and (iii) bioclinical collectives. We explore these sociological studies of societal and biomedical developments and how sociologists have sought to influence developments in cancer identities, care and research. We end by suggesting that we extend our understanding of innovations in the fields of cancer research to take better account of these wider social and cultural innovations, together with patients, activists' and sociologists' contributions therein

LANDOWNERS\u27 PERCEPTIONS RELATED TO WETLAND REGULATORY POLICY IN COASTAL LOUISIANA

Coastal wetlands in Louisiana are over 75% privately owned. Activities conducted in wetlands are primarily regulated through both the Clean Water Act (Section 404) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). The purpose of this study was to investigate coastal landowners\u27 perceptions related to wetland regulatory policy and use the results in the development of future, more workable wetland regulatory policy in Louisiana and the United States (see recommendations section). Regulatory program concerns most often listed by private landowners include: 1) acceptable definition of a wetland remains unsettled; 2) inconsistencies caused when two or more government agencies or programs issue conflicting wetland determinations on the same tract of land; 3) delays in obtaining a wetland determination; 4) delays in obtaining a wetland permit decision; 5) cost of permit and/or permit requirements too high; 6) loss of private property rights due to protection of public wetland benefits; and 7) the issue of regulatory takings without just compensation (under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution)

True colors shining through: Cooperative extension strengths in time of disaster

Responding to the destruction brought to Louisiana by hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved extraordinarily challenging for the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (LCES). Responding to and recovering from such widespread destruction also provided valuable insights into the vital services that state Cooperative Extension Services have the capability to provide. In this Commentary, we share just a few of the insights we gained from surviving these disasters and provide some lessons learned that we hope you will find valuable as you consider the essential roles you play in your communities. Copyright © by Extension Journal, Inc

Shear bond strengths of molar tubes bonded with different adhesives

This study determined which molar base retentive designs produced the greatest shear bond strength (SBS) to human molars when using different adhesives