Effect of the Healthy Schools Program on prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, 2006-2012.

IntroductionThe Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program (HSP) is a national evidence-based obesity-prevention initiative aimed at providing the schools in greatest need with onsite training and technical assistance (TTA) and consultation with national experts (HSP national advisors) to create sustainable healthy change in schools' nutrition and physical activity environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of HSP on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, from HSP's inception in 2006 through 2012.MethodsWe used statewide body mass index (BMI) data collected annually from 5th-, 7th-, and 9th-grade students to determine whether enrolling in the HSP's onsite intervention reduced the prevalence of overweight and obesity in intervention schools (n = 281) versus propensity-score matched control schools (n = 709) and whether increasing exposure to the program (TTA and contact with HSP national advisors) was associated with reductions in the prevalence of overweight and obesity.ResultsAnalyses showed no difference between HSP schools and control schools in overweight or obesity prevalence. However, program exposure varied widely among participating schools, and each additional contact with TTA or HSP national advisors was associated with a 0.3% decline in overweight and obesity prevalence (P < .05).ConclusionHSP appears to be an important means of supporting schools in reducing obesity. Although participation in HSP alone was not sufficient to improve weight status in California schools, there was a clear dose-response relationship to the program. HSP serves as an effective model for addressing childhood obesity among engaged schools

Transforming the Knowledge Gap for Local Planning Officials: Impacts of Continuing Education in a Master Citizen Planner Program

In an era of increasing complexity, the majority of local land-use decisions in the United States are made by volunteer citizen planners. Often these elected or appointed volunteers enter their positions with a passion for their communities but without appropriate background training. The Michigan Citizen Planner Program was developed to address this gap. The study described in this article investigated the self-assessed impacts on graduates of basic and advanced training. Findings suggest that training conducted as the result of collaboration by university Extension, other state agencies, and nonprofit groups is essential to realizing the positive community development impacts expected by citizens and local officials

Trade and the Wage Structure: The Case of Manufacturing

This paper considers the relationship between international competitiveness and labour market outcomes in New Zealand manufacturing over a twenty-one-year period from 1978 through 1998. Regression evidence suggests increased globalisation has had important and significant impacts on labour demand, particular in the heavily trade-impacted manufacturing sector of the New Zealand economy. The analysis presented suggests foreign competitors are able to capture rents that would othe1wise accrue to domestic producers. In particular entry of international competitors into domestic markets decreases demand f01· (domestic) labour in those industries. In terms of the New Zealand economy, this is manifest, not through lower wages, but through lower employment levels in those markets most affected by imports. Exports, on the other hand, appear to have a positive effect on both wages and employment, although all of the former and much of the latter effect were offset by effects of the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) in the 1990s

Trade and the Wage Structure: The Case of Manufacturing

This paper considers the relationship between international competitiveness and labour market outcomes in New Zealand manufacturing over a twenty-one-year period from 1978 through 1998. Regression evidence suggests increased globalisation has had important and significant impacts on labour demand, particular in the heavily trade-impacted manufacturing sector of the New Zealand economy. The analysis presented suggests foreign competitors are able to capture rents that would othe1wise accrue to domestic producers. In particular entry of international competitors into domestic markets decreases demand f01· (domestic) labour in those industries. In terms of the New Zealand economy, this is manifest, not through lower wages, but through lower employment levels in those markets most affected by imports. Exports, on the other hand, appear to have a positive effect on both wages and employment, although all of the former and much of the latter effect were offset by effects of the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) in the 1990s

Aquilegia, Vol. 25 No. 7, November-December 2001: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1090/thumbnail.jp

Aquilegia, Vol. 22 No. 4, July-August 1998: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1085/thumbnail.jp

The Corbusier Dream and Frank Lloyd Wright Vision: Cliff Detritus Vs. Urban Savanna

Investigators are seeking methods to assess the visual and environmental quality of the landscape across urban areas. In addition investigators are interested in applying these predictors to study landscape transformation and change. In our study we employed an environmental quality prediction equation, which assesses environmental quality to create a visual quality map of southern Michigan and then evaluated the map’s ability to determine the map’s reliability. Through the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance statistical test, we determined that the map is significantly reliable (p ≤ 0.01) and conclude that constructing such a map of a large area is possible. We then applied this approach to quantify environmental quality change to southeast Michigan (Detroit metropolitan area) from land-use maps in the 1800s, and from a map constructed in 2008. Only areas with cliff detritus had statistically significant changes. Many of these cliff detritus areas are now being transformed back to pastoral urban savanna environments, a vision that had been embraced by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright’s approach compares differently with the grand vision Le Corbusier had for urban areas, a series of multiple-use towers spaced across an urban forest. The sprawling towers of Shanghai, P.R. of China exemplify this model in a modern manner

Aquilegia, Vol. 16 No. 4, July-August 1992: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1172/thumbnail.jp

Host ER–parasitophorous vacuole interaction provides a route of entry for antigen cross-presentation in Toxoplasma gondii–infected dendritic cells

Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites infect host cells by an active invasion process leading to the formation of a specialized compartment, the parasitophorous vacuole (PV). PVs resist fusion with host cell endosomes and lysosomes and are thus distinct from phagosomes. Because the parasite remains sequestered within the PV, it is unclear how T. gondii–derived antigens (Ag’s) access the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I pathway for presentation to CD8+ T cells. We demonstrate that recruitment of host endoplasmic reticulum (hER) to the PV in T. gondii–infected dendritic cells (DCs) directly correlates with cross-priming of CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, we document by immunoelectron microscopy the transfer of hER components into the PV, a process indicative of direct fusion between the two compartments. In strong contrast, no association between hER and phagosomes or Ag presentation activity was observed in DCs containing phagocytosed live or dead parasites. Importantly, cross-presentation of parasite-derived Ag in actively infected cells was blocked when hER retrotranslocation was inhibited, indicating that the hER serves as a conduit for the transport of Ag between the PV and host cytosol. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that pathogen-driven hER–PV interaction can serve as an important mechanism for Ag entry into the MHC class I pathway and CD8+ T cell cross-priming