Strategies to address the complex challenge of improving regional and remote children’s fruit and vegetable consumption

Fruit and vegetables (F&V) are imperative for good health, yet less than one per cent of Australian children consume these food groups in sufficient quantities. As guided by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this paper aimed to: (i) understand key informant perspectives of the amount, types and quality of F&V consumed by rural and remote Western Australian (WA) children; and, (ii) determine strategies that could increase F&V consumption among rural and remote WA children. This qualitative study included 20 semi-structured interviews with health, school/youth and food supply workers, focusing on topics including: quantity and type of F&V consumed and strategies to increase children’s consumption. A thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo qualitative data analysis software (Version 10, 2014. QSR International Pty Ltd., Doncaster, Victoria, Australia). Key informants reported children consumed energy-dense nutrient-poor foods in place of F&V. Strategy themes included: using relevant motivators for children to increase their preference for F&V (i.e., gaming approach, SCT construct of ‘expectations’); empowering community-driven initiatives (i.e., kitchen gardens, SCT construct of ‘environment’); increasing food literacy across settings (i.e., food literacy skills, SCT construct of ‘behavioural capacity’); developing salient messages and cooking tips that resonate with parents (i.e., parent newsletters, SCT construct of ‘self-control’); increasing F&V availability, safety, and convenience (i.e., school provision); and, considering the impact of role models that extend beyond the family (i.e., relatable role models, SCT construct of ‘observational learning’). Overall, a comprehensive strategy that incorporates relevant motivators for children and families, supports local initiatives, reinforces the range of role models that are involved with children and creates healthier environments, is required to increase F&V consumption among children

National Survey of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Programs

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify commonalities and provide a descriptive overview of key program elements and oversight of U.S. introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) programs. Methods: A Web-based questionnaire, consisting of 40 questions, was sent to 91 schools of pharmacy. The questionnaire addressed the following IPPE program topics, in addition to school demographics: program oversight, experience site selection, program structure, relationship to didactic curriculum, and quality assurance issues. Results: Forty-six schools of pharmacy responded resulting in a response rate of 50.5%. Results identified commonalities in each of the key areas, as well as identifying multiple discrepancies in interpretation of the 2007 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards and Guidelines (Standards 2007) for IPPEs. Only 21 of 42 respondents indicated they believed their IPPE program was currently in compliance with Standards 2007. Conclusion: The survey results demonstrate a need for clarification by ACPE stakeholders in several areas addressed within the Standards 2007. No other previous research surveys were found addressing the key issues identified in this survey, revealing the need for additional research on IPPE programs within pharmacy school curricula

Electron-deuteron scattering in a current-conserving description of relativistic bound states: formalism and impulse approximation calculations

The electromagnetic interactions of a relativistic two-body bound state are formulated in three dimensions using an equal-time (ET) formalism. This involves a systematic reduction of four-dimensional dynamics to a three-dimensional form by integrating out the time components of relative momenta. A conserved electromagnetic current is developed for the ET formalism. It is shown that consistent truncations of the electromagnetic current and the $NN$ interaction kernel may be made, order-by-order in the coupling constants, such that appropriate Ward-Takahashi identities are satisfied. A meson-exchange model of the $NN$ interaction is used to calculate deuteron vertex functions. Calculations of electromagnetic form factors for elastic scattering of electrons by deuterium are performed using an impulse-approximation current. Negative-energy components of the deuteron's vertex function and retardation effects in the meson-exchange interaction are found to have only minor effects on the deuteron form factors.Comment: 42 pages, RevTe