Factors That Influence High School Student Participation in United States Department of Agriculture School Lunch Nutrition Programs

The survey investigated factors that influenced high school student participation in the National School Lunch Program. The National School Lunch program provides nutritionally balanced meals based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Recommended Dietary Allowances, and the Food Guide Pyramid. This nutrition program contributes significantly to the nutrient needs of adolescents, however, participation rates are low and students do not receive the health benefits associated with this nutrition program when they do not participate. The survey was conducted in two high schools, both with grades sophomore through senior. The two high schools had distinct differences in location, cafeteria design and seating arrangement, number of lunch periods, and proximity to additional eating establishments. The survey asked the high school students to rate their school lunch program from Very Good to Poor in the areas of taste, appearance, temperature and amount of the food, and the courtesy of the foodservice staff. The survey also asked students to rate the variety and selection offered in the school, the time spent waiting in line, and the frequency which the student participated in the school lunch program. Questions regarding the current grade in school, the type of food typically selected, and any comments the students chose to add were also on the survey. Students with the newer cafeteria design were more likely to rate the food appearance as very good compared to students with an older cafeteria design. The temperature of the food, and the variety and selection were viewed more positively by the school with the more attractive cafeteria design than the school with the older cafeteria. Taste, frequency of participation, amount of food, time spent waiting in line, and the courtesy of the foodservice staff were rated similarly by both schools. The survey showed that the school lunchroom environment can influence student participation

Few U.S. public health schools offer courses on palliative and end-of-life care policy

Background: Palliative care has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a critical policy element for the relief of suffering, yet palliative care policy receives minimal attention in mainstream U.S. public health journals, conferences, or textbooks. In the ’90s, documentation of the lack of attention to end-of-life and palliative care in medical and nursing curricula led to concerted efforts to improve medical and nursing education in palliative care. No such educational effort has yet been directed toward public health professionals. Objective: This study\u27s objective was to quantify current course offerings covering palliative and end-of-life care from a public health and health policy perspective at accredited schools of public health. Design: Using a list of keywords about palliative and end-of-life care, the research team searched publicly accessible websites of all CEPH accredited and affiliated U.S. schools of public health to identify courses that included relevant content about palliative care. Results: For academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13, 3 (6%) of the 49 accredited U.S. schools of public health offered a full course covering public health issues in palliative care. Six schools (12%) included some palliative care content in related courses such as gerontology policy. Conclusions: Schools of public health are not preparing future policy experts with a basic knowledge of the components and systems of palliative care and hospice. Development and dissemination of appropriate curricular material to address the public health and policy aspects of palliative care is needed to address this gap

ICEAGE (Incidence of Complications following Emergency Abdominal surgery: Get Exercising): study protocol of a pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial testing physiotherapy for the prevention of complications and improved physical recovery after emergency abdominal surgery

WHODAS. World Health Organisation disability assessment scale. (PDF 24 kb

Why do avian responses to change in Arctic green-up vary?

Global climate change has altered the timing of seasonal events (i.e., phenology) for a diverse range of biota. Within and among species, however, the degree to which alterations in phenology match climate variability differ substantially. To better understand factors driving these differences, we evaluated variation in timing of nesting of eight Arctic-breeding shorebird species at 18 sites over a 23-year period. We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as a proxy to determine the start of spring (SOS) growing season and quantified relationships between SOS and nest initiation dates as a measure of phenological responsiveness. Among species, we tested four life history traits (migration distance, seasonal timing of breeding, female body mass, expected female reproductive effort) as species-level predictors of responsiveness. For one species (Semipalmated Sandpiper), we also evaluated whether responsiveness varied across sites. Although no species in our study completely tracked annual variation in SOS, phenological responses were strongest for Western Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Red Phalaropes. Migration distance was the strongest additional predictor of responsiveness, with longer-distance migrant species generally tracking variation in SOS more closely than species that migrate shorter distances. Semipalmated Sandpipers are a widely distributed species, but adjustments in timing of nesting relative to variability in SOS did not vary across sites, suggesting that different breeding populations of this species were equally responsive to climate cues despite differing migration strategies. Our results unexpectedly show that long-distance migrants are more sensitive to local environmental conditions, which may help them to adapt to ongoing changes in climate. climate change, migration, NDVI, nest initiation, phenology, shorebirdspublishedVersio

Lessons from implementing the Australian National Action Plan for Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common yet under-recognised chronic disease with one in nine (more than 830,000) women and those assigned female at birth diagnosed with endometriosis by the age of 44 years in Australia. In 2018, Australia was the first country to develop a roadmap and blueprint to tackle endometriosis in a nationwide, coordinated manner. This blueprint is outlined in the National Action Plan for Endometriosis (NAPE), created from a partnership between government, endometriosis experts and advocacy groups. The NAPE aims to improve patient outcomes in the areas of awareness and education, clinical management and care and research. As researchers and clinicians are working to improve the lives of those with endometriosis, we discuss our experiences since the launch of the plan to highlight areas of consideration by other countries when developing research priorities and clinical plans. Historically, major barriers for those with endometriosis have been twofold; first, obtaining a diagnosis and secondly, effective symptom management post-diagnosis. In recent years, there have been calls to move away from the historically accepted ‘gold-standard’ surgical diagnosis and single-provider specialist care. As there are currently no reliable biomarkers for endometriosis diagnosis, specialist endometriosis scans and MRI incorporating artificial intelligence offer a novel method of visualisation and promising affordable non-invasive diagnostic tool incorporating well-established technologies. The recognised challenges of ongoing pain and symptom management, a holistic interdisciplinary care approach and access to a chronic disease management plan, could lead to improved patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs

Building leaders for the UN Ocean Science Decade : a guide to supporting early career women researchers within academic marine research institutions

Diverse and inclusive marine research is paramount to addressing ocean sustainability challenges in the 21st century, as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Despite increasing efforts to diversify ocean science, women continue to face barriers at various stages of their career, which inhibits their progression to leadership within academic institutions. In this perspective, we draw on the collective experiences of thirty-four global women leaders, bolstered by a narrative review, to identify practical strategies and actions that will help empower early career women researchers to become the leaders of tomorrow. We propose five strategies: (i) create a more inclusive culture, (ii) ensure early and equitable career development opportunities for women ECRs, (iii) ensure equitable access to funding for women ECRs, (iv) offer mentoring opportunities and, (v) create flexible, family-friendly environments. Transformational, meaningful, and lasting change will only be achieved through commitment and collaborative action across various scales and by multiple stakeholders.Peer reviewe

A 'synthetic-sickness' screen for senescence re-engagement targets in mutant cancer backgrounds.

Senescence is a universal barrier to immortalisation and tumorigenesis. As such, interest in the use of senescence-induction in a therapeutic context has been gaining momentum in the past few years; however, senescence and immortalisation remain underserved areas for drug discovery owing to a lack of robust senescence inducing agents and an incomplete understanding of the signalling events underlying this complex process. In order to address this issue we undertook a large-scale morphological siRNA screen for inducers of senescence phenotypes in the human melanoma cell line A375P. Following rescreen and validation in a second cancer cell line, HCT116 colorectal carcinoma, a panel of 16 of the most robust hits were selected for further validation based on significance and the potential to be targeted by drug-like molecules. Using secondary assays for detection of senescence biomarkers p21, 53BP1 and senescence associated beta-galactosidase (SAβGal) in a panel of HCT116 cell lines carrying cancer-relevant mutations, we show that partial senescence phenotypes can be induced to varying degrees in a context dependent manner, even in the absence of p21 or p53 expression. However, proliferation arrest varied among genetic backgrounds with predominantly toxic effects in p21 null cells, while cells lacking PI3K mutation failed to arrest. Furthermore, we show that the oncogene ECT2 induces partial senescence phenotypes in all mutant backgrounds tested, demonstrating a dependence on activating KRASG13D for growth suppression and a complete senescence response. These results suggest a potential mechanism to target mutant KRAS signalling through ECT2 in cancers that are reliant on activating KRAS mutations and remain refractory to current treatments