Early Feeding Practices and BMI in Infants

Obesity and childhood obesity are growing public health problems. Some studies have shown a link between early breastfeeding cessation and introduction of complementary foods may be a contributing factor to this problem.The aims of this study were to determine any relation between breastfeeding and infant BMI, formula consumption and infant BMI, timing of complementary foods and infant BMI, and maternal vitamin D status and infant BMI.One hundred thirty-two mother-infant pairs were seen at approximately 3, 6, and 9 months post-partum. Anthropometric measurements were taken at all time points. Mother gave 24-hour recall and infant weights before and after feeding at the three month visit, dietary questionnaires were filled out at 6 and 9 months visits. Blood samples were taken from mothers at 3 month visit to analyze for vitamin D status.No significant relations were found between breastfeeding, formula consumption, timing of complementary foods or maternal vitamin D status and infant BMI.Our results are supported by what was found in the current literature.Nutritional Science

Live Well, Eat Well, Be Active With Diabetes Curriculum Improves Type 2 Diabetes Management

Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease with several modifiable lifestyle factors. The Extension ‘Live well, Eat well, be Active with Diabetes’ curriculum provides four 90-minute lessons teaching individuals to live well, eat well, and be active with diabetes. Fourteen Extension educators implemented and evaluated the curriculum with 107 participants. Participants reported the program helped them feel better able to take care of their health. We observed significant differences in participants’ retrospective pre and post ‘Live well,’ ‘Eat well’ and ‘be Active’ total scores. Extension has a unique opportunity to educate individuals so they may better manage their diabetes

Mapping the global health employment market: an analysis of global health jobs

Abstract Background The number of university global health training programs has grown in recent years. However, there is little research on the needs of the global health profession. We therefore set out to characterize the global health employment market by analyzing global health job vacancies. Methods We collected data from advertised, paid positions posted to web-based job boards, email listservs, and global health organization websites from November 2015 to May 2016. Data on requirements for education, language proficiency, technical expertise, physical location, and experience level were analyzed for all vacancies. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the aforementioned job characteristics. Associations between technical specialty area and requirements for non-English language proficiency and overseas experience were calculated using Chi-square statistics. A qualitative thematic analysis was performed on a subset of vacancies. Results We analyzed the data from 1007 global health job vacancies from 127 employers. Among private and non-profit sector vacancies, 40% (n = 354) were for technical or subject matter experts, 20% (n = 177) for program directors, and 16% (n = 139) for managers, compared to 9.8% (n = 87) for entry-level and 13.6% (n = 120) for mid-level positions. The most common technical focus area was program or project management, followed by HIV/AIDS and quantitative analysis. Thematic analysis demonstrated a common emphasis on program operations, relations, design and planning, communication, and management. Conclusions Our analysis shows a demand for candidates with several years of experience with global health programs, particularly program managers/directors and technical experts, with very few entry-level positions accessible to recent graduates of global health training programs. It is unlikely that global health training programs equip graduates to be competitive for the majority of positions that are currently available in this field