Teeth and heavyset kids: Intervention similarities between childhood obesity and oral health interventions within Native American societies

A systematic literature review was conducted focusing on childhood obesity and oral health interventions which may have relevance to Native American children, their families, and their communities. Childhood obesity and oral health have become a significant problem across Indian Country. Subsequently, a number of oral health and obesity interventions are emerging developed for ethnic minority populations including Native Americans. The objective of this review was to determine best practices of various obesity and oral health interventions used with Native youth. The review found a number of prevalence related studies showing both health conditions were concerns within Native American societies (n=94). A small portion of these studies were intervention studies linking these co-occurring conditions (n=26). Findings also discovered a dearth of oral health interventions whereas the majority was obesity focused. Findings indicated that interventions focused on multi-year environmental modifications. These included culturally tailored adaptations to intervention techniques and environmental medications that promoted healthy eating in school based delivery systems. These included food preparation education, inclusion of family, and structured physical education. Other findings showed policy intervention in both oral health and obesity arena were helpful at the community level

An Assessment of Oral Health on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

An assessment on the oral health of 292 Oglala Lakota residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota looks at dental issues, periodontal disease, oral lesions and need for dental care. The research was conducted by the University of Colorado, Center for Native Oral Health Research and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Long-Term Effects of a Toddler-Focused Caries Prevention Programme Among Northwestern US Tribal Children: the Tots-To-Tweens Study.

We sought to determine whether American Indian tribe-based interventions that successfully prevented toddler dental caries in a 2005 cohort study (the Toddler Overweight and Tooth Decay Prevention Study, or TOTS) influenced the prevalence of dental caries in children ages 11 to 13 in the same communities ten years later (the TOTS-to-Tweens study)

Real or Vicarious

Considering the etymology of the words "real" and "vicarious", Runge discusses the use of the exhibition theme in multimedia works by 22 Canadian artists. Introductory remarks by Wilde. Statements by some of the artists

Testing times: in-house counsel and independence

Independence has long been seen as a key to ethical lawyering. It is associated with improving the quality of legal work, and promoting advice that aligns the client's interests with the 'set of general social norms'. It is seen as so important that it 'defines the lawyer as a professional'. Yet lawyers' independence also presents some difficulties. Despite the exhortations in its favour over many years, the term remains vague and under-developed. Without a clear concept of what is being sought, it is difficult to ascertain what value can be given to it, and what techniques of regulation can be used to encourage it. The process becomes a fairly unproductive one of examining lawyers for traits of independence and failing to find any. This has led more than one commentator to doubt the value of independence as a way of considering legal practiceSuzanne Le Mirehttp://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=244925702612925;res=IELHS

Findings from an Organizational Network Analysis to Support Local Public Health Management

We assessed the feasibility of using organizational network analysis in a local public health organization. The research setting was an urban/suburban county health department with 156 employees. The goal of the research was to study communication and information flow in the department and to assess the technique for public health management. Network data were derived from survey questionnaires. Computational analysis was performed with the Organizational Risk Analyzer. Analysis revealed centralized communication, limited interdependencies, potential knowledge loss through retirement, and possible informational silos. The findings suggested opportunities for more cross program coordination but also suggested the presences of potentially efficient communication paths and potentially beneficial social connectedness. Managers found the findings useful to support decision making. Public health organizations must be effective in an increasingly complex environment. Network analysis can help build public health capacity for complex system management