Letting Good Deeds Go Unpunished: Volunteer Immunity Laws and Tort Deterrence

Does tort law deter risky behavior in individuals? We explore this question by examining the relationship between tort immunity and volunteering. During the 1980s and 1990s, nearly every state provided some degree of volunteer immunity. Congress followed with the 1997 Volunteer Protection Act. This article analyzes these acts, identifying three motivations for them: the chilling effects of tort liability, limits on liability insurance, and moral concerns. Using data from the Independent Survey’s Giving and Volunteering surveys, we then identify a large and positive correlation between immunity and volunteering. We next consider the implications of the findings for tort theory and nonprofit law

Book Review: The New Geography of Jobs

In The New Geography of Jobs, Enrico Morretti presents his view of 21st century production in the United States. According to the author, the United States no longer produces heavy machinery like automobiles, nor should it seek to recapture its former manufacturing dominance. Instead, the U.S. should continue to exploit its new competitive advantage: its enormous share of the worldwide market for innovative ideas and technologies. Going forward, innovation is the export sector that will be the key to the nation’s prosperity

Light Rail and Single Family Home Prices: The impact of the MetroLink Blue Line on St. Louis County Residential Property Values

To date, no before and after analysis has been conducted to understand the effects of light rail service on property values in the St. Louis region. A modified repeat sales model was used to estimate whether properties in St. Louis County, Missouri, showed a significant difference in sales price following the opening of the MetroLink Blue Line in August 2006. The model used 23 years of repeat sales data from before (January 1990- August 2006) and after (August 2006-December 2012) the opening of the line, as well as data from station areas (1/4 mile radius of stations, n = 515 paired sales) and control areas (between ¾ and 1 mile from stations, n = 2212 paired sales) to understand whether properties in station areas sold at a premium when compared to properties in control areas following the initiation of light rail service. Results of the analysis indicated that station area properties sold for an average of 1.2% less than the entire sample of repeat sales properties during the 17.5-year before period, but that in the 5.5-year after period, station area properties sold for an average of 4.9% more than the repeat sales sample. Though these differences were not statistically significant, the upward trend in property prices in the vicinity of stations is encouraging in light of the overall downward trend in study area property prices as a result of the recession during the after time period. The results of this analysis indicate that proximity to light rail may be a factor that affects single family home sales price in St. Louis County.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Guidelines for Social Workers in England

These guidelines are written for social workers and other social care professionals who work with people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and their families. They aim to enhance awareness and understanding of this disease, and thereby improve social care for this specific group of people who often have very complex and rapidly changing needs

Book Reviews

Book reviews for the following: A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America by Vishaan Chakrabarti; Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance by Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih; The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Morretti; Walkable City: How Downtown can Save America, One Step at a Time by Jeff Spec

Evaluation of a Sexual and Reproductive Health Peer Education Curriculum for North Carolina Latino Adolescents

Latino adolescents in North Carolina face multiple sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges compared to their non-Latino peers, consistently reporting increased risky sexual health behaviors, higher rates of unplanned pregnancy and higher rates of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). While evidence-based SRH interventions exist for adolescents in the United States, few are tailored for Latino adolescents and the challenges they may face. Though approaches such as peer education and advocacy skills have proven effective in SRH interventions to decrease risk of adverse SRH health outcomes, few adolescent SRH programs incorporate these tools for increasing curriculum reach beyond program participants. El Pueblo, Inc., a Latino services and advocacy organization based in Raleigh, NC, sought to fill this need by developing Nuestros Derechos sin Fronteras (DsF) in 2009. DsF is a human rights-based curriculum that addresses SRH among Latino adolescents. In 2012, El Pueblo requested the assistance of a University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Behavior (HB) Capstone team to develop and implement a formal evaluation of DsF. The evaluation of DsF had three goals: 1) improve the DsF curriculum, 2) demonstrate DsF effectiveness, and 3) enhance DsF sustainability. To this end, the Capstone team reviewed existing quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools and created new evaluation materials as needed. Next, the Capstone team created a database to manage DsF evaluation data. Once evaluation materials and the database were completed, the Capstone team implemented the evaluation in collaboration with El Pueblo staff. Finally, the results of this evaluation were analyzed and compiled into a report and used to revise a funding guide that aids El Pueblo in writing grant proposals to sustain its youth SRH programs. Through its work with El Pueblo, the 2012-2013 Capstone team gained experience with evaluating public health programs in a real-world setting. This experience included the use of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods and increased knowledge about adolescent SRH education and program development. The Capstone team also gained exposure to the non-profit landscape in Raleigh, North Carolina, including the funding environment and resources available from supporting organizations. By collaborating with El Pueblo, the Capstone team established an effective and sustainable DsF evaluation process and identified additional funding sources to support youth SRH programs at El Pueblo. More broadly, the deliverables created by this Capstone project have the potential to establish DsF effectiveness, institutionalize DsF evaluation protocol, and facilitate dissemination of DsF throughout North Carolina.Master of Public Healt

Diet, physical activity, and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obesity in preschool children up to the age of 6 years (Review)

Background Child overweight and obesity has increased globally, and can be associated with short‐ and long‐term health consequences. Objectives To assess the effects of diet, physical activity, and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obesity in preschool children up to the age of 6 years. Search methods We performed a systematic literature search in the databases Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and LILACS, as well as in the trial registers ClinicalTrials.gov and ICTRP Search Portal. We also checked references of identified trials and systematic reviews. We applied no language restrictions. The date of the last search was March 2015 for all databases. Selection criteria We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diet, physical activity, and behavioural interventions for treating overweight or obesity in preschool children aged 0 to 6 years. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias, evaluated the overall quality of the evidence using the GRADE instrument, and extracted data following the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We contacted trial authors for additional information. Main results We included 7 RCTs with a total of 923 participants: 529 randomised to an intervention and 394 to a comparator. The number of participants per trial ranged from 18 to 475. Six trials were parallel RCTs, and one was a cluster RCT. Two trials were three‐arm trials, each comparing two interventions with a control group. The interventions and comparators in the trials varied. We categorised the comparisons into two groups: multicomponent interventions and dietary interventions. The overall quality of the evidence was low or very low, and six trials had a high risk of bias on individual 'Risk of bias' criteria. The children in the included trials were followed up for between six months and three years. In trials comparing a multicomponent intervention with usual care, enhanced usual care, or information control, we found a greater reduction in body mass index (BMI) z score in the intervention groups at the end of the intervention (6 to 12 months): mean difference (MD) ‐0.3 units (95% confidence interval (CI) ‐0.4 to ‐0.2); P < 0.00001; 210 participants; 4 trials; low‐quality evidence, at 12 to 18 months' follow‐up: MD ‐0.4 units (95% CI ‐0.6 to ‐0.2); P = 0.0001; 202 participants; 4 trials; low‐quality evidence, and at 2 years' follow‐up: MD ‐0.3 units (95% CI ‐0.4 to ‐0.1); 96 participants; 1 trial; low‐quality evidence. One trial stated that no adverse events were reported; the other trials did not report on adverse events. Three trials reported health‐related quality of life and found improvements in some, but not all, aspects. Other outcomes, such as behaviour change and parent‐child relationship, were inconsistently measured. One three‐arm trial of very low‐quality evidence comparing two types of diet with control found that both the dairy‐rich diet (BMI z score change MD ‐0.1 units (95% CI ‐0.11 to ‐0.09); P < 0.0001; 59 participants) and energy‐restricted diet (BMI z score change MD ‐0.1 units (95% CI ‐0.11 to ‐0.09); P < 0.0001; 57 participants) resulted in greater reduction in BMI than the comparator at the end of the intervention period, but only the dairy‐rich diet maintained this at 36 months' follow‐up (BMI z score change in MD ‐0.7 units (95% CI ‐0.71 to ‐0.69); P < 0.0001; 52 participants). The energy‐restricted diet had a worse BMI outcome than control at this follow‐up (BMI z score change MD 0.1 units (95% CI 0.09 to 0.11); P < 0.0001; 47 participants). There was no substantial difference in mean daily energy expenditure between groups. Health‐related quality of life, adverse effects, participant views, and parenting were not measured. No trial reported on all‐cause mortality, morbidity, or socioeconomic effects. All results should be interpreted cautiously due to their low quality and heterogeneous interventions and comparators. Authors' conclusions Muticomponent interventions appear to be an effective treatment option for overweight or obese preschool children up to the age of 6 years. However, the current evidence is limited, and most trials had a high risk of bias. Most trials did not measure adverse events. We have identified four ongoing trials that we will include in future updates of this review. The role of dietary interventions is more equivocal, with one trial suggesting that dairy interventions may be effective in the longer term, but not energy‐restricted diets. This trial also had a high risk of bias

Parent-only interventions for childhood overweight or obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years

Background: Child and adolescent overweight and obesity have increased globally, and are associated with short- and long-term health consequences.Objectives: To assess the efficacy of diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions delivered to parents only for the treatment of overweight and obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years.Search methods: We performed a systematic literature search of databases including the Cochrane Library,MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and LILACS as well trial registers.We checked references of identified trials and systematic reviews.We applied no language restrictions. The date of the last search was March 2015 for all databases.Selection criteria: We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions delivered to parents only for treating overweight or obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years.Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed trials for risk of bias and evaluated overall study quality using the GRADE instrument. Where necessary, we contacted authors for additional information.Main results: We included 20 RCTs, including 3057 participants. The number of participants ranged per trial between 15 and 645. Follow-up ranged between 24 weeks and two years. Eighteen trials were parallel RCTs and two were cluster RCTs. Twelve RCTs had two comparisons and eight RCTs had three comparisons. The interventions varied widely; the duration, content, delivery and follow-up of the interventions were heterogeneous. The comparators also differed. This review categorised the comparisons into four groups: parent-only versus parent-child, parent-only versus waiting list controls, parent-only versus minimal contact interventions and parent-only versus other parent-only interventions. Trial quality was generally low with a large proportion of trials rated as high risk of bias on individual risk of bias criteria. In trials comparing a parent-only intervention with a parent-child intervention, the body mass index (BMI) z score change showed a mean difference (MD) at the longest follow-up period (10 to 24 months) of -0.04 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.15 to 0.08); P = 0.56; 267 participants; 3 trials; low quality evidence. In trials comparing a parent-only intervention with a waiting list control, the BMI z score change in favour of the parent-only intervention at the longest follow-up period (10-12 months) had an MD of -0.10 (95% CI -0.19 to -0.01); P = 0.04; 136 participants; 2 trials; low quality evidence. BMI z score change of parent-only interventions when compared with minimal contact control interventions at the longest follow-up period (9 to 12 months) showed an MD of 0.01 (95% CI -0.07 to 0.09); P = 0.81; 165 participants; 1 trial; low quality evidence. There were few similarities between interventions and comparators across the included trials in the parent-only intervention versus other parent-only interventions and we did not pool these data. Generally, these trials did not show substantial differences between their respective parent-only groups on BMI outcomes. Other outcomes such as behavioural measures, parent-child relationships and health-related quality of life were reported inconsistently. Adverse effects of the interventions were generally not reported, two trials stated that there were no serious adverse effects. No trials reported on all-cause mortality, morbidity or socioeconomic effects. All results need to be interpreted cautiously because of their low quality, the heterogeneous interventions and comparators, and the high rates of non-completion.Authors’ conclusions: Parent-only interventions may be an effective treatment option for overweight or obese children aged 5 to 11 years when compared with waiting list controls. Parent-only interventions had similar effects compared with parent-child interventions and compared with those with minimal contact controls. However, the evidence is at present limited; some of the trials had a high risk of bias with loss to follow-up being a particular issue and there was a lack of evidence for several important outcomes. The systematic review has identified 10 ongoing trials that have a parent-only arm, which will contribute to future updates. These trials will improve the robustness of the analyses by type of comparator, and may permit subgroup analysis by intervention component and the setting. Trial reports should provide adequate details about the interventions to be replicated by others. There is a need to conduct and report cost effectiveness analyses in future trials in order to establish whether parent-only interventions are more cost-effective than parent-child interventions

Diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obese adolescents aged 12 to 17 years

Adolescent overweight and obesity has increased globally, and can be associated with short- and long-term health consequences. Modifying known dietary and behavioural risk factors through behaviour changing interventions (BCI) may help to reduce childhood overweight and obesity. This is an update of a review published in 2009. To assess the effects of diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions for the treatment of overweight or obese adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. We performed a systematic literature search in: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, LILACS, and the trial registers ClinicalTrials.gov and ICTRP Search Portal. We checked references of identified studies and systematic reviews. There were no language restrictions. The date of the last search was July 2016 for all databases. We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diet, physical activity and behavioural interventions for treating overweight or obesity in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias, evaluated the overall quality of the evidence using the GRADE instrument and extracted data following the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We contacted trial authors for additional information. We included 44 completed RCTs (4781 participants) and 50 ongoing studies. The number of participants in each trial varied (10 to 521) as did the length of follow-up (6 to 24 months). Participants ages ranged from 12 to 17.5 years in all trials that reported mean age at baseline. Most of the trials used a multidisciplinary intervention with a combination of diet, physical activity and behavioural components. The content and duration of the intervention, its delivery and the comparators varied across trials. The studies contributing most information to outcomes of weight and body mass index (BMI) were from studies at a low risk of bias, but studies with a high risk of bias provided data on adverse events and quality of life.The mean difference (MD) of the change in BMI at the longest follow-up period in favour of BCI was -1.18 kg/m(2) (95% confidence interval (CI) -1.67 to -0.69); 2774 participants; 28 trials; low quality evidence. BCI lowered the change in BMI z score by -0.13 units (95% CI -0.21 to -0.05); 2399 participants; 20 trials; low quality evidence. BCI lowered body weight by -3.67 kg (95% CI -5.21 to -2.13); 1993 participants; 20 trials; moderate quality evidence. The effect on weight measures persisted in trials with 18 to 24 months' follow-up for both BMI (MD -1.49 kg/m(2) (95% CI -2.56 to -0.41); 760 participants; 6 trials and BMI z score MD -0.34 (95% CI -0.66 to -0.02); 602 participants; 5 trials).There were subgroup differences showing larger effects for both BMI and BMI z score in studies comparing interventions with no intervention/wait list control or usual care, compared with those testing concomitant interventions delivered to both the intervention and control group. There were no subgroup differences between interventions with and without parental involvement or by intervention type or setting (health care, community, school) or mode of delivery (individual versus group).The rate of adverse events in intervention and control groups was unclear with only five trials reporting harms, and of these, details were provided in only one (low quality evidence). None of the included studies reported on all-cause mortality, morbidity or socioeconomic effects.BCIs at the longest follow-up moderately improved adolescent's health-related quality of life (standardised mean difference 0.44 ((95% CI 0.09 to 0.79); P = 0.01; 972 participants; 7 trials; 8 comparisons; low quality of evidence) but not self-esteem.Trials were inconsistent in how they measured dietary intake, dietary behaviours, physical activity and behaviour. We found low quality evidence that multidisciplinary interventions involving a combination of diet, physical activity and behavioural components reduce measures of BMI and moderate quality evidence that they reduce weight in overweight or obese adolescents, mainly when compared with no treatment or waiting list controls. Inconsistent results, risk of bias or indirectness of outcome measures used mean that the evidence should be interpreted with caution. We have identified a large number of ongoing trials (50) which we will include in future updates of this review

The Lantern Vol. 62, No. 1, December 1994

• Hollow • A Little Knowledge is Dangerous • My Old Block • Life • The Natural Born Fool • Oracle • Formation of a Triangle • Marie on the Beach • The Tweed Derby • Tripping • In Vitro • The Character • Coming Home for Christmas • Unkempt • Too Much • Reimertanti-Ode • Seeds • Secrethttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1145/thumbnail.jp