State of the art conference on weight management in VA: Policy and research recommendations for advancing behavioral interventions

This article summarizes outcomes of the behavioral interventions work group for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) State of the Art Conference (SOTA) for Weight Management. Sixteen VHA and non-VHA subject matter experts, representing clinical care delivery, research, and policy arenas, participated. The work group reviewed current evidence of efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation of behavioral interventions for weight management, participated in phone- and online-based consensus processes, generated key questions to address gaps, and attended an in-person conference in March 2016. The work group agreed that there is strong evidence for efficacy and effectiveness of core behavioral intervention components and processes, but insufficient evidence to determine the comparative effectiveness of multiple clinician delivered weight management modalities, as well as technologies that may or may not supplement clinician delivered treatments. Effective strategies for implementation of weight management services in VHA were identified. The SOTA work group’s foremost policy recommendations are to establish a system-wide culture for weight management and to identify a population-level health metric to measure the impact of weight management interventions that can be tracked and clearly communicated throughout VHA. The work group’s top research recommendation is to determine how to deploy and scale the most effective behavioral weight management interventions for Veterans

Photosynthetic-light parameter estimates (<i>An-max</i>, <i>A</i>_<i>qe</i>,<i>LCP</i>, and <i>PAR at An-plateau</i>) and their standard errors for sugar maple seedlings in the reference and treatment plots.

<p>Estimated parameters are based on 3 replicates per treatment with subsample measurements of multiple leaves on multiple seedlings 2 or 3 times per summer during 2 years. Different superscripts (a, b) show treatment mean differences within a row (P < 0.05).</p

Research translation for military and veteran health: research, practice, policy

Military service presents unique challenges and opportunities for health care and public health. In the USA, there are over 2 million military servicemembers, 20 million veterans, and millions more military and veteran family members. Military servicemembers and eligible family members, many veterans, and retirees receive health care through the two largest learning health care systems in the USA, managed and delivered through the Departments of Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs (VA), and contracted health care organizations. Through a network of collaborative relationships, DoD, VA, and partnering health care and research organizations (university, corporate, community, and government) accelerate research translation into best practices and policy across the USA and beyond. This article outlines military and veteran health research translation as summarized from a collaborative workshop led by experts across health care research, practice, and administration in DoD, VA, the National Institutes of Health, and affiliated universities. Key themes and recommendations for research translation are outlined in areas of: (a) stakeholder engagement and collaboration; (b) implementation science methods; and (c) funding along the translation continuum. Overall, the ability to rapidly translate research into clinical practice and policy for positive health outcomes requires collaborative relationships among many stakeholders. This includes servicemembers, veterans, and their families along with researchers, health care clinicians, and administrators, as well as policymakers and the broader population

Weight management and physical activity throughout the cancer care continuum

Mounting evidence suggests that weight management and physical activity (PA) improve overall health and well being, and reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality among cancer survivors. Although many opportunities exist to include weight management and PA in routine cancer care, several barriers remain. This review summarizes key topics addressed in a recent National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine workshop entitled, "Incorporating Weight Management and Physical Activity Throughout the Cancer Care Continuum." Discussions related to body weight and PA among cancer survivors included: 1) current knowledge and gaps related to health outcomes; 2) effective intervention approaches; 3) addressing the needs of diverse populations of cancer survivors; 4) opportunities and challenges of workforce, care coordination, and technologies for program implementation; 5) models of care; and 6) program coverage. While more discoveries are still needed for the provision of optimal weight-management and PA programs for cancer survivors, obesity and inactivity currently jeopardize their overall health and quality of life. Actionable future directions are presented for research; practice and policy changes required to assure the availability of effective, affordable, and feasible weight management; and PA services for all cancer survivors as a part of their routine cancer care

The Fire and Tree Mortality Database, for empirical modeling of individual tree mortality after fire.

Wildland fires have a multitude of ecological effects in forests, woodlands, and savannas across the globe. A major focus of past research has been on tree mortality from fire, as trees provide a vast range of biological services. We assembled a database of individual-tree records from prescribed fires and wildfires in the United States. The Fire and Tree Mortality (FTM) database includes records from 164,293 individual trees with records of fire injury (crown scorch, bole char, etc.), tree diameter, and either mortality or top-kill up to ten years post-fire. Data span 142 species and 62 genera, from 409 fires occurring from 1981-2016. Additional variables such as insect attack are included when available. The FTM database can be used to evaluate individual fire-caused mortality models for pre-fire planning and post-fire decision support, to develop improved models, and to explore general patterns of individual fire-induced tree death. The database can also be used to identify knowledge gaps that could be addressed in future research