Building Bridges to a Brighter Tomorrow: A Systematic Evidence Review of Interventions That Prepare Adolescents for Adulthood.

Background: Data suggest that adverse social determinants during adolescence can set in motion a lifetime of poor social and health outcomes. Vulnerable youths are at particularly high risk in this regard.

Objectives: To identify and assess the current evidence base for adolescent-focused interventions designed to influence adulthood preparation that could affect longer-term social determinants.

Building an evidence base to inform interventions for pregnant and parenting adolescents: a call for rigorous evaluation.

Adolescent parents and their children are at increased risk for adverse short- and long-term health and social outcomes. Effective interventions are needed to support these young families. We studied the evidence base and found a dearth of rigorously evaluated programs.

Clinical technical performance of dental therapists in Alaska.

Background: The Alaska Dental Health Aide Therapist program has matured to the point that therapists have been in practice for up to four years.

Methods: A case-study evaluation of the program included assessments of the clinical technical performance of five of these therapists practicing in clinics in small Alaskan villages and towns.

Results: The results indicate that therapists are performing at an acceptable level, with short-term restorative outcomes comparable with those of dentists treating the same populations.

Research findings from nonpharmaceutical intervention studies for pandemic influenza and current gaps in the research.

In June 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a request for applications to identify, improve, and evaluate the effectiveness of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)-strategies other than vaccines and antiviral medications-to mitigate the spread of pandemic influenza within communities and across international borders (RFA-CI06-010). These studies have provided major contributions to seasonal and pandemic influenza knowledge. Nonetheless, key concerns were identified related to the acceptability and protective efficacy of NPIs.