New Mexico Community Health Councils: Documenting Contributions to Systems Changes.

Context: Coalition research has shifted from delineating structures and processes to identifying intermediate, systems changes (e.g., changes in policies) that contribute to longterm community health improvement.

From the ground up: building a participatory evaluation model.

Background: We engaged in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project with the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) and its 32 county-based health councils.

Objectives: We report on the process of the collaborative development of an evaluation model that would identify and link council actions to intermediate system change.

Methods: We used multiple data sources and interactive, iterative processes to systematically examine and document the health council system including document review, a statewide partnership survey, and multiple meetings with partners.

Comparison of Petrifilm Staph Express Count System with the bacteriological analytical manual direct-plating method for enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in artificially contaminated hard cheese.

The 3M Petrifilm Staph Express Count System was compared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) direct-plate count method for the enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in 6 types of artificially contaminated hard cheese (Asiago, Cheddar, Gruyère, Parmesan, Romano, and Swiss).