The school wellness nurse: a model for bridging gaps in school wellness programs.

Incidence of pediatric overweight continues to pose significant national health threats due to associated co-morbid, chronic conditions, including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and others. Interventions to address health behaviors of children often focus on the school environment because of the opportunity to have an impact on child health through nutrition education and optimization of the school food and physical activity environments. Federally mandated school wellness policies provide schools with clear objectives to address poor health behaviors of their students.

Guidelines for blood test monitoring of methotrexate toxicity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: To assess the utility of the American College of Rheumatology guidelines for monitoring methotrexate (MTX)-related toxicity in a cohort of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: Eighty-nine patients with JIA treated with MTX were monitored prospectively: aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), complete blood count (CBC), and differential blood count were measured prior to starting MTX, and then monthly. Significantly abnormal blood tests (SABT) were prospectively defined as (1) significantly elevated liver enzymes (SELE) greater than twice the upper limit of normal; (2) granulocyte count < 1.

Community-based service learning in the engaged university.

The engaged university expands the concept of service learning to include a redesigned approach to teaching, research, and service functions that leads to a productive involvement with communities. This article describes an ongoing community partnership that models the best-practice aspects of the engaged university.