Formative evaluation for a healthy corner store initiative in Pitt County, North Carolina: assessing the rural food environment, part 1.

Introduction: Obesity prevalence in the rural United States is higher than in urban or suburban areas, perhaps as a result of the food environment. Because rural residents live farther from supermarkets than their urban- and suburban-dwelling counterparts, they may be more reliant on smaller corner stores that offer fewer healthful food items.

Methods: As part of a Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) healthy corner store initiative, we reviewed audit tools in the fall of 2010 to measure the consumer food environment in eastern North Carolina and chose the NEMS-S-Rev (Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Stores-Revised) to assess 42 food stores.

Formative evaluation for a healthy corner store initiative in Pitt County, North Carolina: engaging stakeholders for a healthy corner store initiative, part 2.

Introduction: We examined the feasibility of increasing access to healthful food in corner stores to inform a Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) initiative by engaging stakeholders (corner store owners and customers) in a formative evaluation.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with corner store owners and managers (n = 11). Customer intercept surveys (n = 179) were also conducted with customers of 9 stores.

Unbuckling the stroke belt: answering the call through the Eastern North Carolina Stroke Network.

The Eastern North Carolina Stroke Network was formed in 2006 by local partners in 30 counties in what is known as the buckle of the stroke belt, where stroke mortality is alarmingly high. The organization's goal is to improve the continuum of stroke care from community prevention through recovery.

Promoting use of nutrition and physical activity community resources among women in a family planning clinic setting.

Research increasingly supports promotion of nutrition and physical activity community resources to support individual-level health promotion interventions. However, even when such resources exist, they are often not well used. In this article, the authors describe the results of formative research regarding patient and health promotion professionals' perspectives on methods to encourage use of community resources among patients accessing family planning services at a local health department in eastern North Carolina.

Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage among local health department personnel in North Carolina, 2007-2008.

Background: National estimates indicate that a low proportion of institutional and hospital-based healthcare workers obtain influenza vaccine. Information on seasonal influenza vaccination coverage in county-level public healthcare workers is lacking, including knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding seasonal influenza vaccination.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the percentage of employees receiving seasonal influenza vaccination, including perceptions and attitudes of employees of 17 health agencies in a 25-county region in eastern, rural North Carolina.

Incidence and simple management of priapism following dynamic infusion cavernosometry-cavernosography.

Of 239 patients with erectile dysfunction (aged 36 to 70 years) who were evaluated with dynamic infusion cavernosometry-cavernosography, 32 (13.4%) developed priapism after the procedure and were successfully managed with immediate intracorporal injection of phenylephrine. No single risk factor for the development of priapism was identified in this group.

Role of serum folate and vitamin B12 concentrations in the differentiation of small intestinal abnormalities in the dog.

Serum folate and vitamin B12 concentrations have been measured in 53 dogs presented for an investigation of malabsorption. Abnormal concentrations have permitted the differentiation of animals with small intestinal disease into three main groups, each with distinct biochemical abnormalities in the jejunal mucosa. The first group had reduced folate and vitamin B12 concentrations.

Vitamin B 12 status in pregnancy among immigrants to Britain.

Haemoglobin, serum vitamin B(12), and serum and red cell folate levels have been measured in 322 pregnant immigrant women in London at their first booking and in a proportion at 34 weeks of gestation and postnatally. The Indian, East-African Indian, and Pakistani and Bangladeshi patients showed significantly lower initial mean serum vitamin B(12) levels than the European group, the levels being lower in Hindu and Sikh patients than in Moslems. The patients of West Indian, Indian, and East-African Indian origin showed significantly lower initial mean haemoglobin levels than the immigrants from European countries.