Empowerment, Leadership, and Sustainability in a Faith-Based Partnership to Improve Health.

Community-based participatory research is a noted approach for improving community health and reducing health disparities. Community partnerships can serve as a catalyst for change in public health efforts. This article will apply empowerment theory and sustainability principles to an existing faith-based partnership.

Assessing the readiness of a school system to adopt food allergy management guidelines.

Importance: The prevalence of potentially fatal food allergies in school-aged children is rising. It is important for schools to have a food allergy management policy and an emergency action plan for each affected student.

Objective: To examine the current status of food allergy guideline and/or policy implementation and adoption in a large school system in southeastern Wisconsin.

Empowerment, Leadership, and Sustainability in a Faith-Based Partnership to Improve Health.

Community-based participatory research is a noted approach for improving community health and reducing health disparities. Community partnerships can serve as a catalyst for change in public health efforts. This article will apply empowerment theory and sustainability principles to an existing faith-based partnership.

A randomized trial of peer-delivered self-management support for hypertension.

Background: Peer-led interventions to improve chronic disease self-management can improve health outcomes but are not widely used. Therefore, we tested a peer-led hypertension self-management intervention delivered at regular meetings of community veterans' organizations.

Methods: We randomized 58 organizational units ("posts") of veterans' organizations in southeast Wisconsin to peer-led vs.

Evaluation of a peer-led hypertension intervention for veterans: impact on peer leaders.

Volunteer peer leaders (PLs) benefit from their involvement in health interventions but we know little about how they compare with other non-PL volunteers or with the intervention recipients themselves. We randomized 58 veterans' service organizations' posts (e.g.

Location and organizational features: what type of veteran communities participate in health programs?

Background: Research shows that community-based membership organizations are effective partners in health promotion activities; however, most community organizations do not participate in such partnerships. There is little research regarding the geographical and organizational characteristics associated with participation.

Objective: We examined the factors associated with community-based veterans service organization (VSO) units' decision to participate in a health promotion project.

The development and validation of the hypertension evaluation of lifestyle and management knowledge scale.

Hypertension knowledge is an integral component of the chronic care model. A valid scale to assess hypertension knowledge and self-management skills is needed. The hypertension evaluation of lifestyle and management (HELM) scale was developed as part of a community-based study designed to improve self-management of hypertension.

Veterans service organization engagement in 'POWER,' a peer-led hypertension intervention.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of program factors on participant engagement in POWER, a peer-led intervention designed to reduce hypertension, increase hypertension knowledge, and improve other relevant health behaviors, such as diet and exercise, among US veterans involved in veterans service organizations throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.

Methods: Two hundred and nineteen hypertensive members from 58 VSOs participated in a year-long peer-led intervention designed to improve hypertension knowledge, disease self-management behaviors, and health outcomes. This study represents a qualitative evaluation of post and participant engagement in this intervention.

Engaging community-based veterans' organizations in health promotion programs.

Community organizations, such as churches, clubs, and senior centers, can be important locations for health programs. However, little is known about the organizational factors that influence participation and engagement in health programs. To learn more, we evaluated a community-based program designed to help US military veterans better manage their high blood pressure.

Strong Rural Communities Initiative (SRCI) program: challenges in promoting healthier lifestyles.

Background: The Strong Rural Communities Initiative (SRCI) was created to address the health needs of rural Wisconsin communities through a multifaceted partnership that included the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH), the Rural Health Development Council (RHDC), and hospitals, public health departments, and businesses in 6 rural communities in Wisconsin. The SRCI provided a broad framework of leadership to assist each of the 6 rural communities in developing and implementing new, collaborative interventions that addressed the specific health needs of the community.

Methods: Separate assessments were conducted for the communities that partnered with each respective medical school and focused on the processes of community collaboration and partnership function.

Ethical challenges in a randomized controlled trial of peer education among veterans service organizations.

Efforts to increase community members' involvement in research may create novel ethical challenges. We describe an ongoing randomized trial of a peer-delivered intervention to encourage hypertension self-management. Community members serving as peer leaders participate in subject recruitment, the informed consent process, and intervention.

Preliminary description of the feasibility of using peer leaders to encourage hypertension self-management.

Background: Despite consensus that effective treatment of hypertension reduces morbidity and mortality, control rates remain relatively low. This report describes key features of a peer support program designed to motivate individuals to improve self-management of hypertension.

Methods: We recruited Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in southeastern Wisconsin and trained members of these posts to be peer health leaders over a period of 18 months.

Enzymatic deprotection of the cephalosporin 3'-acetoxy group using Candida antarctica lipase B.

Cephalosporins remain one of the most important classes of antibiotics. A useful site for derivatization involves generation of and chemistry at the 3'-hydroxymethyl position. While 3'-acetoxymethyl-substituted cephalosporins are readily available, deacetylation to access the free 3'-hydroxymethyl group is problematic when the carboxylic acid is protected as an ester.

Peptides selected for the protein nanocage pores change the rate of iron recovery from the ferritin mineral.

Pores regulate access between ferric-oxy biomineral inside and reductants/chelators outside the ferritin protein nanocage to control iron demineralization rates. The pore helix/loop/helix motifs that are contributed by three subunits unfold independently of the protein cage, as observed by crystallography, Fe removal rates, and CD spectroscopy. Pore unfolding is induced in wild type ferritin by increased temperature or urea (1-10 mM), a physiological urea range, 0.

Serum and urine metal levels in patients with metal-on-metal surface arthroplasty.

The resurgence of metal-on-metal articulating surfaces for hip arthroplasty has also heightened concerns about the degree and magnitude of metal particle generation and the accompanying increase in circulating metal ion concentrations. In this study, we measured the concentration of chromium in serum and urine and the concentration of cobalt in serum in twenty-five patients with modern metal-on-metal surface arthroplasty of the hip in a prospective manner. The results showed that the mean post-operative chromium in serum levels were 22-fold, 23-fold and 21-fold higher at 3, 6 and 12 months post-operative, respectively, than pre-operative levels.

Maternal and perinatal morbidity associated with classic and inverted T cesarean incisions.

Objective: To estimate the maternal and perinatal morbidity associated with cesarean delivery involving the upper uterine segment compared with that of low transverse cesarean delivery.

Methods: A 19-year review of a perinatal database and the relevant charts was used to determine the maternal and perinatal morbidity associated with low transverse cesarean, classic cesarean, and inverted "T" cesarean deliveries.

Results: Over the 19 years, 1980-1998, there were 19,726 cesarean deliveries: low transverse cesarean, 19,422 (98.