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America Scores Program questions

America Scores Program

Name

Institution

Question 1

Madsen, K., Thompson, H., Wlasiuk, L., Queliza, E., Schmidt, C., & Newman, T. (2009). AfterSchool Program to Reduce Obesity In Minority Children: A Pilot Study. Journal of ChildHealth Care, 13(4), 333-346.

Question 2

The authors of the article were:

Kristine Madsen – University of California-San Francisco, as an Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Pediatrics, Division of Community Health & Human Development.

Hannah Thompson – UCSF, Department of Pediatrics, San Francisco, CA

Lidya Wlasiuk – UCSF, Department of Pediatrics, San Francisco, CA

Emily Queliza – America SCORES Bay Area, San Francisco, CA

Colin Schmidt – America SCORES Bay Area, San Francisco, CA

Thomas Newman – University of California-San Francisco, as a Professor in the Department ofEpidemiology and Biostatistics, Division of Clinical Epidemiology.

Question 3

The title of the article is “After-School Program to Reduce Obesity in Minority Children: A Pilot Study.” The title does meet APA requirements as the total number of words are below 12, and it sufficiently conveys what the article is about, even going as far as to indicate the type of study it is discussing.

Question 4

The journal name within which the article is contained, is the Journal of Child Healthcare, volume number 13 issue number 4, from page 333 to page 346.

Question 5

The article was obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology information website, provided by the url: HYPERLINK “http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013280/” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013280/ although additional information is also available on the SAGE publications website url: HYPERLINK “http://chc.sagepub.com/content/13/4/333.abstract” http://chc.sagepub.com/content/13/4/333.abstract

Question 6

The article does follow APA guidelines regarding the need for an abstract, as it has an abstract. In this sense, the researchers follow APA guidelines for writing and formatting a research paper, as they provide a concise summary of what the research is about, providing its key points. The reader does not need to go through the whole article, to determine the research questions, methods employed, participants, data analysis results and the conclusions. Further, the article also provides areas for future research, by concluding that the findings indicate that it is possible to reduce childhood obesity through the use of community based programs.

Question 7

The researchers hypothesized that the SCORES program would have a positive impact not just on the cardio respiratory endurance of the participants, but it would also reduce their body mass index. Furthermore, the researchers also hypothesized that the levels of attendance as well as retention would be high enough to warrant the institution of a large randomized trial.

Question 8

The dependent variables in the study are:

The Body Mass Index

Fitness

The independent variable is the length of enrollment into the America SCORES program.

Question 9

The research study is quantitative in nature, as it mainly deals with numerical data on fitness and the body mass index. The study itself actually entailed assessing the rate of change in fitness and body mass index (BMI) over a period of one year, during which the participants were involved in the SCORES program. The findings and data sets collected are then analyzed and inferences made based on the final outcome of the percentage of children who were still overweight or obese following participation in the SCORES program. These findings were then related to attendance findings for the participants, in order for a clear conclusion over the correlation between participation in the program and weight gain to be established. All variables involved in the study are measured numerically and data analysis carried out accordingly.

Question 10

The sample contained 178 participants drawn from third grade, fourth grade and fifth graders. In terms of racial distribution, 47% of the sample was Latino, 18% African American, and 25% Asian. This was a fitting sample, considering the fact that the study mainly targeted minority groups. The group was not subdivided into any smaller groups, with the only differentiating factor between the participants being their final anthropometric measures and the levels of attendance.

As already mentioned the sample selection was done on the basis that the participant had to be a member of the minority groups, with data collection occurring twice; pre-test as well as post test. The initial data collected acted as a baseline to which the final results were compared to assess for any progress.

Question 11

Data on fitness was collected using the 20-meter shuttle test

Data on BMI was inferred from anthropometric measures collected from the children. Weight for instance, was collected using a portable electronic scale, and height measured to the nearest tenth of a centimeter using a stadiometer that was portable.

Question 12

Assessing various aspects of the APA format proved a bit difficult due to the fact that the article was an online article and not the original article itself. As such, the article did not have proper page headers or page numbers. Assessing page alignment, margins, spacing, typeface, order of pages, levels of headings as well as other format aspects was also not possible. However, the reference page failed to follow the APA guidelines, as not only were the references numbered, but they did not follow the author, date, title, place of publication, publisher format.

Question 13

Based on APA guidelines of sections of a paper, the article contained an Introduction which also contained the literature review. This was followed by the methods section, the results section, as well as the discussion section as the last part of the article. The article lacks a clearly defined literature review section, as well as a section clearly outlining the purpose of then study.

The introduction contains a succinct description of the problem, the American SCORES program, as well as the intended approach to exploring the problem and the expected results. The methods section is further subdivided into subjects, description of the program, procedure and data analysis, detailing the approaches taken at each of the 4 stages. The discussion offers a restatement of the study, its findings, as well as the implications of those findings.

Question 14

There is a reference provided for every piece of information cited, although the reference list is not formatted according to APA guidelines.

Question 15

One of the major limitations of the study, based on the researchers’ own admission, was incomplete data. This came about as a result of the program organizers struggling to balance between evaluation of the program evaluation and ensuring the proper delivery of the program itself. The second limitation was that all participants in the program were selected and willing. This means that the results might be different for unwilling participants.

Question 16

The researchers do mention that permission/consent was sought from the children’s parents prior to proceeding with the study.

Question 17

The importance of the America SCORES program and what it entails was very clearly explored in the study by the researchers. The intended approach to the research was also clearly outlined. However, the researchers failed to clearly provide attendance statistics, which in a way made it quite difficult to follow the link between attendance of the SCORES program and the changes in fitness levels. The attendances are actually provided in percentages, as opposed to clear figures that the reader can follow and directly relate to the provided changes in BMI scores as well as in fitness data. In fact, had the information been provided in average attendance levels for the specific groups, it would have been easier to compare these figures to the recorded changes in BMI and fitness data. However, the topic’s relevance and the contribution of the study to educational knowledge cannot be faulted or doubted, as it does serve to convince the reader of the effectiveness of the America SCORES program, and highlight the potential of community based after school programs when it comes to reducing childhood obesity.

Question 18

The researchers claim that “While physicians can provide important information and encouragement about physical activity and nutrition, when children leave the physician’s office they are exposed to environments that do not encourage healthy choices” (Madsen, Thompson, Wlasiuk, Queliza, Schmidt, & Newman, 2009).

Question 19

The researchers succinctly point out the fact that while physicians play a key role by providing essential information, as well as encouragement on the importance of nutrition and physical activity, they ultimately cannot control the degree of exposure to environments that discourage healthy choices.

Question 20

As already stated above, the authors when highlighting one of the limitations of the study, claim that “A second limitation of this study is that participants in SCORES were recruited by coaches and elected to enroll. Children who wouldn’t volunteer for SCORES might not benefit equally from the program. Nonetheless, overweight children – a crucial group to reach – were both willing to enroll and showed the greatest decrease in BMI z-score” (Madsen, Thompson, Wlasiuk, Queliza, Schmidt, & Newman, 2009).

Factors influencing the growth of Salmonella

Factors influencing the growth of Salmonella

Salmonella are rod shaped motile bacteria. They are gram-negative, non-spore-forming and facultative anaerobic. The genus salmonella has two species, each containing multiple serotypes. They are S. enterica and S. bongori.

Salmonella entrica is commonly associated with foodborne infections causing a spectrum of diseases ranging from self-limiting gastroenteritis to the life-threatening systemic disease, typhoid fever. The outcome of a disease mainly depends on the serotype of S. enterica.

The influence of external factors on the growth of Salmonella

The external factors affecting the rate of growth of Salmonella are; temperature, pH, salinity, water activity and available nutrients.

Temperature: They usually grow between 35-37ºC, though most Salmonella serotypes can grow at temperatures ranging from 5ºC to 47ºC although growth is reduced at temperatures below 10ºC. The minimum temperature of Salmonella is cardinal to the food industry as refrigeration constitutes one of the primary lines of defense against proliferation of this pathogen in human food.

Salinity: Salt affects the texture of meat products which in turn affect the growth and survival of microbial flora. Therefore there is a need to reduce salt intake by humans.

A comparison between the growth of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes at low temperature and PH

While processing food, microorganisms are usually exposed to a number of lethal or sub-lethal stresses sequentially or simultaneously. A study was carried out to evaluate the survival of Listeria monocytogens and Salmonella Typhimurium in lethal acid (pH 4.0 and 4.5 with lactic acid) or osmotic conditions (15-20% NaCl), applied singly, sequentially i.e. pH then then NaCl or NaCl then pH) or simultaneously at 5 and 10ºC. A second study was also carried out to quantify the effect of osmotic shifts at pH 7.0, 6.0 or 5.0 on the lag phase and growth rate of L. monocytogenes at 10ºC. The second stress was applied in a sequence of 2 or 3 days after the first for Salmonella and L. monocytogenes respectively. Acid tolerance in L. monocytogenes was higher than osmotic tolerance and vice versa for Salmonella. More inactivation was observed after exposure to pH 4.0 than pH 4.5 as well as after being exposed to 20% NaCl compared to 15% NaCl. Exposure to stresses sequentially caused faster reductions than the exposure to single or double stresses applied simultaneously. The pH then NaCl sequence proved to be more detrimental for pathogens than the reverse sequence. The variance in incubation temperature did not show any profound effect on microbial inactivation.

When L. monocytogenes was incubated at aw 0.930 and 0.995 at 30ºC, the lag phase increased in both subsequent osmotic downshift and upshift respectively at 10ºC. It was observed that there were shorter lag phase and higher ability to initiate growth at lower aw after pre-adaptation on pH 6.0 or 5.0 compared to pH 7.0.

These results may contribute to the review of critical limits to products characterized in low pH and water activity, considering the risk of L. monocytogenes and Salmonella survival. Similarly, these indications may address the need to apply stricter sanitation procedures in processing in order to minimize the risk of survivors.

Food safety Implications

Food safety relies mainly on the use of multiple hurdle technology. Depending on the processing, pathogens may be exposed to various stresses simultaneously like on ripened cheese or meat, or sequentially like, during fermentation and ripening of meat or milk. As shown in the study above, acid and osmotic stresses are the most common hurdles applied in food processing i.e. by acidification or adding NaCl, or naturally encountered in foods.

The sequence of hurdles has proven to be crucial for the survival of pathogens as the study has shown.

References:

Adams, M.R., Nicolaides, L., 1997. Review of the sensitivity of different foodborne pathogens to fermentation. Food Control 8, 227–239.

Bovill, R.A., Bew, J., Baranyi, J., 2001. Measurements and predictions of growth for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella during fluctuating temperature II. Rapidly changing temperatures. International Journal of Food Microbiology 67, 131–137.

America History

America History

The making of what would later become the great nation called United States of America was achieved through the industrious efforts of migrants from virtually every part of the world. Today, the United States is a melting pot of all races from all over the world including native Indian Americans, European Americans, and African Americans each of whose ancestors arrived on its shores at different periods of time, under different circumstances, and for equally different reasons. However, there are some major similarities in the way each of these groups migrated to the land that later became the United States of America and the harsh hostile conditions that they had to confront in this new land.

Each group of migrants arrived on the American shores at a different period of time. Long before the ‘discovery’ of the American continent by Christopher Columbus, internal migration by hunters from Siberia and other parts of Asia. This migration from Eurasia to the American continent took place through a land bridge called the Beringia that used to connect the two continents across what is presently called the Bering Straits. The Bering land was a bridge joining Alaska to Siberia that had been created by falling sea levels between around 60,000 and 25,000 years ago. The migration of people who would later be known as Native American Indians took place during the last ice age and continued through the centuries that followed. The Native Americans made their way through Alaska and spread along the Pacific to the middle of North America. By 8000 BCE, the North American climate had stabilized to its present conditions and migrant Native Americans had diversified into hundreds of tribes and nations that were culturally distinct from each other. The favorable climatic conditions led to cultivation of crops and a dramatic rise in population. The primary reason for migration at this period was the rise of big-game hunting using flaked flint spear-points called the Clovis points. Artifacts of these flint point projectiles were found in archeological sites in Clovis, New Mexico. The ancestors of Native Americans were mainly drawn to the American continent and what would later become the United States of America by the abundance big game like mammoths and mastodonts. Long distance trading and warfare later led to greater interaction and territorial dominance among the tribes.

Migration to the American continent by Europeans began after the post-Columbus explorations that revolutionized people’s perceptions of the Old and New Worlds. One of the first European and American contacts in the South happened when a Spanish conquistador called Juan Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida in the year 1513 (Rodriguez 47). He was later followed by many other Spanish explorers such as Hernando de Soto and further European colonialists who came to expand their respective empires under the presumption that they were civilizing a pagan, and barbaric, world through Christianity. The Spanish colonization involved policies such as Indian Reductions which involved forced conversions of the natives from their traditional beliefs and religious practices. The arrival of Europeans in the American continent brought economic benefits in trade and new ways of life. However, they also brought along diseases such as chicken pox and measles which were previously unknown in these lands. Though control and cure of such diseases had been achieved in Europe, some like small pox was particularly fatal to large populations of Native Americans. Such epidemics which always followed European explorers were quite fatal and could sometimes deplete entire Native American village populations. European and Native American relations were always unfriendly since most Europeans considered the natives as ‘savages’ and obstacles to European expansionism in America.

After the arrival of the first Europeans in America, there followed a large internal migration of Europeans as well as their descendants into the modern day United States through out the thirteen British colonies. The European settlers had made themselves homes in Tennessee and Kentucky long before the American Revolution in 1775. While the Europeans moved west, Native Americans moved further ahead to avoid confrontations with the settlers.

African Americans were the other big group of migrants into the present day United States of America although theirs can only be described as an involuntary migration. They were forcibly brought in large numbers to the American continent as slaves to work on cotton plantations. The first slaves from Africa were brought to Jamestown in 1619. Afterwards, slavery spread all over the thirteen colonies on plantations stretching from Maryland to Georgia. Importation of slaves in the United States ended in 1808 though domestic markets for slaves continued in places where slavery was still legal (Gregory 26). With the rise in industrialization in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, African Americans were drawn from farms into cities by the availability of jobs in factories. The reduction of European immigration into the United States during the First World War led to an increased influx of African Americans from the rural South where oppression and racism still strongly persisted to industrial cities in other parts of the country. European Americans also left farms to escape poverty in the Midwest and the South and moved to cities in the early 20th century.

In conclusion, the ancestors of the present day inhabitants of the United States of America migrated from their homes for different reasons and through different means. The earliest natives were hunters who crossed the Bering Straits from Siberia into Alaska in search of big game and spread all over the country. The Europeans came with expansionist motives under the presumption of civilizing a barbaric nation of natives through Christianity and later settled all over the thirteen British colonies. African Americans who were forcibly brought to work on plantations formed the other large group of migrants who later spread out throughout the country to escape racial segregation and oppression in the South. They were drawn to cities by the availability of jobs in factories. It was from this melting pot of people from different parts of the world brought together by different circumstances that rose the great nation called the United States of America.

Works Cited

Gregory, James N. The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and WhiteSoutherners Transformed America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005

Rodriguez, Marc S., ed. Repositioning North American Migration History: New Directions inModern Continental Migration, Citizenship, and Community. Rochester, N.Y.: Universityof Rochester Press, 2004.