American journal of preventive medicine
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In December 2002, the medical toxicology sub-board, which consists of representatives from emergency medicine, preventive medicine, and pediatrics, released revised core content for medical toxicology, aiming to better meet the academic challenges imposed by the continually expanding knowledge base of medical toxicology. These challenges included the addition of relatively new areas of interest in medical toxicology, including population health, while simultaneously ensuring that a structural framework existed to accommodate future areas of interest. There is no evidence readily available to assess how well the educational curricula of existing fellowship programs are meeting these needs. ⋯ To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report describing such a curriculum redesign. Suggestions and potential resources proposed as enhancements for the public health-associated education of medical toxicology fellows are discussed. The authors also seek to initiate a discussion among programs about how to optimally meet the new challenges developed by the medical toxicology sub-board.
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Healthcare reform plans refer to improved quality, but there is little quantification of potential health benefits of quality care. ⋯ Substantial improvements in population health are achievable through greater use of a small number of preventive services. Healthcare systems should maximize use of these services.
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Health education programs for promoting a healthful diet have shown limited success in clinical trials. ⋯ The results suggest that it may be possible to change dietary behaviors in college students by focusing on social, ethical, cultural, and environmental issues related to food and food production.
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The Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005), a tool designed to evaluate concordance with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, has been used to monitor the quality of foods consumed by Americans. Because the HEI-2005 is not tied to individual requirements and is scored on a per 1000 kcal basis, it can be used to assess the overall quality of any mix of foods. ⋯ Because the HEI-2005 can be applied to both environmental- and individual-level data, it provides a useful metric for studies linking data across various levels of the socioecologic framework of dietary behavior. The present findings suggest that new dietary guidance could target not only individuals but also the architects of our food environment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Behavioral counseling and varenicline treatment for smoking cessation.
Smoking remains the primary preventable cause of death and illness in the U.S. Effective, convenient treatment programs are needed to reduce smoking prevalence. ⋯ Phone counseling had greater treatment advantage for early cessation and appeared to increase medication adherence, but the absence of differences at 6 months suggests that any of the interventions hold promise when used in conjunction with varenicline.