Recovering from an Epidemic of Teen Pregnancy: The Role of Rural Faith Leaders in Building Community Resilience.

This study explores the role of faith leaders and congregations in preventing teen pregnancy and enhancing overall health. Seventeen faith-based leaders responded to an invitation to participate. Participants were recruited from two counties within Oklahoma, based on desired community characteristics. Findings were directly related to: (1) the vulnerability of rural communities to negative health outcomes; (2) resiliency of rural faith communities to address health issues; and (3) the adaptive capacity of rural faith leaders and their communities to decrease teen pregnancy and maximize community health. Culturally relevant public health programming is necessary to engage this at risk population; however, it requires engaging faith leaders in efforts to build congregation-based and community-based capacity.

Accuracy and Stability in English Speakers' Production of Japanese Pitch Accent.

Standard Japanese uses pitch accent to distinguish words such as initially-accented hashi "chopsticks" and finally-accented hashi "bridge." Research on the second language acquisition of pitch accent shows considerable variation: in accuracy scores in identification, in different dominant accent types in production, and in the unstable accent types of repeated words. This study investigates pitch accent production in English-speaking learners of Japanese, asking how accuracy and stability vary (a) with amount of Japanese experience and (b) between learners. Two groups of learners (13 less experienced; 8 more experienced) produced 180 words in three contexts (e.g., ame "rain," ame da "it's rain," and ame ga furu "rain falls"). Three Japanese phoneticians identified the accent types of the words that the learners produced. The results showed no difference in accuracy or stability between the two groups and little inter-learner variation in accuracy: all had low accuracy. Although some learners had relatively high stability, they did not maintain accent type contrasts across contexts. These results suggest that first language English speakers do not encode pitch accent in long-term memory, raising questions for future research and language teaching.

The spaces and times of community farming.

This paper uses a multiple case study approach to researching people's everyday lives and experiences of six community farms and gardens in diverse settings in China and England. We argue that collective understandings of community are bound up in everyday action in particular spaces and times. Successful community farms and gardens are those that are able to provide suitable spaces and times for these actions so that their members can enjoy multiple benefit streams. These benefits are largely universal: in very different situations in both England and China, CSA members make strong connections with the land, the farmers and other members, even in cases where they rarely visit the farms and gardens. This suggests that community farming and gardening initiatives possess multi-dimensional transformational potential. Not only do they offer a buffer against industrialised and remote food systems, but they also represent therapeutic landscapes valued by those who have experienced time spent at or in connection with them. Our findings indicate that-regardless of location or cultural context-these benefits are durable, so that people who have been engaged in multiple activities at a community farm or garden continue to enjoy these benefits long after most of their engagement has ceased.

Immigration, Statecraft and Public Health: The 1920 Aliens Order, Medical Examinations and the Limitations of the State in England.

This article considers the medical measures of the 1920 Aliens Order barring aliens from Britain. Building on existing local and port public health inspection, the requirement for aliens to be medically inspected before landing significantly expanded the duties of these state agencies and necessitated the creation of a new level of physical infrastructure and administrative machinery. This article closely examines the workings and limitations of alien medical inspection in two of England's major ports-Liverpool and London-and sheds light on the everyday working of the Act. In doing so it reflects on the ambitions, actions and limitations of the state and so extends research by historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth century on the disputed histories of public health and the complexities of statecraft. Overall it suggests the importance of developing nuanced understandings of the gaps and failures arising from the translation of legislation into practice.

A Change of Heart? British Policies towards Tubercular Refugees during 1959 World Refugee Year.

This article looks at Britain's response to the World Refugee Year (1959-60), and in particular the government's decision to allow entry to refugees with tuberculosis and other chronic illnesses. In doing so, it broke the practice established by the 1920 Aliens' Order which had barred entry to immigrants with a range of medical conditions. This article uses the entry of these sick refugees as an opportunity to explore whether government policy represented as much of a shift in attitude and practice as contemporary accounts suggested. It argues for the importance of setting the reception of tubercular and other 'disabled' refugees in 1959-61 in its very particular historical context, showing it was a case less of the government thinking differently about refugees, and more of how, in a post-Suez context, the government felt obliged to take into account international and public opinion. The work builds on and adds to the growing literature surrounding refugees and disease. It also places the episode within the specificity of the post-war changing epidemiological climate; the creation of the National Health Service; and the welfare state more broadly. In looking at the role of refugee organizations in the Year, the article also contributes to debates over the place of voluntary agencies within British society.

Oxygen Cost of Recreational Horse-Riding in Females.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological demands of a riding session comprising different types of recreational horse riding in females. METHODS: Sixteen female recreational riders (aged 17 to 54 years) completed an incremental cycle ergometer exercise test to determine peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and a 45-minute riding session based upon a British Horse Society Stage 2 riding lesson (including walking, trotting, cantering and work without stirrups). Oxygen consumption (VO2), from which metabolic equivalent (MET) and energy expenditure values were derived, was measured throughout. RESULTS: The mean VO2 requirement for trotting/cantering (18.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 52 ± 12% VO2peak; 5.3 ± 1.1 METs) was similar to walking/trotting (17.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 48 ± 13% VO2peak; 5.0 ± 1.5 METs) and significantly higher than for work without stirrups (14.2 ± 2.9 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 41 ± 12% VO2peak; 4.2 ± 0.8 METs) (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: The oxygen cost of different activities typically performed in a recreational horse riding session meets the criteria for moderate intensity exercise (3-6 METs) in females, and trotting combined with cantering imposes the highest metabolic demand. Regular riding could contribute to the achievement of the public health recommendations for physical activity in this population.