Extending the Together, We Inspire Smart Eating Curriculum to Intergenerational Nutrition Education: A Pilot Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made accessing nutritious foods difficult for older adults and children living in low-income households. The evidence-based preschool nutrition education curriculum Together, We Inspire Smart Eating (WISE) can be used to encourage children to try healthy foods. Written as a single generation curriculum, inviting older adult community members to WISE programming for an intergenerational experience may provide further supports and mutual benefits as participants cooperate towards a common goal. While creators have evaluated implementation of WISE, research has yet to explore factors that influence WISE adoption within an intergenerational setting. We conducted a pilot study using the implementation evaluation framework to explore WISE implementation within single generation and intergenerational settings by measuring five implementation outcomes (fidelity, acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and sustainability) through three methods: (1) direct assessment of program fidelity via video coding; (2) indirect assessment of stakeholders' perceptions of WISE implementation, and (3) a directed qualitative content analysis on annual interview data. Fidelity scores were comparable between the two settings and stakeholder ratings of appropriateness, acceptability, and feasibility of WISE were high. Qualitative data revealed that aspects of WISE are less appropriate for older participants and reiterated known logistical barriers of intergenerational programming that may challenge program sustainability.

Addressing Children's Nutritional Needs with Community-Based Participatory Action Research.

BACKGROUND: The absence of consistent, reliable, culturally appropriate access to nutritious food places children's development at risk. Nutrition education programming that is delivered using intergenerational strategies may help optimize children's access, consumption, and knowledge of healthy foods. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to present the development, implementation and lessons learned from the first year of Food for a Long Life (FFLL) programming-an intergenerational community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) project joining Extension staff, researchers, and community partners to increase families' knowledge, access, and consumption regarding healthy food in a food insecure community. Preschoolers, their family members, and older adults were recruited from two preschools and one adult day services center. METHODS: Collaborations with community stakeholders informed the development and implementation of intergenerational nutrition education delivered during FFLL programming. Preschoolers, families, and older adults participated in twenty-six nutrition education sessions during the programming year. Parents of preschoolers completed the Household Food Security Survey (HHFS) and the Healthy Kids measure. Semistructured interview data from staff were also collected upon the conclusion of programming. RESULTS: Preschoolers and their families were found to have marginal food security but relatively healthy eating behaviors. Staff believed FFLL programming enhanced preschoolers' eating behaviors (e.g., increased willingness to try new foods). Continued collaborations with community partners were viewed as essential to program success. CONCLUSIONS: Relationship-building among intergenerational community members, Extension staff, and university researchers strengthens trust and may expand the reach of FFLL programming and research components.

Alveolar macrophages lack CCR2 expression and do not migrate to CCL2.

BACKGROUND: The recruitment of mononuclear cells has important implications for tissue inflammation. Previous studies demonstrated enhanced CCR1 and CCR5 expression and decreased CCR2 expression during in vitro monocyte to macrophage differentiation. To date, no study examined the in vivo differences in chemokine receptor expression between human peripheral blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages. METHODS: We examined the expression of these receptors in human peripheral blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages using microarray analysis, reverse-transcriptase PCR, flow cytometry and migration analyses. RESULTS: In contrast to peripheral blood monocytes, alveolar macrophages did not express the CCL2 receptor, CCR2, and did not migrate toward CCL2. In contrast, monocytes and freshly isolated resident alveolar macrophages both migrated towards CCL3. However, up to 6-fold more monocytes migrated toward equivalent concentrations of CCL3 than did alveolar macrophages from the same donor. While peripheral blood monocytes expressed the CCL3 receptor, CCR1, alveolar macrophages expressed the alternate CCL3 receptor, CCR5. The addition of anti-CCR5 blocking antibodies completely abrogated CCL3-induced migration in alveolar macrophages, but did not affect the migration of peripheral blood monocytes. CONCLUSION: These data support the specificity of CCL2 to selectively drive monocyte, but not alveolar macrophage recruitment to the lung and CCR5 as the primary macrophage receptor for CCL3.