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Essay Instructions: Optimal nutrition is an important component of preventive medicine, and can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality associated with chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. However, while some tenets of preventive nutrition are well established (e.g. folic acid prevents occurrence of neural tube birth defects), other aspects are less clear or even controversial (For example: Will lowering blood levels of homocysteine decrease risk for heart disease?). Among the general public there's a great desire for nutrition information as reflected in the daily multitude of reports on various aspects of nutrition and health in newspapers, magazines, TV, internet, etc. However, while there's many reputable sources of nutrition info., it's often hard for the uninformed lay person to sort reliable nutrition info. from that which is low-quality.


To understand some of the problems faced by the general public in making dietary decisions, please critically evaluate a publicly accessible source of nutrition information on the Internet, and explain how you (as a nutritionist or pharmacist) would counsel patients regarding the info. presented in your selected source.

1. Provide sufficient source info. to permit retrieval of your selected info. source from a website, such as a nutrition or dietary article from Yahoo news, for example. Please select a source electronically, and cite the website, so that I may be able to get into the website myself and confirm your source.

2. Provide a brief description of the info. offered.

3. If possible, identify the original source of the info. (Is this a report of a study originally published in a scientific journal?), and assess how well the info. is reported.

4. Identify the strengths and weakness of your selected source (e.g. Could it be readily understood by the general public? Does the info. provided concur with the current general consensus regarding the role of diet in promoting health? Is the info. biased in any way? Or is it a comprehensive analysis?).

5. If possible, explain how you would improve your selected
source of nutrition info.

6. Explain if, how, and why you would incorporate the info. provided by your source into your clinical practice.

7. Please use appropriate graduate school-level language and analysis without using excessive jargons. Avoid redundancies and verbiage. Use at least one quotation per paragraph.

Finally, you MUST cite the specific website address in which you obtained your Internet source, so that I may be able to check the website and confirm what you have written by reading the electronic article myself!

Thank you.

Essay Instructions: Article: The process of public policy formulation: the case of Thimerosal in vaccines

Critique Requirements 1-2 pages only

You must use APA formatting (in accordance with the requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) in your paper.
The critique must be double spaced with 1 inch margins and 12 point type-size with Times New Roman or a similar sans serif typeface. Do not include tables or figures. Also, do not include citations that are in the article unless you have read those articles and they commentary directly impacts your review. Do not cite other articles or sources in this critique.
The main part of your critique needs to provide an original analysis of the article. What does this article mean; what is the point of the author(s); how does this article impact on public health policy or policy analysis. Was the article well written? What would you recommend for additions or changes?

References:
Atkins, D. (2002). First new screening recommendations from the third US Preventive Services Task Force. British Medical Journal.
Davey-Smith, G., Shah, E. & Frankel, S. (2001). How policy informs evidence. British Medical Journal, 322, 184-185.
CDC. (1992). Recommendations for the use of folic acid to reduce the number of cases of spinal bifida and other neural tube defects. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports 41:RR-14.
National Cancer Institute (2001). Low tar cigarettes: Evidence does not indicate benefit to public health. Available at http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2001/11_27_Burns.html