Purpose: Obesity is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood.Many studies offer a variety of explanations for the alarming increase in childhood obesity; however, none discuss why an apparent disconnect exists in parental perceptions of their child's weight status. The purpose of this article was to review the current research literature on parental perceptions about their children's weight.Data source: The articles included in this review were retrieved through a literature search using PubMed. Key words used to obtain relevant articles include childhood obesity, childhood overweight, and parental perception.Conclusions: Several studies looked at parental perceptions of childhood obesity generated from the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and the United States. Universally, parents were more likely to misperceive their child's weight. This was especially true for parents who were themselves overweight. Implications for practice: If parents do not recognize their child as at risk for overweight or overweight, they cannot intervene to diminish the risk factors for pediatric obesity and its related complications. More research is needed to identify why this phenomenon occurs. Only then can effective interventions be initiated.

Purpose: To quantify the incidence of overweight and obesity in nursing professionals and assess nurses' knowledge of obesity and associated health risks.Data sources: A mailed survey to 4980 randomly selected registered nurses from one state in each of six geographic regions. Response rate was 15.5% (n = 760). Descriptive statistics were calculated for continuous variables; categorical variables were summarized with frequency counts.Results: The grand mean body mass index (BMI) of nurses surveyed was 27.2. Almost 54% were overweight or obese. Fifty-three percent of these nurses report that they are overweight but lack the motivation to make lifestyle changes. Forty percent are unable to lose weight despite healthy diet and exercise habits. Only 26% of respondents use BMI to make clinical judgments of overweight and obesity. Although 93% of nurses acknowledge that overweight and obesity are diagnoses requiring intervention, 76% do not pursue the topic with overweight and obese patients.

It has long been recognized that individuals living in poverty who suffer from malnutrition are more susceptible to infections and certain diseases due to deficiencies in macronutrients such as proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. More recently, it has come to light that micronutrients such as several vitamins and minerals also play major roles in boosting the immune system to protect against certain infections, inflammation, and possibly some cancers. This article discusses the various immune boosting properties of several micronutrients.

Because falls are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults of both genders, research is needed to evaluate both the impact of jazz dance on balance in older men and jazz dance as a fall prevention strategy in aging adults. Additionally, longitudinal research with a larger sample size is needed to test the effectiveness of jazz dance as a strategy for improving balance, cognition, and mood.

There was a significant difference among the three sensory systems for postural balance among the young population, F (2, 576) = 111.741, p < .001. Post hoc Bonferroni tests were maintained at the 0.05 level which showed significance for the visual system compared to vestibular and somatosensory system: visual (M = 93.7, SD = 2.07); vestibular (M = 90.4, SD = 2.74); and somatosensory (M = 90.0, SD = 3.13). Based on the results, the visual system is the predominant sensory system used by young adults to maintained optimal postural balance. SIGNIFICANCE FOR PRACTICE: There is very little known about balance of younger adults. If balance issues are identified early in adult life it is possible to prevent exacerbation of balance decline as one age. If nurse practitioners are aware of what dominant sensory systems for balance young adults use, perhaps strategies to preserve these can avoid falls as they age.