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Eating has been theorized to be useful as a coping strategy in response to stressful situations. However, investigation of this behavior in children is limited. The present study is a secondary cross-sectional analysis of longitudinal data that were collected from cohorts of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grader students. Perceived stress was correlated with unhealthy eating behaviors (r = .13, p < .001), as well as with the use of eating as a coping mechanism (r = .24, p < .001). Hispanic children reported using eating as a coping mechanism most frequently, followed by African-American and Caucasian children. School-age children who experience high levels of stress may be at risk for developing unhealthy eating habits in order to cope; continued examination of these relationships is suggested. Future research should focus on the development of interventions to encourage positive coping mechanisms and healthy eating behaviors.

Postpartum weight retention and depressive symptoms have a high prevalence among low income women. This qualitative study describes low-income women's experiences of weight changes and depressive symptoms during the late postpartum period. Women (n = 25) who were either overweight or had depressive symptoms, or both, at 12 months postpartum participated in an ethnically-congruent focus group. Women's experiences indicated altered personal control related to retained postpartum weight and depressive feelings. Retained weight negatively affected self-esteem and family functioning. Depression left women feeling isolated yet reluctant to seek help. These findings could provide the basis for health promotion interventions relevant to this population.

Adolescents learn health behaviors in a sociocultural context of community, family, and peers. Although many adolescents engage in behaviors that protect and promote health, others engage in behaviors that threaten or compromise their health. The purpose of this review article is to provide an overview of health-risk behaviors and the morbidities and mortalities of adolescence that are related to these behaviors. Interventions that address these health behaviors and outcomes are presented along with suggestions for a holistic nursing response to this important public health concern.

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Both theoretical thinking and practical wisdom are used by health professionals in their clinical practice. Lately, discussion has centered on the abstract phrase "theory-practice gap." The health profession is not the only discipline that seeks unity in theory and practice issues. Education is also building bridges in this arena. One reoccurring myth is the notion that theory and practice are separate; as a result, this gives a mistaken impression that theory serves no purpose in practice. Discussion of the issues in this paper includes definitions of theoretical thinking and practical wisdom, theoretical and practical knowledge development, and relevance to health professional's education, practice and science. These issues must be communicated to practitioners, educators and theorists. A collective definition to begin communication is proposed and suggestions are offered for addressing key issues.

The retina in frogs grows continuously throughout the whole life of the animal by the addition of rings of cells at the ciliary margin. Naturally occurring neuron death cannot, consequently, be established by counting surviving neurons. A new approach, retinal whole-mount auto-radiography was introduced in this study to estimate cell loss occurring in the ganglion cell layer over a long period of time. 3H-thymidine injection at stage 53 (midlarval stage) labels a ring of cells, thereby marking the extent of retina formed up to the time of isotope administration. In the present study the number of neurons in the ganglion cell layer within the autoradiographically identified central retinal sector was estimated from midlarval stage to 6 months after metamorphosis in Xenopus laevis. The mean neuron number in the central retinal sector formed up to stage 53 was 17,420 and this was reduced by 20% to 13,515 by 6 months after metamorphosis. Optic nerve section at the time of isotope injection and subsequent regeneration brought about a reduction of the number of surviving neurons in the part of the retina formed up to stage 53 to 7,720, or to about 57% of the normal neuron number in an equivalent retinal area of an intact eye of the same age. A further reduction to 20% of normal neuron population was observed in retinae where the optic nerve failed to regenerate. The surviving neurons are assumed to be amacrine cells. The bulk of natural neuron loss in the retinal centre occurs during premetamorphic stages while little further loss takes place in the next 6 months suggesting that the underlying mechanism is a fine tuning of the developing retinal projections.