BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate whether television-based dental health promotion initiatives in General Practice waiting rooms would increase patients’ knowledge of and intentions to seek dental services.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey of 2,345 patients attending 49 General Practices in Brent, northwest London, evaluated the ‘Life Channel’ – a series of six brief health promotion advertisements, including one dental health promotion advertisement, displayed over ten minutes on television in General Practice waiting rooms. Primary outcome measures were a self-reported gain in the knowledge to contact a National Health Service (NHS) and emergency dentist, and an intention to seek dental services, attributed to viewing the Life Channel.ResultsAmong the 1,088 patients who did not know how to contact an NHS dentist prior to the survey, and the 1,247 patients who did not know how to contact an emergency dentist prior to the survey, 48.0 % (95 % CI 45.0-51.0 %) and 35.1 % (95 % CI 32.4-37.8 %) attributed the Life Channel to educating them how to do so, respectively. Among the 1,605 patients who did not have any intention to contact a dentist prior to the survey, 15.2 % (95 % CI 13.4-17.0 %) attributed the Life Channel to creating such an intention. We report adjusted odds ratios on sociodemographic disparities in this evaluation.ConclusionsTelevision-based dental health promotion may significantly increase knowledge of and intention to seek dental services in this sample in London. Television-based dental health promotion may appeal more to certain population groups. More research is needed to identify longer term outcomes of television-based health promotion.

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Renovating toxic-infected tall fescue (TF) pastures to non-toxic infected tall fescue (NE) for profitability, animal and agronomic performance without compromising soil health is needed to transition to NE in the southeast U.S. Three renovation strategies were evaluated for impact on soil health, profitability, and animal and agronomic performance in a replicated field trial located in Bahama, NC. Strategies included: 1) control (C), 2) renovation to NE after one season of a single specie cover crop (1-SM), 3) renovation to NE after three seasons of a single specie cover crop (3-SM), and 4) renovation to NE after three seasons of a multi-specie cover crop (3-CM). Soil samples were taken prior to renovation to establish baseline soil health measurements for each strategy. Data were analyzed using proc GLM of SAS v9.4. Thirty-two Angus and Angus cross steers (initial BW 425 ± 27) were blocked by BW and randomly assigned to one of four treatments during the first season of renovation. Average daily gain for cattle grazing the first season of cover crops was greatest (P < 0.001) with 3-CM (0.8 kg/d), 3-SM (0.8 kg/d), in comparison to C and 1-SM (-0.1 kg/d). Gain per hectare differed among treatments (P < 0.001) with 3-SM and 3-CM being greater than C and 1-SM (179, 154, -24, -43 kg/ha, respectively). Within the two-month grazing period, yield different during the month of August (P < 0.001), with 3-SM being the highest (4511 kg/ha) in comparison to 3-CM (3275 kg/ha), 1-SM (2922 kg/ha), and C (2644 kg/ha), while yield was highest (P <0.001) for 3-CM in September (2931 kg/ha) in comparison to all other treatments. Data suggest agronomic and animal performance for 3-CM and 3-SM were improved compared to C and could partially alleviate initial renovation costs.

In 2018, a series of 4 on-farm demonstrations were conducted using a metsulfuron herbicide for tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) seedhead suppression to increase producer awareness of this practice. Chaparral© herbicide was applied prior to the boot stage (April 5–April 21, 2018) and the design was an unreplicated field with side by side treated and untreated areas. Forage samples were taken to determine yield, nutritive value, species composition and ergovaline level. Treatment with Chaparral© increased crude protein (12.1 vs. 14.2%) while reducing yield (5477 vs. 3738 kg/ha) and tall fescue seedhead proportion (42.8 vs. 25.4%) (P < 0.05). Total digestible nutrients tended to be higher (57.2 vs 59.2%, P = 0.08) and ergovaline level tended to be lower (901 vs. 491 ppb, P = 0.11) with treatment. Workshops were held to report the demonstration results. Total workshop registration was 147 with 91 evaluations completed. Participants were 78% male and 22% female with 65% being over the age 50. The pasture hectares grazed by participants was 4253 with 1415 ha as hay. Attendee’s livestock inventories were 6357 beef cattle, 105 sheep, 66 goats and 70 horses. Post-workshop evaluation indicated that 100% of attendees increased understanding of fescue toxicosis, management strategies to reduce fescue toxicity and of using metsulfuron for seedhead suppression. Evaluations completed at the conclusion of each workshop (n = 90) indicated satisfaction with (scale of 1 = not satisfied to 4 = very satisfied, mean ± SD): instructors’ knowledge (3.86 ± 0.34), workshop environment/format (3.83 ± 0.37), and overall quality (3.82 ± 0.41). One hundred percent indicated that this workshop met their expectations and they would recommend it to others. Producer interest and responses indicate that on farm demonstrations are an effective method for education of new production practices