2007 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) To develop strategies for reducing obesity in Lower Mississipppi Delta populations though physical activity and nutrition. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Identify and critically evalutate existing interventions designed to motivate individuals and/or communities to change eating and physical activity behaviors for optimal weight and health, especially among high risk-ethnic and socio-economic groups. Identify barriers and motivators for dietary/physical activity interventions relevant to the people of Mississippi and especially for the Lower Mississippi Delta region population. 3.Progress Report This report serves to document research conducted under a Specific Cooperative Agreement between ARS and the Stoneville Delta Health Alliance. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the in-house project 6401-53000-001-00D, "Delta Human Nutrition Research." Efforts to recruit an epidemiologist were successful, with the scientist to begin work in October 2007. Other cooperative research with the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) and Delta Health Alliance included statistical analyses of longitudinal outcomes for diabetic patients at five community-owned diabetes clinics as part of the UMC Delta Diabetes Program (DDP) -- a community-based participatory research program for an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse diabetic population; building predictive models for determining outcome changes concerning health disparities; and planning for a project involving weight attenuation in African American women. Progress was monitored primarily through conference calls and written reports.