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Indianapolis Public Schools Increases Vaccination Rates Through in-School Vaccines
Indianapolis Public Schools is increasing its in-school vaccination rates, and one way the district is doing that is by offering the vaccines in school. “We had at least one vaccine clinic per school. And then, we had some bigger community events that we did in partnership, and just made sure that we brought the vaccines to our families because that’s the biggest thing, is access,” said Dr. Megan Carlson, director of health services for the school district.
The school originally had around 7,000 students needing to get vaccines,. Now, it’s less than 1,200. Carlson says they started by educating parents about the vaccines. “We saw a lot of our families didn’t want to miss vaccines, just they didn’t know that they needed them. It was a lot of education, hosting clinics and making sure we had vaccines available for our families,” Carlson said. One of the ways they helped parents was by offering the shots at school with parental consent.
“You have to take off of work, you have to pick up the kids, take them to the clinic, and then if they’re sick or they miss, you got to do that all over again,” Carlson said. “So what we did is we had them during the school day for the most part. So we’d send home consent with parents. We’d make those phone calls. Parents would sign up for vaccines, and then, we would pull the kids down from class, do a quick vaccine and then send them back.”
Youth May Increase Vulnerability to a Carcinogen Found in Contaminated Water and Some Drugs
A new study from MIT suggests that a carcinogen that has been found in medications and in drinking water contaminated by chemical plants may have a much more severe impact on children than adults. In a study of mice, the researchers found that juveniles exposed to drinking water containing this compound, known as NDMA, showed dramatically higher rates of DNA damage and cancer than adults.
The findings may help to explain an epidemiological association between childhood cancer and prenatal exposure to NDMA in people living near a contaminated site in Wilmington, Massachusetts, the researchers say. The study also suggests that it is critical to evaluate the impact of potential carcinogens across all ages.
“We really hope that groups that do safety testing will change their paradigm and start looking at young animals, so that we can catch potential carcinogens before people are exposed,” says Bevin Engelward, an MIT professor of biological engineering. “As a solution to cancer, cancer prevention is clearly much better than cancer treatment, so we hope we can spot dangerous chemicals before people are exposed, and therefore prevent extensive cancer risk.”
Study Says Stress, Weight and Hormones Alter Timing of Puberty in Girls
U.S. News & World Report reported:
For decades, doctors have noticed that girls are entering puberty at increasingly younger ages without a clear reason to explain it. While many have pointed to diet or environment, a new Columbia University study points to a complex triple threat: High stress, hormones and body mass index (BMI, an estimate of body fat based on height and weight).
The research — recently published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism — reveals that when these three factors converge, the biological clock may accelerate by more than a half-year. Specifically, girls with high levels of stress hormones and a higher BMI entered puberty, on average, seven months earlier than girls with low hormone levels.
While scientists traditionally focus on estrogen as the primary driver of female development, this study took a closer look a full map of various hormones in the body.
They found that glucocorticoids (stress hormones), progesterone and androgens (hormones often associated with males) were the real drivers of early breast development in girls.
Family Says Popular Energy Drink Played Role in Cheerleader’s Fatal Heart Condition
The family of a 17-year-old Texas cheerleader has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a distributor of a popular energy drink, saying the teenager died from an enlarged heart caused by ingesting large amounts of caffeine.
Larissa Nicole Rodriguez, a college-bound high school student in Weslaco, Texas, died in October. Benny Agosto Jr., her family’s attorney, said at a news conference Wednesday that the Hidalgo County medical examiner determined that her cause of death “was an enlarged heart due to stress and large amounts of caffeine.” Hidalgo County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Agosto said Alani Nu energy drinks, which Rodriguez drank often, “had inadequate warnings about the serious cardiac risks that this product brings.” The suit, which was filed Wednesday in Hidalgo County District Court, includes the allegation and seeks more than $1 million in damages. The family did not respond to a request for comment.
Study Finds Parental Depression Can Influence Kids’ Mental Health for Years
Parental mental health has long been known to influence children, but new research suggests that when parents experience depression may matter just as much as whether they do. A 30 year study now shows that exposure at different stages of childhood, and even before birth, can shape mental health outcomes well into adulthood, with effects lingering for decades.
The study titled ‘Timing of Exposure to Parental Depression From Pregnancy to Young Adulthood and Mental Health in Adult Offspring’, published in JAMA Network Open, tracked data of more than 5,000 individuals. Researchers analysed how exposure to maternal and paternal depression, from pregnancy through age 21, influenced adult mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, and alcohol use disorder.
Key findings include: Children exposed to parental depression over long periods were about twice as likely to develop depression and anxiety as adults. Both mothers’ and fathers’ depression increased risks, although maternal impact was slightly stronger overall. Only maternal depression was clearly linked to psychotic symptoms in adult children.
Survey: This Is the Most Distracting App for Teens
For U.S. teens who use TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, one of the apps stands out as more of a distraction than the others, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. More than a quarter of teens shared that they spend too much time on TikTok, while more than a third said the app negatively affects their sleep.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said TikTok hurts their productivity. Smaller shares of teens reported similar feelings about Instagram and Snapchat. Still, eight in 10 teens said they turned to TikTok specifically for entertainment. While respondents also considered Instagram and Snapchat reliably entertaining, teens were more likely to use those apps to keep up with friends and family, compared to TikTok.
