The Association between Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs and Adolescent Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Baltimore, Maryland.

Given the lack of attention on adolescent food insecurity, the primary objective of this study was to assess the association of household participation in federal food assistance programs with food security status among adolescents in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents, ages 14-19 years, were invited to participate in two online surveys. The baseline was implemented between October 2020 and January 2021, while the follow-up took place one year later from November 2021 to January 2022 after schools had re-opened.

Effect of a Comprehensive School-Based Health Center on Academic Growth in K-8th Grade Students.

Objective: School-based health centers (SBHCs) improve health care access, but associations with educational outcomes are mixed and limited for elementary and middle school students. We investigated whether students enrolled in a comprehensive SBHC demonstrated more growth in standardized math and reading assessments over 4 school years versus nonenrolled students. We also explored changes in absenteeism.

Identifying and preventing fraudulent responses in online public health surveys: Lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Web-based survey data collection has become increasingly popular, and limitations on in-person data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled this growth. However, the anonymity of the online environment increases the risk of fraudulent responses provided by bots or those who complete surveys to receive incentives, a major risk to data integrity. As part of a study of COVID-19 and the return to in-person school, we implemented a web-based survey of parents in Maryland between December 2021 and July 2022.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children after SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a hyperinflammatory state that occurs after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We present 2 cases of MIS-C after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination; 1 patient had evidence of recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our findings suggest that vaccination modulates the pathogenesis of MIS-C.

Implementation of CDC Guidelines for Recess: A Formative Research Study.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes recess as an essential part of overall child development in schools, impacting children's cognitive, socioemotional and physical health and development. However, recess is often removed from the school curriculum in exchange for more classroom activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and SHAPE America developed Strategies for Recess in Schools to promote high-quality recess through specific actions, yet is not known how these are successfully implemented, particularly, in underserved settings.

The protective effect of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Scottish healthcare workers.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are believed to be at increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. It is not known to what extent the natural production of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 is protective against re-infection.

Methods: A prospective observational study of HCWs in Scotland (UK) from May to September 2020 was performed.

Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Adolescent Food Insecurity in Baltimore.

While emerging evidence is highlighting a growing problem of food insecurity among adolescents in disadvantaged neighborhoods, very little is known about the factors that may either protect or place adolescents at higher risk for food insecurity. The primary objective for this analysis, therefore, was to examine the associations between individual-, family-, and neighborhood-level risks and protective factors and food insecurity among 452 adolescents in Baltimore, Maryland. Results show that nearly 30% of our sample were food insecure (29.

Supplementing Substance Use Prevention With Sexual Health Education: A Partner-Informed Approach to Intervention Development.

Supplementing substance use prevention with sexual health education would allow educators to address the risk and protective factors that influence both health issues. This streamlined approach may minimize the inefficiencies of multisession, single-purpose interventions. Our team developed a supplemental sexual and reproductive health (SRH) unit to align with an existing evidence-based intervention, LifeSkills Training (LST).

Role of the Elementary School Cafeteria Environment in Fruit, Vegetable, and Whole-Grain Consumption by 6- to 8-Year-Old Students.

Objective: Examine how the physical cafeteria environment contributes to 6- to 8-year-olds' school food consumption.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Before-and-after lunch tray photos taken with iPads to capture food selection and consumption.

A mixed methods study to examine the influence of the neighborhood social context on adolescent health service utilization.

Background: While adolescents' access and utilization of health services is critical for ensuring their health, very few seek care, and if they do, it is primarily from family members, friends, or other non-formal sources of care. Examining the influence of the social context on adolescent health care seeking behaviors may provide us with a better understanding for how interventions can increase adolescents' utilization of formal health care services.

Methods: The study is based on qualitative and quantitative data collected as part of the Well Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments (WAVE) study, one of the first global studies to focus on very disadvantaged urban adolescents (aged 15-19 years) across five diverse sites, which include: Baltimore (USA), Ibadan (Nigeria), Johannesburg (South Africa), New Delhi (India), and Shanghai (China).

Who Adolescents Trust May Impact Their Health: Findings from Baltimore.

This study is one of the first to explore the relevance of trust to the health of adolescents living in a disadvantaged urban setting. The primary objectives were to determine the differences in the sociodemographic characteristics between adolescents who do and do not trust and to examine the associations between trust and health. Data were drawn from the Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments (WAVE) study, which is a cross-sectional global study of adolescents in very low-income urban settings conducted in 2011-2013.

Respondent-driven sampling for an adolescent health study in vulnerable urban settings: a multi-country study.

The global adolescent population is larger than ever before and is rapidly urbanizing. Global surveillance systems to monitor youth health typically use household- and school-based recruitment methods. These systems risk not reaching the most marginalized youth made vulnerable by conditions of migration, civil conflict, and other forms of individual and structural vulnerability.

Social capital and vulnerable urban youth in five global cities.

Purpose: Social capital is essential for the successful development of young people. The current study examines direct measures of social capital in young people in five urban global contexts.

Methods: The Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments is a global study of young people aged 15-19 years living in disadvantaged, urban settings.

Adolescents' perceptions of health from disadvantaged urban communities: findings from the WAVE study.

The Well-being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments (WAVE) is a global study of young people living in disadvantaged urban communities from Baltimore, MD, Johannesburg, South Africa, Shanghai, China, New Delhi, India and Ibadan, Nigeria. WAVE was launched in the summer of 2011 to: 1) explore adolescents' perceived health and their top health challenges; and 2) describe the factors that adolescents perceive to be related to their health and health care utilization. Researchers in each site conducted in-depth interviews among adolescents; community mapping and focus groups among adolescents; a Photovoice methodology, in which adolescents were trained in photography and took photos of the meaning of 'health' in their communities; and key informant interviews among adults who work with young people.

Employment and training programs: a context for reaching out of school youth with mental health and other health programs.

Youth who have dropped out of school engage in risky health behaviors and have limited access to health care. It is difficult for health experts to develop programs that successfully reach this population. Employment and training programs for youth who have dropped out are a potential venue for addressing the many health needs of these youth.

Infection with cytomegalovirus is not associated with premature mortality.

Over 90% of the world's population acquires a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. This infection, although asymptomatic or self-limiting, is a major burden to the immune system. For this reason, and because CMV immunization is possible, determining whether CMV can cause reduced longevity, particularly among those with coronary artery disease, is important and previous reports have been conflicting.

Antivirals for cytomegalovirus infection in neonates and infants: focus on pharmacokinetics, formulations, dosing, and adverse events.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is very common throughout the world, and has become more of a pediatric clinical concern given the high incidence of congenital CMV infections as well as the increasing numbers of immunocompromised patients. Because of this, the need for antiviral therapies in infants and neonates is growing. Currently, there are four antivirals available that are active against CMV: ganciclovir, valganciclovir, foscarnet, and cidofovir.

A prospective school-based study of abdominal pain and other common somatic complaints in children.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and impact of pediatric abdominal pain (AP).

Study Design: Prospective cohort study (12/2005-06/2006), with gastrointestinal and other symptoms assessed weekly. Anxiety, depression, functional disability, quality of life, somatization, coping, school absenteeism and medical care were assessed in 237 students in the third through eighth grades (11.

The frequency of pregnancy and exposure to cytomegalovirus infections among women with a young child in day care.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of pregnancy and exposure to cytomegalovirus (CMV) among mothers contemplating a possible additional pregnancy and with a child less than 2 years of age in group day care.

Study Design: We performed a prospective observational study that included a demographic questionnaire and serologic and virologic monitoring of mothers and their children in day care.

Results: Of 60 women, 62% were seronegative and 20% had a child shedding CMV.

Health access and status of adolescents and young adults using youth employment and training programs in an urban environment.

Purpose: To describe the health status and access to healthcare of adolescents and young adults disconnected from traditional education and work settings. The health status of these disconnected youth is largely unknown, although it is suspected to be quite poor. Most information about the health of youth in the United States relies on school-based samples.

Cost and consultation patterns of abdominal pain in Uruguayan children.

Background: Children with abdominal pain (AP) have worse quality of life and poorer social functioning and school attendance than their healthy peers. This is the first investigation of consultation patterns and costs of AP in South American children.

Patients And Methods: All data were collected from Unidad Coronaria Movil in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Avidity of antibodies to cytomegalovirus in HIV-seropositive patients with and without CMV retinitis.

Antibodies of high avidity may protect the fetus from CMV infection, but the association of avidity with other CMV infections is unknown. To determine if anti-CMV antibody avidity is altered in HIV-seropositive patients, either untreated or treated with HAART, and to determine if alterations in avidity are associated with CMV retinitis, we obtained sera from 164 CMV-seropositive adults: 68 were HIV-seronegative healthy adults and 96 were HIV seropositive. Of the HIV-positive, 57 had no current or prior evidence of CMV retinitis (29 were being treated with HAART, and 28 were receiving no therapy when sampled), and 39 had either active CMV retinitis or were immunorestored by HAART with quiescent CMV retinitis.

Avidity maturation following immunization with two human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccines: a live attenuated vaccine (Towne) and a recombinant glycoprotein vaccine (gB/MF59).

Two human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccines have been previously evaluated for their immunogenicity: a recombinant gB/MF59 vaccine and an attenuated strain of CMV (Towne). In healthy adults, we measured the antibody avidity maturation indices that occurred after vaccination with each. For Towne, administered as a single dose, the rise in IgG antibody avidity to CMV glycoprotein gB occurred slowly and continued for 24 months post-immunization.

Lack of autoantibody production associated with cytomegalovirus infection.

To confirm an association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and the presence of antibodies to Smith (Sm), to ribonucleoprotein (RNP), and to a component of the U1 ribonucleoproteins (U1-70 kD), we measured antibodies to these protein antigens using an enzyme immunoassay and an immunoblot. The antibodies were measured in the sera of 80 healthy subjects, one-half of whom were naturally CMV seropositive and one-half were CMV seronegative, and in eight subjects immunized with a live attenuated strain of CMV. None of the vaccinees developed antibodies to Sm, to RNP, or to U1-70 kD at either 4 or 12 months after immunization.