It is thought that vaccination coverage increases during and immediately after an infectious disease epidemic; however, little evidence exists to support this phenomenon.

The 2011 to 2012 pertussis epidemic did not significantly change the proportion of infants in Washington State who were up to date for pertussis-containing vaccines. This finding may challenge conventional wisdom that vaccine acceptance uniformly increases when risk of disease is high. (Read the full article)

There is a generational shift in social norms related to body weight among adult population; little is known about the secular change of paternal perceptions of their child’s weight.

A shift in body norms toward heavier weight statuses exists among parents of children, presenting a vast challenge to family-based childhood obesity prevention. Primary care providers can play a more active role in identifying the children with increased weight. (Read the full article)

More than 200 million children <5 years old in low- and middle-income countries are not reaching their potential in cognitive development because of factors associated with poverty.

Poverty affects children’s cognition as early as 7 months and continues to increase until 5 years of age. It is mainly mediated by parental education, birth weight, home stimulation throughout the 5 years, and growth in the first 24 months. (Read the full article)

Delivering competent oral case presentations is an important clinical communication skill, yet effective means of improving trainees’ presentations have not been identified.

Oral presentation feedback sessions facilitated by faculty by using an 18-item competency-based evaluation form early in pediatric clerkships improved medical students’ subsequent oral presentations. Medical schools should consider implementing this evidence-supported practice. (Read the full article)

Rhinoviruses are commonly detected in both acutely ill and asymptomatic infants and children. The finding may represent new infection or prolonged presence of rhinovirus RNA in the respiratory tract.

In young, otherwise healthy infants, shedding of RNA from the same rhinovirus strain rarely persisted longer than 30 days. (Read the full article)

Antibiotic overuse is common and is a major public health threat. The prevalence of antimicrobial stewardship programs in children’s hospitals is growing. Single-center studies reveal that antimicrobial stewardship programs are effective in reducing unnecessary antibiotic use. Multicenter evaluations are needed.

Antibiotic use is declining overall across a large network of freestanding children’s hospitals. Hospitals with formalized antimicrobial stewardship programs experienced greater reductions in antibiotic use than other hospitals, suggesting that these interventions are an effective strategy to address antibiotic overuse. (Read the full article)

Adolescent relationship abuse (ARA) is prevalent in confidential clinic settings such as school health centers (SHCs) and is associated with poor health outcomes. No evidence-based interventions target reduction of ARA in the SHC setting.

This study provides the first evidence of the potential benefits of a brief provider-delivered universal education and counseling intervention in SHCs to address and prevent a major public health problem: ARA. (Read the full article)

Poverty is prevalent among children in the United States, and it has a clear association with negative health outcomes. Smoking and passive smoke exposure are both more common among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and are associated with asthma morbidity.

Reported family hardships were common among children admitted for asthma or wheezing, and most were associated with detectable tobacco smoke exposure. The cumulative number of hardships was also associated with greater odds of tobacco smoke exposure. (Read the full article)

Microbial exposure during early life may prevent, or reduce, the risk of allergy development.

Allergic diseases are less common in children whose parents use hand dishwashing instead of machine dishwashing, and we hypothesize that this allergy-preventive effect is mediated via an increased microbial exposure. (Read the full article)

Strategies are needed to engage families of chronically ill children at home in an ongoing process of shared decision-making regarding treatment that is responsive to families’ concerns and goals and children’s evolving symptoms.

This study evaluated a novel patient portal that facilitates shared decision-making in asthma. The portal was feasible and acceptable to families, improved outcomes, and provides a model for improving care through an electronic health record portal. (Read the full article)

Although waning immunity with the childhood pertussis vaccination series has been reported, there are limited data on duration of protection of the adolescent pertussis vaccine (Tdap), especially among those who have received only acellular vaccines.

This study reports that protection from Tdap wanes substantially 2 to 4 years after vaccination among adolescents who received all acellular vaccines during childhood. This waning protection is likely contributing to the increase in adolescent pertussis. (Read the full article)

Youth drinking is associated with adult drinking. Alcohol policies can influence youth and adult drinking. However, it is unknown whether alcohol policies influence youth drinking patterns directly or through their effect on adult drinking.

Alcohol policies, including population-oriented policies, are protective for youth drinking. The effect of population-oriented policies may be mediated though effects on adults. These findings suggest that efforts to reduce youth drinking should rely on policies that address all age groups. (Read the full article)

Simulation-based education is increasing but its use in pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowships has not been recently documented. Previous studies identified barriers including equipment and space, but growth of simulation centers and equipment has been widespread.

Simulation is widely used in PEM fellowships, and current barriers include faculty and learner time, implementation of best practices in simulation; equipment is less significant. Future work should focus on curriculum and evaluation development, aligning with the milestones. (Read the full article)

High bilirubin levels are associated with sensorineural hearing loss. Exchange transfusions are recommended when bilirubin levels reach certain thresholds. However, the relative and excess risks of hearing loss in infants with bilirubin levels at/above exchange transfusion thresholds are unknown.

In this Northern California population of term and late preterm infants, elevated bilirubin levels were not associated with an increased risk of sensorineural hearing loss unless the levels were at least 10 mg/dL above exchange transfusion thresholds. (Read the full article)

Concern of the risk of malignancy from ionizing radiation has prompted many to advocate for judicious use of computed tomography (CT) and as low as necessary radiation doses administered per scan. Recent analysis has shown a decline in CT utilization.

We identified decreases in CT utilization between 2004 and 2012 for the 10 most common diagnostic groups receiving CT. Decreases were typically associated with increases in alternate imaging modalities. We provide a possible reason for the decrease in CT utilization. (Read the full article)

Choosing career paths can be a difficult decision for residents contemplating fellowship training. Limited resources are available to residents to help guide their choices.

This article provides additional descriptions and insight into actual lifestyle and workplace environments for pediatric residents who choose fellowship training compared with those who do not. (Read the full article)

Adobe's initial attempt to shoehorn the sprawling Photoshop image editor into the tablet form-factor makes an impressive and pleasing start, but it really is just a start.

Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are shortlisted for the 2017/18 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.

Lyon trio Lucy Bronze, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are the UEFA Women's Player of the Year nominees.

Comic books and graphic novels, popular in many language arts and social studies classes, are just now tiptoeing into the world of K-12 math.

Under a fifth of South Africans over the age of 60 are receiving private pensions, a new report has shown.

A Fin24 reader nearing retirement wants to know if he can access his retirement annuity now while still employed or only after officially retiring.

Are you in your twenties and wonder how you can use the current market crash caused by fears related to the coronavirus pandemic as a way to get into the investment market?

Microsoft notes it can pay bug bounty participants more than $20,000, depending on the vulnerability's severity and the report's quality. Just make sure you don't use the flaw on unsuspecting users.

In honor of a recently retired professor, a generous alumnus donation has enabled the creation of the Martin W. Trethewey Early Career Professorship.

Fifteen graduating seniors from the College of Engineering have been selected to serve as student marshals for Penn State’s spring commencement ceremony, to be held virtually on May 9.

The unexpected transition to online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many changes for undergraduate students and their instructors. To understand the magnitude of these impacts and potentially improve digital learning, researchers in the Penn State School of Engineering Design and Professional Programs have received a $196,136 grant from the National Science Foundation.

6 December 2011This briefing highlights some of the important issues in the December 2011 fisheries negotiations at which decisions on fishing quotas and limits on fishing time will be made for 2012.

24 April 2014This briefing is produced to assist the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee in their inquiry into Scotland’s Economic Future Post-2014.

Schools should take the lead in removing the stigma around menstruation, writes 16-year-old Maggie Di Sanza, founder of Bleed Shamelessly.

Overall, average scores were up two points since 2014 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Technology and Engineering Literacy.

Our judgments and biases are preventing students, and adults, from succeeding, and here are seven examples of when that happens.

Groundbreaking, Grammy-winning quartet Béla Fleck & The Flecktones is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an extended tour that will stop by the Community Arts Center on Tuesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.

Just like grocery stores offer free food samples, technology companies, such as VoiceThread, offer free accounts for educators who want to try their products.

Chemistry major Sojung Kim and microbiology major Cuyler Luck will represent the Eberly College of Science as student marshals during Penn State’s virtual spring commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 9.

As I attended the annual Storage Visions conference a couple of weeks ago, I was struck again by just how much flash is being used in enterprise systems, and what the potential is for future uses going forward.

One of Azerbaijan's young female stars offer a masterclass to help you find the way to goal.

Replicate a crucial Andrey Arshavin strike from FC Zenit St Petersburg's UEFA Cup-winning season.

FC Dinamo Moskva's Ukrainian forward star Andriy Voronin offers you his shooting tips.

Integrating technology requires a significant investment of time and money, but the resources are well-spent if the focus is improving instruction, writes educational consultant Matthew Lynch.

A panel of experts—including a national teacher's union president and an official from the Department of Education—discussed how to make teaching a more attractive profession.

In rural Kentucky, teachers and students are awarded innovation grants to solve a challenge facing their community or classroom.

A recent study found that one organization's instructional-leadership professional development had no impact. Could it be because the topic of instructional leadership needs to be expanded?

To help ease the transition to remote instruction, educators have launched virtual professional learning communities to share resources, ask questions, and give advice.

Nationally, at least five million children have at least one parent who is undocumented. Supporting those children should be a priority if the threat of a raid is not imminent, advocates said.

A handful of districts and other groups are reshaping the after-school space to provide a wide range of social and linguistic supports for newcomer students.

Canon is lifting the lid on the tech inside its upcoming EOS-1D X Mark III SLR. It's a fully pro, and fully loaded camera, with 20fps Raw imaging and 5.5K Raw video capture.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VII point-and-shoot is a modest update to the RX100 VI, offering better autofocus and video stabilization for a bit more money.