Adolescents’ Engagement With Unhealthy Food And Beverage Brands On Social Media

According to an article in the latest issue (March 2019) of the journal Appetite, which still is in progress, 70% of adolescents reported engaging with any food/beverage brands on social media and 35% engaged with 5 + brands. Non-Hispanic Black and less-acculturated Hispanic adolescents were more likely than non-Hispanic White adolescents to engage with brands. Approximately one-half reported engaging with brands of fast food (54% of participants), sugary drinks (50%), candy (46%), and snacks (45%), while just 7% reported engaging with all other categories of food/beverage brands. Watching television more than 2 hours-per-day was associated with any brand engagement; while using other screens more than 2 hours-per-day was associated with following 5 + brands. The study surveyed U.S. teens in the age bracket 13-17 about their engagement (liking, sharing, or following) with food and beverage brands on social media, such as Facebook; their time spent watching TV and other screens (cellphones); and demographic characteristics.

Emergency Department Visits For Sport And Recreational Activity Injuries

National Health Statistics Reports on November 15, 2019 indicates that during 2010–2016, approximately 2.7 million annual ED visits for sports injuries were made by patients aged 5–24 years. The top five most frequent activities that caused ED visits for sports injuries were football (14.1%), basketball (12.5%), pedal cycling (9.9%), soccer (7.1%), and ice or roller skating or skateboarding (6.9%). Visits caused by playing football and basketball accounted for a higher percentage of visits by males than females (20.2% compared with 2.2%, and 14.3% compared with 8.9%, respectively), whereas visits caused by gymnastics and cheerleading accounted for a higher percentage of visits by females (11.8% compared with 2.1%). Visits for injuries to the upper extremities decreased with increasing age (37.1% for those aged 5–9 to 27.4% for those aged 20–24), whereas visits for injuries to the lower extremities increased with increasing age (16.2%) for those aged 5–9 to 41.0% for those aged 20–24).

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER

3D Bioprinting Of A Vascularized And Perfusable Skin Graft Using Human Keratinocytes

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a way to 3D print living skin, complete with blood vessels. The advancement, published online in the journal Tissue Engineering Part A on November 1, 2019 is considered a significant step toward creating grafts that are more like the skin that human bodies produce naturally. Presently, whatever is available as a clinical product is similar to a fancy Band-Aid, according to investigators participating in the study, because although it may provide some accelerated wound healing, it eventually just falls off and never really integrates with the host cells. A significant barrier to that integration has been the absence of a functioning vascular system in the skin grafts. More work will need to be done to address the challenges associated with burn patients, which include the loss of nerve and vascular endings. The grafts this study’s team has created bring researchers closer to helping individuals with more discrete issues, such as diabetic or pressure ulcers.

Jointly Optimized Microscope Hardware For Accurate Image Classification

Since its invention, the microscope has been optimized for interpretation by a human observer. With the recent development of deep learning algorithms for automated image analysis, there now is a clear need to re-design the microscope’s hardware for specific interpretation tasks. To increase the speed and accuracy of automated image classification, according to an article published on December 1, 2019 in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, engineers at Duke University present a method to co-optimize how a sample is illuminated in a microscope, along with a pipeline to classify automatically the resulting image, using a deep neural network. They demonstrate how their learned sensing approach for illumination design automatically can identify malaria-infected cells with up to 5-10% greater accuracy than standard and alternative microscope lighting designs and show how the new procedure can translate across different experimental setups while maintaining high accuracy.

return to november 2019 trends

QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)

Adolescents’ Engagement With Unhealthy Food And Beverage Brands On Social Media

Emergency Department Visits For Sport And Recreational Activity Injuries

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER

3D Bioprinting Of A Vascularized And Perfusable Skin Graft Using Human Keratinocytes

Jointly Optimized Microscope Hardware For Accurate Image Classification

More Articles from November 2019 TRENDS

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE CHALLENGES

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

MASS MEDIA FOCUS ON CAPITOL HILL

HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS

DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)

AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY

WHY AN INSECT APOCALYPSE MATTERS

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND RACIAL CANCER DISPARITIES