Kids.gov – Health, Science, and Safety Information for Children, Parents, and Teachers

 

Kids.gov is the U.S. government’s website for children (grades K-8). Kids, parents, and teachers can use the site to get help with homework, access lesson plans, watch videos, play games, and more. Some highlights If you’ve visited Kids.gov previously, you’ll notice that the website has been completely redesigned. The vibrant new site provides areas for three specific audiences: kids (grades K-5), teens (grades 6-8), and grown-ups (teachers and parents).

Kids.gov is the U.S. government’s website for children (grades K-8). Kids, parents, and teachers can use the site to get help with homework, access lesson plans, watch videos, play games, and more.  If you’ve visited Kids.gov previously, you’ll notice that the website has been completely redesigned. The vibrant new site provides areas for three specific audiences: kids (grades K-5), teens (grades 6-8), and grown-ups (teachers and parents).

Health Communications in Video (in Reducing STIs)

From a Posting in Youth Health 2.o “Health Communications in Video” by Kishan on July 17, 2011

The purpose of using videos in reducing the rates of STIs, for example, is to increase “knowledge and perception of STI/HIV risk, promoting positive attitudes toward condom use” and more importantly “building self-efficacy and skills to facilitate partner treatment, safer sex, and the acquisition, negotiation and use of condoms”.

Findings from the study on the effectiveness of “Safe in the City”, show that video based interventions are simple at a “relatively low cost, likely acceptability and likelihood of healthier behaviours being adopted and sustained over time” (Warner 2008)….

Click here for the entire posting

K-12 Science and Health Education (Also, good ideas to keep kids busy this summer!)

K-12 Science and Health Education
Working with teachers and scientific experts to provide FREE reliable resources to help introduce, reinforce, and supplement education programs.

Two US Government Agencies (NLM-National Library of Medicine and HHS – Health and Human Services) have joined forces
to provide links in the areas of biology,  environmental health science/chemistry, general health, and forensics and medical terminology, and More!

Here is a sampling of Web sites especially geared to K-12 students…

• MedlinePlus 
  (Grades 6 -12+)
  Easy to read health information. An excellent source for all ages.
  Check out Videos and Cool Tools for health videos on the human body, surgery videos (FYI-graphic),quizzes, and calculators to self check your health (as diet and exercise).
• Household Products Database 
  (Grades 6 – 12+)
  Learn about the potential health effects of chemicals in common household products.
• Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body 
  (Grades 6 – 12+)
  Collection of images, videos and stories about the history and the development of forensics. Includes lesson plans.
  Includes links to a video clips of a real autopsy, real cases (including insect testimony!),links to resources (as NPR radio interviews) and more.
• Children’s Page 
  (Grades 3 – 8)
  Health and safety materials for students. Includes quizzes and games.
• Teen Health 
  (Grades 7 – 12)
  Materials written specifically for teens about health and safety.

Related articles

• Environmental Health Student Portal – Connecting Middle School Students to Environmental Health Information (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• What’s Cooking Uncle Sam? (jflahiff.wordpress.com)

Researchers lead search for better drug-addiction treatments

Researchers lead search for better drug-addiction treatments

From a February 2, 2011 Eureka news alert

DALLAS – Feb. 3, 2011 – UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers(Division of Addictions)are leading the Texas arm of a national network that conducts clinical trials aimed at finding effective treatments for drug addiction.

More than 100 community treatment providers and academic medical centers throughout the country are funded in part through the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Clinical Trials Network (CTN). The Texas component includes partnerships between academic and community treatment providers in Dallas, El Paso, Austin and Houston. It is led by Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern.

“The effects of drugs on the brain are very clear, but we still need long-term answers that cure people who abuse drugs and prevent them from relapse,” Dr. Trivedi said. “I applaud NIDA for funding the infrastructure at academic institutions to research therapies in real-world treatment centers that will lead to ready-to-launch cures. Drug abuse affects not just the person, but families and society as a whole.”

Each CTN study is conducted in multiple community treatment provider sites across the country, led by a CTN substance abuse researcher and supported by the researchers in the CTN academic institutions affiliated with each participating site.

“It is critical to find new treatments in the substance abuse field where current treatments result in only modest improvements. Finding effective interventions really requires larger, multicenter treatment trials like those occurring in the CTN,” Dr. Trivedi said.

One such national study within the CTN is the Stimulant Reduction Intervention Using Dose Exercise (STRIDE)**, led by Dr. Trivedi. It is a groundbreaking study that tests the short and longer term effectiveness of adding either exercise or health education to treatment as usual in adults who abuse stimulants such as cocaine or methamphetamine. Sites participating in this study in Texas include Nexus Recovery Center and Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center as well as multiple other sites across the country.

Other studies being conducted in the CTN in Texas include a trial that tests whether an interactive web-based therapy added to usual treatment improves abstinence from drug use, and a trial that examines whether medication, counseling, and incentives to quit smoking added to usual treatment improve abstinence from drug use.

Dr. Trivedi recently received a renewal of the National Institute on Drug Abuse‘s grant to continue contributions to improve the treatment of addiction for several additional years and said he expects to receive nearly $4 million over the next year.

A national CTN goal for the next few years is to engage other types of medical doctors and treatment settings who treat people addicted to drugs, in research, including primary care, internal medicine and emergency-room physicians. “We will be expanding our reach,” Dr. Trivedi said.

 

**ClinicalTrials.gov has information about federally and privately supported clinical trials, as quoted  news release item above.

Some clinical trials studies post their results at ClinicalTrials.gov.
Check the About page and Understanding Clinical Trials at Clinical Trials.gov for more information.

Related posts

Clinical Trials and Systematic Reviews: Managing Information Overload

Older adults often excluded from clinical trials –  US population ages, need grows for research to improve health and health care for seniors

 

 

Enhanced early childhood education pays long-term dividends in better health

Enhanced early childhood education pays long-term dividends in better health

New study is the first randomized, controlled trial to show that early educational enrichment can bring improved health and healthier behaviors in early adulthood

From a January 14, 2011 Eureka news alert

January 14, 2011 — Intensive early education programs for low-income children have been shown to yield numerous educational benefits, but few studies have looked more broadly at their impact on health and health behaviors. A new study conducted by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health examines this issue, using data from a the well-known Carolina Abecedarian Project (ABC), a randomized control study that enrolled 111 infants in the 1970s and continued to follow them through age 21. Researchers found that individuals who had received the intensive education intervention starting in infancy had significantly better health and better health behaviors as young adults.

The study is only the second to explore the relationship of early childhood education and adult health benefits. The first study, based on the Perry Preschool Program, also was conducted by Columbia professors Peter Muennig, MD, and Matthew Neidell, PhD, on a similarly small cohort of children, and found behavioral benefits, but no overall health benefits. The current study is the first randomized control study to definitively show the health benefit of education. Findings are online in the American Journal of Public Health.***

The original study enrolled infants from 1972 to 1977 at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute in Chapel Hill, NC, where they received an age-appropriate curriculum designed to enhance cognition and language development starting in infancy. Researchers had found that infants enrolled in the program had higher IQ by age three and higher reading and math achievement by 15 years of age, lower rates of teen depression and greater likelihood of college enrollment compared with a control group.

 

*** For information on how to get this article for free or at low cost, click here